Singapore - Singapore Airlines said Monday there were no injuries when a jetliner caught fire after returning to Changi Airport because of an engine warning. The Boeing 777-300ER was on its way to Milan when it turned back “following an engine oil warning message,” the company said. It said the aircraft’s right engine caught fire after Flight SQ368 touched down more than four hours after taking off. “The fire was put out by airport emergency services and there were no injuries to the 222 passengers and 19 crew on board,” Singapore Airlines said in a statement. The passengers were transferred to another aircraft, it said.   This image provided by Lee Bee Yee shows the aftermath of an engine fire on a Singapore Airlines flight, at Changi Inter...
Germany - A German court says a 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served as an Auschwitz guard is appealing his conviction on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder. The Detmold state court said in a statement Monday that Reinhold Hanning’s attorneys had both filed appeals of the June 17 verdict, as had lawyers representing nine Auschwitz survivors or their families as co-plaintiffs at the trial. Further details were not immediately announced. Hanning was found guilty of helping the death camp function in his service as a guard there from 1942 to 1944 and sentenced to five years in prison. He’ll remain free, however, until the appeals process is complete.
London - Last Sunday I was honored to attend the annual Iftar at Finchley Reform Synagogue, one of a number where I have been welcomed in my first Ramadan as mayor of London. During my time there, it was inspiring to hear that the synagogue has been hosting local Somali Bravanese worshipers since their community center was burned down in an arson attack three years ago. Many of these individuals had never set foot in a synagogue before, but now friendships have developed over shared meals, and the two communities held an Interfaith Succot Festival at a local shopping mall last year. This is just one example I’ve witnessed through my attendance at a wide variety of Iftars this Ramadan, of faith groups coming together. It has been humbling to see people from many backgrounds...
Ansted, VA - Two men who were presumed dead when a camper was swept away in rushing waters during the West Virginia floods have been found alive, officials said Monday as the rain-soaked state braced for another round of heavy rains. The discovery of the men lowers the death toll to 23, officials said. That number includes 20 bodies found and three people who are missing and presumed dead. The men were either camping or getting ready to set up camp when the rains started last Thursday, said Timothy Rock, spokesman for West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The left all of their gear and their truck at the camp site in the Blue Bend area of the Monongahela National Forest in Greenbrier County, the hardest-hit area, and perhaps got a ride out, Rock ...
Washington - Democrats on the House Benghazi panel said in a report Monday that security at the Libya facility the night of Sept. 11, 2012 was “woefully inadequate,” but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional protection. The panel’s five Democrats said after a two-year investigation that the military could not have done anything differently on the night of the attacks to save the lives of four Americans killed in Libya. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in one of the two assaults that night at the U.S. outpost and CIA annex. Democrats’ release of their own report heightened the partisanship of the inquiry, which has been marked by accusations of Obama administration stonewalling and f...
Ezra Wohlgelernter, a leader in the Jewish community over the past 30 years and a co-founding partner of Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock & Dodig LLP, was installed as president of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. After previously serving as association vice president and president-elect, Wohlgelernter will serve a one-year term as president.   With 34 years of professional experience and service as the vice chair of the Senior Law Center, Wohlgelernter will spearhead the PTLA’s mission to be an active professional organization dedicated to preserving the rights of injured individuals in the legal system.    Delaware Valley philanthropist, business and community leader Ernie Scheller received an honorary doctoral degree from Be...
Washington - The billionaire running for president now seeks to convince millions of Americans to give him money. With the simple tap of the “send” button one day last week, Donald Trump collected $3 million in campaign contributions ” as much as he did in the entire month of May. He had asked for donations of $10 or more, with the promise of chipping in $2 million of his own money to match those that arrived. That one-day haul from Trump’s first fundraising appeal is early evidence of the digital magic it takes to fill campaign coffers Bernie Sanders-style — millions of people, each giving a few bucks. Yet that was just one email. Success demands repetition. The presumptive Republican nominee must now make the case that he needs money, after months ...
Washington - The Supreme Court struck down Texas’ widely replicated regulation of abortion clinics Monday in the court’s biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century. The justices voted 5-3 in favor of Texas clinics that had argued the regulations were a thinly veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get an abortion in the nation’s second-most populous state. Justice Stephen Breyer’s majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit a woman’s right to an abortion. Texas had argued that its 2013 law and subsequent regulations were needed to protect women’s health. The rules required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced ...
New York - U.S. stocks fell sharply in early trading Monday following another slide in European markets as investors grappled with the fallout of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. The British pound, which last week plunged to its lowest level since 1985, continued to fall as traders expected the British economy would take a hit. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 234 points, or 1.4 percent, to 17,165 as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern Time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 29 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,007. The Nasdaq composite fell 76 points, or 1.6 percent, to 4,631. The latest decline followed the market’s plunge on Friday, when the Dow and S&P 500 clocked their biggest losses since August, and the Nasdaq notched its worst day since August ...
Washington - A unanimous Supreme Court on Monday overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in a ruling that could make it harder for prosecutors to bring corruption cases against elected officials. McDonnell had been found guilty in 2014 of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from a wealthy businessman in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was allowed to remain free while the justices weighed his appeal. The justices voted to narrow the scope of a law that bars public officials from taking gifts in exchange for “official action,” saying it does not cover routine courtesies like setting up meetings or hosting events for constituents. The high court took no position on whe...
Baltimore, MD  Daily Dvar Halacha -  June 27, 2016 /  21 Sivan 5776 - Why Mechitza?
United Nations - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Israel on Monday for a two-day visit, a few months ahead of the end of his tenure. In welcoming United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on his 11th and final visit to Israel in his present capacity, President Reuven Rivlin on Monday pleaded with Ban to do his utmost to relieve the pain of the families of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, pronounced dead by the IDF, but without proof to the contrary, believed by their parents and siblings to be prisoners of war missing in action. Rivlin also included the families of two Israeli citizens “both suffering poor mental health, - one Muslim, one Jewish.” Hamas still refuses to provide information on the two soldiers – even to the Red Cross, said Ri...
We are now mired in the heart of summer and the days are approaching their peak length of the year.  6 days a week there is certainly a great advantage to having longer daylight hours.  There are more hours for outdoor activities and trips.  We even have more time on Friday to prepare for Shabbos without the rush that we have in the winter time.  But when it comes to Shabbos itself, we can run into all kinds of problems that can affect our health.  When Mindy and Gershon came to speak with me last week, this was exactly the issue that was preventing both of them from succeeding in their weight loss program.  Gershon and Mindy live with their 4 children in an apartment on the fifth floor of their building.  They both needed to lose weight and began doing ...
An El Al flight departing Ben Gurion Airport last week almost took off with no security agents on board. The airliner has launched an internal investigation regarding the incident. According to Channel 2, the airline’s regulations specify that a number of security agents must be on board every flight. However, for reasons still being investigated, the security agents were not informed of the location and departure time of the flight. The crew did not notice that security men were missing and the flight, which was headed toward Paris, began taxiing toward the runway ahead of takeoff. It was then that a crew member noticed that there were no security agents and the plane immediately turned back to receive them. Regulations were reportedly updated and instructions to crew...
Islamists clash with security forces, barricade themselves in Al Aqsa Mosque. Clashes erupted on the Temple Mount Monday morning, after Islamists attempted to violently prevent Jews from visiting. Dozens of Muslim extremists - many of them masked - had barricaded themselves in the Al Aqsa Mosque since last night, and had actively stockpiled rocks and other projectiles for use against security forces and Jewish visitors. They also set up numerous obstacles to prevent police from closing the mosque's doors - a tactic often used by Israeli police to kettle in Muslim rioters. As Jewish visiting hours to the holy site began, the Islamists began hurling rocks and other objects at security forces stationed on the Mount.  Police, Border Police and Yasam riot pol...
BAYONNE — A Brooklyn-based developer has aired a proposal for a development catered toward a Hasidic Jewish community on the city’s former Military Ocean Terminal, but Bayonne officials don’t seem keen on the idea. Developer ACG Equities said its plan for the 40-acre, southwestern portion of the MOT known as Harbor Station South would bring in a “self-contained, residential community” to the city without adding any children to public schools, since the community would have its own private schools. The developer — whose proposal was obtained by The Jersey Journal — said the plan would also call for community facilities, modern office space, shopping centers, parks, a hotel and convention facilities. ACG Equities didn’t provide comment in res...
The Supreme Court is set to close out its current term with opinions Monday in three remaining cases after a flurry of decisions last week. It’s expected to be the justices’ final meeting before they disperse on their summer breaks. The last three cases concern regulation of Texas abortion clinics, the public corruption conviction of former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and a federal law that seeks to keep guns out of the hands of people convicted of domestic violence. Just eight justices are taking part in the cases following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. President Barack Obama has nominated federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to take Scalia’s place, but Garland has not received a hearing or a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate. Late...
Cleared for publication: Suspects from the Hizme bomb attack which occurred on Holocaust Remembrance Day are in custody. Back in March 2016, IDF officials announced progress in the case. They are now confirming suspects are in custody in the attack that left an IDF officer with serious injuries near the northern Jerusalem checkpoint. The primary suspect is reportedly a dentist, 36-year-old Dawid Halabiyeh from Abu Dis. He prepared the bombs to be used in other attacks. He is in custody along with his brother, also a dentist. He reportedly told interrogated he was motivated by the “desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque” on Har Habayis. His bombs were to be activated by mobile phones and he had them stored in his dental clinic. When security agents checked the premises, 56 bombs were u...
Jerusalem - Israel has reached a reconciliation deal with Turkey to end a bitter six-year rift between the Mideast powers, an official said Sunday. Relations between the former close allies imploded in 2010 following an Israeli naval raid that killed nine Turkish activists, including a dual American citizen, who were on a ship trying to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Following the incident, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and greatly scaled back military and economy ties. But relations were never broken completely. Turkey’s move toward rapprochement with Israel comes amid its deepening isolation in the region following a breakdown of ties with Russia and Egypt as well as the turmoil in neighboring Syria. The Israeli official confirmed the de...
Denver -  Five people were killed in Colorado on Sunday when an Amtrak passenger train collided with a car in Las Animas County in the southern part of the U.S. state, state police said. The train collided with a vehicle carrying six people, said Colorado State Patrol Trooper Josh Lewis. A girl was airlifted to a Denver-area hospital with serious injuries, Lewis said. No crew or passengers were injured on the train, he said. Amtrak said there were 286 passengers on the Chicago to Los Angeles line. The train struck a vehicle that was on the tracks at roughly 9:45 a.m. near Trinidad, Colorado, about four miles (6.5 km) east of the Amtrak Trinidad station. Amtrak said some of its equipment was damaged but crews quickly made repairs and the train resumed its journey.
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