Instanbul, Turky - There is an ongoing dispute amid the Turkish Jewish community between Sephardi Jews from Spain and Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe concerning burial sites in cemeteries. The office of the Hakham Bashi (chief rabbi) put an ad in the daily Şalom stating that the Sephardis were reserving burial places in Ashkenazi cemeteries and that the Ashkenazis were doing the same in...

Paris, France - A court has convicted a gang leader of the brutal 2006 killing of a young man prosecutors say was targeted because he was Jewish. Youssouf Fofana, 28, who was sentenced to life in prison, was one of 27 people on trial in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi, who was 23 years old. Halimi was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks...

Washington - The infiltration of right-wing extremists in the military is a growing threat to national security and needs to be confronted with congressional action, a watchdog group warned on Friday. Morris Dees, a co-founder of The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that monitors hate activity in the United States, called on Congress Friday to investigate racist and anti-Semitic activity...

Haifa, Israel - The Education Ministry is considering closing down the Belz Yeshiva in Haifa after the kitchen failed two health inspections. The first inspection was ordered after a number of students suffered food poisoning on Shabat. A number of the sanitary shortcomings have been corrected, but that might not be enough for the Education Ministry to keep the kitchen open. The heads of the...

Albany, NY - A judge won't decide until next week at the earliest whether it was legal for New York Gov. David Paterson to appoint a lieutenant governor. Lawyers for Sens. Pedro Espada of the Bronx and Dean Skelos of Long Island told the judge Friday they needed more time to prepare their arguments. Both sides must submit paperwork early next week. Arguments will be held Wednesday on Long...

Italy - President Obama and Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy shook hands Thursday, infuriating families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 by Libyan intelligence agents. The grip-and-grin was caught on camera during the G-8 summit of world leaders in Italy. Khadafy was there as head of the African Union. The encounter came as families who lost loved ones aboard the doomed...

Queens, NY - Kennedy Airport's busiest runway will be closed for about four months next year as part of a $204-million, three-year makeover, a prospect that airline industry officials are viewing worriedly at the huge airport that ranks near the top nationwide in flight delays. More than 2.75 miles long, Kennedy's Runway 13R-31L is one of the longest commercial runways in North America ...

Jerusalem - Have at least 12 children, do not use birth control, and continue having children after 40. This is the formula for overcoming sterility and long-term bachelorhood in the Religious Zionism movement put forth by renowned Rabbi David Batzri. In a women's assembly in Jerusalem held Thursday in Jerusalem, the rabbi asserted that "a girl who wishes to marry must take upon herself...

New York - The half-percent sales tax increase Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to balance the city budget just passed the Senate 43-19. The bill had been defeated by Democrats when they held a legally questionable session on June 30. After a few procedural votes the measure was ready for a do over. The bill might not have been ready for Sen. Ruben Diaz. The senator delivered  another bizare...

New York - The chorus line of Bernard Madoff's victims who rushed to damn him on the airwaves last week following the ridiculously over-the-top 150-year prison sentence made me sick. At least one of the victims was a Holocaust survivor, which only made me feel worse. He of all people should have retained some sense of proportion, having lost things of much more value than his money. Yes I...

New York - Long-awaited evidence that the commercial real estate market is about to stumble may finally be emerging. According to newly released data from Real Capital Analytics, some $108 billion worth of commercial real estate is either in default, foreclosure or bankruptcy as of July 1, a jump of $60.5 billion from the start of the year as office and residential rents sag, condo sales...

Cleveland, OH - “Cremation is a family tradition,” says Loe Goldwasser. “My grandfather chose cremation, and my mother felt scattering his ashes in Lake Erie was the most wonderful way to honor her father’s spirit.” Goldwassser’s mother, who was cremated 12 years ago, “felt that too much of the earth was taken up by cemeteries, and did not want an in-ground burial,” says the...

Syndney, Australia - Bikers have compared themselves with persecuted Jews and victims of South Africa's apartheid in a video protesting against new anti-bikie laws. Following a fatal bikie brawl at Sydney Airport in March, NSW and South Australia have enacted laws that allow bikie gangs to be declared criminal organisations. Membership can also be prosecuted as a criminal...

Jerusalem - A chareidi avreich sent to the Transportation Ministry and the National Authority for Road Safety an original suggestion how to prevent the high number of traffic offenders. His idea was that 7-time serious traffic violation offenders would have their face and name publicized in the media. The idea has a simple principle behind it: humiliation is as powerful a motivation if not more...

Israel - Hosting the German foreign minister, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used an especially tainted term to condemn the Palestinian demand that Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank be removed. "Judea and Samaria cannot be Yudenrein," a Netanyahu confidant quoted him as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Asked how Germany's top diplomat responded to hearing the Nazi Holocaust term...