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August 31, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Brazil - Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralyzed Latin America’s most powerful economy and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending.
While Rousseff’s ouster was widely expected, the decision was a key chapter in a colossal political struggle that is far from over. Rousseff was Brazil’s first female president, with a storied career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country’s dictatorship. She was accused of breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget.
Opposition lawmakers, who made clear early on the only solution was getting her out of off...
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August 31, 2016 at 12:09 pm
A wildfire that tore through brush east of Los Angeles forced 700 people from their homes for several hours Tuesday and destroyed a small building, officials said.
The fast-moving fire prompted the evacuations as it raced through 1.5 square miles of drought-dry hills near Banning, the Riverside County Fire Department said.
It was 10 percent contained by nightfall, and the evacuations, most of which were from a mobile home park, were canceled.
Two people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
An assisted living center with 10 seniors had to be evacuated as flames came within about 300 yards.
“We have some in wheelchairs, some in walkers, and some get along pretty well on their own,” Richard Feenstra, owner of Cherry Valley Lodge, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. &...
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August 31, 2016 at 12:07 pm
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has approved a deal to normalize ties with Israel, the state-run Turkish Anadolu Agency reported.
Erdoğan sent the deal to the Prime Ministry’s Office, 12 days after it was approved by the Turkish parliament.
Read full story at Hurriyet Daily News.
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August 31, 2016 at 12:04 pm
Jerusalem - Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank at a time of heightened international concern over a construction drive on land Palestinians seek for a state.
The decision by the military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank came two days after a senior U.N. envoy said in a statement to the Security Council that a surge in such building, which most countries view as illegal, presented an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
Israel, which captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, rejected the criticism by Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N.‘s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. It said Jews had lived in Judea, the biblical term for the West Bank, for thousands of years.
A Civil Administration planning co...
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August 31, 2016 at 12:00 pm
New York - A U.S. appeals court has tossed out a $654 million jury verdict against the Palestine Liberation Organization that involved damages for Americans affected by Palestinian terror attacks but that the United States government says could financially destabilize the Palestinian government.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan threw out the case Wednesday. The court said the federal courts lack personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
A jury last year awarded $218 million to Americans affected by Palestinian terror attacks that have killed Americans. The award was automatically tripped under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
In court papers after the jury verdict, the U.S. government said that if the Palestinian Authority were to collapse, there would be a crisis im...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:58 am
Question: In the middle of davening Musaf on Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, I realized that I was reciting the Musaf for a regular Shabbos rather than the special Musaf for Shabbos Rosh Chodesh. What should I have done?
Answer:
This Shabbos is also Rosh Chodesh, requiring the recital of a special text for the middle bracha of Musaf. This special Musaf includes elements of the usual Shabbos Musaf, the usual Rosh Chodesh Musaf, and a special introductory passage. This passage, beginning with the words Atah Yatzarta, actually bears closer resemblance to the introductory part of the Yom Tov Musaf than it does to Musaf of either Shabbos or Rosh Chodesh. The rest of the middle bracha of Musaf combines elements of both Shabbos Musaf and Rosh Chodesh Musaf.
I once edited an article in which the au...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:55 am
Directly due to the interesting circumstances of this week, Parshas Re’eh / Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Elul, an unusual occurrence will transpire in a fortnight on Parshas Ki Seitzei: a double haftarah. Not a printing mistake, this double haftarah will actually be recited by the vast majority of Ashkenazic congregations worldwide.
Many do realize this special occurrence even exists. In fact, one recent time this occurred, when I mentioned the uniqueness of this situation to the gabbai on that Shabbos itself, he responded that he had never heard of a double haftarah! He maintained that at the hashkama minyan, filled with Bnei Torah, not a single one pointed out such a thing! [No, I did not daven Haneitz that Shabbos.] I had to show this ruling to him explicitly in both the Mishnah Berura...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:48 am
Santa Clara, Cuba - The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War.
The flight of JetBlue 387 opens a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel, with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island.
“Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality. That has a huge psychological impact,” said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book “Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Econ...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:41 am
6,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel this summer, with more than 150 Naaleh students and 30 olim to arrive tomorrow from Ukraine.
Some 6,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel over the course of the summer season. In addition, 155 Naaleh participants as well as more than 30 new olim will arrive at Ben Gurion airport on two flights tomorrow from the Ukraine.
Joining the new immigrants and Naaleh program participants on tomorrow's flight is Absorption Minister Sofa Landver. She has just completed a trip to the Ukraine, where she attended Aliyah fairs and met with prospective immigrants.
A ceremony in honor of the immigrants will take place in the Absorption Ministry's center at terminal 1 in Ben Gurion airport.
At the conclusion of the summer months the Absorption Min...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:07 am
Hillary Clinton now equals Trump in unfavorability as women voters turn away from Democratic nominee.
Dogged by a string of recent revelations regarding the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the US State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s favorability rating among voters has plummeted over the past few weeks, dropping to its lowest level ever.
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, just 38% of voters say they view Mrs. Clinton favorably, compared to 59% who say they have an unfavorable view of the former First Lady.
That puts Clinton on par with GOP nominee Donald Trump, whose favorability ratings are also underwater among registered voters, with 37% saying they viewed him in a positive light, compared to 60% wh...
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August 31, 2016 at 11:06 am
Baltimore, MD - Aug. 31, 2016 - Baltimore Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Group The Baltimore Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Group held its monthly meeting Sunday, August 28, 2016 at the Park Heights JCC. The program was Greek Jewish Life before, during and after the War. Guest speaker was Alice Matsas Garten shared her family's history including life in the thriving Jewish community of Ioannina, the year her family escaped the Nazis by living in a village in the partisan controlled Greek mountains, and life for her family after the war. For information about the group, please contact Felicia Graber at hgraber@earthlink.net.
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August 31, 2016 at 10:46 am
Hebron - Israeli security forces raided a Palestinian radio station in the village of Dura, near Hebron, during the small hours of Tuesday night. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, soldiers and police officers arrested five of the station’s employees on suspicion of incitement to violence and confiscated technical equipment and radio transmitters.
“The A-Sanabel radio station constantly broadcasted inciteful content against the State of Israel,” stated a spokesperson with the IDF. “It encouraged and supported harming Israeli citizens and praised Palestinian terrorists who committed attacks.”
The raid was conducted in cooperation between the Israeli army, police, and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) after a closure order was issued...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:30 am
Obama administration notes with concern deployment of anti-air defense network around banned nuclear facility.
JTA - The Obama administration expressed “concern” over the deployment of powerful anti-aircraft missiles near an Iranian enrichment facility ostensibly shuttered under the Iran nuclear deal, but said it did not violate embargoes.
Iran over the weekend announced the deployment of the Russian-made S-300 missiles around the Fordow facility.
“We’re concerned about the provision of sale to Iran of sophisticated defense capabilities such as this S-300,” John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said on Monday.
“As we get more information, obviously, we’re going to stay in close consultation with partners going forward,” he s...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:30 am
Police in Northern District say 5-year-old child was left in family car the entire night.
Police in the Northern District are investigating a suspicion that a 5-year-old child was left in the family car until the early hours of the morning.
An MDA emergency team was summoned to a local clinic in the northern area where the child had been brought by his family suffering from unconsciousness and convulsions. The family claim they do not know what caused the child's condition.
The child was transferred to hospital and after treatment his condition significantly improved.
At the same time an investigation has been opened into the incident. From preliminary information in the hands of the police, it emerged that the family were unaware that the child had been left in the car a...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:23 am
Hot schools remain a hot topic in Baltimore County, where the school board has voted to revise the heat policy.
Students at 37 non-air-conditioned schools have already missed two days of class time, after a new heat policy was put in place. It didn't take long for the board to decide that adjustments might have to be made to that policy.
WBAL-TV 11 reports that during a meeting Tuesday night, the county Board of Education voted to revise the already-controversial Policy 6303, which deals with when to close non-air-conditioned schools or delay classes because of the heat.
The board voted to change the heat policy to close non-air-conditioned schools the next day if that day's heat index forecast calls for 90 degrees by 11 a.m. For example, if the Monday night fore...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:22 am
Kabul - The State Department says it’s evaluating a video released by the Afghan Taliban showing a Canadian man and his American wife warning that their Afghan captors will kill them and their children unless the Kabul government ends its executions of Taliban prisoners.
The video, which has not been independently verified by The Associated Press, shows Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012, calling on Canada and the United States to pressure the Afghan government into changing its policy on executing captured Taliban prisoners.
Coleman has told her family that she gave birth to two children in captivity.
“I would tell you that the video is still being examined for its validity,” State Department spokesman...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:14 am
Munich, Germany - Amid recent construction efforts at a branch of a German research institute in Munich, dozens of anatomical parts were uncovered dating back to the WWII era, Army Radio reported Wednesday.
According to the report, the mostly brain and brain parts found in the building were remains from those murdered in Nazi human experiments, which were inhumanely conducted on prisoners including children, the mentally ill and people with disabilities during the Holocaust.
The remains were found at a branch of Munich’s Max Planck Institute, which was originally founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute that was strongly associated with Nazi theories of racial eugenics. The institute regularly received human body parts from Nazi members such as the infamous Auschwitz physic...
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August 31, 2016 at 10:13 am
Beirut - The Islamic State group’s spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group’s attacks against the West, has been killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, the group has announced.
The IS-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was “martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo.” It did not provide any further details on when or how he died. A later statement issued by the Islamic State group in Aleppo province vowed to avenge his death. Both statements were released late Tuesday evening.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that its airstrike killed al-Adnani. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said its intelligence had confirmed that a Russ...
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August 31, 2016 at 9:57 am
Baltimore, MD - August 31, 2016 -- On Shabbos evening, August 19, a blazing fire which broke out in the home of octogenarians Julius and Eva Lou Chapman, longtime pillars of the Houston Jewish community, took the life of Mrs. Chapman. Her husband, although critically injured in the fire, is Boruch Hashem, improving by the day.
I never had the pleasure of meeting my coworkers’--Rabbi Reuven and Mrs. Janine Chapmans’-- mother and mother-in-law, respectively, but from what I’ve heard, I can just picture her: She would say, “Good Golly Miss Molly” as much as “takka” and “mamash”. She had a love of Yiddishkeit, of the Hebrew language, and Eretz Yisroel,. She was a real Southern lady on a mission to do what was right in Hashem‘s ...
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August 31, 2016 at 9:40 am
Mexico City - President Enrique Pena Nieto awoke to a storm of criticism from Mexicans over his decision to meet Wednesday with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is widely reviled in Mexico for referring to its migrants as “rapists” and criminals.
Former first lady Margarita Zavala, herself a potential presidential candidate, aimed a tweet at Trump, saying: “Even though you may have been invited, we want you to know you’re not welcome. We Mexicans have dignity, and we reject your hate speech.”
At least two protests were already being planned for downtown Mexico City and Pena Nieto’s office would not say exactly where or when the meeting would be held, possibly in a bid to avoid protests outside the meeting site.
Leading hist...
