New York - A legally mandated public hearing date for fire agencies to unveil their annual budgets falls this year on a Jewish holy day, causing at least one fire agency to request a change in the legislation. The hearing date, required to be held the third Tuesday of October, is Oct. 21, the same day as Simchat Torah, which celebrates the reading of the Torah. Great Neck Vigilants Fire...

Berlin, Germany - Germany's government has increased its annual funding for the nation's Jewish community and associated projects to US$7.3 million in an effort to keep up with the group's expansion. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Gabriele Hermani says the increase amounts to US$2.9 million. She said today the funds would be paid directly to the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The...

New York City - Al Gore, the former vice president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is nothing if not passionate on the issue of global warming. But his usual fired-up remarks on the subject took a step into the Gandhian realm on Wednesday when he told an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York that the crisis was so severe and intractable that it was time for direct...

Full transcript of the Larry King interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad courtesy of CNN: LARRY KING, HOST: Mr. President, thank you for coming. Do you like coming to New York? MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT, IRAN (through translator): In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful, well, this is the headquarters of the United Nations, and it is essential that we come...

Washington - The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys. Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home. Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army...

New York City - Since the Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office he has doled out approximately $19.7 million in discretionary funding, according to a memo released today by the administration. In the memo, Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler details who received discretionary funding from the administration, including past and present council members. After the jump, there is a list of members and how...

Brooklyn, NY - New York State Senator Eric Adams sponsored the 2008 Brooklyn High Holy Days Religious Institutions Safety Debriefing (BHHDRISD) on Wednesday, September 24, 10:00 AM, at The Brooklyn Jewish Children’s Museum. He was joined by officers of the NYPD and by members of their NYPD teams to provide an overview of the procedures implemented by the police to safeguard both our religious...

Brooklyn, NY - Hatzolah responded on a rush and requested Medics Code-1 to East 4th Street for a 9-month-old child who was not breathing after a near drowning in a bath tub. Child now breathing and on the way to Miamonides Hospital...

Uman, Ukraine - Euro-Asian Jewish Congress President Alexander Machkevich said today he has resolved a prickly land dispute over the reputed grave site of the founder of Breslov Hassidism in the Ukraine, and has recovered the area for the benefit of the local Breslov community. The controversy over the land where Rabbi Nachman Breslover (1772-1810), also known as Nachman from Uman, is thought...

Recklinghausen, Germany - A 91-year-old convicted German war criminal held up a Belgian pharmacy shop with a toy gun, a prosecutor told a German court Wednesday. The defendant had been convicted in 1968 of murdering six Jews in Gorlice, Poland during World War II and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 22 years and was then freed on grounds of age. He has now been indicted in...

New York - The Conservative movement has embraced a brand new certification for kosher foods, the “Hekhsher Tzedek,” which is designed to indicate a kosher food producer’s “compliance with a set of social justice criteria.” Agudath Israel of America regards the Hekhsher Tzedek idea as misguided and misleading. It rests upon, and will likely foster, a distorted understanding of kashrus...

New York - The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) has today announced the formation of a high level Task Force that will produce a detailed practical guide to Jewish Principles and Ethical Guidelines, as applied to business and industry in general, and the kosher food industry in particular. The Task Force will be chaired by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir. Rabbi Meir is a leading authority in the field...

New York - VIN News has learned that the MTA Board meeting that occurred this morning to discuss and vote on non revenue E-Zpass status for emergency vehicles, have in fact just passed a resolution to eliminate non-revenue E-ZPass authorizations for public agencies and emergency services organizations. which means, that any volunteer agency in the state of New York with E-ZPass tags assigned to...

New York - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows...

London - Jews living in a north London neighborhood are outraged that the local council has scheduled an election for Yom Kippur. The election was triggered by the resignation of a Liberal Democrat councillor from the Alexandra ward. More than 300 Jews live in the ward, equivalent to 4 percent of the eligible voters. "It's a great shame," Rabbi David Masson of the nearby Muswell Hill...