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Daybreak: V-Day

Plus, price tags in Israel and poverty in New York, and more in the news

by
Dan Klein
June 19, 2012
Rep. Lisa Brown (2nd from the left) reads from the Vagina Monologues on the steps of the Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Monday, June 18, 2012.(Susan Tusa/DFP)
Rep. Lisa Brown (2nd from the left) reads from the Vagina Monologues on the steps of the Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Monday, June 18, 2012.(Susan Tusa/DFP)

• Michigan State Rep. Lisa Brown of the glorious motherland of West Bloomfield performed the Vagina Monologues with other politicians and playwright Eva Ensler before an audience of thousands at the Capitol building. [DFP]

• Along with a booming Orthodox population in New York City, the number of impoverished Jews has risen by 50 percent in a decade. [NYT Letters]

• Nicholas Kristoff sees signs that sanctions are working to sow discontent in Iran. [NYT]

• The Grand Mosque of Jabaa was burned this morning. Graffiti warned of a “war” over the coming court ordered evacuation of five apartment buildings in Ulpana. [NYT]

• Syria, Iran, Russia, and China are planning on joint war games within a month, according to Iranian press, which will include 90,000 troops, tanks, planes, and subs. It will be the largest exercise in Middle East history. [Times of Israel]

• The Sephardic Orthodox Chief Rabbi is trying to organize rabbis against recognition of Conservative and Reform rabbis, calling them ‘destroyers of the religion.’ [Haaretz]

• Most IVF and artificial inseminations in extremely pro-natalist Israel come from foreign sperm donors. Interestingly enough, most of the foreign sperm requests come from ultra-Orthodox patients because they assume that the donors will be non-Jews—eliminating fears of accidental incest. [Haaretz]