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October 17, 2019 at 10:00 am
BEIJING (AP) — China appealed to Washington for a quick end to their trade war but gave no indication Thursday what additional steps Beijing might want before carrying out what President Donald Trump says is a promise to buy up to $50 billion of American farm goods.
Trump agreed Friday to delay a tariff hike in exchange for Chinese purchases of U.S. exports. Beijing says it will buy more American goods but has yet to confirm the details, leaving companies wondering whether Chinese leaders have other demands including a possible end to punitive U.S. tariffs before that goes ahead.
Negotiators are “striving to reach a consensus on the text of the agreement as soon as possible,” said a Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Gao Feng. “I can’t disclose the specific det...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:45 am
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pahm-PAY’-oh) have arrived in Turkey to mount an improbable push for a cease-fire in Syria.
Their visit to Ankara on Thursday to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (REH’-jehp TY’-ihp UR’-doh-wahn) comes a day after President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. has no stake in defending Kurdish fighters once allied against the Islamic State group.
The high-level U.S. delegation is to warn Erdogan that Washington will escalate economic sanctions if his assault on Kurdish fighters continues. But the Turkish leader has said he would only agree to a cease-fire if Kurdish forces abandon key positions in Syria.
U.S. officials acknowledge the odds are slim for an immediate halt to the weeklong confli...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:30 am
BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain and the European Union said Thursday that they have struck an outline Brexit deal after days of intense see-saw negotiations — though it must still be formally approved by the bloc and ratified by the European and U.K. Parliaments.
Hours before a summit of all 28 EU national leaders, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tweeted: “We have one! It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the UK and it is testament to our commitment to find solutions.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that the two sides had struck a “great new deal” and urged U.K. lawmakers to ratify it in a special session on Saturday.
Immediately complicating matters was Johnson’s Northern Irish government allies&n...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:15 am
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was forced from the legislature for the second day on Thursday by opposition members protesting a bloody attack on a leader of the nearly 5-month-old pro-democracy movement.
The lawmakers shouted and waved placards depicting Lam with bloodied hands, prompting the removal of 14 by guards and the suspension of the question-and-answer session.
On Wednesday, Lam was forced to abandon an annual policy address in the chamber, later delivering it by television.
Disruption in the chamber and the attack Wednesday night on Jimmy Sham by assailants wielding hammers and knives marked the latest dramatic turn in the unrest that has rocked the city since June. Protesters and police have both deployed levels of violence unseen since the former British...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:00 am
TUNISIA (JNS) — Tunisia’s new president said late last week that relationship or ties with Israel equals “high treason.”
“ ‘Normalization’ is the wrong word to use,” said Kaïs Saïed in response to a question in the final televised presidential debate about the warming of relations between the Jewish state and the Arab and Muslim world. “We should be talking about high treason.”
Saïed defeated rival Nabil Karoui with 77 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election.
While Saïed said that Jews with passports other than Israeli ones were welcome to visit Tunisia’s synagogues, there should be no “dealings with Zionists.”
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October 17, 2019 at 8:50 am
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — From his post as a young SS private in a watchtower in Nazi Germany’s Stutthof concentration camp, Bruno Dey could hear the screams of Jews dying in the gas chamber. And, Dey later told investigators, the carting of their lifeless bodies to the camp’s crematorium was a daily sight.
More than seven decades later, Dey is going on trial Thursday on 5,230 counts of accessory to murder in Hamburg state court. Prosecutors argue that by standing guard at the camp from August 1944 to April 1945, the 93-year-old helped Stutthof function and was thus “a small wheel in the machinery of murder.”
“The accused was no ardent worshipper of Nazi ideology,” prosecutors say in the indictment, reviewed by The Associated Press. “But ther...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:45 am
MENLO PARK, CA (JNS) — The Anti-Defamation League has announced that Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, pledged a gift of $2.5 million to the organization in support of ADL’s ongoing efforts to combat hate and bias in the United States and Europe.
The donation, which will be made through the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, is a birthday tribute to her parents, Joel and Adele Sandberg, and will be used to support anti-hate and anti-bias education programs, research and advocacy.
“We are honored to receive Sheryl’s generous gift and grateful for her commitment to fighting hate in all of its forms,” said ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt. “We are at a critical juncture in the fight against bigotry ...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior U.S. delegation faces the herculean task of pressuring Turkey to accept a cease-fire in Northern Syria, hours after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. has no stake in defending Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as America’s partners against Islamic State extremists.
Vice President Mike Pence, heading a U.S. delegation that includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, is set to arrive in Turkey Thursday afternoon, a day after Trump dismissed the very crisis he sent his aides on an emergency mission to douse.
Trump suggested Wednesday that a Kurdish group was a greater terror threat than the Islamic State group, and he welcomed the efforts of Russia and the Assad government to f...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:30 am
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republican senators Wednesday to be ready for an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump as soon as Thanksgiving, as the Senate began to brace for a political maelstrom that would engulf the nation.
An air of inevitability has taken hold in Congress, with the expectation that Trump will become the third president in history to be impeached – and that Republicans need to prepare to defend the president. While McConnell briefed senators on what would happen during a Senate trial, House GOP leaders convened what they expect will be regular impeachment strategy sessions.
In their closed-door weekly luncheon, McConnell gave a presentation about the impeachment process and fielded questions alongside his staff and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairm...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:25 am
Last night, IDF fighters, Border Police forces, Israel Police and the Civil Administration secured the entry of about 1,350 visitors into Kever Yosef Hatzaddik, located in Shechem.
During the entry, an improvised explosive device was found and neutralized by the fighters. Tefillos continued as planned.
Also during the night, IDF fighters and Shin Bet, Border Police and Israel Police forces arrested ten wanted suspects involved in terrorist activities. The suspects were taken for questioning.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
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October 17, 2019 at 8:15 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for a road rage incident in which he drew his gun on a pedestrian who threw tea on his new car.
The Baltimore Sun reports Officer Michael Gentil was sentenced on Wednesday following his August conviction on assault and using a gun in a crime of violence.
Kevin Miller said he was stepping out to cross Edison Highway in East Baltimore last January when he was nearly hit by a car. Prosecutors said the driver failed to yield to the pedestrian. Miller said he was startled and threw his tea by accident.
Testimony revealed Gentil stopped, pointed his gun at the pedestrian and ordered him facedown on the pavement.
Gentil had been an officer for 24 years.
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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http:...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:10 am
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 17, 2019 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rabbi Ben and Laura Shefter on the birth of a son
Mazel Tov to Grandfather Steve Shefter
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
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October 17, 2019 at 8:00 am
U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, a committee chairman known for his devotion to Baltimore and civil rights and for blunt and passionate speechmaking, died of longstanding health problems early Thursday morning, his office said. He was 68 years old.
The Democrat, a key figure in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, died at Gilchrist Hospice Care, a Johns Hopkins affiliate, at approximately 2:45 A.M., a spokeswoman said.
Cummings, who had been absent from Capitol Hill in recent weeks while under medical attention, had health issues in recent years. In 2017, he underwent an aortic valve replacement. The procedure, which aides described as minimally invasive in Cummings’ ca...
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October 17, 2019 at 6:24 am
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings died early Thursday due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. He was 68.
A sharecropper’s son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that investigated President Donald Trump, and was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district, which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to the president’s family members serving in the White House.
Trump responded by criticizing the Democrat&rsquo...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:35 pm
Unmanned aircraft could transport packages across tough terrains and inform future initiatives to introduce autonomous vehicles.
The United States Postal Service recently announced it’s exploring introducing drones into its vehicle fleet to advance mail delivery operations and support its collection of geospatial, sensor, image and other data. The independent agency published a document of answers to potential participants’ questions Friday, offering new details into its plans.
“The Postal Service recognizes that the ability of [unmanned aircraft systems] to supplement mail delivery and information collection can substantially benefit the country and further the development of other autonomous systems,” agency officials wrote in the original request fo...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:33 pm
JERUSALEM (VosIzNaies) — A year and a half after the winner and runner-up in the International Bible Quiz competed against each other, they announced Wednesday that they are engaged to be married.
In the memorable 2018 final of the contest, the two, Azriel Shilat and Oriyah Cohen, outstripped all of the other contestants and were then pitted against one another in the final round, in which 12 questions must be answered correctly in quick succession. Usually one contestant fails in one question, but on this occasion both succeeded in answering all the questions correctly.
However in the tiebreaker round added specially for such a scenario, Shilat managed to correctly answer one question more than Cohen to win the title, although both contestants received free scholarships to higher ...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:30 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washing his hands of America’s presence in Syria, President Donald Trump declared Wednesday the U.S. has no stake in supporting the Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as U.S. partners against Islamic State extremists.
Condemnation of his stance was quick and severe, not only from Democrats but from Republicans who have been staunch Trump supporters on virtually all issues.
The House, bitterly divided over the Trump impeachment inquiry, banded together for an overwhelming 354-60 denunciation of the U.S. troop withdrawal. Many lawmakers expressed worry that it may lead to revival of IS as well as Russian presence and influence in the area — in addition to slaughter of many Kurds.
At the White House, Trump said the U.S. has no business in the reg...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:29 pm
In a rare move, the leader of Israel’s centrist Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, met formally with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Wednesday to discuss what have been described as major developments in the country’s security situation.
The IDF said the meeting took place place “in light of security challenges and regional developments.”
Sources close to Gantz, a former head of the IDF himself, said he officially requested the sit-down because he wanted “a direct update from the chief of staff on the latest developments in the area.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly approved the meeting.
Both Netanyahu and Kochavi have recently warned of a deterioration in the security situation due to heightened tensions between the US and I...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:28 pm
The number of hate crimes targeting Jews reported to police in England and Wales in 2018-19 has more than doubled compared to the previous year, interior ministry statistics show.
While the largest proportion of religious hate crime offences targeted Muslim people (3,530 offences), that number has remained steady over the last five years, according to the UK’s Home Office.
Whereas hate crimes against the Jews have more than doubled, representing some 18% of religious hate crime offences targeting Jewish people (1,326 offences) in 2018-19, compared with 672 in the previous year.
Read more at i24NEWS.
