(JNS.org) Four Israeli teens won gold, silver and bronze medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics, held over the course of four days in Brisbane, Australia. Following its performance, Israel was ranked eighth in the world out of 80 participating teams. The 25-year-old event highlighting the achievement of youths in computer science was initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), along with Olympiads in mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. Participants had to solve problems by writing computer programs using algorithms. On the Israeli team, 18-year-old Daniel Hadas won a gold medal, 17-year-old Tom Kalvari from Kfar Hayarok won two silver medals, and 17-year-old Ohad Klein and 18-year-old Ron Ribchin each won bronze medals, the Times of Israel reported.

Gazan farmers train in Israel

(JNS.org) Two groups of Arab farmers left Gaza this week to attend an agricultural seminar in northern Israel with the goal of improving Gaza’s agricultural industry. Sixty Gazans participated in the conference despite calls from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement calling to boycott Israeli products and industries. “During the seminar, the farmers completed several workshops on cultivation methods, planting schedules, soil preparation, proper use of irrigation and fertilizer and disinfestations methods… the farmers… had stated that this year, owing to the training programs conducted frequently in Israel, growers had achieved unprecedented crop yields – 11 tons of produce for each acre of cultivated fields – a twofold increase compared with the preceding year,” COGAT’s website stated last year, according to Israel National News.