The amount of investment that Israel is attracting in the car tech industry has tripled in the last three years, research shows. Israel’s automotive-tech sector raised $814 million in 2017, which is triple the amount it raised in 2015. The startups companies attracting the largest funding rounds include Via, Valens, Moovit and Gett, the Israeli equivalent to Uber and Lyft. The most active investors include OurCrowd, Maniv Mobility, Magma Venture Partners and Aleph. The car tech revolution started very promising in Israel, initially with Waze selling to Google for over $1 billion in 2013 and in March last year, Intel agreed to acquire the self-driving car technology powerhouse Mobileye, located in Jerusalem, for an enormous $15.3 billion. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
Washington - A U.S. withdrawal from a Cold War-era nuclear arms treaty with Russia could give the Pentagon new options to counter Chinese missile advances but experts warn the ensuing arms race could greatly escalate tensions in the Asia-Pacific. U.S. officials have been warning for years that the United States was being put at a disadvantage by China’s development of increasingly sophisticated land-based missile forces, which the Pentagon could not match thanks to the U.S. treaty with Russia. President Donald Trump has signaled he may soon give the Pentagon a freer hand to confront those advances, if he makes good on threats to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which required elimination of short- and intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles. D...
Washington -  CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta, whose network is a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s “fake news” barbs, called on him Monday to stop attacking on the media because he’s afraid someone will get hurt. The past week may have signaled a turning point in journalists fighting back against Trump’s attacks, with the White House Correspondents Association issuing a statement condemning him for praising a Montana congressman who body-slammed a reporter last year during a successful congressional campaign. Acosta, Maggie Haberman and WHCA President Olivier Knox talked about the personal toll the words have taken during a panel Monday at CNN’s “Citizen” conference. Knox said the day after Trump referred to some ne...
CIA Director Gina Haspel departed for Turkey on Monday amid a growing international uproar over Saudi Arabia’s explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the matter. The visit by the U.S. spy chief comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech planned for early Tuesday vows to reveal the full extent of what his aides are calling a Saudi-directed murder and attempted coverup. The arrival of the director suggests an effort by the U.S. intelligence community to assess the information the Turks have, including what Turkish officials have said is audio that captures the killing. Intelligence officials are increasingly skeptical of the Saudi account and have warned President Donald Trump that the idea that rogue operators fle...
Bedford, NY -  An object that appeared to be an explosive device was found in a mailbox at the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has donated heavily to liberal causes and is a frequent target of unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories. The Bedford Police Department said it responded to the address in the hamlet of Katonah at 3:45 p.m. Monday after an employee of the residence opened the package. The person placed the package in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives. Bedford police said the FBI’s terrorism task force was investigating. The FBI’s New York field office said on Twitter that it was “conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford, NY. There is no...
Some health messages such as “sitting is the new smoking” spread not because they’re true, but because they’re catchy and tweetable. And when promoting a new health scare, comparisons are always useful for raising alarm. “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death,” said one expert in the Los Angeles Times. It’s a great quote to show to worried family members if you want to go parachuting. But otherwise, this sort of thing can make it seem pointless to even try to live a healthy lifestyle. You work hard to quit smoking only to learn your office chair will kill you. Matt Buman, health researcher at Arizona State University, said he and some colleag...
Washington - When Washington’s $500 million Museum of the Bible held its grand opening in November 2017, attended by Vice President Mike Pence, there were questions even then about the authenticity of its centerpiece collection of Dead Sea Scrolls. Now the museum has been forced to admit a painful truth: Technical analysis by a team of German scholars has revealed that at least five of the museum’s 16 scroll fragments are apparent forgeries. The announcement has serious implications not only for the Bible Museum but for other evangelical Christian individuals and institutions who paid top dollar for what now seems to be a massive case of archaeological fraud. Jeffrey Kloha, chief curator for the Museum of the Bible, said in a statement that the revelation is “an opport...
Istanbul - He ran social media for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country’s elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype. Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Khashoggi’s death. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team. But Qahtani’s influence in the crown prince’s entourage has been so vast over the past three years - his own rise tracking that of...
Twitter has removed some accounts thought to be used to circumvent a ban on conspiracy-monger Alex Jones and Infowars, the company said Tuesday. A Twitter spokesman confirmed that the accounts had been removed but provided no additional comment. The company says it usually does not discuss specific accounts. Twitter permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope in early September. It said it based that action in reports of tweets and videos that violated its policy against abusive behavior. The company said it would continue to evaluate reports regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and would take action if it finds content that violates its rules or if other accounts are used to try to circumvent their ban. Othe...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, announced Tuesday that she has the beginning stages of dementia, “probably Alzheimer’s disease.” The 88-year-old said in a public letter that her diagnosis was made some time ago and that as her condition has progressed she is “no longer able to participate in public life.” “While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life,” she wrote. She added: “As a young cowgirl from the Arizona desert, I never could have imagined that one day I would become the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.” O’Connor’s announcement of h...
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 22, 2018 - Marking the first yahrtzeit of our dear and esteemed Principal, Rabbi Mendel D. Freedman, Z"L, this coming Wednesday, Oct. 24, the 15th of Cheshvan,, we invite our entire Bais Yaakov family of staff, parents, grandparents, teachers, friends and supporters, at 9:15 AM, in front of the elementary school building, to join us as we formally dedicate the Rabbi Mendel D. Freedman, Z"L, Elementary School Building on our Park Heights campus, 11111 Park Heights Ave. Parking will be limited.
Baltimore, MD-October 22, 2018 - Baltimore Shomrim was called to the scene of two home break-ins today that both meet the same MO, where burglars are kicking in the basement doors. Please make sure that all your doors and windows are secured and locked before leaving the house. In response to the two break-ins today, the Baltimore City Crime Lab has dusted the scenes for prints and the City-wide burglary unit has been notified and will be tracking the patterns, lo aleinu. Not sure if your home is up to par, safety-wise? Baltimore City Police and Baltimore County Police both offer a free home safety check-up. Obviously, if you see anything out of the ordinary, contact 911 and Baltimore Shomrim, 410-358-9999.
A “polio-like” condition that has left children in 22 states paralyzed may be more widespread than previously announced due to inadequate testing protocols and voluntary reporting requirements, experts say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there have been 62 confirmed cases of Acute Flaccid Myelitis so far this year. Since the first known outbreak of AFM in 2014, the devastating illness has reemerged with at least 50 confirmed cases between August and October in even-numbered years. AFM often begins with signs of a respiratory infection but quickly progresses. Within a few hours, patients may have difficulty breathing and develop “flaccid weakness,” and one or more limbs may become paralyzed. ...
WASHINGTON - A suspected intruder who was shot trying to break into WTTG FOX 5’s building in D.C. on Monday was known to both FOX executives and police, according to sources, and had leveled threats at both FOX and law enforcement previously. Police responded to the scene on Wisconsin Avenue in the Friendship Heights neighborhood around 3:15 p.m. They say the man had been shot in the station's lobby by an armed security guard after forcing his way through the glass doors. According to police, the suspect was shot once in the torso. A police spokesperson says they have identified the suspect, but have not officially released his identity. However, police sources have told FOX 5 that the suspect is 38-year-old George Odemns of Northwest D.C. He has previously sen...
Jerusalem - Israel on Monday released two Palestinian Authority officials who were detained at the weekend, police said, but gave no further details on the case. The two men who were taken into custody were Adnan Gheith, who holds the largely ceremonial post of Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, and Jihad Al-Faqeeh, the head of Palestinian intelligence in the city. They were arrested on suspicion of aiding the abduction a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, their lawyers said. Gheith’s lawyer, Mohammed Mahmoud, said his client was ordered to stay away from Jerusalem, remain in home detention for seven days and pay a 20,000 shekel ($5,500) fine. The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said President Mahmoud Abbas had spoken by phone to both men following their release...
Moscow - U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Monday that Russian meddling in U.S. elections had achieved negligible results, but insisted such behavior should not be tolerated. A federal special counsel is leading a criminal investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and any possible cooperation with Donald Trump’s campaign. Moscow has denied the allegations while Trump has said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia. Bolton played down the consequences of the alleged interference. “Today I told our Russian colleagues that their meddling in our election process had hardly had any real effect,” radio station Ekho Moskvy quoted him as saying on a visit to Moscow. “But the important ...
Providence, RI - Congregants at the oldest synagogue in the United States asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to review a decision giving a New York congregation control of Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue and a set of bells valued in the millions. Lawyers for Newport’s Congregation Jeshuat Israel asked for a review of last year’s decision by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that it presents important constitutional issues surrounding religious liberty. “If allowed to stand and be followed, the decision will fundamentally alter how ordinary disputes involving religious parties are tried and decided, and introduce an element of arbitrariness and cherry-picking by courts as to what secular evidence may be considered or ignored in any particular case,&...
Washington - Under an unusual arrangement, Paul Manafort’s attorney has kept Donald Trump informed about the former campaign chairman’s meetings with prosecutors investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and, according to Trump’s lawyer, Manafort has not said anything damaging about the president. Rudy Giuliani, who represents Trump in the Russia probe, told Reuters that he had spoken with Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, as recently as last week. Manafort pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 to violating foreign lobbying laws and trying to obstruct justice. He was convicted at trial in another case in August. Giuliani said the conversations were occurring under a so-called joint defense agreement, which allows lawyers who represent different clients to exch...
Washington - President Donald Trump says he wants to push a new middle-income tax cut through Congress after the midterm elections. Trump says he’s looking to cut middle-income taxes about 10 percent after signing a tax bill last year. He tells reporters as he left the White House for a Texas rally that “we’re doing it now for middle-income people. This is not for business. This is for middle.” Trump said over the weekend that he hoped to move forward with the plan “sometime around” or before Nov. 1. But Congress is currently out of session as lawmakers campaign for the Nov. 6 election.
Houston - President Donald Trump hailed former foe Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday as “a man who has become a really good friend of mine” at a campaign rally in Texas. Trump spoke before a massive crowd in Houston on behalf of his onetime rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The rally comes as Cruz faces a strong challenge from Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke. During the campaign, Trump would frequently deride his former foe as “Lyin’ Ted” but said in Texas that their relationship had come a long way. “Nobody has helped me more with your tax cut, with your regulation,” Trump said of Cruz. “He defended your jobs, he defended your borders, and we are defending that border, by the way.” Speaking before Trump took the stage...
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