Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Wednesday that the U.S. government would be defeated like former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein if it attacks Iran, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state TV. “The American leaders … have got this message that if they attack Iran, they will encounter a fate similar to that of Saddam Hussein,” the elite Guards said in a statement. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
The Satmar Rebbe sharply criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his speech on Shavuot, calling the PM “the head of the minim.” “My uncle, the ‘Vayoel Moshe,’ said that whoever enjoys the success of the Tzionim is a true heretic and will not merit to see the joy of the coming of the Moshiach and, as idolatry is annulled by calling it a disparaging name, so too here we must speak disparagingly of Zionism,” the Rebbe said, according to Kikar Hashabbat. The Rebbe addressed Netanyahu’s speech during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. “Whoever heard the speech of the head of the minim, who spoke in heresy about the coming of the Moshiach, should have torn his garment, and especially when he made ‘Shehecheyanu...
The beginning of Sefer Bamidbar is truly a magical time.  Klal Yisroel has received the Torah.  They have been given instructions for and built the Mishkan and its Keilim.  They are then counted and have “heads” of all the Shevatim named.  The Kohanim and Leviyim are separated out for counting, anointing and are prepared to do the Avodah.  Leadership, roles, instructions are all in place.  Indeed, Hashem is prepared to bless them when one more set of Halachos are offered – the option of becoming a Nazir.  (Naso, 6:1) The Torah makes it clear that Neziros is not the preferred way for a Jew to live.  In fact, the very first verb used to describe the act is “Yafli” – to disassociate or separate.  Moreover at the...
One of the greatest gifts we received as a nation is teshuva, the ability to repent for our sins. Requisite to repentance is the need to admit with utter honesty and awareness our having sinned and our commitment to change, by expressing וידוי, confession. This most significant tool is placed in the context of the sin of one who had stolen and sworn falsely to his innocence, who when seeking to rectify this sin must make monetary amends, bring a sacrifice and confess his sin. It is from here that we derive to all other transgressions in the Torah the need to say vidui in order to affect atonement. Why of all transgressions is this one selected as the paradigm for confession? The Baal HaTurim points out how immediately prior to this discussion the Torah directs us to expel from the c...
Scientists at Tel Aviv University have made a major breakthrough in research into the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that could lead to effective treatments for the incurable disorder. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that slowly destroys the body’s motor functions, leading to complete paralysis and eventually death. Its most famous sufferer was the late physicist Stephen Hawking, who lived with the disease for decades. A research team at TAU led by Doctor Eran Perlson has now discovered that the disease causes muscle cells to release toxins that destroy their connection to nerve cells, leading to the loss of motor functions. In addition, they found a molecule that blocks the release of these toxins, which could lead to the development of effective medication for the...
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal transportation panel on Tuesday recommended to states that all new large school buses be equipped with both lap and shoulder seatbelts, which the board chairman called a "tried and true" safety protection. The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates transportation disasters, approved the recommendation Tuesday in Washington. The board also recommended requiring collision-avoidance systems and automatic emergency brakes on new school buses. The recommendations, which aren't binding on government agencies or the transportation industry, came just days after a school bus collided with a dump truck in New Jersey, killing a student and teacher. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the board's last recommendation about school seatbelt...
An analysis by the Israel Export Institute’s Economy Department showed that Israel’s export of dairy products in 2017 rose 21% from that of 2016, bringing in a total of $21 million. Most of the increase was thanks to 29% increase in the export of dairy products to North America. In 2017, Israel’s exports to North America grew 51%, while exports to the EU grew 29% and those to Asia grew 15%. North American exports brought in $10.6 million, for a rise of 4.5% from 2016, while those to the EU brought in $6 million. Exports to Asia rose 12%, bringing in $3 million. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
A group of American legislators urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday to appoint a new Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism — a position that has remained unfilled since January 2017. Expressing concern about growing Jew-hatred around the world, members of Congress’ Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism wrote in a letter to the State Department chief, “Prioritizing this important role would bolster the United States’ ability to monitor and combat anti-Semitism abroad and send a strong message to the international community that the U.S. remains committed to fighting the scourge of anti-Semitism.” “Without a Special Envoy, the United States lacks the focus of a person solely dedicated to spearheading our important dip...
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhone's features to lure people into buying its competing products. The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011. Apple contends Samsung wouldn't have emerged as the world's leading seller of smartphones if it hadn't ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Google's Android software. Previous rulings had already determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apple's patents, but the amount of damages owed has been hanging in legal limbo. Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 bill...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that it's still willing to sit down for talks with the United States "at any time, at any format" just hours after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un. The statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, a longtime nuclear negotiator and senior diplomat, said the North is "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks that had been set for June 12 in Singapore. It is the latest whiplash development in what had been seen as a rare opportunity to diplomatically address what might be the world's most dangerous standoff. Focus will now swing back to how Trump will respond to the North's seemingly conciliatory gesture. A scrapping of d...
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A former NAACP leader in Washington state whose life unraveled after she was outed as a white woman pretending to be black has been charged with welfare fraud. Rachel Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, was charged this week with theft by welfare fraud, perjury and false verification for public assistance, Spokane news station KHQ-TV reported Thursday. She illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017, court documents said. An investigation started in March 2017 when a Washington state investigator received information that Diallo had written a book. The investigator reviewed Diallo's records and found that she had been reporting her income as us...
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Tesla that crashed while in Autopilot mode in Utah this month accelerated in the seconds before it smashed into a stopped firetruck, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press Thursday. Two people were injured. Data from the Model S electric vehicle show it picked up speed for 3.5 seconds shortly before crashing into a stopped firetruck in suburban Salt Lake City, the report said. The driver manually hit the brakes a fraction of a second before impact. Police suggested that the car was following another vehicle and dropped its speed to 55 mph to match the leading vehicle. They say the leading vehicle then likely changed lanes and the Tesla automatically sped up to its preset of 60 mph (97 kph) without noticing the stopped cars ahead of it....
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Thursday huddled in classified briefings about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election, a highly unusual series of meetings prompted by partisan allegations that the bureau spied on the Trump campaign. Democrats emerged from the meetings saying they saw no evidence to support Republican allegations that the FBI acted inappropriately in its early investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News he had learned "nothing particularly surprising," but declined to go into detail. Still, the extraordinary briefings drew attention to the unproved claims of FBI misconduct and political bi...
BERLIN (AP) — German police say a World War II bomb that partially exploded while it was being defused in the eastern city of Dresden has been successfully deactivated. Police said Thursday the nearly 9,000 residents who were evacuated from the city's downtown area Tuesday could return to their homes. Officials said the 250-kilogram (550-pound) British bomb, which was found during construction work, was difficult to defuse and after its partial explosion Wednesday some of the material next to the bomb started burning. Nobody was injured during the detonation. Authorities deployed a robot Thursday to douse the flames and after that found out that the bomb was no longer a threat. More than 70 years after the end of the war, bombs are still regularly discovered in German cities...
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge to the military's rules on when soldiers can fire their weapons amid weeks of violent protests that have killed dozens of Palestinians on the border with Gaza. Six human rights groups had asked the court to declare as unlawful any regulations that allow soldiers to open fire at unarmed civilians. But in its unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Israeli military, which argued that the protests were taking place in the context of a long-running armed conflict with the Islamic militant group Hamas which rules Gaza and that weapons-use regulations are subject to the rules of armed conflict. Such rules provide greater leeway for the use of lethal force than those governing law enforcement pract...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Below is the full text of the letter President Donald Trump sent to North Korea's Kim Jong Un: Dear Mr. Chairman: We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both pa...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration launched an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on the imports of automobiles into the United States, moving swiftly as talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled. President Donald Trump predicted earlier that U.S. automakers and auto workers would be "very happy" with the outcome of the NAFTA talks. The White House said in a statement Wednesday that the president had asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to consider whether the imports of automobiles, including trucks, and automotive parts threaten U.S. national security. The president said in the statement that "core industries such as automobiles and automotive parts are critical to our strength as a Nation." The U.S. remains far apart on the talks over rew...
Baltimore, MD - Apr. 20, 2018 - Over the last couple of years, Maryland’s private school community has had a healthy taste of state funded tuition assistance through the BOOST (Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today) Scholarship Program. This program has helped many hundreds of lower-income Jewish day school families to better afford their child’s day school tuition. However, there are many more families who struggle mightily with the tuition demands who have yet to see any reprieve.That was yesterday. Today is a different story.In the article below you will be introduced to 529 college savings plans and how the state of Maryland will now be providing the opportunity for all households to earn tax benefits by simply paying the day school tuition they are alread...
Harvard Law professor says President Trump knows how to make a deal. Legal expert reacts to the White house pulling out of the summit with Kim Jong Un.
Arrest operation during which IDF soldier was critically injured was directed at a terrorist squad involved in recent shooting attacks. The arrest operation Thursday morning in Al Amari in Ramallah, during which an IDF soldier from the Duvdevan unit was critically injured, was directed at a terrorist squad involved in recent shooting attacks in the region, it was cleared for publication on Thursday evening. One suspect was arrested in the framework of Thursday morning’s operation, and two additional members of the cell suspected of involvement in shooting attacks were arrested on Thursday evening. They were transferred for questioning by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). The Duvdevan soldier was critically injured when a block was dropped from a roof, hitting him in th...
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