Good news from the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population.

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Israel Produces Hydrogen Fuel Through Solar Technology. Innovative solar technology that may offer a 'green' solution to the production of hydrogen fuel has been successfully tested on a large scale at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rechovot. The technology also promises to facilitate the storage and transportation of hydrogen. The chemical process behind the technology was originally developed at Weizmann, and it has been scaled up in collaboration with European scientists. The process generates no pollution, and the resultant zinc can be easily stored and transported, and converted to hydrogen on demand. In addition, the zinc can be used directly, for example, in zinc-air batteries, which serve as efficient converters of chemical to electrical energy. Thus, the method offers a way of storing solar energy in chemical form and releasing it as needed. Results of the experiments will be reported in August at the 2005 Solar World Congress of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) in Orlando, Florida. The new solar technology produces an easily storable intermediate energy source form from metal ore, such as zinc oxide. With the help of concentrated sunlight, the ore is heated to about 1,200°C in a solar reactor in the presence of wood charcoal. The process splits the ore, releasing oxygen and creating gaseous zinc, which is then condensed to a powder. Zinc powder can later be reacted with water, yielding hydrogen, to be used as fuel, and zinc oxide, which is recycled back to zinc in the solar plant. In recent experiments, the 300-kilowatt installation produced 45 kilograms of zinc powder from zinc oxide in one hour, exceeding projected goals.

Israeli Doctor’s Revolutionary New Bandage Will Save Lives. Dr. Sody Naimer, an Israeli doctor, has developed a remarkable new bandage called ELastic ADhesive Bandage (ELAD) that appears to be superior to standard bandages and tourniquets in stopping hemorrhaging. As a family doctor in the Gush Katif region, Naimer became an expert in dealing with many types of serious injuries suffered by victims of car accidents as well as by soldiers who have been injured by gunfire or shrapnel. Research shows that almost 50% of battlefield fatalities are due to hemorrhaging and that almost 20% of those victims could have been saved with better methods of hemorrhage control. The ELAD bandage addresses some of the current limitations in methods for controlling bleeding. Direct compression, while effective, prevents rescuers from providing the patient with other lifesaving care because the pressure needs to be constant. The ELAD bandage is currently saving lives in Israel and South Africa. The bandage is under consideration by the Israeli military and the Red Cross. If it enters mass production, its low price and superior performance may make its impact even more far reaching."

50 year-old Israeli marathoner . Fifty-year-old Haile Satayin continued to turn heads as he finished 21st overall in the marathon at the athletics world championships in Finland. Satayin, the Israeli-record holder, burst onto the world scene last year when he crossed the finish line 20th at the Olympics in Athens. His impressive time of two hours, 17 minutes, and 26 seconds was amazingly just one second slower than his Olympic result.

Israeli film wins top prize at Copenhagen festival. 'Live and Become', the story of an Ethiopian child who is sent to Israel passing as a Jew to save him from famine, won the best film award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival on Saturday. The film, a French-Israeli production and one of 10 European works in competition, also won the festival's Golden Swan award for best screenplay. 'Live and Become' is based on an Israeli operation named 'Moses', under which thousands of Jewish children were evacuated from Ethiopia during that country's 1984 famine and resettled in Israel.

Israeli author Amos Oz receives Goethe Prize . The highest honour bestowed by the central German city of Frankfurt, the Goethe Prize has been in existence since 1927. Previous recipients included Sigmund Freund (1930) and Ingmar Bergman (1976).

More Ethiopians Israel Bound. Ariel Sharon’s announcement that the Israeli government will double the rate of Ethiopian Jewish immigration to Israel is being called a breakthrough by those who long have lobbied to help the Falash Mura. The bill is projected at close to $2 billion — an estimated $100,000 for each of the 20,000 Ethiopians eligible to immigrate.

Facts about the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population.


  • Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
  • Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
  • In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel.
  • When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
  • When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day - and saved three victims from the rubble.
  • Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
  • Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
  • Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
  • Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.
  • Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
  • Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
  • Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
  • Israel has the highest per capita ratio of scientific publications in the world by a large margin, as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
  • In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
  • Israel is ranked #2 in the world for VC funds right behind the US.
  • Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
  • Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies
  • Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 is over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
  • With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).
  • With an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s, Israel has the largest fleet of the aircraft outside of the US.
  • Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
  • The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola-Israel. Motorola built its largest development center worldwide in Israel.
  • Windows NT software was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
  • The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
  • Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
  • AOL's instant message program was designed by an Israeli software company.
  • Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel
  • The city of Beer Sheva in Israel has the highest percentage in the world of Chess Grand Masters per capita – one for every 22,875 residents.
  • On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups
  • Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.
  • Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees -- ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland -- and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.