News Brief

The decision by Google to change the name “Palestinian territories” to “Palestine” across its products might harm the prospects for restarted Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, according to Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin.

While encouraging advanced learning of halacha for Orthodox women, the Rabbinial Council of America says the upcoming ordination of three women at Yeshiva Maharat in Riverdale is a “violation of our mesorah (tradition).”

 Hans Lipschis, reportedly one of the 10 most wanted Nazis, was arrested in Germany.

Natan Sharansky’s proposal to reduce tensions at the Western Wall has lost support from both Orthodox and non-Orthodox leaders.

Three Israeli airlines ended their two-day strike following a deal struck between the Finance Ministry and El Al.

The ministry agreed to fund 97.5 percent of the airline’s security costs, up from 70 percent, in order to keep the domestic carrier competitive under the new “open skies” agreement with the European Union. The airlines also agreed to undergo a streamlining process in order to further cut costs.

 The Hamas-run government in Gaza bulldozed part of a UNESCO heritage site to expand a military training zone.

Pop music star Justin Bieber’s comments left in a guestbook following a visit to the Anne Frank House drew mixed reactions.

Rabbi Michael Broyde, a prominent Orthodox rabbi who admitted to creating a fake online identity, was suspended from the Beth Din of America.

Eleven mezuzahs were set afire in a residential building in Brooklyn in an incident that New York City police are treating as a hate crime.

Yeshiva University’s president, Richard Joel, has issued a statement on his disagreements with Jimmy Carter in response to a student group’s April 10th forum with the ex-president at YU’s Benjamin Cardozo Law School.

“While he has been properly lauded for his role in the Camp David Accords of 1978, I strongly disagree with many of President Carter’s statements and actions in recent years which have mischaracterized the Middle East conflict and have served to alienate those of us who care about Israel,” Joel said in a statement posted on YU’s news blog Monday.