Praise for prizewinning Israeli medical organisation

A leading Israeli medical organisation has won a prize for environmental protection from the International Public Relations Association.

Representatives of Maccabi Healthcare Services received their Golden World Award in London on Friday for a campaign to collect medicines beyond their expiry date.

Since the launch of the initiative 18 months ago, around 240,000 packages containing seven million pills have been collected from Maccabi community clinics around Israel.

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Plane Stupid protesters sentenced

Three Jewish protestors have been sentenced after being found guilty of breach of the peace when they staged a protest that forced the closure of Aberdeen airport.

Dan Glass, 26, Mark Andrews, 26, and Tilly Gifford, 24, all from north London and six others from climate action group, Plane Stupid, stood trial in Aberdeen High Court in June.

The group were originally charged with vandalism, which was later dropped, after they took part in an anti-aviation protest last March which caused the airport to shut for two and a half hours delaying 10 flights.

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Jonathan Safran Foer boosts Jerusalem culture

Two of America's leading young Jewish novelists, husband and wife Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss, have spearheaded a cultural initiative in Jerusalem: the revival of the Jerusalem Fellows at Mishkenot Sha'ananim.

Mishkenot, a cultural hub in the shadow of Yemin Moshe, the capital's famous windmill, used regularly to host artists, writers and musicians when the late Teddy Kollek was mayor of Jerusalem.

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Sewage row on Tel Aviv's beaches

This has been one of the warmest Israeli summers in memory but almost daily, some of the most central beaches on the Mediterranean coast have been closed due to pollution.

So far this year, the Health Ministry has ordered the closure of 15 public beaches due to the excessive amounts of waste and sewage discovered in the water.

Environmentalist groups have accused the local authorities of not investing sufficiently in modernising sewage treatment works, instead relying on pipelines pumping excess sewage into the sea whenever the antiquated systems are close to overflowing.

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Son fights to move mother from Christian cemetery

A bereaved son has described his frustration after an unsuccessful three-year battle to have his mother's body moved from a Christian cemetery to a Jewish resting place.

Eugene Linder's late mother, Biba Skodnik, is buried in Finland. He has pleaded with the country's Prime Minister and President to allow him to reinter her in Switzerland, where his family now lives.

But despite the assistance of London-based Rabbi Aba Dunner of the Conference of European Rabbis, Mr Linder has failed to receive permission from the Finnish authorities to move her.

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