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June 20, 2018 at 10:55 am
BERLIN (AP) — A call from the public was key to foiling an Islamic extremist's plan to use the toxin ricin to carry out a deadly attack in Germany, security officials said Wednesday.
The head of the country's domestic intelligence agency said a phone-in tip helped authorities confirm existing suspicions against a 29-year-old Tunisian man in the western city of Cologne. The suspect, named only as Sief Allah H. in line with German privacy laws, was arrested last week and remains in custody.
Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said the alleged plot showed that the danger of an attack in Germany remains high.
According to federal prosecutors, the suspect bought at least 1,000 castor bean seeds online and used instructions posted on the web by the Islamic...
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June 20, 2018 at 10:55 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck Hamas positions in Gaza after Palestinian militants there fired dozens of rockets and mortars at southern communities early Wednesday, the military said.
The Palestinian fire came hours after the Israeli military said it struck Hamas infrastructure in response to "arson balloons" launched from Gaza into Israel.
Israel has been battling large fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices or burning rags, launched by Palestinians in Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, praised the rocket attacks calling them "a legitimate right that bombing is met with bombing," but did not take responsibility for them.
The Israeli military said Palestinia...
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June 20, 2018 at 10:54 am
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s Human Rights Council resumed work Wednesday after a U.S. pullout that one Western diplomat called a "Big Bang" for the Geneva body, as Russia blasted the move by the Trump administration and key allies expressed disappointment.
Critics and friends alike read the latest Trump move to snub yet another international institution as a sign that U.S. was jettisoning its reputation as a key defender of human rights and self-inflicting a blow to its international image.
They expressed support for the council, flaws and all, and vowed its work will go on.
"We have lost a member who has been at the forefront of liberty for generations," Julian Braithwaite, Britain's ambassador in Geneva, told the council. "While we agree with the U.S. on the need for refor...
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June 20, 2018 at 10:54 am
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on governments worldwide on Wednesday to join forces to defend against cyber threats that he said could even bring down military and civilian aircraft.
Cyber security also represents an enormous business opportunity, Netanyahu told a cyber conference at Tel Aviv University, adding that Israel receives about 20 percent of global investment in the sector.
“We cannot go back to the world of levers, pulleys and couriers. Since we are going forward, we are absolutely vulnerable. Our airlines can be brought down, our fighter planes can be brought down,” he said.
While Israel monitors attacks at its cyber security center in the southern city of Beersheba, Netanyahu said there was “no silver bullet”.
“Th...
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June 20, 2018 at 10:54 am
Tehran - Iran’s leader criticized the U.S. administration’s separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border in comments published on his official website Wednesday.
“Seeing the images of the crime of separating thousands of children from their mothers in America makes a person exasperated,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, according to his website. “But the Americans separate the children from the immigrant parents with complete maliciousness.”
Khamenei regularly denounces U.S. government actions and has stepped up criticism after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from an agreement last month that gave Iran some relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
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June 20, 2018 at 10:53 am
Washington - About a dozen protesters heckled Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about the Trump administration’s immigration policy as she ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington.
The protesters entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana Tuesday and chanted “Shame!” and “End family separation!”
In a video posted on Facebook by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, the protesters yelled, “if kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace.”
Nielsen paid her bill and left after about 10 or 15 minutes.
A department spokesman tweeted that during a work dinner, the secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who “share her concern with our current immigration laws.”
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June 20, 2018 at 10:52 am
Kibbutz Nir Am - After years of rocket attacks and militant infiltrations from Gaza, residents of southern Israel are now coping with a new kind of threat: incendiary kites and balloons that have damaged farmlands and nature reserves.
The crude devices launched by Palestinians inside the blockaded territory have not been lethal. But they have sparked fires that have damaged agriculture, killed wildlife and whipped up considerable indignation.
“It’s caused significant economic damage but more than that it is emotional,” said Itzik Ebbo, 78, a member of Kibbutz Nir Am, a collective farming community. “These are crops we poured our hearts into. These are fields we hiked with our children and grandchildren.”
Sullen locals have become a fixture on Israeli ...
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June 20, 2018 at 10:52 am
Baltimore County police are asking for the public's help to find a missing boy.
Malik Zacharia Christian, 10, of Pikesville, was last seen Tuesday wearing a black polo shirt and blue jeans.
Malik is 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 79 pounds and has a scar near his left eye.
No further information was immediately released.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911.
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June 19, 2018 at 11:11 pm
Baltimore, MD - June 19, 2018 - The spring of 1968 was a notorious one for Baltimore. The death of Martin Luther King Jr. precipitated race riots for 8 days in the city of Baltimore, causing rioting, burning and looting of business etc. But that spring, another momentous event occurred and that was the graduation of 22 young women from Bais Yaakov High School. Rabbi Mordechai Shapiro, ZTL, Rov of Machzikei Hadas in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the brother-in-law of Rabbi Binyomin Steinberg, ZTL, spoke at the graduation. In his speech he said of this special class, “mum ain boch” boch being the Gematria of the number 22.
This Sunday June 24th the class of 1968 will be celebrating their 50th high school reunion at the home of Mrs. Feigi (Siegel) Ober...
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June 19, 2018 at 10:24 pm
13 Hamas rockets were launched to Israel on Tuesday night both north and south to the Gaza Strip, out of these four were intercepted by Iron dome reported IDF spokesperson. Red Siren alerts were sounded in Gaza border communities and Hof Ashkelon Regional Council during the night, non of the rockets were able to cause any damages within Israel.
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June 19, 2018 at 8:18 pm
New York - If meat is grown in a lab without slaughtering animals, what should it be called?
That question has yet to be decided by regulators, but for the moment it’s pitting animal rights advocates and others against cattle ranchers in a war of words.
Supporters of the science are embracing “clean meat” to describe meat grown by replicating animal cells. Many in the conventional meat industry are irritated by the term and want to stamp it out before it takes hold.
“It implies that traditional beef is dirty,” says Danielle Beck, director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
The spat shows the power of language as a new industry attempts to reshape eating habits. It’s why the $49.5 billion U.S. beef, poultry, por...
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June 19, 2018 at 8:08 pm
Washington - Ted Cruz has staged a dramatic about-face on the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies, laying bare how politically damaging the issue of separating children from parents accused of crossing the border illegally is becoming for Republicans facing voters this fall.
The Texas senator, who has become a frequent ally of President Donald Trump, initially blasted criticism of the White House crackdown.
“When you see Democrats saying, ‘Don’t separate kids from their parents,’ what they’re really saying is don’t arrest illegal aliens,” he said last week
But he’s softened substantially, telling reporters in Washington on Tuesday, “All of us are horrified at the images we’re seeing.&r...
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June 19, 2018 at 7:49 pm
Canada has passed a landmark law that legalises the recreational use of marijuana nationwide.
The Cannabis Act passed its final hurdle on Tuesday in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. The bill controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed, and sold.
Canadians will be able to buy and consume the drug legally as early as this September.
The country is the first in the G7 to legalise the drug's recreational use.
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June 19, 2018 at 7:40 pm
New York - General Electric will be dropped from the Dow Jones industrial average next week, ending the industrial conglomerate’s more than 100-year run in the 30-company blue chip index.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said Tuesday that GE will be removed from index before the open of trading next Tuesday. Its slot will go to drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Boston-based GE was an original member of the Dow Jones industrials dating back to 1896. It had been a continuous member of the Dow since 1907.
GE has been struggling in recent years, shrinking dramatically since it became entangled in the financial crisis a decade ago.
The company is under investigation related to a $15 billion hit it took to cover miscalculations at an insurance unit.
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June 19, 2018 at 7:35 pm
McLean, TX - Homeland Security officials say there have been 148 cases where someone fraudulently posed as a family member of children at the U.S. border from October to April.
According to figures released Tuesday, the cases involved 301 people. Officials did not say how many were children.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has said there was a 314 percent increase in adults showing up with kids who are not family members. She says they are traffickers and smugglers.
More than 2,300 minors have been separated from their families crossing the border to the U.S. under a zero-tolerance policy where everyone caught crossing illegally is prosecuted.
Nielsen says those legitimately seeking asylum should go to official border crossings with their families and they will not b...
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June 19, 2018 at 5:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI agent removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's team because of anti-Donald Trump text messages has been escorted out of the FBI building "as part of the ongoing internal proceedings," his attorney said Tuesday.
Peter Strzok "remains a proud FBI agent" who wants to serve his country but has been the "target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks," according to a statement from lawyer Aitan Goelman.
Goelman said that "despite being put through a highly questionable process, Pete has complied with every FBI procedure, including being escorted from the building as part of the ongoing internal proceedings."
Strzok, a seasoned counterintelligence agent, was a lead agent on the investigation into whether Hilla...
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June 19, 2018 at 5:33 pm
New York - Donald Trump Jr. has canceled plans to raise money for the eldest son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Trump Jr. decided to withdraw from a fundraiser for Texas land commissioner George P. Bush in New York City next week. That was after Jeb Bush criticized President Donald Trump for separating immigrant children from their families at the border.
That’s according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Jeb Bush tweeted Monday that “Children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool.”
That was too much for 40-year-old Donald Trump Jr., who had been supportive of 42-year-old George P. Bush’s political aspirations. Trump Jr. had warned the son to get his father to ...
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June 19, 2018 at 5:30 pm
Washington - The White House aide who led the planning for President Donald Trump’s meeting last week with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has decided to leave the Trump administration to return to the private sector.
Joe Hagin, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, has served in every Republican White House since the Reagan administration. He held the same title in George W. Bush’s White House.
Hagin’s departure comes as the Trump administration continues to set records for staff turnover. More than 60 percent of those who served in senior positions at the beginning of the administration have exited.
No successor has yet been identified.
A White House official said that after departing Singapore last week, Trump made a rare appearance in the staff cab...
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June 19, 2018 at 5:26 pm
New York - Lighting up a joint in the Big Apple could lighten some wallets, but won’t lead to handcuffs in most cases once New York City’s revamped marijuana enforcement policy goes into effect on Labor Day weekend.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday police officers will shift to issuing criminal summonses for public marijuana smoking starting Sept. 1 — a move he estimates will eliminate at least 10,000 arrests a year. The Democrat ordered the overhaul last month after a report showed persistent racial gaps in marijuana arrests.
“Nobody’s destiny should hinge on a minor non-violent offense,” said de Blasio.
Officers will still arrest suspected smokers if they are on parole or probation, have an open warrant, a violent criminal history or fail to show i...
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June 19, 2018 at 5:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ambassador Nikki Haley says the United States is withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council, calling it "an organization that is not worthy of its name."
Haley is President Donald Trump's envoy to the United Nations. She says a year ago she made clear the U.S. would stay in the council only if "essential reforms were achieved." She says it's clear those calls for change were not heeded.
Haley is decrying the membership of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela that are themselves accused of rights violations. She says the council also has a "chronic bias against Israel."
But Haley says that if the council does reform, the United States "would be happy to rejoin."
Haley is announcing the withdrawal at the State Department alongside Secretary of St...
