While news media and social networks puzzle over how to combat fake news, internet activist Daniel Sieradski has developed his own scheme to fight the harmful phenomenon — a plug-in that alerts users of untrustworthy sites. Sieradski’s add-on to internet browsers, called “BS Detector,” flags content from websites that are recognized for propagating conspiracy theories,…
(JTA) — Unidentified individuals broke into a synagogue in the Caucasus republic of Georgia, stole its Torah scroll and destroyed it. The incident happened sometime after the synagogue of Gori, a city located 65 miles northwest of the capital Tbilisi, was temporarily closed on Nov. 26, police said. The Jewish community discovered the damage on Friday, when they reopened the synagogue. Parts of…
(JTA) — American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, will send a speech to be read aloud at the awards presentation in Stockholm. The Nobel Foundation announced his acceptance speech will be read at the Dec. 10 banquet. One prize winner per category traditionally gives an acceptance speech at the banquet. The speech…
(JTA) — The Brooklyn mother who lost seven of her children in a house fire said in her first public remarks on the March 2015 tragedy that she wants to build a center for families on the site of her razed home. “What consoles me most is working on the positive — not lamenting on…
The Israel Association of Baseball invited former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire’s son, who was barred from playing Israeli basketball, to switch to baseball. Peter Kurz made the invitation Monday in an open letter to Stoudemire and his wife, Alexis Stoudemire, saying he was “shocked” by how their son had been treated and that the association…
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — The Ecuadorean representative to the United Nations equated Zionism with Nazism in his speech during the celebration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People at the United Nations General Assembly. “We repudiate with all our strength the persecution and genocide that in its time unleashed Nazism against the Hebrew people….
(JTA) — The iron gate greeting Dachau prisoners with a sign saying “Work Makes You Free” in German was found in Norway two years after it was stolen from the former Nazi camp in Germany. The stolen section of the gate from the prisoners’ entrance reading “Arbeit macht frei” measures about 6 feet by 3 feet….
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he looked forward to speaking to Donald Trump about what to do about the “bad” Iran deal, once Trump is president. “As far as President-elect Trump, I look forward to speaking to him about what to do about this bad deal,” Netanyahu said Sunday, addressing the…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Richard Spencer, the founder of white supremacist think tank, said an event in which he shouted “Heil Trump” as participants raised their arms was not threatening but fun. “I understand why people were offended, but they have to understand the context in which it happened. The context of fun and exuberance,”…
(JTA) — Actress Mila Kunis gave birth to a baby boy, the second child for Kunis and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher. The baby was born on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said Thursday. The couple has a 2-year-old daughter, Wyatt. They were married in July 2015. They reportedly named the baby Dimitri Portwood Kutcher, according to a…
Dutch police arrested several suspects in connection with jihadists’ unrealized plan to attack a synagogue in the country’s capital city a year ago, a local daily revealed. The main suspect belonging to the ring, which is connected to Amsterdam’s Arrayan Sunni mosque, is a man in his 40s of Moroccan descent with a goatee and…
