Behind the Bylines: Breaking news coverage is the backbone of news, and in Israel, it comes with the added intensity of wartime coverage within the war. Joanie Margulies has been doing just that.

Zakharov tends to the sunny side of life, and he is a major mover and shaker on the Ukrainian cultural scene, with a definite accent on artistic vehicles that seek to cultivate a better world for all

The festival’s opening-night gala will feature the West Coast Premiere of Tom Nesher’s Come Closer at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

A vitória de Donald Trump foi bem recebida em Israel, mas a mudança que ele traz pode não ser do agrado do país.

The following article, Israel Chooses Trump Over Harris in 2024 Election, was first published on The Black Sphere.

The nation of Israel casted its vote in the 2024 Presidential Election, metaphorically. And it didn't taken an Iranian infiltrator in the Biden administration...

Continue reading Israel Chooses Trump Over Harris in 2024 Election ...

Over the past year, Aya and Khalid have been filming their lives for a BBC documentary.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin is taken on a tour of Al Sahel Hospital in Beirut.

The agency provides aid for Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere, and has long been criticised by Israel.

Harris or Trump? The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jerusalem assesses who Israelis and Palestinians want to win.

Israel says its targets are legitimate, but critics say it is aiming at Hezbollah's social base.

Opponents say the legislation, which would apply to close family members, is unconstitutional.

Willem-Alexander says Jewish people must feel safe in the Netherlands after Israeli football supporters come under attack.

The move comes after US officials were quoted saying they would not accept Hamas's presence in Qatar.

At least 20 children are among the dead in attacks north of Beirut and in northern Gaza, officials rescuers and medics say.

Mohamed Bin Salman was speaking at the opening of a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders in Riyadh.

But Israel says it has greatly increased deliveries since being warned of cuts to military assistance.

The strikes reportedly destroyed residential buildings where displaced families were living.

Officials say Israel has taken some steps to meet a US demand for more supplies to enter Gaza, but aid agencies say conditions have actually worsened.

Arab and Muslim leaders demanded that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories as a precondition for regional peace, while denouncing "shocking" Israeli crimes in war-ravaged Gaza.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has suspended lawmaker Ofer Cassif for six months due to comments he made about the IDF, the war in Gaza, and his support for South Africa accusing his country of genocide against Palestinians.

The United Nations's humanitarian aid chief told a meeting of the Security Council (UNSC) that "acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes" are being committed in Gaza.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is his pick to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. “Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, […]

The post Trump Makes His Pick for US Ambassador to Israel as Conflict in Gaza Remains Heated appeared first on The Western Journal.

Israel-Palestine: Is peace possible? 7 October 2024 — 6:00PM TO 7:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 30 September 2024 Chatham House and Online

As Israel’s war in Gaza reaches the year mark, and with war spreading, what can the world expect in the Middle East?

A year on from the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel which sparked a deadly war in Gaza, significant escalation in Lebanon and regional instability, Chatham House will host experts to explore the profound impacts of the conflict and what lies ahead.

The conversation will look at the humanitarian toll in Gaza and Lebanon, the international community’s response and the spreading of the conflict beyond Israel and Palestine. Regional players, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, will be discussed as well as their influence and involvement in these dynamics.

Looking forward, the discussion will focus on potential pathways to peace and stability in Gaza and the broader Middle East.

Key questions considered by the panel include:

• What is the state of Israeli and Palestinian leadership one year on?
• What would it take for Israel to stop its military campaign in Lebanon?
• How are regional powers’ responses changing?
• How likely is a Palestinian state in the future? What must happen to realise it?
• What is the role of the international community?
• What is Iran’s role in the crisis and how should policymakers respond?

Individual membership provides you with the complete Chatham House experience, connecting you with a unique global policy community. Find out more about membership.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is associated with mutations in cardiomyocyte sarcomeric proteins, including α-tropomyosin. In conjunction with troponin, tropomyosin shifts to regulate actomyosin interactions. Tropomyosin molecules overlap via tropomyosin–tropomyosin head-to-tail associations, forming a continuous strand along the thin filament. These associations are critical for propagation of tropomyosin's reconfiguration along the thin filament and key for the cooperative switching between heart muscle contraction and relaxation. Here, we tested perturbations in tropomyosin structure, biochemistry, and function caused by the DCM-linked mutation, M8R, which is located at the overlap junction. Localized and nonlocalized structural effects of the mutation were found in tropomyosin that ultimately perturb its thin filament regulatory function. Comparison of mutant and WT α-tropomyosin was carried out using in vitro motility assays, CD, actin co-sedimentation, and molecular dynamics simulations. Regulated thin filament velocity measurements showed that the presence of M8R tropomyosin decreased calcium sensitivity and thin filament cooperativity. The co-sedimentation of actin and tropomyosin showed weakening of actin-mutant tropomyosin binding. The binding of troponin T's N terminus to the actin-mutant tropomyosin complex was also weakened. CD and molecular dynamics indicate that the M8R mutation disrupts the four-helix bundle at the head-to-tail junction, leading to weaker tropomyosin–tropomyosin binding and weaker tropomyosin–actin binding. Molecular dynamics revealed that altered end-to-end bond formation has effects extending toward the central region of the tropomyosin molecule, which alter the azimuthal position of tropomyosin, likely disrupting the mutant thin filament response to calcium. These results demonstrate that mutation-induced alterations in tropomyosin–thin filament interactions underlie the altered regulatory phenotype and ultimately the pathogenesis of DCM.

Nica M. Borradaile
Dec 1, 2006; 47:2726-2737
Research Articles

Expert

Expert

Infiltration of peripheral immune cells after blood-brain barrier dysfunction causes severe inflammation after a stroke. Although the endothelial glycocalyx, a network of membrane-bound glycoproteins and proteoglycans that covers the lumen of endothelial cells, functions as a barrier to circulating cells, the relationship between stroke severity and glycocalyx dysfunction remains unclear. In this study, glycosaminoglycans, a component of the endothelial glycocalyx, were studied in the context of ischemic stroke using a photochemically induced thrombosis mouse model. Decreased levels of heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate and increased activity of hyaluronidase 1 and heparanase (HPSE) were observed in ischemic brain tissues. HPSE expression in cerebral vessels increased after stroke onset and infarct volume greatly decreased after co-administration of N-acetylcysteine + glycosaminoglycan oligosaccharides as compared with N-acetylcysteine administration alone. These results suggest that the endothelial glycocalyx was injured after the onset of stroke. Interestingly, scission activity of proHPSE produced by immortalized endothelial cells and HEK293 cells transfected with hHPSE1 cDNA were activated by acrolein (ACR) exposure. We identified the ACR-modified amino acid residues of proHPSE using nano LC–MS/MS, suggesting that ACR modification of Lys139 (6-kDa linker), Lys107, and Lys161, located in the immediate vicinity of the 6-kDa linker, at least in part is attributed to the activation of proHPSE. Because proHPSE, but not HPSE, localizes outside cells by binding with heparan sulfate proteoglycans, ACR-modified proHPSE represents a promising target to protect the endothelial glycocalyx.

Vitamin A aldehyde covalently bound to opsin protein is embedded in a phospholipid-rich membrane that supports photon absorption and phototransduction in photoreceptor cell outer segments. Following absorption of a photon, the 11-cis-retinal chromophore of visual pigment in photoreceptor cells isomerizes to all-trans-retinal. To maintain photosensitivity 11-cis-retinal must be replaced. At the same time, however, all-trans-retinal has to be handled so as to prevent nonspecific aldehyde activity. Some molecules of retinaldehyde upon release from opsin are efficiently reduced to retinol. Other molecules are released into the lipid phase of the disc membrane where they form a conjugate (N-retinylidene-PE, NRPE) through a Schiff base linkage with phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). The reversible formation of NRPE serves as a transient sink for retinaldehyde that is intended to return retinaldehyde to the visual cycle. However, if instead of hydrolyzing to PE and retinaldehyde, NRPE reacts with a second molecule of retinaldehyde a synthetic pathway is initiated that leads to the formation of multiple species of unwanted bisretinoid fluorophores. We report on recently identified members of the bisretinoid family some of which differ with respect to the acyl chains associated with the glycerol backbone. We discuss processing of the lipid moieties of these fluorophores in lysosomes of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, their fluorescence characters and new findings related to light and iron-associated oxidation of bisretinoids.

Disruptive technologies by nation states and malign cyber actors – the US response 16 February 2023 — 1:00PM TO 2:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 2 February 2023 Chatham House and Online

Lisa Monaco, the US deputy attorney general, discusses how autocratic governments and malign cyber actors use disruptive technologies to project power and engage in illicit activity.

Weaponizing data, ransomware attacks and other illicit cyber activity represent significant threats to national security. 

Governments and malicious cyber actors around the world exploit disruptive technology to engage in criminal activity, track citizens and coerce other countries thereby weakening the rules-based order and fundamental principles of democracy. 

Lisa Monaco discusses how the world is at an inflection point when it comes to meeting this challenge and describes how the US and partner nations are responding to protect their citizens and the broader international community.

Key questions to discuss include:

• What steps does the US government need to take to properly address this threat?
• How are countries coordinating policies to confront the problem?
• To what extent does this challenge go beyond US-China competition?

As with all member events, questions from the audience drive the conversation.

Read the transcript.

Dozens of people were killed in Israeli military strikes on northern Lebanon and the Gaza strip, including as many as 20 children, authorities said.

There will be no cease-fire in Lebanon, Israel's new defense minister declared Tuesday, countering claims from Israel's foreign minister, who said that progress had been made to end the fighting with Hezbollah.

President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog met at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the war against Hamas and Hezbollah and other Middle East concerns.

President-elect Donald Trump says that he wants ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to represent America's interests in the troubled Middle East region as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days from Friday while giving police emergency stop-and-search powers after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer supporters, as the Israeli government said it would fly many fans home.

Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.

An Israeli airstrike killed seven people late Monday at a café near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medics said, bringing the death toll from Israeli strikes since Sunday night to at least 37.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours — including 11 in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said — as the country missed a deadline set by Washington to allow more humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave. 

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was nominating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as its next ambassador to Israel, tapping a staunchly pro-Israel conservative whose choice could signal future U.S. policy toward conflicts in the Middle East.

No matter people’s struggles, the counselling ministry focuses on a right relationship with God as the beginning of the healing process.

A team of OM workers and local believers share New Testaments and relief packs of food in a Muslim village in Israel.

OM’s Hope of Israel outreach team shares God’s love in Israel by supporting churches, passing out literature, engaging with locals and worshipping in the streets.

In a largely unreached nation, where Christians often face persecution, OM comes alongside local churches to see more vibrant communities of Jesus followers established.

The Hope of Israel outreach team visits Yoqneam, a biblical city without a church.

In the latest episode of Invent Penn State’s "Dare to Disrupt" podcast, host Ryan Newman interviews Peter Cocoziello, chairman, founder and CEO of Advance Realty Investors, a company specializing in real estate development, construction and property management.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has nominated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel.

President Joe Biden hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday as the outgoing administration seeks cease-fire progress in Gaza and Lebanon.

Join Invent Penn State’s "Dare to Disrupt" for a live podcast recording in the newly renovated Nittany Lion Inn’s 1855 Lounge at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22, featuring Scholar Hotels Founder and CEO Gary Brandeis.