Yeah- hows that Israel boycott coming, btw?

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HBO orders 40 episodes of Israeli series. HBO has decided to order 40 new episodes of the series "Treatment," based on the critically-acclaimed Israeli television series "Betipul." The series portrays a psychologist who treats patients at his clinic five days a week and then seeks psychological treatment for himself. The original Israeli series was aired on the Israeli HOT cable network and starred actor Assi Dayan. HBO will cast actor Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) in the leading role as the psychologist. The 45 episodes will be the same number of episodes originally aired in Israel.

Israeli Scientists Develop Heart Muscle With Embryonic Stem Cells In a breakthrough development, Israeli researchers have successfully created new heart muscle with a built-in blood supply by using human embryonic stem cells. The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists say they new development could now make possible the replacement of tissue damaged in heart attacks. It is the first time the researchers have created a three-dimensional cardiac tissue with blood vessels.

Israeli male lifespan among highest in developed countries. Men in only five countries have longer lifespans than Israeli males, who live an average of 78 years: Iceland (79.2), Japan (78.6), Switzerland (78.6), Sweden (78.4), and Australia (78.1). The average lifespan is one measure for defining quality of life and differentiating between developed and undeveloped countries.

Israel Startups Raise $1.62B. Israeli high-tech startups raised $1.62 billion in 2006, the highest amount in five years. The figure represented a 21 percent rise over the previous year. An Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center survey noted that 402 companies raised funds from foreign and local venture investors. Life science startups raised $369 million last year, a record since the survey began in 1999. In the fourth quarter of 2006, local high-tech firms raised $477 million, a 25 percent increase over the previous quarter. The rise was particularly noteworthy as it followed this summer’s war along Israel’s northern border.

Israeli piano duo to perform in Hanoi. The acclaimed Israeli piano duo Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg will give a performance tonight at the Hanoi Opera House. Silver and Garburg, two of the most brilliant Israeli pianists, will play pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt. The two artists gave a lecture to students of the Hanoi Conservatory this morning. Praised for their lyric sensitivity, extraordinary inner perception and overwhelming technical mastering, the artists’ performances have been successful in 40 countries around the world. Silver and Garburg founded their duo in 1997 and within a few years became one of the most remarkable piano-duos on international stages, gaining enthusiastic acclaim by music audiences and critics. They have been the first prize winners of numerous national and international competitions both as soloists and as a duo.

Israeli Electronics Teaming with Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems. RADA Electronic Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: RADI), of Israel, announced today that it has signed a Teaming Agreement with Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corporation to cooperate in the construction and installation of the Skyguard(TM) High Energy Laser Defensive System aimed at hostile rockets and missiles interception for use by the State Of Israel. Skyguard(TM) is the end product of over thirty years of development of laser weapon systems by NGST. Skyguard(TM) has higher power and a larger beam than previous designs, making it a much more capable system. A single Skyguard(TM) system can defend a large civilian population or industrial area, large military installation and/or deployed forces. The first Skyguard(TM) system could be deployed in Israel within 18 months of date of order.

India to buy Israeli air defence system. India has agreed to buy the Spyder system in the deal worth about $240 million. The truck-mounted system is made by Israel's Rafael armaments company. The Spyder is designed to counter attacks by aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and precision guided munitions.

Israeli Bomb-Sniffing Breakthrough for BagsIsraeli startup TraceGuard aims to thwart terrorists with technology it claims can detect solid and liquid explosives with greater accuracy.

Busy week for Israeli Hi-Tech Amdocs ended a busy week of deals for Israeli hi-tech companies, expanding its presence in the Chinese telecommunications market. That deal followed Tower Semiconductor winning a contract with California-based Ikanos Communications to manufacture its Vx160 high-performance DSL network processor. Earlier in the week, Netanya-based Saifun Semiconductor extended the license of the Saifun NROM(R) technology to Tower for the manufacture of Embedded Flash and Embedded EEPROM products. Ceragon Networks, a provider of high-capacity wireless backhaul solutions, said that Ukraine's largest mobile operator, Kyivstar GSM, has been deploying its new FibeAir 1500HP since the product's release in late 2005. HP Israel won a tender to establish the new computer environment for the Strauss Elite Group resulting from the new organizational needs arising after the merger of food companies Elite Industries and Strauss in 2004.

Israeli Company Develops Bananas That Defend Themselves. An Israeli biotech company has developed banana plants that are completely resistant to pathogenic nematodes, which are parasitic organisms that normally damage the plants and their fruit.

Israeli-Made Tank Force Field Could Be Deployed Soon An Israeli-made missile defense system that creates a virtual force field around armored vehicles could be ready to deploy within months. A recent report on NBC criticized the Pentagon for failing to buy in to the Israeli protection system earlier, and instead preferring to wait another five years for a similar system being developed by US defense contractor Raytheon. That expose was followed by a Senate order to US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to assess the need for and viability of purchasing and deploying the Israeli system.

Israeli/US students design for light helicopter wins international competition. Thirteen engineering and aeronautics students at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in cooperation with students at the Pennsylvania State University, have won first prize in an international competition for helicopter design run by Bell Helicopters and the American Helicopter Society. Dubbed "GrassChopper," the judges panel found the winning model much superior to the other designs in altitude and speed. It met the demands of the competition in having space for two pilots and cargo, and being able to remain static in the air for two hours. For the first time, students from two different universities in two countries collaborated on the final project for their Bachelor's degree.

Israelis invent hydrogen car that uses just a tank of water. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have devised a scheme that gets round the problem of dangerous and expensive hydrogen infrastructure, and makes possible 100% green cars that emit only water from their tailpipe. By reacting water with the element boron, their system produces hydrogen that can be burnt in an internal combustion engine or fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity. The only by-product is boron oxide, which can be removed from the car, turned back into boron, and used again. What's more, they plan to do this in a solar-powered plant that is completely emission-free.

Israeli uses Einstein to help you board your plane faster. Eitan Bachmat and his colleagues at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, were studying the performance of digital storage systems such as PC hard drives, looking at how to read and write data most efficiently. Say you send your hard drive a big bunch of read/write requests. What you want to know is the quickest way to carry out those tasks. How do you find the fewest drive rotations needed to do the job? That looked a lot like airplane boarding, and Bachmat and his colleagues decided to explore this parallel route. Having called their virtual passengers to this mathematical boarding gate, Bachmat and his colleagues can calculate the overall boarding time by finding the equivalent of a free-fall trajectory through that passenger "space-time". The maths isn't simple but it gives you formulae for calculating boarding time under different boarding policies. Crucially, it also lets you see the effect of varying parameters such as legroom and luggage-stowing time.

Mercury acquisition by HP for $4.5 billion proves Israel’s software leadership. Mercury is an Israeli company that started out as an Israeli start-up, based in Israel and founded on Israeli know-how is significant. The know-how of the company and its people is what is being bought.

Israeli chance discovery can stop cancer in its tracks. Work carried out at The Hebrew University has produced a new drug treatment for halting the growth and spread of cancer cells.

New Intel chips based on technology developed in Israel. Intel has replaced its basic series of processors with the new Core 2 Duo series, which has doubled the computing core, and was designed at Intel’s Haifa R&D center in Israel.

Red Herring spotlights Israel. Israel is one of the hottest places for venture capitalist nowadays and a global player in innovation declared Red Herring, the leading internet technology and financial news magazine in the Silicon Valley.

Israeli Network takes France by storm. The Israeli Network, the television channel that broadcasts Israeli programming to Jewish and Israeli communities abroad, signed a broadcast agreement with the French media giant, FREE. The broadcast agreement opens a channel to largest Jewish community in Europe.

Israeli invention gives paralyzed a chance to walk. An Israeli-developed and manufactured wireless, computer-controlled device that enables safe walking for people with a foot paralyzed due to stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Israeli Company make Fish Farming more Environmentally Safe. Israeli-based Atlantium has developed a UV filter system already in use in Turkey to decrease the need for nasty fish antibiotics by about 90 percent. The largest food conglomerate in Turkey increased production of the two types of fish they grow by 50 and 100 percent, while reducing antibiotic use by 90 percent. Maintenance was reduced from 30 hours to less than one hour per month with hardly any downtime, all of which lead to significantly increased profits. Atlantium's UV-filter is also ideal for cleaning up the aftermath left by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

Israeli Study Ties Moderate Beer Drinking To Lower Heart Attack Risk. A beer a day may help keep heart attacks away, according to a group of Israeli researchers. In preliminary clinical studies of a group of men with coronary artery disease, the researchers showed that drinking one beer (12 ounces) a day for a month produced changes in blood chemistry that are associated with a reduced risk of heart attack.

Israel Designs "Rotorless" Helicopter for US Military. Israel's Urban Aeronautics is to sign a cooperation agreement with Bell Helicopter for the delivery of helicopters to all branches of the US armed forces. At this stage, the company has obtained financing to develop its vertical-take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, a "rotorless" helicopter, for the US Navy. This week, the company unveiled a model of its helicopter at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK. Thanks to its special structure, the aircraft can approach close to the window of an office building at any floor to rescue people.

Israeli Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Deal. Israeli Jungo is to provide an American telephony company with platform enabling providers to offer customer rich digital entertainment content over residential networks while minimizing network resources.

Israel Tests New Drugs for Emphysema Breakthrough. Israeli Kamada, a bio-pharmaceutical developer and manufacturer of prescription drugs, has been granted by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (the EMEA), approval of its plan to begin phase 1 clinical trials on a respiratory form of its API drug product. Successful results of the clinical trials of the respiratory form will mark a breakthrough in the treatment of Congenital Emphysema, as well as other lung disease indications.

Israeli Scientists Decode Global Warming Puzzle. The formation of clouds is affected by the lightness or darkness of air pollution particles, U.S. and Israeli scientists have determined, solving one puzzing question about the role of clouds in global warming. The capacity of air pollution to absorb energy from the Sun is the key to the puzzle. In a breakthrough study published today in the online edition of the journal "Science," scientists explain why aerosols - tiny particles suspended in air pollution and smoke - sometimes stop clouds from forming and in other cases increase cloud cover.

VCs Name Hot Israeli Startups. Three Israeli startups —Amimon, BrainsGate, and Zend — received first prizes Tuesday as the best young companies in their respective sectors at the Israel Venture Association’s annual meeting in Tel Aviv. The competition, co-sponsored by Red Herring and the Israel Venture Association, was limited to early-stage companies with revenue of up to $10 million in 2005 supported by venture funds associated with the IVA. The companies were chosen because of their vision, technological innovation, and potential impact.

Israeli Researchers Regenerate Tendons, Ligaments With Stem Cells. Israeli researchers are using adult stem cells to regenerate torn tendon and ligament tissue at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Israel Sends Aid to Flooded Romania. Israeli aid workers are helping Romania deal with the flooding of the Danube River and the loss of thousands of homes.

Google buys search algorithm invented by Israeli student. Search engine giant Google recently acquired an advanced text search algorithm invented by Ori Alon, an Israeli student.

Israel Researchers Regenerate Tendons, Ligaments With Stem Cells. Israeli researchers are using adult stem cells to regenerate torn tendon and ligament tissue at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Adult stem cells are being used by an Israeli research team to create a new orthopedic solution to a difficult and common problem: how to heal torn ligaments and tendons.

Israeli hip-hop violinist blazes her own trail — and makes it big. She played at the Super Bowl in Detroit in early February, she was the featured performer at a Hillary Clinton campaign event in New York just three weeks later, she’s the poster child for Reebok’s “I Am What I Am” campaign, and she’s got her own television show in the works. After several years playing violin behind hip-hop and pop stars like Kanye West and Jay-Z, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey, Grammy award winner Miri Ben-Ari — a nice Jewish girl from Israel turned gangsta violinist from New York — is stepping into the limelight, determined to become a household name.

Israeli researchers close in on vaccine for autoimmune diseases. A revolutionary approach developed in Israel which uses the body's own cells as a vaccine for treating autoimmune diseases is showing tremendous potential in human trials.