LONDON (AP) — The U.S. government and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will face off Monday in a high-security London courthouse, a decade after WikiLeaks infuriated American officials by publishing a trove of classified military documents. A judge at Woolwich Crown Court will begin hearing arguments from lawyers for U.S. authorities, who want to try Assange on espionage charges that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. The extradition hearing follows years of subterfuge, diplomatic dispute and legal drama that have led the 48-year-old Australian from fame as an international secret-spiller through self-imposed exile inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to incarceration in a maximum-security British prison. Assange has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over th...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A burn-it-down candidate is topping a splintered field of more moderate contenders and setting the party’s establishment wing on edge. It’s how Donald Trump began his unlikely march to the Republican nomination in 2016. And four years later, it’s how Sen. Bernie Sanders has cemented himself as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. The Vermont senator won his second straight contest on Saturday with a convincing victory in Nevada, the first racially diverse state on the primary calendar, after winning the New Hampshire primary the week before. He also effectively tied for first place in the opening contest in Iowa. Sanders’ surge has energized his legion of liberal supporters, including young people drawn to his calls for a govern...
BEIJING (AP) — Warning that China’s virus epidemic is “still grim and complex,” President Xi Jinping called Sunday for more efforts to stop the outbreak, revive industry and prevent the disease from disrupting spring planting of crops. Xi defended the ruling Communist Party’s response as “timely and effective” in a video conference with officials in charge of anti-disease work, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Xi sounded a note of caution in the face of hopes abroad that the disease that has killed more than 2,400 people since December might be under control. He said the situation is at a “critical stage” and called on officials to “resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic.” “The current epidemic situ...
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Taking advice from Wall Street on deals is a bit like asking “the barber whether you need a haircut,” according to billionaire Warren Buffett. Buffett said in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday that the current system of reviewing deals doesn’t always work well for investors because it almost always favors the deal that corporate CEOs propose. Companies should consider hiring two sets of advisers to argue for and against a deal before moving forward instead of just hiring a Wall Street firm that favors the deal, he wrote. “Don’t hold your breath awaiting this reform: The current system, whatever its shortcomings for shareholders, works magnificently for CEOs and the many advisors and other professionals who...
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. regulators on Friday approved a new type of cholesterol-lowering drug aimed at millions of people who can’t tolerate — or don’t get enough help from — widely used statin pills like Lipitor and Crestor. The Food and Drug Administration approved Esperion Therapeutics Inc.’s Nexletol for people genetically predisposed to have sky-high cholesterol and people who have heart disease and need to further lower their bad cholesterol. The daily pill is to be taken in conjunction with a healthy diet and the highest statin dose patients can handle, the FDA said. High LDL, or bad cholesterol, is one of the top risks for heart attacks and other problems. Studies showed that Nexletol could lower LDL by about 25% when taken alone and by an ad...
BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — A self-styled daredevil died Saturday after a rocket in which he launched himself crashed into the ground, a colleague and a witness said. “Mad” Mike Hughes died after the homemade rocket crashed on private property near Barstow about 1:52 p.m. near Highway 247, the Daily Press of Victorville reported. Waldo Stakes, a colleague who was at the rocket launch, said Hughes, 64, was killed. “It was unsuccessful, and he passed away,” Stakes told The Associated Press. He declined further comment. Justin Chapman, a freelance journalist, told the AP that he and his wife witnessed the crash. The rocket appeared to rub against the launch apparatus, which might have torn the parachutes attached to it, Chapman said. The rocket came straight dow...
JERUSALEM (JNS) — At least 180 Israeli students have been put in isolation after coming in contact with a group of South Korean tourists who tested positive for Covid-19, the disease spread by the SARS-Cov-2 virus (aka “coronavirus”) after returning from a trip to the Holy Land, as the Jewish state begins to reject entry to visitors from countries at high risk of exposure and concern rises that the infection may have reached Israel. According to Israel’s Channel 12 news, a group of 77 South Koreans arrived home on Feb. 15 after an eight-day tour of Israel, following which nine of them tested positive for the potentially life-threatening disease. Several hours later, the number of infected rose to 18. It is unknown whether they were infectious while they were in Is...
LONDON (AP) — Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary is facing criticism for suggesting Muslim men should be singled out for extra scrutiny at airports. The boss of the Irish budget carrier told Saturday’s Times of London that families with young children should not be subjected to airport security checks because there was “zero” chance of them being bombers. He said terrorists “will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion.” “Thirty years ago it was the Irish,” he said. “If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat.” The Muslim Council of Britain called the comments “racist and discriminatory.” Tell Mama, a charity that monitors hate incidents against Muslims, said O’Leary’s ...
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel finds itself in a familiar place after a tumultuous election campaign — with maverick politician Avigdor Lieberman still seemingly in control of the country’s fate. The run-up to Israel’s third election in less than a year saw criminal charges filed against the prime minister, an American Mideast plan unveiled and various party mergers and machinations. Yet once again, opinion polls suggest that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his chief challenger Benny Gantz will be able to form a coalition without Lieberman. Lieberman remains cagey about his intentions, raising the possibility his brinkmanship could end up forcing yet another election. Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party bolted from Netanyahu’s right-w...
The Vatican will on March 2 open up its archives on the wartime pontificate of Pius XII to allow scholars to probe accusations that he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, but they will find he helped Jews behind the scenes, Holy See officials say. “I don’t think you will find a smoking gun,” Father Norbert Hofmann, the top Vatican official in charge of religious relations with Jews, told Reuters in an interview in his office. Jews have for many years been seeking transparency from the Vatican on its actions during the Holocaust, and the order from Pope Francis to open the archives will allow historians and other scholars to peruse them for the next few years. Some Jews have long accused Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of doing little to help those facing persecut...
The Albany Jewish Community Center was one of close to 20 Jewish Community Centers in New York State to have received bomb threats thismorning, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Spectrum News reports that Albany police said the JCC notified them of the threat around 11:05 a.m. Cuomo said about 100 people were inside when it happened and they all had to be evacuated. Cuomo and Albany PD say the threat was nonspecific, but was emailed to specific people at about 20 different JCCs across the state. It’s still unclear where the threat came from, but Cuomo says a threat like this is one of the worst things a person could do. “When you threaten a JCC, it’s not just an anti-Semitic attack. You have children who go to the JCC, you have gym facilities here, so you’...
Israeli taxi service Gett is being sued for $150 million shekels by human rights lawyers for allegedly offering a discriminatory service that gives users an option to filter out Arab drivers, The Guardian reported Friday. The Yerushalayim-based “Mehadrin” service offered through the Gett app offers users the choice to order a taxi guaranteed to not be driven on Shabbos. Many Arab Muslim and Christian drivers often work during Shabbos, however, Gett says that any driver is able to meet the service standards, regardless of their religion. Asaf Pink, a lawyer working on the case was cited by The Guardian as saying, “They give it a religious title. But, in fact, this is a proxy for a racist service that provides taxis with Jewish drivers,” adding, “Of course, th...
President Trump said Rep. Adam Schiff should be investigated for leaking claims that Russia will interfere in the 2020 presidential election to help Sen. Bernie Sanders win. “Nobody said it to me at all,” the president told reporters about not being briefed about Russia. “They ought to investigate Adam Schiff for leaking that intelligence.” The president also suggested that Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, released the information to hurt Sanders’ election chances. “I think what it could be, the Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly. And it sounds to me like a leak from Adam Schiff because they don’t want Bernie Sanders to represent them,” Trump said outside the White House on Sunday as he prepared to...
TOWSON, MD — Republican lawmakers in Maryland are criticizing a history lesson at a public high school near Baltimore that compared President Donald Trump with Nazis and communists. A slide used in an Advanced Placement history class at Loch Raven High School in Towson shows a picture of Trump above pictures of a Nazi swastika and a flag of the Soviet Union. Two captions read “wants to round up a group of people and build a giant wall” and “oh, THAT is why it sounds so familiar!” The Baltimore Sun reports that state Del. Kathy Szeliga arranged for copies of the slide and the school system’s response to be sent to her fellow Baltimore County lawmaker. She also posted the image on Facebook. “It is horrific. It is educational malfeasance,” Sz...
Philip Haney, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower who was an outspoken critic of the administration of former President Barack Obama, was found dead Friday, about 40 miles east of Sacramento, Calif., local authorities said. Haney, 66, "appeared to have suffered a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Amador County Sheriff's Office said in a release. Sheriff and coroner Martin A. Ryan shared the initial details of the case. "On February 21, 2020 at approximately 1012 hours, deputies and detectives responded to the area of Highway 124 and Highway 16 in Plymouth to the report of a male subject on the ground with a gunshot wound," the release read. "Upon their arrival, they located and identified 66-year-old Philip Haney, who was dec...
Terrorists launch rockets at Israeli towns in latest escalation on Israel-Gaza border. Terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip launched 21 rockets at southern Israel Sunday evening, targeting border towns and coastal cities including Sderot and Ashkelon. Shortly after the rocket launches were detected, Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system was activated, shooting down at least one rocket fired from Gaza into Israel. The rocket attacks come following an attempted terrorist attack on the Israel-Gaza border Sunday morning, when two terrorists placed a bomb near the Israeli security fence in the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip. Both of the terrorists were eliminated in the abortive attack, and their bodies were later retrieved by IDF forces.
PM orders restrictions placed on entry of tourists from Australia, Italy amid coronavirus epidemic, forms team to monitor disease's spread. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened a special meeting Sunday at the Health Ministry emergency situation room, to discuss the spread of the coronavirus. The meeting included Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), government ministers, ministry director generals, the head of the National Security Council (NSC) and other senior officials. The assessment was in continuation of previous discussions, ongoing updates and recent developments. The prime minister ordered the formation of a ministerial team to monitor and combat the spread of the coronavirus, and expanded restrictions on tourists entering Israel, adding Australia ...
Gov. Phil Murphy disclosed Saturday he has a tumor on his kidney that is 90 percent likely to be cancerous and he will soon undergo surgery, NJ.com reports. Murphy, 62, told NJ Advance Media that doctors caught it at an early stage and have “complete confidence” they’ll be able to fully remove the tumor. He said he does not expect he’ll have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatment. “The expectation is that overwhelmingly, assuming nothing happens on the operating table or you don’t get an infection or something, you’re back on your feet and back in the game without any impairment going forward,” Murphy said during an interview at his Middletown home alongside First Lady Tammy Murphy. While 90 percent of such tumors are mal...
Twenty-eight U.S. residents flown home from the Diamond Princess cruise ship are infected with coronavirus and health officials expect to see more positive cases among the evacuated passengers in coming days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The passengers from the ship, along with three infected people previously returned from Wuhan, China, brings the total number of evacuees with the virus in the U.S. to 31. Another 13 people in the U.S. either picked up the infection by traveling to China or from close contact with a family member who had been in China. The passengers, who had been quarantined aboard the cruise ship in Japan, are “considered at high risk of infection and we do expect to see additional cases,” Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC...
Blue and White leader MK Yair Lapid on Shabbos spoke to members of the Reform Movement in Israel about the changes Blue and White will make on issues of religion and state. “One of our core issues is religion and state. Israel is the only country in the Western world where Jews don’t have freedom of religion,” he claimed. “We must change that.” “The complete control by the Orthodox stream of Judaism must stop. Religious coercion must stop. Alongside the rabbinate we need a civil track, civil marriage. All streams of Judaism – Reform, Conservative – must be equal before the law. All streams of Judaism must have access to the Kotel, in accordance with the Kotel framework. It’s a framework which requires compromise, we don’t like a...
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