The White House on Monday released a note from President Trump’s physician seeking to dispel speculation about his physical state after he made an unannounced trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for exams over the weekend. “Despite some of the speculation, the President has not had any chest pain, nor was he evaluated or treated for any urgent or acute issues,” Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, physician to the president, said in a letter released by the White House. The visit was part of “a routine, planned interim checkup,” Conley said. Trump did not undergo any specialized heart or neurological evaluations during his roughly three hour stop at the medical center. Read more at The Hill.
A day before Gantz’s mandate to form a governing coalition will end, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with Avigdor Leiberman to discuss the possibility of bringing Leiberman into a right-wing coalition. Leiberman has said previously that the demands of the charedi parties are ‘excessive’ and he will need greater concessions except for the issue of haredi draft. Liberman said yesterday at his party’s meeting that if Gantz doesn’t form a government, then all options are on the table and its “each man for himself.” Read more at Arutz Sheva.
The United States broke off talks Tuesday with South Korea over how to share the cost of the two nations’ military alliance, injecting fresh tension into the relationship over Washington’s demands that Seoul pay sharply more. President Donald Trump has demanded South Korea raise fivefold its contribution to cover the cost of stationing 28,500 U.S. troops in the country, asking for nearly $5 billion, officials on both sides said. But that demand has triggered anger from Korean lawmakers and sparked concerns that Trump may decide to reduce the U.S. troop presence in the Korean Peninsula if talks break down. The top U.S. negotiator, James DeHart, said the U.S. side decided to cut short the negotiations on Tuesday morning, the second of two days of planned talks. In a rare public...
The small Jewish community in Denmark experienced a 50-percent increase in antisemitic attacks in 2018 over the previous year, a new report from the Scandinavian country’s Jewish representative organization has revealed. Compiled by Det Jødiske Samfund (“The Jewish Community”) — the official body of Danish Jews — the report noted 45 incidents targeting Jews in 2018, compared with 30 incidents the year before. It concluded that after several years of relative peace and stability, an increase in antisemitic attacks had occurred in each of the years since 2015 — when one person was killed in a Feb. 14 terrorist attack against the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, as a bat mitzvah ceremony was underway. Denmark is home to between 6,400 and 8,500 Jews, ...
Regavim submits a precedent-setting petition to the Supreme Court against the Palestinian Authority regarding an illegal school it built in an Israeli nature reserve. For the first time in history, the Palestinian Authority will be called before the Israeli courts to present a legal defense against charges brought by the Regavim Movement. At issue is an illegal school, built by the Palestinian Authority inside the Nahal Machoch Nature Reserve– on land registered to and under the full jurisdiction of the State of Israel. The nature reserve covers some 18,000 dunams (18 km2 , some 7 miles2) in the northern Judean Desert, stretching from the Baal Hazor Mountain towards the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The reserve is home to a host of rare protected floral species, such as the Judean...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren has released a proposal to combat white nationalism that includes making prosecuting crimes committed by hate groups a top priority for the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The Massachusetts senator promises to use both agencies to prosecute white nationalist crimes involving threats to life as well as ones linked to broader, previously violent organizations. Warren said Tuesday she’ll direct the FBI to investigate significant hate crimes and improve law enforcement training while ordering state and local governments to collect better data on bias-motivated crimes. Warren also says she’ll direct federal prosecutors to seek similar penalties for similar crimes, including consistently designating hate crimes as domestic ter...
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home building jumped 3.8% in October, a positive sign for the overall economy as developers anticipate steady demand. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million. Starts for single-family houses were up 2%, largely because of construction in the West and South. Construction of apartment buildings rose 6.8% from the prior month. Lower mortgage rates and a healthy job market have aided the housing market in recent months, yet housing starts are still down 0.6% year-to-date as a shortage of land and high construction costs have limited building. Affordability is a problem for would-be buyers as increases in home prices have outstripped wage growth. The average 30-year mortgage has an interes...
HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) — A bagel shop manager in New York drove to Pennsylvania to return a key fob that a customer had left in his shop on Long Island. Diana Chong drove off from Bagels 101 on Saturday with her family for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration in Honesdale. After parking in Pennsylvania, she realized she had left the fob, needed to restart her car, at the store 185 miles (298 kilometers) away. Manager Vinny Proscia offered to ship the fob, but they couldn’t find a service. So Proscia decided to deliver it. Chong tells Newsday she insisted he accept $200 for gas and tolls and a gift card. Proscia says he got stopped for speeding on the return trip, but the officer let him go after he showed a thank-you card from Chong.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s International Center on Nazi Persecution has uploaded some 850,000 documents with information on ten million people collected after the end of World War II in the American occupied zone of Germany. The Bad Arolsen-based archive said in a statement Tuesday that the documents contain information about victims of Nazi persecution that was collected in the winter of 1945/46 in Germany based on orders by the four occupying powers — the U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union. They issued orders to German local authorities, companies and others requiring them to draw up lists of foreign nationals, German Jews and stateless people who were registered with them. A large collection of these documents as well as other lists from the American Zone of Oc...
Experts weighed in on U.S. State Department’s announcement on Monday that the United States is softening its stance on Jewish settlements in Yehuda and Shomron. This is a reversal of the 1978 State Department legal opinion, known as the Hansell Memorandum, that such neighborhoods are “inconsistent with international law. “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace,” said Pompeo. “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.” Eugene Kontorovich, director of the Center for International Law in the Middle East at George Mason University&...
Baltimore, MD – Nov. 19, 2019 - It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of  Mr. Leonid Podolsky, z’l, father of Mrs. Reizel Meira Bomar. Shiva will be observed through Friday at 3106 Lightfoot Drive. For visiting, please call home 410-484-0878, cell 215-253-9233 through Thursday evening. Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
Join us for our next Telekosher Conference Series  Wednesday November 20, 2019 12 Noon ET BUG CHECKING CURRENT ISSUES CLICK HERE TO JOIN HEAR FROM ONE OF THE EXPERTS IN THE BUG CHECKING FIELD. DO YOU EAT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING? DO YOU NEED TO CHECK? HOW? FIND OUT ON OUR WEBINAR! QUINOA DRIED FRUIT BEANS, BARLEY, FLOUR (YOSHON) FIGS SUSHI NORI AND SEAWEED SNACKS  ONIONS CORN WITH RABBI SHOLOM TENDLER HOSTED BY RABBI ZVI GOLDBERG Rabbi Tendler leads a group of STAR-K vegetable checkers who spend hundreds of hours investigating and researching the current infestation issues. He is regularly consulted by other kashrus agencies for his input.  Email us to be reminded about the webinar -- webinar@star-k.org Wednesday No...
Accused bike path terrorist Sayfullo Saipov who used a truck to ow down 8 pedestrians in NYC on Halloween 2017 told a Manhattan federal court judge Monday he doesn’t respect his authority — while prosecutors said they want to empanel an anonymous jury to oversee the death penalty case. “The orders issued here have nothing to do with me,” Saipov told Judge Vernon Broderick through an Uzbek interpreter. “I am following orders of Allah, who gave me life.” Saipov stood as he spoke, wildly gesticulating as he asked Broderick why he was sitting in judgement of him “for the eight people killed” and “not those who are killing thousands and millions of Muslims over the world.” Saipov’s trial is scheduled to kick off April 13, 2020...
The Hungarian government signed a special agreement with the Orthodox Jewish Communities Association (EMIH) to officially grant the country’s Orthodox community with “special status” for the first time since World War II. The title, which is already enjoyed by several churches and the Mazsihisz—the country’s largest federation of Jewish communities—allows for a representative from each organization who oversees and receives government funding for the educational and religious institutions of his or her respective movement. The agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Chief Rabbi of EMIH–Association of United Hungarian Jewish Congregation (linked to Chabad Lubavics of Hungary) Rabbi Shlomo Koves, who as a result of the...
The Baltimore City Council on Monday passed a bill that would ban retailers from using plastic bags in most situations, and instituting a 5-cent fee for other bags. The bill passed nearly unopposed, with Councilwoman Danielle McCray the only vote against it. McCray said she supports a ban on plastic bags, but said she considered the fee a regressive tax on low- and fixed-income residents. Scattered applause could be heard in the council chamber after the bill passed. Councilman Bill Henry thanked activists who had fought for the measure, "not just on this most recent incarnation but for all of the times that we have tried over the entire time I've been on the council... We have been trying for many years to reduce the proliferation of single-use plastic in Baltimore City." The bil...
NEW YORK (AP) – A western New York man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Patrick Carlineo entered the plea Monday in Rochester to charges that carry up to 10 years in prison. His sentencing is set for February. Omar, a Democrat, is among the first Muslim women in Congress. Prosecutors say the 55-year-old Carlineo called her office March 21, told a staffer the congresswoman was a “terrorist” and threatened to shoot her. His lawyer, Sonya Zoghlin, says Carlineo is passionate about his beliefs and has taken responsibility for using threatening language to express them. Zoghlin says Carlineo never intended to harm Omar. U.S. Attorney James Kennedy Jr. says the case highlights that free speech rights carry responsibilities not to...
HONG KONG (AP) — About 100 protesters remained holed up at a Hong Kong university Tuesday as a police siege of the campus entered its third day. City leader Carrie Lam said 600 people had left the Hong Kong Polytechnic campus, including 200 who are under 18 years old. Police have surrounded the university and are arresting anyone who leaves. Lam said those under 18 would not be immediately arrested but could face charges later. She said that the other 400 who have left have been arrested. Now in its fifth month, the Hong Kong protest movement has steadily intensified as local and Beijing authorities harden their positions and refuse to make concessions. Universities have become the latest battleground for the protesters, who used gasoline bombs and bows and arrows in their fight...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The phone call State Department official David Holmes overheard between President Donald Trump and Ambassador Gordon Sondland lasted just two minutes. But it won’t be easily forgotten. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Holmes told Trump impeachment investigators, “someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language. There’s just so much about the call that was so remarkable that I remember it vividly.” Holmes’ first-hand account of the conversation heard over lunch in Kyiv provides a key piece of the impeachment inquiry. He is among the only witnesses testifying so far to show Trump personally seeking investigations into Demo...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to gradually move the country to a government-funded health care system has further inflamed the debate over “Medicare for All,” likely ensuring the issue will play a significant role in this week’s Democratic presidential debate. The Massachusetts senator announced Friday that her administration would immediately build on existing laws, including the Affordable Care Act, to expand access to health care while taking up to three years to fully implement Medicare for All. That attempt to thread the political needle has roiled her more moderate rivals, who say she’s waffling, while worrying some on the left, who see Warren’s commitment to a single-payer system wavering. The divide could complicate plans ...
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