News Briefs

Shaul Spitzer, 18, who used to be the Skverer Rebbe's Butler, is facing 5-10 years for first-degree assault in his attack on Aron Rottenberg in May, 2011, in New Square, NY. Rottenberg was attacked because he chose not to pray at New Square's main synagogue, under the leadership of the Skverer Rebbe.

An April 13 short item on the number of inmates in the NYC jail system who receive kosher meals was headlined: "20 inmates fat on glatt." Now, is this a suggestion that City jail kosher meals be made more healthful, perhaps with larger salad portions and less fatty, albeit kosher, meat – or was this a callused NY Post insult to Jewish criminals who are so insolent, they won't even eat pig like a decent Christian convict?

Tehran and the group of 6 (US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) met in Istanbul on Saturday, ending a 15-month hiatus in talks. "There is a positive atmosphere… contrasting with the last time," EU spokesman Michael Mann stated. An afternoon session on Saturday involved a number of bilateral meetings, but the Iranian delegation rejected the US representatives’ request for a bilateral meeting.

The website Shalom Toronto reports that Canada's foreign office will close down the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic development, which two years...

The Guardian reported that Israel has forced the low-cost airline Jet2.com to revoke the tickets of three women from Manchester who were on their...

This is too funny not to be true. Egypt's national soccer team is "forced" to break the Arab Youth and Sports Ministers’ decision to boycott Adidas, after the sportswear company sponsored the Jerusalem marathon… because the national team do not have an alternative kit to wear. "We have no choice but to wear Adidas in the UAE camp as we don’t have any other outfits," said the team's Executive Director.

Top U.S. Jewish organizations joined the call on President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard because of his reported illness. "A few months ago we visited...

In a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, two congressmen said a medal awarded to veteran journalist Helen Thomas could hurt U.S. assistance...

In an explosive letter, Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas ("Basic Instinct," "Jagged Edge") writes Mel Gibson, Joe is accusing Mel of “hating Jews” and of using him to deflect his anti-Semitic reputation. Eszterhas wrote that Gibson, the director of a sadomasochistic flick about how the Jews killed you-know-who, never actually intended to make the movie about Jewish heroism, titled “The Maccabees.”

Judge Margaret Marrinan dismissed a lawsuit looking to force the state of Minnesota to sell the $18 million in Israeli bonds which is held in its portfolio. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota published this understatement: "Divesting from the State of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, one of our nation’s strongest allies, and an important trading partner for the State of Minnesota, is wrong."

Raymond Aubrac, whose parents were sent to Auschwitz, and his wife, were the most celebrated couple of the French resistance, fierce underground fighters against...

IDF Soldiers and Military Police on Wednesday arrested a Palestinian armed with seven explosives at the Beka'ot crossing in the Jordan River Valley. The terrorist appeared suspicious and while searching him the soldiers discovered three knives and bullets, as well as the explosives. The terrorist was taken for further investigation by security forces.

Just ahead of France's presidential and legislative elections, the conservative French government Wednesday unveiled new counter-terrorism measures intended to restrain visits to extremist websites...

It started when Michael Carreon, a resident of Los Angeles’ 14th council district, objected to the rules of decorum at a City Council meeting on Tuesday. "I'm upset, so I guess I'll just salute you," he said, raised one hand in the air in a Nazi salute, and shouted: "Heil Hitler."

The NY Post reported that Rabbi Joshua Metzger has signed a contract to pay $40 million for the 12-story, 60,000-square-foot building at 509 Fifth...

Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, announced Tuesday that in order to avoid a repeat of what Barbara Cadranel had to...

Aharon Alexander Gorshonov, 25, the Jewish man who was attacked after he had left a seder at a synagogue in Kiev, will be flown...

Former Senator Rick Santorum, who was trailing Candidate Mitt Romney in delegates and had very little hope of catching up to him in the...

JP Morgan acquired a $100 million stake in Conduit from investor Yozma fund at a $1.4 billion valuation. Conduit’s cash cow is its toolbar, which the company says has been used by more than 200,000 sites, including MLB.com and Miniclip, to reach 250 million users.

Egyptian Maj.-Gen. Ahmad Jamal said that Egypt's Interior Ministry decided to send 2,000 officers and soldiers from the Special Forces to the north of Sinai, in order to increase security control of the area. He said the ministry has already sent 150 officers and the rest will be sent soon. The main reason for sending them is to implement security plans, especially plans to protect the natural gas line.

Iran has announced that "key members of an Israeli terrorist network have been identified and arrested." Apparently, Iranian intelligence forces, carrying out a series of sophisticated operations in a number of central and border provinces of Iran, managed to identify "a major Zionist network of terror and sabotage" and on Monday arrested "a number of criminal terrorists and mercenaries affiliated with the network."

Disgraced designer John Galliano has finally been replaced as creative director of French fashion house Christian Dior, more than a year after his racist...

A Jewish man was attacked after he left a seder at a synagogue in Kiev. The man, 25, was found on Sunday night, nearly a...

For the past 10 years, UNT has been the only university in the North Texas area where students could study Hebrew outside of seminary. But, according to NTDaily.com, after many years of low enrollment, the program is being eliminated. Ruth Precker, the adjunct professor hired in 2002 to teach Hebrew, believes the program’s recent low enrollment is due to issues with the registrar – there was a glitch!

The White House on Monday rejected an emotional appeal by Israel's President Shimon Peres to commute convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard's life sentence. Peres based his appeal on Pollard's fast deteriorating health, after Peres' recent conversation with Pollard's wife Esther. Peres' appeal came after he had received a petition signed by 80 MKs, urging Obama to release Pollard.

Prospects for a cease-fire in Syria appear low, as Syria's conflict has been spilling over into Turkey and Lebanon, with government forces continuing to...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a delegation of Israeli leftists on Sunday that he would ask the UN General Assembly to recognize Palestinian statehood if Israel does not respond to his demands for the resumption of negotiations. Those demands include a total freeze of Jewish settlement construction in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem, and the release of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisoners.

The Palestinian news agency Ma'an reprts that Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Nafeth Azzam on Monday urged PA President Mahmoud Abbas to walk out on...

Lebanon's Al-Jadeed television channel reported that Syrian soldiers opened fire on a car carrying its crew on the Lebanese side of the frontier, in...

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen has been slipping in the polls ahead of the April 22 first-round vote, placing fourth President Nicolas Sarkozy and two other candidates. And so, to boost her ratings, she's been doing whatever she can, including pick the very Jewish sounding Goldman Sachs, as her target.