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February 9, 2019 at 8:06 pm
Washington - President Donald Trump on Friday underwent his annual physical exam, a test of whether his doctor’s order that he follow a healthier diet has paid dividends.
Trump, 72, was being put through a round of medical tests at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, to determine his weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and other health factors.
Little more than a year ago, Trump’s doctor declared him to be in “excellent health.” But the president was directed to try to lose 10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kg) by eating better and starting to exercise,
Aides said he now eats more fish than he used to but still enjoys steaks, well done with ketchup on the side, and fried potatoes prepared by the chefs at the Whit...
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February 9, 2019 at 8:06 pm
New York - The longtime boss of a union for New York City corrections officers was sentenced to nearly five years in prison Friday for corruption convictions, a steep fall for a man credited with winning guards pay and benefits parity with police and firefighters before squandering $19 million in union funds.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein announced the sentence for Norman Seabrook after hearing the former head of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association defiantly defend his two decades of work leading the union.
The judge told a courtroom packed with Seabrook supporters, including former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley, that all the good Seabrook did after rising from a childhood of poverty left him wondering anew: “Why do good people do ba...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:42 pm
The Skulener Rebbe remains in serious condition and is in need of rachamei Shomayim.
In light of the rebbe‘s current health challenges, he was moved before Shabbos to Johns Hopkins Medical Center, the renowned Maryland facility, where he is under the close watch of physicians.
The Rebbe, Rav Yisroel Avrohom Portugal, is one of the oldest admorim in the world. He is a son of Rav Eliezer Zusia Portugal zt”l, who founded the Sklulener chassidus, and resides in Boro Park, Brooklyn, where he leads his bais medrash on 54th street, near 13th avenue.
As is well known, in 1959 the Communists arrested the previous Rebbe and his son, the present Rebbe, for teaching Torah and for supporting and educating orphans. An international e...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:40 pm
Today, Israeli security forces apprehended a suspect in the assault and murder of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher Hy”d, who was found dead two days ago near Yerushalayim, Haaretz reports.
The suspect, a Palestinian from Chevron, was arrested in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Border Police’s counter-terrorism unit (Yamam) near Ramallah following intelligence security forces received. He has been identified by the Shin Bet as Arafat Irfaiya, a 29-year-old who was residing in Israel illegally. He was identified using DNA evidence found in the scene.
The knife allegedly used in the murder was found during the arrest.
Security officials say the Israel Police and Shin Bet are familiar with Irfaiya due to his inciteful co...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:38 pm
SEATTLE (AP) — A winter storm that blanketed Washington state with snow and forced the cancellation of more than 200 flights moved south into Oregon as meteorologists warned Saturday that yet more was on the way.
In Seattle, where heavy snowfall is a rarity, residents cleared out grocery store shelves and left work early Friday afternoon as the storm arrived. On Saturday, many got out ski gear and sleds and took to neighborhood hills or even streets that were too steep for cars to navigate.
In Tacoma, hundreds of people turned out for a snowball fight in a park after someone who lives nearby suggested it on Facebook. They took cover behind picnic tables and used sleds as shields.
“This is a perfect morning to bundle up and play in the snow, but stay off the roads if possible...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:36 pm
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner will reportedly travel throughout the Middle East later this month to promote the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
His weeklong trip, which is scheduled to include stops in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and possibly Morocco, is planned for the last week of February. Accompanying him will be special envoy Jason Greenblatt, U.S. special representative Brian Hook and deputy assistant to the president Avi Berkowitz.
“On his trip to the Middle East, Kushner is expected to discuss with Arab officials the economic parts of the peace plan, which will entail huge investment in the Palestinian economy—mainly in Gaza,” reported Axios. “U.S. officials say Kushner will ask the G...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:26 pm
THE FOLLOWING IS VIA YWN
The Kever of the Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon HaRav Yehuda Zev Segal ZATZALwas vandalized over Shabbos.
Police have slammed vandals who destroyed the tombstone as a ‘complete disgrace to humanity.’
Devastating photos show extensive damage to the Ohel, after it was smashed open at a cemetery in North Manchester.
Other parts of the cemetery were trashed or destroyed after vandals wreaked havoc at Philips Park Jewish cemetery in Whitefield on Sunday.
The despicable acts were blasted by officers from GMP. Read more at YWN
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February 9, 2019 at 7:24 pm
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren made her bid for the presidency official on Saturday in this working-class city, grounding her 2020 campaign in a populist call to fight economic inequality and build "an America that works for everyone."
Warren delivered a sharp call for change at her presidential kickoff, decrying a "middle-class squeeze" that has left Americans crunched with "too little accountability for the rich, too little opportunity for everyone else." She and her backers hope that message can distinguish her in a crowded Democratic field and help her move past the controversy surrounding her past claims to Native American heritage.
Weaving specific policy prescriptions into her remarks, from Medicare for All to the elimination of Washington "lobbying ...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:20 pm
Ori Ansbacher's mother spoke with the media on Saturday evening about the pain she is experiencing since her daughter was murdered last Thursday.
"Ori was beautiful on the outside and inside. A gentle soul. She lived a full life," said Na'eh Ansbacher.
"She had so much love for this land. She always wanted to see, to see, to write songs, and when she walked on this land with confidence, this kind of evil came and took her away from us," she added.
"She wanted to fix the world for good... she spoke a lot about compassion, how much she wanted to be compassionate, she loved national service very much," said the bereaved mother.
Ansbacher, a national service volunteer, was murdered on Thursday in the Jerusalem forest after she had gone on a short walk.
The suspect in the murde...
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February 9, 2019 at 7:07 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said on Friday that he has "not interfered in any way" in the special counsel's Russia investigation as he faced a contentious and partisan congressional hearing in his waning days on the job.
The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee was the first, and likely only, chance for newly empowered Democrats in the majority to grill an attorney general they perceive as a Donald Trump loyalist and whose appointment they suspect was aimed at suppressing investigations of the Republican president. They confronted Whitaker on his past criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller's work and his refusal to recuse himself from overseeing it, attacked him over his prior business dealings and sneeringly challenged his crede...
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February 8, 2019 at 4:35 pm
The Lakewood Township Committee has passed a resolution condemning the group “Rise Up Ocean County” as a hate group.
The group has been using Facebook and other social media outlets to vilify the growing Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, posting videos and images depicting the Jewish community in a bad light and making accusations of corruption against the Jewish activists in town.
The resolution was passed unanimously with Mayor Ray Coles emphasizing that hate has no place in Ocean County.
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February 8, 2019 at 12:44 pm
Berlin - Islamic State is far from defeated, and instead is morphing into an asymmetrical warfare force after the militant group lost almost all of the territory it once controlled in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
Merkel’s remarks at the inauguration of the Berlin headquarters of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency BND contradicted statements by U.S. President Donald Trump that the Islamist group has been defeated.
“The so-called Islamic State has been luckily driven out of its territory but this unfortunately doesn’t mean that Islamic State has disappeared,” Merkel said. “It is transforming into an asymmetrical warfare force. And this, of course, is a threat.”
The conservative chancellor said monitoring events in Syri...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:42 pm
New York - Amazon.com is reconsidering locating part of its new headquarters in New York because of local opposition, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the global retailer’s thinking.
The retailing giant had not yet purchased or leased any land for the project there, which would make it easy to leave, the unnamed individuals told the Post, which is owned by Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
Amazon executives have had internal discussions recently to reassess the situation in New York and explore alternatives, the Post reported.
Amazon did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Its shares fell around 2.4 percent on Friday.
Amazon said in November it would branch out from its home base in Seattle with plans to create more than...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:42 pm
Seattle - Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet, an aircraft that democratized global air travel in the 1970s but fell behind modern twin-engine passenger jets, has bounced back from near death to mark its 50-year flying anniversary on Saturday, thanks to a cargo market boom fueled by online shopping.
Boeing’s “Queen of the Skies” is the world’s most easily recognized jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines. It is now enjoying a second, perhaps less glamorous life, as a cargo mule for companies like United Parcel Service Inc.
“It’s an efficiency machine for us,” said Jim Mayer, a spokesman for UPS, the world’s largest package deliverer.
UPS ordered 14 more 747-8 freighters in 2018, a lifeline that helps ease doubts over the future of the...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:37 pm
The popular Israeli snack Bamba could be widely distributed to U.S. food markets in the near future.
Osem Group, which manufactures the peanut-butter-flavored treat, has been negotiating with Swiss-based Nestlé, the largest food and beverage company in the world.
“[Osem] will see Bamba become a staple in the diet of U.S. kids. Osem itself is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nestlé. If the agreement is finalized, Bamba will be added to Nestle’s baby food division, which distributes such popular brands as Gerber and NAN,” reported the Israeli financial-news site Calcalist.
An Osem spokesperson told Calcalist on Thursday that although the firm is working strenuously to sell Bamba in North America via its U.S. subsidiary, it is not in talks with Nestlé ove...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:30 pm
This February, Agudas Yisroel is profiling Agudah’s flagship parnassah initiatives, COPE and PCS, in honor of COPE’s grand opening of its new classroom space in its Kensington location.
There is an intriguing black-and-white picture in the Agudah’s historical archives. Dating back to 1880, it shows a laborer sitting at his Shabbos table on the Lower East Side. Some things about the shomer Shabbos community have stayed the same for hundreds of years: There’s a braided challah, what looks like a salt shaker, and a nice place setting. But the setting of the photo is telling. The man is sitting in a tiny room – a converted coal cellar. There’s a shovel right next to him. He looks like he lives in poverty and his expression tells us that this was the best r...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:29 pm
Iran has constructed a new precision missile factory in Syria, reported Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday.
It’s in the same location where Israeli airstrikes destroyed another factory last year.
Israel uncovered the factory, built just outside Latakia, a port city close to the Russian Khmeimim Air Force base. Syria’s government and the terrorist group Hezbollah allegedly helped Iran in building the facility, according to the report.
Reportedly, the missile parts came from Italy, China and other Asian nations through firms created by Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center.
Additionally, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday revealed a new ballistic missile with a reach of almost 621.4 miles, reported their official news agency Sepah News. That r...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Washington - President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, says she knew “literally almost nothing” about the Trump Organization’s work to possibly build a hotel, office and residential building in Russia while her father was running for the White House.
Ivanka Trump also tells ABC News in an interview aired Friday that she isn’t concerned any of her loved ones will be swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
She was copied in on emails in 2015 about the project. In one email, she suggests an architect for the Trump Tower Moscow project.
The president’s eldest daughter says it wasn’t an “advanced project” and that there was “never a binding contract.”
She says the Trump Organization could hav...
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February 8, 2019 at 12:02 pm
“Not as cold as Siberia.”
That’s what my father, a”h, would say with a laugh if I complained over the phone about the frigid weather in Providence, where my family lived in the 1980s. And indeed it never was that cold. In the work camp east of Irkutsk where he and a small group of Novardok talmidim and their Rebbi, Harav Yehudah Leib Nekritz, zt”l, had been exiled by the Soviets, winter temperatures could reach minus-40 Celsius.
When I was transcribing the memoir I convinced my father to write, some 10 years ago, I asked my wife to check what that would be in Fahrenheit, the system we in the U.S. use. I imagined it was somewhere around zero, when, after a few minutes, my ears, and even gloved fingers, lose all feeling.
After some re...
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February 8, 2019 at 11:58 am
Manchester - Police say an American Airlines pilot has been arrested at Britain’s Manchester Airport on suspicion of being drunk.
The Greater Manchester Police force said Friday that police “received a report that an airline pilot may have been under the influence of alcohol” at the airport in northwestern England on Thursday morning. Officers arrested a 62-year-old man on suspicion of performing an aviation function while over the prescribed alcohol limit.
Police say the man, whose name was not released, has been bailed pending further inquiries.
American Airlines confirmed that a member of its air crew was detained at the airport Thursday. It says the flight, AA735 to Philadelphia, was canceled and passengers rebooked on other flights.
The airline says it is “...
