Brussels - Jewish organizations across Europe say they are "alarmed" by gains made by far-right parties in the European Union elections. The European Jewish Congress says winning seats in the European Parliament based on "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic platforms" shows an erosion of tolerance. The Paris-based umbrella group represents Jewish communities across Europe. In its statement...

Washington - President Obama's speech to the Islamic world was a groundbreaking event. Never before has a young, dynamic American president, beloved both by his countrymen and the nations of the world, extended so timely and eager a hand to a part of the globe that, recently, had seen fewer and fewer reasons to trust us or to wish us well. As important, Mr. Obama did not mince words. Never...

Jerusalem - The national police force's Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) filed charges today against 47 policemen or former policemen accused of taking part in a scheme to falsify records indicating extensive yeshiva studies that never took place. The allegedly illegally obtained certificates of higher education in Jewish studies cost the State hundreds of thousands of shekels in additional pay...

Pyongyang - North Korea today said it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked — its latest bellicose rhetoric apparently aimed at deterring any international punishment for its recent atomic test blast. The tensions emanating from Pyongyang are beginning to hit nascent business ties with the South: a Seoul-based fur manufacturer became the first South Korean company...

Albany, NY - In a dramatic turn of events, key defections from the Democratic Party in New York have placed control of the state senate effectively back in Republican control, likely putting to an end the former Democratic leadership’s bid to legalize same-sex “marriage.” Two Democratic state senators, Hiram Monserrate of Queens and Pedro Espada of the Bronx, voted with Republicans...

Jerusalem - U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell assured Israel on Tuesday that Washington would remain its close ally despite differences over West Bank settlements and peacemaking with the Palestinians. Mitchell told President Shimon Peres his goal was to create conditions for "prompt resumption and early conclusion" of talks leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state "side by...

Washington - FBI Director Robert Mueller on Monday defended the agency's use of informants within US mosques, despite complaints from Muslim organizations that worshipers and clerics are being targeted instead of possible terrorists. Mueller's comments came just days after a Michigan Muslim organization asked the Justice Department to investigate complaints that the FBI is asking the faithful...

Oswiecim, Poland - The European Union is giving $5.9 million to help fund structural repairs to the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, an official says. Rafal Pioro, the conservation department head for Auschwitz, confirmed the EU has agreed to provide funds to help preserve the World War II site that has become a tourist destination. The former Nazi death camp near Oswiecim...

New York, NY - Despite generally broad approval for the job Michael R. Bloomberg has done as mayor, a majority of New Yorkers say that he does not deserve another term in office and that they would like to give someone else a chance, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times, Cornell University and NY1 News. With anxiety rising over a difficult economy, few surveyed have a lot of...

New York, NY - It is appropriate that a Holocaust memorial in Brooklyn honor victims of Nazi atrocities other than Jews because "We don't value one group more than any other," Mayor Bloomberg declared. "It's not only Jews that were massacred," he said in response to Assemblyman Dov Hikind's demand that the Sheepshead Bay memorial's remaining blank stones commemorate the six million Jews killed...

Manhattan, NY - The Crossroads of the World looks more like a city dump these days, thanks to those new pedestrian plazas. The cheapo tables and chairs set up in the pedestrian-only sections of Times Square have become a magnet for nightcrawler slobs who carelessly toss hot-dog wrappers, empty soda bottles and McDonald's bags on the street. "Especially speaking of weekends, like Saturday...