NEW YORK (AP) — Almost 18 months have passed since Hillary Clinton lost the presidency. She holds no position of power in government. And she is not expected to run for office again. Yet Clinton is starring in the Republican Party's 2018 midterm strategy. With control of Congress up for grabs this fall, the GOP's most powerful players are preparing to spend big on plans to feature Clinton as a central villain in attack ads against vulnerable Democrats nationwide. The strategy, which already has popped up in races in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Dakota, illustrates the resilience and political potency of Republican voters' antipathy for Clinton. As difficult as it's been for Democrats to move past the Clinton era, it may be even harder for Republicans. "STOP ...
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to $2.83. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the jump was driven primarily by rising crude oil costs. The current gas price is 37 cents above where it was a year ago. The highest average price in the contiguous 48 states was $3.68 in the San Francisco Bay area. The lowest was $2.45 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The average price for diesel fuel rose six cents, to $3.10.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump has no intention of firing special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. White House legislative director Marc Short said Sunday he has no reason to believe they would be removed despite Trump's increasing agitation over Mueller's probe into his campaign's ties to Russia. Rosenstein oversees that investigation. Complaining of a media fixation, Short tells NBC: "It's like there's an hourglass waiting there to see, OK, when's he going to fire Rosenstein? When's he going to fire Mueller? ... As far as I know, the president has no intention of firing these individuals." Short says he can't rule it out in the long term, though, because it's not known "...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Family and friends will gather Sunday to mourn an Albuquerque bank executive who died after the Southwest Airlines plane she was on blew an engine in midair. The evening service for Jennifer Riordan will be held at the Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico campus, her alma mater. "We appreciate the outpouring of support from the community. It truly touches our hearts," the Riordan family wrote in a statement. "We know there are many in the community who want to celebrate Jennifer." The 43-year-old community leader and mother of two was heading home from a business trip Tuesday on a flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport bound for Dallas. Early in the flight as the plane was at 32,000 feet (9,754 meters), one of its twin engines suddenly expl...
CHARLEVOIX, Quebec (AP) — Foreign ministers from the G7 group of industrialized nations are meeting in Canada before a June summit of the nations' leaders. Issues include U.S. complaints about Iran's influence in the Mideast and its nuclear program, as well as efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear efforts. North Korea has pledged to suspend long-range missile tests and close its nuclear test site ahead of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also hosted five other female foreign ministers from Africa and the Americas and joined with the European Union to announce a worldwide gathering of female foreign ministers in September. She says "advancing gender equality is essenti...
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian lawyer who discussed sanctions with Donald Trump Jr. in New York during his father's 2016 campaign for the U.S. presidency said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller has not contacted her yet. In an interview with The Associated Press, Natalia Veselnitskaya also detailed her recent meeting in Berlin with investigators from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. Like Mueller, the committee is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Veselnitskaya met in June 2016 with then-candidate Donald Trump's son, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, after Trump Jr. was told the Russian lawyer had potentially incriminating information about Hillary C...
Authorities say the suspect in a deadly shooting at a restaurant in Nashville was arrested last year by the U.S. Secret Service for being in a restricted area near the White House. Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said 29-year-old Travis Reinking's firearms authorization was then revoked at the request of the FBI, and four weapons were seized, including the AR15 that he allegedly used in the shooting at the Waffle House restaurant early Sunday. Four people were killed. Aaron says the four guns were returned to the suspect's father, who acknowledged giving them back to his son. Police have the AR15 and another gun found during a search earlier Sunday. But two other guns are unaccounted for. Aaron says Reinking is still at large following the 3:25 a.m. shoot...
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Israel's Justice minister vowed to help Ethiopia's Jews immigrate to Israel as soon as possible during a rare visit to Ethiopia. Ayelet Shaked visited the synagogue in Addis Ababa on Sunday. "These programs that will eventually reunite Ethiopian Jews with their families in Israel are not generally easy," said Shaked to the group gathered in the synagogue. "But I will try everything within my power to work with relevant offices to make this happen in the shortest time possible," she said. Shaked, on what is reported to be her first official visit to Africa, said she came to find out more about the situation of Ethiopia's estimated 8,000 remaining Jews. Members of the Ethiopian Jews who attended the meeting told her that they want to mov...
"I'm under constant attack," Councilman Trayon White said in response to criticism about his antisemitic comments. Embroiled Washington D.C Councilman Trayon White, Sr. took to Facebook on Saturday to say he is "done apologizing" for his recent actions."I'm under constant attack," he began. "I made some comments...about the weather...at the time, I didn't know saying anything as relates to the Rothschilds meant all Jews," he continued.White is under fire for his suggestion that the Rothschilds, a wealthy European Jewish banking family, control the weather. The family has been at the heart of dozens of conspiracy theories that claim that they - and Jews in general - control all of the world's banks and have been the architects of several wars. He stated in the video th...
JERUSALEM (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the Iran nuclear deal in an interview with an Israeli TV channel, saying an imperfect deal is better than no deal and that her country will "watch very closely" to ensure it is being fulfilled. Her comments were broadcast Sunday, ahead of a meeting in Washington this week with President Donald Trump who vows to withdraw from the agreement by May 12 unless U.S. and European negotiators agree to fix what he calls its serious flaws. Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron, a fellow defender of the Iran deal, begins a state visit in the U.S. on Monday. The 2015 deal, negotiated by the U.S. and other world powers, curbs Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net...
Jewish communities across the world celebrated a significant milestone in the limud of Daf Yomi, the Siyum of Seder Nezikin and the commencement of Seder Kodshim. The daf yomi cycle will culminate in 13th Siyum Hashas to be held in January 2020 (Teves 5780). The excitement was palpable at the ten Siyumei Seder Nezikin that were organized by the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudath Israel of America, which will iy”H host the next Siyum Hashas as well. The Siyumei Seder Nezikin were held in communities across the United States: Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Edison, Flatbush, Lakewood, Los Angeles, Monsey, Passaic-Clifton, and South Bend. The first of the Siyumim was held in Los Angeles on Wednesday, 26 Nisan (April 11th), and the final Siyum was held in Lakewood on Tuesday, 2 Iyar (Ap...
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say an Ohio woman who provided alcohol to a 17-year-old boy whose body was found near her home has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Chillicothe Gazette reports that 33-year-old Sandy France, of Chillicothe, was arrested Friday after being indicted by a Ross County grand jury. An autopsy showed that Jason Bartley Jr. died of acute alcohol intoxication and abuse of benzodiazepines, a drug typically prescribed to treat anxiety and insomnia last year. He was found by a homeless coordinator Oct. 18. A Ross County prosecutor says France gave the teen a bottle of vodka that he drank before his death. He says France was the mother of one of Bartley's friends. It's unclear whether France has an attorney.
PARIS (AP) - Actor Gerard Depardieu, singer Charles Aznavour and former President Nicolas Sarkozy are among some 300 well-known French people urging national action to counter a "new anti-Semitism" that they blame on rising Islamic radicalism. They signed a manifesto published Sunday in Le Parisien newspaper, joining politicians from the right and left, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Catholic leaders. The statement urges prominent Muslims to denounce anti-Jewish and anti-Christian references in the Quran as outdated so "no believer can refer to a holy text to commit a crime." It also calls for combating anti-Semitism "before it's too late." Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said on France-Inter radio that the government must be vigilant against anti-Semitism and called for social un...
Washington - An annual US government report on human rights worldwide in 2017 has dropped reference to the Palestinian territories as “occupied” for the first time since 1979. The State Department report, released on Friday, now lists its section on Israel and the territories by their names: Gaza and the West Bank, alongside the Golan Heights, de facto annexed by Israel from Syria in 1981. Before 1979, the report only listed Israel, without mentioning the disputed territories. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and has no administrative control there. But it maintains full security control over the West Bank/ Judea and Samaria through military occupation, and continues to approve construction for Israeli settlers to live there. The 2017 report includes one reference...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now it's President Donald Trump's turn to pull off the ultimate charm offensive. Wined and dined on multiple state visits during his tour of Asia last year, Trump is paying it forward and celebrating nearly 250 years of U.S.-French relations by playing host to President Emmanuel Macron at a glitzy White House state dinner on Tuesday. Months in the making, it's the first state visit and first big soiree of the Trump era in Washington. "It sounds like what they're planning will be spectacular," said Jeremy Bernard, who was White House social secretary in 2014, the last time the U.S. feted a French president. The White House has said little beyond the fact that dinner will be served, sticking to the tradition of trying to maintain an element of ...
Kuala Lumpur -  Israel’s defence minister said on Sunday a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and “no saint”, but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel’s Mossad spy agency assassinated him. Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Fadi al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, killing him on the spot, the city’s police chief, Mazlan Lazim said. Hamas, an Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Batsh “follows this sequence.” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Batsh wa...
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police said Sunday that an investigation was underway into the gunning down of a Palestinian man a day earlier and gave assurances that security was being beefed up in the country following recent high-profile assassinations. Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group said Fadi al-Batsh was an important member of the group and accused Israel of being behind his killing early Saturday in Kuala Lumpur. His death comes just over a year after the brazen assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur's international airport. Two Southeast Asian women have pleaded not guilty to killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing a nerve agent on his face in a plot that prosecutors say was masterminded by North Korean ...
Brooklyn, NY - Just six months after the FDNY assigned a rookie firefighter whose father was convicted of a plan to kill Jewish civilians to a Borough Park firehouse, the department has done it again, this time sending a new Fire Academy graduate who once tweeted his hatred for Jews to a second firehouse serving the Orthodox Jewish community. The New York Post (https://nyp.st/2HP7Ach) reported that Joseph Cassano was assigned to Engine 247 located on 60th Street between 13th and New Utrecht avenues after his April 18th graduation from the FDNY academy.  The son of former FDNY commissioner Salvatore Cassano, Joseph Cassano made headlines in March 2013 when reports surfaced of multiple offensive posts he made on Twitter targeting Jews and blacks. One tweet posted in November 2011 read...
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces used warplanes, helicopters and artillery on Sunday to pound districts of the capital held by the Islamic State group, in a bid to enforce an evacuation deal reached with the militants earlier in the week. The militants agreed to give up their last pocket in southern Damascus on Friday but have yet to begin surrendering to government forces and relocating to IS-held areas elsewhere in the country. State-run al-Ikhbariya TV showed thick gray smoke billowing from the IS-held Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood on Sunday, and government warplanes streaking overhead amid heavy bombardment of the area. Hundreds of IS fighters and allied militants are holed up in Hajar al-Aswad and the nearby Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. Residents of Damascus reported...
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is urging U.S. President Donald Trump to stick with the Iranian nuclear accord, arguing there's no "Plan B." Macron told Fox News in an interview Sunday he thinks the 2015 deal curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions is imperfect. But the French leader, who begins a state visit to Washington on Monday, asked, "What do you have as a better option?" Trump has vowed to withdraw from the Iran deal by May 12 unless U.S. and European negotiators agree to fix what he calls its serious flaws. In his Fox News interview, Macron also argued against new tariffs Trump has threatened to impose starting May 1, saying "you don't make trade war with your allies." Macron plans to discuss the tariffs and to urge the U.S. to stay involved in Syri...
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