Verena Bahlsen says she 'deeply regrets' claim her company treated forced laborers 'well' in WWII; company employed around 200 forced laborers, mostly women, between 1943 and 1945

Substandard education and brain drain are urgent existential threats to the country, says economist Dan Ben-David, and politicians need to do something before it’s too late

The European Union will review whether Palestinian Authority textbooks promote hatred and violence, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said late last month.
The “comprehensive” academic study will “be carried out by an independent and internationally recognised research institute,” with plans to begin at an unspecified date this spring, Federica Mogherini announced in an April 24 statement.
Its Terms of Reference were “currently being prepared with a view to identifying possible incitement to hatred and violence and any possible lack of compliance” with peace and tolerance standards laid out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), she added. “Necessary funds have been reserved in the 2019 budget.”

Russian leader meets US Secretary of State in Sochi, insists Iranians have been fulfilling their part of 2015 pact, but warns agreement is 'falling apart' and Europe can't save it

The State Department on Wednesday ordered all “non-emergency U.S. government employees” to leave Iraq amid soaring tensions with Iran, which backs proxy forces there.
It said in a statement that the announcement affects both the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Baghdad, and a consulate in the northern city of Irbil.
“Normal visa services at both posts will be temporarily suspended,” the department said. “The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq.”

New York – A recent clash with the National Rifle Association (NRA) has shown some doctors who treat gunshot victims a way to heal their own trauma: through activism against gun violence. With rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on par with that of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, trauma surgeons have found that speaking [...]

Top leaders in Congress to receive a classified briefing from administration Thursday; Pelosi: Trump has 'no business' moving toward confrontation without approval from lawmakers

A sun-drenched landscape by Claude Monet fetched $110.7 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday, setting a record for the Impressionist painter.
Painted in 1890, “Les Meules,” from the artist’s series featuring haystacks, had been estimated at $55 million. The final price includes fees.
The previous auction record for Monet was $84.7 million, for one of his water lilies works sold at Christie’s last year.
The bidding war lasted for more than eight minutes and drew at least six bidders. The winning bid was placed by a woman sitting in the back of the room, with paddle 989. Her identity wasn’t immediately clear.
(c) 2019, Bloomberg · Katya Kazakina
{Matzav.com}

A Tennessee elementary school will no longer have a student portray Adolf Hitler Y”MS in its living history exhibit after a group of students began giving Nazi salutes.
Rutherford County school district spokesman James Evans said in an email Wednesday that the fifth-grade student portraying Hitler was supposed to give a speech and a Nazi salute as part of the exhibit.