International

Lloyds TSB "Bank pays $217 million fine for helping Iran circumvent U.S. trade laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday announced a $217 million settlement with Lloyds TSB Bank, plc (Lloyds), concerning the bank’s intentional manipulation and deletion of information about U.S. sanctioned parties in wire transfer instructions routed through third-party banks located in the United […]

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USA

U.S. Treasury Department freezes assets of Iraqi insurgent group

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday designated the Iraq-based insurgent group Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al-Naqshabandi (JRTN) for threatening the peace and stabilization efforts in Iraq. JRTN has committed, directed, supported, or posed a significant risk of committing acts of violence against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces and was

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USA

Reform movement expresses mixed reactions over Health Care bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., (Press Release)– In response to the Senate’s early morning procedural vote on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mark Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement: We are pleased to see the Senate’s vote to move forward with crucial health insurance reform legislation that

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USA

Shonda file: Spinka Rebbe Naftali Tzi Weisz sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion

LOS ANGELES (Press Release)– The Grand Rabbi of Spinka, a religious group within Orthodox Judaism, was sentenced Monday morning to two years in federal prison for orchestrating a tax evasion scheme that prosecutors called “an astonishingly complex and sinister enterprise.” Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzi Weisz, 61, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty last summer to a

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Middle East, USA

Jimmy Carter says an 'Al Het' if any of his words stigmatized Israel

ATLANTA (WJC)–Former US President Jimmy Carter has asked the Jewish community for forgiveness for any offense he may have caused when criticizing Israel. In a letter release by the news agency JTA, Carter sent season’s greeting and wished peace between Israel and its neighbors. He concluded: “We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even

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Middle East, USA

WJC provides background on its doubts about Pius XII sainthood

VATICAN CITY (WJC)–Pope Benedict XVI has moved his controversial war-time predecessor, Pius XII, a step closer to sainthood, declaring that Pius had displayed “heroic virtues” throughout his life and thus been a Christian worthy of imitation. Pius was one of 17 people approved by Benedict on Saturday in a list that also includes Pope John

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Middle East

ZOA reports poll finds Americans favoring military action to stop Iran's nuclear program

 NEW YORK (Press Release)–A new poll has revealed that 61% of Americans support the United States coming to the military defense of Israel if it strikes Iranian nuclear facilities and Iran retaliates. The December Survey of The Israel Project, carried out during December 14-16, also found that 51% of Americans favor military strikes by the

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Middle East, USA

Climate Change Summit long on rhetoric, short on action

By Gary Rotto SAN DIEGO–The Guardian of Great Britain called the recently completed Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, “the biggest environmental meeting in history.”  But the final result is an agreement that calls for monitoring emissions but neither sets a target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and no deadline for reaching a formal international climate treaty. 

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Middle East, USA

Propagandists trying to conflate Abu Kabir experience with false charges of harvesting Palestinian organs

NEW YORK  (Press Release)—Recent press reports rehashing an interview from 10 years ago regarding the practices at Abu Kabir forensic institute have no relation to the false accusations that appeared this past August in the Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet. In the 2000 interview, Dr. Yehuda Hiss, then head of the Abu Kabir facility, acknowledged that body

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Middle East, USA

Wiesel, Gov. Patterson join celebration of Kermaier installation as president of the New York Board of Rabbis

By Jeanette Friedman NEW YORK–Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Prof. Elie Wiesel and New York Governor David Patterson participated in the installation of Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier, spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, to his new post as President of The New York Board of Rabbis. Congregants and well-wishers packed the East 62th Street sanctuary on the seventh night

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Middle East

University of Haifa students mount video campaign for Gilad Shalit's release

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release) — Students of the School of Political Sciences at the University of Haifa have produced a series of short videos campaigning for the release of Gilad Shalit and to enroll volunteers in “Gilad’s Army of Friends”. The campaign, which can now be viewed on the Internet, was carried out as part

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Middle East

Recommended reading and viewing #7

Ethan Bronner, “Weighing Netanyahu as a Peacemaker,” in New York Times Dean Calbraith, “Sol Price valued his workers over stockholders,” in San Diego Union-Tribune Helen Gao, “Library’s Secret Treasure: Wangenheim Room,” in San Diego Union Tribune Blair Grubb, “It Should Again See Light,” on Chabad.org. (Thanks to Phyllis Kahn for spotting it) Donald H. Harrison,

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Middle East, San Diego Calendar