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July 26, 2016 at 9:37 pm
Dallas - The deaths of four children in hot cars in recent days has brought the number across the U.S. this year to at least 23, nearly matching the total for all of last year and prompting experts to plead for vigilance and warn parents that it can happen to anyone.
“It just breaks your heart,” said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national child safety nonprofit based in Philadelphia. “We’ve done so much to try to get the word out and maybe that’s why last year was down a bit but this year is not looking very good.”
Four-year-old Samaria Motyka died on Friday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania after her caregiver drove to work instead of taking her to day care. In Dallas, 2-year-old Boi Lei Sang died after being left i...
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July 26, 2016 at 9:36 pm
San Francisco - Apple Inc sold more iPhones than Wall Street expected in the third quarter and forecast revenue in the current period would top many analysts’ targets, soothing fears that demand for Apple’s most important product had hit a wall.
Its shares rose more than 7 percent in after-hours trading.
The world’s most valuable publicly traded company said it sold 40.4 million iPhones in the third quarter, down 15 percent from the year-ago quarter but slightly more than the average analyst forecast of 40.02 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.
IPhone sales dropped for the second straight quarter, pushing down Apple’s total revenue 14.6 percent in the fiscal third quarter, ended June 25.
Demand for Apple’s phones has waned in...
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July 26, 2016 at 9:34 pm
Israel - Jerusalem-based startup Zore has developed a unique lock for weapons that would prevent them from being used by any unauthorized personnel. The founders of the company have already raised almost half a million dollars and argue that the product is more efficient and user-friendly than traditional weapon locks.
The Zore lock is a cartridge-shaped device that is attached to the weapon and alerts weapon owners on their smartphone of an attempt made to move or unlock their firearm. The device can be unlocked by turning it clockwise and counterclockwise according to a predetermined code sequence.
“Our product is unique,” Zore co-founder and CEO Yonatan Zimmerman told Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “It is quick, not over-complicated, and works reliably with al...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:28 pm
Zurich - Switzerland said it plans to give information to U.S. tax authorities about accounts at HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private bank, as part of a U.S. investigation into tax evasion.
HSBC’s Swiss unit has already paid tens of millions of dollars in fines after admitting substandard compliance on tax evasion and other issues.
The Swiss government said it made the announcement about its plans on Tuesday to alert HSBC account holders whom it has been unable to locate, and to give them the chance to lodge a legal appeal if they object to having their information sent to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The move comes after the IRS asked Swiss tax authorities in April for assistance on HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA accounts held by Swiss-registered “do...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:27 pm
Jerusalem - Israeli Arab MKs rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s outreach on Monday night in the release of YouTube videos urging the country’s Arab citizens to engage further in Israeli society.
Joint List head Ayman Odeh in a biting response on Tuesday said, “But Mr. Prime Minister, you are right about one thing, we really want to be part of society, but maybe I’ll surprise you now saying, we do not want to be second-class citizens in a racist and occupying state.”
He also mentioned that “more than one hundred thousand Arab citizens who live in unrecognized villages in the Negev, they cannot listen to your words, not in Hebrew nor in English…simply their homes do not have electricity.”
Joint List MK and Ta’al pa...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:14 pm
Charlotte, NC - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sought to turn a scandal involving the Veterans Administration to his political advantage on Tuesday, pledging to war veterans that he would clean up a mess he blamed on Washington politicians.
“Our debt to you is eternal,” Trump told a gathering of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Yet our politicians have totally failed you.”
The 2014 VA scandal revolved around long wait times for patients and other negligent activities. Trump spoke shortly after the crowd heard from Bob McDonald, President Barack Obama’s secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The scandal fits in with Trump’s effort to portray himself as a political outsider dedicated to fixing the problems left ...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:12 pm
Washington - The White House warned Tuesday of a “revolution” of computer-generated threats to the U.S. stoked by growing cyber aggression by traditional U.S. foes like Russia and North Korea, and issued a color-coded response plan for the federal government to use after major cyberattacks.
Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, said while Russia and China grow “more assertive and sophisticated” online, Iran has attacked U.S. banks and North Korea is showing a willingness to attack companies and countries alike. She also warned that non-governmental actors, like the Islamic State group and “hacktivists,” are finding it easy to advance their goals through the internet.
“To put it blunt...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:05 pm
New York - Viewers chose cable news over broadcast TV for coverage of the Republican National Convention last week, with the Nielsen Top 20 claiming eight cable programs focused on the GOP confab.
Among the cable news networks, it was Fox News Channel’s week in particular to shine even as it reeled from the ouster of its founding father, Roger Ailes, accused of sexual harassment.
Besides its flurry of high-ranking individual programs, Fox News ranked No. 1 by far in prime-time among cable networks, averaging 4.1 million viewers. And it was second among all networks, cable or broadcast, behind only by NBC.
Meanwhile, CNN, the week’s second-most-watched cable network, drew an average of 2.4 million viewers with its GOP coverage.
Among the networks overall, NBC led with...
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July 26, 2016 at 6:05 pm
Philadelphia - Sorry, Democrats. #ElectMichelle will never be more than a wishful hashtag.
The same thing that made Michelle Obama such a powerful voice for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention makes it unlikely she’ll spend a huge amount of time on the campaign trail or, heaven forbid, run for president: She’s just not a political animal.
That’s sorry news to delegates who were moved to tears by the first lady’s nailed-it speech at the convention Monday night, where she delivered a compelling argument for Clinton’s election from the perspective of Sasha and Malia’s mom and also managed to skewer Donald Trump without uttering his name.
Democrats were still enthusing over Mrs. Obama’s speech the next day — and hoping the fir...
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July 26, 2016 at 5:48 pm
Paris - One of the two knife-wielding men who attacked a church in France on Tuesday has been named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said.
Kermiche and the second attacker, who remains unidentified, were killed by police as they came out of the church in Kermiche’s hometown in Normandy after taking hostages and fatally slitting the throat of an elderly priest.
The Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic State militant group, said two of its “soldiers” had carried out the attack.
After Kermiche’s last attempt to reach Syria in May 2015, he was detained until March, when he was released despite an appeal by Paris prosecu...
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July 26, 2016 at 5:44 pm
New York - Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Kerry Washington, Mark Ruffalo, Neil Patrick Harris, Lena Dunham, Shonda Rhimes, and Macklemore are among more than 100 celebrities joining a campaign to urge Americans to deny Donald Trump the White House.
The campaign is part of MoveOn.org Political Action’s #UnitedAgainstHate campaign.
“We believe it is our responsibility to use our platforms to bring attention to the dangers of a Trump presidency, and to the real and present threats of his candidacy,” says an open letter signed by the celebrities.
“Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time when fear excused violence, when greed fueled discrimination, and when the state wrote prejudice against marginalized communities into law .... Some of us come...
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July 26, 2016 at 5:32 pm
New York - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump posted a two-point lead over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, the first time he has been ahead since early May.
Trump’s gains came as he accepted his party’s nomination to the Nov. 8 ballot at the four-day Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, and as Clinton’s nomination in Philadelphia this week was marred by party divisions and the resignation of a top party official.
The July 22-26 poll found that 39 percent of likely voters supported Trump, 37 percent supported Clinton and 24 percent would vote for neither. The poll had a credibility interval of 4 percentage points, meaning that the two candidates should be considered ...
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July 26, 2016 at 4:55 pm
Philadelphia - Democrats beat Republicans in the TV ratings, according to early data on Tuesday for the first night of the Democratic National Convention ratings.
Preliminary data from the three main TV networks ABC, NBC and CBS showed some 10.6 million Americans watched Monday evening’s 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. hour when first lady Michelle Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders were among the key speakers.
That is about half a million more TV eyes than for the first night of the Republican convention last week when White House contender Donald Trump’s wife Melania was the keynote speaker.
Updated figures, along with TV audiences from cable news channels and smaller networks, are expected later on Tuesday.
All in all, some 23 million Americans watched the first night of the Re...
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July 26, 2016 at 4:54 pm
Sarah Hofstetter wrote the following article for Fortune.com:
When 360i, the ad agency I run, won Oscar Mayer’s business in 2010, I politely declined their invitation to sample products from their new portfolio. It’s not that I wasn’t interested—I had spent countless hours trying to win the hot dog maker’s business—but my faith simply prohibited it.
I’ve been keeping kosher and observing the Jewish Sabbath my entire life, along with striving to stick to the other 611 commandments of the Torah. This has meant resisting the temptations of McDonald’s as a child, fending off rebellious friends trying to get me to sneak out with them on Friday nights, and attempting to find the only kosher establishment in Tokyo (yes, it does exist, and yes, the...
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July 26, 2016 at 3:19 pm
New York - Authorities say New York City bank burglars stole about $5 million in cash, diamonds, jewelry, coins and baseball cards.
Michael Mazzara, Charles Kerrigan, and Anthony Mascuzzio were arrested this morning for their roles in bank burglaries in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, earlier this year.
The FBI says three men charged Tuesday were part of a crew it’s been investigating with the New York Police Department. A criminal complaint focuses on two burglaries this year in Brooklyn and Queens.
On a bank roof in Queens, the burglars left behind empty safe deposit boxes, grinding wheels and a fuel tank for a cutting torch. Near a hole in the roof was a black plywood structure that the burglars apparently built to shield themselves from view.
In Brooklyn, the bur...
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July 26, 2016 at 3:17 pm
St. Quirin, Germany - Germany must face the fact that Islamist terrorism has arrived and respond with tougher security and tighter immigration policies, Bavaria’s state premier said on Tuesday.
“Each attack, each act of terrorism, is one too many. Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany,” Horst Seehofer, a long-standing critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy, told a news conference.
“We need more security in Germany. People are riled up, full of fear, and that is completely understandable. They need reliable answers from politicians and not endless debates and justifications,” Seehofer said after a meeting of party leaders.
A spate of attacks in Germany since July 18 have left 15 people dead - including four attackers...
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July 26, 2016 at 2:44 pm
New York - A stunning video shows a lightning bolt striking the Empire State Building during a storm passing through New York City.
A frame of the video shared by journalist Henrik Moltke shows the bolt striking near the top of the skyscraper Monday.
Moltke says he saw the storm approaching from his office window and captured the strike by balancing his phone against the glass. He says he “was just lucky.”
Lightning strikes on the Empire State Building aren’t unusual. The building’s website says the structure serves as a lightning rod for the surrounding area and is hit by lightning 23 times a year on average.
Heavy rains and high winds knocked down trees and powerlines in the New York City area Monday evening.
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July 26, 2016 at 1:36 pm
Philadelphia - Undeterred by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plea for party unity behind Hillary Clinton, Sanders supporters chanting “Bernie or bust!” took to the streets under the hot sun Tuesday for more demonstrations on Day 2 of the Democratic convention.
Several hundred gathered around noon in a rally at City Hall with plans to join up in the afternoon with groups decrying police brutality and economic injustice. Together they planned to march the 4 miles down Broad Street to the convention site.
Speakers at the rally charged that Clinton cheated her way to the nomination with the complicity of the “corporate media.”
Demonstrators said they weren’t swayed by Sanders’ speech at the convention Monday night, in which he said: “Based on her ...
