British singer George Michael, who became one of the pop idols of the 1980s with Wham! and then forged a career as a successful solo artist with sometimes sexually provocative lyrics, died at his home in England on Sunday. He was 53. In the mid-1980s, “Wham! was one of the most successful pop duos ever,…
Hollywood actress Carrie Fisher was in stable condition, her mother Debbie Reynolds said on Sunday, after the “Star Wars” star suffered a cardiac episode two days earlier on a flight from London to Los Angeles. “Carrie is in stable condition. If there is a change, we will share it. For all her fans and friends,…
The 103-year-old Rabbi Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman, considered the leading sage in the non-Hasidic (Lithuanian) Haredi community, was hospitalized in Bnei Brak on Sunday after he had felt unwell for several days. Doctors suspect he has pneumonia. Ma’ayanei Hayeshua Medical Center director Prof. Moti Ravid told Haaretz that Shteinman was conscious and had been admitted as…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday summoned the U.S. ambassador to Israel on Christmas Day to discuss the U.S. abstention in a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlement-building. As a diplomatic crisis swirled, Netanyahu reportedly told cabinet allies that the U.S. might go further by allowing a declaration of principles of…
(JTA) — About 2,000 Jewish families in Moscow will receive free tickets to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center located in the Russian capital. The families, subscribers to the PJ Library, a program providing free Jewish children’s books to families, which last year expanded to Russia, starting on the second day of Chanukah, or Monday, Dec. 26, will…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli man was stabbed and moderately wounded while walking on the main street of the West Bank settlement of Efrat. The man, in his 50s, was walking with his wife after the start of Shabbat on Friday evening, when a Palestinian assailant stabbed him three times in the settlement located in…
Donald Trump said the UN resolution that denounced Israel’s occupation of the West Bank would make Middle East peace more difficult than ever. Echoing Israel, the president-elect called the resolution a “big loss” — but vowed to push for a deal with the Palestinians. The big loss yesterday for Israel in the United Nations will…
Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. The vote was able to pass the 15-member council on Friday because the United States broke with a long-standing approach of diplomatically…
Friends and colleagues of Hollywood actress Carrie Fisher shared their hopes for a swift recovery for the “Star Wars” star on Saturday, a day after she was taken to a Los Angeles intensive care unit. Fisher, 60, suffered heart problems during a flight on Friday from London, where she had been shooting the third season…
Liberal American groups welcomed the UN security council resolution on Israeli settlements while mainstream pro-Israel groups blasted the U.S. for allowing it to pass. J Street, the dovish pro-Israel lobby, welcomed the resolution. “The resolution is consistent with longstanding bipartisan American policy, which includes strong support for the two-state solution, and clear opposition to irresponsible…
Longtime Trump Organization legal advisor Jason Dov Greenblatt was named special representative for international negotiations to President-elect Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reports. Greenblatt, an Orthodox Jew, has been at the Trump Organization for 20 years. He will spearhead Trump policy on Israeli-Palestinian issues, trade and Cuba, CNN reported](http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/23/politics/trump-appoints-his-business-attorney-to-manage-international-crises/) Like many other Trump appointees,…
