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September 29, 2016 at 9:30 am
Former US president joins thousands at the Knesset, where the late president lies in state ahead of the funeral Friday
Former US President Bill Clinton paid his respects to former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres immediately after landing in Israel on Thursday, viewing the late statesman’s coffin where it lay in state at the Knesset.
Clinton drove directly from Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv to the Knesset in Jerusalem, where Peres’s casket has been placed. He was welcomed to the Knesset with a “warm embrace” from President Reuven Rivlin, according to the Knesset spokesman. Rivlin, together with Speaker Yuli Edelstein, then accompanied Clinton to the Knesset plaza to pay his last respects to Israel`s ninth president.
Clinton is one...
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September 29, 2016 at 9:01 am
Organization of Israeli pilots appeals to transportation minister: ‘passengers were given an inferior product, unidentified planes, foreign technicians and pilots with unknown credentials;’ El Al: ‘The safety procedures and checks exist and the ground services are provided by El Al personnel.’
An Israeli organization of pilots is launching a campaign against El Al under the banner of “Israeli flights only with Israelis” in an effort to halt the selling of what are incorrectly believed by many Israeli passengers to be Israeli airline tickets.
Over the last few months the Israeli airline El Al leased seven planes from foreign airlines and has been selling flights to various destinations including central Europe and South American as “El Al...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:41 am
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas intends to attend Shimon Peres’s funeral in Jerusalem tomorrow, at the head of a PA delegation.
Abbas’s office contacted the head of Israel’s civilian authority in the Palestinian territories, Yoav Mordechai, to coordinate the president’s attendance.
Abbas will be joined by a delegation comprising senior officials...read more at Times of Israel
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September 29, 2016 at 8:29 am
(AFP). The United States said Wednesday it conducted drone strikes against Al-Qaeda in Yemen last week, killing four members of the terror group.
The first attack occurred on September 20 in Marib province and left two Al-Qaeda operatives dead, the military’s central command for the Middle East said in a statement.
The second attack, on September 22 in central Baida province, killed two Al-Qaeda members, it said.
The two drone strikes had been reported by Yemeni security officials but this was the first time the United States claimed them.
Washington has been involved in a years-long unmanned drone campaign in Yemen and considers Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based franchise — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — to be its most dangerous.
“These were Al-Qa...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:27 am
(AFP). The US Congress passed a spending bill late Wednesday and staved off a government shutdown, after reaching agreement on funding for a tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan that had bedeviled earlier proposals.
The fiscal year ends on September 30. Had Congress failed to pass a bill approving federal spending — or in this case, extending existing spending levels until December 9 — by midnight Friday, some government offices and operations could have been forced to close.
“In addition to keeping the government open, this bill provides funding to train and equip our military, and improve care for our veterans. It also provides needed resources to fight the spread of the Zika virus in the United States and Puerto Rico,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said ...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:15 am
Thousands of Israelis filed past the flag-draped coffin of Shimon Peres outside parliament on Thursday, honoring the former president and prime minister who won worldwide praise for his efforts in peace talks with the Palestinians.
U.S. President Barack Obama is among foreign dignitaries due to attend the funeral on Friday of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who died on Wednesday at 93, two weeks after a stroke.
But with Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations frozen since 2014, it was unclear whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who sent a condolence letter to Peres's family, would travel to Jerusalem from nearby Ramallah for the ceremony.
The leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, were not on the roster...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:12 am
FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the man who stabbed and wounded 10 people in a central Minnesota mall before he was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer appears to have been inspired, at least in part, by extremist ideology.
While testifying for hours before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, Comey was asked whether authorities had confirmed that the attack earlier this month in a mall in St. Cloud was an act of terrorism. Comey responded that the FBI is “still working on it,” but that it looks like Dahir Ahmed Adan, 20, appears to have been motivated “by some sort of inspiration from radical Islamic groups.”
He said investigators are not yet sure which groups may have inspired Adan or how, adding that investigators still are review...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:09 am
Maryland's historic Ellicott City is preparing for the possibility of flooding over the next couple of days. With heavy rain moving across the state, the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch through Friday morning, and residents and businesses are taking no chances after this summer's deadly flood.
"We're just getting the sand bags ready in case there is a flood tonight," said Michel Tersiquel, owner of Tersiguel's Restaurant. "The last flash flood, as you know, was a more than we had anticipated."
Another local business owner, Brenda Franz, mimicked Tersiquel.
"We don't need 6 more inches of rain in two days or three days," she said.
Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman says emergency officials are keeping an eye on the...
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September 29, 2016 at 8:08 am
Michelle Obama told supporters in Philadelphia on Wednesday that candidates don’t change once they become president and that America “needs an adult in the White House.” The first lady never mentioned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the rally at LaSalle University. But there was no question that she was warning voters that candidate Trump would be the same as President Trump.
“The presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are,” she told the cheering crowd.
She referred to several comments Trump made during and after Monday’s debate, including his apparent acknowledgment that he’s paid no taxes some years. Trump said that makes him “smart.”
“If a candidate is erratic and threatening, if ...
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September 28, 2016 at 10:34 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind "artificial pancreas," a device that can help some diabetes patients manage their disease by constantly monitoring their blood sugar and delivering insulin as needed.
The device from Medtronic was approved Wednesday for patients with Type 1 diabetes, the kind usually diagnosed during childhood. About 5 percent of the nation's 29 million Americans with diabetes have this type.
Doctors said they have long awaited a device that could help patients around the clock.
"I can't wait to get my hands on it because I can think of a lot of our patients who need this," said the Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Betul Hatipoglu. "Now I have a helper who is going to help me to help them."
Type ...
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September 28, 2016 at 9:45 pm
Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama told CNN's Jake Tapper Wednesday that members of Congress made a "political vote" by voting overwhelmingly to override his veto of a measure that allows families of those killed during the 9/11 terror attacks to sue Saudi Arabia.
"It's an example of why sometimes you have to do what's hard. And, frankly, I wish Congress here had done what's hard," he said in a CNN town hall before a military audience set to air at 9 p.m. ET.
"If you're perceived as voting against 9/11 families right before an election, not surprisingly, that's a hard vote for people to take. But it would have been the right thing to do ... And it was, you know, basically a political vote," Obama said, adding that Gen. Joseph Dunford, ch...
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September 28, 2016 at 9:39 pm
Heads of state and other dignitaries arriving in Israel to attend the funeral will be accommodated in four of the capital’s hotels.
Police and Foreign Ministry jumped in to high gear to prepare for former president Shimon Peres’s funeral and the influx of foreign dignitaries. Traffic will be restricted and diverted throughout Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday to enable the funeral convoy and the entrance of foreign dignitaries.Heads of state and other dignitaries arriving in Israel to attend the funeral will be accommodated in four of the capital’s hotels. However, US President Barack Obama will only be present for a short period as he will immediately fly out of Israel after the ceremony.
All the other US officials will be accommodated at the David Citadel...
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September 28, 2016 at 9:39 pm
HAVANA (AP) — A top Cuban diplomat on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's threat to undo detente with Cuba unless the single-party government meets the Republican presidential candidate's demands.
Trump said in Miami this month that he would reverse President Barack Obama's executive orders loosening the U.S. trade embargo on the island unless Cuba meets demands including "religious and political freedom for the Cuban people and the freeing of political prisoners."
Gustavo Machin, Cuba's deputy director of U.S. affairs, said Cuba would never be pressured into making internal reforms, and called on the next U.S. president to respect Cuba's right to self-determination.
"Cuba has always made clear that Cuba's internal matters aren't on the neg...
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September 28, 2016 at 9:12 pm
A man who was questioned in the New York City blast that killed an FDNY battalion chief earlier this week was cuffed as a fugitive, authorities in New Jersey said, while a second man has been arrested in New York City.
Garivaldi Castillo, 32, of Washington Heights, was arrested Wednesday night on felony charges of criminal possession of marijuana, police said. More charges could come depending on what investigators find at the scene of the Bronx explosion Tuesday.
Police haven't said how he's connected to the blast, which killed FDNY Battalion Chief Michael Fahy.
Meanwhile, Julio Salcedo was being held as a fugitive from justice at the county's jail Wednesday, Bergen County sheriff's deputies said. Salcedo was questioned Tuesday night at Cl...
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September 28, 2016 at 9:00 pm
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Wednesday accused State's Attorney of mis-characterizing their conversations following the death of Freddie Gray.
Mosby was the subject of a lengthy piece Wednesday in The New York Times Magazine that went into her background and included reflections by the state's attorney on the Gray case. Gray was the 25-year-old black man who died of injuries suffered in the back of a Baltimore police van. Six officers were charged--three were acquitted in bench trials, while charges against the remaining three were dropped in July.
Mosby, in the magazine interview, accused Rawlings-Blake and former police Commissioner Anthony Batts of releasing misinformation to the public.
“First Batts said there were three stops, and we knew at ...
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September 28, 2016 at 8:56 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has rejected a veto by President Barack Obama for the first time since he became president.
The House voted 348-77 Wednesday to override his veto of legislation and allow the families of Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for the kingdom's alleged backing of the attackers.
The Senate had voted 97-1 to override his veto.
The lawsuit legislation now becomes law despite elements that Obama and top Pentagon officials warn could put U.S. troops and interests at risk.
Several lawmakers who voted for the legislation acknowledged the defects could trigger lawsuits from people in other countries opposed to U.S. policies and military actions.
But proponents said the bill is narrowly tailored and applies only to acts of terrorism that occur on U.S. s...
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September 28, 2016 at 8:39 pm
Republican lawmakers may question the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for using a private email server as secretary of state, but they should not question the investigation’s thoroughness, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday as he again defended the agency’s actions.
“You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels. We are honest people, and we did this in that way,” Comey said under hours of questioning at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “Whether you disagree or agree with the result, this was done the way you would want it to be done.”
Republicans grilled Comey on the FBI’s year-long investigation into the potential mishandling of classified email, which concluded in July when the FBI recommended ...
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September 28, 2016 at 8:38 pm
Unmoved by harsh debate reviews, a defiant Donald Trump showed no sign Wednesday of embracing any big changes before his second faceoff with Hillary Clinton, pressing ahead with a strategy focused on speaking directly to his white working-class loyalists across the Midwest.
Democrat Clinton, meanwhile, pushed to improve her standing among younger voters with the help of the president, Sen. Bernie Sanders and other key allies, 48 hours after her debate performance that seemed to spark badly needed enthusiasm.
Those closest to Trump insisted the Republican presidential nominee was satisfied with Monday night’s debate, even as prominent voices within his own party called for more serious preparation following an opening confrontation marked by missed opportunities and missteps.
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September 28, 2016 at 8:34 pm
Hadassah Ein Kerem spokesperson Hadar Elboim reports that in light of the erev Shabbos levaya for former President Shimon Peres, the hospital is moving to heightened alert status.
The hospital announced states the hospital/trauma center will move to heightened alert for the levaya which will bring thousands including Israeli elected officials and VIPs from Israel and around the world.
The hospital has notified relevant departments to move to heightened alert ahead of the funeral, including emergency services and the trauma unit.
On-call personnel from all departments have been informed to remain on hospital grounds until the completion of the funeral.
Hospital administration has informed the Jerusalem Police Chief of the facility’s heightened alert status.
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September 28, 2016 at 8:33 pm
President Obama is set to travel to Israel to lead the U.S. delegation attending the funeral services Friday for former Israeli President Shimon Peres, the White House announced Wednesday.
The president departs Thursday and will return to the United States after the services.
In a statement late Tuesday evening, President Obama called Peres his "friend," who worked tirelessly over decades to strengthen the alliance between the United States and Israel.
He also hailed Peres' work in pursuit of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people, and said there would be "no greater tribute to his life than to renew our commitment to the peace that we know is possible."
Obama honored Peres with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
