Brooklyn, NY - The Satmar rabbis, with graying beards and long black coats, crowded around a dining room table in Williamsburg that was heavy with fruit and rugelach cookies. Their guests were the new superintendent of the New York State Police and State Senator Eric Adams, who represents a nearby Brooklyn neighborhood. The mood was festive, the banter lively, but to the point. Senator...

New York - Among the dozens of people arrested overnight in Tehran was NEWSWEEK reporter Maziar Bahari, who has covered Iran for the magazine for over a decade. Bahari was home asleep at 7 a.m. when several security officers showed up at his Tehran apartment. According to his mother, who lives with the 41-year-old reporter and documentary filmmaker, the men did not identify themselves. They...

Elad - A Chardei 40-year-old man was killed and four of his children were seriously injured late Sunday night in a collision between a fire truck and two cars on route 444, near Rantis Junction. The father who was killed R'L was driving back from Jerusalem to take home the family members of the Kallah after the wedding of his son. The children were evacuated by paramedics to hospitals in...

Jerusalem - The IDF Rabbinate intends to emboss its emblem on military-issued Korans, according to IDF journal BaMachaneh. This may be the first time in history that an overtly Jewish symbol – the emblem of the Israel Defense Force Rabbinate – will be embossed on Muslim holy books. The Rabbinate’s emblem depicts the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, as well as the sword and olive branches...

Israel - A group of 16 Yemenite Jews landed in Israel Sunday, having emigrated from their home country with the help of the Jewish Agency. "I hope all of Yemen's Jews make aliyah to Israel as soon as possible and won't immigrate to other destinations worldwide," said Eli Cohen, director of the Jewish Agency's Aliya and Absorption Division. As a first step, the three families will reside at...

Ein Gedi, Israel - Eli Raz was peering into a narrow hole in the Dead Sea shore when the earth opened up and swallowed him. Fearing he would never be found alive in the 10-meter-(30 foot-) deep pit, he scribbled his will on an old postcard. After 14 hours a search party pulled him from the hole unhurt, and five years later the 69-year-old geologist is working to save others from a similar fate...

Washington - Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon. What some fail to realize, though, is that such reviews can be tainted: Many bloggers have accepted perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a...

New Jersey - Firefighters, rescue squad members and other volunteer emergency responders in New Jersey may soon get some assistance of their own from state lawmakers. The Assembly Budget Committee is expected to give final consideration Monday to legislation that would bar employers from firing or suspending employees who don't report to work because they're providing emergency...

Newport Beach, CA - Every day, Bill Gross, the world’s most successful bond fund manager, withdraws into a conference room at lunchtime with his lieutenants to discuss his firm’s investments. The blinds are drawn to keep out the sunshine, and he forbids any fiddling with BlackBerrys or cellphones. He wants everyone disconnected from the outside world and focused on what matters most to him...

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the United States and Britain Sunday to stop meddling in Iran's internal affairs, the ISNA news agency reported. "Definitely by hasty remarks you will not be placed in the circle of friendship with the Iranian nation. Therefore I advise you to correct your interfering stances," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. "They (Western countries...

Washington - President Obama named Minneapolis attorney Sam Kaplan on Friday as ambassador to Morocco. Kaplan, a top cash "bundler" for Obama's 2008 campaign finance committee, had been widely vetted by White House officials in recent weeks. Friday's announcement came as Kaplan and his wife, Sylvia, who is also prominent in DFL politics, were in Washington for diplomatic training. Kaplan...

Heidelberg, Germany - One of the U.S. Army’s newest chaplains in Europe is trying to build a congregation and a sense of community for a faith that has relatively few numbers compared to other religions. Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Avi Weiss said although his first priority as a Jewish chaplain based in Heidelberg, Germany, is as a deputy commander in Installation Management Command-Europe’s...

New York City - Mayor Bloomberg has already spent at least $18.6 million on his quest for a third term. The same city records show his Democratic rival, city Controller William Thompson, has spent about a tenth of that. Bloomberg, the billionaire who tossed more than $80 million into each of his first two mayoral runs, could spend even more this time around. The fact that Bloomberg's not...

New York City - It's a jailhouse crock. City prison officials acted like an entourage of fawning valets for a female rapper when she was locked up on Rikers Island, hanging out in her cell, bringing meals and makeup, giving her unlimited TV and phone use, and toting her bags when she was released last April. The female rapper, who did nine months for a parole violation after she punched and...

Ofra Settlement, Israel - It reads like a standard real estate contract between a Zionist institution and an Israeli couple. But it offers a rare glimpse into the bureaucratic smoke screen that helps ensure a strong Jewish presence on lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state. The document, which surfaced in a case before Israel's Supreme Court, shows that the World Zionist...