GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus, which has been clouded by finger-pointing between the U.S. and China over a pandemic that has killed over 300,000 people and leveled the […]

PARIS (AP) — Just one week after a third of French schoolchildren went back to school in an easing ofthe coronavirus lockdown, there’s been a worrying flareup of about 70 COVID-19 cases linked to schools. Some schools were opened last week and a further 150,000 junior high students went back to the classroom Monday as […]

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia (AP) — A Canadian acrobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood Sunday during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show at least one person ejecting. The crash left debris scattered across the […]

NEW YORK (AP) — On a weekend when many pandemic-weary people emerged from weeks of lockdown, leaders in the U.S. and Europe weighed the risks and rewards of lifting COVID-19 restrictions knowing that a vaccine could take years to develop. In separate stark warnings, two major European leaders bluntly told their citizens that the world […]

RIYADH (VINnews) — Saudi blogger Mohammed Saud has expressed his support for Israel in many ways in the past, including tweeting, posting, interviewing and singing the praises of Israel in every possible forum. In a Facebook post he published in memory of fallen Israeli soldier Amit Ben-Yigal who was killed by a stone thrown at […]

ALASKA (JTA) — A Republican state lawmaker in Alaska said he did not mean to offend people when he compared restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic to measures imposed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. But State Rep. Ben Carpenter said he believes the comparison remains apt in a column published Sunday in Must […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Incoming Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich caused a stir in the Knesset when she added the words B’Ezrat Hashem (With the help of G-d) to her declaration of commitment during the swearing-in ceremony of Israel’s new government. Yankelevich requested permission from Knesset Secretary Yardena Meller to add the two words to her […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The founder of the first kosher le’mehadrin beverage company in New York has passed away in Monsey from the coronavirus at age 77. His coffin will be arriving in Israel for burial, according to B’Chadrei Charedim. R’ Zvi (Hershel) Huld was the founder and owner of the Mayim Chayim Beverages which […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China is going after the United States over more than $1 billion that the Trump administration owes the United Nations in unpaid dues for its regular operating budget and arrears for the separate budget for the U.N.’s far-flung peacekeeping operations. The unusual singling out of the U.S. non-payment by China’s U.N. […]

HERZLIYA (VINnews) — China’s Ambassador to Israel, Du Wei, has been found dead in his Herzliya apartment.  Israeli police have launched an investigation but initial findings suggested no foul play. The cause of death appears to be a cardiac incident, as the envoy was found dead in his bed by staff at his residence with […]