Archive for October 16, 2012

Despite high prices, ‘poverty’, iPhone 5 snapped up in Gaza

Prices ranged from NIS 4,500 ($1,175) for the 16-gigabyte model to NIS 5,700 ($1,490) for 64 gigabytes.

By Reuters

 

Apple’s new iPhone 5 is selling well in the Gaza Strip despite inflated prices, reaching Palestinians via smuggling tunnels even before it comes to Israel.

Using the map function of Apple's iPhone 5.

Using the map function of Apple’s iPhone 5. – Photo by Reuters

The cutting-edge smartphone is being snapped up for almost double what it costs in the United States, its price jacked up by middlemen on its circuitous delivery route from Dubai via tunnels linking the blockaded territory with Egypt.

The iPhone 5 will not be available until December from mobile operators in tech-mad Israel, which along with Egypt maintains a partial blockade of Gaza to prevent the entry of anything that could be used for military purposes. Continue Reading »

Elections set for January as Knesset Dissolves

Knesset approves bill to dissolve itself by a vote of 100 to 0.

Elections will be held January 22.

By Elad Benari

 

The Knesset officially voted on Monday night to dissolve itself and head for elections.

Shortly before midnight, the Knesset Committee approved the bill calling for the dissolution of the Knesset for a second and third reading. 15 members of the committee supported the bill and no one opposed or abstained.

The bill was then passed to the Knesset, which approved its second reading by a majority of 97 to one (the one who “opposed” was MK Tzipi Hotovely who had mistakenly pressed the button voting against the motion) and then approved its third reading by a majority of 100 MKs. Continue Reading »

Israeli inventor says his Cardboard bicycle can change the world

 

Once the shape has been formed & cut, the cardboard is treated with a secret concoction made of organic materials to give it its waterproof & fireproof qualities.

By Ori Lewis and Lianne Gross | Reuters

 

MOSHAV AHITUV, Israel (Reuters) – A bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard has the potential to change transportation habits from the world’s most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa, its Israeli inventor says.

Izhar Gafni, 50, is an expert in designing automated mass-production lines. He is an amateur cycling enthusiast who for years toyed with an idea of making a bicycle from cardboard.

Continue Reading »

16 year-old Jewish Athlete Organ Donor, Saves 6 Patients

Gilad Veturi, 16,  died after collapsing at the finish line of a 60 meter sprint, donated his organs to save the lives of 6 people & aid others see again.

Nine organs were donated on Sunday by the family of Gilad Veturi, a 16-year-old student at Ilan Ramon High School in Hod Hasharon, after he collapsed and during running practice and died two days later.
Surgeons preparing organ transplant (illustrative) - Photo: Michael Ainsworth/Dallas Morning News/MCT

Surgeons preparing organ transplant (illustrative) – Photo: Michael Ainsworth/Dallas Morning News/MCT

His lifesaving organs were transplanted into six patients, while his corneas were saved for transplant at a later date.

The teenager, who collapsed Thursday at the finish line of a 60-meter sprint, was known to be an excellent athlete who was in good health. Continue Reading »

Hebrew University: Jews are less than 0.2% of mankind

Hebrew University study reveals global Jewish population reached 13.75 million in 2012

43% of world’s Jewish population lives in Israel

Anav Silverman, Tazpit

 

The global Jewish population reached 13.75 million in the past year, with an increase of 88,000 people, a study by Hebrew University Professor Sergio Della Pergola reveals.

One out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish

One out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish

According to the study, one out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish, less than 0.2% of mankind.

About 43% of the world’s Jewish community lives in Israel, making Israel the country with the largest Jewish population. Continue Reading »

Alvin Roth, an American Jewish professor, shares Nobel Prize in economics

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: The work of Roth & Lloyd Shapley has sparked a ‘flourishing field of research’ & helped improve the performance of many markets.

Two Americans were awarded the Nobel economics prize on Monday for studies on the match-making taking place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools and human organs with transplant recipients.

The presentation of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2012.

Per Krusell, Staffan Normark, Peter Gardenfors & Tore Ellingsen of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences present the winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in Stockholm – Photo by Reuters

The work of Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley has sparked a “flourishing field of research” and helped improve the performance of many markets, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. Continue Reading »

IDF Begins to Draft Hareidi, Ultra-Religious Youth

The IDF will draft hareidi ultra-religious 16-19 year-olds, but “will wait till after elections” for 20-28 year-olds, Defense Minister Barak says.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

The IDF will begin to draft hareidi-religious 16 to 19-year-olds, but “will wait till after elections” for 20 to 28 year olds, says Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The IDF will send out the orders within the next few weeks, summoning about 15,000 hareidi-religious Jews for interviews at induction centers, Barak said at a Knesset committee hearing on Monday.

The IDF’s Netzach Yehuda combat battalion and the Shachar high-tech training unit were two of the hareidi service programs Barak said would be expanded to meet the increased recruitment of hareidi-religious Israelis. Continue Reading »

PA Calls For Int’l Protection For Estelle

PA Calls for int’l protection for Finnish flagged boat, Estelle, sailing to Gaza.

By Scott Krane

 

On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) called for international forces to protect a boat carrying pro-PA activists trying to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza.

Hamas has urged the world to respond to the Finish-flagged boat, Estelle, by pressuring Israel to end its blockade on Gaza, Xinhua has reported.

PA spokesperson Nour Odea said “The international community must provide protection for the flotilla because it is a legitimate peaceful activity directed against the Israeli siege…”

The boat set sail from Naples, Italy, on October 7, carrying more than a dozen activists bearing “humanitarian aid”, most of them from Western countries. Continue Reading »

5 killed as IAF strikes Gaza Strip 3rd time in 24 hours

Israel Air Force hits rocket-launching terror cell in Gaza, killing 2, wounding 2

PRC: “Occupation” to bear consequences for crimes.

 

The IAF a rocket-launching cell in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday evening soon after it fired projectiles at an Israeli farming district, the IDF said.

Israel Air Force AH-64 Apache (Saraph) – Photo: IAF facebook page

Palestinian medical sources said the air strike killed two men and wounded two others.

Israeli strikes killed a total of five global jihad members over the past 24 hours.

“The terrorist cell which fired rockets into Israel a short while ago was targeted,” the IDF Spokesman’s Office said, confirming the strike.

Continue Reading »

‘Drone beamed “images of secret Israeli military sites”

Sunday Times: Iranian-made Hezbollah drone shot down over Negev surveilled ballistic sites & preparations for joint Israel-US military exercise

By Ynet

 

The Iranian-made Hezbollah drone shot down over the Negev last week beamed back “images of secret Israeli military sites” and images of the preparations of the joint Israel-US military exercise, the Sunday Times reported.

The British publication’s Tel Aviv-based correspondent Uzi Mahnaimi said that the drone was airborne for three hours before it was intercepted, and was able to relay “images of ballistic missile sites, main airfields and possibly the Dimona reactor.”

The aircraft, according to Mahnaimi, was apparently the Shahed-129, introduced in Iran in September. Continue Reading »

Positive interim results for psoriasis treatment reports Can-Fite

Can-Fite BioPharma will continue patient enrollment in view of the results of the Phase II/III clinical trial.

By Globes’ correspondent

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (TASE:CFBI; Bulletin Board: CANFY) today announced positive interim results of its Phase II/III clinical trial of CF101 for the treatment of psoriasis, and said that it is continuing enrolling patients in the study.

Investor Information

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. – Photo taken from: canfite.com

 

Can-Fite said that interim analysis of safety and efficacy data from the first 103 patients who completed 24 weeks of treatment in the trial found positive clinical effects of CF101 compared with the placebo in a variety of standard psoriasis assessment parameters, with the responses accumulating steadily over the treatment period.

Continue Reading »

Netanyahu says that Israel subject to increasing number of cyber attacks

PM Benjamin Netanyahu reports in weekly cabinet meeting that there are ‘daily attempts’ to infiltrate the country’s computer systems.

By and DPA

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted this morning that Israel is recently the target of increasing cyber attacks. Speaking at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that “there is an escalation in the attempts to carry out a cyber attack on Israel’s’ computer infrastructures. There are daily attempts to break into Israeli systems.”

Looking for cyber specialists

A campaign to find the next generation of cyber specialists. – Photo by AP

So far, apart from isolated cases, Israeli officials have refrained from commenting on cyber attacks against Israeli targets. Continue Reading »

Hamas Airs Movie Promo on Shalit Kidnapping

Hamas releases promo for new movie which depicts Gilad Shalit kidnapping.

By Elad Benari

 

Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades has released a promo for a new movie in which actors reenact the attack in 2006 in which then-IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped.

Gilad Shalit

The promo for the movie, which will air later this week, comes as the movement marks one year since Shalit was released in exchange for 1,027 terrorists held in Israeli prisons, including several convicted of mass murder.

A statement released by Hamas’ military wing further claimed that the complete film will also show authentic excerpts of the kidnapping that have not yet aired. Continue Reading »

Israeli Vaccine: Stop Cancer from Coming Back

Dr. Carmon, “A key advantage of Vaxil’s vaccines is that they can induce a comprehensive & divest immune response without need for an adaptation to the individual’s type of immune systems.”

An Exclusive Report by United with Israel

(Nes Ziona, ISRAEL) An Israeli company is developing a new cancer drug which aims to stop cancer from coming back.

Every year millions of people are diagnosed with cancer worldwide. Although modern medicine has made huge progress in treating this disease, what often happens is that the cancer is treated and the patient goes into remission or is even “cured” – but then it becomes a waiting game to see if the cancer comes back. Continue Reading »

Israel warns Finland of action against Gaza ship

Finnish Foreign Ministry says Israel would take action against Gaza-bound ship ‘Estelle’ if it tries to break blockade.

By the Associated Press

 

Finland says Israel has warned that it will take action against a boat carrying international pro-Palestinian activists if it tries to break a naval blockade of Gaza.

'Estelle' en route to Gaza Photo: Ship to Gaza

‘Estelle’ en route to Gaza – Photo: Ship to Gaza

Finnish Foreign Ministry spokesman Risto Piipponen said Saturday that Israel had sent a message to the ministry earlier this week but that it didn’t say what it would do against the Finnish-flagged Estelle.

“Israel said that it would take action to stop the ship from reaching land if it tries to break the blockade,” Piipponen said. Continue Reading »