Washington (AFP) – President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Lloyd Austin, who led US troops into Baghdad in 2003 and rose to head the US Central Command, as the first African-American secretary of defense, US media reported Monday. A veteran of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the retired four-star army general, 67, beat out the favorite […]
Biden picks General Lloyd Austin as first Black Pentagon chief Read More »
USA
Remember the greats of Israeli politics. David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres? And the Labor Party, dominating politics from 1948 to 1977?Golda Meir won 49 seats in the election of 1969, and Yitzhak Rabin got 44 seats in the election of 1992. Then a decline, till now it’s three seats, aligned with Meretz. And the polls show 0 seats, as Amir Peretz can’t get it above the minimum to get any. Peretz is running for the Presidency, competing with the singer Yorham Gaon, a former politician Yehuda Glick, Yitzhak Herzog, and who knows how many others seeking to take over after Reuven Rivlin’s term expires. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Whatever happened to Israel’s Labor party? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
ATLANTA — Upon learning Sunday that Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19, Georgia senators who attended a seven-hour hearing last week with President Donald Trump’s personal attorney were urged to self-quarantine. Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller, a Gainesville Republican who did not attend the hearing, said state senators who participated in the Senate Judiciary
Georgia senators urged to quarantine after Giuliani’s COVID-19 diagnosis Read More »
USA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As California lawmakers head to Sacramento Monday to kick off the 2021-2022 session during a massive COVID-19 surge, multiple recent cases among Capitol community employees underscore the challenges facing the Legislature ahead of its second pandemic year. The state has reached a critical point in its fight against the coronavirus. Hospital and
PHILADELPHIA — Former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said late last week that President-elect Joe Biden should be banned from receiving Communion because of his support for abortion rights, fueling an ongoing debate among Catholic leaders in the United States over how to relate to the nation’s second Catholic president. Chaput, who led Philadelphia’s diocese from
“It’s time we address the structural inequalities in our economy that the pandemic has laid bare,” President-elect Joe Biden said last week as he introduced his economic team. It’s a good team. They’re competent and they care, in sharp contrast to Donald Trump’s goon squad. Many of them were in the trenches with Biden and
Robert B. Reich: Biden and his team must tackle structural inequality Read More »
USA
Washington (AFP) – The House of Representatives voted Monday to welcome Hong Kong residents to live temporarily in the United States, vowing to be a beacon for rights as China clamps down in the territory. The House moved by consensus to issue so-called Temporary Protected Status for five years to Hong Kong residents, meaning that
House votes to open US doors to Hong Kong residents Read More »
International, USA
HAIFA, Israel (Press Release) –A brilliant engineer who left his mark on cellular phone technology, satellite imagery, and DNA analysis. A talented entrepreneur who launched a multinational corporation. A devoted professor who developed one of the most important mathematical concepts of the 21st century. Any one of these accomplishments would be outstanding and laudable in
Technion Celebrates Viterbi and Ziv Read More »
Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education
A leading Palestinian official has resigned from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee in protest at Ramallah’s decision to resume security coordination with Israel, sources have told The New Arab’s Arabic- service. Dr Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran legislator who has taken part in negotiations with Israel, submitted her resignation from the PLO’s executive committee to
ATLANTA — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Monday that relied on conspiracy theories to try to invalidate Georgia’s election results, which showed Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten dismissed the lawsuit, which was bought by former Trump attorney Sidney Powell in an attempt to decertify Georgia’s election.
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Biden’s win in Georgia Read More »
USA
An Orthodox convert with a criminal past in Baltimore’s drug gangs who turned his life around, married in Israel, and applied for citizenship under the Law of Return two and a half years ago, continues to face a nightmarish bureaucratic struggle in his effort to settle in the Jewish state.Despite being a committed member of
Convert’s nightmarish three-year quest for citizenship continues Read More »
Middle East, USA
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Supreme Court moved up a key deadline Sunday for Pennsylvania officials to respond to a last-minute bid by one of Trump’s top boosters in Congress to decertify the state’s elections results. Previously, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who oversees emergency matters arising out of Pennsylvania for the court, had given
US Supreme Court moves up deadline in congressman’s bid to upend Pa. election results Read More »
USA
Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court will hear Monday a case involving an important medieval art collection that Nazi Germany acquired from Jewish dealers. The clash centers on gold crosses, jewels and other religious works from the 11th to the 14th centuries that are now on exhibit in a museum in Berlin. “This case
US Supreme Court hears case on art trove bought by Nazi Germany Read More »
International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA
Washington (AFP) – Joe Biden plans to nominate California attorney general Xavier Becerra for secretary of health and human services, which would add another Latino member to the president-elect’s increasingly diverse cabinet, US media reported Sunday. During Becerra’s 12 terms in Congress representing Los Angeles, he was an outspoken advocate of Latino rights and a
Biden picks California official Becerra for health secretary: report Read More »
USA