Last update - 02:20 04/09/2007
News in Brief
The state will permit a Palestinian man to travel to Germany to complete a Ph.D. in engineering, in a reversal of its earlier decision, government attorneys announced this week. Luay Kfafi, a Gaza native who has been studying at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank since 2000, was barred by the Shin Bet security service from going abroad due to "intelligence information linking him to terror activity." But on Sunday, the day before the High Court of Justice was scheduled to hear a petition against the travel ban that was filed on his behalf by the civil rights organization Gisha, the state informed him that it will permit him to leave, on condition that he remain abroad for at least two years. (Amira Hass)
Some 1.6 million Israelis, almost half of them children, were living below the poverty line in 2006, according to data from the National Insurance Institute's poverty report for 2006, which will be released shortly. Israel is apparently still the industrialized country with the highest rates of poverty and economic inequality, but in 2006, as a result of increases in welfare allowances, employment rates and the minimum wage, poverty declined somewhat. Economic inequality - the disparity between rich and poor - did not shrink. (Ruth Sinai)
The Strauss company has recalled packages of washed lettuce in the wake of fears of Listeria contamination. According to a company spokesman, lettuce sold under the Strauss, Gina-Li and Salsalat brands, with a use-by date between September 1, 2007 and September 8, 2007, should not be eaten. Consumers can call the company's toll-free consumer hotline for information on exchanging the product, at 1-800-770-077. The company cited a production-line malfunction as the cause of the potential problem. According to Dr. Irit Weiser, director of the Nesher Food Microbiology Institute, Listeria monocytogenes can be dangerous to infants, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. It can also cause miscarriages and meningitis. (Bar Chayun)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center yesterday gave Germany its first "inadequate" rating for the prosecution of suspected Nazi war criminals. Germany topped the annual rankings the Nazi-hunting group has issued for the last six years. The center criticized the fact that Germany obtained no convictions and filed no indictments last year, despite 22 investigations that began in 2006 and 20 ongoing probes. The U.S. was the only country to receive top marks. During the last six years, Germany has convicted three former Nazis, compared to America's 34. (Reuters)