Donald H. Harrison

World’s Largest Bookstore Opens in Iran

Bibliophiles in Iran, clear your weekend: The huge Book Garden center just opened in Tehran. Officials unveiled the Book Garden, a giant academic complex being called “the world’s largest bookstore,” on Wednesday. At roughly 65,000 square meters (about 700,000 square feet), the center has several movie theaters, science halls, classrooms, a restaurant, a prayer room […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

Trump, Putin criticised for exclusive nature of first face-to-face meeting

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face talks on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday accompanied by just their foreign ministers. “We look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia and the United States,” Trump said as he headed into the

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International, USA

Mike Pence mocked en masse as ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ photo from NASA visit goes viral

Vice President Mike Pence broke the rules during a tour of NASA’s Kennedy Spacer Center on Thursday and the internet isn’t ignoring it. Mr. Pence was touring the facility with Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, when Reuters photographer Mike Brown captured the vice president blatantly disregarding a prominently displayed “DO NOT TOUCH” sign. The image

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Trump, Putin discuss Russian meddling in 2016 campaign. But accounts differ

HAMBURG, Germany — President Donald Trump met for more than two hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, after which both sides offered seemingly contradictory accounts of their discussions about American intelligence findings of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in a televised briefing that Trump

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International, USA

Netanyahu cuts $1 million more from UN budget following UNESCO Hebron vote

Israel will now pay just $1.7 m to UN out of required $11.7m following 4 rounds of cuts since December; some funds to go toward building a museum showcasing Jewish heritage in Hebron, PMO says By Times of Israel staff Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in

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International, Middle East

Man charged in alleged assault of Delta flight attendants, crew members

SEATTLE — A 23-year-old Florida man on a Thursday flight from Seattle to Beijing tried to open an exit door on the airborne Boeing 767, sparking a wild brawl with flight attendants and passengers who used wine bottles and zip ties to subdue the combative man, according to a federal complaint. Joseph D. Hudek IV

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Travel and Food, USA

Georgia mother accused of slaying her family makes bizarre first court appearance

ATLANTA — The mother accused of stabbing to death four of her children and their father appeared in court for the first time Friday morning — smiling for cameras and telling the judge she doesn’t want an attorney. “I don’t need an attorney,” Isabel Martinez said through an interpreter. “My attorney is the people that

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USA

Three Men Including Two US Citizens Gored at Bull Running Festival in Spain’s Pamplona

Three men were gored during the first run of Pamplona’s bull-running festival Monday. Two of them were from the United States, while the third was from Navarra in Spain. According to local media, a 35-year-old US citizen sustained a chest wound and a 29-year-old US citizen was gored in the scrotum. Another 39-year-old man, from

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International, Sports & Competitions, USA

Hawaii asks appeals court to let grandparents and other relatives bypass travel ban

The state of Hawaii, which already succeeded in temporarily halting President Donald Trump’s travel ban, is once again fighting the executive order in federal court. The state hopes to expand the number of people who can bypass the travel ban and on Friday took its case to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The

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International, USA

Earliest mosaic of Jonah and the whale found in Galilee synagogue

Artwork uncovered at Roman-era synagogue in Huqoq also shows building the Tower of Babel and a Greco-Roman calendar By Amanda Borschel-Dan Unprecedented depictions of the biblical Jonah and the whale have been found at a fifth-century Roman synagogue in Israel’s lower Galilee. In the recently discovered mosaic, Jonah’s legs are shown dangling from the mouth

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Jewish History, Middle East

Trump, in meeting with Mexican president, again insists Mexico will pay for the wall

HAMBURG, Germany — In his first meeting as president with his Mexican counterpart, Donald Trump on Friday said he “absolutely” intends for Mexico to pay for the controversial wall he wants to build along the United States’ southern border, setting off a furor in Mexico over a goal his own administration has largely abandoned. Trump

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International, USA

COP condemns UNESCO vote on Hebron

NEW YORK (Press Release) — Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued the following statement: “We strongly condemn the adoption by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee of two more resolutions in the relentless Palestinian campaign to erase the more than 3,800-year Jewish

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International, Middle East, USA