u.s. report

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A 19-year-old woman filed a criminal complaint of sexual misconduct against a former Orthodox Union youth group professional who allegedly molested or harassed young adults over several decades.

The complaint that Rabbi Baruch Lanner molested the student while serving as principal of a Monmouth County, N.J., Jewish day school in 1995 could lead to criminal charges. Lanner recently resigned from the O.U.'s national conference arm after similar allegations were made in an article in the New York Jewish Week.

It was also announced that a lawyer who was on the Iran-Contra affair's investigation team in the 1980s will join an independent commission examining the O.U.

Bruce Yannett is looking into allegations that O.U. officials repeatedly ignored complaints that Lanner was abusing teenagers, a charge that led to two synagogues' secessions from the O.U.

Separation of church and cereal upheld

NEW YORK (JTA) -- U.S. cereal maker General Mills issued an apology for CD-ROM versions of the Bible that were distributed in some 12 million of its cereal boxes.

The discs are part of a $10 million software-and-cereal promotion offering customers CD-ROMs with computer games and dictionaries. But the company said it did not know the Bible was also part of the promotion and it was not its policy to promote a particular religion.

Spy flick features Israel's secret agents

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A made-for-television movie about Israel's most important spy agency is airing on U.S. cable television.

The Mossad maintains numerous secret agents in Arab and other nations, and has carried out undercover operations against Israeli enemies and former war criminals living abroad, including the 1960 kidnapping of former Nazi Adolf Eichmann from Argentina.

Showings of "The Mossad began last week on the History Channel.

Orange County Jews receive icy reception

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- A Reconstructionist synagogue in Orange County seeking to turn a struggling ice rink into a synagogue facility is facing opposition that synagogue leaders say verges on anti-Semitism.

According to the Los Angeles Times, people who want the rink to stay open for skaters have picketed Friday night services at the University Synagogue in Irvine.

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