Workers Claim Abuse

DES MOINES — Former workers at the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse allege they were sexually abused. The claims came a week after U.S. agents arrested 389 illegal workers at Agriprocessors in what was described as the largest raid of its kind in U.S. history. Meanwhile, the Conservative movement rejected a proposal to boycott the plant, which makes Aaron’s and Rubashkin’s products, out of concern a boycott might discourage Jews from keeping kosher, but its leaders say consumers should consider not buying its products for now.
 
Demjanjuk Denied

CLEVELAND — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by convicted Nazi camp guard John Demjanjuk to overturn his deportation order. Demjanjuk, 88, had argued that an immigration judge didn’t have the authority to order his deportation. Demjanjuk was stripped of his citizenship in 1981 and extradited to Israel, where in 1993 he was acquitted by its Supreme Court of being the Treblinka death camp guard “Ivan the Terrible.” He was stripped of his citizenship again in 2002 after new evidence showed he was a guard at another camp. In 2006, a judge dismissed his appeal to overturn a deportation order. The Cleveland-area resident denies helping the Nazis, claiming he was drafted into the Soviet army and captured by the Germans. Though the Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk’s legal fight is over, he’s unlikely to be deported, since neither Ukraine nor Germany will take him.

More Jews In U.K.?

LONDON — Britain’s Jewish population grew for the first time since World War II, University of Manchester researchers said.  The researchers say the number of British Jews increased in 2008 to 280,000 from 275,000 in 2005. They cited very high birth rates in haredi families. The number of British Jews peaked at 450,000 in 1950. But a researcher for the main umbrella body of British Jewry said reports of growth are premature.