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October 18, 2019 at 1:50 pm
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The city of New Orleans is preparing to explode two giant, badly damaged construction cranes that are towering over a partially collapsed hotel project at the edge of the French Quarter, bringing them down Friday just ahead of tropical weather that could possibly cause them to tumble out of control.
They hope to demolish the cranes with a series of controlled explosions that would drop them straight down without damaging gas and electricity lines and historic buildings.
Fire Chief Tim McConnell said they’re working quickly to collapse the multi-ton structures as authorities keep watch on the outer bands of what the National Hurricane Center expects to become Tropical Storm Nestor. Forecasters said the storm could kick up stiff winds and rain by Friday night...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:49 pm
“Who can count, who can measure,
The bounds of his heart’s breadth?
His novel Torah insights are endless,
Into Hashem’s perfect Torah,
All as clean as fine meal,
As it was given at Sinai,
Would that they be engraved in a book.”
— from an introduction by the sons of the Gra to a volume containing their father’s Bi’ur al Kammoh Aggodos, Vilna, 5560 (1800)
The following is translated and adapted from the monumental three-volume work HaGaon by Rav Dov Eliach. It is taken from the second volume, chapter 21, entitled, “Toras Hashem Temimoh.”
Whole and Perfect
Becoming acquainted with the vast corpus of the Gaon’s Torah writings is a very revealing experience, which transforms one’s understanding ...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:46 pm
Three Jewish Music superstars, Avraham Fried, Mordechai Shapiro, and Simcha Leiner wowed the gathered crowd of more than 3,000 people at the annual United Hatzalah benefit concert that took place in Jerusalem’s Binyanei Ha’Uma International Convention Center on Thursday night. The trio sang some of their greatest hits as well as some new songs which were very well received by the audience, all of whom came out to support the organization and its lifesaving work.
Simcha Leiner opened the evening by singing some of his greatest hits. He performed once before at a United Hatzalah concert many years ago. Before the show he spoke about why doing this show was so important to him. “I’ve been friends with United Hatzalah President and Founder Eli Beer for many years now a...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:45 pm
A former concentration-camp guard is facing trial in Germany in what may be one of the country’s last trials of Nazi war criminals.
The 93-year-old, known as “Bruno D.,” is accused of aiding and abetting 5,230 murders as part of the force at the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland.
He will be tried in a youth court, as he was 17 and 18 at the time of the killings.
He attempted to cover his face behind a red folder as he was wheeled into the Hamburg court.
Between 63,000 and 65,000 people, including 28,000 Jews were killed at Stutthof, which was one of the last concentration camps liberated in 1945.
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October 18, 2019 at 1:43 pm
Shirtless men with covered faces launched shovels at billboards in downtown Beirut. Hundreds of scooters circled a large, blazing fire. Protesters ripped whatever they could from the walls of a construction site nearby and flung it at the blaze to feed the fire early Friday morning. Riot police stood by.
Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, as well as many other cities in the small Mediterranean country, swelled with chants of protesters and the flames of burning tires and bonfires as thousands flooded the streets to rally against government corruption.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” people yelled over and over, pumping their fists in unison. “The people are exhausted,” one protester muttered under his breath.
The famous Arabic phrase, born out of the Ar...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:40 pm
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Much of the United States, including Maryland, will see warmer and wetter conditions this winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center put out its winter outlook Thursday. The agency says the northern U.S. from Montana to Maryland has a fair chance of seeing more precipitation than average between December and February.
While the entire country has a likelihood of warmer-than-average or average temperatures during the winter, NOAA says some areas could still see cold conditions.
Warmer-than-average temperatures have been the name of the game in 2019; last month tied for the hottest September on record for the planet, NOAA said Wednesday.
NOAA’s prediction is the opposite of what the F...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:40 pm
The Islamic State is racing to capitalize on the deteriorating security situation in northern Syria, stepping up attacks on prisons as well as on the now-weakened Kurdish militia that served as the vanguard in the U.S.-led war against the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate, intelligence officials and terrorism experts say.
Despite Thursday’s announced cease-fire, Turkey’s week-old incursion into northeast Syria is already proving to be a propaganda windfall for the extremist group, which in recent months had been making faltering attempts at a comeback in parts of eastern Syria controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the analysts said.
The Islamic State’s official media arm taunted the SDF on Thursday, calling it an abandoned American ally and warni...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:39 pm
Lung illnesses and deaths linked to vaping nationwide have continued to rise as federal health officials expand lab testing to understand the mysterious afflictions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
As of Tuesday, the CDC has confirmed 33 deaths among 1,479 lung injuries associated with the use of e-cigarettes – up from at least 1,299 cases and 26 deaths announced last week. The cases span every state but Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia and one U.S. territory.
The numbers that have risen rapidly since the first death was reported in August have helped fuel a crackdown on battery-powered devices that simulate smoking. Health advocates have long raised alarms that products touted as a healthier alternative to cigarettes are getting youths addi...
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October 18, 2019 at 1:37 pm
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu hosted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Yerushalayim this morning and gave Pompeo a brief tour of the residence’s sukkah.
Pompeo, who recently visited Ankara, Turkey for talks which culminated in a ceasefire agreement in northern Syria, landed in Israel Thursday night.
Today, Pompeo joined Ambassador Friedman at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Yerushalayim to discuss with Netanyahu the ceasefire deal, and other major issues facing the region, key among them ongoing efforts against Iranian aggression.
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October 18, 2019 at 1:33 pm
Security guards of the Border Crossing Authority neutralize knife-wielding terrorist at the Te’enim Crossing.
Security guards from the Border Crossing Authority on Friday evening thwarted a terrorist attack at the Te’enim Crossing, near the Palestinian Arab city of Tulkarm, the Defense Ministry said.
Initial reports indicate that a knife-wielding Palestinian Arab terrorist ran toward the crossing and tried to stab the security guards stationed there.
One of the security guards called on the terrorist to stop and when he failed to heed the calls, fired at the terrorist.
The terrorist was eliminated. There were no Israeli casualties.
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October 18, 2019 at 8:40 am
'Netanyahu, give back mandate form next government.' Blue and White chief vows to form 'liberal national unity government'.
Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to return the mandate for form a government Friday, calling Netanyahu’s efforts to build a coalition a ‘waste of time’.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Emek Hayarden Regional Council at the Island of Peace in Naharayim Friday morning, Gantz explained why he rejected Netanyahu’s deal for a unity government Thursday.
“Anyone who read the details of the offer made yesterday would certainly understand that it didn’t really offer a true partnership, but was just another invitation for Blue and White, the largest part...
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October 18, 2019 at 8:37 am
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — President Donald Trump framed the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal with Turkey as “a great day for civilization” but its effect was largely to mitigate a foreign policy crisis widely seen to be of his own making.
After hours of negotiation in Ankara, the two nations on Thursday agreed to a five-day cease-fire in the Turks’ deadly attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The Kurds were U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State group but came under assault after Trump ordered U.S. troops to leave the area earlier this month.
The agreement requires the Kurds to vacate a swath of territory in Syria along the Turkish border in an arrangement that largely solidifies Turkey’s position and aims in the weeklong conflict.
U.S. Vice P...
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October 18, 2019 at 8:36 am
LANSING, MI (VosIzNeias) — A new settlement reached October 12th grants Jewish prisoners in Detroit, Michigan the right to receive certified kosher meals, after a class-action suit was backed by the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Previously, the The Michigan Department of Corrections had provided vegan meals which were supposed to serve as a substitute for religious meals for all prisoners from non-Christian religions.
However Jewish prisoners claimed that a kosher diet includes meat and not providing such a diet deprives them of basic rights. Additionally, the vegan meals were prepared using non-kosher equipment and utensils, which is contrary to halachic requirements.
Under the proposed new settlement, which is subject to a fairness hearing before U.S. District ...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:34 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers voted Thursday to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex, which has become synonymous with violence and neglect, and replace it with four smaller jails intended to be more modern and humane.
The City Council voted 36-13 to replace the complex with four smaller jails located closer to the city’s main courthouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.
Rikers is scheduled to shutter by 2026, ending a decadeslong run as one of the world’s largest jails.
“Rikers island is a symbol of brutality and inhumanity and it is time for us to once and for all close Rikers Island,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat who shepherded the plan through the Council. “As a city we must do everything we ...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:30 pm
WASHINGTON (JNS) — The United States has indicted a Turkish bank for allegedly evading U.S. sanctions on Iran after reportedly failing to reach a deal with the Trump administration to avoid charges.
“Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank, allegedly conspired to undermine the United States Iran sanctions regime by illegally giving Iran access to billions of dollars’ worth of funds, all while deceiving U.S. regulators about the scheme,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. “This is one of the most serious Iran sanctions violations we have seen, and no business should profit from evading our laws or risking our national security.”
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, said “the bank&r...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:28 pm
A jury this week awarded $450,000 to a father who has battled conspiracy theorists’ claims that the 2012 shooting death of his son at a Connecticut school was a hoax.
In the years since 6-year-old Noah Pozner was killed, Lenny Pozner has tried to stop people from spreading lies about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and from harassing him and other grieving families for proof that the event happened. In June, Pozner won a defamation case against editors of a book that claimed no one died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school. A summary judgment found that James Fetzer and Mike Palecek defamed Pozner with statements that his son’s death certificate was a fake.
On Tuesday, a Wisconsin jury determined the amount that Fetzer must pay Lenny Pozner for making defamat...
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October 17, 2019 at 9:06 pm
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 17, 2019 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Chana Frank and Yaakov Schwartz on their engagement
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן
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October 17, 2019 at 9:04 pm
Energy Secretary Rick Perry notified President Trump on Thursday that he intends to leave his job soon, two administration sources familiar with the matter said.
Perry was traveling with the president to Texas when he shared the news aboard Air Force One. Speaking to reporters later Thursday, Trump called Perry "outstanding" and announced, "We already have his replacement." But, Trump said Perry would stay on until the end of the year.
"It's his time. Two years is a long time," Trump said. "We have the man ... we're going to be putting in Rick's place."
Fox News is told Perry had planned to resign at the end of the year. However, the former Texas governor had come under scrutiny over the role he played in the president's dealings with Uk...
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October 17, 2019 at 8:58 pm
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says his comments about the Trump administration’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine have been misconstrued.
Mulvaney issued his statement after the president’s outside legal counsel tried to distance itself from Mulvaney’s earlier comments at a press briefing.
Mulvaney now says there was “no quid pro quo” between Ukrainian military aid and that country’s willingness to investigate the 2016 U.S. election.
Mulvaney adds that Trump never told him to withhold money until the Ukrainians took action related to a server Democrats used in the 2016 election.
At an earlier briefing, Mulvaney had directly cited questions about the DNC server as a reason that money for Ukraine was being held up.
Trump, ...
