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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Israel

Nadav Guedj, Israel’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, is only 16 years old. Although he looks like a 28-year-old financial strategy advisor, his age makes him one of the youngest contestants this year. And, as heard in our office, he might well get some older ladies in trouble.

Especially when the “Middle Eastern pop anthem” he will perform, “Golden Boy”, makes Pitbull sound like a nervous little poodle. “Did you say hello, my ladies?” (Did you?), “Pull me baby, I’m your trigger, you know that my love is bigger,” “Hold me tight, we’re not going home tonight, oh yeah, do you like my dancing?” (Do you?) are just a few examples of what this scorching volcano of a song will fire out at what will most definitely be a swooning audience. Because, before anything else, “Golden Boy” is the story of a guy attempting to repair his broken heart by partying and enjoying life. Aaw.

Nadav Guedj, who was born in Paris and raised in Israel, is the winner of season two of “The Rising Star”, Israel’s most popular singing competition. The country participated a total of 37 times in the contest since its first run in 1973, and won three times.

Israel’s Eurovision appearances have often been the subject of heated debates. Not because it’s not a European country — we’re long past that point — but because many Arab states don’t recognize the country and boycott anything Israel takes part in.

Our vote:

Does it make you want to visit that country? 2.5/10

Was there enough glitter? 4.25/10

Ok to quit your day job? 0/10

OVERALL AVERAGE: 2.25/10

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Green

How Climate Change May Be Triggering More Earthquakes — And Vice Versa

Researchers have identified a possible link between climate change and the frequency of earthquakes — and the quakes may also start a vicious circle of accelerating climate change.

Image of a man trying to measure the offset of a crevasse on a glacier

Crevasse on the Canwell glacier created by the earthquake that struck near Denali National Park in Alaska in November 2002

Paul Molga

PARIS — Between 1900 and 1950, the Earth recorded an average of 3.4 earthquakes per year with a magnitude greater than 6.5. That figured doubled to 6.7 a year until the early 1970s, and was almost five times that in the 2000s.

Their intensity would also have increased with more than 25 major earthquakes per year, double the previous periods. This is according to the EM-DAT emergency events database, which compiled the occurrence and effects of 22,000 mass disasters worldwide in the 20th century.

Can we conclude that there is a causal relationship with the rise of human activities, as some experts suggest? The idea was first suggested in 2011 by an Australian research team led by geology professor Giampiero Iaffaldano. At the time, it reported that it had found that the intensification of the monsoon in India had accelerated the movement of the Indian tectonic plate by 20% over the past 10 million years.

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