Los Angeles, CA - As wildfires rage across Southern California this evening, emergency resources were being poured into Orange County, where more than 30,000 residents were ordered evacuated, dozens of houses and apartments burned and a large apartment complex was partly destroyed. In all, more than 800 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the Los Angeles and Orange County fires, which were...

New York, NY - The New York Civil Liberties Union has demanded that city officials explain why they ordered a private art school to remove a banner displaying an image of Josef Stalin. In a letter to the Department of Buildings, NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman expressed concern that the banner was taken down from The Cooper Union after some residents of the local Ukrainian community...

Jerusalem - Will prayer help deliver world markets? If around 2,500 Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have anything to say about it, hope may be on the way. Concerned about the health of the global economy, Jews in 11 major seminaries across Israel prayed Thursday night for a fast resolution to the world’s financial crisis – and for Jews who contribute to Israel’s cash-strapped...

New York, NY - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said financial industry employees and Wall Street workers should still get year-end bonuses even as their companies receive federal aid. The U.S. Treasury is providing assistance to a range of firms as part of the federal $700 billion rescue program. If companies can't pay bonuses to help retain employees, it will defeat the purpose of the bailout plan...

Israel - Some 6,000 Ecstasy pills were seized Friday during a police raid on two synagogues in Rishon Lezion's Shikun Hamizrach neighborhood. Local police, who were tipped off about the drugs a few days ago, found 3,000 Ecstasy pills and a pistol concealed in the ceiling of a synagogue on Shivtei Yisrael Street. An additional 3,000 pills were found in the bathroom of another synagogue located...

Borough Park, NY - VIN News has learned that 12 year old hasidic boy Motl Brody from New York passed away this Shabbos. Brody who was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year and was brain dead for a few months raised national media attention after the boy's doctors have said they've done all they can to save his life, and it's time to end treatment. Brody's parents, citing religious...

Boca Raton, FL - A Boca Raton stockbroker who racked up huge commissions while wiping out the investments of dozens of elderly clients, has lost his legal fight to dodge their claims and make his debts disappear. In a rare ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Paul Hyman of Fort Lauderdale will not allow Gary J. Gross to receive protection from his creditors. The judge didn't explain the...

To the editor, In reading about how some people complained about the sign hanging on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (“Hasidim: This ad is anti-sign-metic,” Aug. 30), which, according to them, is offensive to the Jewish community, I figured I might want to try and clear things up. So, there is this organization headed by Rabbi Niederman. They haven’t got much to do with their time so...

Jerusalem, Israel - MK Yakov Litzman, a representative of the Ger Hassidim in the United Torah Judaism party was attacked Saturday evening by orthodox Jews belonging to the Slonim sect, shortly after arriving at a family celebration at a compound belonging to Slonim in Meah Shearim. Allegedly, a group of Slonim hassidic Jews threw kugel pies at Litzman, pushed and kicked him and tauntingly threw...