Kyiv, Ukraine - The Jewish Forum of Ukraine has protested against the Kyiv City Council's decision to rename Comintern Street to Symon Petliura Street. "The Jewish Forum of Ukraine believes that the names of historically controversial personalities should not be given to streets and cities, and it is better to return to them their original geographical and historical names, and what counts...

Washington - President Obama told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday to clean up his act before demanding apologies from the U.S. for ripping the strong-arm treatment of election protestors. "I don't take Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments seriously, about apologies," Obama said at a White House news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "I would suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad...

Manhattan, NY - A leaky cruise ship carrying 848 passengers from Iceland is being held in New York Harbor. A small hole was discovered in the ship's hull during a routine safety inspection. About a gallon of water per hour was coming into the ship, according to the Coast Guard. Chief Petty Officer Russ Tippets said that's "a very small amount." He added that officials expect the damage to...

Lakewood, NJ - The investor who led the $8 billion acquisition of Extended Stay is being sued for a "Machiavellian scheme" to push the hotel chain into bankruptcy and to "steal" the company, according to court documents. Two investors in the junior debt of the 680-hotel chain filed the suit in a New York state court and are seeking $314 million of compensation and damages from David...

Albany, NY - Gov. David Paterson says he's withholding the pork-barrel grants senators give out individually, citing their failure to go to work as he ordered for the fourth straight day. With two evenly-divided factions disputing majority control of the chamber, senators met again on Friday in two consecutive sessions, the first attended by most of the Democrats in one faction, the second by...

Jerusalem - Some 30,000 men from all ultra-Orthodox factions gathered Friday evening on Jerusalem's Bar Ilan Road for a mass prayer in protest of the decision to open a parking lot near the Old City on Shabbat. Some 150 haredi men gathered near the disputed Karta parking lot and held a quiet prayer in the area. Most of the protestors gathered between the Ohaley Yosef and Avinadav...

Bridgewater, SD - Forty-four tons of rotting meat have been removed from a defunct packing plant in Bridgewater, where officials and volunteers who were left to clean up the mess and stifle the stench are now trying to figure out how to pay for it. Power to the Bridgewater Quality Meats plant was shut off in December and the plant was closed. As springtime temperatures rose, so did the...

New York - Two people have told police they were stopped by a man pretending to be a police officer. Neither was injured. Police did not say where or when the incidents took place, though both occurred in northern Chautauqua County. Both drivers told police they were stopped by a man driving what appeared to be a black unmarked Ford Crown Victoria. The first driver said one man was in the...

New York, NY - Just how dangerous is New York City? A new online tool from the New York Times is helping city dwellers find out. The webpage is a mashup of Google Maps and homicide data collected from the New York Police Department, news accounts, court records and additional reporting. The Times has mapped 3,402 homicides across all five city boroughs from 2003 to the present. The tool...

Israel - At Dusk on the Sabbath, few things are more spectacular in Jerusalem than the fascinating passing parade of fur hats moving inexorably towards the Western Wall. Great furry crowns of all shades of brown, lined with velvet and leather, some them 22 centimetres wide and 15 centimetres high. Others are so wide and flat that they look like a sombrero made of sable. Some can be so high...

Detroit, MI - Prosecutors have charged Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of a congressman, with accepting cash bribes in exchange for supporting a sludge contract with a Houston company. Conyers is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for allegedly accepting two payments from a Synagro Technologies official in late 2007, including one in a McDonald's...

Jerusalem - The Jerusalem Police have reinforced their forces in the capital ahead of protests planned Friday evening in response to a decision to open a parking lot near the Old City on Shabbat. The ultra Orthodox community's protest is expected to climax at 7 pm, with tens of thousands of people arriving for a mass prayer on Bar Ilan Road. Two weeks ago, a police officer was hit and...

Manhattan, NY - A swastika and a derogatory word were painted on an inside door of the Bialystoker Synagogue on East Broadway. A smoke bomb was set off, as well. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has attended the synagogue since he was a child and said he was furious to discover what had happened. "This is a crime, not against the synagogue; this is a crime against society," said the...

New York, NY - Buildings Department inspectors are poorly trained, inspections are frequently slipshod and fines are routinely laughed off as "the cost of doing business." Those are the findings of a $4 million study released by the troubled city agency at the end of a five-year building boom that led to record numbers of construction deaths. "Inspectors are currently not uniformly equipped...

Albany, NY - The paralyzing fight for control of the New York Senate has sidelined the movement for same-sex marriage indefinitely. The measure's prime Democratic sponsors, Sen. Thomas Duane and Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell of New York City, say the issue is too important to push during the political turmoil in a Senate split 31-31. Paterson and senators question the validity of the sessions...