Israel Active

The Metronit uses special extra-long, fast buses, with several doors to allow for quicker pauses at crowded bus stops. It provides the advantages of a light rail system without the years of road works involved in creating a train line. They are now planned for Tel Aviv and Ra’anana.

Israel’s Composite State of the Economy Index for July 2013 increased by 0.2%, and was significantly impacted by the start of natural gas production. Previously published figures for March, April, May and June were also revised upwards following the recent release of Q2 data. Q2 GDP rose 5.1% - far above expectations.

Ben Gurion airport saw its busiest ever day last Friday’s with a record 70,000 passengers. The figure is expected to be exceeded this Thursday and this August the airport is certain to record the highest monthly passenger traffic numbers in its history.

This Israel Technion video provides a different view of some amazing microscopic objects. The images seen through a diverse range of microscopes are the products of 29 Technion researchers working in the different areas of exact sciences, life sciences, engineering, and medicine.

Israel’s NICE systems announced strong first half growth and profits, plus the acquisition of California-based real-time big data analytics developer Causata Ltd.

Just two weeks after buying Israel’s CSL, IBM has spent over $300 million on its 13th Israeli purchase. Trusteer provides software solutions to protect companies from financial fraud and security threats. IBM will subsequently form a cyber security software lab in Israel.

A French immigrant paid a record NIS 8.58 million (approx 2.45 million dollars) for a new apartment in Netanya. Similar offers for our much more modest apartment will be viewed favorably.

2 for tech startups. The Boston Globe (another newspaper with a poor political balance on Israel) has named Tel Aviv the world's second best city for tech startups, after Silicon Valley in California. Tel Aviv was also stated to have the highest density of tech startups in the world.

Tasigli is an Israeli personal shopping agency, serving global customers looking to locate and purchase unique, high quality and even simple Israeli products. Founded in 2012 by two top officers in the IDF reserves, Tasligli delivers “land of milk & honey” products anywhere in the world.