Ukraine on Monday inaugurated comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelensky as its new president, a month after he scored a landslide electoral victory that dealt a stunning rebuke to the country’s political establishment. Zelensky, 41, was sworn-in to office in a ceremony held at Ukraine’s parliament in Kiev becoming the country’s youngest post-Soviet president. Taking the oath of office, Zelensky, who is Jewish, pledged to “protect the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine” evoking the defensive prowess of Israel. “We must become Icelanders in soccer, Israelis in defending our land, Japanese in technology,” he was quoted by the BBC as saying. Read more at i24NEWS.
A heat wave may force authorities to ban Lag Ba’omer bonfires. Lag Ba’omer falls on Wednesday night and Thursday, and the National Fire and Rescue Authority has already prohibited lighting bonfires in public parks, forests, and other potentially dangerous areas Thursday will see a heat wave, affecting most of Israel. All areas of Israel will see heavy or extreme heat, and firefighters are liable to ban Lag Ba’omer bonfires due to the risk that the flames may quickly spread out of control. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day wrote a letter to President Trump requesting that an executive order be issued or new laws be created to require foreign travelers present immunization records before entering the country. “I want the federal government to implement procedure that will demand presentation of immunization records to travelers coming into this country,” Day said. “I don’t see what the big issue would be other than advising people that if you want the right to come to this great country called the United States of America, you need to be immunized, period,” said the Rockland County executive. The White House has yet to respond to Day’s request. It remains unclear how the rule would be enforced. The measles outbreak in America has spread ...
A total of 17 people have been detained and 11 questioned as criminal suspects, with four others placed under house arrest, in connection to the collapse on Sunday of a crane at a construction site in Yavne that killed four people. Two more people were injured in the incident, which occurred when part of a crane broke apart as a team tried to disassemble it. According to a report in Israel’s Walla news, the crane’s counter-jib with its concrete ballast blocks collapsed, killing three construction workers, who were declared dead at the scene. A fourth victim dangled for approximately an hour as emergency medical and rescue personnel tried to reach him, before he, too, was declared dead at the scene. Only one of the victims has been named: Gil Hazazi of Hadera, a 51-year-old ...
Iran has increased by fourfold the rate of enrichment of low-enriched uranium, an official in Natanz nuclear facility was cited as saying by Tasnim news agency on Monday, a week after Iran officially stopped some commitments under an international nuclear accord. Under the agreement, Tehran was allowed to produce low-enriched uranium with a 300-kilogram limit. Tehran could ship the excess amounts out of the country for storage or sale. Iran said this month the cap no longer applies as it scaled down commitments in reaction to America’s unilateral withdrawal from the deal. It was not clear how far Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium was from the 300-kilogram limit. Under the deal Iran can enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, far below the 90 percent of weapons grade. It is also ...
District Judge Amit Mehta on Monday ruled in favor of a subpoena issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee for President Trump's financial records from the accounting firm Mazars. In a 41-page opinion, Mehta found that "President Trump cannot block the subpoena to Mazars." Trump's attorneys had argued that the subpoena, issued by Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), was unconstitutional because it wasn't tied to legislation. But attorneys for the House said the records will help the panel strengthen ethics and disclosure laws and monitor whether Trump is in compliance with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. In his ruling, Mehta, an Obama appointee, noted that the panel's "broad investigative power is not new," pointing to investigations c...
Bogota, Colombia - With Julian Assange locked away in a London jail, a new battle has broken out over what may contain some of the WikiLeaks founder’s biggest secrets: his computers. On Monday, judicial authorities from Ecuador carried out an inventory of all the belongings and digital devices left behind at the London embassy following his expulsion last month from the diplomatic compound that had been his home the past seven years. It came as Sweden announced it was seeking Assange’s arrest on suspicion of rape, setting up a possible future tug-of-war with the United States over any extradition of Assange from Britain. It’s not known what devices authorities removed from the embassy or what information they contained. But authorities said they were acting on a reques...
Paris - The Eiffel Tower was evacuated and closed down Monday after a man scaled nearly to the top of the Paris monument and refused to come down for several hours. Members of a special firefighter climbing unit and police negotiators eventually persuaded the man to surrender, a Paris police official said. The official said the man was “under control and out of danger” Monday night. Managers said the tower would reopen Tuesday morning as usual and promised to reimburse people with reserved tickets whose visits were thwarted. Security agents spotted the man climbing up from the second floor in the early afternoon, triggering an operation to evacuate the 2,500 visitors on the monument, the tower management company said in a statement. That included people dining on the second ...
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s new president, a comedian before he turned to statecraft, made a dramatic entrance to the political stage Monday by disbanding parliament minutes after his inauguration. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who won 73% of the vote last month, justified his contentious decision on the grounds that the legislature, controlled by allies of the man he defeated, is riddled with self-enrichment. Elections to the Supreme Rada were scheduled for Oct. 27, which raised the prospect of Zelenskiy struggling to enact his agenda in the face of a hostile parliament over his first few months in power. A snap parliamentary election will be held within two months of his signing a formal dissolution decree. Zelenskiy, a comedian who played the role of a Ukrainian president on a...
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — A man who opened fire on police responding to a domestic disturbance report, killing one officer and wounding two others, was arrested Monday and charged with capital murder, authorities said. Grady Wayne Wilkes, 29, was being held without bond in the shooting death of Officer William Buechner, who had been with the Auburn Police Division for more than 13 years. Wilkes also was charged with attempted murder in the wounding of officers Webb Sistrunk and Evan Elliott, said Police Chief Paul Register. Both are expected to recover. District Attorney Brandon Hughes said authorities would seek capital punishment: “If you shoot a police officer, we’re going to seek the death penalty, absolutely,” he said. The chief described Wilkes as a former membe...
Four shootings left one dead and three others injured on Sunday, Baltimore Police said, ending a violent weekend in Baltimore. Ten people were shot — three fatally — from Friday night to Monday morning in the city. Just after 7 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a shooting in the 1800 block of West Fayette St. in the Franklin Square neighborhood, where they found a 24-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his body, police said. The man was transported to an area hospital where he later died, police said. Earlier on Sunday, at 12:49 a.m. police in the Northern District responded to an area hospital where a 34-year-old man walked in with a gunshot wound to his foot. The man is in stable condition. Later, at about 8:20 p.m. Sunday, officers were called to the 4900 block of...
As part of the preparations of the Israel Police for the celebration for Lag BaOmer, the police closed the entrance of private vehicles to Mount Meron. The public is asked to arrive at the Terminal 2 parking lot where free shuttle buses began to operate for the convenience of visitors to and from the site.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The search is on for four men wanted for harassing two Hasidic teenagers in Brooklyn on Saturday. Former assemblyman Dov Hikind and the victims reported the incident at the 66th precinct. “The mother of the 16-year-old said to me just before, ‘I’m not letting my kid walk the streets,’” said Hikind. According to their report to police, the 16-year-old boys were walking home from a sabbath gathering around 1:00 a.m. near 12th Avenue and 51st Street in Borough Park. The boys said that’s when four men in a car with TLC license plates yelled “Allah Akbar,” and “Do you know Hitler? We love Hitler.” The boys ran off. “He said I didn’t know what next thing would do – I s...
Whole Foods is preparing to stop offering plastic straws at any of its 500 stores.  The company, which is owned by Amazon, announced on Monday that by July it would no longer sell plastic straws in its stores in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, according to CNN.  The move marks the first time a national grocery chain has taken the step to ditch plastic straws. It also comes more than 10 years after the company stopped offering disposable plastic bags for customers.  Whole Foods will start offering paper straws at its juice and coffee bars starting in July, though CNN noted that plastic straws will still be available upon request for customers with disabilities.  In addition, Whole Foods will start selling smaller plastic bags in its produce department....
Gedolim wished European Agudah leader Reb Aharon Aronson of Amsterdam a long life with the celebration of his 100th birthday. Rav Chaim Kanievsky, 89, quipped that Rav Aronson looked younger than he does, and said that the Steipler once said that he envied Aronson’s Gan Eden, due to persecution he suffered after refusing to submit information about a Jew to the authorities after WWII. Aronson helped restore the chareidi world in Europe after the Holocaust. He led Agudas Yisroel in Amsterdam, served as secretary of Holland’s Agudah for over 40 years, and represented Europe in the organization’s international affairs. He is still a beloved chazzan at weddings and other occasions.
Jerusalem - Israeli politicians responded with anger to statements by Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that returning Jewish property in Poland stolen during the Holocaust would be a “victory for Hitler.” Morawiecki told a rally in Lodz on Saturday that Poland would never agree to the restitution of stolen Jewish property. He claimed that the request for restitution violates international law and would also be “a posthumous victory for Hitler, which is why we will never allow it.” In response, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein charged that the “Polish leadership is again trying to distort history, and is now trying to thwart the justice it would do in returning the property of Holocaust survivors.” “Instead of solving the fundament...
Research being presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2019 in Montreal on May 21 BEER-SHEVA...May 20, 2019 - The first experimental robot drone that flies like a typical quadcopter, drives on tough terrain and squeezes into tight spaces using the same motors, has been developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers. The hybrid FSTAR (flying sprawl-tuned autonomous robot) will be introduced at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2019 in Montreal on May 21. It was developed in the BGU Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab by Prof. David Zarrouk, senior lecturer in BGU's Department of Mechanical Engineering, and head of the Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab and his graduate student, Nir Meiri. Click here ...
Tehran - Iran has quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium amid tensions with the U.S. over Tehran’s unraveling nuclear accord, two semi-official news agencies reported Monday, an announcement just after President Donald Trump warned Iran it would face its “official end” if it threatened America again. While the reports said the production is of uranium enriched only to the 3.67% limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran reached with world powers, it means that Iran soon will go beyond the stockpile limitations established by the accord. This follows days of heightened tensions sparked by the Trump administration’s deployment of bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf over still-unspecified threats from Iran. While Trump’s dueling a...
New York - The worst measles outbreak in the United States in 25 years has spread to Oklahoma, federal health officials said on Monday as they reported 41 new cases nationwide, raising the total number sickened this year to 880 people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 4.9% increase in the number of measles cases from May 10 to May 17 in an outbreak that has now reached 24 states. The agency has been providing weekly updates every Monday. The CDC said there had been one confirmed case in Oklahoma. Most of the new cases were in New York, CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said, with 21 cases recorded in New York City and nine in Rockland County. Health experts say the virus has spread among school-age children whose parents declined to give them the vaccine, which...
Beijing - The number of foreign companies that feel compelled to hand over technology in exchange for Chinese market access — an issue that sparked President Donald Trump’s tariff fight with Beijing — has doubled since two years ago despite official promises to end such pressure, a business group reported Monday. The European Chamber of Commerce in China’s report highlighted enduring complaints about “forced technology transfer” that China’s trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments despite denials and promises of change. European leaders have criticized Trump’s tactics in confronting Beijing over its technology ambitions but echo U.S. criticisms. One in five companies that responded to a survey in January, before the lat...
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