Albany, NY - Both sides in the monthlong standoff in New York's Senate jointly announced that they will try to work out a power-sharing deal as early as Thursday, but past promises of near deals and deadlines have fallen through before in the conflict. Significant differences remain between proposals by the Republican-led coalition and the Democratic conference, split 31-31 in the chamber...

Brooklyn, NY - The average Brooklyn home price declined 18 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, but sales volume picked up slightly in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2009, according to the Brooklyn-based real estate appraisal firm HMS Associates. The average home price in Brooklyn during the second quarter of 2009 was $548,560, 18...

Ramallah, West Bank - The Palestinian Authority's top Islamic cleric on Tuesday issued a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, banning the issuance of marriage contracts without a certificate proving that couples are free of the swine flu virus. The religious ruling was issued after more swine flu cases were registered in the West Bank. In his fatwa, Chief Justice Taysseer al-Tamimi ordered religious...

Scotland - A travelling diamond dealer was robbed of £100,000-worth of jewellery in a dramatic heist in a hotel car park. The Jewish trader was ambushed by two thugs as he walked to his motor after leaving the building at about 7.15am. One man pounced on him from behind and beat him to the ground while the other thief used a beer keg to smash the window of his Ford vehicle. The pair nabbed...

Postville, IA - A lawyer for a former top manager of a kosher slaughterhouse is protesting a judge's decision to hold a trial on financial charges before a trial on immigration charges. U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade wrote in an order that a trial on financial charges against Agriprocessors Inc. and former top managers will begin on Sept. 15. Last month, Reade split 142 charges into two...

Jerusalem - Thousands of haredim are expected to turn out Wednesday for a prayer vigil against the Shabbat desecration caused by the weekend opening of a parking lot in the city, officials said. The late-afternoon event, slated to take place in the city's Mea She'arim neighborhood, is being organized by the Eda Haredit. The two-hour prayer rally and a children's march have a police permit...

Borough Park, NY - Challah and Kugel for Shabbat dinner is so yesterday. Orthodox Jewish residents in Borough Park have caught on to a new trend - sushi! Two new sushi restaurants have opened in the heart of the ultra-Orthodox community in the past few months, while other restaurants across the neighborhood have put in sushi bars. "It's a new thing here," a Sushi K Bar manager said. "We...

New York - U.S. Stocks fell Tuesday amid growing doubts about the economic recovery. There were some pockets of gains in the banking and pharmaceutical sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 150 points, or 1.94 percent. The S&P 500 shed 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq was off more than 2 percent. Validating investor fears about the economy, an Obama economic adviser...

Jerusalem - In the late 1990s, a computer specialist from Israel's Shin Bet internal security service hacked into the mainframe of the Pi Glilot fuel depot north of Tel Aviv. It was meant to be a routine test of safeguards at the strategic site. But it also tipped off the Israelis to the potential such hi-tech infiltrations offered for real sabotage. "Once inside the Pi Glilot system, we...

New York, NY - Some Verizon customers in lower Manhattan are having problems with their Internet access. Company spokesman John Bonomo said that the problem is centered around a cable or cables in the East 14th Street area. He said between 1,500 and 3,000 customers are affected. Most of them are in lower Manhattan. Bonomo said the disruptions are primarily to Internet access. But he said...

Brooklyn, NY - It's a driver's dream come true in Brooklyn - at least for two months. Five neighborhoods are the latest to get a two-month break from dreaded alternate-side parking rules so the city Department of Transportation can install signs that reduce street cleaning from two days a week to one. The change goes into effect on Monday for Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Fulton...

Israel - The Chief Rabbinate has been given a list of more than 60 recent converts to Judaism who continue to believe in Jesus – and are active missionaries. Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, chairman and founder of the anti-missionary and anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization, met with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and provided him with the list. Yad L’Achim had prepared the list of names, ID...

New York, NY - A baseball fan who says he was kicked out of a Yankees game because he left his seat during "God Bless America" has settled a lawsuit against New York City and the team. The city did not admit liability and will give Bradford Campeau-Laurion of Queens about $10,000. It will also pay $12,000 in fees to the New York Civil Liberties Union. A Yankees spokeswoman says the team...

Washington - Soaring U.S. unedelinquencies on credit card debt to an all-time high in the first quarter as a record number of cash-strapped consumers fell behind on their bills. Fallout from a still deteriorating housing market caused the rate of consumer loan payments at least 30 days late to rise to 3.23 percent in the January-to-March period from 3.22 percent in the 2008 fourth quarter, the...

Brooklyn, NY - After a witness told the NY Post that distraught pug owner Chrissie Brodigan shouted at NYC's first Hasidic cop, "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human," her employer suspended her without pay and may terminate her, pending an internal investigation. Brodigan, the VP for Online Media at Plum TV, tells us that after the Post's article appeared, Plum TV's CEO, Chris Glowacki, called...