The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday advanced the nomination of Tom Nides to serve as the next US ambassador to Israel. Republicans Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Bill Haggerty were the only members of the 22-person panel who requested to have their opposition marked for the record during the voice vote. Nides still needs to get through a vote on the Senate floor in order to be confirmed, and while he is expected to receive overwhelming support from both parties, Republicans can hold up the vote from being scheduled.
All are asked to daven for the wellbeing of Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Degel HaTorah, who is hospitalized in serious condition. The Rosh Yeshiva is being treated at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. He was on life support, but as of this writing has been taken off of it. All are asked to daven for Rav Boruch Mordechai ben Hinda Malka.
Fear, grief, uncertainty and isolation during the pandemic have triggered a national state of emergency in the mental health of America’s youth, leading child health care groups warned Tuesday. Youngsters already faced significant mental health challenges, and the pandemic has made them worse, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA). Together, they represent more than 77,000 physicians and more than 200 children’s hospitals. “Children’s mental health is suffering. Young people have endured so much throughout this pandemic and while much of the attention is often placed on its physical health consequences, we cannot overlook the escalat...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to allow Americans to get a different booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine than the one initially taken, the New York Times reported on Monday. The FDA in September authorized a booster dose of Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech’s two-shot COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 65 and older and some high-risk Americans. The regulator’s advisory panel has also backed the use of Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. The government would not recommend one shot over another, and it might note that using the same vaccine as a booster when possible is preferable, the NYT report said, citing people familiar with the agency’s plans. The FDA declined to comment on the matter. U.S. health officials h...
A 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary who absconded before her trial appeared in court in Germany on Tuesday to face charges of aiding and abetting murder. The first woman to be prosecuted for Nazi-era crimes in decades, Irmgard Furchner is charged with complicity in the killing of more than 11,000 people at Stutthof camp in Poland. Between June 1943 and April 1945, the accused worked in the office of camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe. Prosecutors say she took dictation of the SS officer’s orders and handled his correspondence. Roughly 65,000 people died at the Stutthof camp near Gdansk, among them “Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet Russian prisoners of war,” according to the indictment read out by public prosecutor Maxi Wantzen. A teenager...
Former President Donald Trump said he was surprised that supporters breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 and added that he would have stopped them had he been present, a new book says. People protesting the 2020 presidential election results attacked the Capitol following a Trump rally in Washington, D.C., earlier in the day. “I was not surprised when they went down to the Capitol to cheer, but I was surprised that they went [into] the Capitol,” Trump says in “In Trump’s Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP,” Business Insider reported. The then-president said he wanted to join supporters marching to the Capitol but was prevented from doing so by the Secret Service. “I wanted to go down with the crowd,” Trump said in the book. &l...
Former President Trump lambasted the media on Tuesday for what he said was too-favorable coverage of former Secretary of State Colin Powell after his death on Monday. “Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday,” Trump said in a statement. Trump called Powell “a classic RINO,” an acronym for “Republican in name only.” “He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!” Trump added. The former president’s criticisms were unsurprising. Trump throughout his time in office criticized Powell and other architects of the Iraq War, including former ...
A request from former White House strategist Steve Bannon to delay a vote Tuesday to refer him for prosecution has been denied by the House select committee probing the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. The request was made after former President Donald Trump filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the panel to try to prevent Congress from obtaining some of his White House documents. In a federal lawsuit, Trump said the committee’s August request was “almost limitless in scope,” and sought many records that were not even connected to the siege. Bannon’s attorney, Robert Costello, made the request for the delay in a letter to Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. A copy of the letter was posted on Twitter by Axios’ Andrew Solender. ...
Zapping the brain with infrared light could boost dementia patients’ memory and muscle control, a study claims. Durham University scientists found using a specially equipped helmet to beam invisible waves of light into healthy brains improved people’s memories and thought processing. They said it could pave the way for a dementia therapy – the condition is incurable and affects around 850,000 people in the UK. The £7,250 helmet works by forcing brain cells to boost their energy levels – which fall in people with dementia – and encouraging blood flow so the brain gets more oxygen. Durham’s Dr Paul Chazot said: “We’ve shown what appear to be real improvements in memory and other neurological processes for healthy people. “While...
Infected person is an 11-year-old boy who tested positive on his return from Moldova Health officials on Tuesday evening reported the first identified case of the highly contagious delta "AY.4.2" subvariant in Israel.  The variant has recently been detected in several European countries. The infected person is an 11-year-old boy who tested positive on his return from Moldova. Officials are investigating whether the new strain is more virulent than the delta variant, although they have not yet expressed serious concerns about it.
 Racism is now officially a public health crisis in New York City. Monday, the city’s Board of Health passed a resolution recognizing the impact of racism on people’s health during the pandemic, which magnified inequities in communities of color. “We must confront racism as a public health crisis. This pandemic magnified ineq...
Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp announced Monday she will step down by the end of the year. Kopp, a Democrat, has been treasurer since 2002. She has been re-elected by the General Assembly to five four-year terms. The treasurer holds one of three seats on the state’s powerful Board of Public Works, which oversees a large portion of state procurement contracts. The other two board members are the governor and comptroller. As treasurer, Kopp has served as the state’s chief representative dealing with bond rating agencies and banking firms, responsible for receiving, depositing, investing, and distributing state funds. The treasurer also leads several key state boards and financial planning committees, including the Maryland State Retirement and Pension Systems. State law req...
Southwest Airlines has scrapped a plan to put unvaccinated employees who have applied for but haven’t received a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave starting by a federal deadline in December. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are among the carriers that are federal contractors and subject to a Biden administration requirement that their employees are vaccinated against Covid-19 by Dec. 8 unless they are exempt for medical or religious reasons. Rules for federal contractors are stricter than those expected for large companies, which will allow for regular Covid testing as an alterative to a vaccination. Executives at both carriers in recent days have tried to reassure employees about job security under the mandate, urging them to appl...
A Georgia school board has passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and racism in the wake of multiple incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti in school restrooms, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The “Anti-Semitism and Racism Resolution” adopted by the Cobb County School Board in Marietta, Georgia said: “The Board wishes to reaffirm its continued commitment to take proactive steps to address anti-Semitism, racism and all other forms of hate in Cobb County School District,” It passed at the board’s October meeting with four members voting in favor and two voting against. The resolution was put forward after restrooms at Pope High School and Lassiter High School were defaced with anti-Semitic phrases and swastikas durin...
The FBI swarmed the Washington DC residence of a Russian oligarch who is a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, a measure the agency called a “law enforcement activity,” the New York Post reported. Dozens of agents were seen searching the billionaire’s mansion on Tuesday, which was blocked off with tape. Some of the agents reportedly carried off boxes and other objects from the house. NBC News reported that an FBI spokesperson would not state why the raid had been ordered. The FBI is also not commenting on whether Deripaska is under investigation. Deripaska is an aluminum billionaire who is a close associate of Putin. He was placed under American sanctions by the Trump administration due to his ties to the Russian president as allegations swirle...
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tested positive for a COVID-19 breakthrough case on Tuesday, a department spokesperson said in a statement reported by CNN. Mayorkas was tested for the virus as part of routine pre-travel protocols, according to the statement from spokesperson Marsha Espinosa. He was preparing to travel to Colombia with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to CNN. Mayorkas is experiencing mild congestion and will continue to work from home. “Secretary Mayorkas tested positive this morning for the COVID-19 virus after taking a test as part of routine pre-travel protocols. Secretary Mayorkas is experiencing only mild congestion; he is fully vaccinated and will isolate and work at home per CDC protocols and medical a...
The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is 93% effective in preventing hospitalization in adolescents between the ages of 12-18, according to a study published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The study found a slight difference between the effectiveness in older and younger adolescents, with a 94% effectiveness among children between the ages of 16-18 and a 91% effectiveness for children between the ages of 12-15. The study authors wrote that the findings " reinforce the importance of vaccination to protect U.S. youths against severe COVID-19." "These data suggest that increasing vaccination coverage among this group could reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 in the United States. Further, as in-person school attendance increases, multicomponent preventive measur...
Dozens of policemen and Border Police officers worked this evening (Tuesday) in the area of the Old City of Jerusalem's Damascus Gate to disperse a violent riot involving hundreds of Arabs. 22 suspects have been arrested so far on suspicion of involvement in breaches of public order, violence and throwing stones at buses and police forces operating at the scene. A 38-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were lightly injured by stones thrown by Arabs at a bus on the Opel Road in Jerusalem. Magen Davidf Adom (MDA_ medics and paramedics provided medical care and referred the wounded to hospitals. A Border Police undercover force operating in the Herod's Gate area made a targeted arrest of a suspect after stones at a bus. During the arrest, stones and bottles were thrown at the forc...
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