At a briefing today to discuss the administration’s efforts to rescue the auto industry, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs took on conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh—and every other critic “sitting in the cheap seats” –for criticizing the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler as a “government takeover” that smacks of socialism. Told by a reporter [...]

Ashkelon, Israel – A rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun exploded in the heart of a populated area in the southern city of Ashkelon on Friday morning. Eight people suffered shock. Two empty floors of an apartment building, several cars and a nearby pavement sustained damage. Many windows were shattered. Police [...]

New York – Sam and Charles Wyly, Dallas billionaire investors known for their support of conservative candidates and causes, made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday. In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC [...]

London – A Holocaust survivor who lost half his family at the hands of the Nazis today told how he was forced to go to court to prove he is Jewish. Former film producer Joseph Marks, 81, from Shepperton, said he was “grilled” by rabbis as he tried to prove his ancestry. He wanted to join [...]

CNN’s Talya Minsberg filed this report: Most religious dietary guidelines allow individuals to maintain a sense of holiness in their daily lives. For many Jews, that sense was shattered in spring of 2006, when an Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa was raided and found to have hundreds of illegal immigrants and dozens of violations, from [...]

Jerusalem – Funeral services of two of the six airmen killed in a helicopter crash in Romania earlier this week have taken place Friday. On Friday morning (July 30), a Boeing aircraft carrying the six bodies of the personnel killed in the IAF ‘Yasur’ (CH-53) helicopter crash in Romani landed in the Tel Nof airbase. Speaking at [...]

Tehran, Iran – President Ahmadinejad has a penchant for the somewhat loony, as when last weekend he denounced Paul the Octopus, omniscient predictor of eight consecutive World Cup matches, as a symbol of decadence and purveyor of “Western propaganda and superstition.” But for all his clownishness, Ahmadinejad is nonetheless calculating and dangerous. What “two countries” was [...]

China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Depending on how fast its exchange rate rises, China is on course to overtake the United States and vault into the No.1 spot sometime around 2025, according [...]

Oak Park, CA – Words spray-painted on the front wall of a small community synagogue in the 5900 block of Conifer Street in Oak Park stunned neighbors and religious leaders alike. Vandals tagged the Chabad house of worship with the message: “Get out of Oak Park.” “It’s horrible,” said Abby Winstone, who lives across the street from [...]

New York – Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY) moved into damage-control mode Thursday, firing the communications director for his re-election bid Thursday night after she gave a reporter a breakdown of a Republican rival’s “Jewish money” contributions. McMahon announced he was firing spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson after she provided a New York Observer reporter with a [...]