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April 19, 2018 at 11:49 am
LONDON (AP) — The British government wants to take action to ban plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds — and is urging other Commonwealth nations to follow suit.
Prime Minister Theresa May said Thursday that "plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world." She told Commonwealth leaders meeting in London Thursday that protecting the ocean environment is "central to our agenda," and urged the 53 member nations to sign up to the newly formed Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance.
Later this year officials will launch a public consultation for a potential bill banning the sale of the single-use plastics in England. Officials say banning plastic straws in Britain would mean that billions of discarded plastic straws would no longer pollute oce...
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April 19, 2018 at 11:37 am
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) — A 26-foot-long (8 meter) model of the Titanic made out of 56,000 Legos built by a boy in Iceland who has autism can now be seen in the U.S.
The model of the ocean liner is on display through 2020 at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Brynjar Karl Birgisson says he started building the model when he was 10 years old, and it took him 11 months to finish.
The 15-year-old from Reykjavik, Iceland, tells the museum the project helped him out of what he calls his "autistic fog." He says being autistic can sound "a bit scary" but there are ways to "become more functional."
He credits his family for their support.
The Titanic sank April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg on its maiden voyage.
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April 19, 2018 at 11:25 am
THE FOLLOWING IS VIA YWN
The race for the mayoralty of Jerusalem this week underwent many jolts, with a growing list of candidates, as well as political moves by the candidates in order to strengthen their hold.
The chareidi public, which has a decisive influence on the identity of the mayor of the capital, has become more reverberating than ever when everyone is trying to win its support.
It is important to note that at this stage, Gedolei Torah have yet to announce if the chareidim should have their own candidate for mayor, or to support a different candidate.
Earlier this week, Jerusalem Councilman and challenger Moshe Leon went to the home of HaGaon HaRav Baruch Soloveitchik Shlita, a member of the rabbinic committee of Degel Hatorah, as part of his efforts to receive the support o...
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April 19, 2018 at 11:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said that although he's looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he could still pull out if he feels it's "not going to be fruitful."
Trump said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim "got along really well" in their recent secret meeting, and he declared, "We've never been in a position like this" to address worldwide concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons.
But speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday, after the allies met at Trump's Florida resort, he made clear that he'd still be ready to pull the plug on what is being billed as an extraordinary meeting between the leaders of longtime adversaries.
"If I think that if it'...
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April 19, 2018 at 11:06 am
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament is repeating a call for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about the internet giant's data privacy scandal, after Zuckerberg offered to send a subordinate in his place.
In a letter to Zuckerberg on Wednesday, the EU assembly's president, Antonio Tajani, said political group leaders "stressed the absolute need of your personal presence."
Facebook this month acknowledged that up to 2.7 million people in the EU may have had their personal data improperly shared and used by political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.
Tajani said in the letter, seen by The Associated Press, that Europeans hit by the "scandal deserve a full and thorough explanation from Facebook's top manager."
He noted that Facebook's international h...
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April 19, 2018 at 11:06 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Law enforcement and Pennsylvania Health Department officials are investigating the death of H.R. McMaster Sr., the father of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, at a Philadelphia senior care facility.
The 84-year-old McMaster, a retired U.S. Army officer, died April 13 at Cathedral Village continuing care retirement facility. Local police and Pennsylvania Attorney General's office investigators are looking into it as a suspicious death. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's office says McMaster died of "blunt impact head trauma."
Facility officials say they are cooperating with investigators. They also say they contacted the Health Department and launched an internal investigation.
H.R. McMaster Jr. served as Trump's nat...
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April 19, 2018 at 11:06 am
TOMS RIVER - Chabad Jewish Center can continue to operate in a home on Church Road after a federal judge ruled that Toms River wrongly required the Chabad to acquire a variance to operate in a residential zone.
U.S. District Court Judge Freda L. Wolfson said the township's Board of Adjustment violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the U.S. Constitution in barring Rabbi Moshe Gourarie from operating the Chabad without a variance.
"I'd just like to say that our clients are very pleased with the result and look forward to many years of a productive relationship with the community in Toms River," said Roman P. Storzer, of Storzer & Greene in New York and Washington, D.C., who represents the Chabad Jewish C...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:48 am
TOKYO (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be trying out a new tactic to boost the image of his authoritarian regime — he's putting the spotlight on the women in his life.
Over the past few months, Kim has increasingly shared the stage with his younger sister, who became an instant celebrity as his envoy to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and his wife, a former singer in her late 20s.
For sure, there is only one star of the show in North Korea, and that is Kim himself.
But the greater public role for Kim Yo Jong, his sister, and Ri Sol Ju, his wife, comes as Kim is embarking on a "charm offensive" — a series of summits and diplomatic moves that have significantly raised his international profile. The timing suggests he's hoping to change the opt...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:42 am
The Senate has voted to allow the babies of its members into the tradition-bound chamber.
The inspiration for the historic change of rules was Sen. Tammy Duckworth's daughter, born April 9. Duckworth wants to resume voting, and the Senate requires that votes be cast in person. So the Illinois Democrat, now on maternity leave, proposed that babies be allowed into the chamber. She says the vote Wednesday helps "bring the Senate into the 21st Century."
Although no one objected, the idea didn't sit easily with some senators in both parties concerned that babies would disrupt "Senate decorum."
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she spent nearly two months privately reassuring Republicans and Democrats that the new rule would not mean diaper-changing or nursing in the Sena...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:36 am
Miami, FL - Miami is at risk of a deadly yellow fever outbreak because the disease could thrive there but the city has no checks on travelers arriving from endemic zones, a study to be published by the World Health Organization showed.
Yellow fever is spread by the same mosquito that causes Zika virus, which spread through the Americas after being detected in Brazil in 2015 and has been reported in southern Florida and southern Texas.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control advises that yellow fever is found in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and South America, and is a very rare cause of illness in U.S. travelers.
But the study, “International travel and the urban spread of yellow fever”, showed that almost 2.8 million people flew to the United States from endemic yel...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:31 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bitterly-divided House panel Wednesday approved new work and job training requirements for food stamps as part of a five-year renewal of federal farm and nutrition policy.
The GOP-run Agriculture Committee approved the measure strictly along party lines after a contentious, five-hour hearing in which Democrats blasted the legislation, charging it would toss up to 2 million people off of food stamps and warning that it will never pass Congress.
The hard-fought food stamp provisions would tighten existing work requirements and expand funding for state training programs, though not by enough to cover everybody subject to the new work and training requirements.
Agriculture panel chair Michael Conaway said the provisions would offer food stamp beneficiaries "the hop...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:28 am
Baltimore, MD - Apr. 19, 2018 - Shiva is being observed at 3812 West Strathmore Ave
Please no visitors between 1PM-2PM and 6PM-7PM
Raezel (Tuvia Laks A"H) Laks will be sitting from Wed 8 PM-10PM PM Thurs 9:30 AM-10PM Fri 9:30 AM - 5 PM Motzaei Shabbos 9:30-11PM Gets up Sunday 9:30 AM
Cronshi Englander will sit in Baltimore beginning Thursday PM but gets up Friday afternoon at 6PM ###Baltimore, MD – Apr. 16, 2018 - It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of Rabbi Chaim Bloxenheim, Z’L, father of Mrs. Cronshi (Yitzchak) Englander and Mrs. Raezel (Tuvia a"h) Laks.
Shiva will be observed at:
Monday thru Thursday afternoon: 615 E. 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY
From Thursday 5:30 pm- 9 pm, Friday until midday at 3812 W. Strathmore...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:27 am
Philadelphia - The first reaction of Southwest Airlines passenger Marty Martinez when an engine exploded on the plane on Tuesday was to live stream what he feared might be his last minutes of life.
It was possibly the first time someone who thought he was going to die in a plane crash live-streamed the experience.
Martinez lived. One passenger, bank executive Jennifer Riordan, was killed when she was partially pulled through a shattered plane window.
But while Martinez, who runs a Dallas marketing agency, said on Wednesday he wanted to communicate with loved ones, many social media users attacked him in expletive-laced postings, with one saying Martinez himself should have been the one who died.
“Trying to contact loved ones is one thing, but to morbidly video and take pictures t...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:21 am
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A California state university is investigating comments made on Twitter by an English professor who called former first lady Barbara Bush an "amazing racist" shortly after her death Tuesday at age 92.
"Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal," Randa Jarrar wrote on Twitter.
After people began to criticize her in online posts, Jarrar responded that she was protected from being fired because she has tenure at the university, the Fresno Bee reported. Her social media accounts have since been made private.
University President Joseph Castro on Wednesday called Jarrar's comments disrespectful and said they went beyond free speech, the newspaper reported.
"A professor with tenure do...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:19 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators say they have traced back the steps of a poisoned Russian spy's daughter from her Moscow home to the airport before she flew to London, and found no traces of poison.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Britain with a military-grade nerve agent last month. Yulia Skripal lives in Moscow and was visiting her father, which led British investigators to believe that she might have unwittingly carried the substance with her.
Britain blames Russia for the attack, which it says was carried out by smearing the Soviet-developed nerve agent on a door handle at Skripal's house in Salisbury. Moscow denies involvement.
Russia's Investigative Committee late Wednesday released online CCTV footage from Moscow's Sheremetyevo...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the world's wealthiest people have apartments in the half-dozen new skyscrapers built along a stretch of Manhattan's 57th Street known as "Billionaires Row." And soon they may have an unwanted new neighbor: a homeless shelter.
The city has approved a plan to house 140 single men in what was once the budget Park Savoy Hotel on West 58th Street, a modest building right next door to the back entrance of One57, one of the sleek new towers springing up in Manhattan to serve the superrich.
Unit owners at One57 include billionaire Michael Dell, who set a record for the most expensive home ever sold in New York City when he paid $100 million for his apartment in 2014.
The placement of the shelter in such a location is in line with campaign promises by Dem...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:12 am
Geneva - North Korea has expressed its commitment to “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula and is not seeking conditions, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday, as the United States vowed to maintain “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.
Moon said big-picture agreements about denuclearisation, establishing a peace regime and normalisation of relations between the two Koreas and the United States should not be difficult to reach through summits between the North and South, and between the North and the United States.
“I don’t think denuclearisation has different meanings for South and North Korea. The North is expressing a will for a complete denuclearisation,” Moon said during a lunch with chief executives of Korean media c...
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April 19, 2018 at 10:09 am
BERLIN (AP) — A 19-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker has turned himself in to police after his violent attack on a man wearing a yarmulka in Berlin caused outrage across Germany.
Police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel said the young Syrian showed up with his lawyer at a police precinct Thursday. The 21-year-old victim, an Arab Israeli, caught Tuesday's assault on video. It quickly went viral and reopened a debate about growing anti-Semitism in the country. Even Chancellor Merkel condemned the assault sharply.
The video shows the attacker whipping the Israeli with a belt while shouting "Yehudi!" or Jew, in Arabic.
The victim, Adam Armoush, said he's not Jewish but wore the skullcap as an experiment because he didn't believe a friend who told him it's too dangerous to wear ...
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April 18, 2018 at 10:33 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The largest manufacturer of bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like automatic firearms, announced Wednesday that it will stop taking orders and shut down its website next month.
The announcement comes about a month after President Donald Trump said his administration would "ban" bump stocks, which he said "turn legal weapons into illegal machines."
The devices became a focal point of the national gun control debate when they were used in October when a man carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
About a dozen bump stocks were found among the weapons used by Stephen Paddock when he unleashed a hail of bullets from his high-rise Las Vegas hotel suite, killing 58 people and leaving more than 800 others injured.
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