|
January 21, 2020 at 9:32 am
President Trump on Tuesday announced the United States will join the “One Trillion Trees Initiative” launched at the World Economic Forum as world leaders seek to combat climate change.
Trump made the announcement during an address to global business leaders gathered for the annual event in Davos, Switzerland.
“We’re committed to conserving he majesty of god’s creation and the natural beauty of our world,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. “will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing and better managing our trees and our forests.
Read more at The Hill.
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:31 am
Seven men have been arrested in Brittany, western France, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, a source close to the investigation said.
The seven, who were arrested on Monday, were also suspected of having planned to travel to areas where terrorist groups were active, the source said.
France has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since a series of atrocities, mostly claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, cost more than 230 lives in 2015 and 2016.
Read more here.
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:28 am
The head of Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, revealed on Monday that his organization had thwarted 560 terrorist attacks in 2019.
The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that Nadav Argaman made the statement during a ceremony for the Prime Minister’s Award honoring operational and intelligence achievements over the past year.
Argaman said that the attacks which were prevented included more than 300 shootings, 10 suicide bombings and four kidnappings.
“Last year was a year filled with security challenges in all the arenas we operate in,” he said.
Argaman told the six prize winners that out of all the outstanding accomplishments in 2019, “we had to choose those who were worthy of special mention. And the choice was not easy.”
“...
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:26 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on the world to take “concrete actions” against the International Criminal Court ahead of a possible war-crimes case against Israel.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said last month that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. She has asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding with the case.
Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has said the court has no jurisdiction and accused Bensouda of being driven by anti-Semitism.
In an interview with the Christian network TBN to be aired later Tuesday, Netan...
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legal filings to the Senate have laid out the arguments that will be made in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, where he faces two distinct allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
A look at the main points Democrats are making as they argue for Trump’s removal from office, and Trump’s response as the defense team pushes for his speedy acquittal. The GOP arguments have already raised charges of distortion.
ON ABUSE OF POWER
Democrats say Trump abused the power of his office by urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to announce an investigation of political rival Joe Biden and the Democrats. At the time, Trump was withholding hundreds of millions of dollar in military aid to the country.
...
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:22 am
WUHAN, China (AP) — Face masks sold out and temperature checks at airports and train stations became the new norm as China strove Tuesday to control the outbreak of a new coronavirus that has reached four other countries and territories and threatens to spread further during the Lunar New Year travel rush.
Anxiety grew both at home and abroad after Chinese government expert Zhong Nanshan confirmed fears on state television late Monday that the virus can spread from human to human.
Six people have died and 291 have been infected in China, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.
The stock prices of some companies that sell masks rose Tuesday, but markets fell in much of Asia as investors worried about the potential impact on tourism and the economy.
Concerned about a global ou...
|
January 21, 2020 at 9:20 am
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to sell the United States to the global business community, telling an economic conference in the Swiss Alps that America’s economic turnaround has been “nothing short of spectacular.”
Trump addressed the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, hours before his historic impeachment trial was to reconvene in the U.S. Senate in Washington.
Trump reminded the audience that when he spoke here two years ago, early in his presidency, “I told you that we had launched the great American comeback.”
“Today I’m proud to declare the United States is in the midst of an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before,” the president said.
Trump’s pa...
|
January 21, 2020 at 8:04 am
FLATBUSH (VINnews) — A fire broke out on Monday inside a home located at 761 Ocean Parkway, near Foster Ave.
Upon extinguishing the fire, FDNY discovered an 11-year-old female inside of the location unconscious and unresponsive.
EMS responded and transported the female to Maimonides Medical Center where she was pronounced deceased.
The girl has been identified as 11-year-old Shira Teved.
Baruch Dayan Ha'emes
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:59 pm
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday praised Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala which designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
In a post on Twitter, Pompeo wrote that Hezbollah “and other transnational terrorist groups remain active in the region. The US continues to rally international support to counter these threats.”
The three countries designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in the context of the regional anti-terrorism conference currently being held in the Colombian capital of Bogota.
Just last week, Britain's finance ministry added the entire Hezbollah organization to its list of terrorist groups subject to asset freezing, after previously having only blacklisted the group’s military wing and not its political arm...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:46 pm
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Thousands of gun-rights activists from around the country rallied peacefully at the Virginia Capitol on Monday, protesting plans by the state’s Democratic leadership to pass gun-control legislation that have become a key flash point in the national debate over gun violence.
The size of the crowd and the expected participation of white supremacists and fringe militia groups raised fears that the state could see a repeat of the violence that exploded in 2017 in Charlottesville. But the rally concluded uneventfully around noon, and the mood was largely festive, with rally-goers chanting “USA!” and waving signs denouncing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
Many protesters chose not to enter the designated rally zone, where Northam had instituted a tem...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:38 pm
LOS ANGELES (JNS) — During a private audience on Monday of 54 international leadership delegation from the Simon Wiesenthal Center on the 78th anniversary of the infamous Wannsee Conference in 1942 that sealed the fate of European Jewry, as well as on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, Pope Francis warned the world, “If we lose our memory, we destroy our future.”
“May the anniversary of the unspeakable cruelty that humanity learned of 75 years ago serve as a summons to pause, be still and to remember,” he added. “We need to do this lest we become indifferent.”
Responding to the speech of Simon Wiesenthal Center dean and founder Rabbi Marvin Hier, Francis went on to den...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:23 pm
JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Chief Rabbinate Council, a body of senior rabbis in the Israeli chief rabbinate, decided recently to reinforce the recognition of members of Ethiopia’s Beta Israel community as Jewish, after an earlier decision on the matter failed to stop some officials from continuing to question their lineage.
In the past, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled in the 1970’s that members of Ethiopia’s Beta Yisrael community were Jewish, paving the way for their eventual immigration to Israel. Life in Israel, however, has not always been easy for them, since many authorities refused to accept the landmark decision by Rabbi Yosef and demanded that they undergo a form of conversion to be recognized as Jews. The Ethiopians steadfastly refused to undergo the procedure, cl...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:10 pm
Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit refused the request of defense attorneys of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to receive the full investigation material in the three corruption cases their client is indicted in, local media reported on Sunday.
In his answer, Mandelblit replied that the defendant will receive the full investigation files only after the indictment will be handed over to the court.
In a fiery response, the Israeli premier slammed the attorney general, saying “How can one fight for the truth if the material indicating extortion under threat of state witnesses, selective law enforcement and setting judicial precedents in mankind’s history is hidden?”
“One who continues to act in a non-transparent manner probably wants to a...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:08 pm
Governor of Texas Greg Abbott was honored at the Friends of Zion Heritage Center (FOZHC) in Yerushalayim with its highest honor – the ‘Friends of Zion Award’ – during his visit to Jerusalem.
At the ceremony, Gov. Abbott said “There are strong relations between Texas and Israel. Anybody who is an enemy of Israel is an enemy of Texas. Whenever anybody threatens Israel, we come side by side with Israel to support Israel in any way we can.”
In thanking of Gov. Abbott’s service in building a strong Israel-US relationship, Dr. Evans said “I appreciate and admire the work of my governor, Greg Abbott. His dedication to anti-BDS laws and building stronger economic ties shows that there are those in the world that are willing and proud to support the...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:06 pm
Iran said on Monday that it had not closed the “door to negotiations” in efforts to resolve a dispute over its nuclear agreement with world powers that has escalated steadily since the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said any further move by Tehran to scale back its commitments to the deal would depend on actions by other parties, after European states triggered a mechanism that could lead to the reimposition of UN sanctions
Iran has gradually stepped back from its obligations to the 2015 deal, under which Tehran secured sanctions relief in return for limiting its nuclear work, after Washington quit the agreement and then imposed stringent U.S. sanctions.
Britain, France and Germany, also signatories to the pact, trigger...
|
January 20, 2020 at 9:03 pm
Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, returned to the headlines on Sunday night after he attacked Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Twitter.
The strongly worded attack came shortly after Edelstein announced that the Knesset will convene next week to begin deliberations on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request for parliamentary immunity.
“His wife’s father is Leonid Nevzlin. An oligarch who is wanted for murder in Russia, and the owner of the Haaretz newspaper. It is only because of the money he is pouring in that the newspaper has not gone bankrupt,” Yair Netanyahu wrote.
He deleted the tweet a short while later.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
|
January 20, 2020 at 8:49 pm
The Israeli public supports the continuation of military activity against Iranian entrenchment in Syria even if it means going to war, according to a new study by the Institute for National Security Studies.
The National Security Index is an annual public opinion study that has been conducted by the INSS since 1984, and offers insight into public opinion trends over the years.
According to the 2019 study, 31 percent of the Israeli public believes the northern sector, including Lebanon and Syria, poses the greatest threat to national security, 26 percent think Iran’s nuclear program is the central threat to Israel, and just 14 percent view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the most serious security problem facing the country.
Only 14 percent of the Israeli public considers Hamas ...
|
January 20, 2020 at 8:47 pm
Pundits clash over Trump’s impeachment.
|
January 20, 2020 at 8:46 pm
Should the Allied powers have bombed Auschwitz when they received secret intelligence about what was taking place at the horrific Nazi death camp?
That's a question explored by historians in a PBS documentary, premiering on Tuesday, titled, "Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Auschwitz."
In April 1944, two Jewish prisoners who escaped from the concentration camp and fled through Nazi-occupied Poland eventually provided detailed testimony about the atrocities that were unfolding at Auschwitz under the Nazi's extermination program. That information eventually made its way to the Allied leadership -- where the possibility of bombing the camp was discussed and considered.
Those involved in the debate included Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Allied Air Command, the American War Re...
|
January 20, 2020 at 8:40 pm
The White House argued in a legal brief filed Monday that the two articles of impeachment against President Trump are “structurally deficient,” decrying a “rigged process” and urging senators to “immediately” acquit the president of the charges that will be formally presented at his trial that starts in earnest this week.
The legal team, led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, wrote that Trump “did absolutely nothing wrong” as it accused the House Democrats who impeached the president of attempting to overturn the results of the 2016 election and “to interfere in the 2020 election.”
“The only threat to the Constitution that House Democrats have brought to light is their own degradation of the impeachment process and tram...
