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Friday January 25, 2008

Shorts: World

Canada takes Israel off list

Canada removed Israel and the United States from a list of countries suspected of using torture.

Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said last week that an internal government torture watch list naming Israel and the United States had been amended to omit them.

The watch list, which had been compiled as part of training for Canadian diplomats, was accidentally leaked to the press. — jta

Pope to change offensive liturgy

Pope Benedict XVI reportedly has decided to change part of the Good Friday liturgy that is offensive to Jews.

The change would affect the Missal of 1962, which the pope brought back into use. The prayer is not used in most churches, but certain congregations insist on continuing to use the old rite on Good Friday.

The prayer, which refers to the blindness of the Jews in refusing Jesus as the messiah, is part of a series of prayers for non-Christians. — jta

Berlin Jews put on high alert

German security forces have warned of increased risk of attacks on Berlin’s Jewish community after a threat from Arab extremists.

There was no specific information on the threat. German security experts told the Welt Online Internet newspaper that terror groups appear to be checking out the capital for possible attacks. — jta

Thai company drops channel

A Thai satellite company said last week it stopped airing broadcasts of a Middle East-based television channel after learning it was tied to Hezbollah.

The broadcasts of al Manar were halted after just three days of a “test run” beamed through THAICOM satellites, said Piyanuch Sujpluem, a spokeswoman for Shin Satellite Public Company.

Piyanuch said the contract with al Manar was a purely commercial deal “without knowledge that such a station had connections to a terrorist group.” — ap

Anti-Semitic vandals strike Melbourne

Victoria Police are investigating a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism in the heart of the Jewish community in Melbourne, Australia.

The Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, one of the city’s largest synagogues, was daubed with swastikas recently. Vandals also painted swastikas on a kosher restaurant, and Melbourne’s best-known bagel bakery, Glick’s, had its front window smashed.

Police are unwilling to link the vandalism and have not confirmed that the attack on Glick’s was anti-Semitic. — jta

Leafletter gets four-year sentence

A man who distributed anti-Semitic leaflets in Kiev, Ukraine, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Vasiliy Ostrinsky, 43, was convicted on two charges. A Kiev district court dropped a charge of inciting interethnic hatred and deferred the sentence for two years.

Ostrinsky was acting alone when he distributed thousands of leaflets titled “Jewish Fascism,” “Zionism Against Mankind” and “Warning to America.” — jta

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