Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau on Thursday called for Shabbos to be extended by 20 minutes in response to the expected chillul Shabbos caused by the Eurovision song contest.
“Due to the great desecration that will take place on the upcoming Shabbos because of the Eurovision song contest, I ask each and every person to refrain from doing work 10 minutes before lighting candles [to mark the start of the Sabbath] and ten minutes after the end of the Shabbos,” Lau said in a lecture in the central city of Modiin.
“We will extend the kedusha of Shabbos and add from the regular to the holy,” he said. “This desecration is taking place before the eyes of the world.”

Washington – President Donald Trump says he hopes the U.S. is not on a path to war with Iran amid fears that his two most hawkish advisers could be angling for such a conflict with the Islamic Republic. Asked Thursday if the U.S. was going to war with Iran, the president replied, “I hope not” [...]

The committee in charge of the “Great March of Return” demonstrations in the Gaza Strip cancelled weekly protests set to be held Friday in light of hot temperatures outside and “to provide a break to citizens, who held a large protest two days ago.”
The cancellation of the Gaza protests come on the second Friday of Ramadan, during which time Muslims fast and abstain from drinking water during daylight hours.
It is only the second time that the weekly demonstrations, held with the backing of Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas, have been cancelled since they began in March 2018.
Read more at i24NEWS.

Arlington, MA – Authorities in a Boston suburb are investigating a second suspicious fire at a rabbi’s home in less than a week. Acting Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty said officers and firefighters responded to the home at about 9 p.m. Thursday and doused a small fire on the home’s exterior wood shingles with a [...]

Police say one suspect arrested in connection to brutal murder of 81-year-old, the 8th Israeli woman to be murdered this year

Simcha Leiner presents another incredible A Capella track for Sefira entitled NAFSHI.
Nafshi Originally recorded by Ishai Ribo and Motti Steinmetz became a household song in just a few months. Now its available to listen to all year round!
Available for streaming and downloading – May take a few days to process
Google Play – http://bit.ly/2Q5mNdw
Itunes – https://apple.co/2W5kegN
Apple Music – https://apple.co/2WaUa3O
Spotify – Coming soon.
Produced and Arranged by Craig Resmovits and Mordy Weinstein for MC Productions
Artwork by Yoni Weiss of Designed in Brooklyn
Mixed and mastered by Ed Boyer

New York – One of Robert Mueller’s top lieutenants in the special counsel’s pressure-cooker probe embroiling President Donald Trump has returned to private life only to get a more mundane and unexpected legal assignment: Juror in a slip-and-fall case. Andrew Weissmann was picked for a New York City jury at a civil trial where there [...]

Beijing – The trade war with the United States will only make China stronger and will never bring the country to its knees, the Communist Party’s People’s Daily wrote in a front page commentary that evoked the patriotic spirit of past wars. The world’s two largest economies are locked in an increasingly acrimonious trade dispute [...]

Dallas, TX – A Dallas man previously arrested in the death of an 81-year-old woman has been charged with killing at least 11 more elderly women whose jewelry and other valuables he stole, authorities said Thursday. Kim Leach, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office, said 46-year-old Billy Chemirmir was indicted Tuesday on [...]