Jerusalem – Some 208,000 Holocaust survivors remain in Israel, 66 years after the end of World War II, a non-profit organization which assists the aging victims said Sunday.

Half of them are older than 80, and every day about 35 die, said the Tel Aviv-based Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel.

It published the results on the eve of Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was to begin at sunset Sunday and end at sunset Monday.

A state ceremony at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial institute Sunday evening was to open the 24 hours of memorial services.

On Monday, a two-minute siren is scheduled to wail throughout the country and Israel will come to a standstill, with cars stopping in the streets and pedestrians pausing in honour of the 6 million Jews who were murdered in World War II.

Some 74,000 are direct survivors of the camps and ghettos, while the remaining 134,000 are Holocaust refugees – European Jews who survived the war by fleeing the Nazi horrors or going into hiding.

While in the early years after Israel’s foundation in 1948, Holocaust survivors made up about half the country’s Jewish population, they today form under 4 per cent.

Their number is dwindling fast – about nearly 13,000 die each year, said the Holocaust survivors foundation.

That means that in some 16 years no one will be left in Israel to tell the story of the Holocaust first hand.

The foundation commissioned a study by an Israeli-Jewish American social research centre, the Meyers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, which found that the remaining survivors sometimes live in difficult conditions.

Some 40 per cent of the survivors reported loneliness. Around 20 per cent said they did not have enough heating in the winter. About 5 per cent said they did not have enough food, while another 25 per cent said they had enough to meet their daily needs, but not the kind they would like. Many also suffer from age-related health problems.

Foundation chairman Elazar Stern said the results of the study showed that the need for assistance among aging Holocaust survivors would only grow in the coming years.

‘The young generation won’t forgive us if we don’t care for the older generation with the respect that it deserves,’ he said.

‘We are in a race against time,’ added CEO Rony Kalinsky, noting that also those without socio-economic problems needed help ‘coping with loneliness and the distress that stems from their harsh past.’

Washington – President Barack Obama exacted his revenge Saturday after weeks of attacks from his would-be Republican challenger Donald Trump, joking that the billionaire businessman could bring change to the White House, transforming it from a stately mansion into a tacky casino with a whirlpool in the garden.

With Trump in attendance, Obama used the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner to mock the reality TV star’s presidential ambitions. The president said Trump has shown the acumen of a future president, from firing Gary Busey on a recent episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” to focusing so much time on conspiracy theories about Obama’s birthplace.

After a week when Obama released his long-form Hawaii birth certificate, he said Trump could now focus on the serious issues, from whether the moon landing actually happened to “where are Biggie and Tupac?”

“No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than ‘the Donald,'” Obama said, referring to Trump’s claims the same day that he was responsible for solving the issue.

For Trump’s decision to fire actor Busey instead of rock singer Meat Loaf from his TV show earlier this month, Obama quipped: “These are the types of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir.”

And then, as a coup de grace, Obama showed a screen with his vision of how Trump could bring change to the White House. “Trump” was prominently displayed in glittery letters and girls could be seen with cocktails on a Jacuzzi-augmented front lawn.

Trump chuckled at some of the earlier jokes, but was clearly less amused as comedian Seth Meyers picked up where Obama left off.

“Donald Trump often talks about running as a Republican, which is surprising,” said the Saturday Night Live actor, entrusted with providing some of the comedy for the evening. “I just assumed he was running as a joke.”

Trump stared icily at Meyers as he continued to criticize the real estate tycoon.

Obama and Trump found themselves in the same room after an intense week of attacks from Trump, who has piggybacked on the birther conspiracies and even Obama’s refusal to release his university grades to raise the profile of his possible presidential bid.

And the birth certificate was clearly the key punchline for the evening, which typically offers the president a chance to show off his humorous side and a town consumed by politics and partisanship to enjoy a light-hearted affair.

Obama’s presentation started after the wrestler Hulk Hogan’s patriotic anthem, “Real American,” played. Images of Americana from Mount Rushmore to Uncle Sam were shown on the screen, alongside his birth certificate. And then he offered to show his live birth video, which turned out to be a clip from the Disney film, “The Lion King.”

On the serious side, Obama took time to thank the troops for their service overseas and noted that the people of the South, especially Alabama, have suffered heart-wrenching losses.

“The devastation is unbelievable and it is heartbreaking,” he said. He encouraged the journalists in the room to help tell the stories of those who have been hurt by the storms and saluted those who lost their lives while covering the news.

Other possible Republican presidential hopefuls in attendance were former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Rep. Michele Bachmann and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. And stars such as Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson also were among the more than 2,500 people who attended.

The association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the dinner. Some of the proceeds from the dinner pay for journalism scholarships for college students.

Several journalists will also be honored at the dinner:

— Dan Balz of The Washington Post and Jake Tapper of ABC News, for winning the Merriman Smith Award for presidential coverage under deadline pressure. Balz won for coverage of an unexpected appearance by Obama and former President Bill Clinton at a White House briefing, and Tapper won for revealing that Obama would ask Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair to resign.

— Peter Baker of The New York Times, for winning the Aldo Beckman award for sustained excellence in White House coverage, for stories dubbed “the education of a president.”

— Michael Berens of The Seattle Times, for winning the Edgar A. Poe Award for excellence in coverage of news of national or regional significance. Berens uncovered flaws in a health care plan for seniors that resulted in neglect, abuse and even death.

Israel – Pro-Palestinian hackers broke into Yisrael Beiteinu’s website and placed a photograph of the Palestinian flag next to an Egyptian pyramid on the site’s homepage.

The hackers wrote under the photograph: “In response to Lieberman extremists, we hacked into the website of Yisrael Beiteinu, the party of the criminal Avigdor Lieberman, the Zionist entity’s foreign minister.” The text also included statements supporting the Palestinian reconciliation agreement, which was signed “in spite of Zionist opposition.”

Cleveland, OH – The federal public defender’s office in Cleveland filed a motion Friday asking to be re-appointed as co-counsel for alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk, claiming the retired auto worker’s trial in Germany has been tainted by a secret FBI report uncovered by The Associated Press.

The AP reported this month that the 1985 file indicated the FBI believed a Nazi ID card purportedly showing Demjanjuk served as a death camp guard was a Soviet-made fake.

Demjanjuk’s defense attorneys have repeatedly claimed that the card and other evidence against him are Soviet forgeries. The FBI report provides the first known confirmation that American investigators had similar doubts.

The filing in U.S. District Court in Cleveland said the public defender’s office wants to protect the legal interests of its “former client.” Demjanjuk, 90, was represented by the public defender during various legal proceedings before he was deported in 2009 to stand trial in Munich.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the motion Friday.

Demjanjuk is accused of more than 28,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as a guard at a death camp. He denies the charges.

The filing said the public defender’s office “cannot stand idly by after learning proceedings in which it was directly involved may have been irreparably tainted by government misconduct.”

Throughout three decades of U.S. hearings, an extradition, a death sentence followed by acquittal in Israel, a deportation and now a trial in Munich, the arguments have relied heavily on the photo ID from an SS training camp that indicates Demjanjuk was sent to Sobibor.

Two weeks ago, the German court rejected a defense request to suspend the trial so that defense attorneys could travel to the U.S. to examine the new material. The defense has repeatedly tried to have the trial suspended or otherwise delayed since it opened in Nov. 2009. A verdict is expected next month.

Even though Demjanjuk’s longtime U.S. lawyer, Michael Tigar, has offered to work on the case for free, the public defender’s office said if he had to work alone it would be “terribly unfair in light of the complicated and extensive history” of the case.

The public defender’s office said it couldn’t predict what might come of its renewed involvement, but said it was determined “to ensure the protection of Mr. Demjanjuk’s legal rights.”

Israel – This Passover wasn’t all matzah for many Israelis. The sales of chametz products at the non-kosher Tiv Taam supermarket chain – including bagels, bread, pita bread, crackers and frozen pastries – were up 22% compared to last year, while the sales of beer jumped by 33%.

An adjusted calculation including the beer points to a 27% rise in chametz sales compared to last year’s holiday. “This is a phenomenal increase for us,” says the chain’s Sales Manager Amit Ze’ev.

Tiv Taam, the only retail chain which was opened on all days of the holiday and sold leavened food, reported that pita bread was its second most wanted product during Passover, with sales of as many as 600,000 “loaves” of pita of different types. The most wanted product was entrecote steak, 27 tons of which were sold throughout the holiday.

According to Ze’ev, the rise in sales was recorded throughout the country. “The second holiday saw a 600% increase in our proceeds compared to a regular day,” he noted.

More at Ynetnews

Williamsburg, NY – Tired of meager tips from customers who clearly have some cash, one delivery guy in Brooklyn—Williamsburg, to be exact—is striking back by calling out lousy tippers on his blog, and gathering tips from readers where workers can name and shame customers who are not generous when it comes to paying the bill, he leaves names, addresses, and locations unredacted.

Angry waiters and delivery drivers post the name and address of people they think are stingy on the 15 Per Cent blog, along with a photo of the receipt for the offending order.

Larry Fox, 20, who created the blog, said he hopes his novel approach will make people embarrassed of their disgracefully small tips.

‘15 Per Cent is a blog documenting people and companies who have never seemed to work in the service industry, or don’t think to tip at least 15 per cent on deliveries, and instead opt for two dollars on everything,’ he wrote on the site.

‘This is for all the people who have been handed $80 on a $78 order and told “keep the change”.’

NAMED AND SHAMED

[Address] tipped me a whopping $0.50 to ride though a thunderstorm for him. Sometimes this gig makes me so misanthropic. Mikey

[Address] tipped me one dollar to bring him a sandwich during a hail/rain/thunder storm….I hate you

No tip [Address] last night, in middle of third monsoon of evening. elevator opens, i drip on floor, he laughs at me. i say 20 dollars, he says here’s 20 dollars. Sam

Another entry, submitted by an anonymous delivery person named Mikey, reads: ‘Went out into a Level Two Snow Emergency (We are not even supposed to be delivering, but dedication wins out over common sense) And got a whopping 0.50 tip from the guy.’

Washington – President Barack Obama proclaimed May as Jewish-American month…..

Excerpt from President Obama proclamation…..

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2011 as Jewish American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to visit www.JewishHeritageMonth.gov to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies.

Entire proclamation….

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release April 29, 2011
JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, 2011
– – – – – – –
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Since before our Nation’s founding, America’s shores have been a safe harbor for people seeking shelter, hope, and new lives free from persecution. Here, people of all faiths have broken bread, come together, and built a better future for their families. The Jewish story is intertwined with the American story — one of overcoming great hardship, and one of commitment to building a more just world. This month, we embrace and celebrate the vast contributions Jewish Americans have made to our country.
Seeking a brighter future, a small band of Jewish refugees came to this land more than three centuries ago, to a place called New Amsterdam. Hundreds of years later, as Holocaust survivors and families caught behind the Iron Curtain made their way to America, their perseverance in the face of unimaginable tragedy inspired the world and proved that the Jewish people will not be defeated. Many endured bigotry even here, reminding us that we must continue to fight prejudice and violence at home and around the globe. In this spirit, President Truman recognized the small, fledgling nation of Israel within minutes of its creation. To this day, we continue to foster an unbreakable partnership with Israel, and we remain committed to pursuing peace in the region and ensuring Israel’s security.

From those first days in New Amsterdam, Jewish Americans have dedicated their innovation, creativity, and hearts to the greater good — contributing scientific accomplishments, pioneering works of literature and musical genius, and performing distinguished service in our Nation’s military. Jewish Americans have defended our country since the days of the American Revolution as devoted service members and chaplains, and they continue to serve with distinction in our Armed Forces.
Nearly 70 years ago, during World War II, the U.S.A.T. Dorchester suffered an explosion at sea while carrying almost a thousand soldiers and civilian workers. On board were four Army chaplains — two Protestant, one Catholic, and one Jewish. While the ship sank, the four chaplains gave their own life jackets to four men without any, calmed the wounded, and preached strength to the survivors, linking arms and praying together as the ship submerged. In a time of great need, these chaplains showed that their shared commitment to the lives of others was stronger than any division of faith or background.
2
This same spirit is found in the countless Jewish Americans who, through their every day actions, work to provide a better life for future generations by joining hands with all who seek equality and progress. This month, we remember that the history and unique identity of Jewish Americans is part of the grand narrative of our country, forged in the friendships and shared wisdom between people of different faiths.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2011 as Jewish American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to visit www.JewishHeritageMonth.gov to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of April, in the year two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA

Queens, NY – Two New York City police officers ran into some unexpected trouble when they pulled over a vehicle carrying one of the city’s more powerful officials, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

Walcott was a few blocks from his Queens home just before midnight Thursday when his city-owned vehicle was pulled over by plain-clothed officers in an anti-crime unit. Walcott was a passenger.

The chancellor’s spokeswoman, Natalie Ravitz, said the driver hadn’t done anything wrong, and Walcott spoke up.

“When Chancellor Walcott asked the officers to please tell him why they had been pulled over, the officer responded that they had failed to use a turn signal,” she told the New York Post. “Chancellor Walcott told the officers that this was incorrect as he heard the turn signal.”

After Walcott identified himself, the officers ran a license check and let the vehicle go without writing a ticket.

“There was no traffic violation, and at no time did Chancellor Walcott ask that any ticket be waived,” Ravitz told The AP in an email. She said Walcott asked one officer for her badge number, but neither she nor the other officer identified themselves.

The Post said Walcott later complained to the police commissioner.

A department spokesman, Sgt. Carlos Nieves, said the internal affairs bureau is reviewing the incident.

Like other police departments, the NYPD has been criticized over the years by black motorists who have complained about being stopped for minor or nonexistent violations. In 2008, a white officer was disciplined by the department after he unknowingly confronted a black motorist parked on the street who turned out to be a high-ranking NYPD commander.

Walcott, a former deputy mayor who worked with the police department in the 1990s on improving community relations, is black.

Asked whether Walcott believed race was a factor, Ravitz declined to comment. She also declined to disclose the driver’s name, saying he had done nothing wrong.

“NYC has the best police force in the world, and Chancellor Walcott has a long history of working with the NYPD and respects that the police were there to protect the neighborhood,” she said.

Jersey City, NJ – Authorities say it’s still not clear what sparked a police-involved shooting inside the Holland Tunnel that left one suspect wounded and two Port Authority police officers shaken up.

The incident Friday night also shut down the tunnel’s New Jersey-to-New York lanes, causing a massive traffic jam that lasted several hours.

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said the incident began around 6:10 p.m., when police saw 19-year-old Jahaad Sanders of Brooklyn, N.Y. commit a motor vehicle violation after he drove a sport utility vehicle through a tunnel toll booth in Jersey City. But a pursuit ensued when Sanders refused to stop, and witnesses say he then tried to use the vehicle as a weapon while driving inside the tunnel.

Officers soon fired four shots at the vehicle, hitting Sanders once in the right forearm, but his wound was not considered life-threatening.

Sanders and his lone passenger, 24-year-old Lorenzo Dease of Brooklyn, were both taken into custody and were later taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for treatment. Coleman said two Port Authority police officers sustained minor injuries in the incident and were treated at Jersey City Medical Center and later released.

No other injuries were reported, But the tunnel’s south tube was shut down for about six hours due to the incident, causing major backups as drivers were diverted to the New Jersey Turnpike and numerous local roadways.

Sanders and Dease were both charged with criminal attempt, aggravated assault, carjacking, eluding, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest. They also face charges of illegal possession of a weapon — the car — and possessing it for an unlawful purpose.

Libya – A NATO missile struck a house in Tripoli where Moammar Gadhafi and his wife were staying on Saturday, killing his youngest son and three grandchildren but missing the Libyan leader, a government spokesman said.

The strike would be a significant blow to the morale of the regime, which is struggling to maintain its hold on the western half of the country despite weeks of NATO-led airstrikes. It came just hours after Gadhafi called for a mutual cease-fire and negotiations with NATO powers to end a six-week bombing campaign.

Seif al-Arab Gadhafi was the brother of the better known Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, who was widely promoted as a reformer before the uprising began on Feb. 15. The younger Gadhafi had spent much of his time in Germany in recent years.

Moammar Gadhafi and his wife were in the Tripoli house of his 29-year-old son when it was hit by at least one bomb dropped from a NATO warplane, according to Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.

“The leader himself is in good health,” Ibrahim said. “He was not harmed. The wife is also in good health.”

On Tuesday, British Defense Minister Liam Fox and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that NATO planes were not targeting Gadhafi specifically but would continue to attack his command centers. White House spokesman Shin Inouye declined to comment on the developments in Libya, referring questions to NATO.

Ibrahim said Seif al-Arab had studied at a German university but had not yet completed his studies.

“The attack resulted in the martyrdom of brother Seif al-Arab Gadhafi and three of the leader’s grandchildren,” Ibrahim said.

Seif al-Arab “was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed,” Ibrahim said.

Journalists taken to the walled complex of one-story buildings in a residential Tripoli neighborhood saw heavy bomb damage. The blast had torn down the ceiling of one building and left a huge pile of rubble and twisted metal on the ground.

Ibrahim said the airstrike was an attempt to “assassinate the leader of this country,” which he said violated international law.

Heavy bursts of gunfire were heard in Tripoli after the attack.

Gadhafi had seven sons and one daughter. The Libyan leader also had an adopted daughter who was killed in a 1986 U.S. airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziya residential compound. That strike — which was separate from the area struck on Saturday — came in retaliation for the bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The U.S. at the time blamed Libya for the disco blast.

Seif’s mother is Safiya Farkash, Gadhafi’s second wife and a former nurse.

Gadhafi railed again foreign intervention earlier Saturday, saying Libyans have the right to choose their own political system but not under the threat of NATO bombings.

“The door to peace is open,” Gadhafi said. “You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you. Come, France, Italy, U.K., America, come to negotiate with us. Why are you attacking us?”

In Brussels, a NATO official said before Saturday’s fatal strike that the alliance needed “to see not words but actions,” and vowed the alliance would keep up the pressure until the U.N. Security Council mandate on Libya is fulfilled. NATO has promised to continue operations until all attacks and threats against civilians have ceased, all of Gadhafi’s forces have returned to bases and full humanitarian access is granted.

The NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to policy, noted that Gadhafi’s forces had shelled Misrata and tried to mine the city’s port just hours before his speech.

“The regime has announced cease-fires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians,” the official said.

“All this has to stop, and it has to stop now,” the official said.

Rebel leaders have said they will only lay down their arms and begin talks after Gadhafi and his sons step aside. Gadhafi has repeatedly refused to resign.

A rebel spokesman, Jalal al-Galal, called the cease-fire offer a publicity stunt.

“We don’t believe that there is a solution that includes him or any member of his family. So it is well past any discussions. The only solution is for him to depart,” he said.

Montreal, Canada – During a campaign tour today, Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper made a stop at a Hasidic owned kosher bakery.

The PM handed out challah bread to customers at the kosher quality bakery in Montreal. The bakery owner Daniel Klein, a Belzer Chasid was surprised at the unscheduled visit.

See below Photos:

Trenton, NJ – The Federal Transit Administration has determined that New Jersey must repay the federal government the entire $271 million it spent on early design and engineering work for a New Jersey-New York train tunnel that Gov. Chris Christie scrapped.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the decision Friday in a letter to New Jersey’s congressional delegation and in a 52-page report sent to the Christie administration from the FTA’s Budget and Policy office. The Associated Press obtained copies of both documents.

Christie abandoned the project over what he said were escalating costs.

In the letter, LaHood calls Christie’s decision to cancel the tunnel unfortunate. He says Christie and leaders at the state’s mass transit agency willfully broke the contract for the tunnel.

LaHood says the cost range was known since 2008.

Toronto, Canada -Until a few days ago, Monday’s election looked set to give Canada four more years of Conservative government. Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be out of a job if polls are right in predicting a late surge for the left.

The unexpected gains for the New Democratic Party have upended previous soundings that predicted the Conservatives would get enough votes to form a minority government, perhaps even a majority one. Now a new scenario has emerged in which the New Democrats and the Liberals together win enough seats to eventually form a coalition.

“We’ve had an earthquake here and it’s all happening very quickly,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor at the University of Toronto, after EKOS, a private polling company, gave the Conservatives 33.7 percent, the New Democrats 28 and the Liberals 23.7. The pollsters said they questioned 3,000 voters and gave a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points. A series of other polls have since reported similar results.

It was a shock on two levels: for suggesting the Conservatives might be edged out of office by a late surge, and for predicting that the New Democrats would eclipse the Liberals, throughout Canadian history the party either in power or leading the opposition.

The sudden shift reflected in the polls raised another, even more improbable scenario: that the New Democrats would win the most votes and leader Jack Layton, a little known figure outside Canada, would become prime minister. A poll published Thursday by The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey put Layton’s party just five percentage points behind the Conservatives.

“Nothing is off the table right now. We could have a New Democrat-led coalition, we could have a Conservative majority or we could even have the Liberals finish ahead of the New Democrats and a Liberal-led coalition,” said Lawrence Martin, a political columnist for The Globe and Mail newspaper.

Harper, in power since 2006, has won two elections but never with a majority. Yet although his hold on the 308-member Parliament is tenuous, he has managed to nudge an instinctively center-left country to the right. He has gradually lowered sales and corporate taxes, avoided climate change legislation, backed the oil industry against the environmental lobby, upped military spending and extended Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan.

Former colleagues of Harper say his long-term goals are to kill the image of the Liberals — the party of Jean Chretien, Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau — as the natural party of government in Canada, and to redefine what it means to be Canadian.

Harper comes from the conservative western province of Alberta and “He’s trying to say ‘I represent Canadian values. Canadian values are really Conservative values,'” says Gerry Nicholls, who worked under Harper at a conservative think tank.

“It’s Tim Hortons versus Starbucks,” he says, using a political shorthand that contrasts the nation’s favorite chain of coffee and doughnut shops, named after the ice hockey star who founded it, to the more upmarket, urban American import.

Nicholls and others say the New Democrats’ surge may suit Harper by defining the contest in clearer terms of left vs. right, and winning over enough undecided voters to gain a majority.

But the latest polls suggest that hope is fading.

The New Democrats’ gains are being attributed to Layton’s strong performance in the debates, a cheerful, upbeat message and a desire by the French-speakers in Quebec, the second most populous province, for a new face.

“People are saying let’s make some change happen,” said Layton, who served as a longtime former city councilor in liberal Toronto.

The campaign started out looking like a straight battle between Harper and the Liberals’ Michael Ignatieff, with 60-year-old Layton recovering from prostate cancer and a broken hip. His party was scoring 14 to 18 percent in polls. In the Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey it hit 30 percent, and a photo of him wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey and pouring a beer during the hockey playoffs has gone viral in Quebec.

Layton favors higher taxes and more social spending. He has been a critic of Alberta’s oil sands sector, the world’s second largest oil reserves but a major polluter. Canada is the No. 1 source of oil for the U.S.

Harper said the New Democrats stood for “higher taxes, higher spending, higher prices, protectionism. He called the election a choice between “a Conservative majority” and “a ramshackle coalition led by the NDP that will not last but will do a lot of destruction.”

Harper is counting on the economy to help him. Canada has outperformed other major industrialized democracies through the financial crisis, recovering almost all jobs lost during the recession while its banking sector remains intact.

The only area that has not felt his conservative touch is the social one: he has said he will not tinker with Canada’s liberal abortion and gay rights laws.

Washington – The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday replaced three top managers in the nation’s air traffic control system following embarrassing incidents of controllers sleeping on the job and making potentially dangerous mistakes.

In a shake-up of the system, new managers were appointed to key positions that oversee the operation of airport towers and regional radar centers that handle planes flying at high altitudes as well as approaches and departures, the agency said in a statement. A new manager was also appointed to run a regional radar center near Cleveland. The previous managers are being reassigned.

The performance of mid-level managers is also being reassessed, the FAA said. And teams of experts are examining several of the agency’s more complex facilities, including the Cleveland center and on Long Island in New York, to ensure agency policies are being followed and professional standards upheld.

Earlier this month, a controller working an overnight shift at the Cleveland center was suspended for watching a DVD movie while he was supposed to be directing air traffic. In February, a supervisor at the Long Island center complained that controllers on late night shifts routinely took naps during breaks and played electronic games when traffic was light.

On Wednesday, FAA replaced the acting manager of a regional radar facility in Warrenton, Va., that handles approaches and departures for airports in Virginia and Maryland. The action came a week after a controller at the facility allowed a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, to fly less than three miles behind a much larger military cargo jet as the planes approached Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

FAA regulations require a separation of at least five miles when the plane in the lead is significantly larger to prevent the trailing plane from encountering dangerous wake turbulence. Controllers at Andrews also directed Obama’s plane to abandon its landing and circle the air base to give the cargo jet time to get off the runway.

Also Friday, FAA named a five-member review panel composed of internal, labor, industry and academic safety experts to evaluate the agency’s training of new controllers.

“This is just the beginning of the process to make sure we have the best possible team in place,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The changes are part of a comprehensive review that LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt promised after a series of incidents that have embarrassed the agency, made controllers the butt of jokes by late night comedians, and raised public jitters about the safety of flying.

Since late March, the FAA has disclosed five incidents of controllers sleeping on the job. Three of those controllers have been fired, while two others and a manager involved in the incidents have been suspended. In one case, a plane transporting a critically ill patient had to circle Reno-Tahoe International Airport because the pilot was unable to reach the lone controller working an overnight shift in the tower. In another, two airliners landed at Reagan National airport near Washington without control tower assistance because the lone controller on duty at midnight had fallen asleep.

The controller who watched the movie in Cleveland and a manager at that center also have been suspended. So have two controllers at an airport tower in Lubbock, Texas, who were unreachable for a period of time while working an overnight shift.

Another controller was suspended for actions that allowed a Southwest Airlines jet with 142 people aboard within about 500 feet of a small plane about 11,000 feet over central Florida.

The top FAA official overseeing air traffic operations — Hank Krakowski — resigned two weeks ago amid an uproar over the sleeping incidents.

Actions previously ordered by Babbitt to address safety concerns include the addition of a second controller on overnight shifts at 27 airports and a radar center, including Regan National and Reno-Tahoe, and changes to controllers’ work schedules.

However, Babbitt and LaHood have ruled out allowing controllers to nap while on breaks during their work shifts. Scientists have recommended naps on overnight shifts during the hours when the human body naturally craves sleep as a means to help keep controllers alert when they return to their duties. FAA policies prohibit controllers from sleeping during work shifts, even during breaks.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing FAA’s 15,700 controllers, declined to comment on the management changes. Paul Rinaldi, president of the controllers’ association, and Babbitt have been visiting air traffic facilities to hear from controllers and to underscore that professional standards should be maintained.

However, Rinaldi has said he intends to press FAA to implement the recommendations of a working group made up of FAA and labor officials on controllers suffering from fatigue. The working group recommended controllers be allowed to nap during breaks.

Marrakech, Morocco – Morocco’s interior minister says initial results of a probe into a cafe bombing in Marrakech that killed 15 people show the device was set off remotely.

The statement Friday by Taieb Cheqaoui excludes the notion that a suicide bomber carried out the attack a day earlier in the historic Djemma el-Fna square in the city’s bustling old quarter that is a magnet for tourists.

The Israeli consul in Shanghai, Jackie Eldan, identified two of the dead as a Jewish couple who lived there — an Israeli citizen and her Moroccan husband. They were visiting his parents in Casablanca and had taken a day trip, leaving their 3-year-old son with his grandparents.

“They took a day off to go to Marrakech and left the child with the family. To their misfortune, they were in the cafe on the second floor” when the bombing hit, Eldan told Israeli station Army Radio on Friday.

Cape Canaveral, FL – NASA has called off Friday’s launch of space shuttle Endeavour because of a heater failure.

Commander Mark Kelly and his crew were on their way to the launch pad, when NASA halted the countdown. The astronauts’ van did a U-turn, and returned the astronauts to crew quarters.

NASA spokesman George Dillard says the next try will be Sunday at the earliest.

NASA reported earlier that two heaters on an auxiliary power unit were not working. Engineers could not understand the problem, and the launch was halted.

Kelly is married to wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She is already in Cape Canaveral. President Barack Obama planned to watch the launch but had not yet arrived.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Expressing amazement at the destruction all around him, President Barack Obama on Friday stepped through the wreckage left by rampaging tornadoes and pledged help to those who survived but lost their homes in a terrifying flash. Said the president: “I’ve never seen devastation like this.”

“We’re going to make sure you’re not forgotten,” Obama said as he and first lady Michelle Obama walked the streets of a reeling neighborhood. He said that although nothing could be done for the many who were killed — “they’re alongside God at this point” — Obama assured support for resilient survivors.

The president’s comments came as he absorbed the scenes of a community deeply deformed by the twisters, with trees uprooted and houses demolished. One young man told Obama he had witnessed debris lifting up all around him, yet he emerged with only cuts and bruises. “It’s a blessing you are here,” the president said back.

The nightmare storms in the South have killed about 300 people, chiefly in Alabama. Obama has stepped into the role of national consoler in chief before, including after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this year, but he has not had to deal with the scope of such community obliteration until now.

“What’s amazing is when something like this happens folks forget all their petty differences,” said the president after spending time talking to the state’s governor and Tuscaloosa’s mayor. “When we’re confronted by the awesome power of nature and reminded that all we have is each other.”

The president said Tuscaloosa would rebuild in a way that would give him a story of pride he would tell all over the nation. He spoke with sleeves up rolled up under sunny skies, offering warm reassurances but no big display of emotion.

Obama was in the midst of a day of contrasts remarkable even for a president, traveling to storm-ravaged Alabama before heading to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to cheer the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour alongside the injured Giffords.

Visible from Air Force One as Obama neared a landing in Tuscaloosa: a long swath of tornado damage that looked like a wide, angry scar across the land. And as the president moved by motorcade through communities and business districts, suddenly the devastation was everywhere: flattened buildings, snapped trees, collapsed car washes and heaps of rubble, twisted metal and overturned cars as far as the eye could see.

Earlier, as he arrived in Alabama, Obama fell into lengthy conversations with Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox before heading off to inspect the damage and spend time with local families and officials.

All told, the day was shaping up as an object lesson in the many roles a president must play, from healer to cheerleader, beginning with a nod to the country’s civil rights past and ending with a speech to its future in a class of graduating students. Before departing the White House, he met with participants in the iconic 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. The president was to end his day with evening commencement address at Miami Dade College in south Florida.

The president has declared a major disaster in Alabama and ordered federal aid to assist with recovery efforts.

In Florida, a pivotal swing state for Obama’s re-election hopes, the president was to act as cheerleader-in-chief for NASA’s second-to-last space shuttle launch and for Giffords’ encouraging if gradual recovery after she was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz., in January.

Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, is commanding the shuttle flight, and the president will have Mrs. Obama and their two daughters with him, the first time an entire presidential family has traveled to view a launch. But Obama’s meeting with Giffords was to take place in private; she has not appeared in public since her injury and was not expected to do so Friday.

Although the shuttle program was ended by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama has angered some NASA workers with his own space plans. He canceled Bush’s proposed replacement for the shuttle program — a new mission to the moon — putting in its place vaguer plans for sending astronauts to land on an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

Obama wants private companies to pick up the shuttle’s role of delivering payloads to the space station, an approach that is costing thousands of government jobs, including 2,000 contractors to be laid off after the final shuttle flight in June.

More than 500 employees lost their jobs earlier this month.