A number of people from the former Soviet Union wishing to immigrate to Israel could be subjected to DNA testing to prove their Jewishness, the Prime Minister?s Office said Sunday.?
The policy was reported in Maariv on Monday, one day after the Israeli paper revealed that a 19-year-old woman from the former Soviet Union was required to take the test to qualify for a Birthright Israel trip.
The Prime Minister?s Office confirmed that many Jews from the FSU who were born out-of-wedlock can be required to bring DNA confirmation of Jewish heritage in order to be allowed to immigrate as a Jew.?
A source in the PMO told Maariv that the consul?s procedure, approved by the legal department of the Interior Ministry, states that a Russian-speaking child born out-of-wedlock is eligible to receive an Israeli immigration visa if the birth was registered before the child turned 3. Otherwise a DNA test to prove Jewish parentage is necessary.
This seems not unreasonable. Going back to Sen. Henry Jackson's legislation to give special rights to immigrate to Israel (and America) to Soviet Jews, a lot of fairly random Russians have claimed to be Jewish to cash in. For example, I knew a lady from Leningrad in the early 1990s who wasn't noticeably Jewish in looks, demeanor, culture, or family ties, but her Plan C for staying in America (she wanted to be blackjack dealer in Las Vegas) was to assiduously pull together a stack of genealogical paperwork (of who knows what authenticity) to prove she was Jewish enough to attain refugee status.
NEW ERA's Camo Pop Series has been a favorite in the past half year or so. The right mix of the very versatile Camo pattern and the colored logo which pops right out of the cap is just perfect - and it can't get any better. Despite the Camo pattern being very loud and draws much of the attention, the team logos tend to take your attention away from the Camo base; mainly, thanks to its color and the way it stands right out of the base. Taking the classic New Era 59Fifty?silhouette, this cap comes in with a Camo base and an embroidered and raised Detroit Tigers logo at the front panel. Classic.?www.exoshop.com
WTI Crude Oil: "Past those speed bumps, now we're looking at 109.32, 110.18" says Carl Larry
By Carl Larry Oh boysie. That escalated pretty quickly and we have the RSI up above 64 to prove it. This still gives us a lot of room to take it up a notch but it?s a matter of wait and see. Nonetheless, we think that we?re at a point of make or break. The near term resistance flirts with resistance at 10806 with 10882 right above. Past those speed bumps and we?re looking more seriously at 10932, 11018. The support numbers have room to hold down to 10732, 10648 and 10531. The front spread caught our bid yesterday and sees resistance at 104, 112 and 121. The support returns to 91, 82 and 76. Flat price gets sold early, but rally to close.
Gasoline: We?re moving on to RBU3. RB is trying to get serious about moving back up. We see resistance holding at 30335, 30430 and 30624. The support numbers look to hold 30100, 29933 and 29756. The front spread trying hard to hold support at 1440, 1392, 1360. Resistance returns to 1480, 1531 and 1570. The RBCL has support to 1861, 1822. The resistance here looks up to 1918, 1961.
Distillate: We?re following HOU3 now. HO wants higher, but getting stalled here. We see resistance at 31047, 31193 and 31358. The support numbers fall back on 30877, 30746 and 30515. The front spread seems to be stuck in a range here with ?10, +00 on the upside and ?25, -40 below. Going to take some doing to break that out. The HOCL looks for support at 2204, 2177. Resistance above at 2240, 2283.
Trends are only for the affected: Overnight is taking a break from the move on the 10min chart yesterday. We are playing in a range of 10730 to 10830. It?s not as strong as one would think considering the rally the past few days, but we?re definitely getting ready for something bigger. The 60min chart broke the downtrend and is at best looking to consolidation here. We believe that we?ll need solid trade above 10875 now to initiate any uptrend and down will have to break back under 10680.
Fundy you should mention: Want to grab a coffee at 8:25am this morning? Come on...Econo-heads rejoice! Not only is today the first Friday of the month, we get to dress to impress. We had ADP payrolls at 200K, Jobless Claims under 330K and Big Ben and the Fedettes keep mum on QE tapering, let?s make it a party. We?ll be glued to the tape at 8:30am (176K, 7.5%) to see how this plays out. Not to be left out, we also have Consumer Income and Spending (0.4; 0.4) at 8:30am EST too. Later in the morning we?ll watch for Factory Orders (2.3) at 10:00am?if anyone is still around.
Sorry, I am just physically attracted: To me, it?s not that Marathon Galveston Bay (565K), or Texas City...whatever you want to call it, had is-sues yesterday, it?s the fact that they have displaced their foreign sweet barrels. After Marathon?s earnings report yesterday, we learned that they are bringing in domestic barrels and left out the imports. We knew that imports of crude into the USG have dropped, but now we?re seeing the who and the why. We?re seeing a fundamental change in what is exactly a ?foreign barrel?. We have enough light, sweet and now it?s more about the medium and heavy. A good sign for Mexico and even better if Canada can get more down here via Keystone. Not so good for the Saudis still trying to find their sweets a home.
FSCS protecting members of CommuniSave Credit Union, Birmingham
Compensation on the way for Birmingham credit union savers
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is stepping in to protect over 2,000 members of CommuniSave Credit Union (also known as?South Birmingham Community Credit Union Limited)?after it stopped trading today (19 July 2013). The credit union is based in Birmingham.
The compensation scheme is pledging the overwhelming majority of savers will get their money back within seven days.?
People will not need to lift a finger to get their savings back.? Using credit union records, FSCS will automatically send payments to members of the credit union.
Some 2000 savers have just over ?1m with CommuniSave Credit Union. People with less than a thousand pounds will receive a letter to get cash over the counter at their Post Office. Anyone with more than this will receive a cheque.
FSCS protects up to ?85,000 of savings or ?170,000 for joint accounts. It has come to the aid of more than 4.5m people since 2001 while paying out over ?26bn in compensation.
Kate Bartlett, Operations Director for FSCS, says help is on the way.? ?FSCS is protecting CommuniSave Credit Union members. We?re here for you and we?re ready to help.? Your savings are safe and we will get them back to you within the next week. And the process is automatic so you won?t have to apply for our protection. FSCS guarantees up to ?85,000. That will protect every member of the credit union.?
Financial services firms fund FSCS through a compulsory annual levy.? The Scheme protects deposits, insurance and investments when authorised firms go bust. It has the most wide ranging protection of any scheme in the world.
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For more information visit our?CommuniSave Credit Union Limited Q&As
We also have a short video explaining how FSCS can help when your credit union goes out of business
Not a big fan of traditional wedding cake? No problem!
Couples are coming up with all sorts of alternatives to wedding cake, one of those being ice cream sandwiches.
Since Friday Aug. 2 is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, we thought we'd share a selection of mouthwatering confections. Take a look at the slideshow below for 15 frosty, wedding-worthy desserts.
Carrot Cake Ice Cream Sandwich
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70123617@N00/" target="_blank">(Mariam)</a></em>
Peanut Butter Cookie And Vanilla Ice Cream
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwtwo/" target="_blank">djwtwo</a></em>
Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream Sandwich
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/muyyum/" target="_blank">Muy Yum</a></em>
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich
Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewrittengeek/" target="_blank">foodiesathome.com</a>
Almond Cookie With Vanilla Ice Cream
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciaochow/" target="_blank">ciao-chow</a></em>
Lemon Buttermilk Ice Cream And Ginger Snap Cookies
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphandjenny/" target="_blank">Ralph Daily</a></em>
Espresso Ice Cream And Chocolate Chip Cookies
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/framboise/" target="_blank">framboise</a></em>
Blackberry Ice Cream And Graham Crackers
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphandjenny/" target="_blank">Ralph Daily</a></em>
Cookies And Cream Ice Cream With White Chocolate Chip Cookies
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/varintsai/" target="_blank">Varin Tsai</a></em>
Espresso Ice Cream And Praline Cookies
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tavallai/" target="_blank">Tavallai</a></em>
Double Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sifu_renka/" target="_blank">Ren?e S. Suen</a></em>
Bailey's Ice Cream And Chocolate-Guiness Cookies
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandvittles/" target="_blank">Island Vittles</a></em>
Ginger Snap With Strawberry Ice Cream
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichellenewsletter/" target="_blank">Nichelle Stephens</a></em>
S'Mores Ice Cream Sandwich
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyosity/" target="_blank">joyosity</a></em>
Plum-Oatmeal Ice Cream Sandwich
<em>Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70123617@N00/" target="_blank">(Mariam)</a></em>
Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
ROUND ROCK, TEXAS / SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc's special committee and a group led by founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell are nearing a deal that dramatically increases the chances of his $24.6 billion buyout going through, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The agreement, in exchange for a modification of rules for voting on the deal, would include a special dividend of 13 cents per share along with an offer increased by 10 cents per share to $13.75 per share and is expected to be announced shortly, the people said.
Dell shares were up about 5 percent at $13.60 before the opening bell.
The buyout vote, held under a new standard, would likely take place in early September, while the record date, which determines which shareholders are entitled to vote, would be reset from June 3 to sometime in August, one of the people said.
The new deal and delay in the voting date boost the buyout consortium in several ways.
Abstentions under the previous voting system counted as "no" votes, and with an estimated quarter of eligible shares not having been voted either way, that was a substantial hurdle to overcome. Under the new deal, shares that are not voted would be excluded from the tally.
A change in the record date by more than two months is also seen as enfranchising so-called arbitrage investors - hedge funds that bought Dell stock more recently to earn a few cents per share and would likely support the buyout.
Under the deal, Dell shareholders would also be entitled to three regular quarterly dividends of 8 cents per share totaling 24 cents, since the first deal with Michael Dell and Silver Lake was announced on February 5.
Dell shareholders are scheduled to convene for a third time in Round Rock, Texas, on Friday to vote on Michael Dell's original $13.65 per share buyout proposal, but this meeting will now be adjourned. The vote has already been delayed two more times, on July 18 and July 24.
Dell's founder and private equity firm Silver Lake want to take the company private, arguing that a painful restructuring can best be best performed away from stock market scrutiny.
But the battle over that deal has raged for months, adding further uncertainty about a company already shrinking along with a rapidly declining PC market.
The CEO, his advisers and proxy solicitors have gone back and forth with shareholders whose votes are needed to secure the deal. They've had some success, managing to get prominent investors such as BlackRock Inc and Vanguard onboard.
The Michael Dell-Silver Lake group said last week it would raise the offer to $13.75 per share if the voting rule was changed but the special committee rejected that offer earlier this week. The special dividend has now clinched a compromise.
Activist investor Carl Icahn, who views Michael Dell's offer of $13.65 as too low, has amassed an 8.7 percent stake in the company and is leading an opposing charge with Southeastern Asset Management Inc with an offer of their own.
Icahn has campaigned hard to get Dell to set a date for an annual shareholder meeting so he can put up his own slate of company directors.
On Thursday, he fired his latest broadside, suing Dell Inc and its board to block substantial changes to the CEO's buyout offer that would include changing the voting and record dates.
The company, created by Michael Dell in his dorm room in 1984 and which rapidly grew into a global market leader, is now a shadow of its former self.
Some investors, led by Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, are convinced Dell still has time to transform itself as a public company into a dominant provider of business computing services.
Icahn has accused the company of resorting to "scare tactics" by disclosing bad news and dismal forecasts. Dell reported a 79 percent drop in profit for the latest quarter.
(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis, Soyoung Kim and Nadia Damouni in New York and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore. Writing by Edwin Chan. Editing by Andre Grenon, Ken Wills and Ted Kerr)
When Google Fiber first offered the NFL RedZone channel last season it was $10 per month by itself, but this year it has a different deal. The new "Sports Plus" pack will vary slightly in different areas, but in Kansas City it delivers RedZone plus 11 other channels (including GolTV, MLB Network Strike Zone, Pac-12 Networks, Longhorn Channel and more.) Some of the channels were previously included in the standard channel lineup, but now they're being offloaded into this segment. Current subscribers will need to call in to add the bundle, while new signups can pick it out on the website. So far it doesn't appear Google is shifting things to the a la carte model, but if you're just looking to see more sportsball the add-on may be necessary.
Modeling of congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia using iPS cell technologyPublic release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Akemi Nakamura cira-pr@cira.kyoto-u.ac.jp 81-753-667-000 Center for iPS Cell Research and Application - Kyoto University
A research group led by researcher Shinji Hirata and Professor Koji Eto at CiRA has conducted a study in which iPS cells generated from a patient with congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT) were induced to differentiate into blood cells in vitro and then used to undertake a detailed study of the differences between these and cells from healthy subjects. The researchers found that, in humans, thrombopoietin receptors are essential not only to the maintenance of the multipotent hematopoietic progenitor population and the production of platelets, but also to erythropoiesis (red blood cell production).
CAMT is caused by the congenital loss of thrombopoietin receptor-mediated intracellular signaling, resulting in a state of severe thrombocytopenia from birth and leading in the infant period to bone marrow failure and gradual depletion first of red blood cells and then of white blood cells. This grave illness requires bone marrow transplant for the patient to survive, but the lack of an adequate experimental model has hitherto been a hindrance to elucidating its pathology. In the present study, with the cooperation of one CAMT patient who has now received a bone marrow transplant and recovered, iPS cells (CAMT iPS cells) were generated and induced in vitro to differentiate into blood cells, whose behavior was analyzed in detail.
In the CAMT iPS cells, as in the CAMT patient's original blood cells, the thrombopoietin receptors were not functional. To check their ability to differentiate into megakaryocytes, platelets, erythrocytes (red blood cells), and other cell types, these iPS cells were differentiated into multipotent hematopoietic progenitors, which can in turn differentiate into a range of different blood cell types. It was found that the multipotent hematopoietic progenitors derived from the CAMT iPS cells, unlike the iPS cells from healthy subjects, had impaired ability to develop not only into megakaryocytes and platelets, but also into erythrocytes. They did however retain some ability to differentiate into white blood cells. These characteristics closely reflect the pathological state seen in CAMT patients (Fig. 1).
Next, the CAMT iPS cells were subjected to compensatory transduction of thrombopoietin receptors via genetic engineering, which normalized the production of all three of megakaryocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes. Altering the amount of thrombopoietin receptor introduced to bring it to the same level as in healthy subjects produced a differentiation pattern closely resembling that of healthy subjects, with a tendency to more erythrocytes than megakaryocytes. Intriguingly, overexpression promoted differentiation into megakaryocytes over differentiation into erythrocytes by CAMT patient-derived subjects. To investigate the fate-determining mechanism that decides between differentiation into megakaryocytes and erythrocytes, the researchers examined the transcription factors that operate downstream of thrombopoietin receptor signaling. This examination showed that, when thrombopoietin receptor signaling was intensified during the process of differentiation into megakaryocytes and erythrocytes, FLI1 was reduced in healthy subjects, but was in contrast elevated in CAMT iPS cells (Fig. 2).
By using iPS cells generated from CAMT patients, the research team succeeded in reproducing the pathological state of CAMT, in which the production of megakaryocytes and erythrocytes is markedly decreased compared to white blood cell production. Additionally, the team established that, in humans, thrombopoietin receptor signaling plays an important role in the maintenance of multipotent hematopoietic progenitors and their differentiation into megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors, and is therefore essential to erythropoiesis. This is a finding which had not been possible with the mouse model that is in general use worldwide. In this way, using iPS cell technology has made it possible to not only analyze disease states, but also to investigate the mechanism of hematopoiesis. The findings of the study suggest that the thrombopoietin-like drugs used up till now to boost platelet count may also be useful in treating anemia. Going forward, iPS cells that model this disease will serve as an important tool in researching the origins of human hematopoiesis and the hematopoiesis pathway.
###
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Modeling of congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia using iPS cell technologyPublic release date: 1-Aug-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Akemi Nakamura cira-pr@cira.kyoto-u.ac.jp 81-753-667-000 Center for iPS Cell Research and Application - Kyoto University
A research group led by researcher Shinji Hirata and Professor Koji Eto at CiRA has conducted a study in which iPS cells generated from a patient with congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAMT) were induced to differentiate into blood cells in vitro and then used to undertake a detailed study of the differences between these and cells from healthy subjects. The researchers found that, in humans, thrombopoietin receptors are essential not only to the maintenance of the multipotent hematopoietic progenitor population and the production of platelets, but also to erythropoiesis (red blood cell production).
CAMT is caused by the congenital loss of thrombopoietin receptor-mediated intracellular signaling, resulting in a state of severe thrombocytopenia from birth and leading in the infant period to bone marrow failure and gradual depletion first of red blood cells and then of white blood cells. This grave illness requires bone marrow transplant for the patient to survive, but the lack of an adequate experimental model has hitherto been a hindrance to elucidating its pathology. In the present study, with the cooperation of one CAMT patient who has now received a bone marrow transplant and recovered, iPS cells (CAMT iPS cells) were generated and induced in vitro to differentiate into blood cells, whose behavior was analyzed in detail.
In the CAMT iPS cells, as in the CAMT patient's original blood cells, the thrombopoietin receptors were not functional. To check their ability to differentiate into megakaryocytes, platelets, erythrocytes (red blood cells), and other cell types, these iPS cells were differentiated into multipotent hematopoietic progenitors, which can in turn differentiate into a range of different blood cell types. It was found that the multipotent hematopoietic progenitors derived from the CAMT iPS cells, unlike the iPS cells from healthy subjects, had impaired ability to develop not only into megakaryocytes and platelets, but also into erythrocytes. They did however retain some ability to differentiate into white blood cells. These characteristics closely reflect the pathological state seen in CAMT patients (Fig. 1).
Next, the CAMT iPS cells were subjected to compensatory transduction of thrombopoietin receptors via genetic engineering, which normalized the production of all three of megakaryocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes. Altering the amount of thrombopoietin receptor introduced to bring it to the same level as in healthy subjects produced a differentiation pattern closely resembling that of healthy subjects, with a tendency to more erythrocytes than megakaryocytes. Intriguingly, overexpression promoted differentiation into megakaryocytes over differentiation into erythrocytes by CAMT patient-derived subjects. To investigate the fate-determining mechanism that decides between differentiation into megakaryocytes and erythrocytes, the researchers examined the transcription factors that operate downstream of thrombopoietin receptor signaling. This examination showed that, when thrombopoietin receptor signaling was intensified during the process of differentiation into megakaryocytes and erythrocytes, FLI1 was reduced in healthy subjects, but was in contrast elevated in CAMT iPS cells (Fig. 2).
By using iPS cells generated from CAMT patients, the research team succeeded in reproducing the pathological state of CAMT, in which the production of megakaryocytes and erythrocytes is markedly decreased compared to white blood cell production. Additionally, the team established that, in humans, thrombopoietin receptor signaling plays an important role in the maintenance of multipotent hematopoietic progenitors and their differentiation into megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors, and is therefore essential to erythropoiesis. This is a finding which had not been possible with the mouse model that is in general use worldwide. In this way, using iPS cell technology has made it possible to not only analyze disease states, but also to investigate the mechanism of hematopoiesis. The findings of the study suggest that the thrombopoietin-like drugs used up till now to boost platelet count may also be useful in treating anemia. Going forward, iPS cells that model this disease will serve as an important tool in researching the origins of human hematopoiesis and the hematopoiesis pathway.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
To some extent, ASUS is a victim of its own success: it gave the budget tablet category a boost with the original Nexus 7, and it now faces a legion of competitors in that space. The company is taking a two-step approach to maintaining its relevance. The new Nexus 7 tackles the higher end, with top-tier specs that include a 1080p display and wireless charging. Right now, though, we're more interested in ASUS' low-end solution, the MeMo Pad HD 7. While it's one of the cheaper name-brand tablets at $150, it promises some of the quality we typically expect from more expensive products. But is the HD 7 good enough to fend off other entry-level tablets? And can it attract customers who'd be willing to pay the premium for a new Nexus 7'? Let's find out.
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Public release date: 1-Aug-2013
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