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January 4, 2011
Rubashkin appeal seeks new trial
Lawyers for convicted former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin have appealed a judge\’s decision denying their bid for a new trial. In a brief filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Mo., lawyers for Rubashkin made four arguments on his behalf, chief among them that the presiding judge in his case, Linda Reade, should have recused herself. Reade had rejected that argument in October. Rubashkin was convicted in 2009 on 86 counts of fraud related to his management of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, and later was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.
Clergy, Bibi urge Pollard release
More than 500 clergy signed a letter to President Obama urging clemency for Jonathan Pollard. The letter was delivered a day before Prime Minister Benjanim Netanyahu reportedly sent a letter to Obama issuing a formal clemency request. Netanyahu was scheduled to read his letter Tuesday evening to a Knesset plenum discussion. \”After more than two and a half decades in prison, Mr. Pollard\’s health is declining,\” reads the letter sent Monday from rabbis representing all streams, as well as a number of leading Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy. \”He has repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions, and by all accounts has served as a model inmate. Commuting his sentence to time served would be a wholly appropriate exercise of your power of clemency — as well as a matter of basic fairness and American justice. It would also represent a clear sense of compassion and reconciliation — a sign of hope much needed in today\’s world of tension and turmoil.\”
Jewish runners decry post-Yom Kippur marathon
Jewish marathon runners are racing to complain about the timing of the Chicago Marathon, which is set for the day after Yom Kippur. The runners have called and sent e-mails to the Bank of America Chicago, the marathon\’s sponsor, saying that they will not be able to take in enough carbohydrate-laden food following the fast in time to prepare for the 26.2-mile run on Oct. 9, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.
More indictments in soccer stadium plot
Two eastern Jerusalem residents employed by the British Consulate have been charged in connection with a plan to attack a Jerusalem soccer stadium. Israel indicted the men, both Palestinians, on Sunday for arms trafficking for Hamas. A gag order was lifted on the case Sunday. The charges have no connection with their jobs as maintenance workers at the consulate, which is located in the eastern Jerusalem community of Sheikh Jarrah, British media reported, citing Israeli officials.
Napolitano visiting Israel to check security projects
United States Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is in Israel to check on joint security projects between the two countries. Napolitano visited Israel Monday and Tuesday as part of a multi-country tour that has included stops in Ireland, Afghanistan and Qatar. She will head to Belgium to meet with European Union and World Customs Organization officials, according to the Department of Homeland Security. \”The United States and Israel have a strong and enduring partnership, and the reason for my visit is to make sure that all the things that we\’re doing in partnership with Israel — aviation security to cyber-security, to science and technology, research that we are undertaking together focused on security — that all of those activities are being done in a productive and robust fashion,\” Napolitano said Monday during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Sharon marks five years in coma
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in a coma five years after suffering a massive stroke. There were no official events Tuesday to mark the five-year anniversary of the stroke, which ended Sharon\’s political career. But he was briefly remembered Monday at a Likud Party briefing and in a column written by former colleague Tzachi Hanegbi in The Jerusalem Post.
No evidence Palestinian woman died from tear gas, military says
There is no evidence that a Palestinian woman reportedly killed at a West Bank security fence protest died from tear gas poisoning, Israel\’s military said.
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