Sanford, FL - Police say a central Florida mayor was carjacked early Saturday while standing outside his home. MESH (http://bit.ly/28Z1QPh ) reports Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett was outside about 2:15 a.m. when three men approached, pointed a gun at him and stole his car keys. Police say the suspects also stole Triplett’s wallet before driving off in his Mercedes. Triplett gave a detailed description of the suspects to police and 18-year-old Jermine Jacques Horne and a 17-year-old were arrested a short time later. The third suspect has not been caught. It was not immediately known if either suspect had a lawyer. Triplett said, “Being a victim of a crime is unnerving, yet it was reassuring to witness both speed and diligence from the Sanford Police Department.” ...
Thousands of shekels worth of equipment stolen from holy site's maintenance staff. Arab vandals removed a mezuzah from the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron on Friday, while the holy site was used by local Muslims for Ramadan prayers. The mezuzah, which adorned the main door of the Tomb, is believed to have been desecrated by the vandals. A storage shed used by the Tomb’s maintenance staff was also broken into, with thousands of shekels worth of equipment stolen. A spokesman for the Hevron Jewish community, Noam Arnon, responded to the theft and likely desecration of the mezuzah, calling on police to offer a substantive response to the incident. “The Committee of Hevron demands that the [special access given to] Muslims for the [Ramadan] holiday be cancelled in th...
Yishai Schlissel, convicted of murder of Shira Banki, 16, at Pride Parade last year, handed heavy sentence by District Court Yishai Schlissel, the man recently convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki and six more counts of attempted murder, all perpetrated at the Pride Parade in Jerusalem on August 2015, has been sentenced to life in prison and 31 more years. In addition to the prison sentence, he has been ordered to pay monetary compensation to the tune of NIS 258,000, the maximum amount, to the Banki family and each of the other victims, for a total of NIS 2,064,000. In the sentence, the judges wrote the following: "We have before us, then, a man who does not see those around him as people. A cruel man. A dangerous and heartless man. A man f...
The Jerusalem Police arrested four Muslim youths Sunday morning inside the Temple Mount Compound, on suspicion of disturbing the public peace and interfering with police. The arrests were carried out after a group of Muslim youths, some of them with their faces covered, began shouting at Jews who ascended the Mount. The incident took place during the hours in which the Mount is open to Jews and tourists. Police noted that the visits to the Mount are continuing as usual. “The Jerusalem Police are deployed at the location and throughout the Old City and the points of tension”, said the police in a written statement, vowing to “act with determination in the face of any attempt by lawbreakers to try and disturb the peace, for the sake of preservation of freedom of...
Baltimore, MD – June 24, 2016 - It is with deep sorrow that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of Mr. Norman Miller, a’h, father of Miriam Sidell and Ilene Reinitz.   The levayah will take place on Sunday, June 26, 2016, at Sol Levinson at 12:00 PM   Shiva will be observed 6805 Williamson, Baltimore, MD 21215  through July 2nd. Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
As Israeli and Turkish negotiators were set to meet Sunday in Rome to reach an agreement on normalizing ties, the families of two soldiers killed in the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip on Saturday demanded that their sons be returned as part of any deal with Ankara. The families of Lt. Hadar Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul planned a protest tent outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem should a deal not involve the return of their sons. Read full story at The Times of Israel.
New York -  Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton regained a double-digit lead over Republican rival Donald Trump this week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday. The June 20-24 poll showed that 46.6 percent of likely American voters supported Clinton while 33.3 percent supported Trump. Another 20.1 percent said they would support neither candidate. Trump had enjoyed a brief boost in support following the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, as he doubled down on his pledge to ban Muslims from entering the country, cutting Clinton’s lead to nine points. But Trump’s rise in popularity appeared to be only temporary, unlike his lasting surge among the Republican field last year after the attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino, Cal...
Jerusalem - The Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday denied that Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh would be given immunity from Israeli attempts on his life as part of the reconciliation deal with Turkey which the cabinet is expected to ratify next week. The claim was seemingly made by coalition chairman David Bitan, who later said that his comments made at a cultural event in Beersheba on Saturday were misunderstood and taken out of context. Discussing the pending deal with Turkey and what it means for Haniyeh, Biton stated: “What’s certain is that we can’t do anything to him anymore, he is secured. Not even the prime minister can give the order anymore.” Biton’s comments prompted an angry...read more at VIN
 Is it ethical for Baltimore's top prosecutor, who staked her reputation on charging six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, to keep trying for a conviction? Legal experts said Friday that State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is obligated to consider this question. Mosby seemed devastated after the trial judge found no evidence a crime was committed when the young black man's neck was broken in the back of a police van. The acquittal of van driver Caesar Goodson on all counts Thursday was more than just a courtroom setback, given the stakes Mosby raised last year when she announced the charges shortly after riots shook the city. Stressing the ethical demands of her office and repeatedly invoking the civil unrest, Mosby vowed then to represent the aggri...
West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday retracted his allegation that Israeli rabbis had called for the poisoning of Palestinian water, a remark that had drawn strong condemnation from Israel’s prime minister. “After it became evident that the alleged statements by a rabbi on poisoning Palestinian wells, reported by various media outlets, are baseless, President Abbas has affirmed that he didn’t intend to harm Judaism or to offend Jewish people around the world,” part of a statement by Abbas’s office said. The Western-backed Palestinian leader made the remarks in a speech to the European parliament in Brussels on Thursday, as he condemned Israeli actions against Palestinians amid stalled peace talks, which collapsed in 2014. Ab...
Baltimore's police commissioner and City Council president are criticizing the city's police union for online posts that appeared to celebrate an officer's acquittal in the death of a 25-year-old black man. A judge acquitted Officer Caesar Goodson of all charges Thursday. Goodson drove the van in which Freddie Gray's neck was broken. Goodson was one of six officers charged in Gray's 2015 death. The Baltimore Sun  reports the police union sent a tweet Friday night with a photo of actor Leonardo DiCaprio making a toast, with text reading, "Here's to the Baltimore 6 defense team." Another tweet referred to State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby as "the wolf that lurks." The tweets have been deleted. Police Chief Kevin Davis and City Council Presiden...
Turkish President meets Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal as his country is reportedly set to announce normalization with Israel. Amid reports that Israel and Turkey will announce a deal on normalizing ties this coming Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday met Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Istanbul. According to the Turkish Anadolu news agency, the two discussed ways to resolve the disagreements among Palestinians as well as Turkish humanitarian assistance. A source from the Turkish Presidency quoted by the news agency said that Erdogan emphasized during the meeting that Turkey was keen on easing the distress of Palestinians. The meeting comes following reports in Turkish media that Israel and Turkey are set to announce the normalization of ties, cut after the 2010 M...
ST Louis - Bernie Sanders said Friday he will vote for Hillary Clinton for president, stopping short of a full endorsement of his Democratic presidential rival more than a week after the final primary contests. The Vermont senator said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he was “pretty good at arithmetic” and understood that Clinton had won more pledged delegates than he had during their lengthy primary. Asked if he would vote for the former secretary of state, Sanders replied, “Yes,” adding: “I will do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump.” But Sanders has yet to call on his supporters to vote for Clinton and has not said whether he would campaign on her behalf. His latest comments acknowledged the inevitable...
Washington -  An Associated Press review of the official calendar Hillary Clinton kept as secretary of state identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors, loyalists, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were not recorded or were listed without the names of those she met. The missing entries raise new questions about how Clinton and her inner circle handled government records documenting her State Department tenure — in this case, why the official chronology of her four-year term does not closely mirror other more detailed records of her daily meetings. At a time when Clinton’s private email system is under scrutiny by an FBI criminal investigation, the calendar omissions reinforce concerns that she sou...
Washington - Disturbed by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, U.S. activists have taken out online advertisements, circulated petitions, put up billboards and even chipped in for an airplane banner to try to shame companies into dropping their sponsorships of the Republican National Convention in July. The campaign, led by the political arm of California-based advocacy group Color of Change, seeks to weaken Trump’s White House bid by pressuring companies to skip the Cleveland convention where he is expected to formally become the nominee. “The fact of the matter is that any employee of these Fortune 500 companies that are sponsoring the convention, if any of those employees went into their job and said the things Donald Trump is saying, they’d be fired...
Washington - A U.S. Navy captain who was in charge of 10 American sailors briefly held by Iran in January has been relieved of command because of a “loss of confidence in his ability to command,” a Navy statement said on Friday. Ten U.S. sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Jan. 12 when they inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters. They were released the next day after being held for about 15 hours.] Captain Kyle Moses, commander of Task Force 56, was the second person to be publicly reprimanded so far over the incident. In May, Commander Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer of the coastal riverine squadron that included the 10 sailors, was fired. Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan...
Fort Lee, NJ - Authorities say they’ve nabbed two New Jersey residents who have racked up about $30,000 in unpaid tolls combined. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says officers pulled over Englewood resident John Reynolds on Wednesday morning after seeing him pass through the E-ZPass lane of the George Washington Bridge while pretending his cellphone was a transponder. Authorities say the car had about 300 toll violations, totaling about $19,000. The next morning, officers stopped North Plainfield resident Lucy Sanchez on the bridge after police say she passed through without paying a toll. Police say Sanchez didn’t have a driver’s license and had nearly 150 toll violations, totaling about $9,000. Both are charged with theft of service and evading ...
New York - Stephanie Rodenberg-Lewis wasn’t happy with her insulin pump and finally switched two years ago to another brand. Now her health insurer is pushing her to go back. UnitedHealth Group Inc. has made a deal with device maker Medtronic that will slash options for diabetics who use the portable pumps, which costs thousands of dollars. The move has angered Rodenberg-Lewis and others who will be limited to three pump choices instead of nine. Health insurers, big employers and other bill payers have been trying for years to rein in costs and improve care by steering clients to certain doctors and hospitals. They’ve also restricted options for some prescriptions and lined up deals for smaller-ticket items like diabetes test strips or items patients don’t chos...
Charleston, WV - A deluge of 9 inches of rain on parts of West Virginia destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses and killed 14 people, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said Friday. About 500 people were stranded overnight in a shopping center when a bridge washed out, and dozens of other people had to be plucked off rooftops or rescued as waters quickly rose during the storm. “Our focus remains on search and rescue,” the governor said. He added: “It’s been a long 24 hours and the next 24 hours may not be much easier.” The deaths included an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old boy who were swept away in different counties, authorities said. Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill described “complet...
London - An intense leadership battle is expected to unfold within Britain’s Conservative Party after its long-standing, passionate split over the country’s role in Europe reached a pinnacle Friday with a vote to exit the bloc and the resignation of the prime minister. The still youthful-looking David Cameron announced he would step down after Brits rejected his plea to vote to keep Britain inside the European Union, setting in motion complex divorce proceedings expected to take two years or more to work out. Speaking in a stoic tone, with his wife Samantha standing nearby, Cameron said Britain needs a new “captain” to manage torturous negotiations with EU officials about how to separate Britain from the 28-nation bloc. Strong disagreements over Britain&...
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