Venus to Cross Mideast Sunrise on June 6, 2012

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There’ll be a little black spot on the Sun today… (in June). Watch out for Venus come sunrise. A rare transit of Venus will be visible at local sunrise throughout the Mideast on the morning of  Wednesday June 6, 2012.   A transit occurs when one celestial body passes in front of another from an observer’s […]

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Owl Love Knows no Borders

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We’re fond of saying that nature knows no borders but we could never have illustrated the point as well as a recent story from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). The Barn Owls pictured above have recently parented seven little owlets in a nesting box situated on Kibbutz Ma’oz Hai’im just […]

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Jordan: Two Men Boast About Killing Owl

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Conservationists in Jordan have criticized a news website for reporting positively on a video which shows two men posing with a dead owl they claim to have killed Images have emerged of more animal rights abuse in the Middle East – this time in Jordan. A video was posted on a Jordanian news site showing […]

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Date Palms, Palmaculture and Greening the Middle East (INTERVIEW)

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Palmaculture is a new name for an old concept – one which helped green the Middle East with traditional palm gardens called bustans For centuries now date palm groves have been present in the hot deserts of MENA stretching from Morocco in the west to Yemen in the south. Indeed these man-made ecosystems have been […]

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Escape Beirut’s Smog: Go Whitewater Rafting

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Nobody offers up adrenalin and nature bliss quite like Adventures in Lebanon. Their first whitewater rafting trip of the season on Nahr El Assi – an animated river roaring with springtime snowmelt – commences at 8.30am on Sunday at Futuroscope in Beirut and ends twelve hours later in the same spot. A scenic three hour […]

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Israel Triumphs Over Invasive Acacia Species

Four years ago Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) schemed a plan to eradicate the blue-leafed wattle (acacia saligna), an invasive species native to Australia that threatened to overrun the native plant species in Nahal Sorek National Park. Just a few years ago the blue-leafed wattle spread beyond the park’s boundaries to eight spots along the […]

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Supermoon photos from around the world

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The full “supermoon” peers out from behind the US Capitol building in Washington DC; taken by @quinalty. People around the world flocked to catch a glimpse of the spectacular “supermoon” that lit up the night sky on Saturday. At roughly 11.34 pm EDT on 5 May, 2012 the moon passed its perigree – the closest point to […]

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DIY Tel Aviv Guide – Every City Needs One

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When Shimrit Elisar travels to other cities, she wonders where to find pizza after hours, where all the “cool kids” hang out, and how to score a reasonably-priced yoga class. In other words, she wants an insider’s look, which is why she was inspired  to create DIY Tel Aviv. This alternative city guide is packed […]

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Lab Monkeys in Israel Get Reprieve – For Now

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A recent Israeli Supreme Court decision has temporarily barred the shipment of 90 monkeys to research labs in the United States.  Mazor Farm, where the monkeys are being farmed, must now provide documentation proving it operates within Israel’s legal framework for captive animals. Many people imagine the typical Israeli farm as a peaceful, lush, agrarian […]

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