LOS ANGELES (AP) — Teachers and officials in the nation’s second-largest school district return to the bargaining table on Thursday, hoping to end a strike that has been costly and divisive. The office of Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that talks would resume at noon at City Hall, with the office “facilitating” negotiations. The announcement didn’t indicate whether any new contract offers would be on the table. Meanwhile, the teachers’ union planned to continue its picketing for a fourth day. Both sides had portrayed themselves as ready and willing to meet again for the first time since talks broke off last week, sending tens of thousands of teachers onto the street. On Wednesday, United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said the union ...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran kept up its criticism Thursday of the FBI’s apparent arrest of an American anchorwoman from Iran’s state-run English-language TV channel, with its foreign minister saying “she’s done nothing but journalism.” The hard-line Vatan-e Emrooz paper criticized the detention of Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi as “Saudi-style behavior with a critical journalist.” That’s a reference to the Oct. 2 assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Press TV that “we have a right to continue to look after her interests” as Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans, also holds Iranian cit...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will roll out a new strategy for a more aggressive space-based missile defense system to protect against existing threats from North Korea and Iran and counter advanced weapon systems being developed by Russia and China. Details about the administration’s Missile Defense Review — the first compiled since 2010 — are expected to be released during President Donald Trump’s visit Thursday to the Pentagon with top members of his administration. The new review concludes that in order to adequately protect America, the Pentagon must expand defense technologies in space and use those systems to more quickly detect, track and ultimately defeat incoming missiles. Recognizing the potential concerns surrounding any perceived w...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Of all the issues at stake as President Donald Trump and Democrats wrangle over his prized border wall, the latest snag is whether bargaining over the proposal should come before or after shuttered government agencies reopen. It sounds like one of those perplexing snits that frustrates Americans and prompts them to blame both parties for Washington’s dysfunction. But it’s actually a consequential dispute about who’ll have leverage, now and later, as the partial shutdown enters its 27th day Thursday, setting a dubious record for duration. If Trump blinks first and temporarily halts the shutdown so negotiators can seek agreement, the White House and some Republicans worry there’ll be no incentive pushing Democrats to cut a deal. With 800,000 ...
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May was consulting opposition parties and other lawmakers Thursday in a battle to put Brexit back on track after surviving a no-confidence vote, though there was little immediate sign of a breakthrough from talks branded a “stunt” by the main opposition leader. European Union countries were stepping up preparations for a disorderly British exit on March 29 after the U.K. Parliament rejected May’s Brexit withdrawal deal with the bloc. Lawmakers threw out the deal Tuesday, in a crushing defeat for May, who suffered the worst parliamentary defeat in modern British history. The drubbing was followed by a no-confidence vote in the government, but May’s minority Conservative government survived it on Wednesday night wi...
Washington - During an interview on CNN on Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) defended a 2012 tweet in which she said that Israel had “hypnotized the world.” “Those unfortunate words were the only words I could think about expressing at that moment,” Omar told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during the interview. “What is really important to me is that people recognize that there is a difference between criticizing a military action by a government that that has exercised really oppressive policies, and being offensive or attacking to particular people of faith.” The tweet, which Omar wrote in November 2012 during Operation Pillar of Defense, reads: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doi...
Atlanta - A Georgia man who had detailed plans to use an anti-tank rocket to storm into the White House was arrested in a sting Wednesday after he traded his car for guns and explosives, authorities said. Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming was arrested Wednesday and is charged with attempting to damage or destroy a building owned by the United States using fire or an explosive, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Taheb had an attorney who could comment on the allegations. A local law enforcement agency contacted the FBI in March after getting a tip from someone who said Taheb had become radicalized, changed his name and planned to travel abroad, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in court. The affidavit says Tahe...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A grand Washington ritual became a potential casualty of the partial government shutdown Wednesday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Donald Trump to postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union speech. She cited concerns about whether the hobbled government can provide adequate security, but Republicans cast her move as a ploy to deny Trump the stage. In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said that with both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department entangled in the shutdown, the president should speak to Congress another time or he should deliver the address in writing. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen denied anyone’s safety is compromised, saying both agencies “are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union.&rd...
 The hills are alive With the sound of music With songs they have sung For a thousand years The hills fill my heart With the sound of music My heart wants to sing ev'ry song it hears - Oscar Hammerstein II Call it history.  Call it tradition.  Call it mystery.  Whatever it is called, the ancient Greeks teach that sometime in the 5th century B.C.E., Pythagoras was thoughtfully playing about with a piece of cord.  He plucked the cord.  A sound emanated.  He took half the length and plucked again.  Another sound, one higher in tone but in accord with the first.  And like that, he had discovered the octave. With further experimentation that came upon a mathematical ratio that allowed sounds to be “pleasing” to the ear, Pythag...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will roll out a new strategy Thursday for a more aggressive space-based missile defense system to protect against existing threats from North Korea and Iran and counter advanced weapon systems being developed by Russia and China. Details about the administration’s Missile Defense Review — the first compiled since 2010 — are expected to be released during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Pentagon with top members of his administration. The new review concludes that in order to adequately protect America, the Pentagon must expand defense technologies in space and use those systems to more quickly detect, track and ultimately defeat incoming missiles. Recognizing the potential concerns surrounding any perceived w...
The leadership of the Israel Defense Forces passed from former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot to Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in a formal ceremony at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kochavi’s wife, Yael, pinned his new insignia on his uniform. In his first speech as IDF chief, Kochavi said, “I am taking on this role with awe, and see it as a privilege.” “I am making a commitment to put all my energy into a lethal, efficient and innovative army that can meet its goals. The army expresses what is best in the people. It is ready for every mission and is all about victory. The IDF has used its long arm to eradicate threats,” he said. Netanyahu said “our mission for the security...
THE FOLLOWING IS VIA YWN Magen David Adom EMT and IDF soldier Naor Azarzar was waiting at a train station on his way back to his base, when the loudspeaker notified passengers that they were looking for emergency medical help for a passenger. Naor rushed to the location specified and began performing CPR on a 20-year-old woman who had collapsed. The woman had collapsed on the platform at the HaShalom train station in Tel Aviv for unknown reasons. Emergency medical response teams arrived and took over the CPR from Naor, attached a defibrillator and succeeded at reviving the woman. She was then transported to Ichilov Hospital for further care and treatment. Thanks to Naor, she was in stable condition when she was transported. Read more at YWN
Former Finance Minister Yair Lapid poured cold water on rumors his Yesh Atid party could run on a joint list with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah faction for the upcoming elections, despite previous indications the two were preparing for just such an alliance. On Sunday, Haaretz reported that Lapid and Livni had met several times recently, laying the foundations for a potential joint run. But Lapid now says the chances of such an alliance are virtually nil. Instead, Lapid is focusing on an alliance between his party and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who last month established the Chosen Yisrael (Israel Resilience) party. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
Iran launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space on Tuesday amid fears from Israel and the United States. However, although the rocket carrying the Payam satellite successfully passed its first and second phases, but it did not reach “necessary speed” in the third stage of its release, Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi told state television. Payam means “message” in Farsi. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced earlier this month that the regime would be launching two satellites into space “using our domestically made rockets” within the coming weeks. The second satellite, Doosti, means “friendship” in Farsi. It is unknown when it will launch. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned weeks ago abo...
The eleventh annual Marist Poll on American attitudes toward abortion finds that overwhelming majorities support substantial restrictions on abortion, and would like to see Roe v. Wade reinterpreted to allow restrictions. Three in four Americans (75 percent) say abortion should be limited to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy. This includes most of those who identify as Republicans (92 percent), Independents (78 percent) and a majority of Democrats (60 percent). It also includes more than six in 10 (61 percent) who identify as pro-choice. In addition, the survey found that three-quarters (75 percent) of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion abroad, fewer than two in 10 (19 percent) support such funding. Read more at here.
Several months ago, Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), a nonprofit led by Naftuli Moster, YAFFED‘s Founder and Executive Director, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, and N.Y. Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa. YAFFED alleged that on April 12, 2018, when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a budget that included an amendment to New York Education Law, Section 3204, section 2, known as the “Felder Amendment,” New York created a carve-out to the statutory requirement of substantial equivalent instruction in non-public schools that applies to and is intended to benefit only certain frum, Jewi...
Shocking surveillance footage shows a black man punching a Jewish man in the chest in an unprovoked attack on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights Wednesday.A Jewish man, who is in his 20s, was punched in the chest Wednesday afternoon in an unprovoked attack in the heart of the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.The attack occurred at approximately 8:00 am, as the Jewish man was walking on Kingston Avenue near Union Street, when a black man walked by and punched him in the chest, and kept on walking.The victim and passersby called Shmira volunteer patrols, who called the police.Surveillance footage from a nearby store shows the attacker walking up to the victim and violently hitting him, nearly knocking him over.  VIDEO-2019-01-16-20-11-09-1 from BaltimoreJewishLife.com on Vimeo. ...
Albany, NY - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a proposal to increase criminal penalties for assaulting the press is included in the 2019 Executive Budget. In order to provide additional protections for journalists in light of recent acts of violence against members of the media, the Governor is advancing legislation would increase the penalties of assault against a journalist while performing their journalistic job duties to a felony level offense. “Reporters have a tough enough job as it and it is unacceptable and unconscionable that they increasingly have to endure the threat of physical harm for just for doing their jobs,” Governor Cuomo said. “While the current federal administration is fostering an environment that normalizes and even encourages attacks on t...
Washington - Robert Mueller’s Russia probe has to end with a report. But anyone looking for a grand narrative on President Donald Trump, Russian election interference and all the juicy details uncovered over the last 20 months could end up disappointed. Attorney General nominee William Barr, who will oversee the investigation after an almost certain Senate confirmation, says he wants to release as much information as he can about the probe into possible coordination between Trump associates and Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 election. But during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, he also made clear that he will ultimately decide what the public sees — and that any report will be in his words, not Mueller’s. Some key questions about the Russia probe endgame: WHA...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 16, 2019 - In the first aliyah (section) of Parshas Beshalach, the Jews turn back toward Mitzrayim, and the Egyptians come to chase after them. Hashem is setting the stage for the complete destruction of the Egyptians to demonstrate His absolute power. The end of the powerful Egyptians teaches Bnei Yisroel the fundamental message of Hashem's total control over everything, giving them the eternal knowledge and understanding that no other nation or force has power other than Him. To listen click here
More articles