Israel – Rabbi Yehuda Leib Steinman, one of the leaders of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community ruled recently that during flights one is best advised to pray the Amidah prayer (The Standing Prayer) sitting down, restfully, rather than standing up. This was his answer to haredi yeshiva students currently in the midst of the “Bein Hazmanim” holiday [...]

Washington – Republicans wanted an election-season ethics case against Democratic powerhouse Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. And now, it looks like they have one. A House ethics panel of four Democrats and four Republicans, who will determine Rangel’s guilt or innocence on 13 ethics charges, held its organizational meeting Thursday. The message going forward, from [...]

Omaha, NE – Twenty-one years ago, Li Lu was a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests. Now a hedge-fund manager, he is in line to become a successor to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Mr. Li, 44 years old, has emerged as a leading candidate to run a chunk of Berkshire’s $100 billion portfolio, [...]

Brooklyn, NY – Two cops from a troubled Brooklyn precinct tried to trump up charges against a perp — who turned out to be an undercover Internal Affairs investigator, sources said yesterday. Sgt. Raymond Stukes and Officer Hector Tirado have been indicted and are expected to turn themselves in to the DA today. It’s the latest black [...]

Ashkelon, Israel – A rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun exploded in the heart of a populated area in the southern city of Ashkelon on Friday morning. Eight people suffered shock. Two empty floors of an apartment building, several cars and a nearby pavement sustained damage. Many windows were shattered. Police [...]

New York – Sam and Charles Wyly, Dallas billionaire investors known for their support of conservative candidates and causes, made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday. In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC [...]

London – A Holocaust survivor who lost half his family at the hands of the Nazis today told how he was forced to go to court to prove he is Jewish. Former film producer Joseph Marks, 81, from Shepperton, said he was “grilled” by rabbis as he tried to prove his ancestry. He wanted to join [...]

Jerusalem – Funeral services of two of the six airmen killed in a helicopter crash in Romania earlier this week have taken place Friday. On Friday morning (July 30), a Boeing aircraft carrying the six bodies of the personnel killed in the IAF ‘Yasur’ (CH-53) helicopter crash in Romani landed in the Tel Nof airbase. Speaking at [...]

Tehran, Iran – President Ahmadinejad has a penchant for the somewhat loony, as when last weekend he denounced Paul the Octopus, omniscient predictor of eight consecutive World Cup matches, as a symbol of decadence and purveyor of “Western propaganda and superstition.” But for all his clownishness, Ahmadinejad is nonetheless calculating and dangerous. What “two countries” was [...]

Oak Park, CA – Words spray-painted on the front wall of a small community synagogue in the 5900 block of Conifer Street in Oak Park stunned neighbors and religious leaders alike. Vandals tagged the Chabad house of worship with the message: “Get out of Oak Park.” “It’s horrible,” said Abby Winstone, who lives across the street from [...]