Acting FM calls synagogue attack a 'horrible terrorist attack'; Chief Rabbi Lau calls for strengthening Chabad emissaries around the world

Researchers have developed a mechanism to translate brain activity into simple sentences, a breakthrough that could lead to new tools for people who are unable to communicate through speech.
In a paper published in Nature this week, a team from the University of California, San Francisco explained how they created a “neural decoder” that can create speech. The team included neurosergeon Edward Chang, computer scientist Gopala Anumanchipalli, and PhD student Josh Chartier.
“Our central goal was to make an ‘artificial vocal tract,'” Chartier told The Washington Post via email on Friday. “Not a real physical one, but a computer one that could generate full sentences, not just words.”
“Our goal is to help those who cannot speak to say what they wish to say,” he said.

'It can happen anywhere,' says father of 8-year-old Noya Dahan; her injured uncle says life in Sderot prepared him to respond to synagogue attack

Family whose soldier son's remains are held in Gaza says prisoners freed in 'goodwill gesture' should have been part of a larger exchange involving Hamas

Upon the close of the Sabbath and Passover holiday in New York, we learned of the shooting at Chabad of Poway, in San Diego. The murder of an innocent woman and the wounding of several others who were celebrating their faith in the synagogue, on the terra firma of our freedom-loving country, is appalling and heartbreaking.

New York, NY – A U.S. Marine killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan was honored by mourners from across the country at his funeral Friday in New York City, where he also was a decorated firefighter. The flag-draped casket of Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman was carried atop a fire engine from a Bronx funeral [...]

Los Angeles – A Southern California man who was imprisoned in Israel for trying to bomb a bus has been sentenced in the U.S. for lying to immigration authorities when he became a citizen. Fifty-one-year-old Vallmoe Shqaire of Downey was sentenced to nine months in federal prison Friday for unlawfully procuring U.S. citizenship in 2008. [...]

Albany, NY – Hundreds turned out Friday to honor a decorated World War II Marine in New York after a young friend ensured the 97-year-old’s life and death did not go unrecognized. Bob Graham had no living relatives when he died April 12 in Westchester County, north of New York City. Beth Regan, 27, befriended [...]