Size Doesn't Matter BLOG »

The Ormita Commerce Network is inaugurating its activity in Israel. It is the world’s largest private multilateral reciprocal trading company, with no cash exchange – only goods.

The company currently operates in 54 countries and connects between 220,000 companies. Its turnover in 2012 totaled some $3.4 billion.

The company checks what each customer requires and has to offer.

For example, the company created a barter agreement between the Pakistan government, which supplied excess oranges, and China, which supplied in exchange agricultural machinery worth $120 million.

Ormita charges a 7% commission on the sale.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Zhang Jingchu, known for her role in ‘Rush Hour 3,’ shoots scenes on capital’s busy Ben Yehuda Street for production expected to be blockbuster film in China. ‘People here are very kind,’ she says

It is not every day that downtown Jerusalem is featured in international films. But several weeks ago, a Chinese film production drew local attention, as movie scenes for what is expected to be a blockbuster movie in China were shot along the busy Ben Yehuda Street.

More via Ynetnews

Illustration Photo: Benny Deutsch

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein rules courts can recognize non-biological father’s parenthood without adoption process

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced that spouses of parents to children conceived through a surrogacy process overseas will be accorded parenthood status without the previous need for a lengthy and complex adoption process.

Instead, a court order will suffice.

The AG’s statement followed several petitions to the Supreme Court by homosexual couples who demanded both fathers be registered as parents, though only one of them is the biological father through surrogate conception.

The new move by the AG is based on the Mor-Yosef Committee’s recommendations, which examined whether single men or same-sex couples should be allowed to conceive via a surrogate mother.

Weinstein ruled that pending the finalization of proper legislation, family courts will be able to issue a court order recognizing the spouse’s parenthood following a genetic test proving the parenthood of the biological father and other conditions to be further elaborated in future legislation.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Richard Bowles finishes Israel Trail. Photo: Dov Greenblatt/SPNI

English-Australian ultra-marathoner wants more after finishing 1,009 km. Israel Trail run despite foot infection.

After plowing through 1,009 kilometers of the deserts, mountains and forests that highlight the Israel Trail, English- Australian ultra-marathoner Richard Bowles only wished that his journey could have been a little longer.

“I feel great actually,” Bowles told The Jerusalem Post over the phone on Thursday afternoon from Kibbutz Dan, just after he completed his run. “It’s nice to be here. I’m almost a little bit disappointed that it’s come to an end.”

Starting at the Eilat Field School on April 17, Bowles had planned to complete the entire trail in 12 days. Along the way, however, his body had other plans for him, when a foot infection began to pain him on April 25 – day nine of his expedition. After continuing about 60 kilometers the next day despite the infection, Bowles consulted with physicians and realized he would need to take a week off from running to allow the infection to heal.

Continue reading via Jpost

Have you ever wondered what became of the Old Spice Guy a.k.a. Isaiah Mustafa?

It turns out he’s alive and well and selling beer in Israel. In this ad for Maccabee Beer, Mustafa employs some of his trademark eloquence (“Did you ever taste the silent splendor of a sunrise?”) to convince a bar patron that Maccabee’s new taste is actually good. Mustafa here appears to be a stand-in for President Obama and delivers his philosophical treatise on taste from what looks like the Oval Office. In the end, the patron is convinced, which sets off a round of rejoicing in the whole nation of Israel. Mustafa, who was integral to Old Spice’s social media-driven turnaround in 2010, appears to be working his magic for Maccabee as well: The video has gotten more than 800,000 views since April.

Procter & Gamble, the owner of Old Spice, has never said that Mustafa is done as the brand’s spokesman and brings him back periodically. A rep confirmed that Mustafa “continues to work with Isaiah Mustafa on several global projects for the brand.” Old Spice recently rolled out a round of well-received ads for its bar soap showing a man eating watermelon out of a basketball and another man being followed everywhere by his shower.

Image courtesy of YouTube, Maccabee

Source: Mashable.com

Moti Kahan (photo: Yitzhak Benhorin)

Moti Kahana ‘can’t sit still as women and children being butchered nearby’; Syrian rebel: American airstrikes would bring Assad’s regime to collapse

As many in Israel are concerned over the possibility that the civil war raging in Syria will spill over to the Golan Heights and strengthen the standing of Hezbollah, some Israelis regard the crisis in the neighboring country from another angle entirely.

Jerusalem native Moti Kahana heads a group of Israeli businessmen and American Jews who travel to the Syrian refugee camps to provide humanitarian aid to victims of one of the era’s bloodiest conflicts. “We are Jews and Israelis and we can’t sit still as women and children are being butchered nearby,” he told Ynet.

Kahana took part in an annual conference of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he raised the flag of the Free Syrian Army during a speech by an opposition activist. “While I’m here to assist the Free Syria movement, my brother Steve is on reserve service at the Golan Heights, treating injured Syrians,” said Kahana, who lives in New Jersey but has family in Israel.

“We said that the Holocaust will not happen again and I do not wish to compare, but people are dying next to us and we cannot sit still,” he added.

Since the group’s activity has started two years ago Kahana invested over $100,000 of his personal funds, and helped raise over half a million dollars from US Jews. “For me entering Syria is like arriving to Tel – Aviv,” he said. “We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past two years and I’m tasked with transferring donations to liberal organizations in Syria.”

Kahana says the organization started as a charity operated by him and a number of friends, but they could not foresee how long the conflict would run. “When we ran out of money we started raising funds from US synagogues,” he told Ynet.

“We said that the Holocaust will not happen again and I do not wish to compare, but people are dying next to us and we cannot sit still,” he added.

Since the group’s activity has started two years ago Kahana invested over $100,000 of his personal funds, and helped raise over half a million dollars from US Jews. “For me entering Syria is like arriving to Tel – Aviv,” he said. “We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past two years and I’m tasked with transferring donations to liberal organizations in Syria.”

Kahana says the organization started as a charity operated by him and a number of friends, but they could not foresee how long the conflict would run. “When we ran out of money we started raising funds from US synagogues,” he told Ynet.

“A few American aerial strikes will cause Assad’s regime to collapse. Indeed, Israel has carried out an attack with surgical precision, without any problems” said Muaz Mustafa, one of the leaders of the Syrian diaspora in the US.

“Assad is never going to flee, and while he’s there the country’s being taken over by al-Qaeda on the one hand and Iran and Hezbollah on the other.”

Mustafa and his associate were optimistic regarding the possibility that a future democratic Syrian government will ease tensions with Israel.

“There is no reason one democracy should harbor hostilities to another, and if Israel agrees to territorial compromises in the Golan Heights, Syria can establish peace with Israel, because otherwise there is no animosity between the two peoples,” Mustafa declared.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Aid App Art Award Canada Cancer Coexistence Competition Concert Economy Education Environment Europe Fashion Festival Film Food Funny Gay Green Hollywood India Innovation Innovation Israel Jerusalem Jewish LGBTQ London2012 Music Nightlife Obama Olympics Party Peace Photography Research Science Sports Tel Aviv Toronto Tourism Travel TV Video

WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.