An Israeli teenager on leave from the army was fined nearly $1,000 for a kidnapping prank that backfired. Ariel Lourie, 19, who was visiting his mother in Melbourne in September, pretended to be a kidnapper when he took a 6-year-old boy from a suburban park in a Jewish neighborhood. On Tuesday he pleaded guilty to unlawful assault in Melbourne Magistrates Court. A charge of child stealing was dismissed. Lourie told the court he was “just joking” and apologized in writing to the family.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.