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Religious Pope Benedict’s resignation shocked many in the Roman Catholic world. Benedict, 85, managed almost eight years before citing old age and deteriorating health to explain his decision to resign willingly rather than die in office. The last pope to resign willingly was Celestine V in 1294 after reigning for only five months. Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the papacy. — Reuters, 2/13/2013About 100 million Christians are persecuted around the world, with conditions worsening for them most rapidly in Syria and Ethiopia, according to an annual report by Open Doors, a non-denominational Christian group. North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan are the three toughest countries for Christians. They topped the 50 -country ranking for 2011 as well. "There are over 65 countries where Christians are persecuted," said the report. — Reuters, 1/8/2013Demand at kosher food pantries around the U.S. is up, their directors report. The authors of a 2011 survey of Jewish New Yorkers shocked many within and without the Jewish community. It revealed that Jewish poverty has risen in the past decade, increasing faster than poverty among other groups. One in five of the 1.7 million Jews in the New York area — the largest Jewish community in the nation — now live in poverty or near poverty. The study’s authors noted the proliferation of fervently Orthodox families, who, more than less observant Jews, shoulder the expense of Jewish schools and keeping kosher. — Huffington Post, 1/11/2013Two leading Lutheran clerics have rejected suggestions from the Vatican that it could create a subdivision for converted Lutherans similar to its structures for Anglicans who join the Roman Catholic Church. The dispute, concerning tiny numbers of believers but major issues in ecumenical relations, comes as the churches mark the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. — Reuters, 1/22/2013Chicago’s Muslim community is among the nation’s largest and most diverse. About 400,000 Muslims live here, and the 15 new mosques built in the last decade are one indication of wealth, growth, and political connectedness. — Washington Post, 2/5/2013The rate of Catholic baptisms to overall live births in the United States dropped from one -quarter in the late 1990s and early 2000s to one-fifth in recent years according to Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Southern Baptists, having a different style and criteria for baptism (immersing only those old enough to make a profession of faith), have sounded alarms about their own declining baptismal numbers. — Louisville Courier Journal, 2/19/2013Social A spiral galaxy reaching five times longer than the Milky Way was measured by researchers, making it the largest known in the universe. NGC 6872’s spiral arms are separated by a massive 522,000 light-years, as opposed to about 100,000 light -years for the Milky Way. NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer spacecraft provided the detailed measurement after years of study. The galaxy probably formed several billion years ago with an unusual appearance that scientists suspect is caused by gravitational interaction with a neighboring galaxy. — Slate, 1/11/2013Most of the genetic quirks people carry today popped up within the last 5000 years or so, researchers report online November 28 in Nature. — Science News, 12/29/2012Recent medical innovations are so futuristic, they seem like miracles. From paralyzed patients controlling robotic arms to researchers who grow new body parts, the medical world is fast changing. In five years, the number of new inventions in medical information technology tripled, according to Chris Coburn, executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations. — BetaNews, 2/19/2013 Bottlenose dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds. Other than humans, the dolphins are the only animals known to do this, according to the study, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These communications consist of whistles, not words. Earlier research found that bottlenose dolphins name themselves, with dolphins having a "signature whistle" that encodes other information. They also say the names of certain other dolphins. "Animals produced copies when they were separated from a close associate and this supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite," said lead author Stephanie King, of the University of St. Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit. King and her colleagues collected acoustic data from wild bottlenose dolphins around Sarasota Bay, Florida, from 1984 to 2009. — Discovery News, 2/19/2013U.S. births have dropped to their lowest level since 1920. Fewer babies are being born while the wave of 78 million older Baby Boomers have only begun to retire. The recent decline has pushed the U.S. fertility rate below the replacement level. In 1970, there were 22.2 Americans age 65 and over for every 100 working -age adults ages 25 to 64. Based on Census projections, the ratio will rise above 40 by 2030. — USA Today, 2/15/2013The kids in a village in the East African country of Ethiopia wear dirty, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all know the English alphabet, and some can make words. The key to their success: 20 tablet computers dropped off in their village last February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child. The goal is to find out whether kids using new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The answer, say Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, is amazing — the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten," said Matt Keller, who runs the program. — Washington Post, 1/18/2013280,000 — the number of women serving as soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, with 152 killed in action. — USA Today, 1/26/2013The Bureau of Labor Statistics released figures showing the percentage of workers who are union members is 11.3 percent, the lowest level since 1983, when the government began collecting comparable data. Then, the union membership was 20.1 percent. But federal unions, except for U.S. Postal Service labor organizations, are different. In May of fiscal year 2012, 1.2 million federal employees were in a bargaining unit, according to the Office of Personnel Management. That’s an increase of almost 98,000 since 2002. — Washington Post, 1/28/2013Political The "Polder Model" in the Netherlands seeks to divvy up the effects of the economic downturn in a way that feels fair to all. Employers agree not to eliminate as many jobs in exchange for worker agreements to pay cuts and no strikes. Government cut spending evenly across all groups. The term comes from the days when maintaining the system of windmills and dikes kept floods from turning farms into marshland. The farms were called "polders." — AP, 1/26/2013Northern Mali, an area about the size of France, is controlled by a Tuareg militia, Ansar al -Din and its terrorist group allies, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. These groups want to impose Islamic law across Mali. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in a report released late last year that northern Mali was "at risk of becoming a permanent haven for terrorists and organized criminal networks where people are subjected to a very strict interpretation of Shariah law and human rights are abused on a systematic basis." — NBC News, 1/17/2013The Islamic Republic of Iran could be just 18 months away from having the ability to develop the nuclear fuel for a nuclear weapon, according to a new report from experts in the field. The report’s authors — The Project on US Middle East Nonproliferation Strategy — called upon the US and its allies to increase pressure on Iran before they acquire "critical capability," the nuclear weapons threshold that also concerns Israel. The report defines that capability as being able to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build at least one nuke "before the production of such an amount can reasonably be expected to be detected" by the West. — Mideast Update, 1/15/2013The Arkansas Senate is voting on legislation that would allow concealed handguns in churches, the first of several gun-related measures expected this year. The Senate on Thursday planned to vote on a proposal by Republican Senator Bryan King of Green Forest that would remove churches from the list of places where concealed weapons are prohibited. — AP, 01/24/2013Almost all powerful Washington institutions have been penetrated by Chinese cyberspies, according to computer experts. The list of those hacked in recent years includes law firms, think tanks, news organizations, human rights groups, contractors, congressional offices, embassies and federal agencies. "The dark secret is there is no such thing as a secure unclassified network," said James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has been hacked in the past. "Law firms, think tanks, newspapers — if there’s something of interest, you should assume you’ve been penetrated." — Washington Post, 2/20/2013Financial Over the past five years, China has lent Venezuela more than $35 billion. China has also bankrolled the biggest resort under construction in the Western hemisphere — a massive complex in the Bahamas. Chinese money is breathing life into government infrastructure projects. Trillions of dollars in reserves the country holds in U.S. Treasury bonds pay almost nothing in interest. Making that money work harder for a return has become a national priority. In 2009 and 2010 alone, over $65 billion was invested from Ecuador to Russia and Turkmenistan, according to a report from the Brookings Institute. — AP, 2/18/2013Major U.S. banks have turned to the National Security Agency for help protecting their computer systems after a barrage of assaults disrupting their Web sites, according to industry officials. The attacks, starting about a year ago but intensifying in September, have grown increasingly sophisticated, officials said. The NSA has been asked to provide technical assistance to help banks further assess their systems and to better understand the attackers’ tactics. — Washington Post, 1/11/201316 percent — the share of Americans 65 or older in the labor force, up from 12 percent in 1990. — USA Today, 1/25/2013New home construction has rebounded to levels not seen since the depths of the financial crisis, according to new government data, as what had once been a major drag on the economy now appears to be a bright spot. The Census Bureau reported that new home construction rose 28 percent in 2012. Builders received permits for more than 800,000 units last year, up 30 percent from the previous year, government data shows. "We think the recovery is real this time," said Scott Anderson, chief economist for Bank of the West. "One of the bright spots in our forecast is the housing market." — Washington Post, 1/1/2013Global natural disasters in 2012 combined to cause economic losses of $200 billion, just above the 10-year average of $187 billion annually. — USA Today, 1/25/2013Shinzo Abe’s effort to restart Japan’s long-stalled economy took another step forward with the an nouncement of a 10.3 trillion fiscal stimulus plan (that’s about $100 billion) paired with renewed talk of monetary easing: Mr. Abe also reiterated pressure on Japan’s central bank to make a firmer commitment to stopping deflation by pumping more money into the economy — a measure the prime minister says is crucial to getting businesses to invest and consumers to spend. — MoneyBox, 1/11/2013Israel After seven dry years that sent Israel into somewhat of a water austerity regimen, the Water Authority announced last week that it was lifting the "severe drought" advisory issued for the water market several years ago. "The water crisis is over," said Water Authority Head Alexander Kushner, adding that while the water market is stable, Israelis should not become complacent. According to the Water Authority, while the heavy rains of late were a blessed addition to Lake Kinneret [Sea of Galilee] — Israel’s main source of freshwater — it is the fast-growing desalination and water reclamation industry that is responsible for bringing Israel back from the brink. — Ynet News, 2/4/2013 The rainstorm that swept through Is-rael in January caused the Dead Sea to rise by 4 inches — the first recorded increase in volume in a decade. The Dead Sea’s shore has been steadily receding over the years and numerous campaigns to raise awareness for its plight have taken place. The salty body of water is fed by the Jordan River and streams in the Judean Hills. The Sea of Galilee hit record levels during and after the storm, rising by more than 27 inches. The Sea of Galilee’s water also feeds the Jordan River, which in turn feeds the Dead Sea. — www.israel21c.org, 1/20/2013The World Bank approved an Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian project that they say could save the Dead Sea. According to a Globes report, the [US] $10 billion plan will see a mostly underground pipeline built from the north of the Jordanian city of Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Environmentalists fought against the 10 -year project, saying the new canal could destroy the sea’s fragile and unique ecosystem. — israel21c.org, 1/20/2013A privately held Israeli medical device company is now offering a safe and effective, novel off-the-shelf cartilage regeneration solution in a global market worth an estimated [US] $1.6 billion annually. CartiHeal’s trademarked "Agili -C" can be implanted in a single-step arthroscopic procedure. In clinical studies, it was shown to regenerate true hyaline cartilage (the most abundant type of cartilage in the human body) after six months. Other experimental treatments generate only "hyaline-like" cartilage, which is actually a non-lasting fibrous tissue rather than the real deal. Clinical results to date, confirm rapid cartilage and bone formation, as clearly visible on MRIs and X-rays. Patients are reporting significant improvement in pain level and return to normal function, including sports. — israel21c.org, 1/15/2013In an article titled, "Where is Sodom?", archaeologist Steven Collins, using clues from the Biblical geography of Genesis 13 together with archaeological evidence from the site of Tall el -Hammam, argues that Biblical tradition located Sodom in a fertile area northeast of the Dead Sea. According to the Bible, God destroyed Sodom and all the inhabitants of the "cities of the plain" in an intense conflagration, but not before allowing Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family to flee to safety. — Biblical Archaeological Review, March/April 2013Nuclear experts in the US and Middle East have raised concerns about the security of up to 55 tons of unenriched uranium in Syria. Such a stockpile could be a vital resource to building a nuclear bomb and could have disastrous implications if seized by Iran. Not much is known about the Syrian nuclear program, and the country denied ever having had one. But intelligence data collected at the time indicated that President Bashar Assad regime’s was close to completing a nuclear reactor at Al -Kibar, in the east of the country, when it was reportedly destroyed by Israeli jets in September 2007. — Financial Times, 1/8/2013Egyptian media recently aired a video showing President Mohammed Morsi making harsh statements against Israel in 2010 when he served as the Muslim Brotherhood’s official spokesman. He claimed that "We should employ all forms of resistance against them. There should be military resistance within the land of Palestine against these criminal Zionists who attack Palestine and the Palestinians." However, several Egyptian media outlets used another version of the clip to discredit Morsi for altering his radical views since taking power. This version shows Egyptian Ambassador to Israel, Atef Salem, saying "I come with a message of peace" after he presented his letter of credence to President Shimon Peres. — Ynetnews, 1/5/2013The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, premieres the world’s first exhibition on the life and legacy of Herod the Great, through October 5, 2013. It presents approximately 250 archaeological finds from Herod’s recently discovered tomb at Herodium, as well as from Jericho and other related sites. — Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2/13/2013 |
