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A Hopeful Alzheimer’s Cure

{image_1}Researchers from Tel Aviv University [TAU] are working on a nasal two-in-one vaccine that could protect against both Alzheimer's disease and stroke. The proposed vaccine appears to repair vascular damage in the brain by rounding up “troops” from the body's own immune system. The vaccine not only has a preventative function but could also help fight Alzheimer's symptoms that are already present. This breakthrough is of extraordinary interest to American pharmaceutical makers, given that one in eight Americans will develop the memory-loss disease and because it is often associated with vascular damage in the brain.

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Go Mobile with a Touch Free Cell Phone

{image_1} Thumb fatigue and remote controls will be a thing of the past once phones are equipped with totally touch-free technology from Israel's Extreme Reality (XTR). Debuted at the Texas Instruments booth at the Mobile World Congress in Spain recently, XTR's Motion Capture Engine gesture interface software is the Tel Aviv-based company's basis for a whole slew of marketable application possibilities—including controlling your mobile device without touching it.

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“Palestine” at the UN: Israeli Nightmare or Arab Pipe Dream?

{image_1}The scenario is presented as dramatic and disturbing: Sometime this September, the United Nations could recognize Palestinian statehood in terms Israel could never accept for historic or security reasons. As a result, it is feared Israel could be cast into a diplomatic tailspin that could culminate in international sanctions and even conflict. It’s presented as one of Israel’s worst nightmares, and opinions expressed in Israeli media from the Left and the Right are already sounding the alarm. But are the fears justified? Is Israel really facing its worst diplomatic crisis in decades? Or is the whole scenario a Palestinian fantasy?

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Archaeologists of the Future

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Archaeology is not just for those who have degrees and skillfully direct the digging of ancient treasure. Many volunteers, unschooled in archaeology, join authorized digs as well. When I participated for a week on a summer dig several years ago, I was surprised to see other volunteers there with their young children. Given the proper tools and a little instruction, it’s not too hard for even children, with adult supervision, to be of help to the professionals (though I’m not sure how often it’s allowed).

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Senseless Vandalism

{image_1}Sadly, it has been reported that the large, 30-foot long (9-meter) mosaic at Hirbet Madras, which we covered in our April Dispatch issue, was vandalized. In late March, vandals destroyed large sections of the mosaic that was in almost pristine condition, described by archaeologist Amir Ganor as “one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered in Israel in recent years,” and estimated to be about 1,500 years old.

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Digging in the West Bank

{image_1} While the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists do not work in the West Bank, other Israeli archaeologists do. However, finds within the West Bank  (Judea and Samaria) can be problematic. Though the West Bank is currently under Israeli control, it is “disputed” territory, since much of it is supposedly to become a Palestinian state. If that happens, what happens to everything that has been found in archaeological digs there? If Israelis found it, is it theirs, or since it was found in “Palestinian” territory, will it belong to “Palestine”?

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Goldstone Retracts War Crimes Claim against Israel

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The chairman of the UN Human Rights Council fact-finding team that accused Israel of possibly committing war crimes during the 23-day, 2008–09 Gaza war effectively retracted those claims on April 1 in an op-ed in The Washington Post. Judge Richard Goldstone, of the UN’s Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead, said that if he had known then what he knew now, the report would have been different. He said Israel’s own investigations into the war, which were recognized in a UN follow-up committee’s report, have indicated that “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.”

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Mideast Arms Buyers Stocking Up

{image_1}The governments of the Middle East and North Africa dug deep into their pockets last year to stock up on weapons, according to the annual study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Experts doubt the current wave of political turmoil will do much to change that.

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550 Hizbullah Bunkers Identified

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An Israeli security official provided The Washington Post with a map detailing no less than 550 bunkers, 300 surveillance sites, and 100 other facilities the Jewish state believes belong to Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon. Most of the sites marked on the map are located south of the Litani River. [Hizbullah weapons there would be in violation of the United Nations resolution ending the Second Lebanon War.]

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Egypt Makes Overtures to Iran

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Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has welcomed a proposal by his Egyptian counterpart, Nabil Al-Arabi, to improve ties. “A good relationship between the two countries will definitely help stability, security, and development in the region,” Salehi told The Teheran Times.

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What Is Happening in the Middle East?

I have heard this question nearly every day recently. It is the subject of countless newspaper articles, and everyone in Israel is talking about the changing face of the Middle East. I have also heard the phrase “Gog and Magog” repeatedly used in connection with the shaking Middle East. It isn’t unusual to hear Christians talking about future events and Bible prophecy, but it is much more unlikely in the Jewish world. So, I have been surprised recently to hear many Jewish people referring to the present time as times leading to Gog and Magog.

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Saving Lake Victoria

{image_1}Israel and Germany have signed a letter of intent for a first-of-its-kind joint cooperation effort, with the goal of saving Lake Victoria in Kenya. Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest in the world and is being threatened by a severe ecological disaster. Half of the fish species in the huge lake—410 kilometers (255 miles) long and 250 kilometers (150 miles) wide—have already become extinct. About 30 million people make their living from the seaweed-filled lake that has low oxygen levels. Lake Victoria is one of the sources of the Nile, which is also suffering from the lake's ecological disaster.

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