Disappearing jobs, burrowing consumers and skittish companies are reasons for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and brace the tottering economy.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues open a two-day meeting this afternoon — their last before the November elections — to make a fresh assessment of economic and financial conditions and decide their next move on rates. Their decision will be announced Wednesday.
SECURITY/DEFENSE:
*Today, Tuesday, is day 133 of the virtual Gaza ceasefire.
*Today is Gilad Shalit’s 856th day in Hamas captivity.
*Two Arabs on Monday night tried to stab a 24-year-old Jerusalem man in the Talpiot industrial area. He fended them off and ran after them with a club but they escaped. Police searched the area for the perpetrators.
*Soldiers apprehended three Arabs with firebombs and tires they planned to burn on the road in the area of Dir Meshal in the Benjamin Regional Council district of Shomron.
*IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations throughout Yehuda and Shomron on Monday night arrested eight suspects. the suspects in custody were turned over to the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) for interrogation.
POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:
*During faction meetings with President Peres on Monday, Arab leaders asked to avoid elections in the winter since the rains deter voters.
*In his Knesset address on Monday, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu stated he will establish a coalition that includes Kadima and Labor.
*Knesset Speaker Itzik trying to set a date for Knesset elections.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Gasoline prices have fallen below $2 a gallon in some parts of the U.S. as the impact of plunging oil prices and reduced driving are finally taking hold, the Associated Press reports.
In Ohio, the Web site GasBuddy.com, where consumers post prices they spot, said a few stations in the Cincinnati suburbs were now charging $1.99 for regular.
The national average for a gallon of regular fell 3 cents overnight to $2.668, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s roughly a dollar less than what was paid just a month ago — and the cheapest since March 2007, the Energy Department said on Monday.
Only three states — Alaska, California and Hawaii — have average prices for regular grade above $3 a gallon, AAA said.
Gasoline prices have been sliding as oil prices have dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, dipping below $62 a barrel at one point Monday. Oil prices have plunged 57 percent from a record $147.27 on July 11.
In his address to the opening session of the Knesset winter session, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu stated that if elected prime minister, he will not enter into negotiations regarding Yerushalayim.
Most viewed Netanyahu’s address during the opening meeting of the winter session of the 17th Knesset as the launching of his election campaign. He stated that the nation will soon embark on general elections and that gives voters the ability to create a turning point, to change political priorities and realities towards rehabilitation and a healthier future.
He cited three major threats facing the nation today, the global economic crises, the continued deterioration in the scholastic achievements of the nation’s children and the growing security threats from terrorist organizations and elsewhere. He stressed Likud will work towards peace, but reminded the Knesset that history has shown over and over that peace is achieved through strength, not weakness.
“Two issues are non negotiable” he stated, “the demands for the right of return for refugees and Jerusalem.” He pointed out the correctness of the reforms he made as finance minister, and concluded by stating Israel needs a new leadership and a new path.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
For weeks, the Litvish chareidi community has been at odds over the reality they do not wish to announce support for Jerusalem mayoral candidate Rav Meir Porush. On the other hand, he is the only Shomer Shabbos candidate, placing voters in a difficult situation.
Last week, a generic letter of support was released, and notices around the frum communities called on voters to cast their ballot for the frum candidate in all municipal elections around Eretz Yisrael.
On that note, the Erlau Rebbe Shlita has been seeking to meet with Maran Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv to discuss the matter of the upcoming elections. That meeting took place on Monday. After the gedolim exchanged greetings, most of those present were requested to leave the room except the Rebbe’s son, the rosh yeshiva of Erlau institutions, and Rav Elyashiv’s grandson, Aryeh Elyashiv.
According to a report released by Chadrei Chadarim, the two discussed Chinuch Atzmai and the upcoming elections, with the Rebbe emphasizing the need to support Porush, adding if he is not successful in his mayoral bid; it would be a chilul Hashem. Rav Elyashiv reportedly agreed.
One report from a chareidi source stated the two agreed to publish a joint letter, specifically endorsing Rav Porush. Apparently, former Betar mayor, Yitzchak Pindrus was instrumental in bridging the gaps towards shalom between the Litvish community and Shomrei Emunim.
Official confirmation of Maran Elyashiv’s support was not forthcoming from his aides but the official message is expected to begin circulating in Yerushalayim on Tuesday.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Police on Tuesday morning report that the Jerusalem man who claimed he was attacked by Arabs with a knife in the industrial area of the Talpiot neighborhood of the capital on Monday night made up the story.
The alleged victim told police he used a club to ward off the attack, and he then chased after the attackers but was unable to apprehend them.
Following the report, police were engaged in a search for the suspects for some time, but it was called off after no one fitting the description of the attackers was seen.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
While few regard him a hero, most residents and supporters of Yosh (Yehuda and Shomron) do not appreciate the remarks made on Monday by Shmuel Ben-Yishai, remarks that have resulted in a new hate campaign against the residents of yishuvim.
There has been much criticism against reports, especially those appearing in the religious and right-wing media, accused of feeding the left-wing hate campaign. As such, following are excerpts from a Kol Chai Radio interview with Shmuel Ben-Yishai.
Yishai was quoted on the radio calling for IDF soldiers to become the “next Gilad Shalit,” wishing they would “fall to their enemy and in battle,” remarks that resulted in condemnatory comments from the entire political spectrum. Police have already launched an investigation into the matter, signaling they plan to file charges against him and possibly others.
Ben-Yishai elaborated in a Kol Chai Radio interview, stating those who know him are aware he does not “make generalizations,” explaining his remarks, but declining the opportunity to apologize when asked if he wishes to do so.
He explained that he is a supporter of IDF soldiers and his remarks referred specifically to those who took part in the “crime” of destroying the Federman home. Those soldiers he explained he does hope will receive the full weight of “Hashem’s hand” for their actions, the “evil forces that terrorized the Federman family”.
Ben-Yishai went on to draw a comparison, pointing out there is widespread illegal construction in the Arab sector, among Bedouins in the Negev, in the Galilee and throughout Yehuda and Shomron. A terrorist’s home would not be destroyed in the same fashion he explained; pointing out the IDF would permit a wife and children of a terrorist time to pack their belongings before sending in bulldozers to destroy their home.
The actions of the military and the government are “evil” he exclaimed, calmly stating that security forces came in the middle of the night, “throwing the children, infants and a woman in the street, in the Chevron cold, without time to pack or prepare… they entered through windows, using fear as a weapon against the family, not permitting them time to appeal, not to the courts, not the Supreme Court.”
Ben-Yishai stated against those soldiers Hashem must act, those who did not exhibit Jewish traits of compassion and mercy, and he hopes Hashem responds to them in a similar fashion.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Tuesday afternoon will be meeting with faction heads in the hope of arriving on an agreed upon date for general elections.
Itzik is indicating that if a date cannot be reached by mutual consent, the most likely date will be Tu B’Shvat, which will be contrary to a request made by Yaakov Litzman of Agudas Yisrael, who explained chassidim are at yomtov tischin and the election would interfere.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
A small number of people numbering in the tens held a protest outside Knesset on Monday. They set up a cage and surrounding it were chairs with photos of Israel’s 120 MKs, expressing outrage over the apathy regarding the prolonged captivity of Shalit by the nation’s lawmakers.
IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was taken captive in a Hamas cross-border attack in Kerem Shalom in June 2006. He is believed held in Gaza but no one including representatives of the International Red Cross have seen him since he was taken captive.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
UPDATE IN EXTENDED ARTICLE Rav Mordechai [Tzemach ben Mazel Tov] Eliyahu Shlita was reported in serious condition during the predawn hours on Tuesday in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center after open heart surgery.
Apparently “complications” during a catheterization procedure earlier in the day on Monday compelled physicians to decide on the emergency surgery.
Rav Zafrani, the Rav’s personal assistant, provided the following update on Tuesday morning at 8:10am local time.
The next three days are critical. Am Yisrael is requested to continued tefillos and tehillim. At present his condition is serious and he is in need of tefillos and rachmei shamayim.
On Sukkos Rav Eliyahu Shlita was permitted to return home to his sukka accompanied by a medical team but two hours after arriving home, he was rushed back to the hospital.
MIDDAY UPDATE: Tzfas Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, a son of Rav Mordechai Eliyahu Shlita, reported at 1:00pm on Tuesday that his father, Rav Mordechai Shlita, is opening his eyes and responding to his surroundings but his condition remains very serious.
Rav Shmuel stated the open heart surgery on Monday was a most complicated procedure, stating the doctors worked “with mesirus nefesh” for three hours to save his father’s life. Rav Shmuel stated he has no doubt that the physicians succeeded as a result of the worldwide tefillos on behalf of the Rav and special tefillos are ongoing on his behalf.
“I call on everyone. You do not need to wait for our permission. Please, continue davening for my father and all the sick among Am Yisrael.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
The following is the current headline on the Drudgereport: “ABCCBSNBCNYTLATWSJCNNMSNBCAPREUTERS AFPPOLITCOFTTIMEWASHPOSTNEWSWEEK: CAN THEY ALL BE WRONG?” Along with that headline is the photo attached to this story.
The above stands for media outlets: ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, MSNBC, AP, Reuters, AFP, Politico, FT, TIME, Washington Post, Newsweek.
Besides for the headline and the photo, there is no story.
What is Matt Drudge – arguably the single most powerful journalist – trying to say?
We leave that up to you to decide.
(Dov Gordon – YWN)
Discount retailer Value City Department Stores and its subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy protection and plan to close all of their stores.
Bankruptcy papers filed in New York say the Columbus, Ohio-based company blames declining sales, tight credit and the sour economy for crippling its business.
The filings follow a series of restructuring efforts and layoffs aimed at keeping the business afloat. It has closed more than 75 stores since December 2007.
It has 66 open stores and more than 4,500 employees in 14 states.
The chain, which has been closing stores for some time, used to be part of Schottenstein Stores. In a restructuring in 2003, the department stores became a subsidiary of publicly held Retail Ventures Inc.
Jay Schottenstein is chairman of RVI as well as chairman of Columbus, Ohio-based Top 100 company American Signature, which operates American Signature and Value City Furniture stores. RVI sold its majority stake in Value City Department Stores in January to VCHI Acquisition Co.
Michael Broidy, vice president of corporate affairs for Schottenstein Stores, said neither Jay Schottenstein nor Schottenstein Stores has any ownership or role in the department stores and that the move by its current owner “should have absolutely no impact on American Signature and Value City Furniture.”
Schottenstein Stores is listed among Value City’s largest unsecured creditors with a claim of $947,886.
Value City was founded in 1917 by Ephraim Schottenstein, a travelling salesman in central Ohio.
The Schottenstein family is best known as one of the main contributors to famous Schottenstein Talmud edition.
The Schottenstein family’s once had an estimated wealth of $2 billion, coming mainly from Retail Ventures and American Eagle Outfitters, in which it owns a 26.5 % stake.
(Sources: Furniture Today / Columbus Dispatch / Wikipedia / 10TV / NBC4i)
A federal judge has refused a request to remove herself from the case of a human resources worker arrested after a massive immigration raid at a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville.
Chief Judge Linda R. Reade on Friday denied a motion for recusal filed on behalf of 29-year-old Karina Pilar Freund, who is charged with aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants.
Prosecutors contend Freund and another human resources worker, Laura Althouse, helped illegal workers obtain and submit false documents to work at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville. Their trials are scheduled for Nov. 17.
A telephone message left for Freund’s attorney, Mark Brown, wasn’t immediately returned.
He argued in court documents that Reade took part in pre-raid proceedings following a federal immigration raid at Agriprocessors on May 12. That raid resulted in the arrest of 389 people in what officials said was one of the largest single-site immigration busts in U.S. history.
Brown argued that Reade’s involvement in hiring Spanish interpreters, contacting possible defense attorneys and coordinating court proceedings that were held at the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo calls into question her appearance of impartiality.
He referred to a motion for recusal filed in another case _ that of Martin De La Rosa-Loera, a former Agriprocessors supervisor who pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors to aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented immigrants.
In that motion for recusal, De La Rosa-Loera’s attorney Thomas McQueen argued that Reade worked with the federal government in making arrangements for the fast-track judicial proceedings in Waterloo, and that she defended the government’s actions in a New York Times article “despite clearly being on notice that related cases were on the horizon.”
Brown called McQueen’s work “second to none.” He argued that his client is simply asking for verification of issues and proceedings related to the raid that have so far only been available through media reports, motions and briefs filed by defendants who were on trial in Waterloo.
“The defendant, in this motion does not cast aspersions or innuendoes, but simply desires the court to consider and adjudicate her concerns,” Brown wrote in the motion. “As the law dictates, if the court believes that her honors’ ability to be impartial has been diluted based upon the alleged discussions, meetings, public comments and or participation of the court in the Agriprocessors pre-raid court preparation, then recusal must follow.”
Reade denied the motion in the De La Rosa-Loera case, saying she was only performing her official duties as chief judge for the Northern District of Iowa.
In the Freund case, she said Brown did not provide particular reasons why she should recuse herself, but instead refers generally to the De La Rosa-Loera motion that she already denied.
“Accordingly, the court shall deny the motion for the reasons set forth in the court’s order (in the De La Rosa-Loera case),” Reade said.
Freund and Althouse were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in September. Both are believed to still be working in the company’s human resources department.
Althouse was charged with aiding and abetting document fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants. Freund faces a charge of aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants.
(Source: LINK to Quad-City Times)
Toronto, Canada – A Canadian judge refused today to review an order revoking the citizenship of a man who lied when he moved to Canada about working with a Nazi death squad in World War Two.
The Federal Court rejected Helmut Oberlander’s claim that the Canadian government had erred in finding he had been complicit in atrocities committed by the Nazi Einsatzkommando (EK) unit that he worked with as an interpreter.
Oberlander, who immigrated to Canada with his wife in 1954 and became a citizen in 1960, argued he was forced as a teenager to work with Nazi forces that invaded his native Ukraine because he was fluent in German and Russian.
Canada barred former members of the Nazi SS, SD and related units such as the Nazi EK because of the groups’ involvement in war crimes.
Oberlander argued that Ottawa had shown there was a only suspicion of complicity, but Judge Michael Phelan ruled that was good enough because the unit’s only purpose was to be a “mobile mass killing squad.”
The EK conducted mass executions of civilians, particularly Jews, in the occupied Soviet Union, with Oberlander’s unit killing so many thousands of people its operational area was declared “Jew free,” the court said.
Canada’s has tried to strip Oberlander of his citizenship since the late 1990s, but his supporters argued that Ottawa was unfairly targeting an old man who had lived a productive life in southern Ontario.
Phelan refused to review the government’s decision and ruled the issue was not whether Oberlander had led a good life in Canada, but whether he hid an involvement in a Nazi death squad in order to illegally gain Canadian citizenship.
The Canadian Jewish Congress has estimated that between 1,000 to 3,000 people with Nazi pasts were able to get into Canada illegally between 1947 and 1956.
(Source: Reuters / The Canadian Press)
According to a Yediot Achronot report, senior military officers were heard expressing anger over the violent response that followed the government-ordered destruction of the Federman home in the Kiryat Arba area. During the rampage that followed, a section of the Kiryat Arba security fence, over one kilometer in length, was torn down. The fence was an electronic censor that signaled if anyone tried cutting or climbing over it, with military officials estimating the repair will cost NIS hundreds of thousands.
The unnamed officers are quoted as saying they do not plan to order its repair in a punitive step against those who acted irresponsibly and violently.
Yediot concludes by stating that in the end of the day, the fence will most likely be repaired since it is unlikely the IDF will abandon the security of the many residents of Kiryat Arba, the overwhelming number of who were uninvolved in the destruction of the section.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
The following are the results of a poll conducted a day after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced she would not cave into extortion by the Mina Tzemach Dahaf Institute, commissioned by the daily Yediot Achronot. Undoubtedly, her statements influenced the poll Dahaf officials add.
Who would you vote for is elections were held today?
Kadima 29 seats
Likud 26
Labor 11
Shas 11
Arab parties 10
Yisrael Beitenu 9
NRP 7
UTJ 7
Meretz 6
Green Party 2
Pensioners Party 2
The poll was conducted among 500 respondents representing a cross section o the voting adult population. Margin of error +/- 4.5%.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
SECURITY/DEFENSE:
*Terrorist Muhammad Khalil, a member of Islamic Jihad, was apprehended in Bet Lechem on Sunday night by security forces. He is reportedly linked to no less than 15 terror attacks in the Jerusalem area, including suicide bombings and shootings.
*Arabs throw rocks at security forces at Na’alin anti-fence protest.
*Rock-throwing attacks against Israeli motorists near Azzoun on Monday evening. No injuries.
POLITICS, DOMESTIC & MORE:
*PM Olmert vows to continue tenacious efforts to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit.
*PM Olmert states he will head the transition government up until the elections.
*Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik criticized parties for not joining the new coalition in her address to the opening of the Knesset winter session. She called decision not to join Livni’s coalition “irresponsible”.
*US Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin met on Monday with Israel’s ambassador to the US, Sallai Meridor.
*In meetings on Monday with faction leaders, Rav Avraham Litzman asked President Shimon Peres to please not schedule elections on Tu B’Shvat since it would interfere with the chareidi community’s celebration of the day and impact voter turnout.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
U.S. stocks tumbled in the last half hour of trading after shifting between gains and losses all day, pulled lower by commodity producers as investors speculated a global recession will damp demand for fuel and metals.
The S&P500 Index slipped 27.85 points, or 3.2 percent, to 848.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 203.18, or 2.4 percent, to 8,175.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 46.13, or 3 percent, to 1,505.9.
The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses at least 20 times as Huntington Bancshares Inc. led a rally in regional banks that accepted $34 billion in government cash. The benchmark index for U.S. equities is down 42 percent in 2008. More than 1.3 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE, 8 percent below the average volume for the last three months.
(Bloomberg.com)
Employment service offices are resorting to measures taken in the 1950s to provide employment for the growing number of Israelis out of work. The unemployed will be sent to pave roads, dig ditches, work in gardening and forestry areas, archeological digs and laying railroad tracks.
The number of registered unemployed in Israel today is 200,000 but officials expect tens of thousands to join the roster in the not-so-distant future. According to the director of the service, Yossi Farchi, in his plan presented to the treasury, hi-tech and white collar workers will take a basic training program and then replace foreign workers in the manual labor field. Some will be outsourced to manpower agencies who the government hopes will find them employment.
Factories closing down assembly lines may receive government assistance and outside contracts in the hope of keeping assembly line workers employed. The state will undertake to pay a portion of salaries to prevent layoffs.
Farchi explains much will be done to minimize the number of people who are out of work, adding “this will be a difficult period but we are prepared.”
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
5:10PM EST: Flatbush Hatzolah are on the scene of an MVA involving a motorcycle on Ocean Parkway and Cortelyou Road.
Unknown injuries at this time.
(YWN-104)
