In what is believed to be a global first, Israel’s Tel Aviv University has launched a new initiative to better understand the novel coronavirus and battle future pandemics. Despite tens of millions of COVID-19 cases worldwide, the coronavirus remains largely misunderstood — but there’s one thing scientists know without a doubt: We can expect more health crises to come. That’s why Tel Aviv University opened the Center for Combating Pandemics, thought to be the first of its kind, in early February. “In the past 15 years, the world has seen a string of viral pathogens infect large numbers of people,…
Author: zenger.news
A millionaire Moscow mom already raising 11 of her own biological children now hopes to have dozens more by using surrogate mothers. Russian mom Christina Ozturk, 23, lives with her wealthy, hotel owner husband Galip Ozturk in the coastal town of Batumi, Georgia, where it is legal to use surrogate mothers. After 10 surrogate babies, plus one that was born naturally for Christina, the couple have the process down to a fine art. All the potential surrogates go through counseling and sign legal paperwork before becoming pregnant with children genetically from Christina and her husband. Russian mother Christina Ozturk with…
NEW DELHI – Now that most curbs — imposed to halt the Covid-19 spread — have been lifted, a new trend is taking shape in India: revenge travel. Those in the industry say many people are spending more, with vengeance, as there is a sudden release of the pent-up desire to go places. New Delhi-based Aniruddha Banerjee, a 31-year-old account manager at Uber for Business, a travel fanatic, plans to make up for lost time this year. “Can’t wait to travel with a vengeance,” said Banerjee. “I think being cooped up at home was hard, and now that things have…
“Man Naked”, India’s first single-shot film on a struggling 40-year-old actor whose destiny changes when his naked pictures flood the internet after he blacks out after a night of binge drinking, is receiving accolades internationally. The film was a finalist at the Tokyo International Film Festival and a semi-finalist at Montreal Film Festival. It was selected for the Venice Shorts, Cannes Independent Film Festival, and Goa Film Festival. The two-hour Hindi language movie also won the best film, the best actor, and the best director awards at the Next International Short Film Festival in September 2020. “I have been in the industry…
MUMBAI, India — Global 5G adoption is set to take a major leap forward from this year. In 2026, 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions are forecast, with India accounting for 27 percent, according to the November 2020 Ericsson Mobility Report. While India will not have commercial 5G ready until 2022, the most recent government report says, telecom operators including Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are already testing 5G capabilities. In the past, telecoms had to depend on single vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, Samsung, and others for end-to-end solutions (hardware and software) for building their networks. Now, telecom operators are increasingly relying…
While many Indians are asking US President Joseph R. Biden to take action against American celebrities such as singer Rihanna, actor Susan Sarandon, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s niece Meena Harris for tweeting in favor of protesting farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached out to him to exchange pleasantries. “Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden and conveyed my best wishes for his success,” tweeted Modi on Feb. 8. “We discussed regional issues and our shared priorities. We also agreed to further our co-operation against climate change.” “President @JoeBiden and I are committed to a rules-based international order,” said Modi in a…
After just one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, those who become infected with the coronavirus before their second dose still present a much lower transmission risk. The vaccine appears to lower the viral load four-fold for infections occurring 12 to 28 days after the first of two doses, according to a pre-published study on Feb. 8 supported by the Israel Science Foundation’s KillCorona-Curbing Coronavirus Research Program. The paper, which has not yet been peer reviewed, was written by scientists from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Maccabi Research Institute. Their conclusions were based on positive post-vaccination data from Maccabi Healthcare…
TEL AVIV — While the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus grabbed center stage over this past year, biotech startup eggXYt turned its attention to avian influenza — the deadly “bird flu” that’s led to the slaughter of millions of infected poultry and also threatens human health. A new licensing agreement will enable eggXYt to develop genetic resistance in chickens against avian influenza virus using a technology known as “gene editing induced gene silencing” from U.K.-based Tropic Biosciences. This is the latest innovation from eggXYt, which has previously been recognized for its idea to determine the sex of chicks before incubation. Every year, the…
In a truly only-in-Israel kind of moment, a rare coin dating back to the Roman Empire was recently discovered by soldier Ido Gardi during an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) training exercise. His find is so rare that only 11 such coins have been unearthed in the country. The coin bears an image of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and was minted in 158-159 CE. Its reverse side depicts the Syrian moon god, Men, along with the inscription “of the people of Geva Philippi” and the date when it was minted. The identification of the place of minting is what makes the…
The PBS American Masters biographical documentary, “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It,” doesn’t just focus on the successes and struggles of Moreno’s monumental journey as an entertainer for over 70 years. Filmmaker Mariem Pérez Riera practically turns her story into a selfie. The camera relentlessly follows the performer, who calmly flows into a self-narrated, unexpurgated journey of the five-year-old girl who traveled with her mother from Puerto Rico to New York during the height of the Great Depression. During the first day of filming the documentary, Riera was surprised to hear about the adversity Moreno faced…