U.S. and British law enforcement officials announced charges Thursday against two Russian nationals they believe responsible for separate global hacking schemes that deployed some of the largest pieces of malware ever seen to swipe tens of millions of dollars from the bank accounts of unsuspecting victims. Officials identified those charged as Maksim Yakubets, of Moscow, and Igor Turashev, of Yoshkar-Ola, Russia. They said a $5 million reward is being offered for information that leads to Yakubets’ capture – which they said was the largest such money offering yet for a cyber criminal. Brian Benczkowski, who heads the Justice Department’s criminal division, said Yakubets was the “leader of a criminal cyber gang,” who had been involved in cyber crime for the p...
Former Secretary of State John Kerry endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy on Thursday, saying his longtime friend and colleague has the character, experience and leadership skills to restore the nation’s standing abroad and confront urgent problems at home. “I’m not endorsing Joe because I’ve known him a long time. I’m endorsing him because I know him so well,” Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, said in a telephone interview ahead of the formal announcement of his endorsement. Kerry will join Biden on the campaign trail on Friday in Iowa, where the former vice president is in the midst of a week-long bus tour of the state, and in New Hampshire on Sunday, according to the Biden campaign. The former secretary of state said he w...
Sen. Cory Booker, who faces a very real danger of failing to qualify for the next Democratic debate, took sharp aim at his own party Thursday in the aftermath of Sen. Kamala Harris’s exit from the presidential race this week. What does it say, Booker asked a roomful of supporters in Iowa, that an “immensely qualified, widely supported, truly accomplished black woman, running to lead . . . a party that is significantly empowered by black women voters, didn’t have the resources that she needed to continue her campaign?” He added: “What message is that sending – that we heralded the most diverse field in our history and now we’re seeing people like her dropping out of this campaign?” As the effects from Harris’s departure Tuesday contin...
A lower-court ruling giving a congressional committee access to President Donald Trump’s financial records would usher in a new wave of political warfare in times of divided government, the president’s lawyers said in a brief filed Thursday. Warning of “uncharted territory,” Trump asked the court for the second time to review rulings from lower courts that have said Congress and state prosecutors have a right to review his personal and business records. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision in favor of the House Oversight and Reform Committee presents the Supreme Court with a “case of firsts,” wrote Trump’s personal lawyer, William Consovoy. “It is the first time that Congress has subpoenaed personal records of a ...
Less than a day after the Arab driver who rammed into the Rimmel family’s car was unconditionally released, police re-arrested him. He was re-arrested after a witness gave detailed testimony which showed the driver’s part in the accident, causing the charge against him to be changed from causing death by negligence to the more serious offense of causing death by driving lightheadedly, Maariv reported. This is one of the most serious crimes in the traffic code. According to the witness, the driver got into his vehicle and began performing stunts at high speed. He drove at an excessively fast speed and at one point crashed head-on into the rear of the Rimmel family’s vehicle. As a result of the violent crash, Tzipi Rimmel and her daughter were killed, while Tzipi’s ...
In a joint letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres that was released by the world body on Wednesday, ambassadors from the United Kingdom, Germany and France reiterated that Iran has developed nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. The countries, all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), listed four examples of the alleged activity, adding that “Iran’s developments of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and related technologies is inconsistent” with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which restricts the regime from doing so. “Iran is believed to possess the largest and most diverse ballistic-missile arsenal in the Middle East, according to U.S. intelligence assessments, with a subs...
Senior Israeli military officials involved with the army’s charedi recruitment program denied on Wednesday that data was falsified to make it appear that recruitment quotas had been met, Ynet reported. The statement came in response to a report by Israel’s Kan radio that the Israeli Defense Forces has been inflating the number of charedi recruits for years in an effort to hide the fact that it was not meeting its quota requirements. The report claimed that in 2017, for example, the number of charedi recruits according to the army was 3,070, when in true figure was 1,300. However, according to Ynet, the military officials said the differences were due to changes in the army’s definition of who qualified as charedi. The army said in a statement: “The IDF recently d...
Hamas is calling on Gaza residents to return to the Israel-Gaza border on Friday to resume the “March of Return” protests following a three-week hiatus, Ynet reported on Wednesday. The Gaza-based terror group published leaflets promoting the protests that included depictions of black smoke and blood. The move comes after Israel launched airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza on Friday in response to a rocket fired from the coastal territory that landed in an open area of the Eshkol Regional Council. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the strikes targeted a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip. Projectiles other than rockets were also fired from Gaza on Friday, triggering air-raid sirens, Ynet reported at the time. The attacks from Gaza followed ...
The U.S. added 266,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reported Friday, blowing past expectations as the American economy continues to push through a global slump. The unemployment rate remained steady during November, while the labor force participation also stayed even at 63.2 percent. The October jobs gain was also revised up by 28,000 jobs to 156,000, while the September jobs gain was revised up 18,000 jobs to 193,000. The report brings the average monthly job gain over the past three months to 205,000.  Economists had projected the U.S. to add roughly 180,000 jobs in November, including a boost of roughly 40,000 General Motors workers that returned to work after a 35-day strike. But strong expansion in the health care, professional and technical services sectors he...
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 1, 2019 - It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah Mrs. Esther Ross, a’h, sister of Rabbi Yossi Felder. Rabbi Felder will be sitting Shiva at his home, 6602 Dorsan Court, between today, Sunday,  and Erev Shabbos. Visiting and Minyanim times: Shacharis at 7am, followed by visiting time until 11am. Visiting time again between 2-6pm, with Mincha/Maariv at 4:30 (Erev Shabbos: 12:28 PM) Final daily visiting time between 8-10pm. Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 5, 2019 - On Sunday evening, December 1st, an audience of over 300 gathered at Ner Tamid Congregation to memorialize Mr. Max Jacob, z'l. Slovie Jungreis Wolf spoke about maintaining our emunah in the face of rising anti-Semitism and Rabbi Yisrael Motzen and Max's son, Dr. Elliot Jacob spoke about the lasting impact of Max Jacob on the Baltimore Jewish community. One of the highlights of the evening was a reading of the winning essay on a city-wide essay contest. Middle and high school-aged students were invited to describe what the Holocaust means to them in 2019. Students from Bais Yaakov, Beth Tfiloh, Bnos Yisroel, and Ohr Chadash Academy participated in the contest. The winning essay was written by Pory Fine of Bnos Yisroel and the runner-up essay was wr...
SHTULA, Israel (AP) — A year after uncovering a network of cross-border Hezbollah tunnels, the Israeli military says the Lebanese militant group has beefed up its presence along the volatile frontier. Military officials say that neither the destruction of the tunnels, nor Hezbollah’s recent domestic problems, have weakened the group’s desire to prepare for renewed conflict with Israel. “We have a very serious enemy,” said Col. Roy Levy, the military’s Northern Border Brigade commander, during a tour of the area Thursday. He said the group’s main focus is to entrench itself along the border area and “plan to attack us.” Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a U.N.-brokered cease-fire. While direct fighting ...
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday his country has the “full right” to annex the Jordan Valley, despite a warning from the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor against the move. Netanyahu said his proposal to annex the strategic part of the occupied West Bank was discussed during a late-night meeting in Lisbon, Portugal with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a report Thursday, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said her office was following “with concern” the Israeli proposal. But Netanyahu told reporters it was Israel’s “full right to do so, if we choose so.” Netanyahu also said that during his meeting with Pompeo they agreed to move forward with plans for ...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday touted her $5 billion plan to fund tuition for private school students, telling a room of supportive parents and lobbyists that it would improve the quality of education. DeVos praised Arizona’s devotion to school choice programs that provide public funding for private and charter schools. “Arizona is a real leader in giving parents and students the kind of freedom that they need to find their right fit for education, and I’m so grateful for the example that you are setting here,” DeVos said, seated next to Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on the sidelines of a conference of conservative legislators. DeVos is pushing her plan to create “Education Freedom Scholarships” al...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday accused Iranian security forces of killing more than 1,000 people in crackdowns against recent protests that have swept the country. That figure is significantly higher than previously estimated death tolls from human rights groups and others, and the administration did not present documentary evidence to back up the claim. Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said the tally is based on a variety of reports coming out of Iran as well as intelligence analyses. In one incident in southwest Iran, Hook said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps had mowed down at least 100 people with machine-gun fire. He said the U.S. had received and reviewed video of that incident in the city of Mahshahr. That video was one of t...
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Thursday to immediately extend the only remaining nuclear arms reduction pact with the United States, but a senior U.S. official said Washington wants a broader deal involving China. Speaking at a meeting with military officials, Putin said that Russia has repeatedly offered the U.S. to extend the New START treaty that expires in 2021 but that it hasn’t heard back. “Russia is ready to extend the New START treaty immediately, before the year’s end and without any preconditions,” he said. The pact, which was signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The...
Former Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would consider choosing Sen. Kamala Harris as a running mate after she dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday. “Of course I would,” Biden told reporters. “Sen. Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be. I mean it sincerely.” “She is solid. She can be president someday herself. She can be the vice president. She can go on to be a Supreme Court justice. She can be an attorney general. She has enormous capability,” he continued. Read more at The Hill.
(CNN) As the number of measles cases continued to soar, more than 140,000 people across the globe died from measles last year, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Most deaths were among children younger than 5, according to WHO. The number of deaths last year was an increase from the estimated 110,000 measles-related deaths that occurred in 2017, based on WHO data. The new report, released on Thursday, was based on public health data from the WHO, CDC and the United Nations Children's Fund. Even though the global numbers of measles cases and deaths have declined in two decades, there is more work needed before the measles viruses can be eliminated worldwide. "I'm not...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just get on with it. After months of fighting the House impeachment inquiry, blocking witnesses and ignoring subpoenas, the White House is now publicly embracing a strategy it has privately signaled for weeks: It will accept the reality that President Donald Trump will likely be impeached by the House and focus instead on a made-for-TV trial on friendlier turf in the Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats, Trump tweeted Thursday, ”have gone crazy. Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair…. trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business.” It was a message that came even before Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood before cameras and announced that House committees would draft...
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