Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations is defending shooting down a U.S. surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz and says Tehran will not be forced back into negotiations with the White House. “You cannot negotiate with somebody who has a knife in his hand putting the knife under your throat,” Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said in an exclusive interview with NPR. “That cannot be acceptable by anybody. Any reasonable person cannot accept to have negotiations with somebody who is threatening you.” Ravanchi also accused American leaders of unleashing “economic warfare” against Iran in attempting to isolate the country and forcing it back to the negotiating table. Read more.
George Soros, heiresses to the Pritzker fortune, Abigail Disney and Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes are among those calling for a wealth tax to help address income inequality and provide funding for climate change and public health initiatives. “We are writing to call on all candidates for President, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, to support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest one-tenth of the richest 1% of Americans — on us,” according to a letter signed by 19 individuals — one anonymously — and posted online Monday. “The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans.” One of the youngest signers, 35-year-old Liesel Pritzker Sim...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem on Monday with visiting Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. The Russian official was in the Jewish state to attend a tripartite summit on Tuesday with his American and Israeli counterparts, John Bolton and Meir Ben-Shabbat, on regional security issues. “Israel will not allow Iran, which calls for our destruction, to entrench on our border; we will do everything to prevent it from attaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told Patrushev on Monday. “Self-defense is a very important lesson of 20th-century history, certainly for the Jewish people and its state.” “Our joint goal is to advance substantive dialogue together with the US in order to deal with the complex security chall...
7-Eleven launched a delivery service Monday that will send a Slurpee or almost anything else carried by the chain to public places ranging from parks to beaches. The company told The Associated Press that more than 2,000 7-Eleven “hot spots” including New York’s Central Park and Venice Beach in Los Angeles will be activated Monday. Customers need to download 7-Eleven’s 7NOW app and select “Show 7NOW Pins” to find a hot spot close by. 7-Eleven believes it will eventually be able to deliver to 200,000 hot spot locations, said Gurmeet Singh, the company’s chief digital information and marketing officer. Read more at YAHOO NEWS.
Neo-Nazi rock festivals typically conjure up images of shaven-headed, bare-chested, pot-bellied white men guzzling beer and raising their right arms in Hitler salutes over an unrelenting soundtrack provided by “white power” bands. But that wasn’t the case in Ostritz, Germany, over the weekend. The approximately 600 neo-Nazis who descended on the town, which lies close to the Polish border, for a hate music festival on the occasion of Hitler’s 130th birthday discovered to their horror that there was no beer on tap. German police seized 4,200 liters of beer in Ostritz on Friday, then 200 liters more on Saturday. Locals also bought more than 200 crates of beer in the town’s supermarkets, to pre-empt the neo-Nazis attending the “Shield and Sword” (...
Microsoft announced on Sunday that it has hired Amazon Web Services (AWS) leader Raz Bachar as managing director for its startup accelerator program in Israel: Microsoft for Startups. Bachar, 36, will succeed Navot Volk, who resigned in November to join Wix.com two months later as a senior vice president. Bachar joined AWS in 2012 and was the “head of startup business development in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for AWS,” reported Calcalist.
More than a third of Americans would support a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea if that country tested a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States, new research has found, even if that preemptive strike killed a million civilians. The survey of 3,000 Americans was conducted by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and British research firm YouGov, and asked people to consider a scenario in which North Korea had tested a long-range missile and the U.S. government was considering how to respond. Most did not want their government to launch a preemptive strike, but a large minority supported such a strike, whether by conventional or nuclear weapons. “For many of these hawks, support for an attack, even in a preventive war, does not significantly decrease when t...
Documents show Obama administration officials rushing to loosen intelligence-sharing rules.
Iranian officials slammed the Trump administration Tuesday for new sanctions targeting the country’s leadership, saying the measures permanently closed the path to diplomacy and that the White House had “become mentally crippled” under the current president. In a searing televised address, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called restrictions against Iran’s supreme leader “outrageous and idiotic” and said they showed “certain failure” on the part of the Trump administration to isolate Iran. “You call for negotiations. If you are telling the truth, why are you simultaneously seeking to sanction our foreign minister?” Rouhani said Tuesday, referring to remarks by U.S. officials suggesting plans to sanction Foreign Minister Mohammad...
President Trump on Monday said he would make a nomination to the Supreme Court if there’s a vacancy before the 2020 presidential election. “Would I do that? Of course,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with The Hill when asked if he would try to fill a high court vacancy during election season. But the president denied that his position was an about-face from his position as a candidate in 2016, when he backed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to block former President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the high court since now the Republicans control both the Senate and the White House. “They couldn’t get him approved. That’s the other problem because they didn’t have the Senate. If they had the Senate, the...
As we enter the first week of summer, temperatures will reach the low 90s with high dew points this week, which means the high humidity that Maryland is known for. Sinai emergency room doctor Lisa Kirkland is urging residents to take special measures in the upcoming heat.  Kirkland told WBAL-TV 11 that the first week of intense heat could lead to a full ER as people aren't prepared for such temperatures. "Most people don't think about it; they just go out. They don't wear the appropriate clothing, they don't consider that they're getting overheated and take breaks or go into cooler areas," Kirkland told WBAL-TV 11.   People who work outside are most at risk, Kirkland says.  Kirkland urged residents to take special measures as we reach higher...
Jerusalem, Israel -June 25, 2019 - President Reuven Rivlin today, Tuesday, June 25 / 22 Sivan hosted a meeting to mark the 40th anniversary of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.  Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Khaled Azmi, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi also took part in the event. Also attending were members of the diplomatic corps, dozens of foreign Ambassadors to Israel, Israeli ambassadors who previously served in Egypt, and officials who served in key roles during the peace process with Egypt, and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.  The program which was in English with brief Arabic comments began with a short video of historic photographs.   “Two generations of Israelis and Egyptians know only peace bet...
Jerusalem, Israel - June 24, 2019 - The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel has three very diverse temporary exhibitions on display for summer visitors. Along with its many exhibit halls of Judaica, archeology, culture, classical art, and separate children's wing, the museum has opened a new space on the development of Peter Pan. Peter and Pan: From Ancient Greece to Neverland  The large entrance room to this exhibit is filled with ancient Greek statues and the story of Greek gods and mythology and the development of Pan. Families should know these male statues are nude sculptures. After the ancient art, one goes to a display of how Peter Pan developed and the story of James Mathew Barrie. There are short modern videos and a pleasant corner for young children to sit and read and...
EAST LANSING, Mich. — If you’re taking vitamin D supplements every day to improve your heart’s health and reduce your chances of suffering from cardiovascular disease, you’re likely wasting your money, according to a new study. Researchers from Michigan State University say that both men and women who take vitamin D aren’t any more protected against heart attacks, strokes, or related heart conditions than those who don’t. The authors were surprised by their discovery since prior research pointed to a link between lower levels of vitamin D in the blood and cardiovascular disease. “We thought it would show some benefit,” admits co-author Mahmoud Barbarawi, a clinical instructor in the MSU College of Human Medicine and chief resident...
This week, the U.S.  Supreme Court is due to rule on a congressional redistricting case involving Maryland. The decision centers on the 6th Congressional District which includes most of Western Maryland and part of Montgomery County. A group of seven Republican voters from the district argued that the boundaries of the district were drawn in 2011 to favor Democrats, diluting the influence of  Republican voters and violating their constitutional rights.  Since 2013, a Democrat has been elected to represent the district. Currently, freshman Democrat David Trone represents the district. Last November, the U.S. District Court in Maryland ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the state appealed the case to the Supreme Court.  The court heard arguments in this case in M...
BALTIMORE (AP) — A U.S. judge says new evidence paints a "disturbing picture" that racial discrimination may be the motive behind the Trump administration's push to ask everyone in the country about citizenship status. Last week, U.S. District Judge George Hazel of Maryland ruled there's enough evidence to warrant reopening a case focused on whether a proposed 2020 census question violates minorities' rights. In a court filing, Hazel wrote that new evidence "potentially connects the dots between a discriminatory purpose" and a decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to ask the citizenship question. Voting rights activists have argued newly discovered emails show the citizenship question is intended to discriminate. The Supreme Court could render Hazel's dec...
The Baltimore Police Department is investigating multiple shootings over the weekend, four of which were fatal.  Starting at 12:50 a.m. Saturday police responded to a local area hospital for reports of a walk-in shooting victim. The victim is described as an adult man suffering from gunshot wounds to both legs.  At 1:15 a.m., police were called to the 800 block of Port Street after an unidentified man approached a crowd and began shooting.  Once on the scene, police located a 19-year-old man and 20-year-old man both suffering from gunshot wounds to the stomach. Both men were transported to area hospitals where the 19-year-old later died. While still on the scene, police were informed of three additional walk-in shooting victims at an area hospital.  The three victi...
The new economic sanctions that the United States is preparing to impose on Iran will have no “impact”, a spokesman for the Islamic republic’s foreign ministry said on Monday. “We really do not know what (the new sanctions) are and what they want to target anymore, and also do not consider them to have any impact,” Abbas Mousavi said at a press conference in Tehran. “Are there really any sanctions left that the United States has not imposed on our country recently or in the past 40 years?” he added. Read more.
Beto O’Rourke on Monday called for Congress to enact a “war tax” any time the country goes to war, with the proceeds going to care for veterans of the conflict. The proposal came as part of a new plan by O’Rourke, a Democratic candidate for president, to expand services for military veterans. The former Texas congressman repeated his call for the country to end what he called its “endless war” in Afghanistan and Iraq. O’Rourke said redirecting money from those conflicts could save at least $400 billion, half of which he said he would urge Congress to invest in veterans. If elected, O’Rourke said he would push Congress to enact a law creating a new trust fund for veterans’ health care for every war the U.S. fights. Each fund would be ...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends budget cuts designed to reduce the soaring deficit, telling his cabinet the Finance Ministry’s unpopular plan to slash over a billion shekels in public spending months before the September elections is “hard but necessary.” The proposal for NIS 1.1 billion in across-the-board cuts to public spending has drawn opposition from lawmakers and cabinet ministers whose ministries would be affected by the austerity measures. “Budget cuts are hard, but they are necessary,” Netanyahu says at the start of the meeting. “Nobody wants to do this. I understand the ministers whose offices will be affected by the cuts, but this is what we have to do. We have to take care of our priorities.” Read more at Times of Isr...
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