Brooklyn, NY - It is not an uncommon sight in Brooklyn to see a new luxury condominium building empty, except for the security guard. There are currently hundreds on the market that remain vacant. Then there are hundreds more being built. "A recent study shows 5,200 luxury apartments are set to hit the market by 2010," explained David Amsden, contributing editor for New York Magazine. "So...

Israel - The Religious Women's Forum Kolech decided at their conference to choose a Hebrew title for a woman ordained as a rabbi by an Orthodox institution, although no woman in Israel yet holds this position. The title chosen by a majority of conference participants is "rabba." A few months ago, a woman was ordained by the Orthodox rabbinate in the United States and was given the title...

Jerusalem - In a report published today in Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, a high-ranking Jerusalem police office was quoted as saying that foreign students who come to study in Israel are “unsupervised” and have participated in the riots that rocked Israel last week. Several young men from America and other countries have been arrested by the Jerusalem police; authorities are currently...

Clifton, NJ - After the City's planning board refused to hear the application for an Orthodox synagogue in the City's Rosemawr section, its attorney was scheduled to file suit against the board and the City's Zoning Officer. Frank Carlet, the lawyer representing Congregation Shomrei Torah of Passaic/Clifton, withdrew its pending Board of Adjustment application before filing suit. Carlet said he...

Jerusalem - Dr. Yair Birnbaum, deputy director-general of the Hadassah Medical Organization, has received telephone death threats over the case of the haredi mother suspected of starving her three-year-old son. Israel Radio reported Sunday night that police were taking the threats extremely seriously and that security guards were protecting the doctor. The boy is hospitalized at Hadassah...

Woodridge, NY - Hatzolah Ambulances are on the scene at 866 Glen Wild Road for 2 patients that were injured in an accident, after the driver fell asleep and their vehicle overturned multiple times ejecting the 19-year-old driver infront of Skver Camp. The Brooklyn teenage Bucher driver has died at the scene, Hatzolah is now requesting the coroner to respond to the scene, his passenger has...

Melbourne, Australia - The federal Government launched Cybersmart, the first national cybersafety education initiative of its kind, at Melbourne’s Beth Rivkah Ladies College this week. Launched by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, Cybersmart is an interactive website designed to keep kids safe when using the internet. “Young people...

Monsey, NY - A health care mobile from Bikur Cholim of Rockland County parked at 25 Robert Pitt Drive in Spring Valley went up in flames at 4:30 a.m. No one was in the van and there were no injuries, said Spring Valley Fire Chief Ken Sohlman, who responded to the scene. Sohlman said it took about 45 minutes to extinguish the fire. The fire damaged a car parked behind the health care unit...

Brooklyn, NY - There's more trash in the Atlantic Ocean than in the three Dumpsters that a city group has converted into swimming pools in Brooklyn for the summer. Bleached, cleaned, filled with sand and lined with plastic, the giant trash bins are now the centerpiece of a "low-fi country club," said David Belt, who as president of Manhattan-based Macro Sea is the man behind this...

Jerusalem - Mayor Nir Barkat instructed the city's legal counsel to file civil lawsuits against ultra-Orthodox residents following the violent haredi riots in the capital. Last week the mayor suspended all municipal services to the haredi neighborhoods Geula and Mea Shearim in light of the protests. After the particularly stormy and violent week, the city's treasury department estimated that...

Mahwah, NJ - Bergen County Police Department are responding to reports of a Cessna 170-B single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft that crashed at International Blvd at the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel off NJ Route 17. EMS are on the scene attending the pilot who has been extracted from the plane and is alive. Aircraft is now located near the Sharp Building. BCPD to contact the FAA. State police...

Sullivan County, NY - Hardly a day goes by that a police agency in the Catskills and many parts of the Hudson Valley don’t receive a report of a bear wandering into a residential area. They are often lured to them by the smell of food, coming from homes or garbage cans and the DEC’s Gene Kelly said make no mistake about it, they are dangerous. “We’re not talking about Winnie the...

Jerusalem - Anyone looking for reinforcements to the claim that Israel is home to an anti-haredi campaign of persecution got what they were looking for, big time, with the story of the mother who allegedly starved her son. Once the story broke out, I was approached by many media outlets requesting a response, yet in the first few hours I found it difficult to elicit accurate information about...

Jerusalem - After a Jerusalem court on Friday placed a woman suspected of abusing her child under house arrest, leading to a dramatic drop in violence over the weekend following the woman's pledge to undergo psychiatric observation by the Municipal Psychiatrist, the woman failed to show up for the evaluation on Sunday. The suspect was ordered to undergo the psychiatric evaluation in...

Miami, FL - A little-known Miami-based finance guru, who 10 years ago set up a mutual fund to mimic the value investing style of his hero, Warren Buffett, had outperformed the Oracle of Omaha over the decade -- and by a wide margin. Bruce Berkowitz, who owns and runs the $8.6 billion Fairholme Fund has averaged a whopping 12 percent annual return since he opened its doors Dec. 29...