Israel has become the latest country to reach a tax information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, a U.S. Treasury Department spokesperson said on Thursday. Set to take effect on July 1, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA) will require foreign…
Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a lawmaker in Argentina’s National Parliament, will miss the opening of the 2014 legislative session and the State of the Union Speech because it occurs on Shabbat. The opening session is scheduled to take place this year on Saturday, March 1. The newly elected parliament will be seated for the first time,…
The conferring of Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews will be automatic and independent of the government’s discretion, the country’s justice minister told a delegation of American Jews. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon made the pledge during a speech Thursday before dozens of members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He was referring…
Will I apply? That’s what people are asking me today, as news circulates of the law the Spanish cabinet just approved to offer citizenship to Sephardic Jews. Two weeks ago, the Forward published a long essay I wrote about this citizenship offer, which the Spanish justice and foreign ministers first proposed in 2012. I went…
After 522 years, Spain is inviting the Jews back — for real this time. Spain’s government announced in November 2012 a new law to give fast-track citizenship to Sephardic Jews. The Forward published an essay in January 2014 reporting that the government had yet to follow through on the promise. Now, Spain’s council of ministers…
Sometimes when Laurel Bellows stands with her husband at a convention, she’ll see someone point in the couple’s direction and say, “Oh, look, there’s the president of the American Bar Association!” At that point, more than one attorney eager to meet the head of the nearly 400,000-member organization has marched right up to Joel Bellows…
Legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin, the man behind some of the most influential theories of law and morality in modern jurisprudence, died on Thursday. He was 81. His family said in a statement that Dworkin died of leukaemia in London early in the morning. He is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren. Dworkin,…
A Maryland lawmaker reportedly is drafting a bill that will allow Jewish state to buy kosher wine online from retailers outside of the state. State Del. Sam Arora, D- Silver Spring, told the Washington Examiner that he wants to give kosher wine consumers “the ability to live out their faith.” Arora’s district has a large…
