U.S. Report

NEW YORK (JTA) -- South Carolina moved a debate for Democratic presidential candidates from the Sabbath to allow Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) to participate.

The debate is now slated to take place after sundown on Saturday, May 3.

Group wants U.S. to try Iraqi criminals

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Iraqi war criminals should be tried by the U.S.-led coalition and not by an international court, a Jewish group says.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said the United States should establish a Nuremberg-style court. Handing Iraqi leaders over to the United Nations or the International Court at The Hague would "only politicize the trial and provide a platform for those who opposed the war in the first place."

Yiddish radio show wins Peabody prize

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A series of programs on Yiddish radio won a Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.

The Yiddish Radio Project aired on public radio in the spring of 2002.

In addition, a film on the failure of the Oslo peace accords also won a Peabody. "Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road from Oslo" was shown on public television.

Brandeis appoints Israel studies chair

BOSTON (JTA) -- Brandeis University filled what is believed to be the first endowed chair of Israel studies in the United States.

Ilan Troen, who has written a history of Jewish settlement in Israel and a book on contemporary European Jewry, was named recently to the Karl, Harry and Helen Stoll chair in Israel studies at the Waltham, Mass.-based school.

Troen, born in Boston, will teach one semester a year at Brandeis while continuing to teach at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.