Sydney, Australia -Johannesburg-based opera singer June Kraus said she thought the $1.5 million she inherited from her mother and entrusted with Barry Tannenbaum was earning as much as 3 percent a week from his savvy investing in AIDS drugs. Kraus, a quinquagenarian, and dozens of celebrities like her, can now be included among the hundreds of people who lost their fortunes to Bernard Madoff...

Jerusalem - Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog made a secret visit today to Mea Shaarim in Jerusalem. Herzog, who came with a security detail, sought to examine the functioning of the welfare services in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in light of last week's violence, during which the welfare bureau was attacked. During his visit, regional manager Avigail Danieli said that many...

New York - You've heard of Alphabet City -- now meet Alphabet State. Using Google aerial maps, a British researcher has selected Empire State images that make up all 26 letters of the alphabet. Alphabet State was created by Rachel Young, 25, after she was hit by a car in February, injuring her shoulder, leg and spine. Young, who was laid up in her home in Ossett, England, read about...

Ramot Eshkol, Israel - A charedi toddler was killed on Wednesday after she fell into a manhole in Jerusalem. A passerby who tried to rescue her was seriously injured in the incident. The 3-year-old girl most likely died after the inhaling toxic gas emitted into the manhole. A bystander, 40, noticed the girl falling into the manhole in Jersualem's Ramot Eshkol neighborhood and attempted to...

Berlin, Germany - An appeals court has ordered greater compensation for the American heirs of a Jewish businessman forced to sell his company stock under the Nazis' "Aryanization" program — a ruling that could set a precedent for dozens of others, their attorney said today. The Federal Administrative Court ruled July 17 that the heirs of businessman Bernhard Hirschmann should be compensated...

Tokyo - VIN News has independently that The youngest of the three yeshiva students imprisoned in Japan confirmed will be transferred to Israel to sit out his sentence in an Israeli prison. Japan's Justice Minister Eisuke Mori signed the transfer order submitted by Israel. The bochur, who received a sentence of 5 to 8 years, can now officially be "deported" from Japan. The 19-year old bochur...

New York - You may applaud the idea of ordaining women rabbis, or you may recoil in horror at the prospect, but the simple fact remains that women already serve the Orthodox world in clergy-like positions. Women teach Torah in various settings, answer questions of Jewish law on many matters, provide guidance on issues of Jewish theology to individuals and otherwise function as...

New York City - with the identification of several raccoons infected with rabies in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens in recent weeks, the Health Department is reminding New Yorkers to stay away from raccoons, skunks, bats, stray dogs and cats and other wild animals that can carry rabies. Six rabid animals — all raccoons — have been identified in New York City this year. Four were found in the...

Jerusalem - Three weeks ago a bochur yeshiva without a drivers' license caused a dreadful car accident on the Ramot Road. Now another bochur was caught with the same irresponsible behavior. In preparation for his trial and out of fear that he might be sentenced to prison, the bochur decided to seek a blessing from Rav Chaim Kanievsky. After VIN News verified that accuracy of the exchange, we...

New York - Leaders of some of New York’s most influential unions say that unless Gov. David A. Paterson’s standing approves, they might rally behind another candidate, a defection which could prove lethal to his hopes of winning the Democratic nomination. The discussion reflects a larger anxiety among Democrats that that Governor Paterson’s problems will hurt other Democratic candidates...

Jerusalem - Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered embassies abroad to use a photo of Adolf Hitler meeting a top Palestinian cleric to counter international criticism over a Jerusalem settlement project, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday. The decision to circulate a 1941 photo featuring the Nazi dictator sitting with the then grand mufti of...

India - The legal maneuvering over the confession of the sole surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks last November continued Wednesday, with the defendant, Ajmal Kasab, denying that he admitted his guilt in a bid to win leniency and avoid the death penalty. “If anybody is worried that I am trying to escape death by hanging, I’m not,” he declared in court. “If that’s the punishment I...

Jerusalem - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel has no intention of dismantling the West Bank separation fence, which he called "a critical component of Israel's security." Media reports in Israel indicated that the Palestinian Authority had relayed to U.S. President Barack Obama a demand that the fence be removed since the security situation in the West Bank had...

Washington - The United States believes it is too early to talk about imposing sanctions on Israel to force it to freeze settlement building in east Jerusalem, a State Department spokesman said. "It's premature to talk about that," said spokesman Robert Wood when asked about the possibility of US financial sanctions. "What we are trying to do, as I said right now, is to create an environment...

New York, NY - Two oddballs have been busted for swiping nearly 20 percent of the city's red-light cameras right under Big Brother's nose. They allegedly drove around town in a pickup truck with a cherry-picker to dismantle 22 of the high-end Nikons from their street poles. The devices are used to identify red-light-running drivers, who then are issued tickets by mail. The suspects peddled an...