JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, winner of the 2020 Genesis Prize, announced Monday that he will donate the $1 million award to organizations fighting the coronavirus pandemic and assisting people most affected by the outbreak. In a statement released by prize organizers, Sharansky said he would support organizations in Israel and abroad, […]

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said Monday that it has received no evidence from the U.S. government to back up allegations by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the coronavirus could have originated at a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. “From our perspective, this remains […]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan security forces arrested eight people, including two alleged U.S. citizens, following a beach invasion aimed at capturing socialist President Nicolás Maduro, according to information released Monday by authorities, as more than 25,000 troops mobilized to hunt for other rebels operating in the country. Powerful socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello posted […]

UNITED KINGDOM (JNS) — U.K. Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby, who once said it’s “impossible to eradicate anti-Semitism,” has resigned from the position, the party has announced. Formby said she applied for the role two years ago “to support Jeremy Corbyn,” but with new party leader Keir Starmer, “it is the right time to step […]

MONTREAL (AP) — Canada’s largest airline on Monday announced a billion-dollar loss and announced mandatory temperature checks for customers amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re now living through the darkest period ever in the history of commercial aviation, significantly worse than 9/11, SARS and the 2008 financial crisis,” CEO Calin Rovinescu said on a conference call […]

Tehran (JTA) – Iran has called off demonstrations and rallies in the country to mark International Quds Day due to the coronavirus crisis. The day, marked by demonstrations against Israel and expressing support for Palestinians, is held on the last Friday of Ramadan, which this year is May 22. Al-Quds is the Arabic word for […]

BEIJING, CHINA (VINnews) — In a satiric clip designed to answer American charges that China lied to the world about the extent of the coronavirus’s potency and deadliness, the official Chinese news agency mocks the Americans for not heeding Chinese warnings, not implementing a lockdown or obligatory facemasks and downplaying the nature of COVID-19 only […]

BEN GURION AIRPORT (VINnews) — An unusual “shidduch without borders” was completed last night at Ben Gurion airport, with the Chasan making a cameo appearance at the Israeli border checkpoint in the airport and the Kallah receiving special permission to join him in the arrivals lounge before he got on the next flight and left […]

NIR ETZION (VINnews) — At the Nir Etzion hotel where coronavirus patients from Bnei Brak and other Chareidi locations are recovering from the virus, officials associated with the Taharas Hamishpacha organization inaugurated a kosher mikve today, after special authorization was received from the health ministry to build a mikve and it was made in accordance […]

GLASGOW,SCOTLAND (VINnews) — A new study by researchers from the Public Health Scotland and experts from the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh has revealed that coronavirus is killing people more than ten years of their lives before they would have died of natural causes. On average, men lose 13 years, while women lose about 11 […]