CANADA (JNS) — Lawyers for Helmut Oberlander, a 95-year-old who worked as a translator for Nazi death squads in Ukraine and Russia, claimed last week that their client’s old age and “diminished” mental capabilities should be cause enough for the Canadian government to stop efforts to deport him. “He cannot read or hear the allegations […]

POLAND (JTA) – Organizers of the March of the Living insisted that the annual international commemoration in Poland was on course for April despite the cancellation of some delegations over coronavirus fears. On Thursday, following the discovery of the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Poland, the ORT school in Lyon, France, announced it would […]

MOSCOW (AP) — The presidents of Russia and Turkey said they reached agreement on a cease-fire to begin at midnight Thursday in northwestern Syria, where escalating fighting had threatened to put forces from the two countries into direct conflict. The deal struck by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also would […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The head of the World Health Organization says nations cannot stop their battle against the coronavirus that is sweeping across the globe. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Geneva on Thursday, told reporters: “This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time of […]

BANGKOK (AP) — People around the world braced for months of disruptions from the new virus Thursday as its unrelenting spread brought ballooning infections, economic fallout and sweeping containment measures. “Countries should be preparing for sustained community transmission,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, leader of the World Health Organization, said of the 2-month-old virus outbreak. “Our message […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran will set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and urged citizens on Thursday to reduce their use of paper money to fight a spreading outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has killed at least 107 people across the Islamic Republic. The announcement in Iran came as […]

TEHRAN (VINnews) — Rav Yehuda Grami, the Chief Rabbi of Tehran in Iran, ruled that the Jewish communities in Iran should not fast on Taanis Esther this coming week. According to Rav Grami, an alumnus of the Ner Yisrael Yeshiva in Baltimore who was ordained by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, because Iran has been hit so […]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter is starting to test tweets that disappear after 24 hours, although initially only in Brazil. The company says the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” because of their fleeting nature, are designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Defense Department contract linguist has been charged with giving classified information, including the names of American intelligence assets, to a Lebanese national with ties to Hezbollah, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Federal prosecutors accused Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, of turning over information that placed in danger those […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alan Gross, who was imprisoned in Cuba for five years for trying to connect its Jewish community to the internet, said Bernie Sanders praised Cuba during a prison visit. “He said, quote: ‘I don’t know what’s so wrong with this country,’” Gross, 70, told NPR in a story posted Wednesday. Gross, who […]