Police Fatally Shoot Man Who Stabbed Student Levi Rosenblat In Brooklyn Synagogue

NEW YORK (AP) — A knife-wielding man stabbed an Israeli student in the head inside a Brooklyn synagogue early Tuesday before being fatally shot by police after he refused to drop the knife, authorities said.

The man stormed into the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic world headquarters in Crown Heights at about 1:40 a.m. and attacked Levi Rosenblat, who was studying inside the synagogue, spokesman Motti Seligson said. He said there were other people inside at the time. According to witnesses, the attacker was heard saying repeatedly “Kill the Jews,” said Chaim Landa, another spokesman for Chabad-Lubavitch. Several other people immediately intervened, he said.

A witness flagged down a patrol officer, who confronted the 49-year-old man and told him to put the knife down. He initially put it down, but picked it up again, police said. More officers responded and repeatedly ordered the man to drop the knife.

He refused and, with the knife in his hand, charged at one of the officers, who fired once, striking the man in the torso, police said.

Police said no other officers discharged their weapons.

The man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was not immediately identified, but police said he was from New York City and had a criminal history.

The 22-year-old Rosenblat was in stable condition, officials said.

A 9-inch knife, with a 4 ½-inch blade, was recovered at the scene, police said.

“We commend the heroic efforts of the individuals who were present and took immediate action. If not for their intervention the outcome could have been, God forbid far worse,” said Landa.

“While we are very pained by everything that has unfolded, we are very grateful to the police for their quick response and are working closely with the authorities in their ongoing investigation,” he added.

Police said the investigation is continuing.

App-y Days

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Nintendo amiibo isn’t on its way out just yet

amiiboFor something that wasn’t exactly a critical success, the Internet seems to now be awash with debate on whether Nintendo is really canning the amiibo. Barely a month, let alone a year, in the market, some sites are now reporting that Nintendo is calling it quits on its Skylanders-like attempt to bridge the divide between physical and digital gaming. A … Continue reading

Google Street View adds its first Arab city: Dubai

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Seagate ships 8TB shingled magnetic recording HDD

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The Soaring U.S. Outbreak of Vaccine-Preventable Disease, Visualized

Mealses, mumps, polio, rubella, whooping cough… All diseases that are eminently preventable by vaccination. But, as this data visualization shows, while their incidence has decreased by 57 percent around the world between 2008 and 2014, in the U.S. it’s soared by 6,000 percent.

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Windows 8.1 now natively supports the MKV video format, which has been supported by the Xbox One for

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Amazon now lets you name your price on fine art

If you don’t like the price on an Amazon Collectible & Fine Art item, you can now dicker for it instead. A new “make an offer” feature cropped up on the third-party marketplace site today , allowing an alternative to paying the preset price. Amazon l…

German Court Throws Out Case Against Former SS Man Accused Of Civilian Massacre In France

BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Tuesday threw out the case against a former SS man accused of involvement in the largest civilian massacre in Nazi-occupied France, saying there was not enough evidence to bring the 89-year-old to trial.

Cologne resident Werner C., whose last name has not been revealed in accordance with German privacy laws, was charged with murder and accessory to murder in connection with the 1944 slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane in southwestern France.

Dortmund prosecutors had alleged that the suspect shot 25 men as part of a firing squad and then helped as troops blockaded and set fire to a church, in which dozens of women and children were burned alive.

Werner C. denied the charges, saying that he was at the village but never fired a shot and wasn’t otherwise involved in the slaughter of the 642 civilians.

In its ruling, the Cologne state court said no witness statements disprove the suspect’s contention, nor is there any reliable documentary evidence that he was involved in the massacre.

“In a trial it could probably only be proved the suspect was in the area during the massacre in Oradour-sur-Glane as he has consistently maintained,” the court said. “This mere presence is not enough to prove accessory to murder without the proof of other circumstances.”

Dortmund prosecutor Andreas Brendel, who led the investigation, said he was surprised by the court’s decision but that it was too early to say whether he would appeal.

“I brought charges because I believed that the evidence was sufficient,” he said. “The court came to a different conclusion.”

Werner C. was part of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the “Der Fuehrer” regiment of the fanatical SS’s “Das Reich” division. Four days after the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings in Normandy the company attacked Oradour-sur-Glane in reprisal for the French Resistance’s kidnapping of a German soldier.

The troops herded the civilians into barns and into the church, blocked the doors and then set fire to the entire town. Those not killed in the blazes were shot as they tried to flee, though a handful managed to escape.

In a gesture of reconciliation last year, German President Joachim Gauck and French President Francois Hollande together visited the phantom village — whose burned-out cars and abandoned buildings were left as a memorial to the massacre. Gauck said he shared the bitterness of those in France “over the fact that the murderers have not been brought to justice.”

Brendel is currently investigating five other members of the unit involved in the massacre, but said given the lack of witnesses and other evidence, charges are unlikely.

Women in Business Q&A: Christina Mercando, founder and CEO of Ringly

Christina Mercando is the founder and CEO of Ringly, a New York City company composed of designers and engineers dedicated to blending fashion and technology in meaningful ways. Their first suite of products integrates wearable technology with beautifully designed jewelry and accessories. Ringly’s core belief is that technology can be more discreetly and smartly integrated into our lives.

Prior to founding Ringly, Christina was the VP of Product at Hunch, a social recommendation service aiming to build a ‘taste graph’ of the entire web by intelligently connecting people to the things they love. Hunch was acquired by eBay in 2011 where Christina played a major role in improving the social shopping and merchandising experience across ebay.com.

Christina’s passion for art and technology started at an early age. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with degrees in both Fine Art and Human Computer Interaction. She has a strong interest in user-centered design and its power to enrich and strengthen both online and offline experiences.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Throughout my life and career I’ve always had an intellectual curiosity and appetite to learn new things. From an early age, I knew I would be running my own company one day. Because of this, I tried to soak in as much knowledge I could from the people and experiences I’ve encountered along the way. Having a deeper understanding of the world and of people will make you a much better leader.

How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at RINGLY?
I learned so much from my time at Hunch and from working in the start-up world. Just knowing and being around other entrepreneurs, designers and engineers helped tremendously when I decided to start Ringly. I had built up a strong network of friends and colleagues who were really supportive of everything I was doing when I decided to take the plunge.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at RINGLY?
With a company like Ringly, there are a lot of moving parts. We’re shaping and defining an entirely new category of jewelry and fashion accessories. Doing that has a lot of challenges, but also comes with a lot of rewards. Being a part of the history of jewelry by merging new technology with something that’s been around for hundreds of thousands of years really excites me.

What advice can you offer to women who are seeking to start their own business?
I’ve had lots of ideas over the years but when the idea for Ringly came to me, I couldn’t shake it. I kept thinking about how cool it would be to have a cute piece of jewelry that helps solve a problem in many women’s lives. My advice to anyone starting out would be to have perseverance. Starting a company is not an easy thing to do, but you’ll learn more than you ever thought possible and there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your vision unfold and having others believe in it too.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I don’t think I do as good of a job maintaining a work/life balance as I should these days but I do try to focus on the things that make me happy during my off hours. Spending time with friends and loved ones, taking time for myself by running or doing yoga and reading books that have nothing to do with work help keep me balanced.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
I think it depends on the workplace. I’ve worked at companies where I was one of very few women and I never noticed an imbalance; everyone was treated fairly and respected each other. I’ve also worked at places where that wasn’t the case and it makes things much more difficult. When there is a noticeable unbalance it’s important for women to support each other and help each other succeed as much as possible.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I’ve had a lot of great people to look up to throughout my career but I often find that it’s the friends and people you surround yourself with everyday that have the most impact both personally and professionally. I also believe that it’s equally important to mentor others and to give back. I learn so much by teaching others.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
This might sound cliché, but I admire anyone who sets out and pursues his or her dreams. There have been a lot of powerful female leaders emerge in the last decade – Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg and Sara Blakely to name a few. I aspire to join their ranks so I can be an inspiration to future leaders.

What do you want RINGLY to accomplish in the next year?
We want to grow Ringly into the leading smart jewelry and accessories brand. We plan on announcing retail and designer partnerships over the next year as well as expand our own collection.