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June 26, 2017 at 10:56 pm
Dov Hikind’s office was the scene of an emotional reunion on Monday, June 26, when Jacob “Yanky” Ostreicher visited the Assemblyman and his senior staff. Dov and Yanky embraced.
Despite hours on the phone during Ostreicher’s illegal incarceration in Bolivia and following his miraculous escape, the two men had not met face-to-face before. Since escaping from Bolivia, where he was jailed for two years without being charged with a crime, Ostreicher has made his home on the west coast.
Dov introduced Yanky to members of his staff who had also labored behind the scenes for days and days on end, working every angle in an attempt to free their fellow Jew.
“You were the first one who made any noise—the first one who tried to help me,” said Yanky. The tw...
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June 26, 2017 at 10:56 pm
Authorities say a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Houston was diverted after a passenger became disruptive and attempted to open an exterior door while the plane was in the air.
Southwest Flight 4519 was diverted Sunday to the Texas Gulf coast city of Corpus Christi where the passenger was removed.
John Hyland, chief of public safety for Corpus Christi International Airport, says an off-duty officer on the flight helped to restrain the passenger.
He says the woman was pacing back and forth along the aisle and not following instructions from crew before she reached for the door.
Hyland says the woman was committed for a mental health evaluation.
The flight carrying more than 170 passengers and crew later continued on to Houston, about four hours behind schedule.
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June 26, 2017 at 10:55 pm
Senate Democrats, whose support is needed to pass more than $1 trillion worth of Cabinet department budgets, are demanding that domestic agencies receive budget increases, not just the Pentagon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other top Democrats delivered the message in a letter to GOP leaders on Monday that also restated their opposition to President Donald Trump’s promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The message came as lawmakers faced the return of automatic spending cuts commonly known as sequestration that were the lingering consequence of a 2011 budget deal. Earlier this year, lawmakers wrapped up a bipartisan catchall spending bill that was a product of a 2015 compromise that eased the cuts through the ongoing 2017 budget year.
But there’s no...
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June 26, 2017 at 10:55 pm
A U.S. government lawyer has urged a jury to conclude a charity must give up majority ownership of a Manhattan skyscraper, saying it is secretly controlled by Iran.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard told New York federal court jurors Monday in closing arguments that testimony proves the Alavi Foundation violated sanctions imposed in 1995.
Attorneys for Alavi say it isn’t controlled by Iran. It owns 60 percent of a 36-story office building near Rockefeller Center.
The U.S. government wants to give proceeds from a sale of the building and other properties to holders of over $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the government of Iran.
Lockard says Alavi violated sanctions by hiding Iran’s control over the building and by supporting an Iran-controlled entity ...
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June 26, 2017 at 10:54 pm
Syrian Kurdish forces say they have seized a new district from the Islamic State group in its self-declared capital, Raqqa.
Cihan Shekh Ehmed, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the group’s fighters seized the western district of al-Qadisiya from IS on Monday.
Assisted by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF has been slowly advancing against IS in Raqqa since launching its offensive in early June after encircling the city.
Raqqa is the capital of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, which it declared in 2014 in parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. IS has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months at the hands of an array of Syrian and Iraqi forces.
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June 26, 2017 at 10:54 pm
Ohio officials have restored 11 government websites that were hacked with a message purporting to be supportive of the Islamic State terrorist group.
The Department of Administrative Services says affected websites were restored by Monday. They’d been hacked Sunday with a message that included: “I love the Islamic state.”
The Department of Public Safety says the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are investigating the hacking.
It affected websites for the governor and his wife, the lieutenant governor and the inspector general, as well as Ohio’s Medicaid and prisons agencies. The list also included sites for Ohio’s casino and facilities commissions, the offices of Health Transformation and Workforce Transformation, and the government streamlining ...
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June 26, 2017 at 10:42 pm
A Jerusalem police spokesman reports a 6-day closure order was issued for a business selling alcohol to a minor in the city center.
Since the beginning of the year, the police have conducted 17 hearings for businesses in Jerusalem in connection with the sale of alcohol to minors and other criminal offenses.
In preparation for the summer vacation, the Israel Police is increasing its enforcement regarding the sale of alcohol to minors and selling to anyone beyond the hours defined by law.
Enforcement is carried out in a planned operational activity carried out by the police both in the open and in secret, and its purpose is to locate, investigate, and prosecute those who violate the law.
It is added that in May, in an operational activity designed to locate businesses that sell alc...
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June 26, 2017 at 8:14 pm
The Lakewood Yeshiva Bochur who was held in Russia for a few months and released this past Friday, was given an Aliya on Monday morning at the Satmar Shul in Lakewood. He “Bentched Gomel” and the Shul broke into singing and dancing after he finished hi Bracha.
Read the full story of his ordeal by clicking here.
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June 26, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Please say Tehiilim for יוסף מאיר בן חי שרה, ראצל בת חי שרה ,חנה בת חי שרה
Rockland County, NY - At least four people are known to be seriously injured in a car crash that will leave a main Monsey thoroughfare closed for at least six hours.
The incident took place in the area of Route 59 and Robert Pitt Drive near the Town Square shopping center. The Journal News (http://lohud.us/2tf3vtl) reported that the accident took place just before 3 PM when a silver Toyota Corolla traveling westbound hit several pedestrians.
Ramapo police confirmed that one adult, an infant and a small child were injured and according to NBC reports (http://bit.ly/2teVtAT), two other adults were also hurt in the crash.
The baby suffered cardiac arrest and her ...
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June 26, 2017 at 5:01 pm
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister is expressing some disappointment with the White House, saying the election of Donald Trump has not brought about the boom in West Bank settlement construction many had expected.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home party, says the settler movement expected a building boom after Trump's election. Many members of the president's inner circle, including his son-in-law and chief Mideast envoy Jared Kushner, have close ties to the settler movement.
But Trump has instead urged Israel to restrain construction as he tries to restart peace talks.
"Unfortunately from our perspective, he's sort of going down the same unsuccessful path that his predecessors did," Bennett said in an interview Monday. "So yes, the...
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June 26, 2017 at 4:55 pm
Washington - CNN wasn’t saying Monday what led it to retract a story about a supposed investigation into a pre-inaugural meeting between an associate of President Donald Trump and the head of a Russian investment fund.
The story posted Thursday on CNN’s website said Senate investigators are looking into the meeting between Anthony Scaramucci, a member of Trump’s transition team, and Kirill Dmitriev, whose Russian Direct Investment Fund guides investments by U.S. entities in Russia. Scaramucci, in the story, said he exchanged pleasantries in a restaurant with Dmitriev on January 16.
The report also said that two Democratic senators wanted to know whether Scaramucci had indicated in the meeting whether sanctions against Russia would be lifted, a decision that could impact...
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June 26, 2017 at 4:55 pm
For three Chabad talmidim in Yeshivas Kiryat Gat, escaping a perilous flame was a matter of seconds and B’chasdei Hashem, there were saved from a fire that engulfed the vehicle they exited.
Last erev Shabbos the three talmidim took a taxi back from ‘mivtzaim’, where they were busy getting people to put on tefilin. They arrived at yeshiva and paid the driver and got out of the vehicle, heading towards the mikve, a few meters away. Seconds past when suddenly the vehicle’s gas tank burst into flames.
The driver saw the rear on fire and B’chasdei Hashem, got out in time, second later, escaping without injuries. He shouted at bystanders to get back to avoid injuries. A few additional seconds later there was a loud explosion and the entire vehicle was engulfed in ...
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June 26, 2017 at 4:28 pm
Rabbi Shlomo Amar Shlita, Jerusalem’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi, announced on Monday, 2 Tammuz, that months ago, he was already involved in negotiations between doctors and hospital administration to avoid a crisis at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
According to Rabbi Amar, one of the sides was willing to accept the compromise while the other was not. Rabbi Amar made his remarks during an interview on Kol Berama Radio.
He added the parties met in his home in Yerushalayim but he was unwilling to reveal anything discussed during their meetings. He explained talks were handled with the utmost discretion and revealing the content of these talks would be most inappropriate.
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June 26, 2017 at 4:10 pm
Baltimore, MD - June 26, 2017:
Dear Community Members,
Between 06/23/17 and 06/25/17, the Pikeville Precinct experienced a total of five thefts from motor vehicles. Two vehicles in the 6500 block of Copperfield Road, two vehicles in the 3200 block of Hatton Road, and one vehicle in the 3200 block of Northbrook Road. All targeted vehicles had no signs of forced entry. During the incident on Hatton Road, video surveillance footage revealed two black males, with one of the males going into the victim’s two vehicles. Please remember to lock your vehicles and remove any valuables at all times.
Please be vigilant of suspicious subjects or vehicles roaming through the neighborhood. If you notice any suspicious activity, safely get a good descript...
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June 26, 2017 at 4:05 pm
Baltimore, MD - June 26, 2017 - Parah Adumah is the quintessential chok, a law which is impossible for us to understand. It is atonement for the chet ha'egel-the mother cow is coming to 'clean up' the mess of her child. This is the opposite of Kibbud Av V'em, a mitzvah that is easily understood, and one in which the child is doing for the parents. For the nations of the world, it is very easy to honor one’s parent, as the honor of Hashem does not come into the equation. However, as Bnei Yisroel, we must keep all mitzvos whether we understand them or not, and our ability to honor our parents can be limited because of our necessary deference to Hashem.
Click here to listen
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June 26, 2017 at 3:50 pm
The first Persian American Rabbinical Conference, a national gathering of Persian Rabbinic Leaders, was held from June 5-7 in Los Angeles. Rabbis from the major Persian Jewish communities in the United States attended the three-day conference to brainstorm about the ongoing challenges that confront Persian Jews in America. The event, organized and hosted by the Persian Rabbinical Council (PRC) of California, with the assistance of Agudath Israel of America, was a milestone for a community that rebuilt itself on foreign shores after being forced to flee Iran almost 40 years ago. After the downfall of the Shah in 1979, the Jews of Iran saw the writing on the wall and knew enough to leave the country as soon as possible. Most of them settled in Los Angeles and New York. In the ye...
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June 26, 2017 at 3:28 pm
In a groundbreaking victory upholding the constitutional right to freedom of religion, a New Jersey judge dismissed a slander and defamation lawsuit against a rabbi who told congregants to avoid all contact with a person who was found to be m’sarev b’din by a Beis Din.
The plaintiff in the case, which was brought to New Jersey Superior Court in December 2016, had been going through a difficult divorce when he was summoned to a Din Torah. The plaintiff ignored the hazmana, prompting the Beis Din to issue a seruv labeling him as being in contempt of court, but despite the associated sanctions, the plaintiff continued to come to shul as before.
Unsure how to interact with a fellow congregant who had been officially classified as m’sarev b’din, members of ...
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June 26, 2017 at 3:28 pm
An opinion poll shows that a majority of Russians think Soviet leader Josef Stalin was the “most outstanding person” in history.
The survey by the Levada Center released Monday said 38 percent chose Stalin, in a stark contrast to just 12 percent in 1989 when Russians were beginning to discover the crimes of the Stalin regime. The poll of 1,600 people has a 3.4-percent margin of error.
Scholars estimate that under Stalin more than 1 million people were executed in political purges. Millions more died in the vast prison camp system or as a result of mass starvation and deportations.
But an increasing number of Russians now admire Stalin as a strong leader who led their country to victory in World War II.
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June 26, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. whose meetings with Trump associates have attracted intense scrutiny and apparently forced at least one cabinet member from his job, is reportedly being recalled to Moscow.
Kislyak had been expected to depart the nation’s capital, but news outlets had previously reported that he was bound for a new post at the United Nations in New York City. On Sunday Buzzfeed News reported that Kislyak was instead recalled home.
His expected departure comes amid multiple investigations, including by the FBI, into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and the Kremlin’s potential ties to the Trump team. The ambassador, himself, has been dubbed “the most radioactive man in Washington,” in the wake of his meetings with Presid...
