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What recent incident occurred at a synagogue in Rotterdam?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman. Four suspects have been arrested in connection with a fire overnight in Rotterdam at a synagogue. The Dutch Justice Ministry says it appears to be an anti-Semitic attack. Terry Schultz reports it's the latest of a series of incidents in Europe in the last two weeks.
Dutch Justice Minister David van Veel says an investigation is underway in Rotterdam but he says he believes it's an arson attack and that anti-Semitism, intimidation and violence must not be tolerated.
Speaking to journalists, van Veel said he had no information on whether the incident is connected to the war in Iran but that anti-Semitism had already been on the rise in the Netherlands due to the conflict in the Middle East. The chairman of the Rotterdam Synagogue, Kristen Hutt, calls the fire a targeted attack.
He tells local media that while there isn't huge material damage to the building, which already receives extra security from local authorities, the emotional impact is terrible. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. Two Lebanese academic leaders were targeted and killed by Israeli strikes on Thursday, this according to the Lebanese Ministry of Education.
Israel says they were Hezbollah operatives, but this could not be independently verified by NPR. NPR's Hadel Al-Shalchi reports from Beirut. An Israeli strike that hit near Lebanon's public university killed the director of the Faculty of Sciences, Hussein Bazzi, and a professor, Murtad Asrour.
The campus is in the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs, which received evacuation orders last week. The Israeli military said that Asrour was a member of Hezbollah who operated as a weapons manufacturing expert for the Iranian-backed militant group. It said he was the brother of a commander in Hezbollah's aerial unit who was killed in a previous Israeli military attack.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the bombing, calling it a violation of international laws. Hadil Al-Shalji, NPR News, Beirut. A federal judge in Washington has stopped the Department of Justice from moving ahead on a criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve concerning cost overruns on renovations at the reserve's D.C. headquarters.
The judge said the investigation was part of an improper campaign to by the Trump administration to pressure the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more aggressively as sought by President Trump. At a news conference on Friday, D.C. 's U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she will not back down on the probe and she is vowing to appeal.
This judge has put himself at the entrance door to the grand jury, slamming that door shut, irrespective of the legal process, and thus preventing the grand jury from doing the work that it does. Republican Senator Tom Tillis praised the decision, calling the criminal investigation an embarrassment. You are listening to NPR News.
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