Israeli technology turns greenhouse gas into fuel

Technology developed by head of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Energy Center creates mixture that can be used for car fuel.

A new Israeli solar Technology is able to transform greenhouse gas emissions from the dirtiest of pollutants into a useable fuel for automobiles.Israeli startup NewCO2Fuels Ltd., in partnership with Australian firm Greenearth Energy Ltd., has acquired the license for a technology developed by Prof. Jacob Karni, head of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Energy Center in the department of environmental sciences and energy research, as well as supervisor for the institute’s solar program.

The innovation uses concentrated solar energy to dissociate carbon dioxideinto carbon monoxide and oxygen, as well as water into hydrogen and oxygen, allowing for the synthesis of the carbon monoxide and hydrogen into a gaseous hydrocarbon mixture called Syngas.

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Syria atrocities to go on

Op-ed: Condemnations of Assad meaningless as long as China, Russia and Iran think he’s legitimate

 

The Russians have no problem telling the truth: They have no idea of the direction the Syrian crisis is heading to. In ongoing diplomatic contacts among Israel and senior Russian officials, the Russians admit that their policy is determined from one week to the next.

Houla massacre Photo: AP

Houla massacre - Photo: AP

In fact, they’re not alone. The Russian policy, which the Chinese share, is no different in essence than Europe’s and America’s policy towards Syria. In Mideastern terms we can say that both sides are making their decisions from one massacre to the next. Continue Reading »

Why are some people prejudiced against Jews? A bottle of wine awaits the best answer

Since no Jewish organization is ever going to hold an essay-writing competition on this subject, we are going to have to do it here.

The last time I sat for a written test was 16 years ago, so I took my time answering the question put to British high-school students in a national exam last month: “Explain, briefly, why some people are prejudiced against Jews.” This question, which appeared in a religious studies examination taken by about 1,000 students, many of them at Jewish schools, has since been the subject of a mini-storm.

 

Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove arrives at Downing Street.

Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove arrives at Downing Street for a cabinet meeting in central London - Photo by Reuters

 

Jewish leaders attacked it as “insensitive” and Britain’s education secretary, Michael Gove, said to the Jewish Chronicle, which broke the story, that “to suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre.” Continue Reading »

Katif Expellees Stuck as Caravans Taken for Expulsion

Expellee families have new jobs, new schools, but nowhere to live as government reassigns their new caravan homes to Beit El.

The government’s plan to demolish homes in Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood threatens to leave more than one set of families homeless. In addition to the 30 families facing eviction in Beit El, 40 young families of Gush Katif expellees are facing the prospect of another year in the temporary caravan sites that have become long-term homes.

The young families were told they could start a long-awaited mass relocation to the Lachish region and would be given 40 mobile homes to stay in while they wait for construction of permanent homes. Continue Reading »

White House talks with ‘anti-Israel’ preacher panned

Christians United for Israel executive-director David Brog tells ‘Post’ that preacher Serge Duss holds views “very offensive to Jews and Bible-believing Christians.”

The head of one of the most prominent pro-Israel Christian organizations in the United States slammed the White House on Wednesday for agreeing to several meetings with an “anti-Israel” preacher who denies that Jews have a historical link to Israel.

According to the online news outlet Washington Free Beacon, preacher Serge Duss “propagates borderline anti- Semitic conspiracy theories and advises several groups that have stigmatized the Israeli government – [and] has made at least four trips to the Obama White House for several high-level powwows with top administration officials, records show.”

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Was UFO a Russian ballistic missile?

Russian Defense Ministry says it successfully test-fired intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday; earlier, unidentified flying object reported in Israel, Lebanon, other states in region

 

The glowing light reported in Israel‘s skies around 8:45 pm Thursday apparently resulted from of a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test by the Russian military, according to estimates.

 

Glowing light in Israel's skies (Video: Hitham Abu Saada)
Glowing light in Israel’s skies (Photo from Video by Hitham Abu Saada)

 

Hundreds of Israelis nationwide flooded police hotlines Thursday evening with reports of an unidentified flying object in the nation’s skies.

Later Thursday, Russian news agency Novosti quoted the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which confirmed that a missile was test-fired from the Astrakhan region in central Russia. Continue Reading »

Religious Zionist rabbis to be allowed to perform weddings

Prior to the signing of the agreement with Tzohar several days ago, the Chief Rabbinate limited the authority of rabbis to perform weddings.

A formal agreement has been signed between the Tzohar organization of moderate religious Zionist rabbis and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to greatly increase the number of rabbis who can perform weddings. In the process, it substantially enhances the status of Modern Orthodox rabbis.

The agreement includes a provision allowing some Orthodox rabbis who have no official position on religious councils as well as the heads of hesder yeshivas (where students combine religious study with military service ) and rabbis from other Orthodox educational institutions to perform weddings anywhere in Israel. Continue Reading »

Report: Assad’s Forces Using Unidentified Gas on Civilians

Syrian opposition claims Assad using toxic material, unidentified gas on Syrian civilians.

Syrian opposition sources claimed on Thursday that aircraft belonging to the Syrian Air Force have dropped toxic material into the province of Daraa, the Al-Jazeera network reported.

Bashar Assad

Bashar Assad - Reuters

According to the report, the unidentified material smells like sulfur and causes drowsiness and unconsciousness.

No further information on these materials was provided, but the report also said that Assad’s forces had used unidentified gas shells on civilians in Daraa, Hama and Deir ez-Zor.

The fact that Syria has a stockpile of unconventional weapons, including chemical weapons, is well-known. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu to Vanity Fair: ‘I’m not naturally manipulative’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to intrigue the foreign media – after being crowned as ‘King Bibi’ on TIME magazine’s cover, he is profiled in Vanity Fair’s July issue, which tries to decipher ‘The Netanyahu Paradox.’

Vanity Fair has published an in-depth profile of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in its upcoming July issue, in which Netanyahu emphasized that he is “not a natural politician.”

In the article, David Margolick explores Netanyahu’s effort to “vanquish his domestic foes” such as the Israeli media and the political opposition.

Netanyahu in Vanity Fair -Photo by http://www.vanityfair.com/

Netanyahu in Vanity Fair - Photo by http://www.vanityfair.com/

In an interview in Jerusalem, Netanyahu echoed recent statements by U.S. Continue Reading »

Court: Palestinians must stop building near Sussiya

Ruling came against backdrop of advocacy group petition to compel Civilian Administration to demolish Palestinian structures.

The High Court of Justice on Thursday issued an interim order restraining approximately 30 Palestinians from building in the Sussiya settlement area, south of Mount Hebron.The order came against the backdrop of a petition filed by the Regavim organization requesting that the court order the Civilian Administration for the West Bank to demolish what it characterized as illegally built Palestinian structures.

 

Construction in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood - Photo: REUTERS
Construction in Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood – Photo: REUTERS

The Palestinians with built structures and those seeking to continue to build in the area asked the court to restrain the Civilian Administration from issuing any demolition orders.In Continue Reading »

US, Israel to boost cyber warfare cooperation

Deputy FM Ayalon, head of US anti-terror bureau meet, agree that experts should convene regularly. Russian whose lab exposed Flame virus tells Tel Aviv conference: Cyber terror can lead to ‘end of the world as we know it’

 

The US and Israel have agreed to boost their cooperation in the field of cyber warfare, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday.

Flame-infected data Photo: Kaspersky Lab

Flame-infected data - Photo: Kaspersky Lab

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Counter-Terrorism Bureau Director Eitan Ben David met on Tuesday with Ambassador-at-Large Dan Benjamin, who heads the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. The officials agreed that cyber experts from both countries would meet regularly. Continue Reading »

Lebanon: Syrian Army Killed TV Cameraman

Lebanon has charged the Syrian Army with the murder of an Al-Jadeed television journalist

Lebanon has charged the Syrian Army with the murder of an Al-Jadeed television journalist.

Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr on Thursday charged members of the Syrian armed forces in connection with the cameraman’s death on April 9. Charges of attempting to murder the cameraman’s two colleagues, who were with him at the time, have also been filed.

Along the Lebanese-Syrian border

Along the Lebanese-Syrian border - Reuters

The case has been referred to Military Investigative Justice Riyad Abu Ghida.

Ali Sha’aban, 30, was shot and killed while on assignment for the Al-Jadeed television network in the northern area of Wadi Khaled, near the Lebanese border with Syria, according to the Daily Star. Continue Reading »

Mekorot targets international water market

Israel uses its water industry to connect to countries that otherwise might hesitate to have ties with the Jewish state.

 

TEL AVIVIsrael‘s national water company Mekorot wants to use its expertise in finding unconventional sources for clean water to help it expand globally, as countries step up their efforts to avoid water shortages.

A rise in population along with climate changes threatens the earth’s freshwater supply in the coming decades and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects that by 2050 global water demand will increase by 55 percent.

Mekorot says it will cost the world $800 billion in damages.

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Hama massacre: ‘Is this child an Israel collaborator?’

Amid reports that Assad forces massacred some 100 people in central Syria, video posted on web exposes the horror; meanwhile UN envoy Anan to present new plan for ending crisis

 

International envoy Kofi Annan on Thursday will propose tasking a group of world powers and key regional players including Iran to come up with a strategy to end the 15-month conflict, UN diplomats said.

'Is this a terrorist?'

'Is this a terrorist?'

Annan will present the United Nations with a plan for creating a “contact group” whose final proposal must be acceptable to Syria’s allies Russia and China, which have blocked all UN action, as well as the US and its European allies, who insist that President Bashar Assad must go, they said. Continue Reading »

Israeli soldiers use Palestinians to train army dogs, activist says

Report claims IDF troops order West Bank residents to exit cars and wait, as dogs seek training explosive devices; army spokesman: Soldiers conduct searches to increase Israelis’ safety.

Soldiers from an elite IDF canine unit have been confiscating Palestinian vehicles in order to train their explosive-detecting dogs, an activist monitoring the conduct of soldiers in checkpoints told Haaretz.

The unit in question is Oketz, directly subordinate to IDF command, and which, among other duties, trains dogs to locate weapons and explosives. Its training base is located in the Adam base west of Ramallah.

Oketz training - Breakin the Silence

Oketz soldiers inspecting a Palestinian cab in a West Bank checkpoint - Photo by Tamar Fleischman

According to Tamar Fleischman, Oketz soldiers have been randomly stopping Palestinian vehicles in the last few weeks as they pass through the Jaba checkpoint, near the city of Ramallah. Continue Reading »