Travel and Food

 PORTLAND, Oregon (Press Release) – A federal Grand Jury sitting in Portland has charged Hossein Lahiji, 47, of McAllen, Texas, Najmeh Vahid, 35, of San Antonio, Texas and Ahmad Iranshahi, 53, of Tehran, Iran, in a two-count indictment charging conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit money laundering. The indictment alleges that the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Mike Hammer, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, issued a statement on Thursday, Dec. 16, deploring an attack by Sudanese armed forces on the village of Khor Abeche in South Darfur.  Here is the statement: The United States is deeply concerned about reports that the Sudanese Armed Forces attacked

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– President Barack Obama issued the following statement on Wednesday, Dec. 15, from the White House: “I strongly condemn the outrageous terrorist attack on a mosque in Chabahar, Iran. “The murder of innocent civilians in their place of worship during Ashura is a despicable offense, and those who carried it out must be

BRNO, Czech Republic  (WjC) — The  Constitutional Court here has rejected a restitution claim brought by the descendants of the Jewish owner of a button factory seized by the Nazis in 1939 and nationalized in 1945. The court overturned a 2009 Supreme Court ruling and previous rulings of lower courts that had found in favor

DAKAR (WJC)–Senegal has recalled its ambassador in Tehran after Iran failed to provide a “satisfactory” explanation for arms sent from Iran and discovered in a Nigerian port in October. Senegal, judging that “explanations provided on this affair by the Iranian side are not satisfactory, has decided to recall its ambassador for consultations,” the foreign ministry

SACRAMENTO (Press Release)–California’s Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced on Tuesday  that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) has removed Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), Shell International Finance (Netherlands), Total SA (France), and Repsol YPF (Spain) from the CDI “List of Companies Doing Business with the Iranian Petroleum/Natural Gas, Nuclear, and Defense Sectors.” The CDI initially published its

  PARIS (WJC)–French Foreign Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has told a gathering of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) that “France will take a strong stance against Iran.” She pledged to take a firm position on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and said all form of economic sanctions would be envisaged if Iran continued to pursue the nuclear program.

BRUSSELS (WJC)–The European Union will not recognize Palestinian statehood until an “appropriate” time, the 27 EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said in a joint statement. It came in response to a letter from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, in which he had urged the EU countries to join

BAGHDAD, Dec. 13 (Press Release) –The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff stressed to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today that now is the time for the United States and Iraq to plan for a normal, long-term military-to-military relationship. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen met with Maliki at the prime minister’s residence in downtown

TEL AVIV (Press Release)― Will Rona and Sol kiss and seal their fate as a couple forever, or will Sol answer the ringing phone and change the course of history? A new movie format developed by Tel Aviv University lets the viewer decide. Utilizing complicated video coding procedures, the new format provides smooth interaction and

TEL AVIV (WJC) — The last delegation of Israeli police officers has arrived home after patrolling the streets of Haiti for three months. The Israeli deployment followed the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean island in January, claiming hundreds of thousands of victims and causing wide-spread devastation. Just two months ago, a cholera epidemic broke

HAMEDAN, Iran (WJC) — A group of Islamists staged a rally at the tomb of Biblical Queen Esther, one of the most revered sites for Jews in Iran, and threatened to destroy it if Israel damages the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. An Iranian news agency identified the demonstrators as members of a hardline Islamist militia.

VATICAN CITY (WJC)–The leadership of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) has been received by Pope Benedict XVI in private audience at the Vatican. WJC President Ronald S. Lauder, who was accompanied by WJC Secretary General Designate Daniel Diker and Deputy Secretary General Maram Stern, raised his concern at the growing political assault on Israel’s legitimacy.