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August 15, 2018 at 9:46 am
Jerusalem - Israel’s domestic security agency denies threatening a prominent American author and questioning him about his politics during a recent visit.
The Shin Bet issued a statement Wednesday confirming its agents briefly detained and questioned Iranian-born Reza Aslan at a border crossing, saying his “behavior there raised suspicion.” It denied Aslan’s claim he was questioned about his politics.
Aslan tweeted Tuesday that he was held for hours and told to list Palestinians and journalists he knew and Palestinian organizations he supported. He says the agent threatened to separate him from his family.
Israel has been accused twice this week of detaining prominent Americans critical of its policies. On Sunday, Jewish-American commentator Peter Beinart was hel...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:45 am
New York - Twitter says it is suspending the account of the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for one week after he violated the company’s rules against inciting violence.
The New York Times reports that Jones tweeted a link to a video calling for supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready against media and others.
Jones won’t be able to tweet or retweet from his personal account for seven days, though he will be able to browse Twitter.
The Twitter account for his “Infowars” show was not affected.
Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify have taken down material published by Jones, reflecting more aggressive enforcement of hate speech policies after online backlash.
But Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his company’s decision last week no...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:44 am
LONDON (AP) — British authorities said Wednesday they are considering turning the area around Parliament into a pedestrian zone to prevent future vehicle attacks as police searched three properties for clues about the motivation of a man who plowed a car into cyclists and pedestrians, injuring three.
Suspect Salih Khater, a 29-year-old British citizen of Sudanese origin, was arrested at the scene of Tuesday’s crash on suspicion of “the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism,” police said.
Police said later he was also suspected of attempted murder.
British authorities do not name suspects until they are charged but media and neighbors said the arrested man was Khater. Police confirmed the suspect was a 29-year-old British man originally ...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:43 am
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Closing arguments were expected Wednesday in the trial of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman accused of tax evasion and bank fraud.
Manafort’s defense rested its case Tuesday without calling any witnesses. Manafort himself chose not to testify.
It’s the first trial to emerge from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, although the case didn’t address allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has been tasked with investigating those allegations, as well as possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
But as a result of the ongoing probe, Mueller’s legal team says it discovered Manafort hiding millions of dollars in income he received advising Ukrainian politicians. The defense has tr...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:40 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — In a night of firsts, Democrats in Vermont’s primary chose the nation’s first transgender gubernatorial nominee. In Minnesota, they picked a woman who would be the first Somali-American member of Congress. Connecticut Democrats nominated a candidate who could become the first black woman from the state to serve in Congress.
Democrats embraced diversity in Tuesday primaries, while Republicans in Minnesota rejected a familiar face of the GOP old guard in favor of a rising newcomer aligned with President Donald Trump.
But Minnesota Democrats also backed a national party leader who is facing accusations of domestic violence. He has denied the allegations, yet they threaten to undercut enthusiasm in his state and beyond.
On the other side, Trump tight...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:35 am
Almost a month has passed since the IDF Military Intelligence’s Information Security Department foiled an attempt by Hamas to take use forged profiles to take over smartphones belonging to Israeli soldiers. The reports continued to flow, according to an IDF report, new Hamas avatars have been discovered, and the terrorist group’s efforts thwarted – including on Instagram.
It was hard to miss last month’s Operation Heartbroken around the IDF bases, led by the Information Security Department. Giant banners and social network ads were only part of the campaign to raise awareness about the Hamas malicious networks. The Hamas terrorist infrastructure attempted to take over IDF soldiers’ mobile phones in order to obtain classified military information.
The Hamas-g...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:32 am
Washington - The White House has acknowledged error in its false claim that President Donald Trump created three times as many jobs for African-Americans than President Barack Obama.
It was a rare admission of fault for an administration that frequently skews data and overstates economic gains.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Twitter late Tuesday that she had been wrong earlier that day when she told reporters that Obama created only 195,000 jobs for African-Americans during his tenure compared with Trump’s 700,000 new jobs in just two years.
The U.S. economy actually added about 3 million jobs for black workers during Obama’s tenure, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“President Trump in his first year and a half has already tripl...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:32 am
GENOA, Italy (AP) — Italian emergency workers pulled two more bodies out of tons of broken concrete and twisted steel Wednesday after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, raising the death toll in the disaster to at least 39 people.
The collapse of the Morandi Bridge sent dozens of cars and three trucks plunging as much as 45 meters (150 feet) to the ground Tuesday as many Italian families were on the road ahead of Wednesday’s major summer holiday. The collapse took place after a violent storm.
The graphic above highlights the section of bridge which collapsed and shows its location within Italy.
Civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed Wednesday that 39 people had died and 15 were injured. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said three children were among the d...
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August 15, 2018 at 9:21 am
Baltimore, MD - Aug. 15, 2018 - Shomrim was proud to sponsor the Cheswolde Neighborhood Association National Night Out this evening. Over 1,000 community members came out to show their appreciation for the work law enforcement, fire, medical emergency services, and volunteer response organizations do for our community. Among the many elected officials, the crowd heard remarks from Mayor Pugh, Police Commissioner Tuggle and States Attorney Mosby. It was a true example of the Police -Community Partnership.
(Photo Credit: B. Ansbacher Photography and others)
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August 15, 2018 at 9:00 am
Black Cats: We all know them. Black cats, broken mirrors, stepping on the cracks in sidewalks, rabbit’s feet and four leaf clovers. I’m talking about superstitions of course. All the major newspapers run daily horoscopes and the internet and bookstores are filled with advice on fortune telling and the occult. And some people really believe in this stuff and live their lives accordingly. Remember Nancy Reagan?
The Torah states clearly in Parshas Shoftim , Chap 18, verses 9 – 12, that we the Jewish people are to stay far away from these types of practices. “There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or daughter pass through fire, no soothsayer, astrologer, enchanter, or sorcerer.” G-d considers all of these to be an ab...
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August 15, 2018 at 8:52 am
Four suspects from Baltimore have been indicted on carjacking charges for allegedly stealing dozens of cars and assaulting victims in Baltimore and Baltimore County last year, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Monday.
Dalante Graham, 18; Tyheim Gray, 19; Daquan Johnson, 18; and Travon Williamston, 17, were charged with participating in a carjacking ring and stealing 26 cars between September and December 2017. Frosh said the carjackings became increasingly violent, and the four allegedly committed 16 physical assaults during their four-month spree, including 13 with a gun.
Johnson was charged with the most crimes of the group — 55 counts for crimes including theft, assault, robbery, armed carjacking and participation in a criminal gang. Read more at Baltimore Sun
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August 14, 2018 at 9:43 pm
Washington - Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And, perhaps, your potential leakers closer yet.
President Donald Trump’s political operation has made a regular practice of providing soft landing-pads for discarded staffers, offering nebulous jobs at big salaries to aides who have been pushed out of his West Wing.
The revelation this week that former White House assistant Omarosa Manigault Newman was offered a high-paying job on Trump’s re-election campaign in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement was the clearest demonstration yet of how a slot in the Trump orbit is being used to take care of loyalists — and protect against potential liabilities.
Manigault Newman, who contends in her new book that she was offered a hush-money contract with the Tr...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin (all times local):
9:35 p.m.
Sen. Tina Smith has won Minnesota’s Democratic primary to finish the final two years of former Sen. Al Franken’s term.
Smith took her spot in the Senate in January after Franken resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. She was the state’s lieutenant governor before Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed her to the seat.
She defeated several Democrats to clinch the party’s nomination, including Richard Painter, the former GOP ethics attorney whose profile rose as a strident critic of President Donald Trump.
Smith is a longtime political operative in Minnesota.
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9:30 p.m.
Minnesota state Rep. Jim Newberger has won the GOP primary ...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:32 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota state Rep. Jim Newberger has won the GOP primary to take on incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (KLOH'-buh-shar).
Newberger beat three other candidates Tuesday but faces an uphill battle in November against the popular Klobuchar, who is seeking a third term in the Senate.
Klobuchar won her first two terms by at least 20 percentage points and has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2020.
Newberger, a paramedic from Becker, has served three terms in the Minnesota House.
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9:25 p.m.
Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker has dispensed with a nominal GOP challenger as he awaits the winner of a crowded Democratic primary.
Walker is seeking a third term in office after a failed 2016 presidential run. Eight Democrats were...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:28 pm
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded Tuesday evening in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary, saying he would endorse Secretary of State Kris Kobach a week after their neck-and-neck finish threatened to send the race to a recount.
Colyer accepted defeat after a review of some provisional ballots from most Kansas counties failed to find enough votes for him to overcome a deficit of 110 votes at the time of poll closing in the Aug. 7 primary, out of more than 311,000 votes initially counted.
Kobach will face Democrat Laura Kelly, and is likely to face independent candidate Greg Orman, in the November general election in the decidedly conservative state.
The disputed race was intense and prompted a lengthy county-by-county review of provisional ballots. ...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:23 pm
Posuk chof aleph in Perek Tes Zayin in Chumash Devarim tells us that one may not plant a tree next to the Mizbeach of Hashem. Rashi explains that this teaches us that one may not plant a tree or build a house on Har HaBayis. The Chinuch in Mitzva taf tzadi bais argues with this and says the issur applies just to the azarah.
The Yalkut Shimoni says that the posuk includes the issur of building a Sukkah next to the Mizbeach of Hashem. The Panim Yafos explains that this would include a Sukka for Sukkos in which the Kohanim would eat the Lechem Hapanim as well as the leftover menachos t...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:22 pm
Los Ageless - Los Angeles’ subway will become the first mass transit system in the U.S. to install body scanners that screen passengers for weapons and explosives, officials said Tuesday.
The deployment of the portable scanners, which project waves to do full-body screenings of passengers walking through a station without slowing them down, will happen in the coming months, said Alex Wiggins, who runs the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s law enforcement division.
The machines scan for metallic and non-metallic objects on a person’s body, can detect suspicious items from 30 feet (9 meters) away and have the capability of scanning more than 2,000 passengers per hour.
“We’re dealing with persistent threats to our transportation system...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:21 pm
Boston - Federal immigration agencies have launched a coordinated campaign to arrest and deport immigrants seeking to become legal U.S. residents through marriage, according to documents released this week in a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The documents, which include depositions and correspondence from federal officials, show the extent to which officials for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have been coordinating with their counterparts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement to facilitate arrests at citizenship offices in New England.
The ACLU, in its arguments, criticizes the efforts as a deportation “trap” that violates the constitutional rights of immigrants otherwise following the rules to become legal residents.
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August 14, 2018 at 9:21 pm
New York - The latest efforts to disrupt the U.S. midterm elections through Facebook manipulation seem to be following a persuasion playbook refined by legitimate companies and organizations — but with a twist.
The aim of these possibly Russia-linked perpetrators appears to be to draw in as many people as possible with emotional appeals and then spur them to action. In this case, though, the action is public protest rather than affinity marketing, and the goal is to sow dissension rather than to build brand awareness.
“They’re almost functioning like social media editors, figuring out what the trending topics are in the U.S. and figuring out where they can insert themselves,” said Jennifer Grygiel, a communications professor at Syracuse University.
The idea, expe...
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August 14, 2018 at 9:05 pm
Palestinian national icon Ahed Tamimi (nicknamed “Shirley Temper”) was freed after serving an eight-month sentence in Israeli prison for recording herself punching, kicking, and slapping two Israeli soldiers. The incident was streamed live by her mother, who was also released by Israeli authorities.
“It’s hard to put my experience into words. I can’t even explain how oppressed I felt while I was there,” said Tamimi after being freed. “I’m glad I ended up there for my beliefs, and I’m ready to go to prison 100 more times if it serves the good of my country.”
How on earth did Tamimi survive those long oppressive months in an Israeli prison? Surely this modern-day Jean Valjean has a harrowing tale of how...
