Yeshiva World News

High hopes and high anxiety are being felt as developers proposing 20 luxury resort casinos in New York battle it out for the four licenses that will be granted. CBS 2′s Tony Aiello reports that competition is fierce, especially in the Catskills region.

Casinos are a jackpot of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to begin with. And for the Catskills, a chance to reclaim the glory days of the old lavish resort hotels.

The rolling majestic beauty of the Catkills is scarred with decrepit remnants of past glory – places like the Concord Resort and famed Grossinger’s Hotel now shuttered.

While the buildings still stand, the crowds and jobs they supported are long gone.

Now, four casinos are coming to three upstate regions.

It has been predicted that the Catskills will get two of those casinos, Aiello reported.

Foxwoods wants to build at Grossinger’s.

At the Concord, two different developers want to create big casino resorts.

There’s another proposal at the old Nevele property in Ulster County.

But in the struggling Catskill towns, hope is mixing with anxiety.

“My fear is they may not come here. That’s my greatest fear,” said Sullivan County resident Mike Gastwirth.

The Catskills region includes Orange County, where there are five casino proposals, including one on the Sterling Forest property, just 45 miles from Times Square.

READ MORE: WCBSTV

Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the United States is setting up a $5 billion “terrorism partnership fund” to help other countries push back against radical extremists.

Appearing on a host of network morning-show interviews, Kerry staunchly defended President Barack Obama’s decision to terminate the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Referring in an NBC “Today” show interview to a speech Obama was set to give later Wednesday at the U.S. Military Academy,Kerry said Obama is telling the Afghans “by a specific time they have to take over management of their own security and military.”

The secretary said the message to Afghanistan is “we’re not going to give you all the time in the world. You have to push the envelope.”

“This is not an abandonment of Afghanistan,” Kerry said. “This is an emboldenment. This is an empowerment of Afghanistan.”

Appearing on “CBS This Morning,” he said the withdrawal plan of the U.S. will allow this country to divert resources to the anti-terrorism fight in other parts of the world. Kerry said U.S. foreign policy needs to reflect a “rapidly changing, more complex world where terrorism is the principal challenge.”

Kerry called the Afghanistan troop withdrawal announcement “a statement of transition” and said that “if you tell the Afghans we’ll be here as long as it takes, you can absolutely bet your bottom dollar they’ll take as long as they want.” The secretary also said “it is exactly what the American people have always sought in Afghanistan” and said “the Afghans want us to transition out.”

During his interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Kerry was asked for an update on U.S. efforts to win the release of nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists in Nigeria. “We have people on th e ground and we’re working hand in hand with Nigerians,” he replied.

(AP)

A seven-month-old infant is fighting for his life in Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot. The child is diagnosed with a botulinum toxin and he is listed in critical condition.

According to the Channel 2 News report, the child was given an antidote to biological warfare in an effort to combat the deadly toxin.

Dr. Eli Shapiro, director of the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit explains the toxin is the most potent known in nature and it can cause severe disruption in one’s nervous and respiratory systems and can lead to muscular paralysis.

The baby’s mother told Channel 2 she suspected something was wrong when he stopped eating and he could not put liquids in his mouth. She added his eyes were drooping, prompting her to head to the hospital.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Officials in Yerushalayim are of the opinion that Interpol will not honor the request from a Turkish court regarding arrest warrants for former senior IDF commanders. The Turkish court is seeking international arrest warrants against IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Naval Commander Rear Admiral Eliezer Merom, Chief of Intelligence Amos Yadlin and Air Intelligence Chief Avishai Levi for their role in the Marvi Mamara raid, referring to the terrorist flotilla that tried to break the IDF marina blockade on Gaza.

If this is the case officials point out the former senior officers simply have to avoid visiting Turkey and nothing more. The experts in Jerusalem are quoted saying the nature of the case and the court’s request as such that it is most unlikely that Interpol will comply.

Nevertheless a meeting is scheduled in the Prime Minister’s Office later this week, to include legal experts to discuss the latest developments in the seemingly never-ending Marvi Marmara affair.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Talmidei yeshiva from Bat Yam were attacked by Arabs near the Shar Shechem entrance to the Old City on Yom Yerushalayim in the morning, Wednesday, 28 Iyar. One of the rabbonim accompanying the group was also injured.

In honor of Yom Yerushalayim dozens of talmidim from Yeshivas Netivot Yisrael from Bat Yam visited the capital, led by Rabbi David Chai HaKohen and other rabbonim from the yeshiva. They entered the Old City at Shar Shechem dancing and singing when they were targeted by Arabs with stones.

The victims added that the Arab shop owners became agitated by their song, prompting them to begin shouting they are the owners of Jerusalem, not the Jews. One Arab used pepper spray against the talmidim and rabbonim. He fled the scene immediately. He was later apprehended by police and taken into custody.

The group remained undeterred and while the rabbonim planned to file a complaint with police, they decided their first stop would be the Kosel. They point out that despite the expectation of tens of thousands of visitors; there were no police visible in the area of Shar Shechem.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The hackers are winning, according to a survey of 500 executives of U.S. businesses, law enforcement services and government agencies released Wednesday.

The 12th annual survey of cybercrime trends found that online attackers determined to break into computers, steal information and interfere with business are more technologically advanced than those trying to stop them.

The survey was co-sponsored by San Jose, California-based business consulting firm PwC, the U.S. Secret Service, the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and CSO security news magazine.

Three out of four respondents said they had detected a security breach in the past year, and the average number of security intrusions was 135 per organization, the survey found.

“Despite substantial investments in cybersecurity technologies, cyber criminals continue to find ways to circumvent these technologies in order to obtain sensitive information that they can monetize,” Ed Lowery, who heads the U.S. Secret Service’s criminal investigative division, said in a written statement.

Lowery said companies and the government need to take “a radically different approach to cybersecurity,” which goes beyond antivirus software, training employees, working closely with contractors and setting up tighter processes.

The top five cyberattack methods reported in the survey were malware, phishing, network interruption, spyware and denial-of-service attacks. And 28 percent of respondents said the attackers were insiders, either contractors or current and former employees or service providers, according to the survey.

(AP)