| Israelis saving the world, yet again Posted: 14 Apr 2012 11:00 PM PDT From Forbes India:  [E]mergency care is at a nascent stage in India. Demand outstrips the supply of ambulances and the crowded roads invariably delay their arrival. Often death strikes during this window. About 30 percent of deaths in accident spots are estimated to be on account of lack of pre-hospitalisation care. What happens between an event—it could be a road accident, a fall or severe chest pain—and the arrival of the ambulance is critical. Across the world, emergency care experts have been struggling to find a way to send expert help more quickly.
An Israeli organisation, United Hatzalah, might have just cracked the code. The idea is simple; it depends on a network of volunteers and smart use of technology. The organisation recruits volunteers, gives them 100 hours of training, equips them with a kit containing medicines and devices that fit on a two wheeler, and lets them get on with their normal lives. When an emergency strikes, it locates the volunteer closest to the scene and alerts him. The volunteer rushes to the scene and provides first aid. There are 1,700 volunteers across Israel and they arrive at the scene in a matter of minutes. Eli Beer, who founded United Hatzalah, says he is aiming to crunch this number to 90 seconds.
United Hatzalah has not only saved hundreds of lives, it has also had a positive impact on the social fabric. Recently, Al Jazeera aired a documentary on how the organisation brought Arabs and Jews together in a region that's defined by extreme hatred. Mark Gerson, co-founder of Gerson Lehrman Group and chairman of United Hatzalah, says right now they have an oversupply of people wanting to volunteer in Israel. Beer and Gerson hope to replicate the model across the world, including India.
However, India might turn out to be different, given its size and background. Israel is a small country, and its population—7.6 million—is smaller than that of Hyderabad. What works in Israel might not work in India. But the size of the countries shouldn't matter, says Gerson. The ideal way to go about it would be to take one city at a time, get the fundamentals right, put the system in place, and scale up over time.
In fact, in Brazil, they have started with Sao Paulo. The experience has been good—the volunteers were easy to come by and the technology works as well as it did in Israel. "We are looking to assist the Sao Paulo group to expand in Rio de Janeiro. Operational plans are already underway. United Hatzalah is assisting in a similar programme in Panama as well," says Beer.
A bigger challenge in India will be in recruiting volunteers. Israel has a long culture of volunteerism, strengthened by mandatory military service. In Brazil, they were approached by members of the Jewish community who were impressed with the organisation's operations and wished to replicate it. The community leaders made speeches and distributed flyers, says Beer. Word of mouth, however, was the most effective outreach tool. "There were more volunteers than [we] were able to initially accept," he says.
But India is different from both Brazil and Israel. However, Beer doesn't think that will matter at all. In fact, the two wheeler and mobile penetration in the country make the model adaptable. "The groundswell of good-hearted people wanting to help their communities is universal," he says. "Given a chance to save a life, who will say no?" Well, I don't think that Jordan, Egypt or the UAE is jumping to work with Hatzalah any time soon... Of course, this is just another case of first-aid-washing. (h/t Guest) 
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| Major Egyptian presidential candidates reportedly disqualified Posted: 14 Apr 2012 08:16 PM PDT Interesting developments, reported by Egypt Independent: The Presidential Elections Commission announced on Saturday that 10 presidential candidates are disqualified from the race. The commission said it would release the full list of qualified candidates at a later time.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that conservative candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, former vice president and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and official Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater, Ghad al-Thawra Party head Ayman Nour had all been disqualified. Also out of the running, it reported, were Ahmed Saidi, Mamdouh Qutb, Ashraf Baroma, and Ibrahim al-Ghareeb.
"The commission has disqualified candidates because they do not fill one or more of the required conditions," the electoral body said in a statement, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted judicial sources as saying, "The most prominent names that have been excluded are Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, General Omar Suleiman, former vice president," in addition to Shater.
Suleiman was reportedly excluded on the basis of the geographical distribution of his signatures of support, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. A candidate must have 1000 signatures from 15 separate governorates to qualify.
Shater, who was released from prison in March last year, has been barred because of a law that states that candidates can only run in elections six years after being released or pardonned, Tarek Abul Atta, a PEC official, told AFP news agency.
Abu Ismail is out of the race because his mother holds another nationality, violating election rules, he said.
Others who have been disqualified include Ayman Nour, who caught the world's attention when he challenged ousted president Hosni Mubarak in 2005 presidential elections.
Nour was imprisoned shortly after those elections and released on health grounds in 2009. He was banned under the same rule as the Muslim Brotherhood's Shater.
The disqualified candidates have 48 hours to appeal the decision.
If the commission's decision stands, the remaining frontrunners will be former Arab League head Amr Moussa and former Muslim Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh. Meanwhile, there was a rally against Suleiman's candidacy. Naturally, the protesters claimed he was Zionist: 
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| Anti-semitic T-shirts sold at Polish soccer stadium Posted: 14 Apr 2012 06:10 PM PDT From JTA: T-shirts featuring anti-Semitic slogans were discovered being sold outside a soccer stadium in the Polish city of Lodz.
The T-shirts were being sold outside the stadium of Widzew Lodz, which plays in Poland's premier league, according to an April 12 article on the website of Polskie Radio.
The shirts featured slogans such as "This is Widzew territory, entry to Jews is forbidden" and "Curl hunters," referring to Orthodox Jews' payos.
A woman who works in the shop that sold the T-shirts told the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza that the shirts are popular. The shop is adjacent to the team's official shop.
A third of Lodz's population was Jewish before World War II. Here is a sign outside the store: And this graffitum saying "You will meet death:"
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