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May 23, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Pakistan - Senior members of the Afghan Taliban met to choose a successor to their former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour on Monday after U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed his death in a drone strike inside Pakistani territory at the weekend.
The Taliban themselves have made no official statement, but two senior members of the movement said Pakistani authorities had delivered Mansour’s badly burned remains for burial in the western city of Quetta.
Pakistani officials, however, denied handing over a body.
On a three-day visit to Vietnam, Obama called the death “an important milestone”, saying Mansour had rejected peace talks and had “continued to plot against and unleash attacks on American and Coalition forces”.
The president authorized the drone s...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Jerusalem - Israel’s leader on Monday reiterated his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, seeking to persuade critics that he remains committed to peace as he prepares to bring a polarizing hardliner into his Cabinet.
Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek peace with the Palestinians, even while giving a cool reception to a new French peace initiative.
“The Palestinians will have the possibility to build a state of their own, but this state must be demilitarized and recognize Israel as the Jewish state,” he told parliament.
Since taking office in 2009, Netanyahu has repeatedly said he supports a “two-state solution” with the Palestinians. But U.S.-led peace efforts have made little headway due to wide gaps between the Israeli and Pa...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:17 pm
Washington - The Supreme Court ruled decisively in favor of a death-row inmate in Georgia on Monday, chastising state prosecutors for improperly keeping African-Americans off the jury that convicted him of killing a white woman.
The justices ruled 7-1 in favor of death row inmate Timothy Tyrone Foster in underscoring the importance of rules they laid out in 1986 to prevent racial discrimination in the selection of juries.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that Georgia “prosecutors were motivated in substantial part by race” when they struck African-Americans from the jury pool.
But the court did nothing to limit peremptory strikes, lawyers’ ability to reject potential jurors without offering any reason. The late Thurgood Marshall once said that ra...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:16 pm
New York - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with Bob Corker in New York on Monday, intensifying speculation that the U.S. senator from Tennessee may be on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Corker described the get-together at Trump Tower in Manhattan as “a meeting between two people who didn’t know each other except over phone calls getting to know each other.”
He said he has no reason to believe he’s being vetted as a potential Trump running mate or for a Cabinet position should Trump win the general election.
“I have no reason whatsoever to believe I am being considered for a position like that,” Corker told reporters who pressed him about various possible po...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:16 pm
Jerusalem - The Center for Women’s Justice has called on the Religious Services Ministry to prohibit gender segregation at the approaches to the site of the tomb of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai on Lag B’Omer.
Every year on the minor holiday of Lag Ba’Omer, tens of thousands of people, mostly from the haredi community, flock to the tomb, adjacent to the town of Meron, to commemorate the anniversary of the death of the revered rabbi.
Massive crowds are formed in the areas leading up to the site, and since 2012 a temporary bridge has been constructed for the celebrations to provide an alternative route to from the carparks to the tomb complex itself.
The pathway utilizing the bridge is called the “Mehadrin Bridge,” meaning it is only to b...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Washington - FBI agents probing whether Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server imperiled government secrets appear close to completing their work, a process experts say will probably culminate in a sit-down with the former secretary of state.
The FBI has already spoken with Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidant who was among the Democratic presidential front runner’s closest aides at the State Department. Former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills is also cooperating with the investigation, according to her lawyer.
That signals that agents will probably seek to interview Clinton soon, if they haven’t already, former Justice Department officials told The Associated Press. The FBI’s standard practice is to save questioning the person at the center of an inve...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Washington - Before deciding if she’ll vote for Donald Trump, Martha McSally says she’ll spend time “determining what kind of man he is.” Mia Love says some comments by the presumptive Republican presidential candidate need “some sort of explanation,” while Renee Ellmers backs him because he’s “a problem solver.”
McSally, Love and Ellmers are hardly random women. They’re Republican members of the House, part of a sorority of five GOP congresswomen facing competitive re-election races whose reactions highlight the hard choices Trump’s provocative statements are forcing on his own party.
Each of the five must confront a question with political and personal implications: Will you support your party’s standard-be...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:08 pm
Cairo - The head of Egypt’s state-run provider of air navigation services says that EgyptAir flight 804 did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared off radar, challenging an earlier account by Greece’s defense minister.
Ehab Azmy, head of the National Air Navigation Services Company, told The Associated Press on Monday that in the minutes before the plane disappeared it was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet, according to the radar reading.
He says, “that fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar.”
According to Greece’s defense minister Panos Kammenos the plane swerved and dropped to 10,000 feet before it fell off radar.
Greek civil aviation authorities say all a...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:07 pm
Israel - The “Hebron shooter,” Elor Azaria, on Monday denied all of the manslaughter allegations against him for shooting Abdel Fatal al-Sharif in Hebron on March 24 after he had attacked security forces but was then neutralized.
The incident was picked up on a video distributed by B’Tselem, went viral online and has dominated the airwaves with a war of words over Azaria’s guilt or innocence.
It has pitted outgoing defense minister Moshe Yaalon and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who condemned Azaryah, against incoming defense minister Avigdor Liberman and various politicians on the Right, who say they rushed to judgment.
Many analysts even cite a dispute over the issue between Ya’alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the beginni...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:07 pm
Gaza Strip - Hamas announced on Sunday that they will begin executing criminals in public in the Gaza Strip, according to AFP..
“I ask that they (the executions) take place before a large crowd,” Hamas Attorney General Ismail Jaber was quoted as stating.
The families of the men awaiting their public execution were reportedly rallying on Sunday in support of the execution of their relatives.
On Friday, an official from the terrorist organization that controls Gaza announced during the weekly Muslim prayers that 13 men, mostly convicted for murder in connection with robbery, were set to be killed
While Hamas has implemented capital punishment in the past for crimes such as collaborating with Israel, the most recent public execution was in 2014 after Operation Prot...
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May 23, 2016 at 5:07 pm
Iraq - Iraqi government forces on Monday pushed Islamic State militants out of some agricultural areas outside of Fallujah as they launched a military offensive to recapture the city from the extremists, officials said.
Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, Iraqi government forces launched the long-awaited military offensive late Sunday. The city, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, has been under the militants’ control since January 2014.
The commander of the Fallujah operation, Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, could not say how long the offensive would take, citing terrain, the number of civilians in the city and bombs planted by the militants. Al-Saadi added that the first phase aims to surround and bomb IS positions.
Fe...
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May 23, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Question #1: The Missing Speaker
The audience waited patiently for the guest speaker from America who never arrived, notwithstanding that he had marked it carefully on his calendar and was planning to be there. What went wrong?
Question #2: The Missing Reading
"I will be traveling to Eretz Yisroel this spring, and will miss one of the parshiyos. Can I make up the missing kerias haTorah?"
Question #3: The Missing Parshah
“I will be traveling from Eretz Yisroel to the United States after Pesach. Do I need to review the parshah twice?”
Question #4: The Missing Aliyah
“May I accept an aliyah for a parshah that is not the one I will be reading on Shabbos?”
Introduction:
The Jerusalem audience is waiting for the special guest speaker. The scheduled time comes and...
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May 23, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Today, Mr. Martin Nachimson, President, and Mr. Allen Fagin, Executive Vice President, of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, issued the following statement in response to a public statement made last week by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt:
“Last week, President el-Sisi publicly called for direct negotiations between the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians to work toward resolving their conflict. The Egyptian president said he is prepared to ‘make every effort’ in support of bilateral negotiations and cited the landmark Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty as a model. We are deeply gratified by President el-Sisi’s bold and enlightened leadership. Such a public statement by the President of Egypt is obviously significant and...
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May 23, 2016 at 2:52 pm
Commissioner Kevin Davis released the following statement regarding the Nero Trial verdict:Our American criminal justice system has spoken today. Respect and reverence for Judge Williams’ verdict must now prevail throughout our great City. As the eyes of the nation are upon us, I have no doubt we will all exhibit behaviors that represent the very best of Baltimore.The Baltimore Police Department is committed to a relationship with our community built on trust and respect. We will continue this journey together as we strive for safer neighborhoods and policing practices consistent with the expectations of our residents.So many Baltimoreans have worked over the last year to ensure our diverse opinions and perspectives can exist in spaces that are constructive and serve to compel progre...
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May 23, 2016 at 2:42 pm
Area politicians, civic leaders and others weigh in on the not guilty verdict handed down Monday morning in the case against Officer Edward Nero, who had been charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake: "Today Judge Barry G. Williams found Officer Edward Nero not guilty of all criminal charges. This is our American system of justice and police officers must be afforded the same justice system as every other citizen in this city, state, and country. Now that the criminal
case has come to an end, Officer Nero will face an administrative review by the Police Department. We once again ask the citizens to be patient and to allow the entire process to come to a conclusion. In the case of any disturbance in the city, we are prepared to respond. W...
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May 23, 2016 at 12:04 pm
Cairo - Teams searching for the black box flight recorders of a missing EgyptAir jet that crashed with 66 people aboard face technical constraints that aviation experts increasingly blame on a slow regulatory response to earlier disasters.
As a three-year deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 draws toward a close in the Indian Ocean without finding the airplane, another is starting in the Mediterranean Sea where the lessons of previous crashes have yet to be applied.
Rescuers have barely 30 days until the batteries die on two underwater beacons designed to guide them to the black box flight recorders as they scour 17,000 square kilometers of sea north of the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.
After previous crashes at sea, regulators agreed to increase the transmis...
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May 23, 2016 at 12:03 pm
Jerusalem - Right-wing activist Yehuda Glick ascended the Temple Mount on Monday for the last time before his swearing-in as the newest MK in Likud.
The long-time advocate for equal rights for Jews and Muslims on the Temple Mount will not be able to visit the holy site anymore because the prime minister has banned MKs from doing so.
Glick was born in the US, and his family moved to Israel when he was eight years old and currently lives in Otniel. He is the father of eight, two of whom he fostered after their parents were killed in a terrorist attack.
Glick, a rabbi, said he is praying to God to guide him and support him as he faces upcoming challenges.
“I don’t have plans to change the world. My main dream is to add a little good to the world, to promote unity among...
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May 23, 2016 at 11:35 am
Gaza - Israel resumed cement shipments to the Gaza Strip on Monday, ending a 45-day-old ban it imposed after it accused the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers of seizing some of the stock meant for rebuilding homes destroyed in a 2014 war.
Hamas has denied Israeli charges that it siphons off cement imports to fortify attack tunnels.
Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, welcomed the resumption of the shipments, saying in a statement that “all sides need to ensure that cement deliveries reach their intended beneficiaries and are used solely for civilian purposes.”
The first of some 90 truckloads of cement entered the Gaza Strip through an Israeli-controlled border crossing on Monday and Palestinian officials said they...
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May 23, 2016 at 11:23 am
Baltimore, MD - A Baltimore officer was acquitted Monday of assault and other charges in the arrest of Freddie Gray, dealing prosecutors a significant blow in their attempt to hold police accountable for the young black man’s death from injuries he suffered in the back of a police van.
A judge also found Officer Edward Nero not guilty of reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. The assault charge carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and reckless endangerment carried a punishment of up to five years.
Gray died April 19, 2015, a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police transport van while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained by a seat belt.
Nero was one of six officers charged in the case. He waived his right to a jury trial,...
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May 23, 2016 at 11:09 am
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Freddie Gray arresting officer Edward Nero has been found not guilty on all counts by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.
Nero faced second-degree assault,reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office.
Nero waived his right to a trial by jury. His bench trial began May 12 and final arguments were heard Thursday.
Gray, a 25-year-old black man from the Sandtown area of Baltimore, died on April 19, 2015 of a spinal cord injury he sustained while in police custody.
His death set off more than a week of protests followed by looting, rioting and arson that prompted a citywide curfew.
Nero is one of six officers charged in relation to Gray’s death, and the second to be tried. Officer William Porter’s trial ended in ...
