Apple Inc on Friday ended its worst week on the stock market since 2013 as worries festered about a slowdown in iPhone sales and after influential shareholder Carl Icahn revealed he sold his entire stake. Shares of Apple, a mainstay of many Wall Street portfolios and the largest component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, have dropped 11 percent in the past five sessions. That shrank the technology behemoth’s market capitalization by $65 billion, about equivalent to Cambodia’s net wealth. Confidence in the Cupertino, California company has been shaken since posting its first-ever quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years on Tuesday, although Apple investors pointed to the stock’s relatively low valuation as a key reason to ...
Omaha, NE - Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc is poised to do well no matter who wins the White House in November, and the billionaire investor defended the performance and tactics of the conglomerate’s several large investments. Buffett presided over his 51st Berkshire annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, where he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger fielded five hours of questions on such matters as Coca-Cola’s sugary drinks, lower shipping volumes on the BNSF railroad, risks from derivatives, and who might succeed Buffett as chief executive. Buffett, a staunch supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, was asked about the regulatory impact on Berkshire if Republican front-runner Donald Trump wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election. ...
United Nations - Iran asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to convince the United States to stop violating state immunity after the top U.S. court ruled that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be paid to American victims of attacks blamed on Tehran. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote to Ban a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, calling on the Secretary-General to use his “good offices in order to induce the U.S. Government to adhere to its international obligations.” Zarif’s appeal comes amid increasing Iranian frustration at what they say is the failure of the United States to keep its promises regarding sanctions relief agreed under an historic nuclear deal struck last year by Tehran and six world powers. In the letter, ...
New York - Finding him guilty of misdemeanor assault, a judge said a New York City police officer “gratuitously” stomped on a suspect’s head as fellow officers tried to handcuff the man. Officer Joel Edouard was convicted Friday after a non-jury trial at state Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors said the 38-year-old officer had stopped Jahmiel Cuffee in July 2014 after spotting him drinking on the sidewalk and possessing marijuana. Prosecutors said Edouard was caught on a bystander’s video pulling out his gun and then stomping on Cuffee’s head as the man was face down on the ground, subdued by other officers. His attorney told WCBS-TV (http://cbsloc.al/1SUQRqM) he was disappointed with the verdict. He said his client is a “terrific” ...
The man police say walked into a Baltimore TV station with what he claimed to be an explosive vest now faces charges including two felonies. Alex Michael Brizzi, 25, of the 6500 block of Ducketts Lane in Elkridge has been charged with second-degree arson, first-degree malicious burning and the misdemeanors threat of arson, reckless endangerment (four counts) and placing a phony destructive device, Commissioner Kevin Davis said at a press conference.   Brizzi remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition at Shock Trauma after he was shot by police for ignoring officers' instructions. He kept his hand in his pocket around what police had every reason to treat as a detonator. The station's offices are across the street from homes. The arrest warrant fo...
Baltimore, MD  - May 1, 2016 - Shiva Houses Beginning Motzaei Yom Tov, Motzaei Shabbos April 30: Messrs. Josh & Sholom Levin and Rachel Reissman for sister, Yoni Gershan for mother    Shiva at 6212 Wallis Ave. , Baltimore, MD  21215 through Friday morning, May 6th Shacharis 6:50 (M&TH) 7:00 AM (T,W,F) Mincha/Maariv 7:45 PM ### R' Ovadia Bander for his father, Z'L: (in Baltimore through Tuesday evening only) 3100 Bonnie Road through Tuesday night.   Davening times: Sunday Shacharis - 8 a.m. Monday, Tuesday Shacharis - 6:45 a.m. Mincha/Maariv 7:45 p.m. Shiva will continue at 53 Glen Avenue Fairfield, NJ 07004 until Friday morning Davening times: Shacharis - 6:30 a.m. Mincha/Maariv - 7:30 p.m. Please, no visitors between 1-2PM AND 6-7...
The venue of the 2016 song contest released a document listing banned flags and banners, which includes disputed territories' flags and any non-UN member flag. Globe Arena, the venue where the annual Eurovision Song Contest is to be held in Stockholm in less than a fortnight, released a document in which it listed flags that may not be waved by the public, including the Palestinian flag. Globe Arena has forbidden, according to the document and inter alia, flags "containing commercial messages," flags" of political or religious nature, in particular flags of disputed territories," and flags "containing statements in another language than English." In addition to the explanation, a non-exhaustive list of banned example flags was providing, including the Basque, Crimean, T...
Donald Trump is being criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for repeating a slogan the group believes to be anti-Semitic. The ADL has taken issue with Trump's use of the phrase "America First" to describe his approach to foreign policy. The phrase was originally used by a group called the America First Committee in the 1940s, which pushed to keep the U.S. out of World War II. The ADL released a statement Thursday saying that famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, one of the best-known supporters of the committee, sympathized with the Nazis. "The undercurrents of anti-Semitism and bigotry that characterized the America First movement – including the assumption that Jews who opposed the movement had their own agenda and were not acting in America’s best interest &nda...
Two suspects seen spray painting swastikas at park, elementary school in Washington, D.C., suburb with large Jewish population. JTA -- Swastikas were spray-painted at a park and an elementary school in a Washington, D.C., suburb with a large Jewish population.The swastikas were discovered Sunday in Rockville, Maryland, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. A witness said he saw two white boys spray-painting the swastikas, according to the Post.Montgomery County police told the newspaper they contacted the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington about the incident.“Even though some people think it’s just offensive graffiti, you must understand it really offends community members deeply,” Ron Halber, ...
Italian police release arrest warrants for six for trying to join ISIS, planning attacks on Israeli embassy and Vatican. On Thursday, police in Italy released arrest warrants for six people for planning to join ISIS, Reuters reports. Three of the suspects reportedly wanted to carry out attacks on the Israeli embassy and the Vatican. Authorities have already arrested four, a man, a woman and a couple. The other two, a husband and wife, are still missing and believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq last year. All but one, the missing wife, are Moroccans. The wife is Italian. One suspect was recorded saying that he had talked with an Albanian man in order to obtain a weapon to attack the Israeli embassy in Rome. Separately, another declared, "I swear I will be the first t...
Albany, NY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that his administration retained a former criminal prosecutor to review his upstate economic development initiatives after learning federal investigators are examining potential conflicts of interest and improper bidding related to the programs. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation has “raised questions” about improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest by individuals involved in the Buffalo Billion initiative and efforts to attract nanotechnology investment, according to a statement from Cuomo counsel Alphonso David. In response, the administration hired Bart Schwartz, formerly head of the U.S. attorney’s criminal division in Manhattan, to conduct an internal investigation. “The s...
Reinhold Hanning, 94, accused of complicity in 170,000 murders, is ‘ashamed’ of having done nothing to prevent crimes BERLIN, Germany — A 94-year-old former SS guard on trial for complicity in 170,000 murders at Auschwitz broke his silence Friday for the first time since the war, telling victims: “I am truly sorry.” “I have been silent all my life,” Reinhold Hanning told a court in the western town of Detmold, more than 70 years after the end of World War II. “I want to tell you that I deeply regret having listened to a criminal organization that is responsible for the deaths of many innocent people, for the destruction of countless families, for the misery, distress and suffering on the part of victims and their relatives,” a...
Miami, FL - The largest police agency in Florida is outfitting 1,000 of its officers with pager-sized body cameras over the next few months in the state’s biggest such deployment to date, officials announced Thursday. The Miami-Dade Police Department detailed a $5.5 million plan to begin using the cameras next week, with a goal of 1,000 in the field by the end of September. About $1 million of that comes from a $75 million federal grant program announced in 2014 by President Barack Obama. Police body cameras have become increasingly popular following a number of fatal shootings or other deaths involving police around the country in places such as Ferguson, Missouri; Cleveland and Baltimore. Authorities say the cameras will record entire incidents from start to finish, wil...
Der Spiegel reports senior officials in the German government believe Netanyahu is 'instrumentalizing' Berlin's friendship, while the magazine quotes Merkel as saying she understands 'why President Abbas continually seeks out the Security Council.' BERLIN - The German government is considering stopping its "unconditional support" of Israel, German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Friday. "We must express this concern more clearly to Israel," added Röttgen, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. Senior politicians of both ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the joint Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, told Der Spiegel that there is a concern in Berlin th...
Post Pesach Supermarket Shopping  5776-2016 Edition There is much ado every year as to where one can shop immediately following Pesach, how long the restrictions apply for and to what products. I hope this is found to be enlightening. My goal is not to issue a halachic decision with this article, rather to present the fact on the ground. For a final psak please consult your Rav, who may appreciate you bringing some of these facts to his attention. In order to properly understand the halachic implications we must first elucidate the basic supermarket structure. The general chain supermarket model is as follows: Manufacturer → Distributor → Supermarket Warehouse → Individual Supermarket In terms of Halacha, Chametz that was owned by a Jew on Pesach is forbidde...
Jerusalem -  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked a new diplomatic brushfire by declaring that the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, is and should remain sovereign Israeli territory. But following tough international criticism, Israeli officials have begun to backtrack, saying that a 1981 decision to apply Israeli law to the strategic plateau fell short of annexation and implying that Netanyahu misspoke. The debate offers a window into a more nuanced Israeli perspective that, despite statements from the country’s hard-line political leadership, continues to leave the door open, just barely, to a peace deal when Syria’s civil war finally winds down. For now, the debate is largely academic. Syria has been engulfed in civi...
US site reveals classified report on Elor Azariya, who shot neutralized terrorist. Investigators say was result of 'twisted ideology.' "A 'twisted ideology' drove an Israeli soldier to fatally shoot a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay subdued in the road," the US news site Vice claims, based on a classified IDF report on the recent incident. "A few seconds before the attack, few seconds before the attack, as came up in the investigation with Sergeant M, (Azariya) told him that 'a terrorist that wounded their friend needs to die," the site reported, adding that "Sergeant M tried to calm the soldier down telling him, 'Relax, our wounded friend will be just fine.'" Despite this, Azariya still shot the terrorist in the...
Burlingame, CA - Protests erupted in California for the second day in a row on Friday against U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is moving closer to winning the Republican nomination after a string of victories this week. The billionaire businessman was forced to halt his motorcade and go through a back entrance to a hotel to give a speech to the California Republican convention and avoid several hundred loud protesters gathered outside. “That was not the easiest entrance I’ve ever made,” Trump told the gathering in Burlingame, south of San Francisco, after weaving around a barrier and clambering across a road to get to the venue. “It felt like I was crossing the border actually.” Demonstrators, some of whom held Mexican national fl...
New York, NY - A group of hackers linked to Islamic State has posted online a list of thousands of New York residents and urged followers of the militant group to target them, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. Federal agents and New York City police officers have been contacting the individuals on the list to inform them of the posting, but the source said law enforcement does not believe there is any credible threat. In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said, “While our standard practice is to decline comment on specific operational and investigative matters, the FBI routinely notifies individuals and organizations of information collected during the course of an investigation that may be perceived as potentially threatening in nature.&r...
Baltimore, MD – Apr. 15, 2016 - Once again, BaltimoreJewishLife.com is pleased to present a handy Pesach Community Guide. The 2016 edition has much more information than in previous years including information so desperately sought after once Pesach has concluded. The guide is available by clicking here or on the graphic below or on any of the Pesach Guide ads on the BaltimoreJewishLife.com website.   
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