Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Thursday, March 10, 2011 l

FEATURED STORY Expanding its presence in Africa, Chabad faces unique challenges With two new Chabad centers set to open this year in Nairobi, Kenya, and Lagos, Nigeria, Chabad in Africa faces unusual challenges.Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Wandering Jew in Bulgaria JTA's Wandering Jew, Ben Harris, starts a jaunt through Europe with a grand tour of Jewish Sofia and a Holocaust commemoration in the capital city. Follow Ben on the Wandering Jew blog. Accountability begins at home The favorite word of Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, appears to be "accountability." Yet with her agency tainted by its disregard of Libyan human rights violations and by apologists for strongman Muammar Gadhafi occupying key U.N. positions, it's high time she backed up her words, UN Watch's Hillel Neuer writes in a JTA Op-Ed. Galliano's Jewish lawyer Jewish lawyer Stephane Zerbib has angered many in France by defending John Galliano, the British fashion designer accused of making anti-Semitic slurs. Zerbib is convinced that his client is far from being racist, Ynet reports. Jewish Justin Bieber? Edan Pinchot, 12, of Chicago, who has been dubbed the Jewish Justin Bieber, performs a medley of popular songs on a video posted at the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. No center for Israel critics New York's LGBT Community Center brewed a firestorm when it canceled a party planned to mark Israeli Apartheid Week, the Gay City News reports. Do American Jews still like Israel? They do, they don't, sometimes it's hard for them to decide, says reporter and blogger Shmuel Rosner in an excerpt from his new Hebrew book, "Shtetl, Bagel, Baseball," printed in English in The Jerusalem Post. The Eulogizer: David Broder, Harvey Dorfman, Greg Goossen JTA's Appreciation column remembers David Broder, the "dean of political writers," sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman and ex-ballplayer Greg Goossen. BREAKING NEWS President Obama formally nominated Daniel Shapiro to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel, signaling an intensification of American involvement in the region. A number of Jewish groups have expressed concern at congressional hearings on terrorism that focus on Islam. The Brandeis University Hillel voted to reject Jewish Voice for Peace as a member group. Syria is seeking to replace Libya on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Israel has postponed the deportation of hundreds of children of foreign workers by several months. Thirty University of California Jewish studies faculty members asked the Orange County district attorney to drop criminal charges against 11 Muslim students. An Israeli food event in Spain was canceled after threats from a Basque terror group. Denmark said it will upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegation to a mission. Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed on to an online petition by Rabbis for Human Rights denouncing rabbinical defenders of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav. A British artist has prepared a ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract, for Britain’s Prince William and his fiancee, Kate Middleton. Ireland's only Jewish member of parliament was appointed to the country's Cabinet as the new government was sworn in. Leaders of the Bulgarian Jewish community marked Holocaust Remembrance Day at a ceremony in Sofia. Members of the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad will train in Israel with their counterparts.