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July 24, 2016 at 1:35 pm
Jerusalem - Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev announced that she would not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as she did not want to violate the Sabbath.
“Miri Regev has a problem with violating the Sabbath as a representative of the State of Israel,” said her spokeswoman. “She herself does not keep Sabbath, but when she represents all of Israel’s citizens, she does not want to offend religious citizens by violating the Sabbath.”
The ceremony was scheduled to end on Friday night, and the distance back to Regev’s hotel—an hour-long drive—rendered walking back impossible. “We appealed to the Israel Olympic Committee in an effort to find a hotel closer to the ceremony that would al...
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July 24, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Philadelphia - Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said he plans to endorse Hillary Clinton , citing his distaste for GOP candidate Donald Trump, the New York Times reported.
The decision comes after the businessman expressed uncertainty as to who he would endorse, saying in May that he was “not sure” on what he was going to do.
Bloomberg decided earlier this year not to pursue the White House as an independent, and in announcing that decision blasted Trump for running “the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember.”
“Threatening to bar foreign Muslims from entering the country is a direct assault on two of the core values that gave rise to our nation: religious tolerance and the separation of church and state,&rdquo...
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July 24, 2016 at 1:18 pm
Washington - Former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders said Sunday he would have preferred to see Hillary Clinton select someone like Senator Elizabeth Warren for the vice presidential spot over Senator Tim Kaine.
“I have known Tim Kaine for a number of years…Tim is a very, very smart guy. He is very nice guy,” Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have.”
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July 24, 2016 at 12:39 pm
Recently, someone asked me a shaylah that involves what is probably one of the most heart-breaking issues I was ever asked. The question was: “Are there any halachic issues involved in sifting through the earth removed by the Waqf from the Makom HaMikdash?”
To explain this shaylah, I will first explain what has happened, then discuss the halachic issues involved — and finally explain the answers. There is also a fascinating halachic-architectural issue that I noticed while studying photographs of the Moslem construction, which I will discuss at the end of this article.
During the past many years, the Waqf, the Moslem “Trust” that controls the holiest place on earth, the Har HaBayis, has been making major “renovations” there, including the constru...
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July 24, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Baltimore, MD Daily Dvar Halacha - July 24, 2016 / 18Tammuz 5776 - What Do I Do On The Fast?
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July 24, 2016 at 12:19 pm
“I thought that if I eat blueberries every day…….”. “Someone told me that if I eat only twice a day, I will surely lose weight”. “I heard chocolate is good for you so I started eating 70% dark chocolate, a whole bar a day to help my heart health”. “I started grazing instead of eating fixed meals so my metabolism will get faster”. These are but a small sample of what I hear from people day in and day out. We have more access to health news and in particular news about nutrition and weight loss than we have ever had. The problem is that not everything we read or see is based on science. Although people have the best of intentions, much of what we might hear has very little basis in terms of scie...
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July 24, 2016 at 12:18 pm
Washington - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is asserting that countries like France that he says are compromised by terrorism may be subjected to the “extreme vetting” he proposes as a deterrent to attacks in the U.S.
When asked if his proposal might lead to a point when not a lot of people from overseas are allowed into the U.S., Trump said, “Maybe we get to that point” and added: “We have to be smart and we have to be vigilant and we have to be strong.”
In an interview to air Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump also rejected suggestions that his stance on requiring NATO members to pay their share was a mistake; defended Fox News founder Roger Ailes, who left the network amid accusations of sexual harassmen...
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July 24, 2016 at 12:14 pm
Washington - A California delegate says there are serious discussions underway to challenge Hillary Clinton’s pick of Tim Kaine as her running mate.
Norman Solomon, a delegate who supports Bernie Sanders, says there is talk among Sanders’ delegates of walking out during Kaine’s acceptance speech or turning their backs as a show of protest.
Solomon said he believes a “vast majority” of Sanders delegates support these kinds of protests to express their dismay. Sanders’ supporters say they are concerned that Kaine is not progressive enough.
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July 24, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Berlin - A man wielding a machete killed a woman and wounded two other people in the southern German city of Reutlingen on Sunday before being arrested, the Bild newspaper reported.
No further details were immediately available.
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July 24, 2016 at 12:11 pm
Illinois - A new Illinois law limits how police can use devices that cast a wide net in gathering cellphone data and are at the center of a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the legislation into law on Friday and drew immediate praise from civil libertarians.
The technology, a cell site simulator, is perhaps best known by the brand name Stingray. It gathers phone-usage data on targets of criminal investigations, but it also gathers data on other cellphones — hundreds or even thousands of them — in the area.
The new law requires police to delete the phone information of anyone who wasn’t an investigation target within 24 hours. It also prohibits police from accessing data for use in an investigation not authorized by a judge...
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July 24, 2016 at 10:52 am
'I will kill you all,' said murderer. But was Ali Sonboly an Islamic terrorist or just a demented teenager looking for revenge?
Was Friday’s Munich massacre terrorism, or just one demented young man’s attempt at getting revenge?
When 18-year old Ali Sonboly opened fire at customers in a McDonald’s in Munich, killing nine, the young man’s Iranian background led many to the conclusion the incident was yet another case of Islamic terrorism. Following the recent spate of terror attacks in Europe, including the Bastille Day attack in southern France which left at least 85 dead and dozens more wounded, fears over ISIS-inspired terror attacks have surged.
But Munich police have since downplayed suspicions the shooting, which left 9 dead and 27 wounded. ...
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July 24, 2016 at 10:41 am
Menachem Yitzhak Crispin of Miami was killed in a serious accident on Friday while riding a motorcycle.
A truck driving in the center of Miami did not notice the motorcyclist, passed the intersection, and killed him.
Menachem Yitzhak, 24, is the great-grandson of Rabbi Meir Abuchatzeira l H’bba Meyer, son of Rabbi Aminadav Crispin of Kiryat Motzkin, and grandson of Rabbi Sabah Montreal.
Menachem’s father, Rabbi Aharon Crispin, served as a congregational rabbi in Miami. His parents live in Montreal, and his grandfather is a Chabad Hasid and Gism of Admorim Abuchatzeira.
“This is a very difficult tragedy,” friends of the family said to Behadrey Haredim.
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July 24, 2016 at 10:34 am
Rio de Janeiro - The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation gave Brazil the tip that led to arrests this week of 11 suspected militants who had discussed a possible attack on the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to a Brazilian prosecutor.
In comments to several Brazilian newspapers published Saturday, Rafael Brum Miron, the federal prosecutor handling the case in the southern state of Parana, said the FBI had provided a brief report in which it identified at least six people it suspected as potential militants.
“The information came from the FBI,” he told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. “They sent a succinct report: These people merit investigating.”
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office confirmed the comments and said the FBI pr...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:59 am
(CNN) The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party's convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort "to keep the peace" in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails
One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Bernie Sanders' faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Another seems to depict an attorney advising the ...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:50 am
Montana - Two youths unaware of their surroundings when they were playing Pokemon GO on their cell phones made an illegal border crossing this week from Canada into the United States in a remote part of Montana, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said.
The two, who were not identified, were found by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Thursday, with their attention affixed to their phones as they were trying to hunt down cartoon characters on a journey that took them over the border.
“Both juveniles were so captivated by their Pokemon GO games that they lost track of where they were,” said Michael Rappold, a spokesman for the agency.
The two were reunited with their mothers at a nearby border patrol station, the agency said.
The game has been an unexpected success from Spain t...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:48 am
Philadelphia - It’s extra sunny in Philadelphia this weekend and hot and humid weather is settling over the City of Brotherly Love as tens of thousands of delegates are about to converge on the city for the Democratic National Convention.
The heat wave is expected to gain momentum this weekend and peak Monday, the convention’s first day, with temperatures possibly hitting 100 degrees, said Mitchell Gaines, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Many parts of the United States are experiencing higher than normal temperatures — like most of the Midwest — but the Philadelphia area is slated to be the hardest hit in the Northeast. Other parts of the region, including New York City, are in heat advisories. Some New England...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:06 am
New York - A union official said operator error isn’t what caused a crane’s 250-foot-long boom to collapse across New York’s Tappan (TAP’-uhn) Zee Bridge.
Jeff Loughlin, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 137, told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/2ajx4lk ) on Friday he’d spoken with the operator who claims to know what spurred the collapse. But Loughlin says he promised investigators he wouldn’t publicly reveal the cause.
Two drivers were injured after the sudden fall Tuesday snarled traffic, closed all seven lanes for hours and caused extensive damage to the 3.1 mile span between Westchester and Rockland counties.
Federal and state officials are investigating. The newspaper said authorities have reviewed...
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July 24, 2016 at 9:04 am
Los Angeles - Wildfires burned out of control Saturday in mountains north of Los Angeles and near Big Sur on California’s scenic Central Coast, posing a threat to 2,000 homes and a sanctuary for exotic animals that was being evacuated, authorities said.
Southern California firefighters toiled in another day of triple-digit heat from a dome of high pressure over the region. While Central Coast temperatures were more moderate, conditions included winds and low humidity.
The fire in northern Los Angeles County grew to 20,000 acres, or more than 31 square miles, spreading smoke across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times. Containment was estimated at just 10 percent.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that at times air w...
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July 24, 2016 at 8:59 am
Fort Collins, CO - Thomas Sutherland, who was held captive in Lebanon for more than six years until he was freed and returned home to become professor emeritus at Colorado State University, has died.
Sutherland died in Fort Collins on Friday at the age of 85, according to Colorado State University, where he taught animal science until he left to become dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at American University in Beirut.
There he was taken hostage by Islamic terrorists in 1985 and held for more than six years.
“The entire Colorado State University community joins once again in honoring a true hero - who believed that an understanding of agricultural science could bring relief to people and communities in hunger — and that education could be a force fo...
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July 24, 2016 at 8:56 am
Washington - A cache of more than 19,000 emails from Democratic party officials, leaked in advance of Hillary Clinton’s nomination at the party’s convention next week in Philadelphia, details the acrimonious split between the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s former rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Several emails posted by Wikileaks on its document disclosure website show DNC officials scoffing at Sanders and his supporters and in one instance, questioning his commitment to his Jewish religion. Some emails also show DNC and White House officials mulling whether to invite guests with controversial backgrounds to Democratic party events.
Although Wikileaks’ posting of the emails Friday did not disclose the identity of who provided the private mat...
