USA

A Response to Surfside

There are some things for which there are no words. On Thursday I did two funerals where I spoke about why we thank God at times of tragedy-because when we feel vulnerable, that the world has slipped out from underneath our footsteps, we need to find some rock to anchor ourselves, and that rock with a capital R is God. However, how can we thank God in the midst of a tragedy: the structural collapse of the Champlain Towers South Building? How can we be thankful when people are missing and all that might remain of them are DNA traces under the rubble? How can we be grateful when so many don’t know if their loved ones are alive or dead? [Rabbi Ben Herman]

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Jewish Religion, USA

Israeli, Mexican rescuers bring distinct experience to Miami building collapse

Published by Reuters By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – The Israelis come trained by war. The Mexicans, by natural disaster. Search-and-rescue teams from Mexico and Israel have joined the phalanx of local firefighters and other specially trained experts combing the rubble for survivors where a residential high-rise collapsed near Miami on Thursday, killing at least nine

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USA

Therapy dogs comfort families of the missing in Miami building collapse

Published by Reuters SURFSIDE, Fla. (Reuters) – Some families of the missing at the Miami-area building collapse have found comfort in therapy dogs brought in during the agonizing wait for news. With some 150 people unaccounted for, many of whom could be buried beneath the rubble, the Boricuas de Corazon disaster relief team brought in

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USA

Biden orders airstrikes in Iraq-Syria against Iran-backed militia groups

Published by New York Daily News President Biden on Sunday ordered precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement. The targets were facilities that Iran-backed militias were using to engage in drone attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq,

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Middle East, USA

Israel’s new FM tells US of Iran concerns but promises to work together

Published by AFP Rome (AFP) – Israel’s foreign minister on Sunday voiced concern over US diplomacy with Iran but promised a less confrontational approach, in the new government’s first high-level talks with the Jewish state’s closest ally. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist who masterminded a coalition that this month unseated veteran right-wing leader Benjamin

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Middle East, USA

Good News from Israel (June 27, 2021)

In the June 27, 2021 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
–UK National Health Service to trial Israeli cancer treatment test.
–Israeli grandmother is honored for fostering 217 babies.
–Israeli anti-malaria system wins top IBM AI prize.
–Israeli software powers Intel’s 5G microprocessors.
–Israeli sensors can detect when plants are unhappy.
–Three more billion-dollar Israeli companies in one week.
–Israel’s team of 81 Olympic athletes is the largest ever.
–Honduras is the fourth country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Lifestyles, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Engineer had warned of structural damage before Florida building collapse -NYT

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – A consultant had warned three years before the deadly collapse of a South Florida condominium building that there was evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and abundant cracking and crumbling in the underground parking garage, the New York Times reported early on Saturday.

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USA

Justice Department sues Georgia over new voting law

Published by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLANTA — The U.S. Justice Department sued Georgia on Friday over a new election law that includes restrictions on voting, setting up a legal showdown over Republican-led changes that President Joe Biden and other Democrats cast as disproportionately harmful to Black voters. The challenge seeks to overturn portions of Senate

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USA

Ex-police officer Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22-1/2 years for George Floyd murder

Published by Reuters By Nicholas Pfosi and Jonathan Allen MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) -A Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22-1/2 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis sidewalk, video of which sparked global protests. A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty

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USA

US, France warn Iran that time running out to revive deal

Published by AFP Paris (AFP) – The United States and France on Friday warned Iran that time was running out to return to a nuclear deal, voicing fear that Tehran’s sensitive atomic activities could advance if talks drag on. On the first high-level visit to Paris by President Joe Biden’s administration, Secretary of State Antony

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International, Middle East, USA

Families pray for ‘miracle’ with 159 missing in Florida condo collapse

Published by Reuters By Francisco Alvarado SURFSIDE, Fla. (Reuters) -Rescue workers scouring the debris of a collapsed condo building in a Miami suburb said they heard sounds in the rubble overnight, as officials on Friday raised the number of people unaccounted for to 159 and the confirmed death toll to four. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine

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USA