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November 16, 2018 at 2:56 pm
Versailles, France - In a historic vote, nations unanimously approved Friday a ground-breaking overhaul to the international system of measurements, coming together in a way that they fail to do on so many other issues behind new definitions for the kilogram and other key units vital for trade and science.
Scientists for whom the update represents decades of work clapped, cheered and even wept as the 50-plus nations one by one said “yes” or “oui” to the update.
Nobel prize winner William Phillips called it “the greatest revolution in measurement since the French revolution,” which ushered in the metric system of meters and kilograms.
The so-called “Grand K” kilogram, a cylinder of polished platinum-iridium alloy that has been the world&rsq...
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November 16, 2018 at 2:54 pm
Washington - President Donald Trump says the White House is “writing up rules and regulations” for reporters after a judge ordered the administration to restore credentials for CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
Trump told reporters Friday that “people have to behave.” He added that if journalists “don’t listen to the rules and regulations, we will end up back in court and we will win.”
Asked what he meant by rules and regulations, Trump said: “Decorum. You can’t take three questions and four questions. And just stand up and not sit down.”
Trump said he wants “total freedom of the press,” but added “you have to act with respect.”
The White House said Friday that it would “temporarily reinstate” the cr...
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November 16, 2018 at 2:54 pm
Warsaw, Poland - A prominent Holocaust researcher said Friday he is suing a Polish organization for libel after it waged a public campaign last year accusing him of slandering Poland’s good name for his work exploring Polish violence against Jews during World War II.
Historian Jan Grabowski, of the University of Ottawa in Canada, told The Associated Press he brought a lawsuit on Thursday against the Polish League Against Defamation, an organization allied with Poland’s conservative ruling party.
The league didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the case. It accused Grabowski last year of ignoring the Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust and of exaggerating the number of Poles complicit in Jewish deaths.
“During World War II, due to the dem...
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November 16, 2018 at 2:27 pm
Paradise, CA - There’s a sweet legend about this town: On a blazing summer day in the 1850s, a lumber mill crew with a wagon and ox took a break under a grove of tall evergreens. The air was cool, the pine needles fragrant.
“Boys,” said the team boss, “this is paradise.”
Thus, more than 170 years ago, Paradise was born. From the start, it was enriched with gold mined from nearby hills and lumber harvested from the forests. Over generations, thousands lived and loved here; they built homes and businesses, schools and houses of worship, parks and museums that proudly honored Paradise’s place in American history.
In a matter of hours last week, it all disappeared.
Nearly 9,000 homes. Hundreds of shops and other buildings. The Safeway supermarket. The ha...
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November 16, 2018 at 12:41 pm
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 16, 2018 - 12:38 PM - Several homes were evacuated after a gas leak in Pikesville.
BGE was called to the scene at approximately 11:30 a.m. Friday after construction crews struck a high-pressure gas main, officials said.
A number of homes in the 3100 block of Northbrook Road were evacuated and the street - between Hatton and Labyrinth - has been closed off due to the gas leak, officials said.
There is no word on when the incident will be resolved
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November 16, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Parashas Vayeitzei: Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky from Agudath Israel on Vimeo.
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November 16, 2018 at 11:35 am
New York - The snow and ice that literally brought the greater New York area to its knees yesterday may be no match for the heated anger that appears to be everywhere today as area residents demand explanations for the abysmal failures that left commuters stranded for hours on end.
Preparations for the snow, which was expected to be a one to three inch event in much of the area began in advance, with the New York City Department of Sanitation taking to Twitter on Wednesday announcing that they were prepared for the precipitation with salt spreaders “loaded and ready to go.”
Somehow, everything went horribly wrong yesterday just about everywhere.
Forecasters began issuing warnings during the day that snowfall totals could be somewhat higher than expected and within hours the ...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the legal challenge to the White House’s decision to strip CNN reporter Jim Acosta of his White House press credentials (all times local):
10:30 a.m.
A federal judge in Washington is ordering the Trump administration to immediately return the White House press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly announced his decision Friday morning.
CNN had asked that Acosta’s credentials be returned while a lawsuit over their revocation goes forward.
The network’s chief White House correspondent has clashed repeatedly with Trump and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in briefings over the last two years. But the White House pulled his credentials last week following a combative press conference in...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:41 am
A West Bank military court has indicted the mother and brother of the Palestinian who carried out a terror attack in the Barkan Industrial zone last month on charges they knew of the suspect’s plan and did not prevent the offense.
According to the indictment, the defendant’s mother knew he had weapons and that he was training to use them. She then informed the defendant’s brother of his intentions but neither of them attempted to contact authorities or do anything further to prevent the attack. The assailant’s brother is also being charged for obstruction of justice for attempting to hide footage of the incident from authorities in their family home.
“Two weeks before the attack, the terrorist indicated that he intended to carry out an attack and die a...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:39 am
New York - Three years after it closed its beloved toy store on Fifth Avenue, FAO Schwarz is making a return to New York.
A new FAO opens Friday in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, about 10 blocks from its former home near Central Park.
For more than 150 years, FAO Schwarz was known in New York City for its classy and sometimes extravagantly expensive toys. The fantasyland store it opened on Fifth Avenue in 1986 was a tourist attraction, replete with its own theme song, doormen who looked like palace guards and a musical clock tower. Financial problems at the parent company and rising rents closed that store in 2015, but FAO is now pulling back from the worst financial precipice since it was founded in 1862.
In recent weeks at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, workers drilled, hammered and saw...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:36 am
Baltimore, MD – Nov. 16, 2018
Parshas Vayeitzei / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Parshas: Vayeitzei
Today: 8 Kislev
Chatzos: 11:51 PM
Hadlakas Nairos: 4:33 PM
Shkiah: 4:51:09 PM
Tzais HaKochavim: 5:42 PM
Kiddush Levanah from Nov. 11, 2:24 AM – Nov. 22 8:46 PM.
Kiddush Levanah may only be said at night
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November 16, 2018 at 10:36 am
If only people today knew what a telegram was, the old joke about the typical Jewish one reading “Start worrying. Details to follow” would be apropos, at least to the pessimists among us, in the wake of the midterm elections.
Self-proclaimed Nazi Arthur Jones, running as a Republican for a House of Representatives seat in a Chicago area district, lost handily. But he received more than 56,000 votes. Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner had urged district residents to “vote for anybody but Jones” and Texas Senator Ted Cruz advised voters to vote for the Democratic candidate. Still, though, 56,000 Illinoisans liked the Nazi.
And then we have, unfortunately, two successful candidates for Congress: Rashida Tlaib of Detroit and Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis. Ms. Tlaib...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:11 am
A correspondent for the Telegraph newspaper describes the considerable lengths Israel went to avoid hurting civilians in this past week’s flare-up with Hamas in Gaza.
Raf Sanchez had spent the previous few days covering the skirmishes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. “We’ve just come out of Gaza for a quick trip to see how things are after this week’s fighting. A couple of observations,” Sanchez began a long threat on Twitter.
“We got a sense of how careful Israel was to avoid civilian casualties during the airstrikes in Gaza. The Israeli army called one guy we met and spent 45 mins on the phone with him, getting him to evacuate his neighbors before they blew up a Hamas media building next to his,” reported Sanchez.
Read more at Arutz Shev...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:10 am
Liberal philanthropist George Soros has called on Facebook to initiate an independent, internal investigation of its lobbying and public relations work.
The call comes after the New York Times published a report claiming the company had hired an opposition research firm to discredit critics by linking them to Soros, a frequent target of conservatives and anti-Semitic vitriol from the far right.
“These efforts appear to have been part of a deliberate strategy to distract from the very real accountability problems your company continues to grapple with,” wrote Patrick Gaspard, the president of the Open Society Foundations, a philanthropic organization founded by Soros. Gaspard published the letter Wednesday after publication of the Times report and addressed it to Facebook chie...
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November 16, 2018 at 10:10 am
A few inches of snow brought chaos and massive traffic to New York City roads on Thursday — prompting a storm of criticism for the city’s response to the wintry weather.
“Hearing reports from all over the city about slow response to today’s storm and I’ve seen downed trees outside of each event I’ve attended tonight,” New York City council speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat from Manhattan, wrote on Twitter. “I’m working to get in touch with DSNY to get some answers because this is unacceptable. Stay safe out there everyone.”
Traffic backed up for hours across New York as numerous streets went unplowed, but was especially bad in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island.
A city councilwoman from the Bronx was stuck for hours i...
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November 16, 2018 at 9:33 am
Join Rabbi Yaacov Haber for 3 minutes in ushering in Shabbos with his insight to Parshas Va'Yeitzei.
Rabbi Yaacov Haber has been a leading force in Jewish Education for over 40 years. He is presently the Rav and Spiritual leader of Kehillat Shivtei Yeshurun, a young and vibrant community in the center of Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel. Before arriving in Israel, Rabbi Haber succeeded Rabbi Berel Wein as the spiritual leader of Congregation Bais Torah in Monsey, NY and as the National Director of Jewish Education for the Orthodox Union, where he created the internationally acclaimed and highly successful “Pardes Project.” At the same time he created “TorahLab", a popular online educational resource center. He was a founding trustee of AJOP, the Association of Jewish O...
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November 16, 2018 at 9:32 am
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — There’s a sweet legend about this town: On a blazing summer day in the 1850s, a lumber mill crew with wagon and ox took a break under a grove of tall evergreens. The air was cool, the pine needles fragrant.
“Boys,” said the team boss, “this is paradise.”
Thus, more than 170 years ago, Paradise was born. From the start, it was enriched with gold mined from nearby hills and lumber harvested from the forests. Over generations, thousands lived and loved here; they built homes and businesses, schools and houses of worship, parks and museums that proudly honored Paradise’s place in American history.
In a matter of hours last week, it all disappeared.
Nearly 9,000 homes. Hundreds of shops and other buildings. The Safeway superm...
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November 16, 2018 at 9:26 am
Washington - Lawmakers trying to oust Nancy Pelosi started rallying behind a possible contender Thursday, but the House Democratic leader gained key endorsements and said she has “overwhelming support” to become the next speaker.
Pelosi picked up backing from Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil rights leader, while a who’s-who of Democrats — including former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State John Kerry — advocated on her behalf.
“Look, I’m supporting Pelosi,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat and an influential leader of the Congressional Black Caucus. “But I would never tell anybody not to run.”
One member of the Black Caucus, Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, indicated a willingness...
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November 16, 2018 at 9:22 am
Jerusalem - Israel’s outgoing defense minister says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to accept an informal truce with Gaza’s Hamas rulers amounts to “utter capitulation to terrorism.”
Avigdor Lieberman, who quit over the cease-fire, told the Yediot Ahronot daily in remarks published on Friday that he would’ve opted instead for punishing airstrikes, “without the need for a ground incursion” into Gaza.
The Egypt-brokered truce was reached after two days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas that had been triggered by a botched Israeli undercover raid in Gaza.
Lieberman’s resignation left Netanyahu’s ruling coalition with a one-seat parliamentary majority, increasing the likelihood of early elections.
Late...
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November 16, 2018 at 9:20 am
CHICO, Calif. (AP) — At least 63 people are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the victims of the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century.
The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and don’t realize they’ve been reported missing, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He said he’s making the list public so people can see if they are on it and let authorities know they survived.
“The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary,” Honea said of the early crisis hours last week. “Now we’re trying to go back out and make sure that we’re accounting for everyone.”
Some 52,00...
