1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Stock exchange
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A stock exchange or bourse is an exchange where stock brokers and traders can buy and/or sell stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, Securities traded on a stock exchange include stock issued by listed companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. Stock exchanges often function as continuous auction markets, with buyers and sellers consummating transactions at a central location, to be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it must be listed there. Trade on an exchange is restricted to brokers who are members of the exchange, the initial public offering of stocks and bonds to investors is by definition done in the primary market and subsequent trading is done in the secondary market. A stock exchange is often the most important component of a stock market, supply and demand in stock markets are driven by various factors that, as in all free markets, affect the price of stocks. There is usually no obligation for stock to be issued via the exchange itself. Such trading may be off exchange or over-the-counter and this is the usual way that derivatives and bonds are traded. Increasingly, stock exchanges are part of a securities market. The idea of debt dates back to the ancient world, as evidenced for example by ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets recording interest-bearing loans, there is little consensus among scholars as to when corporate stock was first traded. Some see the key event as the Dutch East India Companys founding in 1602, economist Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California at Berkeley argues that a share market existed as far back as ancient Rome. One such service was the feeding of geese on the Capitoline Hill as a reward to the birds after their honking warned of a Gallic invasion in 390 B. C. Participants in such organizations had partes or shares, a concept mentioned various times by the statesman, in one speech, Cicero mentions shares that had a very high price at the time. Such evidence, in Malmendiers view, suggests the instruments were tradable, the societas declined into obscurity in the time of the emperors, as most of their services were taken over by direct agents of the state. Tradable bonds as a used type of security were a more recent innovation, spearheaded by the Italian city-states of the late medieval. While the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they did not develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market, the Dutch East India Company became the first company to offer shares of stock. Control of the company was held tightly by its directors, with shareholders not having much influence on management or even access to the companys accounting statements. However, shareholders were rewarded well for their investment, the company paid an average dividend of over 16 percent per year from 1602 to 1650. Financial innovation in Amsterdam took many forms, by the 1620s, the company was expanding its securities issuance with the first use of corporate bonds
3.
Tel Aviv
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Tel Aviv-Yafo is a major city in Israel, located on the countrys Mediterranean coastline. It is the center and the technology hub of Israel, with a population of 432,892. Tel Aviv is the largest city in the Gush Dan region of Israel, Tel Aviv is also a focal point in the high-tech concentration known as the Silicon Wadi. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv is a global city, and is the thirty eighth most important financial center in the world. Tel Aviv is known to have the third-largest economy of any city in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, the city receives over a million international visitors annually. Known as The City that Never Sleeps and a party capital, it has a lively nightlife, the city was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It is named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzls 1902 novel, Altneuland, the modern citys first neighbourhoods had already been established in 1886, the first being Neve Tzedek. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffas, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Avivs White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzls Altneuland, translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including Herzliya and it was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for spring, symbolizing renewal, and tel is a man-made mound accumulating layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient. Although founded in 1909 as a settlement on the sand dunes North of Jaffa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment in 1906, wrote, In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city. Since 1886, Jewish settlers had founded new neighborhoods outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv, the first was Neve Tzedek, built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche and inhabited primarily by Mizrahi Jews. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom, Yafa Nof, Achva, Ohel Moshe, Kerem HaTeimanim, once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa. The Second Aliyah led to further expansion, in 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit society. The societys goal was to form a Hebrew urban centre in an environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics
4.
Israeli new shekel
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The new shekel is divided into 100 agora. The new shekel has been in use since 1 January 1986, the currency sign for the new shekel ⟨ ₪ ⟩ is a combination of the first Hebrew letters of the words shekel and ẖadash. Alongside the shekel sign, the abbreviations of NIS, שח. The origin of the shekel is from the ancient biblical currency by the same name. Shekel is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency in ancient Israel, initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley. In ancient Israel, the shekel was known to be about 180 grains, from the formation of the modern State of Israel on 14 May 1948 through 1952 banknotes continued to be issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank as Palestine pound which was pegged to the British Pound. In 1952, the Anglo-Palestine Bank changed its name to Bank Leumi Le-Yisrael, the Israeli pound was the currency of the State of Israel from June 1952 until 23 February 1980, when it was replaced with the shekel on 24 February 1980. From 1955, after the Bank of Israel was established and took over the duty of issuing banknotes, only the Hebrew name was used, along with the symbol I£. The pegging to the British Pound was abolished on 1 January 1954, and in 1960, during the 1960s, a debate over the non-Hebrew name of the Israeli currency resulted in a law ordering the Minister of Finance to change the name pound into a Hebrew name, Shekel. The law allowed the minister to decide on a date for the change. The law did not come into effect until February 1980, when the Israeli government decided to change the monetary system, the shekel, now known as the old shekel, was the currency of the State of Israel between 24 February 1980 and 31 December 1985. The Israeli pound and its successor, the old shekel, all experienced frequent devaluations against foreign currencies during the 1960s and 70s and this trend culminated in the old shekel experiencing hyperinflation in the early 1980s. After inflation was contained as a result of the 1985 Economic Stabilization Plan, as a result of these factors, inflation has been relatively low and the country now maintains a positive balance of payments, with a current account surplus equivalent to about 3% of its GDP in 2010. Since 1 January 2003, the new shekel has been a freely convertible currency, since 7 May 2006, new shekel derivative trading has also been available on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This makes the new one of only twenty or so world currencies for which there are widely available currency futures contracts in the foreign exchange market. It is also a currency that can be exchanged by consumers in parts of the world. On 26 May 2008, CLS Bank International announced that it would settle payment instructions in new shekels, since 20 March 2003, the new shekel has gained more than 30% in value against the US dollar. In 1985, coins in denominations of 1,5, and 10 agora and ₪½, in 1990, ₪5 coins were introduced, followed by ₪10 coins in 1995
5.
Market capitalization
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Market capitalization is used by the investment community in ranking the size of companies, as opposed to sales or total asset figures. It is also used in ranking the size of stock exchanges. In performing such rankings, the market capitalizations are calculated at some significant date, the total capitalization of stock markets or economic regions may be compared with other economic indicators. In 2014 and 2015, global market capitalization was US$68 trillion and US$67 trillion, respectively. Market cap is given by the formula M C = N × P, where MC is the capitalization, N is the number of shares outstanding. For example, if company has 4 million shares outstanding. If the closing price per share rises to $21, the cap becomes $84 million. If it drops to $19 per share, the cap falls to $76 million. This is in contrast to mercantile pricing where purchase price, average price, traditionally, companies were divided into large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap. The terms mega-cap and micro-cap have also come into common use. Different numbers are used by different indexes, there is no definition of, or full consensus agreement about. The cutoffs may be defined as rather than in nominal dollars. Market cap reflects only the equity value of a company and it is important to note that a firms choice of capital structure has a significant impact on how the total value of a company is allocated between equity and debt. A more comprehensive measure is enterprise value, which gives effect to outstanding debt, preferred stock, for insurance firms, a value called the embedded value has been used
6.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
7.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
8.
Economy of Israel
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The economy of Israel is technologically advanced by global standards. The major economic sectors include high-technology and industrial manufacturing, the Israeli diamond industry is one of the centers for diamond cutting and polishing. Its central high technology hub Silicon Wadi is considered second in only to its Californian counterpart. Numerous Israeli companies have been acquired by global corporations for their reliable, each entrepreneur has each praised Israels economy and invested heavily across numerous Israeli industries beyond their traditional business activities and investments back in their home nations. Israel is also a major tourist destination, with 3.54 million foreign tourists visiting it in 2013, in September 2010, Israel was invited to join the OECD. The British Mandate that came into effect in 1923 aimed at restricting land purchases of previously Arab-owned land by Jewish immigrants, for this reason the Jewish population was initially more urban and had a higher share in industrial occupations than did the Arab majority. The first survey of the Dead Sea in 1911, by the Russian Jewish engineer Moshe Novomeysky, led to the establishment of Palestine Potash Ltd. in 1930, in 1923, Pinhas Rutenberg was granted an exclusive concession for the production and distribution of electric power. He founded the Palestine Electric Company, later the Israel Electric Corporation, in 1937, there were 86 spinning and weaving factories in the country, employing a workforce of 1,500. Capital and technical expertise were supplied by Jewish professionals from Europe, the Ata textile plant in Kiryat Ata, which went on to become an icon of the Israeli textile industry, was established in 1934. The industry underwent rapid development during World War II, when supplies from Europe were cut off while local manufacturers were commissioned for army needs, by 1943, the number of factories had grown to 250, with a workforce of 5,630, and output increased tenfold. From 1924, trade fairs were held in Tel Aviv, the Levant Fair was inaugurated in 1932. After statehood, Israel faced an economic crisis. As well as having to recover from the effects of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it also had to absorb hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe. Israel was financially overwhelmed and faced an economic crisis, which led to a policy of austerity from 1949 to 1959. Unemployment was high, and foreign reserves were scarce. Over the next 14 years, West Germany paid Israel 3 billion marks, the reparations became a decisive part of Israels income, comprising as high as 87. 5% of Israels income in 1956. In 1950, the Israeli government launched Israel Bonds for American and Canadian Jews to buy, in 1951, the final results of the bonds program exceeded $52 million. Additionally, many American Jews made private donations to Israel, which in 1956 were thought to amount to $100 million a year, in 1957, bond sales amounted to 35% of Israels special development budget
9.
Government bond
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A government bond is a bond issued by a national government, generally with a promise to pay periodic interest payments and to repay the face value on the maturity date. Government bonds are denominated in the countrys own currency. Government bonds are referred to as sovereign bonds. If a government or sovereign is close to default on its debt the media often refer to this as a debt crisis. The terms on which a government can sell bonds depend on how creditworthy the market considers it to be, international credit rating agencies will provide ratings for the bonds, but market participants will make up their own minds about this. The first general government bonds were issued in the Netherlands in 1517, because the Netherlands did not exist at that time, the bonds issued by the city of Amsterdam are considered their predecessor which later merged into Netherlands government bonds. The average interest rate at that time fluctuated around 20%, the first ever bond issued by a national government was issued by the Bank of England in 1694 to raise money to fund a war against France. It was in the form of a tontine, later, governments in Europe started issuing perpetual bonds to fund wars and other government spending. The use of perpetual bonds ceased in the 20th century, a Government bond in a countrys own currency is strictly speaking a risk-free bond, because the government can if necessary create additional currency in order to redeem the bond at maturity. There have however been instances where a government has chosen to default on its domestic currency debt, currency risk is the risk that the value of the currency a bond pays out will decline compared to the holders reference currency. A bond paying in a currency that does not have a history of keeping its value may not be a deal even if a high interest rate is offered. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of the currency a bond pays out will decline over time, investors expect some amount of inflation, so the risk is that the inflation rate will be higher than expected. Many governments issue inflation-indexed bonds, which protect investors against inflation risk by linking both interest payments and maturity payments to a consumer prices index. If a central bank purchases a government security, such as a bond or treasury bill, it increases the money supply, in the UK, government bonds are called gilts. Older issues have names such as Treasury Stock and newer issues are called Treasury Gilt, inflation-indexed gilts are called Index-linked gilts
10.
Corporate bond
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A corporate bond is a bond issued by a corporation in order to raise financing for a variety of reasons such as to ongoing operations, M&A, or to expand business. The term is applied to longer-term debt instruments, with maturity of at least one year. Corporate debt instruments with maturity shorter than one year are referred to as commercial paper, the term corporate bond is not strictly defined. Sometimes, the term is used to include all bonds except those issued by governments in their own currencies, in this case governments issuing in other currencies will be included. The term sometimes also encompasses bonds issued by supranational organizations, strictly speaking, however, it only applies to those issued by corporations. The bonds of local authorities are not included, Corporate bonds trade in decentralized, dealer-based, over-the-counter markets. In over-the-counter trading dealers act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers, Corporate bonds are sometimes listed on exchanges and ECNs. However, vast majority of trading volume happens over-the-counter, by far the largest market for corporate bonds is in corporate bonds denominated in US Dollars. US Dollar corporate bond market is the oldest, largest, as the term corporate bond is not well defined, the size of the market varies according to who is doing the counting, but it is in the $5 to $6 trillion range. The second largest market is in Euro denominated corporate bonds, other markets tend to be small by comparison and are usually not well developed, with low trading volumes. Many corporations from other issue in either US Dollars or Euros. Foreign corporates issuing bonds in the US Dollar market are called Yankees, Corporate bonds are divided into two main categories High Grade and High Yield according to their credit rating. Bonds rated AAA, AA, A, and BBB are High Grade, while bonds rated BB and this is a significant distinction as High Grade and High Yield bonds are traded by different trading desks and held by different investors. For example, many pension funds and insurance companies are prohibited from holding more than an amount of High Yield bonds. The distinction between High Grade and High Yield is also common to most corporate bond markets, the coupon is usually taxable for the investor. It is tax deductible for the corporation paying it, for US Dollar corporates, the coupon is almost always semi annual, while Euro denominated corporates pay coupon quarterly. In this case the bond, a bond, is sold at a discount. The investor benefits by paying $80, but collecting $100 at maturity, the $20 gain is in lieu of the regular coupon
11.
Bank Leumi
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Bank Leumi is an Israeli bank. Today, Bank Leumi is Israels largest bank, with offices in Luxembourg, USA, Switzerland, the UK, Mexico, Uruguay, Romania, Jersey. Though nationalized in 1981, now Bank Leumi is mainly in private hands, with the government as the largest single shareholder, the other major shareholders are Shlomo Eliyahu and Branea Invest, which each hold 10% of the stock, constituting the control core of the bank. Sixty percent of the stocks are held by the public. At the time, Zionists did not feel there was any taint to being identified with colonialism. The banks activities in Palestine were carried out by the Anglo-Palestine Bank, the bank opened its first branch in Jaffa in 1903 under the management of Zalman David Levontin. Early transactions included land purchase, imports and obtaining concessions, branches were opened in Jerusalem, Beirut, Hebron, Safed, Haifa, Tiberias and Gaza. The Anglo-Palestine Bank offered farmers long-term loans and provided loans to the Ahuzat Bayit association which built the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv. During World War I, the Ottoman government declared the bank, because it was registered in England, to be an institution and moved to shut it down. After World War I, its operations expanded, in 1932, the main branch moved from Jaffa to Jerusalem. During World War II, the Anglo-Palestine Bank helped to finance the establishment of industries that manufactured supplies for the British army, after the founding of the state of Israel, the bank won the concession to issue new banknotes. In 1950, the bank was renamed Bank Leumi Le-Israel, when the Bank of Israel was established in 1954, Bank Leumi became a commercial bank. In 1971, Bank Leumi acquired Arab Israel Bank, which serves mainly the Arab Citizens of Israel in the north of the country, ai Bank has 35 branches located in Israels northern and Triangle regions. The Government of Israel nationalized Bank Leumi in 1983, as a result of the Bank Stock Crisis, in 2011, Bank Leumi acquired Geneva-based Banque Safdie SA for CHF 143m. Bank Leumi merged Banque Safdie with Bank Leumi Switzerland Ltd to form Leumi Private Bank in early 2012, Leumi closed its representative office in Melbourne, Australia in October 2013 In July 2014, Bank Julius Baer announced that it had purchased the private banking assets of Bank Leumi. Baer bought Bank Leumi S. A. Leumis private bank in Luxembourg, the main branch of Bank Leumi on Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, built during the British Mandate by the German Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn, has been declared a landmark building. Another branch of Bank Leumi on the corner of Ramban Street in Jerusalems Rehavia neighborhood and it was built in 1935 as a private home, and was renovated in 2007 to restore the original facade. The bank paid a fine of million and turned over more than 1,500 names of its U. S. account holders
12.
Knesset
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The Knesset is the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, in addition, the Knesset elects the State Comptroller. The Prime Minister may also dissolve the Knesset, however, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset is located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem, as the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government through its committees. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, the Knesset is presided over by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. The Knesset is divided into committees, which amend bills on the appropriate subjects, Committee chairpersons are chosen by their members, on recommendation of the House Committee, and their factional composition represents that of the Knesset itself. Committees may elect sub-committees and delegate powers to them, or establish joint committees for issues concerning more than one committee, to further their deliberations, they invite government ministers, senior officials, and experts in the matter being discussed. There are four types of committees in the Knesset, permanent committees amend proposed legislation dealing with their area of expertise, and may initiate legislation. However, such legislation may only deal with Basic Laws and laws dealing with the Knesset, elections to the Knesset, Knesset members, or the State Comptroller. Special committees function in a manner to permanent committees, but are appointed to deal with particular manners at hand. Parliamentary inquiry committees are appointed by the plenum to deal with issues viewed as having national importance. The Ethics Committee is responsible for jurisdiction over Knesset members who violate the rules of ethics of the Knesset, within the framework of responsibility, the Ethics Committee may place various sanctions on a member, but is not allowed to restrict a members right to vote. The Knesset numbers 120 members, a subject which has often been a cause for proposed reforms and this proposed law has also been favoured by other politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu. The 120 members of the Knesset are popularly elected from a single electoral district to concurrent four-year terms. All Israeli citizens 18 years or older may vote in legislative elections, Knesset seats are allocated among the various parties using the DHondt method of party list proportional representation. A party or electoral alliance must pass the threshold of 3. 25% of the overall vote to be allocated a Knesset seat. Parties select their candidates using a closed list, thus, voters select the party of their choice, not any specific candidate. The electoral threshold was set at 1% from 1949 to 1992, then 1. 5% from 1992 to 2003
13.
Clearing house (finance)
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These transactions may be executed on a futures exchange or securities exchange, as well as off-exchange in the over-the-counter market. A clearing house stands between two clearing firms and its purpose is to reduce the risk of one clearing firm failing to honor its trade settlement obligations, also, it acts as a clearing firm. This process of transferring the title to the clearing house is called novation. It can take fractions of seconds in highly liquid futures markets, or days, many clearing house guarantee funds are capitalized with collateral from its clearing firms. In the event of a significant clearing firm failure, the house may draw on its guarantee fund in order to settle trades on behalf of the failed clearing firm. The term is used for banks like Suffolk Bank that acted as a restraint on the over-issuance of private bank notes. Clearing or the settlement of claims by payment of differences is most common in banking. Banks have long used clearing houses to settle accounts for payment of or to clear cheques, a common clearing center existed for London bankers on Lombard Street in that city from 1775. In the U. S. the Suffolk Bank opened the first clearing house in 1818 in Boston, a clearing house for bankers was opened in Philadelphia in 1858. The use of clearing houses by financial exchanges is somewhat more novel, financial exchanges only first began to use clearing houses in the latter part of the 19th century. As late as 1899, the London Stock Exchange was still the only stock exchange in Europe using a clearing house. The first stock exchange in the United States, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, was also the trend setter that was the first U. S. stock exchange to use a clearing system. It began using a system in 1870, but the much larger New York Stock Exchange still had no clearing system some two decades later in 1891. The Consolidated Stock Exchange of New York used clearing houses from its inception in 1885 and this exchange existed in competition with the NYSE from 1885-1926 and averaged 23% of NYSE volume. Its competitor Consolidateds use of clearing houses, finally forced the NYSE to follow suit to gain the same advantages of at least prevention of frauds. The New York Coffee Exchange began using clearing houses in 1914, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange began using them even later in 1919. When clearing securities, clearing houses either focus on a type of product or on a country or region. The 1990s saw a trend to merged exchanges which led a number of clearing houses associated with those exchanges also merging and consolidating
14.
Israel Standard Time
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Israel Standard Time Hebrew, שעון ישראל sheon Yisrael Israel Time is the standard time zone in Israel. It is two hours ahead of UTC, at the beginning of the British Mandate, the time zone of the mandate area, was set to Cairos time zone, which is two hours later than Greenwich Mean Time. The difference from UTC is the same as Eastern European Time, the switch on Friday is due to having the Jewish Sabbath as the common rest day of the week. Prior to 2013, Israeli daylight saving time period ended earlier in autumn, Israel shares the UTC+2 timezone with all of its neighbouring countries, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Israel observes daylight saving time, locally called Israel Summer Time, as of July 2013, IDT will begin on the Friday before the last Sunday of March, and end on the last Sunday of October. Israel Summer Time Daylight saving time
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