The Israel Atomic Energy Commission has opened a specially-dedicated pavilion to present Israel’s work in the field of nuclear applications. The pavilion, entitled ‘Rays of Hope,’ opened on Tuesday (Sept. 27, 2016) in Vienna at the 60th International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference. This is the first time that Israel has made an international presentation in this area.

The Israeli pavilion highlights innovative research capabilities and their uses in various nuclear-related fields for educational, scientific and agricultural purposes, as well for the production of clean energy.

IAEC Director Brig,-Gen. Zeev Senir said at the launching of the exhibit: “The Israeli developments in the nuclear field have led to ‘Rays of Hope’ and have inspired many people. In nuclear science we are exporting essential know-how and equipment for medical treatment, agriculture, security and safety around the world. Our future in the Middle East must include cooperation and joint responsibility for the welfare of its residents. In the spirit of the IAEA, I call on our neighbors to join us and turn this vision into reality.”

The Israeli pavilion features the following content:

* Health: Radiotherapy, personalized radiotherapy, and quality improvements in nuclear medicine.

* Agriculture: Regional cooperation in pest extermination and fly eradication.

* Presentation of the Carasso Science Park in Be’er Sheva, which was established in cooperation with the IAEC and which has received over 300,000 visitors to date.

* Presentation of the Soreq Nuclear Research Center:

— SARAF particle accelerator for the production of radioisotopes and nuclear physics research;

— Space laboratory, which is the durability of components under ionizing radiation to benefit the launching of satellites;

— The Sarafim program for outstanding high school physics students, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

* Radiation detectors for various applications in the nuclear industry, medical imaging and systems that neutralize ionizing radiation, which were developed by Rotem Industries.

Iran may sell to Russia some 40 ton of heavy water, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday, TASS reported. “We are currently in negotiations with Russia on the sale of 40 tons of heavy water, there are also other buyers ready to purchase it from us,” the minister said.

Araghchi noted that the negotiations are still going on, adding, “I don’t known when [the agreement will be reached], these are commercial negotiations, they continue.”

According to Araghchi, the Iranians have recently sold 32 tons of heavy water to the US. “The deal has been finalized, the money has already been transferred to the accounts of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization,” he said.

In January, Iran removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement as required under a nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world powers, TASS reported. Like the US, Russia is eager to purchase Iran’s excess heavy water and enriched uranium, Alexei Karpov, the Russian deputy permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, told reporters on Tuesday.

“We’ll be ready, as a possible option, to continue such work on enriched uranium in the future, if Iran requests,” he said. “As for heavy water, we are also ready to assist Iran in this issue by buying the needed amount of this material.”

Heavy water is a form of water that contains a larger than normal amount of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope that makes up most of the hydrogen in normal water. Deuterium oxide is used in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy when the solvent of interest is water and the nuclide of interest is hydrogen.

Iran produced deuterated solvents in early 2011 for the first time at its plant for production of heavy water at Khondab near Arak.

A Jewish organization in Vienna says anti-Semitism in Austria is at its highest level in years.

The group representing the Jewish community is an NGO (non-governmental organization) called the Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde, or IKG.

Data presented to the IKG by a second group, the Forum Against Anti-Semitism (Forum gegen Antisemitismus) indicates last year there were 465 incidents involving anti-Semitism, as compared to 255 such incidents in 2014 – an 82 percent rise.

In 2015, nearly half of the incidents involved Islamic anti-Semitism online (205 cases), according to IKG President Oskar Deutsch. There were 85 anti-Semitic incidents online in 2014.

Around 15,000 Jews live in Austria.

“There is an increasing concern in our community that – if the proportion of Muslims in Austria continues to rise due to immigration, due to the refugees – this could become problematic for us,” IKG secretary-general Raimund Fastenbauer told the European Jewish Press.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has urged the European Union and its member states to increase efforts to combat widespread anti-Semitic cyber hate.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz reacted to the report by affirming, “Jewish life must be protected in Austria. It is the duty of the state to make Jewish people in Austria feel secure; that is for us as Austria a great responsibility.”

However, Sebastian did not outline any concrete plan to address the issue, nor did he offer any suggestion to the Jewish community on how to mitigate the threat.

A café that was a popular spot for Jewish refugees in Shanghai during World War II has been rebuilt and reopened in the city’s Hongkou district.

The Zum Weissen Rossi’l café, better known as the White Horse Café, first opened in 1939. On hand for the reopening were city and district government officials, the consulate general of Israel in Shanghai and family members of the original owners.

“The feeling is excellent, like going back home,” said 74-year-old Ron Klinger, one of the family members, Xinhua reported.

“Our families are very grateful to the city and district government for restoring the cafe,” Klinger said.

Klinger’s grandparents, who fled to Shanghai from Vienna in 1939, ran the café until 1949, when they relocated to Australia. Klinger’s parents also met at the café and got married in February 1941. He was born the same year.

It is estimated that around 23,000 European Jews fled to Shanghai during World War II to escape Nazi persecution, joining already established Chinese Jewish communities from Baghdad and Russia. The Jewish refugees were restricted to a small area that became known as the “Shanghai Ghetto” by the Japanese, who had occupied the city in 1937. Nearly all of Shanghai’s Jewish community left the city following WWII and the Chinese Communist revolution in 1949.

Iran and the P5+1 powers announced a final agreement shortly after noon (Israeli time) on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. It will take a year to understand if the deal actually stops helps Iran get its hands on a nuclear weapon.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned yesterday that Israel’s failure to prevent a “bad deal” does not change its determination to use whatever means necessary to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

French Foreign minister Laurent Fabius said the nuclear deal will sufficient for “at least for the period of the first 10 years.”

Congress has 60 days to review the bill, but it will not be able to torpedo it unless there is a wholesale rebellion of Democrats that would prevent a presidential veto of non-approval by legislators.

Rouhani has provided plenty of ammunition for opponents to the deal, having said that Iran still will consider the United States an enemy country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday that he believes a nuclear deal with Iran is “within reach.”

Lavrov said he is ready to return to Vienna for more talks together with other negotiators for the delegation of world powers led by the United States.

“We are close to a comprehensive agreement,” Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Ufa. “It is within reach.”

U.S. President Barack Obama made an effort to lower expectations earlier this week, telling lawmakers at a closed-door meeting Tuesday night that “the chances at this point are below 50-50,” according to CNN.com, quoting Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill), a close Obama ally.

Nevertheless, a report by Iranian Press TV claimed this Friday’s deadline might again be blown for a sixth time, and the talks could be extended till next Monday, July 13. A Western official denied the report when questioned by Reuters, however.

The going has finally gotten tough enough to force the tough to get going – and they’re gone.

All of the foreign ministers from the P5+1 group of world powers left U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna late Tuesday to get whatever he can on a deal with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with journalists in the Austrian capital to say the two sides are too far apart for a deal.

Nearly 10 issues still separate the delegation of six nations (Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) led by the United States and Tehran.

Iran continues to insist on full, immediate sanctions relief but refuses to allow spot inspections and access for United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to its military nuclear sites.

The new deadline for conclusion of the talks – which is also “flexible” – is set for this Friday, July 10.

The team of American delegates left to negotiate in Vienna, meanwhile, told a small group of international reporters Tuesday they were “insulted” by implications the U.S. is “eager” for an agreement at any cost. The delegates have traveled to Austria 18 times over the past two years to negotiate this deal, they said.

“Quite frankly, when people say that we’re rushing to an agreement, I find it somewhat insulting,” said a senior U.S. official, “to me, to the team and to the secretary and to the president…. we have seen more of each other than our actual families.”

The official who spoke with reporters warned that once the team leaves Vienna this time, however, “we are in less control of what happens in this negotiation. It gets more complicated, not less complicated.”

If an agreement is initialed by July 10, Congress will have 30 days to review it.

But if it takes longer, then lawmakers will have 60 days to comb through the fine points and decide whether to give a green light or not.