WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday declassified a trove of documents related to the early days of the FBI's Russia investigation, including a portion of a secret surveillance warrant application and former FBI Director James Comey's text messages. Trump made the extraordinary move in response to calls from his allies in Congress who say they believe the Russia investigation was tainted by anti-Trump bias within the ranks of the FBI and Justice Department. It also came as Trump continued his efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's probe in the wake of the guilty plea of his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and amid the ongoing grand jury investigation into a longtime associate, Roger Stone. Trump's decision will result in the...
Washington - The Trump administration is imposing tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods starting next week, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies and raising prices on consumer goods ranging from handbags to bicycle tires. The tariffs will start at 10 percent and rise to 25 percent starting Jan. 1. President Donald Trump decided to begin taxing the imports — equal to nearly 40 percent of goods China sold the United States last year — after a public comment period. China has said it’s ready to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. The U.S. had already imposed tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports. Trump initiated the fight to punish Beijing for what he says are China’s predatory tactics to try to supplant U.S. tech...
London - Prime Minister Theresa May pledged on Monday to protect British Jewish identity and Israel’s right to defend itself, in an attack on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to his Labour Party conference next weekend. May told a United Jewish Israel Appeal dinner she was “sickened” by the idea that some Jews questioned whether Britain was a safe place to raise their children. Labour has been angrily divided this year over pockets of anti-Semitism which Corbyn himself has acknowledged. Critics suggest he should step down for failing to tackle the issue. A poll in Britain’s Jewish Chronicle earlier this month said that 40 percent of Jews would consider emigrating if Corbyn won power in a national election. In August Britain’s former chief rabb...
Brooklyn, NY - A person of interest in today’s massive fire at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center that injured nearly two dozen people and destroyed over 100 cars has been apprehended and arrested by police. A tweet by NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea announced that the investigation into today’s seven alarm blaze is continuing and was accompanied by a surveillance photo of a person of interest in the fire stamped with the word “apprehended” in red letters. Police identified the suspect as 23 year old Avon Stephens from Brooklyn. As previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2xpVNwh), the seven alarm fire broke out at approximately 9 AM on two floors of the four story structure and burned for nearly three hours. The photo released by the NYPD this evening w...
New York - A man who was mocked online after he was recorded shaving at his seat on a commuter train headed out of New York City said he was just trying to clean up after days spent in a homeless shelter. Anthony Torres, 56, told The Associated Press that the people judging him on social media don’t know the struggle he’s been through in his life. “My life is all screwed up. That’s the reason I was shaving on the train,” he said. A fellow passenger on a Thursday evening New Jersey Transit train took video of Torres, sitting in his seat, steadily swiping away at his lathered face and tossing the shaving cream from the razor onto the floor. The video , posted on Twitter , had 2.4 million views by Monday afternoon. Another video showed a clean-shaven...
Wilmington, NC - Navigation apps like Waze are trying to help motorists avoid hurricane flooding. But can people really rely on their smartphones to steer themselves out of a disaster zone? Amid heavy rain from Florence, some smartphone or in-car map directions in recent days have sent people in North Carolina onto flooded roads and others closed to traffic. Google-owned Waze said Monday it’s worked with local governments and its own community of volunteer map editors to mark closures of more than 1,300 roads in North Carolina and hundreds more in South Carolina and Virginia. But the North Carolina Department of Transportation warned in a tweet on Sunday night that Waze and other travel apps are unable to keep up with Florence-caused road closings. “It is not safe now to tr...
Montgomery Village, MD - A driving lesson went off the deep end in Maryland when authorities say the car jumped a curb, crashed through a fence and landed in a swimming pool. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer tells The Washington Post the driver and passenger were uninjured Saturday, albeit soaking wet. He says the occupants were a man and a woman in their 50s or 60s, but it’s unclear who was behind the wheel when the drive turned into a dive. He says one was teaching the other to drive that afternoon. The car landed in the North Creek Community Center Pool, which was closed for the season. Piringer says the man and woman were standing poolside, having extricated themselves, by the time rescuers arrived. Further details weren’t immediately released....
New York - Coca-Cola Co is closely watching the fast-growing marijuana drinks market for a possible entry that would expand the world’s largest soft drink maker’s ambitions further away from sugary sodas. Coca-Cola announced its interest in a statement on Monday, responding to a report from BNN Bloomberg that said it was in talks with Canada’s Aurora Cannabis Inc to develop drinks infused with cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. Coke would join a rush by major alcohol makers and a cigarette company to test the cannabis market and find partners ahead of the Oct. 17 launch of legal recreational marijuana in Canada. Coke and Aurora, in separate statements, each said they were interested in cannabidiol-infused beverages but would not comm...
New York - Amazon wants you to shop small. The online retailer launched a new section of its site Monday called Amazon Storefronts, which only lists products sold by small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. The company says smaller companies can get lost among its millions of goods and it wants a way for shoppers to find them more easily. Amazon says more than 1 million products from about 20,000 businesses were selected to be featured on the site, based on ratings from customers. Similar stores will be launched on Amazon’s sites in Germany and the United Kingdom. The new site is also a way for Amazon to try to boost its image at a time when it’s facing scrutiny for its growing power, as well as continued criticism that it is taking business from small shops. Earlier t...
Washington - The Trump administration is cutting the number of refugees allowed into the United States next year to 30,000. The announcement comes despite calls from global humanitarian groups that this year’s cap of 45,000 was too low. The 30,000 ceiling announced Monday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the maximum the U.S. will admit during the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The actual number allowed could be lower. The U.S. welcomed nearly 85,000 refugees in the final year of the Obama administration. The lower admittance numbers reflect the Trump administration’s opposition to accepting refugees and other immigrants into the U.S. That approach has already driven down refugee admissions to their lowest level in a decade.
Gaza - Two people were found dead near the site of an Israeli missile strike at the coastal strip’s border with Israel, Gaza medics said on Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had attacked a group suspected of tampering with the border fence. There was no immediate word on the identities of those killed east of Qarara village, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Shortly before midnight on Monday the Israeli military said one of its aircraft had fired at a group of suspected militants who had “suspiciously approached” the border fence and placed an object next to it. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but maintains tight control of its land and sea borders. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled for several years and Isr...
Seoul - If North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was searching for the perfect propaganda set piece, something designed to show his people that he’s a strong leader pushing inexorably for the long-delayed, long-promised prosperity they deserve, then visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in might be providing him with a unique opportunity during their summit this week. Moon believes that his deep engagement with North Korea is crucial after last year’s fears of war, when Washington reacted with fury to a torrent of ever-more-powerful North Korean weapons tests. He argues that better ties with North Korea will help South Koreans, and the region, by settling the decades-long standoff over the North’s pursuit of a nuclear arsenal designed to target the U.S. mainland. But his e...
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 18, 2018 - Rediscovering Yom Kippur - The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy To listen click here
Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder said over the weekend the “Make America Great Again” mindset is “rooted in fear,” and lashed out at President Trump by saying he’ll “never call him president.” Holder called the upcoming midterm elections an “opportunity to send a message” to the “present occupant of the White House, Mr. Trump.” “I’ll never call him the president,” Holder said, noting the message would be directed to “the extremists who surround [Trump] and to those that support him, that we will not allow for the dismantling of the social compact forced by Roosevelt and other great presidents between we the people and our government.” Read more at Fox News.
North Carolina - U.S. food companies kept slaughter plants shut on Monday in southeastern states swamped by Hurricane Florence as catastrophic flooding killed nearly 2 million chickens, collapsed the walls of at least two hog manure pits, and made stretches of major roads impassable. Florence, which has dumped up to 36 inches (91 cm) of rain on North Carolina since Thursday, was interrupting supply lines around the state and into neighboring South Carolina. Meteorologists have warned that the worst is yet to come as rivers rise. North Carolina is a top U.S. producer of poultry, hogs and tobacco. Agriculture contributes $87 billion to the state’s economy, making it the state’s No. 1 industry. Two North Carolina hog waste pits were structurally damaged, four were inundated with...
Every Yom Kippur for the haftarah at minchah, we read sefer Yonah. As is the case with any haftarah, there are specific reasons why this haftarah is chosen. The following is a list of significant connections between Yonah and Yom Kippur which I heard many years ago in a chaburah from R' Elie Wolf, who has since written an entire set of seforim on haftaros: 1. Teshuvah Ba'eir Heiteiv in the name of Levush writes the most obvious connection. The story of Nineveh's doing teshuvah is meant to inspire us to do teshuvah on Yom Kippur. Radak and Me'iri add that sefer Yonah shows us that even gentiles can do teshuvah. This should serve to convince us that surely teshuvah is within our reach. Pirkei d'Rabi Eliezer also writes that when the men on the ship saw that the wat...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian state television says Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu in a phone call to his Israeli counterpart has said Israel is responsible for the shooting down of a Russian military aircraft over Syria. The Russian military said on Tuesday that the reconnaissance aircraft was brought down by a Syrian missile over the Mediterranean late on Monday, killing all 15 people on board. It said the plane was caught in the crossfire as four Israeli fighters attacked targets in northwestern Syria. Russian TV quoted a Defense Ministry statement as saying that Shoigu told Avigdor Lieberman that Israel is "fully to blame" for the deaths of the 15 people onboard. Shoigu said Russia had not been notified of Israel's operation in the area despite the hotline between the two countri...
Baltimore, MD – Sept. 16, 2018 - In consideration of the anticipated large number of men/buchrim in Baltimore that will, IY”H, be using the Mikvah on Erev Yom Kippur,  HA”L, Rav Taub, Shlita, will be opening an additional bor at the Mikvah at Khal Arugas Habosem. The Mikvah will open at 5:00 AM In addition, to accommodate the anticipated increased usage, a large changing area will be erected in front of the entrance to the Mikvah.  May the entire community be g’bentched with a Gmar Chasima Tova. 
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 17, 2018 - As part of Jewish Volunteer Connection's (JVC) "Day to Unite," and in conjunction with The Jewish Cemetery Association of Greater Baltimore (JCA) and Sol Levinson and Brothers Volunteer Initiative, about 20 volunteers set out to clean the historic Hebrew Friendship Cemetery in East Baltimore on Sunday morning, September 16. As JVC and JCA board member Kenny Friedman pointed out as he spoke to the participants, "This period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the opportune time for this chesed shel emes." Greg King, coordinator for community outreach at Sol Levinson & Bros., spoke of the 170-year-old history of the cemetery and stressed the importance of the work the volunteers were doing.  The effort was multi-generational, as well. Joan ...
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 14, 2018  - Kolainu Boys Choir was established January of 2009 with boys from all different mainstream Yeshivas. Kolainu's sole purpose is to provide Yeshiva students with an opportunity to gain self confidence, have fun, make new friends and enjoy their love for music. Kolainu was designed for Yeshiva students as an extra curricular activity. There are no tryouts and every child is a star. The choir has one grand preformance annually for family and friends. The choir is led by Elchonon Majeski. Elchonon has many years of experience conducting , composing and singing for large audiences. Kolainu offers a once in a life time rewarding experience for your child. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about our program. Kolainu Choir is...
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