A beluga whale found off Norway’s coast wearing a special Russian harness was probably trained by the Russian navy, a Norwegian expert says.
Marine biologist Prof Audun Rikardsen said the harness had a GoPro camera holder and a label sourcing it to St Petersburg. A Norwegian fisherman managed to remove it from the whale.
Interviewed by Russian broadcaster Govorit Moskva, Col Viktor Baranets said “if we were using this animal for spying do you really think we’d attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘please call this number’?”
The colonel did admit the Russian military used aquatic creatures for military roles.

US Special counsel sent letter to AG saying he worried that a letter summarizing main conclusions of the probe into Russian interference lacked the necessary context

TRUMP TO BLAME? Top Democrat Sen. Durbin Says Trump Gives Terrorists “Permission Slip” to Attack Synagogues [VIDEO]Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday the attack on a Poway, California, synagogue was an act of “domestic terrorism” and accused President Trump of fueling hate crimes like it to rise due to his rhetoric.

Buttigieg Makes New Effort To Talk Race, Reach Black VotersFrom lunch with a civil rights leader in Harlem to meetings at a historically black university in South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is making a new, concerted effort to appeal to African American voters and put behind him criticism of his record on race.

Former Yerushalayim mayor and Likud MK Nir Barkat sent a letter to Knesset Comptroller Haim Avidor on Tuesday demanding that the Knesset computer allow him to earn only one shekel a year.
Barkat, who was sworn in as an MK for the first time on Tuesday is seeking to maintain the same symbolic salary he received as mayor over the last decade.
“For me it is a great privilege to serve the public without receiving any compensation,” wrote Barkat.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

Judge says Spain's refusal to give Camille Pissarro painting to Jewish heirs is 'inconsistent' with international agreements to return Nazi-looted art, but law gave him no choice

Los Angeles – A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that a Spanish museum that acquired a priceless, Nazi-looted painting in 1992 is the work’s rightful owner, not the survivors of the Jewish woman who surrendered it to escape the Holocaust. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter ruled Tuesday that under Spanish law, Madrid’s [...]

'There is a bad wind in Europe and democracy is losing its influence,' they say, warning that EU has been vital to keeping the peace on the continent and reining in anti-Semitism

Washington – Playing the role of happy warrior, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday that he expects to stay on in his current role through the 2020 election. And he said he isn’t expecting many major staff changes in the months ahead, despite the administration’s history of record turnover. In an [...]

 We Won’t Join A Coalition Of A “Halachic State”Chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, MK Avigdor Lieberman, announced he will not enter a coalition of a “halachic state”.
During an interview with Yediot Achronot, Lieberman added, “We in Yisrael Beitenu have five mandates against the 22 of the chareidim and chardalim (chareidi dati leumi), and we see our role to prevent the unilateral initiatives that are liable to turn the State of Israel into a halachic state.”

The original exhibition copy of the United States’ recognition of Israel in 1948, signed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, is up for sale for the first time.
The document, valued at $300,000, is the only known signed copy of the final recognition of the Jewish state to exist.
The Raab Collection, the nation’s leading dealer in important historical documents, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the historical artifact ahead of Israel’s Independence Day in May.
Previously, the document was exhibited by the American and Israeli governments.

 Poway Chabad’s Rabbi Goldstein Recounts Shooting Attack; Argues For Return of Prayer to Public SchoolRabbi Yisroel Goldstein spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night, and recalled the horrific moments of the attack on his Chabad House in Poway, California that left him wounded, murdered congregant Lori Kaye HY”D, 60, and shot and wounded an eight-year-old girl and her uncle.

Critics say that those who prefer to blame Muslims for white supremacist violence don't care about combating anti-Semitism, but about winning political points

Poway, CA – The gunmen accused of attacking U.S. synagogues and New Zealand mosques over the past six months brewed their ideas on online hate sites, pulling U.S. cyber-defense firm Cloudflare Inc into a debate on the balance between online speech and security. The attacks have prompted some investors to ask fresh questions about the [...]

New York City Bans Alcohol Ads On City PropertyNew York City has banned alcohol advertising on city property, citing health risks posed by excessive drinking.
“This order banning alcohol ads from City property reaffirms our commitment to health equity and our stand to protect the well-being of all New Yorkers,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said Tuesday.

Hordes of large black beetles have invaded Israel, descending upon homes and leaving a foul stench in their wake.
The Environmental Protection Ministry confirmed Monday that the bugs are being found in large quantities in many communities around the country. The beetles are not harmful, don’t transmit diseases and are actually beneficial to agriculture because of their appetite for smaller bugs, so pesticides should not be used against them.
The pestilence, which comes on the heels of a much less icky butterfly migration, is expected to end soon as the weather turns hotter after a particularly rainy winter.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}
 

Washington – U.S. government searches of travelers’ cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and are being conducted for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims going through electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional. The government has vigorously defended [...]

VIDEO/PHOTOS: IDF Shuts Down & Confiscates Weapons Manufacturing Operation In The PA(VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
IDF forces during the night, Monday to Tuesday, raided, shut down and confiscated equipment from a weapons manufacturing facilty in the PA (Palestinian Authority) village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, located in the Ramallah/el-Bireh governate.

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