Latest news with #YomKippur
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Dead chickens placed in odd position on ritzy NYC block — sparking ‘animal sacrifice' claims
The chickens didn't cross the road — but still made it to the other side. Two slaughtered chickens were found on an Upper West Side median in an odd position that has activists worried they were killed in an animal sacrifice ritual. The birds were found Saturday lined up with their feet facing at West 89th Street and Broadway less than a year after similar fowl play three blocks away on Broadway and West 92nd Street, local publication West Side Rag reported. '[It] appears to be animal sacrifice to me,' John Di Leonardo, executive director of Humane Long Island, told The Post. 'It's illegal for live slaughter markets to sell live birds to the public but we know they do it often,' he said. 'From Buddhists releasing live animals in Central Park who die if not recovered to birds tied to trees for Santeria in public parks to Shaktis killing pigs near Gateway National Park – to whatever this is.' Edita Birnkrant, of animal advocacy group NYCLASS, said 'it clearly was done purposely and placed in a visible spot. 'They look healthier than the birds usually look at live markets,' she added. 'The nearest live poultry market is in Harlem so I don't know [if] that's the culprit.' By Tuesday, the birds had been removed but not everyone was uneasy about the birds. 'I'm almost kind of glad,' said Harold Steinblatt, a self-described 'frequent bench-sitter' and longtime Upper West Side resident who said the incident sounded 'cultish.' 'That means it's not just all rich hedge fund managers here,' he said. 'Or maybe it was a disgruntled hedge fund manager who was the culprit.' Chickens are the most common sacrifice in the Santeria Afro-Caribbean religion, according to the BBC. The Supreme Court upheld the right to animal sacrifice on religious grounds in 1993 — but according to New York laws, aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Evidence of sacrificial killings have been reported across the five boroughs, with chickens, pigs and even rats killed in 'twisted' religious rituals in parkland surrounding Jamaica Bay in Queens. In Upper Manhattan, whole dead chickens and cows, as well as fish and eggs, have been found as offerings on crypts at Old Trinity Cemetery, according to Scouting NY. Thousands of chickens are also killed each year in the Big Apple ahead of Yom Kippur during the ultra-orthodox Jewish ritual of Kaporos, which involves slitting a chicken's throat, per ABC New York.
New York Post
27-05-2025
- New York Post
Dead chickens placed in odd position on ritzy NYC block — sparking ‘animal sacrifice' claims
The chickens didn't cross the road — but still made it to the other side. Two slaughtered chickens were found on an Upper West Side median in an odd position that has activists worried they were killed in an animal sacrifice ritual. The birds were found Saturday lined up with their feet facing at West 89th Street and Broadway less than a year after similar fowl play three blocks away on Broadway and West 92nd Street, local publication West Side Rag reported. Advertisement '[It] appears to be animal sacrifice to me,' John Di Leonardo, executive director of Humane Long Island, told The Post. 'It's illegal for live slaughter markets to sell live birds to the public but we know they do it often,' he said. 'From Buddhists releasing live animals in Central Park who die if not recovered to birds tied to trees for Santeria in public parks to Shaktis killing pigs near Gateway National Park – to whatever this is.' Advertisement Edita Birnkrant, of animal advocacy group NYCLASS, said 'it clearly was done purposely and placed in a visible spot. 'They look healthier than the birds usually look at live markets,' she added. 'The nearest live poultry market is in Harlem so I don't know [if] that's the culprit.' A pair of dead chickens were bizarrely found on an Upper West Side curb median on Broadway over the weekend. J.C. Rice Advertisement By Tuesday, the birds had been removed but not everyone was uneasy about the birds. 'I'm almost kind of glad,' said Harold Steinblatt, a self-described 'frequent bench-sitter' and longtime Upper West Side resident who said the incident sounded 'cultish.' 'That means it's not just all rich hedge fund managers here,' he said. 'Or maybe it was a disgruntled hedge fund manager who was the culprit.' Advertisement The dead chickens (not pictured) being found occurred less than a year after another pair were discovered three blocks away, as animal activists believe these are sacrificial killings. Hanoi Photography – Chickens are the most common sacrifice in the Santeria Afro-Caribbean religion, according to the BBC. The Supreme Court upheld the right to animal sacrifice on religious grounds in 1993 — but according to New York laws, aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Evidence of sacrificial killings have been reported across the five boroughs, with chickens, pigs and even rats killed in 'twisted' religious rituals in parkland surrounding Jamaica Bay in Queens. In Upper Manhattan, whole dead chickens and cows, as well as fish and eggs, have been found as offerings on crypts at Old Trinity Cemetery, according to Scouting NY. Thousands of chickens are also killed each year in the Big Apple ahead of Yom Kippur during the ultra-orthodox Jewish ritual of Kaporos, which involves slitting a chicken's throat, per ABC New York.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Portland City Council approves $171.8 million school budget
May 19—The Portland City Council unanimously approved the $171.8 million school budget on Monday night, which will account for a 5.3% increase in the schools portion of the property tax rate. For the owner of a median-priced $500,000 home, the budget would raise property taxes by $210 per year. The budget approved on Monday is $28,000 higher than the budget Superintendent Ryan Scallon presented to the council's finance committee in March. Sarah Lentz, who chairs the Portland Board of Public Education, explained in a note to the council ahead of the meeting that when the budget was originally crafted the district had not yet received notice of the cost of employee medical premiums. At the time it was estimated that medical premium expenses would climb by 6%, but she said the district recently learned that the actual increase for medical premiums will be 9.6%, $350,969 more than was originally budgeted for. Additionally, she wrote that the board's decision in April to add the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr to the school holiday calendar will cost about $130,000. In order to keep the budget from skyrocketing the district opted to make reductions. The board eliminated the Multilingual Center's AmeriCorps contract, restructured the student enrollment process and adjusted two positions from full-time to four and three days a week, respectively. The school budget the council approved this year is about $10 million higher than the $161.4 million school budget approved last year and brings a smaller property tax increase than last time. In her note, Lentz wrote that special education, multilingual learners and early childhood capacity were budget priorities this year. New expenditures in the budget include $800,000 for kindergarten literacy staff and more than $1 million for new school and central office-based special education staff, based on an outside review of the district's special education programming There's also $200,000 for two music teachers, something educators and parents advocated for at the district's first budget workshop in February. The budget includes funding for a staff member to prepare the district for taking on early childhood special education — a response to a bill that passed in the Legislature last year transferring responsibility of providing services to 3- and 4-year-olds from Child Development Services to local school districts. That change takes effect in 2028. Several people spoke in favor of the budget during the public comment period. Gabriel Terraciano, a Grammy nominated violinist who attended Portland Public Schools, spoke in favor of the addition of new music teachers. "I'm a former PPS student and I'm a professional musician," he said. "There are so many things in my life that I can trace back to the music educators who I was around." Evan Smith, the parent of a child with an Individual Education Plan, said that while he supports the budget, the new investments in special education aren't enough. "There is a portion of this budget for special education that does not come close to meeting the needs of existing IEPs," he said. "It just doesn't come close." A few council members spoke during discussions, expressing support for the budget. Councilor Ben Grant, who previously served on the school board, urged other councilors to support the budget. "If we continue down this path to pass supportive budgets for the school system I think we can keep telling our neighbors this is the right place to be," he said. "I think schools should get a bajillion dollars but I appreciate the times we are in," said Councilor Anna Bullett. Councilor Regina Phillips emphasized the need for more investment in adult education programs in the future. "I just want us to remember how important our adult education program is and maybe next year really and truly look at that program with a fine tooth comb to make sure we're really and truly doing everything we can for our adult learners" The council also heard a first read of the $285 million general fund budget on Monday night, which is not expected to go to a vote until June 23. Copy the Story Link
Gulf News
04-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf News
Saudis double down on seismic OPEC+ shift to sink oil prices
As Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman addressed his OPEC+ counterparts on a video call to ratify the group's second huge supply increase in as many months, he invoked a surprising historical precedent: the 1973 oil embargo imposed by major OPEC nations that sent crude prices soaring. The parallel to today, the prince suggested, was that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had withstood tough times in the past — and its unity was just as crucial now. That cohesion is being tested. Saturday's decision to push more output into an already-cratering oil market suggests Riyadh is doubling down on a radical strategy shift: after spending much of the past decade curtailing output to shore up the market, it's now willing to drive down prices as it seeks to punish members who have cheated on their quotas. The move looks to set to deepen a rout in crude futures, which crashed to a four-year low below $60 a barrel last month following the alliance's previous supply dump. It threatens to stoke fears of a price war within the cartel and squeeze the state budgets of producers including the Saudis themselves. But it's also likely to mollify the most important fixture in Riyadh's geopolitical firmament: US President Donald Trump, a longstanding critic of OPEC who has called for cheaper oil and will visit the region in just over a week. Such a gesture marks a sharp contrast with the 1970s supply shock, which aimed to punish western governments for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur war. Riyadh's actions over the past month have dovetailed with those of the White House. Its surprise supply boost on April 3 came just hours after Trump launched a trade war against China and other economies that sent financial markets and oil futures into a tailspin. The next meeting had been set for May 5, but with less than a day's notice the conference call was brought forward to Saturday. Like last month, the group agreed to unleash another 411,000 barrels per day in June. The prince's history lesson was a sobering rebuke for Iraq and Kazakhstan, whose representatives sought to defend their inability to comply during the video call, said people who attended and asked not to be identified. It's far from the first time Saudi Arabia has sought to punish recalcitrant countries into submission. 'A deliberate 'sweating' to instill discipline has occurred twice since 2014 — roughly five years apart — and both episodes continued until group cohesion was restored,' said Bob McNally, president and founder of Rapidan Energy Advisers LLC and a former White House energy official. Yet so far the 'controlled sweating' has shown little sign of success. In Kazakhstan in particular, the government reiterated it has little influence on production decisions at projects that are operated by foreign firms, and and emphasized that revenue from oil production helps to support its population. The comments came just a day after Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Mike Wirth told analysts the company had received no instructions to rein in its massive Tengiz oil project that is largely responsible for a recent surge in Kazakhstan's production. There could be further punishment in store. Russia, which jointly leads OPEC+, cautioned attendees that it — alongside the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates — has considerable unused production capacity to deploy, and urged fellow members to respect their quotas. 'Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait could all produce much more today. And we have potential projects and their development plans, but we are holding back production,' Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at the Saturday meeting of the OPEC+ countries, according to a broadcast by Russian state TV. Yet the failure to discipline OPEC+'s quota violators has persuaded many analysts that Riyadh's objectives lie outside the cartel. 'With this move Saudi Arabia is seeking to punish lack of compliance particularly from Kazakhstan but also ingratiate with President Trump's push for lower oil prices' said Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy A/S, who previously worked at the OPEC secretariat. The kingdom had long sought a deeper security ties with Washington, a partnership that grows all the more critical as Trump pursues a nuclear pact with the Saudis' regional rival and fellow OPEC member, Iran. While the US's negotiations with Tehran have been volatile, they could ultimately ease sanctions on its oil trade and strengthen the Islamic Republic's regional standing. OPEC+ nations may also be seeking to recoup market share that the group yielded during years of cutbacks, and fend off the growth of rival producers in the US and other parts of the Americas. Years of supply restraint has helped finance their competitors and proved, to an extent, self-defeating. 'Today's decision is a definitive message that the Saudi led group is changing strategy and pursuing market share after years of cutting production,' Leon said.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Teen in custody over plans to attack synagogue in Germany's Halle
A 19-year-old has been arrested after being suspected of planning to attack the synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle, which was the target of a fatal right-wing extremist attack some six years earlier. Prosecutors said on Tuesday that the man, who was arrested in Switzerland on February 14, is said to have repeatedly stated plans to attack the synagogue in a Telegram chat group and acquired a long gun in February. Prosecutors believe he was motivated by right-wing extremist beliefs. At the request of the public prosecutor's office, the Halle district court issued an arrest warrant for the 19-year-old on charges of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state in conjunction with unauthorized possession of a firearm. According to the public prosecutor's office, the man denies having been serious about putting the plan into action. "During the arrest, in addition to electronic means of communication, which are still being analysed, a functional long gun was also seized," the public prosecutor's office said. The accused was extradited and handed over to the German authorities on April 22. On October 9, 2019, an armed neo-Nazi attempted to storm the synagogue as the congregation was marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. When he failed to break through the fortified entrance door, he shot and killed a 40-year-old passer-by as well as a 20-year-old man at a nearby kebab shop. He went on to injure further people as he tried to evade arrest, before police managed to stop him. The attacker is serving a life sentence in prison for two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.
