An expanded Israeli panel of nine High Court of Justice judges has unanimously voted to strike down controversial legislation that allowed Israel to detain illegal migrants for three years without trial. The judges ruled that the amendment to the Law for Prevention of Infiltration is unconstitutional and violates the right to liberty. The amendment went…
Israel’s Interior Ministry has recognized the two biological fathers of the same baby. The baby is the son of Yuval and Matan Topper-Erez. Yuval Topper-Erez, the first Israeli transgender man to get pregnant, gave birth to the baby in December 2011. The Interior Ministry at first refused to recognize Matan as the baby’s biological father,…
Quebec’s separatist government is betting on broad popular support with a proposal that prohibits public workers from wearing headscarves, skullcaps and other religious symbols, yet it is dividing the movement that advocates independence from Canada. The proposal, unveiled by the ruling Parti Quebecois last week, plays with the explosive issue of minority rights in a…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged John Kerry to talk to Russia about a deal to destroy Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons. The Wall Street Journal, citing American and Middle Eastern officials briefed on the exchange, reported Monday that Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about the issue on Sept. 11. During…
Some 300 worshipers attended Yom Kippur services in the lobby of the Chabad on Campus center in flooded Boulder, Colo. The lobby of the synagogue building is above the flood line, according to Chabad.org, which reported Sunday on the services. Rabbi Yisroel Wilhem, co-director of Chabad of the University of Colorado, said many were unable…
A group of 15 former senior European officials has urged the European Union not to soften or delay new settlement guidelines slated to take effect on January 1, and in particular to ensure they apply to the Horizon 2020 scientific cooperation program. The letter, dated September 16, was sent to all EU foreign ministers by…
Lawrence Summers, a former top economic aide to President Barack Obama and a Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, has withdrawn from consideration to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, the president said on Sunday. “Earlier today, I spoke with Larry Summers and accepted his decision to withdraw his name from consideration for Chairman…
Fifty years after a bomb ripped through a Sunday school, killing four girls and rocking a racially divided nation, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, is commemorating the tragedy that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. “It is a sad story, but there is a joy that came out of it,” said…
A Jewish-backed professional Argentinian soccer team has been blasted for racist chants against a rival team. In a letter to the Disciplinary Court Argentine Football Association, the Simon Wiesenthal Center late last week urged the court to take measures against the fans of the Atlanta Football Club, due to their racist chants against Chacarita Juniors….
California regulators ordered two Orthodox Jewish groups in Los Angeles to stop performing the Yom Kippur ritual kapparot. The state’s Department of Food and Agriculture on Friday shut down kapparot at the Ohel Moshe synagogue and the Beit Aaron outreach organization. They were accused of operating unlicensed slaughterhouses, according to reports. Animal rights activists had…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry assured Israel on Sunday a U.S.-Russian deal to remove Syria’s chemical weapons would be effective, addressing concern that a lack of resolve would embolden Iran in its nuclear drive. “We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs, because that affects all other issues, whether Iran or…
