Philippines mulls pullout of Syria peacekeepers The Philippine foreign secretary says he is recommending to President Benigno Aquino III to pull out all Filipino U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights following the abduction of four by Syrian rebels. More
8 die in clothing factory fire in Bangladesh as Rana Plaza toll passes 900 Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh, police and an industry association official said on Thursday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900. More
American gets 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for 'hostile acts' An American tour operator has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for alleged “hostile acts” against the repressive regime, according to its official state news agency. Kenneth Bae, who is in his mid-40s and lives in Washington state, has been described by friends as a devout Christian who took tourists on trips to North Korea, The Associated Press reported. More
Porn and movies, not tech secrets, found on Chinese spy suspect's NASA laptop The Chinese national taken into custody on an airplane waiting to take off for home had pornography and illegally downloaded movies on his NASA computer, not government secrets, reports say. He is now set to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating NASA computer rules. More
2.9 magnitude earthquake rattles New Jersey The New York area was hit by another earthquake Saturday morning. At 9:49 a.m., a 2.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the area five miles south of Peapack and Gladstone in Somerset County, about an hour's ... 04/28/2024 - 4:20 am | View Link
2.9-magnitude earthquake aftershock rattles N.J. Another aftershock rocked New Jersey Saturday morning, one of more than 130 smaller tremors following the April 5 earthquake that affected an estimated 42 million people. The aftershock’s epicenter ... 04/28/2024 - 3:31 am | View Link
Earthquake rattles central New Jersey, 45 miles west of NYC A 2.9 magnitude earthquake rattled areas surrounding northern Somerset County, New Jersey, Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The small earthquake was recorded at 8:49 a.m. 04/27/2024 - 9:30 am | View Link
2.9 magnitude earthquake aftershock rattles NJ near Peapack and Gladstone Another earthquake aftershock struck Somerset County on Saturday, the latest in a series of aftershocks that started in early April. 04/27/2024 - 4:24 am | View Link
Earthquake rattles New Jersey An earthquake was reported in New Jersey on Saturday morning, officials said. The 2.9-magnitude earthquake hit about eight miles from Gladstone and Bridgewater in Somerset County at around 8:50 a.m., ... 04/27/2024 - 3:03 am | View Link
WASHINGTON — U. S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U. S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny’s death—which came soon before the Russian president’s reelection—or directly ordered it, according to the official.
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Read More: From Beyond the Grave, Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Challenges Vladimir Putin at the Polls
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.
Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf is preparing to quit on Monday after he decided he wouldn’t survive a confidence vote, The Sunday Times reported.
Senior Scottish National Party members were informed of Yousaf’s decision, made over the weekend, the newspaper said. John Swinney has been approached to become interim first minister in the event of Yousaf’s departure, though the former SNP leader is reluctant to step up because of personal reasons, the Times said.
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Yousaf’s position had become increasingly tenuous after he decided to end his party’s power-sharing deal with the Greens last Thursday, saying the cooperation agreement reached after the SNP fell one seat short of a majority in the 2021 election had “served its purpose.”
Read More: Exclusive: Meet the New Face of Scotland
While Yousaf made clear he intends to continue to run Scotland as a minority government, the opposition Conservatives lodged a vote of no-confidence in him that was set to take place this week.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The White House on Sunday said U. S. President Joe Biden had again spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a cease-fire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
The White House said that Biden reiterated his “clear position” as Israel plans to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her home in central Baghdad.
Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi, known as Um Fahad or “mother of Fahad,” was popular on the social media sites TikTok and Instagram, where she posted videos of herself dancing to music and was followed by tens of thousands of users.
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An Iraqi security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said that the assailant opened fire as Sawadi parked her Cadillac in front of her house on Friday, killing her, then took her phone and fled the scene.
The killing took place in Zayoona, the same neighborhood where a prominent Iraqi researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi was gunned down in 2020.
As we mark Passover, when Jews celebrate their founding liberation from a tyrannical Pharaoh who enslaved them, the sages remind us Pharaohs come in all guises and liberation is not a one-time event. It must be re-enacted in each generation and in each heart.
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Today,16 million Jews in a world of eight billion face rising external threats.
In the early 2000s, one in 12 of the British population was born abroad. Now that figure is closer to one in six—higher than even America, the proverbial land of immigrants. And the number is still rising rapidly; over the last two years, almost 2 million people have moved to the U.