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

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India To Adopt Israeli Cotton Growing Methods. Indian cotton cultivation will witness a miracle of sorts if the farmers adopt a state-of-the-art Israeli technique that would propel the yield per hectare to as high as 97 per cent, according to industry experts. The textile commissioner has asked cotton advisory board to prepare a report on this technique to take necessary steps towards its implementation. At present, India?9s cotton yield stands at just 45 per cent per hectare, which is far below the international standard whereas Israel has seen per hectare yield jump to the highest in the world at 97 per cent, thanks to the novel technique.

Israeli surgeons perform feat, replace human hip successfully. ISRAELI Orthopaedic Surgeons at Hadassah University hospital MT Scopus made a major medical breakthrough by successfully performing a hip replacement surgery with the assistance of a computer navigation system. The new sophisticated computer navigation system provides surgeons with an accurate three dimensional virtual picture of the surgical area on a computer screen in front of them as they proceed with the operation.

Israeli Researchers hint that we watch movies alike. Do we all see the natural world in the same way? Israeli researchers monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they watched a movie. The research showed the brain-activity patterns of people watching the same movie look very similar, regardless of their gender and age. Viewers tend to focus on the same faces and objects, even when they are looking at complex scenes. "This similarity was so strong that you could take a small part of one subject's brain and predict what will be the activity in the corresponding part of the brain of another person watching the same movie," said Rafael Malach, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who co-authored the study. The experiment also showed that different brain areas actually pick up different types of scenes, from a close-up of an actor to an outdoor scene. The research is published in this week's issue of the journal Science.

Optimism soars among Israeli VCs. The current level of optimism is the strongest seen since the launch of the survey two and half year ago, it said. Eight-two percent expect the overall economic climate to improve over the next six months, compared to 72% in the previous quarter and only 8% in the first quarter of 2003. 58% expect raising new funds by companies from VCs to be less difficult, compared with 41% in the previous survey. 61% anticipate that five to 10 Israeli hi-tech companies will go public this year.

Israeli college developing Mars vehicle. Israel’s Space Agency has begun to develop an innovative project – building a space vehicle that would roam the surface of Mars. Eventually, the vehicle is to join the NASA fleet. NASA’s current robots are operated by remote control from earth, while the Israeli robots would be completely independent while navigating on Mars.

Israeli orchestra brings crowd to its feet. A tour by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is no ordinary event. The group hasn't played in Cleveland since 1967, and a large, enthusiastic crowd turned out to greet it Sunday night at Severance Hall. The audience that sprang to its feet at the end of a performance of Prokofiev, Beethoven and Shostakovich wasn't satisfied by just one encore, a full-out performance of the ``Death of Tybalt'' movement from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. After enthusiastic rhythmic clapping, the kind you're more likely to hear in a European house than an American one, the orchestra played another encore, the ``Hungarian Dance'' from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Israel gives India 'eyes in the sky'. The Indian Air Force will now have effective 'eyes in the sky' to detect hostile missiles and aircraft much before ground-based radars. India and Israel on Friday signed the $1.1-billion deal for the supply of three airborne 'Phalcon' early-warning radar and communication systems to the IAF. As per this long-awaited deal, the largest-ever between the two rapidly emerging strategic partners, Israel will supply all the three 'Phalcons' to India within five years. Apart from tracking cruise missiles, low-flying aircraft and other air intrusions from hundreds of kilometres away in all-weather conditions, AWACS can also position air defence fighters during combat operations. With AWACS, India has purchased a spectrum of air defence and surveillance systems from Israel, which includes Aerostat radars, 'Searcher-II" and "Heron" UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and the advanced "Green Pine" fire-control radar (which can detect and track incoming missiles from around 500 km away).

Korea and Europe Scrambling for Israeli Technology. Leading Korean manufacturer LG Electronics is planning to open a branch in Israel in order to coordinate multi-million dollar investments in local hi-tech companies. This would allow LG to purchase new advanced technologies for its product development efforts. Furthermore, the company hopes to expand its presence on the Israeli technological market. LG discovered the Israeli “Silicon Wadi” after realizing that its European competitors invest in Israeli start-ups and purchase the most advanced technologies here.

Israeli researchers see a possible link between the blood pressure problem during pregnancy and some types of tumors. Women with a history of preeclampsia may have a higher risk of developing cancer, especially cancers of the stomach, breast, ovary, lung and larynx, a new study says.

Israeli Satellite to Aid Europe. Israel's leading satellite company has signed a contract to provide remote-sensing images to the European Union for both civilian and military applications. ImageSat International has signed a contract with the European Union Satellite Center to provide images from the Israeli firm's Eros-A reconnaissance satellite, based on Israel's Ofeq-3 military satellite. The imagery will be provided during 2004 and represents a continuation of a deal begun last year. Eros-A, which orbits the earth at an altitude of 480 kilometers, has a images with a resolution of 1.8 meters.

Israeli Power Paper among Business 2.0's hottest start-ups. Ultra-thin battery company Power Paper, based in Petah Tikva, has been named to Business 2.0's "12 Hot Startups" list for 2004. Business 2.0 compiled the list of 12 companies to watch from assessments by venture capitalists of startups that will be on everyone's lips years from now. Power Paper's technology is used in consumer and technology applications such as micro-electronic cosmetic and therapeutic patches, smart labels based on radio frequency identification (RFID), and empowered notebooks and toys.

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.