|
March 24, 2017 at 9:29 am
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, attorney Jay Clayton, sought to assure lawmakers that he’ll show no favoritism and act only in the public interest, as his Wall Street connections were scrutinized at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.
Clayton, a partner in the prominent law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, has done significant legal work for Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs and other financial giants. Asked whether his client work will create conflicts of interest for him as the financial markets’ top regulator, Clayton said he doesn’t believe they will.
“I’m committed to showing no favoritism to anyone in this position,” Clayton told the Senate Banking Committee.
In cases where he might ha...
|
March 24, 2017 at 9:29 am
Tzvi Amar has refused a NIS 20 million buyout offer for Kol Berama Radio from Shas, Kikar Shabbos reports. The officer was the latest in efforts to take over control of the chareidi radio station. The efforts to purchase the radio station began with the last Knesset elections.
The buyer, who is in Marseilles, was supposed to meet with station owners but persons involved began probing the sale and decided the buyer is “to connected” to Shas and Aryeh Deri. Shas views the station aligned with Eli Yishai and therefore, it is boycotted. Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita will not even permit Kol Berama to air his motzei Shabbos shiurim since the boycott began.
The fact is that since elections the station’s worth has diminished as some of its stars moved over t...
|
March 24, 2017 at 9:29 am
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak freed from prison after nearly six years behind bars.
Former Egpytian President Hosni Mubarak was released from prison Friday, six years after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution that forced him out of power and led to his arrest and the arrest of his sons, Gamal and Alaa.
An attorney representing the former Egyptian leader said Mubarak was released from a military hospital in Cairo, and has been allowed to return home.
Mubarak was taken into custody in April 2011 in connection with the killings of hundreds of protesters by security forces during the Egyptian Revolution.
After six years in custody, Mubarak was acquitted earlier this month.
The court also rejected demands by lawyers of the victims to reopen civil suits, leaving no remaining optio...
|
March 24, 2017 at 9:28 am
The federal agency overseeing Donald Trump’s lease for a luxury hotel in Washington ruled Thursday that his inauguration as president doesn’t violate terms of the agreement barring government officials from profiting from the property.
In a letter to the Trump Organization, General Services Administration Contracting Officer Kevin M. Terry says it has determined that the president’s business is in “full compliance.”
The 2013 lease for the Trump International Hotel expressly forbids any federal official from participating in the project, a $200 million renovation of historic Old Post Office building a few blocks from the White House. Numerous ethics experts have questioned whether Trump violated the terms of his lease the moment he took the oath of office.
T...
|
March 24, 2017 at 9:28 am
With the current IDF Chief placing a high priority on integrating women into combat units, the military is becoming a more complex option for religious Jews wishing to serve.
As Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatens to remove Yeshivat Bnei David’s certification as the premier mechina program, MK (Bayit Yehudi) Betzalel Smotrich publishes a column in the told the weekly BaSheva newspaper entitled “Saving the IDF – Don’t Enlist”. His column is coming under harsh criticism by many prominent figures in the dati leumi community including Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennet but Smotrich advises that mechina and yeshiva talmidim should simply hold off entering the military for a number of months.
Smotrich adds that the military requires both “quiet and ...
|
March 24, 2017 at 9:28 am
Fines for a number of vehicular violations will increase significantly in Israel beginning on Friday, 26 Adar and a maximum fine for an offense classified as ‘life threatening’ can reach NIS 1,500. The new fines were approved by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.
In some cases, one was summoned to a court appearance in the past but from now on, there will only be a stiff fine [in many cases], which Katz feels will be a more powerful deterrent.
According to Walla News, failure to adhere to a traffic signal will result in a NIS 1,500 fine. Riding a bike on the sidewalk or in the street but not to the right of traffic will be increased from NIS 100 to NIS 250 and riding an electric bike under the age of 16 or riding a bike not ‘roadworthy’ will carry a NIS 1,000 f...
|
March 24, 2017 at 8:58 am
Israeli educator Miriam Peretz — a bereaved mother of two fallen IDF soldiers — was an eyewitness on Wednesday to the aftermath of the deadly terrorist rampage next to the British Parliament building in central London, the Hebrew news site nrg reported.
Peretz was visiting London on behalf of the Jewish Agency and was on her way to meet with Israeli Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev when she came across the scene of the incident, the report said.
“The sirens and hysteria reminded me of attacks in Jerusalem,” she was quoted as telling Israel’s Army Radio. “Suddenly, tranquil London was like Jerusalem. I can’t say I wasn’t scared or that the thought of ‘God, why are you chasing me with these disasters?’...
|
March 23, 2017 at 10:13 pm
Baltimore, MD - Mar. 23, 2017 - On March 1, after over 37 years of being family owned and operated, Milford Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Baltimore, has been sold to a New Jersey-based company. Starting June 1st, the renamed facility, King David Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, will become STAR-K kosher certified, offering new long-term and short-term nursing and rehab care services options in a frum-friendly environment.
“The psychological aspect of healing is important to consider, too,” believes King David Nursing and Rehabilitation Center administrator Yitzy Tendler. “If a person has a homemade kosher meal, rather than an airline meal, that can really help a person get well faster.”
In addition to offering hot, freshly prepared STAR-K certified...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:39 pm
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged the United States and Britain to lift their bans on laptops and tablet computers in the cabin of flights from many Middle East and North African countries, including Turkey.
The United States was the first to announce a ban on electronic devices bigger than mobile phones on direct flights from 10 airports in seven Middle Eastern countries and Turkey.
The British government followed, announcing a cabin baggage ban on laptops on direct passenger flights to the UK from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
“I hope that these nations, the United States and Britain, will review this and withdraw it as soon as possible,” Erdogan said Thursday in a televised interview, according to ...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:37 pm
40-year-old Israeli shot dead in Costa Rica. Local police investigating.
Media outlets in Costa Rica reported on Thursday that a 40-year-old Israeli was shot dead in the neighborhood of Savannah in the capital of San Jose.
Police forces who were called to the scene discovered the body of the Israeli in his car, the reports said. An initial investigation has determined he was shot from a passing vehicle.
Local police are continuing to investigate the incident.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident and said it was working to bring the man's body for burial in Israel.
Rabbi Yitzchak Prober, the Chief Rabbi of Costa Rica, said that "the Jewish community is in contact with the family and helping them with everything they need, and we are in contact with the authorities in orde...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:35 pm
Rasmeah Odeh, convicted in Israel of murdering two students, accepts plea bargain after lying to get American citizenship.
A terrorist from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who had not told U.S. immigration authorities that she had been imprisoned in Israel for two terror attacks on Thursday accepted a plea bargain that forces her to leave the country, JTA reports.
Under the plea bargain, Rasmea Odeh, 69, would not spend time in U.S. prison or detention but would lose her America citizenship.
Odeh was convicted in Israel of murdering two Hebrew University students in Jerusalem in 1969. She was sentenced to life in prison for planting the explosives used in two bombings, including a grocery store attack that killed two and wounded nine.
She was releas...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself, will be produced to the House Intelligence Committee this week, a source told Fox News.
Classified intelligence showing incidental collection of Trump team communications, purportedly seen by committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and described by him in vague terms at a bombshell Wednesday afternoon news conference, came from multiple sources, Capitol Hill sources told Fox News. The intelligence corroborated information about surveillance of the Trump team that was known to Nunes, sources said, even before President Trump accused his predecessor of having wiretappedhim in a series of...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:31 pm
Defense Ministry Director-General Udi Adam has summoned Rabbi Eli Sadan and Rabbi Yigal Levinstein of Yeshivat Bnei David for a hearing to determine the yeshiva’s future status.
The hearing will take place on Thursday, 3 Adar, at which time the rabbonim will be able to explain their positions.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman seems determined to oust Levinstein from the yeshiva for his remarks objecting to men and women serving side-by-side in the IDF. Rav Sadan came to Levinstein’s defense, announcing he would not step down as Lieberman requests, but he will continue in his current position.
Lieberman was angered by Levinstein’s comments and is demanding his resignation along with an apology – threatening to decertify the yeshiva from the m...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:31 pm
“The arrest of a suspect in the recent wave of threats against Jewish Community Centers sends a clear message that anyone who threatens New Yorkers with violence will be brought to justice.
“The abhorrent and cowardly threats against Jewish Community Centers are an assault on the values of all New Yorkers. But they have also shone a bright light on how New Yorkers come together as one to stand up against those who seek to divide us.
“During my recent visit to Israel, members of the New York State Police and my public safety team joined me for a meeting with Israeli authorities to discuss these disturbing threats, and I am particularly grateful for their support. We will continue to work with our partners and remain vigilant in our efforts to investigate hate crimes and ...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:31 pm
Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism for tweeting in the hours after Wednesday’s London attack a months-old comment from London Mayor Sadiq Khan that terror attacks are part of living in a big city.
Trump Jr. tweeted : “You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan.” The tweet included a link to a Sept. 22 story from Britain’s Independent newspaper that includes the quote from Khan, who was asking Londoners to be vigilant following a bombing in New York City.
British Member of Parliament Wes Streeting was among numerous Britons who responded to the tweet with criticism. He called Trump Jr. “a disgrace” and accused him of using a terrorist attack for “political gain.”
When asked abo...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:30 pm
The Knesset on Wednesday, 24 Adar, passed a bill in its third and final reading that will cancel national service positions in organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign governments. The bill submitted by MK (Likud) Amir Ochana passed into law by a vote of 40 in favor and 12 opposed.
The bill, which won the support of Prime Minister Netanyahu, seeks to end the phenomenon in which the government funds organizations that work to undermine Israeli policy by means of foreign government funding, such as the far-Left NGO B’Tselem.
The bill was drafted following a report by the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, which discovered that there were twelve national service positions available in five organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign ...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:21 pm
The deepening U.S. military involvement against Islamic State terrorists in northern Syria indicates the Pentagon will likely send even more troops in coming weeks. Their mission won’t be to fight on the front lines but to bolster Syrian Arab and Kurdish forces in a coming battle for the key city of Raqqa.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon disclosed that Marine pilots airlifted scores of Syrian partner forces to the front lines, kicking off an offensive designed to capture a strategic crossroad along the Euphrates River. It was the first such U.S. assistance to the Arab and Kurdish fighters comprising the Syrian Democratic Forces. In a support role, the U.S. also fired artillery and flew Apache attack helicopters for the first time in Syria.
U.S. officials reported no major developments o...
|
March 23, 2017 at 9:18 pm
Shas leader Minister Aryeh Deri plans to come out in support of MK (Machane Tzioni) Shelly Yacimovich in her bid to become the next head of the Histadrut National Labor Federation. She is competing against the incumbent, Nissim Nissankoren.
Yacimovich is likely to be supported by the Ashkenazi chareidim too as she has generally maintained good relations with them and is viewed as one who is respectful to Yiddishkheit and tradition. She is also favored by the chareidim who are generally socialists when it comes to economic policy and she is on board with this too.
Speaking with Kol Chai Radio, she turned to Likud and Shas voters to back her candidacy. As always, she stressed for her it is not about the position but the ability to be a shaliach for the tzibur she serves.
