Ivanka Trump, the elder daughter of President Trump, is becoming an official government employee, joining her husband in serving as an unpaid adviser to her father in the White House. Ms. Trump already has an office in the West Wing, and she said last week that she would serve as an informal adviser to her father. But that plan prompted criticism from ethics experts, who said it would allow her to avoid some rules and disclosures. “I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees,” Ms. Trump said in a statement on Wednesday. “Throughout this...
As we approach Pesach, the number “4” starts taking prominence.  As we prepare for Seder night, we think about what we are going to say about 4 cups of wine, 4 questions, and 4 sons.  But I am also reminded that also four weeks from Purim until Seder night and those are hectic and stressful weeks. On Pesach itself, we eat differently, tend to be sedentary and who hasn’t gained weight over that time period?  This time of year has the potential to have a negative impact on our health.  We must be vigilant! Here is another four. 4 clients, all of whom handled the time leading up to Pesach and the Yom Tov itself very differently than they had beforehand with very different results.  Lewis, 49 years old, has been going away for Pesach every year to th...
For the first time in decades, Pakistan has allowed one of its 185 million citizens to register officially as a Jew. For Fischel Benkhald, achieving this milestone has taken years and required the efforts of people in two countries. Fischel -- his chosen Yiddish name -- was born Faisal Benkhald in the Pakistani city of Karachi to a Jewish mother and Muslim father, the fourth of five children. He grew up reciting blessings over Shabbat candles, baking challah every Friday and watching his mother prepare kosher dishes. Unlike his siblings, Benkhald felt a strong pull to his Jewish ancestry. After the death of his parents while he was a teen, Benkhald was raised by his strictly Muslim uncle. But two years ago, the 29-year-old embarked on the bold road of officially changing his religious st...
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A widely shared story that claims to include photos of a recently delivered plane that will serve as Air Force One for President Donald Trump is false. The pictures included in the story do not show the presidential plane and are conceptual renderings from an outfitter of luxury aircraft. Versions of the story posted by usanewsflash.com and freedomdaily.com said Trump negotiated luxurious accommodations for the plane and the interior now resembles that of Trump’s apartment in New York’s Trump Tower. The accounts includes photos of what they say is the interior of the plane. The photos are from Kirkland, Washington-based Greenpoint Technologies, a company that specializes in making luxury modifications to wide-body aircraft. Greenpoint spokeswoman Christine Hadley told The Ass...
New York - Samsung seems to be playing it safe with its first major smartphone since the embarrassing recall of its fire-prone Note 7. The Galaxy S8 features a larger display than its predecessor, the Galaxy S7, and sports a voice assistant intended to rival Siri and Google Assistant. But there is no increase in battery capacity, providing the battery more breathing room. The Note 7 pushed the engineering envelope with its battery, which contributed to a series of spontaneous smartphone combustions. The Galaxy S8 will come in two sizes, both bigger than last year’s models. Both models have screens that curve around the edges and get rid of the physical home button. The Note 7 recall cost Samsung at least $5.3 billion. Though many customers remain loyal, any further misstep could p...
New York - Talks with a Chinese company seeking a stake in a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner are over. The Kushner Cos. confirmed Wednesday that negotiations with Anbang Insurance Group to help fund redevelopment of the family’s office tower on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue have ended. The news was first reported by the New York Post. The talks had drawn criticism from lawmakers and government ethics experts. They saw it as a potential attempt by China to curry favor with the White House. Jared Kushner is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser. He stepped down as CEO of the real estate company in January and has sold stakes in several properties, including 666 Fifth Ave., to help allay concerns about conflicts of interest. Com...
Newark, NJ - A former associate of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the “Bridgegate” lane closure scandal that played a part in torpedoing the Republican’s White House ambitions. Bill Baroni, 45, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was found guilty in November of plotting to close down access lanes at the heavily used George Washington Bridge in 2013 in an act of political retribution. His co-defendant, former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Newark later on Wednesday. Prosecutors said the massive traffic jam they deliberately created in the town of Fort Lee was intended to punish its Democr...
Histadrut and employers reach agreement to reduce work week by one hour each week allow employees to take off some Sundays. After months of discussions, the Histadrut and Israeli employers reached understandings that the working week would be shortened by one hour beginning July 11. According to the report by Channel 2, Israeli employees would have the option to leave work one hour early one day a week or to take one Sunday off every 4-6 weeks and enjoy a long weekend without their wages being lowered. Avi Nissenkorn, the head of the Histadrut labor federation, and Shraga Brosh, the head of the Manufacturer's Association, will meet to sign the agreement tomorrow night. The new work week will be 42 hours. Full-time positions will be 182 hours a month instead of the 186 ...
A security checkpoint was closed for about 40 minutes at New York’s LaGuardia Airport after an alarm went off and agents found an unknown substance in a carry-on bag. The Fire Department says three people have been taken to a hospital to be checked as a precaution on Wednesday morning. Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo says initial reports indicate it might have been some sort of “food substance.” The Transportation Security Administration says the bag was inspected after an alarm went off at the checkpoint in Terminal B. It says Port Authority police were notified “out of an abundance of caution.” The checkpoint was reopened at about 6:30 a.m.
A federal judge in Hawaii who temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban planned to hear arguments Wednesday on whether to extend his order until the state’s lawsuit works its way through the courts. But even if U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson does not issue a longer-lasting hold on the ban, the temporary block would stay in place until he rules otherwise. Legal experts say it is unlikely Watson would side with the Trump administration. The state says the policy discriminates against Muslims, while the government says it falls within Trump’s power to protect national security. Here’s a look at what led up to Wednesday’s hearing in Honolulu: ——— THE TEMPORARY ORDER This month, Watson prevented the federal governme...
A defense lawyer says a Pakistani court has temporarily barred the extradition of a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin accused of planning a terrorist attack in New York with help from the Islamic State group. Tariq Asad said his client, Talha Haroon, was detained in Pakistan last year. He says the Islamabad High Court on Monday ruled in favor of a petition by the detainee’s father to halt his extradition. Asad said his client’s father, Haroon Rashid, told the court that his son is innocent and that his life will be in danger if he is extradited to the United States In his petition, Rashid says President Donald Trump has “biased and prejudiced policy against the Muslims.” Asad says the next hearing in the case will be held April 11.
US President asks Alan Dershowitz to deliver message to Netanyahu: Peace with Israel's Arab neighbors is possible today. US President Donald Trump conveyed a message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu through world-renowned Attorney Alan Dershowitz, Haaretz reported Wednesday evening. An Israeli source told Haaretz that Dershowitz delivered the message to the Prime Minister in a phone call last week, after meeting the President by chance at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in southern Florida. Trump and Dershowitz spoke for over 20 minutes. Dershowitz told Haaretz that one of the subjects they discussed was the Arab-Israeli peace process. Trump said that he knew of Dershowitz's friendship with Netanyahu and how highly the Prime Minister values h...
MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews compared President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s infamous children. Discussing his apprehension at the prospect of Kushner and Ms. Trump working for the president in visible administration positions, he recalled how Uday and Qusay Hussein were also close with their father’s regime.
For the first time ever, four Israeli government ministers, two Israeli Consul Generals and 350 AIPAC participants attended a celebratory event to mark 50 years since the liberation of Yehuda and Shomron. Attendees were invited to sample some of the fine produce of the region including wine, dates, halva and dead sea cosmetics. While Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Galant MK (Kulanu), Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud), Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely (Likud) all publicly affirmed their commitment to the continued Israeli resettlement of Yehuda and Shomron. Ambassador Dani Dayan, the former Yesha Council Chairman and now Israeli Consul General to New York also delivered a powerful speech to jubilant crowd. Housing a...
A former top Obama administration official has acknowledged efforts by her colleagues to gather intelligence on Trump team ties to Russia before Donald Trump took office and to conceal the sources of that intelligence from the incoming administration. Evelyn Farkas, deputy assistant secretary of defense under Obama, made the disclosure while on the air with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. “I was urging my former colleagues and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill, it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration,” Farkas, who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.  “Because I had a fear that somehow that informat...
The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq says that a U.S. service member has died of suspected natural causes in northern Syria. A statement released by the coalition on Wednesday gives no other details and says that further information will be released as appropriate. The American military does not release names of fallen soldiers before the next of kin and family are notified. The U.S. has significantly increased its military footprint in northern Syria in support of local Kurdish-led opposition fighters as they prepare for an assault on the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa. There are hundreds of U.S. special forces, Marines and army rangers in northern Syria.
Over 2,000 representatives from various organizations, as well as pro-Israel activists, diplomats and students filled the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City Wednesday morning for a conference against the boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) movement. Israel's UN Ambassador holds anti-BDS conference: says the difference between past boycotts and today is that the Jewish state defends Jews. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who convened the conference, opened the event by saying: "The halls of the UN are now being infiltrated by the boycott movement. The UN’s Human Rights Council is creating a blacklist of companies and corporations operating in parts of Israel. This is pure antisemitism and together with the US, our greatest ally, we will keep f...
Chabad movement calls approval of rabbi's deportation a "dark day for Jews." A Russian appeals court affirmed the expulsion order issued against an American rabbi working in Sochi, in what a local leader of the Chabad movement called a “dark day” for Jews. In its ruling Tuesday against Ari Edelkopf, the Krasnodar Court of Appeals accepted the position of a Sochi tribunal that determined earlier this year that Edelkopf, who had been working as Chabad’s emissary to the city, was a threat to national security. He has now no legal recourse and is legally obligated to leave the country in the near future, Interfax reported. Boruch Gorin, a senior spokesperson for Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, condemned the ruling Tuesday as “hostile.&rd...
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