Washington - The Supreme Court has ruled that parents of special education students who opt for private school instead of trying the public system cannot be barred from seeking public reimbursement for their tuition costs. The court ruled 6-3 today in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send...

Williamsburg, NY - Two Jewish kids were burned last night when they were hit with a caustic liquid tossed from a roof of a Brooklyn building, authorities said. The victims, 10 and 13, were walking on South Eighth Street near Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg just after 8 p.m. when a punk dropped a "Drano bomb" -- a plastic container filled with drain cleaner and water. The boys suffered burns...

New Jersey - The state has already taken cell phones and text messaging out of the hands of drivers, and now one legislator hopes to do the same with in-car manual operation of GPS navigation systems, due to the potential for driver distraction. Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, a Democrat from Jersey City, introduced a bill specifying that only a voice-activated GPS may be programmed while...

New York - The price of oil, which is rising too fast, and long-term interest rates that are beginning to creep up are likely to suppress a budding recovery, famous economist Nouriel Roubini, also dubbed "Dr. Doom," told CNBC Monday. "I see even the risk of a double-dip, W-shaped recession… towards the end of next year," Roubini told "Squawk Box Europe." "Oil could be closer to $100 a...

Cupertino, CA - Apple sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the first three days, making it the most successful model yet. The news sent Apple shares higher after the stock had been trading down following reports over the weekend that said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs had undergone a liver transplant two months ago. When Apple launched the previous model last...

Paris, France - President Nicolas Sarkozy says France "cannot accept" that women are forced to wear full-body Islamic gowns. Sarkozy says wearing the burqa or niqab isn't about religion, it's about freedom and women's dignity. The French leader told a joint session of parliament today that the burqa is "a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement" and that it "will not be welcome on the...

Jerusalem - Mayor Nir Barkat said today that he would reopen the controversial Safra Square parking lot this coming Shabbath. The parking lot was closed for two weeks after haredi-religious Jewish protests with police turned violent. Barkat has negotiated with haredi-religious parties in the city council to come to an agreement on the issue, but with no success. The decision to reopen...

Kabul, Afghanistan - The Taliban leader who held New York Times reporter David Rohde hostage for seven months initially demanded a ransom of $25 million and the release of ten prisoners from Guantanamo, according to people involved in subsequent negotiations. Rohde's captor was reportedly identified by the FBI and CIA as Siraj Haqqani, the son of a senior Taliban leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani who...

Albany, NY - Gov. David A. Paterson said in an interview Sunday night that he would make sure that the State Senate votes on same sex-marriage legislation before it breaks for the summer, hours after he and his administration had refused to commit to forcing a vote on the issue. The development came as the governor announced plans to call the Senate to a special session on Tuesday, after...

Israel - The Army Central Command head Gen. Gadi Shamni abruptly canceled the Rosh Chodesh prayer service in a Jericho synagogue. The prayers were to be held in the ancient “Shalom al Yisrael” synagogue in Jericho, a city that has been under the control of the Palestinian Authority for just over 15 years. Gen. Shamni explained that the reason for the cancellation was “intelligence...

Queens, NY - Elizabeth Mosh was so excited when she rented a Queens apartment for $650 a month last September, that she even ordered a bed and a flat-screen TV online so they would be there when she moved in. But the 23-year-old preschool teacher was never able to make the move into the two-bedroom apartment in Richmond Hill because the woman who rented it to her via Craigslist doesn't own it...

Tehran - Iran's Revolutionary Guard is threatening to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election and warns demonstrators to prepare for a "revolutionary confrontation" if they take to the streets again. The country's most powerful military force ordered demonstrators to "end the sabotage and rioting activities" and said their resistance is a "conspiracy"...

Williamsburg, NY - North Brooklynites are demanding a reduction in street cleaning — and with it a cut in the number of days that drivers must shuffle their cars due to alternate-side parking regulations. Williamsburg and Greenpoint’s Community Board 1 has called on the city to decrease the frequency of street cleaning from four days per week to two days per week on streets deemed...

Boca Raton, FL - It's a clash of religion and ramps. Florida's Turnpike officials say Palmetto Park Road is the best location for a $119 million SunPass interchange to relieve bottlenecks at the Glades Road toll plaza. But residents who live near the road say officials have overlooked the impact that an interchange would have on West Boca's community of Orthodox Jews concentrated along...

Iquitos, Peru - If Ronald Reátegui Levy someday finds that he is the last Jew of Iquitos, it may well be of his own doing. His dream, which he has vigorously pursued, is to persuade the descendants of Sephardic merchants who settled in this remote corner of the Amazon basin more than a century ago to reaffirm their ties to Judaism and emigrate to Israel. “It is getting very lonely...