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February 23, 2020 at 9:04 am
The municipalities of the Israeli city of Eilat and French city of Nice are teaming up for a two-year project to find solutions to common problems, including how to make their cities smarter.
Teams will look for solutions to challenges in fields including health, infrastructure, transportation and energy, community services and tourism. The program will see ten researchers from each city participate and is officially set to launch at the end of February.
Through meetings and discussions based on municipal problems facing these two beachfront municipalities with large tourism industries, the teams are expected to present their ideas at a summit in Eilat in September. They will present their final projects one year later in Nice.
The research project will be run by the Eilat Tech Center (...
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February 23, 2020 at 9:04 am
Twitter suspended 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts Friday that the website said were violating its platform rules.
The accounts were part of a social media strategy developed by former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign to create an online following – or at least the appearance of one.
The plan was not OK with Twitter, which created rules in September to prevent Russian interference in the 2020 election. Friday’s mass suspension was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
“We have taken enforcement action on a group of accounts for violating our rules against platform manipulation and spam,” Twitter spokesman Brenden Lee told The Washington Post in an email.
Twitter rules say users may not “artificially amplify or disrupt conversations t...
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February 22, 2020 at 10:23 pm
Palestinian Arabs planning massive anti-Israel march on Land Day in protest against the US "Deal of the Century".
Maher Mazhar, a member of the National Committee of the Return Marches and the Fight against the Deal of the Century, said on Saturday that the committee is preparing a “million-man march” to mark the second anniversary of the March of the Return protests on March 30, which is also Land Day.
In an interview with the Hamas newspaper Felesteen, Mazhar said that the goal of the “million-man march” is to convey a message to the "Israeli occupation" that the marches will continue until their goals are fulfilled and in protest of the US “Deal of the Century”, which he said will eliminate the Palestinian issue.
"Our (Palestinian) peopl...
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February 22, 2020 at 10:15 pm
Study finds that despite recent hints of imminent breakthrough in Jerusalem-Riyadh ties, the kingdom's educational material still teaches that Zionists are enemies of Islam, refuses to use Israel's name, with some even saying it is religious duty to kill Jewish people
Despite recent suggestions that relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are warming, students in the kingdom are still being taught that Israel is the "Zionist enemy," Jews are monkeys, and that the country is in fact plotting to expand its borders to reach from the River Nile to the River Euphrates.
The study material appears in a report published by the IMPACT-se, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, which analyzes the contents of Saudi textbooks for the 2019-2020 aca...
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February 22, 2020 at 10:08 pm
A man in New York has been charged with making death threats against Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, citing their role in the impeachment effort against President Trump.
Salvatore Lippa II, 57, of Greece, N.Y., was charged with threatening to assault and kill federal officials and interstate communication of a threat on account of the performance of their official duties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York announced this week.
Lippa faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. He was released from custody on Wednesday with limited restrictions and a monitoring device.
Read more at The Hill.
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February 22, 2020 at 10:08 pm
GEORGETOWN — A Republican vying for the U.S. House of Representatives this year, who is a graduate student at Georgetown University, has come under fire for past anti-Semitic social-media posts.
Heerak Kim is running in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District.
On Jan. 17, he tweeted that the “FBI should investigate US politicians in both Republican and the Democratic party with ‘questionable’ ties with Israel. It is strange that there is such a pro-Israel voting by Republicans and Democrats. There seems to be corruption involving bribery by Israel for US politicans [sic].”
That same day, in response to a Republican Party leader in Delaware being ousted for blaming Jews for being behind the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim tweeted, &...
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February 22, 2020 at 9:58 pm
This coming Sunday, 28 Shevat, marks the 7th yahrtzeit of my wife's grandfather, R' Yitzchak Yeres. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Yitzchak Chaim ben Moshe Yosef HaLevi.
This week, the mishnah yomis program began the 8th perek of Chullin – Kol habasar – which deals with mixing meat and milk. So it is fitting to explore a fascinating thought related to that topic from this week’s parsha. (The daf yomi covered the laws of zimun which also tangentially intersect with basar b’chalav when it comes to a question of whether people eating meat and milk separately can join together in a zimun.)
This week's parsha contains the first of three instances of the of the prohibition of lo sevasheil gedi bachaleiv imo (23:19), not to co...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:44 pm
ANNAPOLIS, Md. —
There's currently no way for Maryland police officers to drug-test drivers on the spot, but state lawmakers hope to change that.
The bill's sponsor, Delegate Cheryl Kagan, a Democrat who represents Montgomery County's 17th District, said the timing for this legislation is right. The country is in the midst of an opioid crisis, and there's talk of legalizing recreational marijuana.
The legislation creates a statewide, two-year, voluntary pilot program for field sobriety tests. If the outcome confirms the device is accurate, lawmakers pledge to introduce a bill to allow its use as the next step in DUI enforcement.
Machines can identify illicit drugs and abused prescription use, in addition to determining the amount of it a driver has in their sy...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:41 pm
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby told lawmakers Friday that she doesn't believe in mandatory minimum sentences, a part of the violent crime proposals made by Gov. Larry Hogan.
"I don't believe the failed policies of the past 25 years are evidence-based and I am not a proponent of mandatory minimums," Mosby told the city's House delegation. "I think that we should have and [do] have the ability to have discretion and it has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, one in which we are attempting to change and to fix."
On Thursday, Hogan refiled his three crime proposals as emergency legislation.
Mosby spent most of her testimony stressing efforts to prioritize victim and witness services and encouraging people to come forw...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:39 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said he’s seen no intelligence indicating that Russia is doing anything to try to help get the president re-elected.
Robert O’Brien’s comments were released Saturday in a transcript of an interview with ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” set to air on Sunday.
“The national security adviser gets pretty good access to our intelligence,” O’Brien said. “I haven’t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump re-elected.”
O’Brien’s comment came after he was asked about media reports that an intelligence professional told members of the House intelligence committee that it was Russ...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:37 pm
PALA MESA, Calif. (AP) — A charter bus swerved on a rain-slicked Southern California highway and rolled down an embankment Saturday, killing three people and injuring 18 others, authorities said.
Several passengers were thrown from the bus, and one of the dead was trapped under the vehicle after it landed on its roof shortly after 10 a.m. off Interstate 15 in Pala Mesa, an unincorporated community about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of San Diego, North County Fire Protection District spokesman John Choi said.
“There were no seat belts on this bus,” Choi said. Another person who died was trapped inside the bus, he added.
The wounded were taken to three hospitals with varying injuries, Choi said.
A California Highway Patrol officer told the San Diego Union-Tribune that...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:33 pm
The Auschwitz museum called Friday on US e-commerce billionaire Jeff Bezos to remove Nazi era anti-Semitic children's books featured on his Amazon global digital sales platform.
"Hateful, virulently antisemitic Nazi propaganda is available for sale not only on AmazonUK," the Auschwitz Memorial tweeted Friday on its official account.
"Books by authors like Julius Streicher can be found also on Aamazon & AmazonDE. Such books should be removed immediately," it said in a post that also featured screen-grabs of the books for sale on theplatform.
Among them is an anti-Semitic children's book titled "The Poisonous Mushroom" authored by Nazi party member Julius Streicher and originally published in 1938.
The book is offered on Amazon for sale in its original German (Der Giftpilz)...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:31 pm
The expected talks in Cairo will likely focus on the ceasefire agreement with Israel and the 'Shalit 2' prisoner exchange.
Hamas deputy head Salah al-Arouri disclosed that heads of the terrorist organization were invited to Cairo to discuss "a number of important issues."
These "important issues" probably relate to the potential truce with Israel, terrorist attacks from Gaza, creating contacts on the Israeli side for the promotion of another prisoner exchange with Israel, and the "Palestinian" Arab internal reconciliation initiative.
In an interview with Al-Aqsa TV, al-Arouri said Egypt was "Hamas' second home" and is invested in maintaining its relationship with the organization.
He said that the "Palestinian" terrorist groups are underestimating Israel's th...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:28 pm
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and commander of the Southern Command Herzi Halevi paid a secret visit to Qatar to discuss situation in Gaza.
Multiple media sources have reported that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and commander of the Southern Command Herzi Halevi paid a secret visit to Qatar earlier this month to meet with senior representatives of the Gulf kingdom.
Cohen and Halevi arrived in Doha, capital of Qatar, in the first week of February and met with senior members of Qatar's national security team. Also in attendance was Mohammed al-Amadi, Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip.
Qatar has played a major role in mediation attempts between Israel and Hamas, providing tens of millions of dollars in aid money for Gaza Strip's "humanitarian rehabilitation."
Last weekend Qatar announc...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:26 pm
COVID-19 Coronavirus death toll in China now at more than 2,200, over 400 cases in South Korea.
Twelve Israeli tourists arrived from South Korea Saturday night, and the Health Ministry has ordered them to self-quarantine themselves at home.
The others on the Korean Air flight have been sent back to Seoul, where the flight originated.
On Saturday, South Korean officials confirmed that 229 new cases were diagnosed since Friday, bringing the total number in the country to 433. So far, two people have died in the country.
To prevent the Israelis from infecting others on their way home, they have been transported by Magen David Adom (MDA) staff, who have taken precautions including special suits, masks, hats, and glasses, according to the customary protocol. After the travelers have b...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:24 pm
POLAND (JNS) — The District Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Wrocław, Poland, indicted former priest Jacek Miedlar on hate speech and Holocaust-denial charges.
Another charge claimed that he insulted the late Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a Catholic anti-Communist activist whose political opponents often accused him of having Jewish roots as a tactic to discourage people from voting for him, JTA reported.
The prosecutor’s office said a speech that Miedlar gave at a nationalist march in Wrocław on Nov. 11, 2017, incited hatred.
Miedlar told the crowd at the march: “Dear ladies and gentlemen, that synagogues can stand here on our Polish soil in Wrocław, and that Dutkiewicz [mayor of Wrocław] and Jews can get drunk in them with Talmudic hatred, thi...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:23 pm
An Arab terrorist was eliminated Saturday morning near the Lions Gate of Jerusalem's Old City, after he ran towards Border Police officers waving a knife.
Police officers arriving at the scene around 11:00a.m. noticed the terrorist, who had arrived intending to carry out an attack. The officers called to the terrorist, asking him to stop, but he turned towards them instead.
The officers fired at the terrorist, neutralizing him. He later died of his wounds.
Injured in the attack was a 42-year-old woman who was passing by. Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics administered first aid and transferred the victim to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
An MDA spokesperson said: "At 10:58 a report was received in the MDA 101 Jerusalem Emergency Dispatch Center about an attempted s...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:21 pm
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal authorities in Tennessee conducted searches Friday at the home and business addresses of Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, the FBI said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Joel Siskovic confirmed that agents executed search warrants at two locations in Memphis. They are listed as addresses for Robinson’s residence and her nursing school, Healthcare Institute Inc.
The FBI declined to discuss any additional details of the searches and the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis said it “will not comment on the nature or progress of any FBI activities before charges are publicly filed.”
No one responded Friday to a knock on the door of the school, which sits in a strip mall in southeast Memphis.
Robinson didn’t immed...
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February 22, 2020 at 7:12 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders will win the Nevada caucuses, Fox News is projecting, furthering the democratic socialist's lead over his Democratic rivals and raising the question as to whether he can be stopped on his path to the Democratic nomination.
With six percent of delegates in, Sanders leads with 54.7 percent.
According to those returns, former Vice President Joe Biden is in second place with 17.9 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has 9.7 percent, and former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has 9 percent and billionaire Tom Steyer has 7.4 percent. Ultimately 36 delegates are at stake.
SEE RESULTS IN NEVADA
The closely-watched process began Saturday with Nevada Democrats optimistic that they w...
