Berlin - The heiress of a German biscuits empire has stirred outrage after she appeared to play down the hardship suffered by dozens of people forced to work at the family business under Nazi rule. Verena Bahlsen, whose father owns the Bahlsen company that makes some of Germany’s most famous biscuits, told the mass-selling Bild newspaper that the firm, which employed some 200 forced laborers during World War Two, “did nothing wrong” then. Most of the forced laborers at Hanover-based Bahlsen were women, many from Nazi-occupied Ukraine. “This was before my time and we paid the forced laborers exactly as much as German workers and we treated them well,” the 25-year-old Bahlsen, one of four children of company owner Werner Bahlsen, told Bild. German politician...
Washington - Congressional Democrats are signaling a willingness to include major elements of President Donald Trump’s $4.5 billion request for humanitarian and security needs on the U.S.-Mexico border in an unrelated, widely backed disaster aid bill that appears to finally be breaking free of a partisan logjam. Democratic aides said Tuesday that Trump’s request for additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds is off the table, but that Democrats are willing to fund care for more than 360,000 migrants apprehended since October. A top Democratic senator said a weeks-long fight over aid to Puerto Rico has been settled to Democrats’ satisfaction. But a push by a Senate Republican to boost spending on harbor dredging projects remains a hang-up. Vermont Dem...
Washington - Attorney General William Barr is stepping up the probe into the origins of the Russia investigation, naming a U.S. attorney to oversee the investigation and working with intelligence chiefs to see how surveillance was conducted. Barr tapped John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to lead the inquiry, but remains directly involved in the probe, which he initiated about three weeks ago, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The investigation is examining intelligence and surveillance used during the Russia investigation that shadowed Donald Trump’s presidency for nearly two years. With the appointment, Barr is addressing a rallying cry o...
Former leaders at the Department of Homeland Security, including then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, pushed back on a White House plan for mass arrests of migrants shortly before their ouster, according to The Washington Post. The Trump administration had planned to arrest thousands of parents and children in 10 major U.S. cities to deter further migrants, the Post reported, citing seven current and former DHS officials. The plan involved fast-tracking immigration court cases and expanding the government’s authority to deport migrants who did not show for their hearings. Arrests of the no-shows would involve coordinated raids of the homes and neighborhoods of parents with children, according to the Post. Read more at The Hill.
New York - The head of the New York Police Department’s recruit training says video shows that a restraint technique used on Eric Garner in 2014 “meets the definition of a chokehold.” Inspector Richard Dee testified Tuesday at Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s internal trial, nearly five years after Garner’s pleas of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry against police brutality. Dee also says that coughing heard on the video indicates Garner’s breathing was restricted by the hold. Dee says recruits are explicitly warned that chokeholds are banned and they’re instructed to disengage when they realize they’re using a chokehold. Pantaleo is accused of hastening Garner’s death. His lawyer says the officer used an approved t...
Charles, LA - President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to be thrilled when he arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and was greeted by Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser wearing that featured the president’s face and hair. Trump shook Nungesser’s hand and pointed to the socks in an approving way upon his arrival. The socks, made by Gumball Poodle, are available for purchase on Amazon and are described as “Donald Trump socks with soft, luxurious hair you can style, comb over, clip and tease. Change the President’s style to suit your mood!” Trump is highlighting his administration’s efforts to ramp up liquefied natural gas exports and boost the country’s energy infrastructure as he visits a new plant in southwest Louisiana. The visit i...
CNN’s John King corrected Representative Rashida Tlaib’s (D., Mich.) revisionist history of the Holocaust on Monday, pointing out that Palestinian leaders fervently supported the German extermination of Jews and violently resisted the creation of a Jewish state. “It was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity. Their existence, in many ways, had been wiped out,” Tlaib said last week on the Yahoo News Skullduggery podcast. “I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time.” “[Tlaib] ignored the fact that Palestinian leaders...
Former Baltimore police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa is now a federal inmate. De Sousa reported Monday to the Federal Correctional Institution at Fairton, in Fairton, New Jersey. The facility is a medium-security prison with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp and detention center. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons lists his release date as March 11, 2020. De Sousa was sentenced in March to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to failing to file federal tax returns. De Sousa was charged last May, only three months after the City Council voted 14-1 to confirm him and four months after he first took over after then-Mayor Catherine Pugh fired Commissioner Kevin Davis. De Sousa was also ordered to serve a year of probation upon his release, perform 100 hours ...
Two Baltimore County councilmembers say they're hearing opposition from constituents to a proposed tax on cell phone lines. Last month, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski proposed a $3.50 monthly fee on cell phone lines to replace revenue lost as residents move away from landlines. The $3.4 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 also included increases to the local income tax and hotel tax and establish fees on cable subscribers and residential and commercial developers. "So if you have a tablet, you have an iPad or iPod that's hitting the internet, $3.50," 4th district Councilman Julian E. Jones told Bryan Nehman on Tuesday. The fee would affect any device with a cellular line attached, as some iPads and other tablets do. "Most people have, every membe...
Israel’s High Court of Justice is scheduled to discuss on Thursday a petition against a decision this week by Yerushalayim District Police commander Maj. Gen. Doron Yedid to close the Har Habayis to Jews on Yom Yerushalayim for the first time in 30 years. Most years, the police not only allow Jewish visitors into the Har Habayis compound on Yom Yerushalayim, they expand visiting hours to accommodate the thousands of extra visitors who come to celebrate the annual holiday marking the reunification of Yerushalayim after the 1967 Six Day War. This year, however, Yom Yerushalayim takes place on June 2, which falls during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It is standard practice for the Yerushalayim police to shut the Har Habayis to Jews for the last few days of Ramadan, when hundreds ...
The Health Ministry is expected to take legal action against two doctors who advised thousands of patients to not get vaccinated, according to Israel Hayom. This is the first time that the Health Ministry will have taken legal action like this against doctors. The Health Ministry referred to the doctors’ actions as “serious negligence.” If the doctors are convicted, they may lose their license to practice medicine, according to Israel Hayom. The decision comes as the Health Ministry continues the fight against a large measles outbreak. 4,100 cases of measles have been recorded in Israel since March 2018, according to Health Ministry statistics. Read more at JPOST.
The deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria has seen “no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces” in the two countries, he said Tuesday. British Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika told Pentagon reporters that in terms of militia groups that receive funding from Iran, the coalition has found “no change in their posture since the recent exchange between the United States and Iran and we hope and expect that that will continue.” “There are a range of threats to American and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria,” Ghika said via video stream from Baghdad. “We monitor them all. Iranian backed forces is clearly one of them and I am not going to go into the detail of it, but there are a substantial number of militia groups in Iraq and Syria and...
Baltimore, MD – May 14, 2019 - It is with deep sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah Stacie Shulman, a’h, mother of Ian Bailey. The levaya took place today at 1:00 PM in Seattle, WA. Shiva will be observed beginning with Shacharis on Thursday, May 16, at 3610 Bancroft Road, Baltimore, MD, 21215 Minyanim: Shacharis: Thurs, Fri & Mon - 7:30 AM. (Sun at 9AM) Mincha: Thurs, Sun - 8:05 PM (Fri 4pm) Maariv: Thurs and Sun - 8:15 PM Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
Graduation season has arrived, which means it's time for seniors to personalize their caps. Many take the tradition of decorating grad caps as an opportunity to showcase a witty quote about student debt or reference a beloved television show, but Gina Warren, an 18-year-old from Ashville, Ohio, used her cap to send a serious message about gun violence in schools. Warren placed a large QR code atop her graduation cap that sends anyone who scans it to a list of high school students in the U.S. who were killed in school shootings "I graduated. These high school students couldn’t. Protect our students. Protect our kids. Protect our neighbors. Protect our families. Protect our friends. Protect our nation," the website reads. It also includes the names of dozens of students ...
A federal judge on Tuesday gave lawyers for President Trump and Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee until the end of the week to make their final arguments on whether the court should uphold a subpoena requesting Trump’s private financial records. District Judge Amit Mehta, during the first court hearing in D.C. over the subpoena issued by Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) for records from the accounting firm Mazars, said he considers the matter to be “fully exhausted” after hearing arguments from attorneys on both sides. And he promised to quickly issue a ruling on the matter. Attorneys for Trump and his businesses argued that the House committee had no standing to issue the subpoena, describing the request for documents ...
U.S. News & World Report released its third annual rankings of the best states in the country. See how Maryland fared. MARYLAND — Maryland ranked high on the list of the U.S. News & World Report's third annual best states rankings, particularly when it came to health care and opportunity. Overall, U.S. News determined that Maryland is the 6th best state to live in for 2019. Maryland also made a jump from 2018 — when it was No. 13 on the list. Washington is the No. 1 state in the country for 2019, according to U.S. News & World Report. Its economy is "booming" thanks to companies like Amazon and Microsoft that are based in the state, according to the report. Washington also ranks in the top five for health care, economy, infrastructure and education, ...
Multiple police officers on motorcycles were injured Tuesday while accompanying President Trump's motorcade in Louisiana, according to the White House. The White House told reporters traveling with the president that four motorcycle officers were involved in an accident at the motorcade left the airport. The officers did not sustain serious injuries. The president's vehicle was not involved in the incident and Trump was not injured, according to reports. Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg, who is traveling with Trump to Louisiana, posted photos on social media that showed an officer next to his motorcycle turned over on the highway. She reported that she saw three officers down along the interstate, including two who appeared to be bleeding. Read more at The Hill
Preparations Underway for Nikelsburg’s Eagerly Anticipated Lag B’Omer Hadlaka Boro Park— With thousands of men, women and children expected to throng to Boro Park for a gala Lag B’Omer celebration at the Nikelsburg Beis Medrash, preparations are already underway for the massive event under the auspices of Grand Rabbi Mordechai Jungreis shlit’a. With its awe inspiring hadlaka, joyous singing, leibidic dancing and elevated atmosphere, the annual celebration has become known as Meron in Nikelsburg The festivities will begin on May 22nd after Maariv and the Rebbe’s well known Sefiras Haomer at 4912 16th Avenue, where once again, the entire street will be close off to accommodate the crowds.  The NYPD has promised extra security for the event and, as i...
Rabbi Asher Weiss, one of the leading halachik authorities of the generation, participated in the biennial convention of the Conference of European Rabbis in Antwerp, Belgium this week. Rabbi Weiss addressed many medical issues and presented how Jewish law views the many technological developments made in medicine and genetics. In his remarks, Rabbi Weiss spoke clearly and decisively on the phenomenon of people choosing not to receive vaccinations or to vaccinate their children. The rabbi emphasized that this is a severe halakhic prohibition and that according to all rules of halakha (Jewish Law), a parent must ensure that his children are vaccinated. "It's a halakhic obligation to vaccinate our children," Rabbi Weiss said. "This is not a recommendation. It's a halakhic oblig...
Washington - President Donald Trump is dismissing a report that the U.S. is planning for a military conflict with Iran. Trump was responding to Tuesday’s report in The New York Times that the White House is reviewing military plans against Iran that could result in sending 120,000 U.S. troops to the Middle East if Iran attacks American forces or steps up work on nuclear weapons. Trump says it’s “fake news.” He says he would “absolutely” be willing to send troops, but that he’s not planned for that and hopefully won’t have to plan for that. He says if the U.S. was going to get into a military conflict with Iran, “we’d send a hell of a lot more” troops. Trump spoke to reporters Tuesday at the White House before traveling t...
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