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July 10, 2019 at 10:08 am
New York - Uber passengers can now get a more spacious ride and a less talkative driver — if they’re willing to shell out a few extra dollars.
The ride-hailing giant launched “comfort” rides in dozens of cities Tuesday. Riders are guaranteed 36 inches of legroom in “newer” cars — meaning those that are under five years old — and they can request a preferred air temperature. Riders can also use the app to tell drivers they don’t want to chat, avoiding what some consider an awkward exchange.
Uber is responding to requests from business travelers and others who say they just want to work or rest quietly when they’re on their way to the airport.
“It’s a way to set up an expectation up front…it takes some guess wo...
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July 10, 2019 at 10:04 am
Protesters were out in force in a Minnesota city this week, upset over the city council's decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of their meetings.
The decision was announced by the St. Louis Park City Council after a unanimous vote on June 17. The amendment to the council's rules was characterized as an effort to serve a more “diverse community."
“We concluded that in order to create a more welcoming environment to a diverse community we’re going to forgo saying the Pledge of Allegiance before every meeting,” Council Member Tim Brausen said ahead of the vote.
Council member Anne Mavity, who sponsored the rules change, told KARE 11 that she didn’t feel saying the pledge was nece...
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July 10, 2019 at 10:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is directing the government to revamp the nation’s care for kidney disease, so that more people whose kidneys fail have a chance at early transplants and home dialysis — along with better prevention so patients don’t get that sick to begin with.
Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that Trump is set to sign an executive order Wednesday calling for strategies that have the potential to save lives and millions of Medicare dollars.
That won’t happen overnight — some of the initiatives will require new government regulations.
And because a severe organ shortage complicates the call for more transplants, the administration also aims to ease financial hardships for living donors, said the officia...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:55 am
The Israeli city of Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, has approved a pilot program that will see limited public transportation operate on Shabbbos.
Beginning July 19, commuters will be able to take two bus lines across the city to popular leisure and entertainment sites, including the beach, after a bill approving the initiative was passed by Ramat Gan’s city council in a 15-6 vote.
The move has been met with harsh criticism and the staunch opposition of charedi Jews.
Read more at i24NEWS.
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July 10, 2019 at 9:52 am
Jerusalem - A military court in Judea on Wednesday sentenced two Arab terrorists to 35 years and 32 years imprisonment respectively, as well as a total of NIS 2.5 million in compensation after they were convicted of the murder of IDF Staff Sgt. Tuvia Yanai Weismann, Z'l, H'yd, and the injuring of an Israeli civilian in the Rami Levy market at Sha’ar Binyamin in February 2016.
The terrorists’ names and details were not publicized because they are minors.
The military prosecution requested that they be sent to prison for life, but the court refrained from doing so due to their young age. The prosecution intends to appeal the verdict.
A third terrorist was also sentenced to 35 years in prison, and the prosecution is expected to appeal this verdict as well.
The verdic...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:51 am
Kansas City, MO - Police say a woman upset about the line at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Kansas City went outside and fired a gun after being asked to leave.
Officer Darin Snapp says no one was injured. He says around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday the woman announced that the “wait time is ridiculous.”
Snapp says staff asked her to leave because she was being “loud and obnoxious.” He says the woman then said she was going to get a gun.
Snapp says an off-duty officer who heard a gunshot approached the woman and ordered her to put the gun down.
The woman was jailed but no charges were immediately filed. Her name hasn’t been released.
Snapp says: “She just wasn’t very happy about the wait at the DMV.”
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July 10, 2019 at 9:51 am
The Mossad and IDF Military Intelligence have foiled some 50 terror attacks around the world over the course of three years, Israeli media outlets reported on Tuesday.
According to a report by the Mako news site, the thwarted attacks were mostly the work of ISIS and Iran.
Twelve of the planned attacks targeted Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of Israel’s most vicious critics in the region.
After IDF soldiers were attacked by Turkish anti-Israel activists on the Mavi Marmara vessel that attempted to run the Gaza blockade in May 2010 and the soldiers responded with lethal force, Turkey broke off diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
For some of this time, however, Israel was apparently still passing information to Turkey on terrorist threats.
In resp...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:50 am
Washington - The District of Columbia sued Marriott International Inc on Tuesday, claiming that mandatory resort fees at its hotels are illegal and deceptive, the attorney general’s office said.
“Marriott reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in profit by deceiving consumers about the true price of its hotel rooms,” said District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine. “Bait-and-switch advertising and deceptive pricing practices are illegal.”
Marriott declined to comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit said that 189 Marriott properties worldwide impose fees ranging from $9 to $95 a day.
Resort fees, sometimes called destination or amenity fees, are displayed separately from hotel room prices. The charges are often lumped with taxes, giving the impress...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:45 am
Nashville - A Tennessee family can press its lawsuit against online retailer Amazon over a hoverboard fire that destroyed their home, an appeals court has ruled, saying the company was aware of complaints about the devices catching fire and exploding.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Friday ruling also noted that the Seattle-based company had even launched an investigation that led to its ceasing all hoverboard sales worldwide.
But Amazon’s notice to consumers consisted of an email saying there had been “reports of safety issues,” with no mention of fires and explosions.
In the complaint, Megan and Charles Fox say their son had left his hoverboard downstairs in their home when it caught fire in January 2016. The fire trapped two of the children upstairs and...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:40 am
U.S. stocks . traded higher on Wednesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's appearance on Capitol Hill.
Stocks jumped after Powell signaled a rate cut is possible, noting “crosscurrents have reemerged, creating greater uncertainty” in the U.S. economy.
Powell's comment came in prepared remarks.
His testimony begins at 10 a.m. ET, with full coverage on FOXBusiness.com.
Shares of Levi Strauss & Co fell after the company reported that sales growth would slow in the second half of the year due to weakness in its wholesale business.
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July 10, 2019 at 9:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that “many” Fed officials believe a weakening global economy and rising trade tensions have strengthened the case for looser interest-rate policies.
Delivering the Fed’s semi-annual monetary report to Congress, Powell sent the strongest signal yet that the central bank is ready to cut interest rates for the first time in a decade, possibly as soon as the July meeting.
Powell said that since Fed officials met last month, “uncertainties around trade tensions and concerns about the strength of the global economy continue to weigh on the U.S. economic outlook.” Meanwhile, inflation has fallen farther from the Fed’s target.
Many investors have put the odds of a rate cut this mont...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:30 am
Washington - The Justice Department is trying to prevent two former members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team from testifying behind closed doors as Mueller prepares to make a public appearance before lawmakers next week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The department said last week it opposed testimony by Aaron Zebley and James Quarles before the Democratic-led House of Representatives’ Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, a senior congressional official told the paper. A Justice Department official confirmed the account and had instructed the men not to appear, the paper said.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the former Mueller team members were in negotiations to testify before the two panels behind closed doors. The person could not confir...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:29 am
Jerusalem - Israelis on Wednesday entered a home in eastern Jerusalem 25 years after the building was initially acquired from its Arab owners.
The families entered their new home in Kfar Shiloach (Silwan) after an Israeli court rejected the final petitions on the legality of the purchase and after police evicted the Arab inhabitants, who refused to leave the premises and ignored the court order.
The building was acquired by the Elad organization from the previous owners.
The Siyam family, which was finally evicted on Wednesday, continued to occupy the home despite the many petitions and a court ruling on the issue. The family did not rent the house from Elad but refused to evacuate it after it was sold a quarter of a century ago. Read more at VINnews
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July 10, 2019 at 9:26 am
Some 10 million passengers are expected to pass through Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport this summer, the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) announced Monday.
The airport will see 2.6 million travelers in July, according to IAA, and another 2.8 million in August. In September, just before the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), 2.3 million passengers will pass through the country’s largest airport. Another 2.28 million passengers are expected to travel through its gates in October.
August 22 (21 Menachem Av) is predicted to be the airport’s busiest day, with 110,000 passengers expected to board or disembark from 600 flights.
According to IAA, El Al is the airline that will fly the most passengers in and out of Ben Gurion this summer. Arkia is forecasted in second place, while Isr...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:25 am
Joe Biden on Tuesday reported earning $15.6 million in family income over the past two years, making him the highest earner among the top competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Most of the former vice president’s income – which totaled $11 million in 2017 and $4.6 million in 2018 – came from book payments and speaking fees, according to newly released tax returns and financial disclosure forms required of federal office-seekers.
All told, the Bidens made nearly five times more in the past two years than the next- highest earner, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who with her husband earned $3.3 million. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., each took in about $1.7 million in family income.
The amount of wealth – with Biden a...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:25 am
"If you could take a minute to understand what a simple relationship does for a younger girl going through high school, you would jump to join and get a partner of your own."
- Bnos One-on-One Big Sister, 5779
“I am inspired by the dedication of my leaders!”
-Bnos Coordinator, Boro Park, 5779
Back in the fall, we introduced you to our theme for Bnos 5779: “אין ציר כאלקנו - created with ''hue'' in mind." Our goal for this year was to help each girl shine, just as each color in the rainbow gleams individually, but also comes together for a brilliant whole.
It was an ambitious goal, but B"H we can look back now on our most successful Bnos season ever! With the help of Hashem, we were able to bring out the best in eac...
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July 10, 2019 at 9:05 am
President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani shares his thoughts on Robert Mueller’s upcoming testimony on Capitol Hill on ‘Hannity.’
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July 10, 2019 at 8:58 am
Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “working through” a bout of shaking that first occurred in mid-June and struck for the third time on Wednesday, though she insisted she was fine and that “just as it happened one day, so it will disappear.”
Merkel earlier shook back and forth as she stood outside and looked uncomfortable as she watched a military ceremony marking the arrival of visiting Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, who stood by her side.
After the first shaking episode, when she met visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 18, Merkel said she felt better after drinking some water.
“I am fine,” Merkel told a news conference after Wednesday’s meeting with Rinne. “I have recently said that I am worki...
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July 10, 2019 at 8:51 am
Nevada - A powerful July 4 earthquake in the Southern California desert may have killed a man in neighboring Nevada, authorities said Tuesday.
It would be the first death linked to the magnitude 6.4 quake near Ridgecrest that was felt far and wide.
The Nye County Sheriff’s Department said deputies on Tuesday found a 56-year-old man pinned under a Jeep in Pahrump, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) from the quake’s epicenter.
The man was last seen alive at a local gas station the day before the earthquake.
It is believed the man was working on the Jeep, which apparently fell off of its jacks when the quake hit, Sgt. Adam Tippets said.
The man’s name wasn’t immediately released.
No other deaths or serious injuries have been linked to the quake or to a magnitude 7....
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July 10, 2019 at 8:50 am
Former state assemblyman Dov Hikind (D) and congressional candidate Joseph Saladino announced lawsuits this week against freshman Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over being blocked from her personal Twitter account.
In an interview with Fox News, Hikind pointed to a recent court ruling declaring that President Trump is not allowed to block critics from his official Twitter account because of his status as a public official as legal precedent for his claim.
“Just today the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling that elected officials cannot block individuals from their Twitter accounts, thereby setting a precedent that Ocasio-Cortez must follow,” Hikind told the network. “Twitter is a public space, and all should have access to the governm...
