New York - Estimates of how many people speak Yiddish worldwide today vary widely, ranging between 2 million and 4 million. Hebrew is the language of the state of Israel, but a growing number of Jews around the world are reclaiming Yiddish as the language of their culture, creating a rift with some Hebrew speakers. Before the Holocaust, Stalinist persecution and mass assimilation, Yiddish ...

Albany, NY - Government reformers called for a crackdown on the use of state credit cards by the governor's office, after a host of his aides have used their state cards for expensive meals and other questionable expenses. "If the governor is asking New Yorkers to sacrifice because of the budget situation, I think that should mean him and his staff as well," said Blair Horner of the New York...

Pennsylvania - The Republican Party of Pennsylvania launched a last-minute television ad that calls attention to Barack Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "If you think you could ever vote for Barack Obama, consider this: Obama chose as his spiritual leader this man," the ad's narrator says before clips of Wright's controversial statements are shown. "Does that sound like...

Jerusalem - As the Orthodox candidate in Jerusalem's mayoral race, Meir Porush has gone to considerable lengths to win over the city's secular voters. It is doubtful, however, that most of them will view the remarks he made on Saturday evening at a conference of Belz Hassidim kindly. “God willing, in another ten years' time there won't be a single secular mayor in any city. Maybe just in...

London - Budget airline Ryanair is drawing up plans to offer trans-Atlantic flights as cheap as 10 euros ($12.70) before taxes to several U.S. cities from Britain and Ireland, a company official said, according to a newspaper report Sunday. The Irish airline intends to offer services from London's Stansted and Dublin airports to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, Ryanair...

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia foiled a terror attack against the United States five years ago, a Saudi official said Sunday. The official said the 2003 plot, which was first reported Sunday in Al-Watan newspaper, was one of 160 foiled terror plots the kingdom announced last month that it had foiled. At the time, authorities provided no details about the alleged plots. It was unclear why Saudi...

, consider the plight of the kosher marathoner, who because of Jewish dietary laws may not replenish himself with sports drinks that lack kosher certification. “The average runner can grab a cup of Gatorade anywhere along the race course, but we have to plan ahead, to have people meet us at certain points with kosher-certified drinks,” said Dovid Yehoshua Schachner, a former schoolteacher...

Tel Aviv , Israel - Hatzolah has confirmed to VIN News that a 49-year-old resident of central Israel drowned at a Tel Aviv beach today after jumping into the water to rescue his son, who had fallen into the water himself. It is unknown what caused his 11-year-old son to fall into the water. A Magen David Adom intensive care unit arrived at Tel Baruch beach in north Tel Aviv where they...

New York City - Streets of the five boroughs were pounded by thousands of runners, Sunday, as they ran in the annual New York City Marathon. Runners began the race in Staten Island around 9:00 am. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder waiting for their cue. The 26.2 mile course took runners from the starting point in Staten Island, over the Verrazanno Bridge, into Brooklyn. They traveled...

Israel - Ten leaders of the religious community were indicted today in the ongoing case against hundreds of fraudulently ordained rabbis of the IDF and other security forces. The defendants include the bureau chiefs of both Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and former Chief Rabbi Meir Lau. The 10 have been indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust, and blackmail for fraudulently ordaining various...

Berlin, Germany - Two men shouted anti-Semitic abuse at a Rabbi and eight students travelling with him in Berlin today and threw a lighted object at their van. The two men, driving a Mercedes Benz, braked in front of Chabad Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal's van and then reversed back towards it while shouting anti-Semitic insults, police said in a statement. "The 36-year-old (Rabbi) then saw the driver...

New York, NY - It's not too late for New Yorkers to speak publicly on the effort to extend term limits. The last chance is tomorrow morning, before Mayor Michael Bloomberg signs a bill allowing him and other term-limited officials to seek four more years in office. Foes of the move are urging residents to show up at City Hall for the 9:30 bill-signing ceremony. Before the mayor actually...

Israel - Three Arab youths were arrested and charged with torching the hesder yeshiva, Ruach Tzfonit in Akko last week. The three suspects were nabbed in a joint operation by Israel Police and Israel Security Agency forces. Police said that their motives appeared nationalistic. The yeshiva's office was badly damaged by the firebomb used by the arsonists who attempted to burn down the...

Jerusalem - Israel is a sunny country, and exposure to the sun's ultraviolet light helps the skin produce vitamin D. So it's ridiculous to insist that all the country's milk products be fortified with the vitamin to take advantage of its many benefits, right? Wrong! That's the view of Prof. Theodore (Ted) Tulchinsky, formerly a senior Health Ministry official (including head of preventive...

New York City - Most people associate Tory Burch with $500 boots and the resurgence of 1960s fashion design. In four short years she has managed to build a veritable fashion design empire that has taken over the minds of teenage girls and married women... as well as the bank accounts of their fathers and husbands (or what’s left of their bank accounts in light of the current economic...