The discovery led the World Bank to promise reform initiatives on its Doing Business section IMF head Kristalina Georgieva, while former chief executive of the World Bank, reportedly pressured staff to improve China's score in a Doing Business 2018 report, an ethics probe disclosed on Thursday. The World Bank's official website explains that the Doing Business report "provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies." The investigation was conducted by litigation firm WilmerHale after a request from the World Bank's ethics committee.  According to the law firm's report, Georgieva pressured employees to "make specific changes to China's data points" during a period where the bank required China's approval for a cap...
Bolsonaro has vowed to be the 'last Brazilian' vaccinated Brazil's unvaccinated President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday he will attend next week's United Nations conclave in New York, effectively defying city authorities who recently announced proof-of-vaccination requirements for all attending leaders and diplomats. "Next week I will be at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where I will give an opening speech," on Tuesday, the president said during a social media broadcast. It will be "a calm speech, very objective, focused on the issues that interest us," added Bolsonaro, who said he would discuss Brazil's approach to the coronavirus pandemic, its agriculture business, and energy. On Wednesday the New York mayor's office wrote the UNGA laying out...
A mother and her 2-year-old son were forced to deplane an American Airlines flight on Monday after the child would not keep a mask on.  Amanda Pendarvis posted to her Instagram story that she, her young son and her mother were removed from the flight. Pendarvis said her son was having an asthma attack at the time. Flight 1284 returned to its gate at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport before departing for Colorado after the party refused to "comply with crew member instructions to remain seated while on an active taxiway and to wear face coverings securely over their nose and mouth," American Airlines said in a statement to FOX Business. The airline said crew members were never made aware that the child was having an asthma attack or issues breathing. Additionally, the passenge...
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 14, 2021  - To the valued Baltimore community customers of Mishpacha, Ami, Circle, Binah, Hamodia, Jewish Press, and Yated: Please note that this week is the home delivery of the "Succos Edition" of the various publications.  This will be the last delivery until after Succos.  Due to the printing schedules, only Mishpacha will be guaranteed delivery before this Shabbos.  All other publications will not be delivered until after Shabbos (but before Succos begins on Monday).    If you would like to pick up your magazines before Shabbos, please email us at baltimoremags@gmail.com.  You’ll be able to pick up your magazines at Mama Leahs’s on Friday, September 17th between 11 AM and 3 PM as long as you give advance ...
The  U.S. economy is poised for a strong recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but faces fresh risks from a widespread labor shortage and rising infections among the unvaccinated, according to a survey of American CFOs. Although 78% of CFOs surveyed by the Deloitte Global CFO Program said that economic conditions in North America are "good" or "very good" – an increase from the previous quarter – only 54% think the outlook is set to improve over the course of the next year. The decline in optimism likely reflects the economic uncertainty triggered by a number of external factors such as the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, return-to-work delays, inflation and supply chain disruption, among other issues. Internally, CFOs cited difficulty attracting a...
United Airlines on Friday was hit with a systemwide outage that impacted the boarding process for some passengers and led to a ground stop for flights in the U.S. and Canada. "This morning we experienced technical system issues that impacted our operations and have since been resolved," United said in a statement to FOX Business. The carrier confirmed that all of its systems are working normally and that it is "working diligently to get customers to their destinations." United implemented a nationwide ground stop in the U.S. and Canada around 6:45 a.m. ET that was lifted after 45 minutes. Reports of delays on social media continued to be shared.  The carrier had responded to multiple customers on Twitter who complained about the issues they were having with the airline at th...
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 17, 2021 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Chanya Rochel & Shlomo Zalman Reznick on the birth of a daughter. Mazel Tov grandparents Adam & Elisheva Rabinowitz יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
The event will be the Biden administration’s highest-profile display of support for the so-called Abraham Accords, which were widely seen as a diplomatic success for former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has backed the deals since taking office in January, and senior aides have said they were working to get additional Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel after decades of enmity. But the administration until now had been cool to the idea of commemorating the anniversary of the accords. A State Department official and an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed plans for the meeting, which was first reported by the Axios news website. Iran, emboldened by the messy US withdrawal from Afghanistan, is betting that its new h...
Moshe gave Klal Yisroel rebuke many times in Sefer Devarim. He does so again in Parshas Ha’azinu. However, this time, the rebuke that he gives is unique, as it is a “shira”, a “song”; It is described as a shira in the Torah. It is also written in a Sefer Torah as a shira, with the same unique format as shiras Az Yahsir (with a large empty space down the center of the Torah). Why would Moshe choose to rebuke through a song? There was once a boy who lived in Bnei Brak. As a younger boy, he had seemed to lack the ability to learn Torah well. He had always struggled in class, which only exasperated the issue. Then, one year, incredibly, he turned things around and started to do very well in Yeshiva. When asked what changed, he revealed the following, true story:...
Public approval of U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans appearing to be increasingly critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. The national poll, conducted Sept. 15-16, found that 44% of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s performance in office, while 50% disapproved and the rest were not sure. Biden’s popularity has been declining since mid-August as the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed and as COVID-19-related deaths surged across the country. While most Americans support the kind of vaccine and mask requirements that Biden has ordered recently to slow the spread of the Delta variant, some Republicans have criticized what they consider to be an overreacti...
The largest GOP caucus in Congress is demanding the Biden administration turn over documents on its humanitarian aid to the Taliban, arguing that the payments to the group while U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan amount to “ransom.” The Republican Study Committee intends to investigate whether the administration’s $64 million in humanitarian aid was conditioned on the release of evacuation flights by the Taliban, which swiftly reassumed control of Afghanistan amid President Joe Biden’s unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces. “We have serious concerns about negotiations with the Taliban leading to the payment of ransom — whether marketed as humanitarian assistance or sanctions relief — which will give the Talib...
House Democrats rejected a plan this week that would have required immigrants to the United States to take one of three available Chinese coronavirus vaccines despite mandates on American citizens from President Joe Biden’s administration. Last week, Biden ordered that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) develop a rule requiring all private companies with 100 or more employees to mandate the vaccine or be subjected to weekly coronavirus tests. Biden also ordered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to require vaccines for all health care workers who work at facilities receiving federal Medicare or Medicaid funding. As Breitbart News reported, Biden has seemingly not imposed any such vaccine requir...
Provocative pro-Palestinian protests outside a shul in Michigan are protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, a federal court appeals said on Wednesday. The court declined to stop the demonstrations or set restrictions in Ann Arbor. The protests have occurred on a weekly basis since 2003, with people holding signs that say “Jewish Power Corrupts,” “Stop Funding Israel” and “End the Palestinian Holocaust.” Members of Beth Israel Congregation, including some Holocaust survivors, said that the protests have interfered with their Saturday worship and caused emotional distress. “But the congregants have not alleged that the protesters ever blocked them from using their synagogue or that the protests were even audible from insid...
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been taking actions that make it appear he is preparing for a run for the presidency in 2024, and likely doesn’t plan to step aside if his old boss decides to take another crack at it, The Washington Examiner reports. Pence’s recent activities include attending Nebraska GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts’ annual steak fry, launching a podcast, delivering remarks at the rededication of Indiana’s Sept. 11 memorial and filing an amicus brief through his political nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom, seeking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. Pence also spoke at a memorial service for Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez of Indiana, one of the 13 service members killed in the attack on the Kabul ...
President Joe Biden’s deadly withdrawal could leave a million Afghan children to die from a lack of food and water, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned Monday. “It was a surprise for us how the former administration abandoned the government,” Taliban’s deputy information and culture minister Zabihullah Mujahid told the New York Times. “We were not fully prepared for that and are still trying to figure things out to manage the crisis and try to help people in any way possible.” In response, the UNICEF agreed with Mujahid, indicating almost 10 million children will depend on foreign aid to live, as World Food Program revealed 40 percent of Afghan crops have been lost since Biden’s deadly withdrawal...
The top U.S. general did not place secret calls to China that went around civilian government leaders, his office said on Wednesday, a day after excerpts from a book alleged that he had secretly called his Chinese counterpart twice over concerns then-President Donald Trump could spark a war with China. “All calls from the Chairman to his counterparts, including those reported, are staffed, coordinated and communicated with the Department of Defense and the interagency,” Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said. “General Milley continues to act and advise within his authority in the lawful tradition of civilian control of the military and his oath to the Constitution,” Butler added. The White House said on Wednesday that President Joe Biden had complete c...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued this week that it’s crucial the U.S. collaborate with China to fight climate change, which she describes as an “overriding” issue, even though she acknowledges the communist country is guilty of severe human rights abuses. “With their military aggression in the South China Sea,” the congresswoman said Thursday, “with their continuation of genocide with the Uyghurs in Xinxiang province there, with their violation of the cultural, linguistic, religious priority of Tibet, with their suppression of democracy in Hong Kong and other parts of China as well, they’re just getting worse in terms of suppression and freedom of speech.” “Having said all of that,” she added, “we have to work together on...
Question #1: My shoes tore on Yom Tov. May I have them repaired on Chol Hamo’eid? Question #2: The supermarket has something on sale on Chol Hamo’eid that I need for after Yom Tov. May I purchase it? Question #3: I am visiting my parents in Chutz La’aretz for Yom Tov. I know that cooking on Chol Hamo’eid is permitted only for Yom Tov and Chol Hamo’eid. Does the fact that I must keep two days of Yom Tov while in Chutz La’aretz permit me to cook on Chol Hamo’eid for their Simchas Torah? Question #4: Someone told me that Chol Hamo’eid is sometimes stricter than Shabbos. How can that be? Answering these shaylos provides an opportunity to discuss the important and complicated halachos of Chol Hamo’eid. As the Gemara (Mo’eid Katan 1...
Jewish holidays celebrate framing moments of national destiny. Pesach recalls our liberation from Egypt while Shavuot re-dramatizes our selection at Sinai. By contrast, the holiday of Succot is more internationally flavored. Similar to Pesach and Shavuot, it is tagged to a national memory- Divine protection of the Jewish desert travelers. Unlike Pesach and Shavuot though, which recall particular miraculous moments, the "Succot event" unfolded over a forty-year period of protection in the wilderness. Furthermore, the deliverance of Pesach and the revelation at Sinai each ended, whereas the drama of Succot – Divine supervision- continues. Divine providence or “hashgacha” is ongoing. Divine providence isn’t an exclusively Jewish phenomenon. Hashem maintains and superv...
More articles