World Report

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) -- Members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad were responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina's Supreme Court said Monday.

The statement came days after a tape-recorded conversation was discovered in which police officers are heard ordering a patrol car away from the embassy minutes before the explosion, which killed 29 people. Israeli officials, who have long maintained that both groups were involved, said the court's statement was overdue.

African tribe linked to ancient Kohanim

CAPETOWN, South Africa (JTA) -- A tribe in southern Africa may be of Jewish ancestry, according to research reported in the New York Times on Sunday.

Genetic tests reveal that males in the Lemba tribe carry a DNA sequence that is distinctive to the Jewish priestly class of Kohanim. The Lemba reportedly practice circumcision, keep one day a week holy and do not eat pork.

A scholar says he discovered that the Lemba, who currently live in South Africa and Zimbabwe, likely emigrated there from a Yemeni village that was once the site of Jewish communities.

German, U.S. banks allowed to merge

BERLIN (JTA) -- The German-based Deutsche Bank will be allowed to take over a New York bank.

Last week, the New York State Banking Board approved Deutsche Bank's $10.1 billion takeover. The approval came after Jewish groups and New York City's top financial official, Alan Hevesi, dropped their opposition to the proposed merger, saying Germany's largest bank was making progress in handling Holocaust-era issues.

Russian synagogue attacked two times

MOSCOW (JTA) -- Vandals attacked a synagogue in the Russian region of Birobidzhan twice last week.

In the first attack, a menorah in the synagogue was damaged. In the second, a window was broken, a metal Star of David was ripped out of the synagogue wall and stone swastikas were set up outside.

Authorities in the area, declared a homeland for Jews by Stalin some 70 years ago, said the attacks were the works of hooligans.