In the news

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, told a group of visiting Jewish-American leaders that it is time Israel fought back against those who boycott the Jewish state, dubbing them “anti-Semites.”

Tarun J. Tejpal, an Indian investigative journalist and magazine editor known as a crusader for liberal causes, was charged in the Indian coastal state of Goa with raping and sexually assaulting a staff reporter in a November encounter in a hotel elevator.

Ivane Merabishvili, a former prime minister of Georgia, was convicted of public-corruption and sentenced to five years in prison, making him the most senior official yet to be convicted of prosecutions that followed a change in control of the government in 2012.

Jacques Chirac, 81, the former French president who has faced health problems in recent years, was taken to a hospital near Paris with a suspected case of gout, but there was “absolutely no life-threatening urgency,” said a person close to Chirac.

President Rober t Mugabe

of Zimbabwe has pardoned 2,000 prisoners to ease overcrowding in prisons, which face a shortage of funds and even food.

Pope Francis

renewed his Argentine passport and national identity card and insisted on paying for the documents himself, said Argentina’s Vatican envoy.

Salah Salahadyn, 41, a Milwaukee man accused in last month’s theft of a $5 million Stradivarius violin, has pleaded innocent and faces 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted.

Maximo Caminero, 51, a South Florida artist, was charged with criminal mischief, accused of smashing a $1 million vase at the Perez Art Museum Miami to protest what he called its favoritism for international rather than local art.

Judd Frost, a Minnesota clothier, put his 32-year-old daughter, Jessie, on a plane to Costa Rica to hand-deliver $500 tan gabardine suit pants to a customer who forgot his wedding pants in a changing room, then flew off to get married.

Gov. Robert Bentley

of Alabama joined state and local leaders in Huntsville to welcome gun manufacturer Remington Outdoor Co., which plans to open a new plant in the area.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/18/2014

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