News in Brief

Police will recommend indicting senior officials at Hartzfeld Geriatric Hospital in Gedera and Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot for allegedly performing illegal experiments on elderly patients under their care, police sources said yesterday. Four of the officials, including Dr. Shmuel Levy, deputy director of Kaplan-Hartzfeld, were arrested last October following a complaint by the Health Ministry concerning alleged immoral and illegal experiments on elderly patients. In one experiment concerning the effects of psychiatric medications on the appetites of geriatric patients, 12 of the 41 participants died. (Yuval Azoulay)

The Health Ministry yesterday warned bathers to refrain from entering the sea at the Kiryat Haim beach, near Haifa, due to water pollution. The pollution was revealed through a routine ministry check-up, which showed the water at the beach contained an abnormally high concentration of coliform bacteria. The beach is to remain closed until further notice. (Yuval Azoulay)

Police yesterday arrested a 49-year-old man from Ra'anana on suspicion of dealing in forged paintings, falsely advertised as the work of Menashe Kadishman. However, after the arrest, police said they did not have enough evidence to prove their suspicions. According to police, the man was arrested following a complaint by Kadishman, who had sent someone to buy one of the forgeries from a Ra'anana art gallery. The gallery owner then produced the suspect's name. The suspect said he had bought the paintings at the Jaffa flea market. Police are advising anyone who recently bought paintings by Kadishman, specifically of sheep, to contact them to determine whether the paintings are genuine. (Roni Singer-Heruti)

Hundreds of Jaffa residents marched Friday to protest the legal proceedings to evict families from the Ajami and Givat Ha'alia neighborhoods. The protesters accused authorities of carrying out a population transfer. The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) and Amidar Public Housing Authority have initiated the proceedings in response to building violations and unlawful occupation of lands. The ILA responded by calling the population transfer claims "demagoguery." (Yigal Hai)

Family members of a 25-year-old Israeli woman from Haifa who has gone missing in Mexico fear she has been abducted. They have not received any sign of life from Dana Rishpy in more than a month. "We're preparing for the worst. She may have been kidnapped, but we're looking into all possible angles," Rishpy's sister, Galit, told Haaretz. "We last heard from her on March 27, when she emailed us from Cancun." Rishpy's family later received a message from her through an American friend she met in Mexico. He told them she disappeared after going on a short hike to an ancient Mayan site in Mexico. He said she had left her bag and papers with him, but never picked them up. Galit said her sister was a very responsible person, and that it was unlike her to keep her family guessing as to her whereabouts. An Israeli search party, along with local police, is currently looking for her. (Fadi Eyadat)