San Francisco - Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc disappeared on Friday, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users. “Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you’re the man?” a user tweeted to Tesla Chief Executive Musk. His response: “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” (http://bit.ly/2pDcu3l) Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible. Musk had begun the exchange by responding to a tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on the #deletefacebook tag. The hashtag gained prominence after the world’s largest social network upset users by mishandling data, which ...
The Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Monsey passed away last week. A tzaddik. When I lived in Monsey I once got a phone call late at night, and the caller said ‘This is the Vizhnitzer Rebbe’. So I replied ‘right, and this is Bill Clinton’. It was, in fact, the Rebbe, and he wanted to talk to me about a scandal which was about to break in Monsey. He told me, with great wisdom, that a scandal is when someone important does something wrong; someone for whom it’s obvious that it’s beneath their standing. When anyone else does something wrong, it may be bad but it’s not a scandal. It’s just people being people. As a result of this discussion with the Rebbe A”H, I got to know his son, R Yisroel who would phone me to discuss things no...
Agudath Israel of America is commending congressional negotiators for including several measures that will be of significant benefit to all Americans, and particularly to the Jewish community, in the $1.3 trillion omnibus federal spending bill just signed by the President. Agudath Israel has worked extensively and in concert with other advocates to achieve these objectives, which will, among other things, enhance security for public and private schools and at risk community nonprofits, as well as provide financial consequences for the Palestinian Authority for condoning and supporting acts of terror. A Jewish community priority has been the passage of the Taylor Force Act, legislation sponsored by Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), and strongly pro...
BALTIMORE (AP) — Two rare $1,000 bills from the 1800s fetched $960,000 each at a Baltimore auction. Stack's Bowers Galleries' currency director Peter Treglia (TRAY-lee-ah) says the same person who bought one of those bills also bought a rare $500 bill from the same year for $900,000. Both of those pieces were from 1863. Treglia says the buyer wants to remain anonymous. Total sales from the Joel R. Anderson Collection at Thursday night's session topped $7.9 million — more than $800,000 above the galleries' highest predictions. Seven bills sold for more than half a million dollars each. A second installment of rare money from the same collection will be sold in August at an auction in Philadelphia, and two other installments will be sold at future events.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump cast doubt Friday on whether he would back the massive spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown at midnight, saying he was "considering" a veto. Then, with scant notice, he scheduled a news conference where a White House official said he would indeed sign the legislation. Telegraphing the conclusion of the made-for-TV drama, an internal White House television feed advertised the event this way: "President Trump Participates in a Bill Signing." Hours before funding for the government was to expire, and with Congress already on recess, Trump said on Twitter that he was weighing a veto because lawmakers had not fully funded his plans for a border wall with Mexico and had not addressed protection for the 800,000 "Dreamer" immigrants, ...
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon on Thursday said he believes if chief of staff John Kelly leaves the White House, President Trump will not replace him. Bannon said at a Financial Times event that rather than hiring a new chief of staff should Kelly leave, Trump would likely opt for a more hands-on approach that would involve directly receiving reports from multiple individuals each day. Bannon’s comments come amid a major shake-up surrounding the Trump administration. Read more at The Hill.
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (AP) — The mother of a man who lived with the suspected Austin bomber said Thursday that her son was handcuffed, taken into custody by SWAT officers and held overnight before police found the suspect who blew himself up. Jennifer Withers told The Associated Press that her 26-year-old son, Collin Thomas, who is black, was walking from work Tuesday in Pflugerville, just north of Austin, to the house he and another man shared with serial bombing suspect Mark Conditt when a group of officers "flew at him." She said he was questioned about the bombings but none of his family was notified about where he was. After Conditt died, Thomas was eventually released, she said. Earlier Thursday, police said they'd released Conditt's other roommate. They refused to n...
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill to require public schools to prominently display the national motto, "In God We Trust." It would take effect immediately if Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signs it. The legislation passed the Senate unanimously and cleared the House in an 81-8 vote, with both chambers controlled by Republicans. The measure requires schools to display the motto in a prominent location, either as a plaque, artwork, or in some other form. Whether this motto represents an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion is a question that has invited legal challenges in other states with similar laws. But the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Susan Lynn, says the bill shouldn't bother "faithless people" and "people of other faiths...
OS ANGELES - The Syrian government on Thursday accused Israel of conducting a clandestine operation, together with Turkey, to remove ancient artifacts from a synagogue near Damascus.In a formal complaint sent to the United Nations Security Council, Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari accused the two countries of cooperating with “terrorist groups”  to remove valuable items from the 2,000-year-old Jobar temple. “[My] Government wishes to transmit highly credible intelligence to the effect that the terrorist groups that are active in the area of Jobar, near Damascus, cooperated with the Turkish and Israeli intelligence serves to loot artifacts and manuscripts from the ancient synagogue there,” Ja’afari’s letter states.The Syrian ...
WASHINGTON — John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser — and his third to date — is a divisive foreign policy figure who was an unabashed supporter of the Iraq war and advocates regime change in Iran. The rise of the mustached Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador under President George W. Bush who served in three federal agencies under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, is likely to herald a rightward shift in Trump’s foreign policy and an embrace of more hard-line policies. Bolton, 69, has been an especially outspoken critic of the Iran nuclear agreement. Trump had campaigned against the deal and vowed to end it, but instead heeded the advice of two outgoing aides, national security a...
CINCINNATI (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an Ohio man has been charged with a hate crime for beating a man whom he believed was Jewish. Authorities say 32-year-old Izmir Koch stepped outside of a Cincinnati-area restaurant in February 2017 and yelled asking if anyone was Jewish. When one man responded he was, prosecutors say Koch punched the man in the head and continued to hit and kick him while he was on the ground. The victim was left with bruised ribs and a fractured eye socket. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman said Wednesday the victim wasn't even Jewish. Still, he says physically attacking someone because of their perceived faith is a federal crime. If convicted, Koch could face up to 10 years in prison.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain called on Israel to improve the treatment of Palestinian children in military detention on Friday and said Israel should do more to safeguard vulnerable people in its care. The Foreign Office issued a statement in the wake of the sentencing of Palestinian teenage girl Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested after kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank in December. Tamimi, who was 16 at the time of the incident, accepted a plea deal this week under which she will be sentenced to eight months in prison, her lawyer said. Alistair Burt, Britain’s Minister for the Middle East, said in the statement: “The conviction and sentencing of Ahed Tamimi is emblematic of how the unresolved (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict is blighting the lives of ...
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Simon Slama and his family are the only Jews left in the Tunisian city of Monastir, once home to a thriving Jewish community. But instead of joining the exodus, he is running for office — as a candidate of Tunisia's Islamist party. Slama's candidacy with the Ennahdha party in May municipal elections is causing a sensation in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, and some controversy. Critics see it as a calculated tactic by Ennahdha to regain power and to restore its reputation among Western allies like the United States. Others however see it as an example of Tunisia's long-standing traditions of tolerance. A sewing machine salesman and repairman, 56-year-old Slama says he just wants to serve his country and the city where he was born, suf...
Washington - Senior Trump administration officials reached out to Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and director of Palestinian intelligence General Majid Faraj in letters last week after assassination attempts in Gaza nearly took both of their lives. The letters, written by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and Jason Greenblatt, his special representative for international negotiations, mark some of the first known direct communications between White House officials and Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership since the president’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December. The letters were obtained and published in full by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, alongside a letter sent by Greenblatt to the family...
A teenage girl who was shot when a classmate opened fire inside their Maryland high school has died, authorities said Friday. The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office said Jaelynn Willey died at 11:34 p.m. Thursday. Earlier that night, her family said she would be taken off life support at the University of Maryland Prince George's Hospital Center. Melissa Willey told news reporters Thursday night that her daughter was brain dead and had "no life left in her." The mother, holding a young baby, said, "On Tuesday ... our lives changed completely and totally forever. My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head and took everything from our lives." The teen was shot Tuesday by 17-year-old Austin Rollins at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County. Rollins di...
Jerusalem - As Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel, El Al will take its own fight for access to Saudi airspace to the Supreme Court in Israel, officials said on Friday. The historic Air India flight on Thursday ended a 70-year flyover ban for jetliners en route to or from Israel, in what many have taken to be a sign of thawing ties between Israel and Saudi. Granting an Israeli airline access to its air space would, however, mark a dramatic diplomatic shift. Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel and flag carrier El Al must take a more circuitous path to avoid Saudi Arabia, which can add hours to flight times. El Al has asked an airline industry lobby group, the International Air Transport Association, to help it access Saudi airspace. It...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced criminal charges and sanctions Friday against Iranians accused in a government-sponsored hacking scheme to pilfer sensitive information from hundreds of universities, private companies and American government agencies. The nine defendants, accused of working at the behest of the Iranian government-tied Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, hacked the computer systems of about 320 universities in the United States and abroad to steal expensive science and engineering research that was then used or sold for profit, prosecutors said. The hackers also are accused of breaking into the networks of dozens of government organizations, such as the Department of Labor, the United Nations and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and companies...
Parshas Tzav / Shabbos HaGadol / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – Mar. 23, 2018 Parshas:   Tzav Today:    7 Nissan    Chatzos: 1:14 PM Hadlakas Nairos: 7:03 PM Shkiah:                   7:21:47 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  8:12 PM Kiddush Levanah: Monday, March 19, 2018 - Shabbos, March 31, 2018 3:54 PM Kiddush Levanah may only be said at night
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on a shooting and hostage-taking in southern France (all times local): 3:35 p.m. France's interior ministry is describing the suspect in the supermarket shooting and hostage-taking as a 26-year-old petty criminal who was considered radicalized and under police surveillance. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb identified the suspect as Redouane Lakdim and said Lakdim killed three people on Friday. Collomb says police shot and killed Lakdim after storming the supermarket in the town of Trebes. Investigators think the suspect hijacked a car after leaving the nearby city of Carcassonne and one of the people in the hijacked vehicle was killed. Collomb says Lakdim then shot at a group of police officers before hiding inside the supermarket, where two more pe...
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