News in Brief

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert yesterday denied all the corruption charges against him in his first formal response to the allegations. He appeared in the Jerusalem District Court along with his former bureau chief Shula Zaken, who was also indicted for corruption. Olmert is accused of double-billing overseas trips via the Rishon Tours travel agency, accepting cash envelopes from American Jewish businessman Morris Talansky, and granting favors to clients of his friend, attorney Uri Messer, while serving as industry and trade minister. The indictment, submitted last August, charged him with fraud, breach of trust, forging corporate documents and concealing income. (Nir Hasson)

Immigration police broke into a church in South Tel Aviv early yesterday morning to arrest illegal migrants, causing significant damage. They thereby violated their own regulations: Officers from Oz, the immigration police, are not permitted to enter places of worship. The church they forced their way into was Redemption Power, one of Israel's best-known and most popular African churches, located on Lavenda Street near Tel Aviv's central bus station. The Oz officers checked everyone present, but only arrested those without papers. The officers said they broke through the church's ceiling because they thought illegal migrants were hiding there. (Dana Weiler-Polak)

The number of judges and prosecutors must be tripled "if the state wants most criminal cases to be thoroughly considered rather than ending in plea bargains," Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said yesterday. Mazuz made the comment at a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which was discussing a bill to set uniform sentencing guidelines. Mazuz said the significant gaps between sentences delivered by different judges damage public confidence in the judicial system and undermine the feeling of equality among offenders and victims alike. (Tomer Zarchin)

One of the new contestants who will enter the Big Brother house on Sunday is an activist with Machsom Watch, an organization that monitors soldiers' behavior at West Bank checkpoints, Haaretz has learned. The contestant, Edna Kanti, 55, is a professional storyteller from Hod Hasharon and a mother of four. Three to five other contestants will also be entering the house. (Ruta Kupfer)

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem announced yesterday that it has received a $12 million donation from the Cleveland-based Mandel Foundation, for the reconstruction and endowment of its Jewish art and culture wing. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life is scheduled to reopen in July 2010. The donation completes the museum's fundraising operation for the refurbishment project, the cost of which is estimated at $100 million. (Avital Burg)

The Holon Mediatheque is compiling Israel's first animation archive. The archive will become part of the city's cinematheque, which has been focusing on animation since it opened a year ago. Cinematheque director Shira Karmi says her goal is to collect and catalogue all animations created in Israel to date. "Some films are rotting in attics," she said. "At a later stage, we'll want to digitize them. We won't be collecting the actual films until we can ensure proper preservation, but most work in the field is not done on film anymore." (Nirit Anderman)