JERUSALEM: With its perennial lack of water and an overabundance of sun, Israel has long been a global leader in water and solar technologies. An Israeli kibbutz company, Netafim, invented the first drip irrigation systems, while Luz Industries Israel developed the first commercial solar-thermal power plants.

Renault sees demand for as many as 50,000 electric vehicles in 2011, the year the carmaker will begin selling such zero emission cars in Denmark, Israel and Portugal, engineering and quality head Jean-Louis Ricaud said on Thursday in an interview with Reuters.

Ricaud confirmed the electric car will be based on the Megane platform and called the 'Fluence'.

BRITISH leader Gordon Brown has warned Iran it must freeze sensitive nuclear work or face more sanctions, in the first address by a British prime minister to the Israeli Parliament.

Mr Brown also attacked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "abhorrent" threats against Israel and declared that Britain stood alongside the Jewish state.

"Iran now has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear program and accept our offer of negotiations or face growing isolation and the collective response of not just one nation but of all nations round the world," Mr Brown said.

Could the oil crisis be triggered by images of Greenland's crumbling ice cap? Project Syndicate

Brain senses smell, the way it recognizes musical notes THE fragrance of almonds is closer to that of roses than of bananas. Scientists from Weizmann Institute, Israel, have, for the first time ever, mapped odours and determined the distance between them. This helped them distinguish one odour from another.

SUN Pharmaceutical Industries, the country's most valuable drugmaker, has decided to launch a hostile bid for Israel's Taro Pharmaceutical Industries. This is a rare instance of an Indian company making an unsolicited bid for a foreign firm. The move follows Taro's rejection of a merger agreement with Sun last month. Taro had termed the offer