The Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) has launched its second annual cultural calendar. The calendar highlights all of the capital’s major cultural events throughout 2012. It provides a clear and concise reference for everyone from tour operators to first-time visitors or even native Jerusalemites.

 Jerusalem has become home to a number of new exciting festivals and cultural events, which have further increased her standing as one of the most diverse and culturally rich tourist destinations on the planet. This year is no exception, with The Jerusalem Opera Festival, The Jerusalem Marathon, The Jerusalem Ice Festival and The Jerusalem Festival of Light amongst the line-up planned for 2012.

 In March Jerusalem is set to take center stage, when athletes from around the world will take part in a The Second Jerusalem Marathon running a breathtaking route through the city streets, old and new. In addition March will also welcome one of the world’s largest Ice Festivals to Jerusalem, covering an enormous space at what was once Jerusalem’s old train station, the festival will feature dozens of magnificent ice sculptures, an ice skating rink an even an ice bar.

 In June things will heat up when the Jerusalem Festival of Light brings the greatest light sculptors in the world to Jerusalem. Their works will light up the streets and alleys of the Old City, major tourist sites and public spaces. In addition, this year the Light Festival will host a special abridged version of Verdi’s La Traviata in the ancient Zedekiah Caves. This event will offer just a sample of some of the great opera available in September when the capital opens its doors to three nights of world class opera at the Jerusalem Opera Festival; to include an unforgettable production of Puccini’s classic La Bohème set in the shadows of Jerusalem’s spectacular old city walls.

 To view the JDA 2012 Cultural Calendar, please visit: http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/muni/messages/docs/14531422012012.pdf

                                                              
In a country as compact as Israel with just a few hours driving time separating Israel’s north and south, tourists visiting Israel in the winter time can – literally – ski in the morning on the snow-covered slopes of the Mount Hermon ski resort and water-ski in the azure blue waters of the Red Sea in Eilat. And after the recent heavy snow falls in the north of the country, the Mount Hermon ski resort is welcoming visitors and tourists alike. Entrance to the resort, which is open from 08:00-16:00,  is free; payment is for cable car  and ski equipment  rental only.

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Eilat, Israel’s premier vacation resort situated at its southernmost tip where the Red Sea meets the Eilat desert mountains, is known not only for its year-round sunshine, water sports, desert activities and unique tourist attractions, but also its packed cultural and sports calendar. Many tourists time their visit to coincide with one of the international music festivals that take place in the resort, while athletes and sports lovers converge on Eilat for the many international sporting events and competitions.

Here are some highlights for the diary:

19-21, January The Red Sea winter Jazz Festival                                                  

The winter version of the legendary Red Sea Jazz Festival featuring Israeli and international jazz artists and ensembles. Performances will take place at the Eilat port, inside a renovated hanger. http://www.redseajazzeilat.com/en/

 20, January Israman and Half-Israman races (Israel Long Distance Triathlon)      

Thousands of triathletes from Israel and abroad will take part in this triathlon ( 4 km swimming, 180 km cycling and a full 42km marathon), ranked as one of the world’s top ten best iron distance races in the world by USA Triathlete magazine.  http://www.israman.co.il/

 1-4, February Fed Cup (Tennis)                                                                            

Eilat will host for the second year in a row 16 teams at the annual Fed Cup, part of the International Tennis Federation. http://www.fedcup.com/en/home.aspx

 11-14, March A.S.A (Academic Sport Association) Games         

Join thousands in this annual event that brings together Israel’s top academic athletes         

http://www.asa.org.il

 18-15, March Isrotel Classicameri Music Festival                                               

The seventh annual Cameri Music Festival will feature 13 different concerts performed by internationally renowned artists. www.isrotel.co.il

14-17, March Eilat Chamber Music Festival                                                        

The 7^th International Eilat Chamber Music Festival featuring renowned artists from Israel and abroad.  http://www.eilat-festival.co.il

  22-24, March 10^th International Salsa Congress                                                   

The 10^th International Salsa Congress will include workshops and shows featured by Latin dancers from throughout the world. 

http://www.medsalsacongress.com/

 25 March- 1 April 6^th Eilat Bird Watching Festival          

Organized by the Israel Ornithological Center, the spring migration festival brings together birders from the world over during the peak week of spring migration in southern Israel.

http://eilatbirdsfestival.com/

 23-25, April Eilat Triathlon European championships                                       

The first time that the city has been selected to host the European Triathlon Championships in which thousands of athletes are expected to participate. http://www.triathlon.org.il/en_ita/en_ita.php#

 17-19, May Eilat Pride Festival                                                                                 

Eilat Pride is Eilat’s annual Lesbian, Gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival. The weekend-long festival includes nonstop parties, activities and entertainment.

http://www.pride.org.il/

 August Red Sea International Jazz Festival                                               

Celebrate 26 years of hot summer jazz with international and Israel jazz artists, ensembles and all-night jam sessions

http://www.redseajazzeilat.com

 November Eilat Red Sea World of Underwater Images Festival                         

An international underwater photography competition integrating elements of photography, high-tech, touristic and diving industries. www.eilatredsea.com

 December Second International Desert Half Marathon                                    

Following last year’s success, run through the desert’s valleys forests and hills at the Second International Half Marathon. http://desertrun.info/

The national pavillion will feature Israel companies with Water Loss solutions and technologies.

To view the full catalogue of particpating Israeli companies click here

The muscle wasting caused by Lou Gehrig’s disease – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – is quick and fatal, with many not surviving five years after diagnosis. Internal organs eventually shut down, leading to respiratory failure. But promising stem cell research from laboratories at Tel Aviv University<http://medicine.tau.ac.il/index.php/departments/pre-clinical-departments/cell/introduction> is the basis of a new drug that could stop the wasting process and improve survival odds.

It’s not a long shot but a treatment based on 10 years of research with a new “orphan drug” status allocated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Clinical trials<http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01051882> are now underway in Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center<http://www.hadassah.org.il/english> under the supervision of Prof. Dimitrios Karussis<http://www.hadassah.org.il/English/Eng_SubNavBar/TheDoctors/karussisdimitrios.htm>, a renowned stem-cell transplant expert and head of Hadassah’s Multiple Sclerosis Center<http://www.hadassah.org.il/English/Eng_SubNavBar/Departments/Medical+departments/Neurology/The+Center+for+Multiple+Sclerosis.htm>. Early clinical evidence being collected by Israeli company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics<http://www.brainstorm-cell.com/>, which owns the license to commercialize the research if it succeeds, suggests that the specially modified stem cells – a treatment called NurOwn – can help slow the progression of the disease.

According to the American ALS Association, about 5,600 people in the United States are diagnosed with ALS each year and as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time. The only drug on the market as of 2011 is Riluzole, improving survival by only a few months. It cannot reverse neuron damage and it causes liver damage in about 10 percent of people taking the drug.

Targeting motor disorders

More effective solutions are needed. But with little known about the cause of ALS and how it develops in the body, new treatments have been hard to come by.

BrainStorm, a Petah Tikva company originally founded to commercialize a drug for Parkinson’s, has developed a methodology useful for a number of motor-brain related disorders, using adult stem cells from a person’s own body to treat dysfunction. This niche area presents greater possibilities for success in the short term. Earning “orphan drug” status – for formulations that address diseases for which there are no solid treatments – also accelerates the process through regulatory hurdles. BrainStorm is currently testing NurOwn, an injectable active compound, on 24 patients in Jerusalem. Half have just been diagnosed with ALS, and the other half are in a later stage of the disease.

Those willing to travel to Israel and commit to at least nine months, if they meet eligibility requirements, will have the opportunity to be part of this clinical study, says BrainStorm’s acting CEO Adrian Harel. As is the case with all clinical trials, a third party is managing the applicants.

Advantages of adult stem cells

Unlike embryonic stem cell therapies, NurOwn’s use of a patient’s own stem cells comes with “no issue of rejection or danger of evolving into cancer,” Harel says. Developed in the labs of Professors Daniel Offen and Eldad Melamed of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Felsenstein Medical Research Center, NurOwn helps the body produce neuroprotectors, proteins that protect the brain against neurodegenerative disorders and will hopefully slow the progression of ALS. Research supporting this revolutionary advance was published by the professors two years ago in the Journal of Stem Cells<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/stem.172/abstract>. Developed over a period of 10 years, the drug could be available in as little as three years if the clinical trials prove successful.

After testing in a mouse model, “we were able to show that the bone marrow-derived stem cells prevent degeneration in the brain following injection of selective neurotoxins,” says Offen. “Researchers also demonstrated that transplantation of these cells increased the survival rate in the mouse model of ALS and significantly delayed the progress of motor dysfunction.”

After the Jerusalem clinical trials are complete and safety and efficacy evaluated, BrainStorm plans to run trials at Massachusetts General Hospital in collaboration with the Medical School of the University of Massachusetts.

NurOwn may also hold promise for treating both Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, Harel says. Typical treatments today only address the symptoms, not the underlying cause.

Israel has always been a crossroads between cultures, traditions and fashion, bringing together the best of international design, material, technique and color. Israeli designers have used this platform to design exotic, inspirational jewelry with the flair that only this diversity can offer.

Israel will be hosting a national pavillion at the upcoming  Jewellery Fair in Hong Kong, the HKTDC.

The israeli Exhibitors will be located in Hall 3D.

To view a catalogue of the exhibiting Israeli companies, click here

To join us on the happy hour or

For further information regarding Tel Aviv’s Gay Pride Parade 2012, please visit the following link:  http://www.gaytlvguide.com/the-guide/pride-parade

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Gyroscopes, Servo Actuators, Position Sensors, Slip Rings, Motors, Fin Control Actuation Systems, Solenoids, Gimbals and more.

ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (NasdaqGS: CKSW), the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for the service industry, today announced that KinCare, one of Australia’s leading providers of in-home and nursing care services, will be implementing ClickSoftware Cloud. The SaaS workforce management solution is expected to be utilized by 1500 care-givers across Australia to help KinCare increase efficiency, manage costs, minimize time spent on IT maintenance and more easily scale its operations to meet demand.

KinCare provides a wide range of home and health care services including nursing care, personal care, domestic assistance, social support, respite care, transport and case management. ClickSoftware Cloud will enable KinCare to automatically deploy its health professionals to the right place, with the right skills, at the right time, using the optimal route. This will help to ensure that the individual health requirements of each end client are managed in a consistent and timely manner.

As part of a drive to revolutionize the homecare market in Australia through the consistent provision of the very best services to its clients, KinCare had already deployed ClickSoftware’s on premise solution to optimize the deployment and activities of its employees. Now, with the company introducing a companywide cloud policy, it has decided to implement ClickSoftware Cloud.

“We have been very happy with ClickSoftware,” said Jerome Barrientos, CIO at KinCare. “The product is part of our suite of tools that has resulted in tangible benefits associated with greater efficiencies for scheduling for our staff and more importantly the increased ability to provide consistent services to a greater number of Australians.

“The move to the cloud is in line with our organization’s IT Strategy. It was an easy decision to continue with ClickSoftware and take advantage of new functionality available in Version 8. A cloud service means IT can continue to focus on how to use technology to enable the organization to achieve the best outcomes for our clients, employees and the community.”

With ClickSoftware customers can choose the most convenient workforce management delivery model by adopting either on premises or SaaS cloud solutions. KinCare expects that ClickSoftware Cloud will allow a more strategic focus on technology, reduced maintenance and infrastructure costs, greater flexibility and the option to rapidly scale the solution as-and-when required. As well as the upgrade, by using ClickSoftware in the cloud KinCare will be able to rapidly rollout the solution to Stanhope, an acquisition that was made by the company in July 2011.

“More and more we’re seeing a global shift by our customers towards cloud based solutions across various industry verticals,” said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Chairman and CEO of ClickSoftware. “KinCare’s continuing relationship with ClickSoftware reinforces our expertise and ability to support cloud based solutions.”

Read more here