Tehran - Iran has banned foreign media from covering any rallies in front of British diplomatic missions in the capital. Iran's foreign media office issued the ban Thursday, two days after Iranian pro-government protesters stormed and ransacked the British Embassy compound in Tehran. Iran previously has banned foreign media from covering opposition protests, but this is the first time...

Albany, NY - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the New York State Police issued 816 tickets for texting-while-driving violations over the Thanksgiving holiday. Approximately 330 of the tickets were issued as a direct result of "Operation Hang-Up," an enhanced enforcement campaign that was conducted from November 23-27. The additional tickets were issued by State Police conducting...

Woodbridge, NJ - Officials are accusing 14 gas stations in New Jersey of selling inferior fuel. The accusations come after inspectors with the Weights and Measures Office checked whether 325 stations were selling fuel with octane levels as advertised. Inspectors used portable octane testers in the field and any suspect samples were sent off to labs. The gas stations cited are in Bergen...

Pristina - Police in Kosovo are investigating who sprayed swastikas on dozens of tombstones in a Jewish cemetery recently restored by American and Kosovan students, a spokesman said Thursday. Brahim Sadrija said police had sealed off the cemetery in the capital, Kosovo, and are looking for clues. The vandalism is believed to have happened Tuesday. Sadrija said he could not disclose more...

New York, NY - New York City Comptroller John Liu has hired the former chief executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd. to help manage the city’s pension investments. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kevin Davis was quietly hired in September as head of commodities in the comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management. Davis left MF Global in 2008 after the firm lost more than 90 percent of its...

New York, NY - After facing blistering criticism over their response to the December 2010 blizzard, the city's sanitation commissioner said that the department has beefed up its snow response ahead of this winter. Speaking at a City Council hearing, Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty said the department has installed GPS and salt spreaders on sanitation trucks, retrained workers, mapped...

Brooklyn, NY - Councilmembers David G. Greenfield, Steve Levin, and Lew Fidler have been fighting to prevent a change in city policy that would have prevented dozens of Yeshivas from providing after-school programming for their students. The policy change, which would have restricted the number of schools eligible for after-school program grants, was scrapped due to a recent agreement between...

New York - For more than two months, they were open-air communes where people came to rebuild society and start a nationwide discussion on how to close the wide gap between the rich and the poor. But as Occupy Wall Street tent cities fade away, a growing number of protesters are pushing to put a clear message ahead of the movement. Alan Collinge has his list ready — return bankruptcy...

Jerusalem - Israel does not want to take military action against Iran over its nuclear program, but at some point may have no other option, Israel's defense minister said Thursday. The Jewish state at this point did not intend to launch a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, but retained the option as a "last resort," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio. "We don't need...

Mea She'arim - Police again cracked down on the hareidi neighborhood of Mea She'arim last night, arresting dozens as protesters conducted angry protests against police interference in neighborhood affairs. Protests, mostly by members of the Gerrer Hasidic sect and members and supporters of the hard-line Sikrikim group, have been going on for weeks, with residents burning tires and garbage...

London - A British lawmaker was criticized Thursday after suggesting the country's ambassador to Israel may be biased because he is Jewish. Labour legislator Paul Flynn told a parliamentary committee last week that two constituents had complained that ambassador Matthew Gould "was serving the interest of the Israeli government." Flynn added: "I do not normally fall for conspiracy theories...

Jerusalem - The office of Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar expressed its concern Wednesday with the impression given by a bill proposed by MK Uri Orbach last week. The bill seeks to amend a law pertaining to marriage, which would legally prevent rabbis from taking money for performing weddings, except for travel expenses. Orbach proposed the law against the background of the recent dispute...