Shoppers are benefiting from a Pesach price war as the major supermarkets promote special offers on matzah, wine and other festival essentials. But competition among the main players is taking its toll on Manchester kosher specialists.

Nearly 25 kilos of matzah meal, more than 650 boxes of matzah, 6,000 eggs and 180 bottles of Palwin No 10 will help feed 200 Nightingale residents in what chief executive Leon Smith believes is "the biggest Pesach operation in the country".

A new Pesach appeal encouraging families to remember the plight of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is being promoted in Britain.

It is hoped that the Gilad Shalit – Fifth Son project will result in Jewish families using part of their Sedarim to pray for him and other Israeli troops.

Packs of kosher-for-Pesach provisions have been sent around the world to Jewish troops serving in the British armed forces.

Pesach foods including matzah, powdered chicken soup, cake, biscuits, charoset and grape juice have been dispatched to at least 20 people, including servicemen and women in Afghanistan and other Jewish staff in Germany and the Falklands.

The coming Pesach holiday has been identified by Israel's intelligence experts as a particularly sensitive period for terror attacks on Jewish targets around the world.

I have always loved matzah, annoying everyone around me; even the dog looks disappointed when he does not receive his customary challah. But I have also felt intrigued by the paradox in the matzah's essence. What does it actually represent? Is it the bread of poverty and the fare of slaves, or the bread of hope and the food of the free?

An American iPhone application developer has found a way to bring the ten plagues into the 21st century.

Jeff Eagle's "Plague Audio" app features the passage read about the plagues during the Seder, along with sound effects to bring each one to life – from the croak of a frog to the sound of a hailstone crashing to the ground.

Kosher for Passover gin is being widely sold for what is thought to be the first time.

Joining a long list of surprising food and drink items that can now be consumed chametz-free – from pasta to cereal and even bread – the gin was developed by a San Francisco manufacturer and sold on a limited basis last year.