New York - Mothers in the United States make 73 cents for every dollar earned by fathers, a wage gap even wider than the one between men and women overall, according to research released on Wednesday by a national women’s rights group. The motherhood gap yawned widest in the southern state of Louisiana, where mothers are paid just 53 cents for every father’s dollar, said the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). Nationwide, Latina mothers are paid 47 cents and black mothers are paid 53 cents compared with every dollar paid to white fathers, the Washington-based non-profit organization said. Nationwide, women overall earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to U.S. Census data. “The price of motherhood shouldn’t be a smaller paycheck,&rd...
Washington - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took quick aim at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying United States should not take a risk on an unreliable candidate. “He is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN, citing Trump stances including a claim that climate change was a Chinese hoax. Clinton, a former secretary of state and the front-runner to win the Democratic nomination, said Trump would have to offer policy specifics in the general election on Nov. 8 and criticized him for his positions on issues including nuclear weapons and abortion. “He makes these grand statements and grand accusations,” Clinton said of the real estate magnate and former ...
New York - A new security pavilion was dedicated Wednesday at a federal courthouse where high-profile terrorism trials have taken place blocks from where the Sept. 11 attacks downed the 110-story twin towers of the World Trade Center. Multiple airport-style screening machines await the more than 160 people who can fit inside a 3,250-square-foot facility alongside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in lower Manhattan. Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska told several judges and other courthouse employees at a ceremony that the attacks were a catalyst for the $11 million construction project. She said the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Protective Service and others repeatedly noted since 2001 that one of the busiest courthouses in the nation failed to screen people for weap...
New York, NY - DoubleLine Capital LP Chief Executive Jeffrey Gundlach on Wednesday warned that increasing investor demand for ostensibly safe low-volatility stocks and utility stocks is a major risk facing markets. The closely watched investor, speaking at the Sohn Investment Conference, also said investors should prepare for a Donald Trump presidency, an election result that could lead to higher government debt. Trump’s support for infrastructure spending and desire to amp up job growth could lead to higher debt, Gundlach said. He said utilities offer only a “puny” yield compared with those of mortgage real estate investment trusts, which he recommended buying. Buying baskets of low-volatility stocks has been one of the most popular investment strategies using...
Germany - Production of the 500-euro banknote is being discontinued amid concerns it had become too popular among crooks and money launderers. The European Central Bank, the monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the shared currency, made the decision at a meeting Wednesday. The ECB said it was taking into account concerns that the banknote, which is worth around $580, “could facilitate illicit activities.” The banknotes currently in circulation will remain legal money for now but no additional ones will be issued from existing stocks after late 2018. The central bank assured that the bills could be exchanged at national central banks of euro member countries “for an unlimited period of time.” The 500-euro bill — the biggest denominatio...
Seoul - Residents and U.S. military personnel in a South Korean city rescued a woman and her three children from a fire by safely catching them with a blanket as they fell four floors, fire officials said Wednesday. About 10 people held the blanket and persuaded the woman to drop her children from a fourth-floor window and then jump herself before rescue workers arrived at the scene last week in the city of Pyeongtaek, said Moon Sang-hyeon from the Songtan Fire Department. The children — aged 1, 3, and 4 — were not hurt and their mother, a 30-year-old Nigerian, suffered only minor injuries, Moon said. The four-story building stood on a narrow alley near a busy outdoor market and a U.S. military base, which made it difficult for fire trucks to reach the scene quick...
New York -  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will probably work with the Republican National Committee to raise $1 billion to beat likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. “We’re going to try and raise over a billion dollars which is what’s going to be necessary. The Democrats maybe will get as high as two billion dollars,” Trump said in an interview with NBC Nightly News.
Jerusalem - The Israeli army’s deputy chief of staff ignited controversy late Wednesday evening with his remarks which seemed to suggest a parallel between present-day Israel and 1930s Germany. Maj. Gen. Yair Golan made the comments during a Holocaust Remembrance Day address at Tel Yitzhak. “It’s scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here,” the officer said. The comments unleashed a torrent of criticism against Golan on social media, with Twitter users accusing the deputy chief of staff of “forgetting the lessons of the Holocaust.” “The Holocaust should bring us to ponder our public lives and, furthermore, it must lead anyone who is capable of taking public responsibility to do so,” Golan sai...
Washington - The reaction of congressional Republicans to Donald Trump’s ascension ranged from subdued to silent on Wednesday, a day after the billionaire TV personality was all but anointed as the party’s presidential nominee. A day after a decisive Indiana primary victory left Trump the sole GOP presidential contender standing, aides to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Other Republicans offered less than full-throated promises to help him win the White House. “I plan to put all of my support behind the Republican nominee and do whatever is asked of me to ensure a Republican is elected president,” said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texa...
New York - Aeropostale, once the vibrant epicenter of the U.S. mall scene, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closing 20 percent of its stores in North America. The New York company said Wednesday that it is closing 113 of its 739 U.S. stores and all 41 locations in Canada. Going-out-of-business sales at those U.S. stores will begin this weekend. Aeropostale expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection within six months as a smaller company after renegotiating contracts and resolving an ongoing dispute with the investment firm Sycamore Partners, a major shareholder that pushed through changes in company leadership. In the filing, CEO Julian Geiger lashed out at Sycamore, which he accused of hampering the company’s turnaround plans. “The ripple effects of...
Jerusalem, Israel - May 4, 2016 – The official Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 5776 took place on Wednesday,  May 4, 2016, in Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Mount of Remembrance, Jerusalem, Israel.  "Everything is Forbidden to Us, and Yet We do Everything":The Struggle to Maintain the Human Spirit during the Holocaust was the central theme for this year's commemoration. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both delivered remarks. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, lit the Memorial Torch. Zahava Roth spoke on behalf of the survivors. During the ceremony, Holocaust survivors lit six torch...
Baltimore, MD - May. 4, 2016  26 Nissan 5776  - Daily Dvar Halacha -  Coffee With Milk And Sugar Before Davening?
Brussels - NATO said on Wednesday it had agreed to non-member Israel setting up representation at its Brussels headquarters, a tentative sign of rapprochement between the Jewish state and NATO member Turkey. Israel and Turkey have stepped up efforts to patch up a relationship badly damaged following an Israeli raid in 2010 on a Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara, which had been trying to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip. NATO said in a statement that Israel’s ambassador to the European Union, David Walzer, would now also head its mission at alliance headquarters. The foreign ministry of Israel, which is not a NATO member but has partner status as a participant in the alliance’s Mediterranean Dialogue programs together with six other non-NATO countries in the region, ...
Washington - A federal judge said Wednesday he may order Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton to testify under oath about whether she used a private email server as secretary of state to evade public records disclosures. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan signed an order granting a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question six current and former State Department staffers about the creation and purpose of the private email system. Those on the list were some of Clinton’s closest aides during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat, including former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills, deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy. Also set to testify is Bryan Pagliano, the agency employe...
Jerusalem - Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum has kicked off its annual remembrance ceremonies with a special screening of the Oscar-winning film “Son of Saul,” acknowledging the unique role movies play in maintaining the memory of the Holocaust. The Hungarian film, which tells the story of a Jewish Nazi death camp inmate who obsessively seeks a proper burial for a boy he believes to be his son, also mirrors Yad Vashem’s central theme this year — the struggle to maintain the human spirit amid inhumanity. Israel will come to a standstill on Thursday as sirens wail for two minutes. In the annual ritual, pedestrians typically stop in their tracks, while cars and busses pull over and people step out to stand and bow their heads. Solemn events are hel...
Flint, MI - Showing support for the beleaguered residents of Flint, Michigan, President Barack Obama drank filtered city water on Wednesday to show that it is again safe following a lead-contamination crisis. After officials briefed Obama on the federal government’s response to the contamination, a reporter asked if he would drink the water in a glass on the table. The president said he usually avoids publicity stunts. But he took a drink, saying he wanted to show the water must be safe if he’s drinking it. “This used a filter,” Obama said of the water. “The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you’re using a filter, if you’re installing it, then Flint water at this point ...
Washington - With airlines worried that long security lines may discourage summer travelers, the U.S. government said on Wednesday it will add airport staff and bomb-sniffing dogs and ramp up pre-screening enrollment efforts. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will add officers at airports expected to have the highest passenger volumes, said Jeh Johnson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a statement on Wednesday. He added that he has asked Congress to approve additional funds to pay for officers’ overtime and to meet “critical short-term needs.” Security officials are on high alert for potential attacks by groups inspired by Islamic State. On March 22, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a rush-ho...
Jerusalem - Israel is marking its annual Holocaust remembrance day, in memory of the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. Ceremonies are held around the country on the solemn day, which is marked from Wednesday evening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attending the main ceremony at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. On Thursday, Israelis will come to a mournful, two-minute standstill to remember the dead. A siren will sound, pedestrians will stop in their tracks and motorists will pull over on highways and roads. The names of those killed will be read out in parliament. This year’s memorial day comes as a report by Tel Aviv University found a drop in violent attacks against Jews last year, but said the number remains hig...
Baltimore, MD - May 1, 2016 - It was a beautiful, albeit windy, morning at Pimlico Race Course as Baltimore's Jewish community members joined together to burn their chometz in preparation for the first Pesach Seder.  This year marks the fourth annual Chometz Burning and Food Drive, sponsored by Baltimore City Council President Jack Young’s office, in partnership with Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc. (CHAI) and Park Heights Renaissance (PHR).  The Chesed Fund worked with Jack Young’s office to coordinate the city agencies that were instrumental in helping to make this day possible. The event was held at the Pimlico Race Course Clubhouse Parking Lot, from 6:30 – 11:30 a.m. and over 5,000 Jews from all denominations were on hand to participate. Park Hei...
Baltimore, MD – May 4, 2016 - It is with deep regret that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah in Lakewood of Mrs. Sheila Brisk, a'h, wife of Reb Shia Brisk, (formerly of Baltimore, MD) mother of Rochel Lea Tepfer, Tamara Schwed, Naomi Ellenbogen, Tova Hershkowitz The Levaya will be taking place at 6:30 PM at the Country Place Shul, 124 Azalea Court. The Kevurah will take place in Lakewood.  Shiva at the home of the Brisks 75 Privet Way, Lakewood, NJ 08701 Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
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