Passover ruling protested

Passover ruling protested

JERUSALEM — An Israeli court has ruled that shops can sell leavened bread during Passover in violation of Jewish religious law, deepening tensions between observant and secular Jews ahead of the weeklong holiday.

The ruling comes as good news for businesses selling bread and other leavened products during the holiday, which begins Saturday night.

But Orthodox Jewish groups say that it violates the spirit of what Israel is meant to be — a Jewish state. They are threatening to hold demonstrations at establishments selling pizza, bread and other leavened products.

Carter speaks in Cairo

CAIRO, Egypt — Former President Carter told a university audience here Thursday that the treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military was “a crime” while adding that there are “officials in Israel quite willing to meet with Hamas” and that might happen “in the near future.”

Carter spoke to students and faculty at the American University in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and a separate three-hour meeting with Hamas officials. The Bush administration and Israel have set rules not to talk to the militant Palestinian group, but Carter said, “I consider myself immune” from such restrictions.

Woman guilty of murder

LOS ANGELES — A 75-year-old woman was convicted Thursday of murdering a homeless man to collect life insurance, but the jury said it was deadlocked on another murder charge and a conspiracy count.

The judge ordered more deliberations in an effort to conclude a trial that has spun a bizarre tale of a murder-for-profit scheme carried out by two elderly women.

Olga Rutterschmidt was convicted of the first-degree murder of Kenneth McDavid, 50, a day after she was found guilty of conspiring to murder him for financial gain. Her 77-year-old co-defendant, Helen Golay, was convicted Wednesday of murdering McDavid and Paul Vados, 73, and counts of conspiracy in both killings.

Corruption cases increase

WASHINGTON — The FBI is grappling with growing numbers of public corruption cases and a surge in mortgage fraud investigations, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Thursday, wondering aloud whether Americans are “becoming more crooked.”

In a speech to the American Bar Association, Mueller asked the assembled defense lawyers for help in “creating a culture of integrity” by reporting evidence of wrongdoing by politicians and corporate executives alike.

S.C. abortion measure

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bill awaiting the South Carolina governor’s signature would require abortion providers to ask women whether they want to see ultrasound images of their fetuses before the procedure.

As part of a legislative compromise formally announced Thursday, women must wait at least an hour after seeing an ultrasound to have an abortion.

Republican state Sen. Mike Fair said he hoped women would use the time to decide against abortion.

The agreement was reached after more than a year of debate on whether women should be required to see the ultrasound.

USDA threats alleged

WASHINGTON — The head of the union that represents 6,000 federal food inspectors told a congressional committee Thursday that the Agriculture Department tried to intimidate him and other employees who reported violations of regulations, an allegation denied by the agency.

Union chief Stan Painter said that after a mad cow disease scare in 2003, he told superiors that new food safety regulations for slaughtered cattle were not being uniformly enforced. Painter said he was told to drop the matter, and when he didn’t, was grilled by department officials and then placed on disciplinary investigative status.

New airport scanner

LOS ANGELES — Some travelers at Los Angeles International Airport will be searched for weapons and explosives using a new scanner that peers through their clothes and creates an image of the person’s body, federal officials announced Thursday.

The sophisticated technology, called millimeter wave imaging, might prove to be a more effective way to check travelers for guns, knives, bombs and dangerous materials than pat-down searches. But it has raised questions by privacy and civil-rights advocates, who say the screening process is invasive and amounts to a virtual strip search.

Combined dispatches