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August 29, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Yoshon season has officially started. Many people get confused about what the terms Yoshon and Chodosh are. Here we present a brief explanation of each, followed by some product information.
The Torah (Vayikra 23:14) states that the new (i.e., Chodosh) crop of the five grains may not be eaten until after the second day of Passover (i.e., in Israel; in the Diaspora, not until after the third day). This means that the grain harvested this summer would not be allowed until after Passover of next year (i.e., 2017/5777). The term Yoshon (literally, old) refers to crops harvested last summer that became permitted after the following Passover. Thus, the 2015 crop of grains, harvested last summer, became permitted after this past Passover (i.e., 2016/5776). Grain planted at least two ...
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August 29, 2016 at 12:15 pm
Washington - Mylan will start selling a cheaper version of its EpiPen after absorbing waves of criticism over a list price for the emergency allergy treatment that has grown to $608 for a two-pack, making it unaffordable for many patients.
The drugmaker says it will launch in several weeks a generic EpiPen version that is identical to the branded option but will have a list price of $300 for a two-pack.
It will be available in both 0.15-milligram and 0.30-milligram strengths, like the current version on the market.
EpiPens are used in emergencies to treat severe allergies to insect bites and foods like nuts and eggs that can lead to anaphylactic shock. People usually keep a number of EpiPens handy at home, school or work. The syringes, prefilled with the hormone epinephrine, exp...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:42 am
Washington - The FBI is urging U.S. election officials to increase computer security after it uncovered evidence that hackers have targeted two state election databases in recent weeks, according to a confidential advisory.
The warning was in an Aug. 18 flash alert from the FBI’s Cyber Division. Reuters obtained a copy of the document.
Yahoo News first reported the story Monday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials who said they believed foreign hackers caused the intrusions.
U.S. intelligence officials have become increasingly worried that hackers sponsored by Russia or other countries may attempt to disrupt the November presidential election.
Officials and cyber security experts say recent breaches at the Democratic National Committee and elsewhere in the Democratic...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:40 am
Tehran - Iran’s military detected a U.S. drone entering Iranian airspace on Monday and issued a warning for it to leave, which it subsequently did, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
“Iran’s army air defense detected and warned an American drone in the eastern airspace of the country. It was coming from Afghanistan. The drone left the area,” Tasnim quoted the Iranian military as saying.
Tasnim gave no details on how the Iranian authorities had warned the unmanned drone to leave its airspace.
A U.S. defense official said last week that four of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vessels ‘harassed’ a U.S. warship on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran said the ships had only been carrying out their regular duties mo...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:38 am
Jerusalem - The Israeli military says it has opened an investigation into a soldier who fatally shot a Palestinian in the West Bank last week.
The military initially said that the man had run toward a military post before he was shot and killed Friday. Israeli media subsequently reported that the man was unarmed.
The military announced the investigation on Monday but gave no further details. The Haaretz daily says the soldier is suspected of involuntary manslaughter.
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August 29, 2016 at 11:35 am
Washington - A $400 million cash delivery to Iran to repay a decades-old arbitration claim may be unprecedented in recent U.S. history, according to legal experts and diplomatic historians, raising further questions about a payment timed to help free four American prisoners in Iran.
The money was sent to Iran on Jan. 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release the prisoners. The Obama administration claimed for months the events were separate, but recently acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran. Only then, did the U.S. allow a plane with euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency loaded on pallets to take off in the other direction for Tehran.
“There’s actually not anything particularly unusual about the mechanis...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:34 am
Sydney - Three Canadian cruise ship passengers were charged with drug smuggling Monday after Sydney police allegedly found 95 kilograms (209 pounds) of cocaine in their cabin luggage.
The haul valued at 31 million Australian dollars ($23 million) was the largest seizure in Australia of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner, Australian Border Force commander Tim Fitzgerald said.
Andre Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberce, 22, were arrested Sunday after the MS Sea Princess, operated by California-based Princess Cruises, berthed in Sydney.
The three did not enter pleas when they were charged in the Sydney Central Local Court with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine. They face potential life sentences if convicted.
They will remain in c...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:30 am
New York - A 36-year-old man is accused of assaulting a police officer and trying to grab her gun at a Staten Island hospital before another patient intervened.
Authorities say the attack played out while Dante Martin was being guarded by an officer Sunday morning at Richmond University Medical Center after he had been charged with a weapons offense.
Investigators say Martin threw the officer to the ground and grabbed her gun. That’s when 42-year-old Rafael Muniz says he heard the officer’s scream and grabbed Martin’s arm.
Muniz says he was able to convince Martin to let go of the gun.
Martin now faces charges including attempted murder, assault and attempted escape. It’s unclear if he has an attorney who could comment on the charges.
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August 29, 2016 at 11:29 am
Washington - Donald Trump will call rival Hillary Clinton crooked, corrupt and un-presidential. But at least he won’t say she smells.
During a flurry of Twitter activity Monday, the Republican nominee re-tweeted a supporter who had written, “I know of NO ONE voting for Crooked Hillary! Her rallies are held in port-o-potties & she still has room. She Smells!”
Trump sent out a modified version of the message to his followers, tweeting: “Her rallies are held in (blank) & she still has room” instead.
Trump also says the he thinks high crime in inner cities will drive minority voters to his candidacy.
He says: “African-Americans will vote for Trump because they know I will stop the slaughter going on!”
He is also going after Clinton&r...
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August 29, 2016 at 11:29 am
Secaucus, NJ - A New Jersey Transit police officer is being hailed as a hero for pulling a man from train tracks in northern New Jersey last week.
Authorities say Officer Victor Ortiz says he followed the man he saw exiting a train at Secaucus Junction as the man jumped onto the tracks. Ortiz says the man kneeled down onto the tracks as a train was about a half-mile away.
He grabbed the man who kept saying “I just want to die,” and Ortiz eventually was able to pull him off the tracks just as the train was coming into the station.
NJ Transit officials say they couldn’t be more proud of Ortiz and hope it reminds people what police officers do every day.
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August 29, 2016 at 11:29 am
Geneva - A U.N. expert focusing on Iran has condemned the execution of 12 people there over the weekend on drug-related charges.
Special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed on Monday said executions for drug-related offenses like those on Saturday violate international law, and Iranian officials have themselves say such executions haven’t been effective in preventing drug-related crimes.
Shaheed’s office noted the case of Alireza Madadpour, who was one of the 12, saying he was tried after being arrested when less than a kilogram of crystal meth was found in a raid on a house he cleaned. It said Madadpour never met his state-appointed defense lawyer and the trial lasted 20 minutes.
Shaheed has cited Iran Human Rights Documentation Center figures showing 966 people were executed ...
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August 29, 2016 at 8:40 am
Tehran - Iran has deployed the Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defence system around its Fordow underground uranium enrichment facility, Iranian state media reported on Monday.
Iranian state TV on Sunday aired footage of deployment of the recently delivered missile system to the nuclear site in the central Iran.
“Our main priority is to protect Iran’s nuclear facilities under any circumstances,” Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) air defense force told state TV.
Iran and the six major powers reached a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Tehran over its disputed nuclear work.
Enri...
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August 29, 2016 at 8:39 am
Belgium - The Brussels prosecutor is dismissing reports that a bomb exploded early Monday outside Belgium’s criminal institute, describing the incident as more likely an arson attack designed to destroy criminal evidence.
Officials told a news conference that five people had been detained in the vicinity of the crime lab following the incident and were being questioned by police.
“It’s probably not terrorism. It’s a criminal act,” said prosecutors’ spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch. “I cannot confirm that there was any bomb.”
“The location was not chosen randomly,” Van Wymersch added, saying the lab contains “sensitive information” being used in ongoing investigations.
The forensic facility assists and advises ...
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August 29, 2016 at 8:16 am
Gwynns Falls in Baltimore has a drug problem.
WBAL-TV 11 reports that researchers found amphetamines, opioids and morphine in the water, and that kind of pollution is having an impact on the aquatic food chain.
Most people wonder how drugs get into streams. Scientists believe the root of the problem is Baltimore's failing sewage system.
The water at Gwynns Run at Carroll Park is contaminated with caffeine, amphetamines, opioids and morphine. Scientists working with the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies sampled six streams in the Gwynns Falls and Oregon Ridge Watersheds.
"We had some evidence that in Baltimore there was some sewage getting into streams, and so we tested for pharmaceuticals," said Dr. Emma J. Rosi-Marshall, co-author of the study.
Researchers built an ar...
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August 29, 2016 at 8:14 am
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Baltimore is starting to spray for the mosquitoes that could carry the West Nile and Zika virus.
Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr Leana Wen says the state is targeting the areas that have been determined to have high concentrations of these types of mosquitoes.
The city says it's expanding its mosquito control efforts to address growing concerns over the West Nile and Zika virus.
Workers will also be inspecting properties for mosquito breeding sites and spray backyards if necessary.
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August 29, 2016 at 8:12 am
The 37 Baltimore County schools still without air conditioning will be closed on Monday. See the list here.
Due to the forecast calling for a heat index in the 90s Monday, Baltimore County school system officials are calling off classes as well as after-school and evening activities for the affected schools.
Superintendent Dallas Dance recently discussed the system's heat policy in an interview with our Bryan Nehman.
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August 29, 2016 at 7:55 am
New York - Donald Trump’s campaign is planning its biggest ad buy to date — upward of $10 million on commercials airing over the next week.
The campaign is expects the ads to air as soon as Monday in nine swing states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida, where the campaign has already been on the air, along with New Hampshire, Virginia, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada. 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney lost eight of those nine states.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has so far been badly outspent by his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and groups supporting her. Since clinching her party’s nomination in early June, Clinton has spent more than $77 million on television and radio advertising, largely targeting voters in battleground st...
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August 29, 2016 at 7:55 am
New York- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced he’ll be making a speech on illegal immigration on Wednesday in Arizona, after a week of speculation that he might be softening his hard-line promise to deport 11 million people living in the United States illegally.
The speech, posted in a Tweet late Sunday, was initially set for last week in Phoenix, but was pushed back as Trump and his team wrestled over the details of what he would propose. There has been debate within his campaign about immigrants who haven’t committed crimes beyond their immigration offenses.
The candidate’s shifting stance hasn’t made it easy for top supporters and advisers, from his running mate on down, to defend him or explain some campaign positions. Across the...
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August 29, 2016 at 7:47 am
Los Angeles - Reports of a gunman opening fire that turned out to be false caused panicked evacuations at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night, while flights to and from the airport saw major delays.
A search through terminals brought no evidence of a gunman or shots fired, Los Angeles police spokesman Andy Neiman said. The reports were spurred by loud noises only, and police were still investigating to find the source of them, Neiman said.
Airport officials said that a person wearing a Zorro costume was detained during the incident, but it wasn’t yet clear whether the person had any connection to the evacuation.
The incident stirred chaos as hundreds of people rushed from terminals on to sidewalks or the tarmac. And it left a mess with three terminals shut d...
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August 28, 2016 at 10:14 pm
Laplace, LA - A bus full of construction workers hit a firetruck on an elevated highway Sunday, killing two people and injuring 36, several of them seriously, Louisiana State Police said.
The ladder truck from St. John the Baptist Parish, west of New Orleans, had parked across the right lane of Interstate 10 to block traffic while police investigated an earlier wreck involving a pickup truck that had skidded on the wet road, crashing into both guardrails about 6:40 a.m., Trooper Melissa Matey said.
The 2002 Eldorado National party bus hit the fire truck and then rear-ended a 2012 Toyota Camry, pushing it into a flatbed trailer being towed by a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado, Matey said. She said the bus then veered behind the fire truck and into the first pickup truck, a 2005 N...
