House Democrats plan to unveil two articles of impeachment Tuesday, charging President Donald Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, according to multiple lawmakers and aides. The Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the articles on Thursday, setting up a vote on the House floor next week to make Trump the third president in history to be impeached. The markup will be the last major step before the House votes to formally impeach Trump. Democratic leaders plan to formally announce the articles at a press conference Tuesday morning. Judiciary Committee Democrats intend to meet ahead of the announcement and review the articles. Read more at POLITICO.
Washington, DC — House Democrats have struck an agreement to support the new U.S. trade deal with Mexico and Canada, Rep. Henry Cuellar said Tuesday, marking a victory for President Trump who ran for office in 2016 on a pledge to renegotiate or terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement. The House is planning to vote on the agreement next week, said Rep. Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district and has been leading the push for ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The new USMCA will replace Nafta when ratified and contains provisions aimed at creating more manufacturing jobs, for example, by increasing the proportion of vehicles that must originate in North America for the cars and trucks to rec...
A lawyer for an Israeli-American woman jailed in Russia said that her case would possibly be resolved through “political influence,” including a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Naama Issachar, 26, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment two months ago for drug smuggling, a charge she vehemently denies. She was caught with a small amount of cannabis at a Russian airport as she waited for a connecting flight. At a press conference in Israel, Issachar’s Russian lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant said, “Naama’s case will possibly be examined and brought to an end in Russia through some kind of political influence.” Regarding the possibility of a pardon, he said, “In accordance with Russia’s constitution, the president is authori...
House Democrats began to lay the groundwork for articles of impeachment Monday, lambasting President Donald Trump as a danger to the country during a contentious hearing that foreshadowed a party-line vote on charges that could include abuse of power, obstruction of justice and obstruction of Congress. Over the various and at times disruptive objections of Republicans, Democratic lawmakers marched forward with their public case for impeaching Trump, a process that could reach a pivotal stage later this week with a historic committee vote. Describing Trump as a “continuing risk to the country,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., forcefully accused the president of using his office to pressure Ukraine to launch political investigations, and then tr...
She’s not running for president — yet — but Hillary Clinton was the top choice for Democratic voters in the Harvard-Harris national poll released last week. Mrs. Clinton drew 21%, followed by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden with 20%, when registered Democrats were asked whom they would support for the 2020 party presidential nod if she and former Secretary of State John Kerry were added to the mix. Placing third in the hypothetical race was Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders at 12%, followed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 9% and ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 7%. The online survey of 1,859 voters was conducted Nov. 27-29, a few days after Mr. Bloomberg entered the race, by the Harris Poll, and released by the Center...
Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham says the impeachment process in the House is partisan.
A Jordanian court has sentenced a man to eight years in jail for plotting to attack the Israeli embassy in Amman last year, AFP reported on Monday. The country’s state security court ruled that the 33-year-old Khaled Abu Raya had “threatened to carry out terrorist acts,” according to the report. Raya planned “to open fire on the embassy and its employees in a bid to kill a large number of Israelis,” according to the charge sheet, which also said he was motivated by the transfer of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year, as well as Israel’s policy towards the Gaza Strip. The court also sentenced another Jordanian, Munir Ibrahim, to three years in prison for planning to sneak into Israel and attack soldiers, according to the report. Desp...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House lawyers sparred with lawmakers and each other in an acrimonious hearing Monday over the impeachment case against President Donald Trump as Democrats prepare formal charges. Democrats insisted that Trump’s push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia as well as himself. But in one testy exchange, Republican attorney Stephen Castor dismissed the transcript of Trump’s crucial call with Ukraine as “eight ambiguous lines” that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor. Democrats argued vigorously that Trump’s meaning could not have been clearer in seeking political dirt on Biden, his possible opponent in the 2020 elect...
BOSTON (AP) — Pete Frates, a former college baseball player whose determined battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease helped inspire the ALS ice bucket challenge that has raised more than $200 million worldwide, died Monday. He was 34. Frates died peacefully, surrounded by his family, they said in a statement. “Today heaven received our angel,” it said. The ice bucket challenge began in 2014 when pro golfer Chris Kennedy challenged his wife’s cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the New York Yankees great who suffered from it. ALS patient Pat Quinn, of Yonkers, New York, picked up on it and started its spread, but when Frates and his family got involved, the phenomenon exploded on social media. The proces...
PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says after peace talks in Paris with Russian President Vladimir Putin that an exchange of all prisoners will take place by year’s end. Zelenskiy spoke after his first face-to-face meeting with Putin in talks mediated by France and Germany. The unprecedented meeting between the two leaders was held on Monday at a summit in Paris to try to end five years of war between Ukrainian troops and Moscow-backed separatists. Both sat down at the French presidential palace along with the leaders of France and Germany for talks focused on reviving a 2015 peace agreement for eastern Ukraine that has largely stalled. Since 2014, the war has killed 14,000 people, emboldened the Kremlin and reshaped European geopolitics. A major breakthrou...
SWEDEN (VINnews) — A Swedish Jewish journalist has accused Swedish authorities of anti-Semitism, on account of her nose being ridiculously enlarged on her Photo ID card. Annika Hernroth-Rothstein is a contributor to Israel Hayom, the Jerusalem Post, the Washington Examiner among others, and famously filed for asylum in her native Sweden to highlight rising anti-Semitism in the country in 2017. “Went to get a new National ID card & passport at a police station in Sweden, handing in employment papers from an Israeli newspaper as well as proof of ID with 2 very Jewish names (while wearing a Magen David btw). Got back my ID and my nose has been doctored as seen below,” wrote Hernroth-Rothstein in a tweet on December 7.
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After the US declared last month that Jewish settlements will no longer be considered illegal under State Department policy, Luxembourg is pushing European countries to recognize Palestine as a way to salvage the hopes of a two-state solution, Channel 13 reported Sunday. In a letter sent to senior EU officials, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn urged action on attaining “a more equitable situation” between the two sides, adding “we must never lose sight of Israel’s security conditions, as well as of justice and dignity for the Palestinian people.” The issue is likely to be taken up when the EU Foreign Affairs Council is scheduled to meet in January. Read more at i24NEWS.
The scourge of food insecurity currently affects more than one million children in Israel, a new study released by a welfare NGO reported this week. The figures, released by the Latet organization, which provides various welfare and food aid services, represent one-third of all children in the country, with an additional 1.3 million adults suffering from hunger. All in all, 2.3 million Israelis live in poverty, with 29.4% reporting weight loss due to an inability to afford food. At least 12% admitted to rummaging through garbage bins for meals. Read more at i24NEWS.
Israel signed an agreement on Thursday to sell the Czech Republic eight Iron Dome air-defense systems in a contract worth $125 million, announced Israel’s Defense Ministry. The Israeli Aerospace Industries subsidiary ELTA will provide eight ELM-2084 Iron Dome multi-mission radars, which have air-surveillance, air-defense and artillery capabilities. The radar systems assist in the monitoring, tracking and interception of several airborne projectiles simultaneously at an altitude between 330 feet to 10,000 feet, and cover a wide area of about 155 miles, according to The Times of Israel. They are expected to be delivered to the Czech Republic during 2021-23, and will be compatible with Czech and NATO command and control systems. Both countries will work on the production of the syst...
"Never Again will nations stand silent in the face of boycotts against the Jewish people," stated a declaration signed by an international group of 25 ministers and parliamentarians strongly denouncing the EU plans to label Jewish products.   The delegation of lawmakers, including members of the EU, are in Israel as part of the annual Israel Allies Foundation Chairman's Conference convening in Jerusalem, Israel, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.  The lawmakers toured the Shomron, the Biblical heartland of the land of Israel, on Sunday. First stop on the full-day tour, was the Barkan Industrial Park where 8,000 Arabs and Jews work together. Touring the Twitoplast factory, the delegates had an opportunity to see and speak with workers.  However, this industrial zone o...
The deputy head of Iran’s nuclear agency said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic is going to unveil a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges, Reuters reported on Sunday. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran deputy chief Ali Asghar Zarean said on Iranian State TV that “in the near future, we will unveil a new generation of centrifuges that are domestically made.” Iran said in September, it was seeking ways to speed up uranium enrichment, as part of its reduced compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, the report noted. Separately, a senior U.S. administration official was quoted by Reuters on Saturday as saying that there is hope that the release of U.S. citizen Xiyue Wang by Iran would lead to the freeing of other American prisoners. “We’re hopeful...
Thousands of British Jews and their supporters came together for a major rally against antisemitism on Sunday in London’s Parliament Square. Concerns over antisemitism have skyrocketed in recent years, with the overwhelming majority of British Jews coming to see the opposition Labour party as institutionally antisemitic. British Jews have expressed particular trepidation about the possibility of a Labour victory in the upcoming December 12 elections. Though the Conservative party still leads, Labour has narrowed the gap in recent polls. At the rally, prominent actress and media personality Tracy Ann Oberman said, “Rabbis beaten up in the streets, people abused on the Tube, Nazi tropes at Glastonbury, antisemitic murals approved by politicians, Holocaust denial. How did it co...
A medical team from Israel is on its way to the Pacific island nation of Samoa to assist overwhelmed health-care workers trying to contain a serious measles epidemic and treat those already infected. A reported 65 people—mostly children—are reported to have died in the outbreak, which has affected more than 4,400 citizens in the country of 200,000 since October. Unvaccinated children under age 4 are most at risk of deadly complications from the highly contagious virus. Six nurses, two pediatricians and one physiotherapist—all with expertise in pediatrics and intensive care—left Israel on Saturday night. They should arrive in Samoa on Monday after a stopover in Hong Kong. The team is led by Dr. Itai Pessach, director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s H...
Jerusalem, Israel - Dec. 9, 2019 - On a very wet and rainy Thursday evening, The Jerusalem Cinematheque was the scene of a unique fundraising project. In spite of heavy rain, Theater #1 was full with family, friends, and supporters, to see the premiere of the documentary film, "The Declaration of Independence of Yitzchak Shmidman," created by Shlomi Kombor and Moshe Yonas. Seats in a smaller theater had sold out so quickly the event was moved to the larger space. Kombor and Yonas, leaders of the creative team of the Community Television Department of Idan, started out to make three short films for Idan. Since 1983, Idan, a non-profit public organization has been providing health and community services to senior citizens in Jerusalem, Israel, at the Bayer House in Ramot Eshkol an...
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