Feed aggregator

The inflation-adjusted median income of U.S. households rebounded last year to roughly its 2019 level, overcoming the biggest price spike in four decades to restore most Americans’ purchasing power. The proportion of Americans living in poverty also fell slightly last year, to 11.1%, from 11.5% in 2022. But the ratio of women’s median earnings to men’s widened for the first time in more than two decades as men’s income rose more than women’s in 2023. The latest data came Tuesday in an annual report from the Census Bureau, which said the median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose 4% to $80,610 in 2023, up from $77,450 in 2022. It was the first increase since 2019, and is essentially unchanged from that year’s figure of $81,210, officials said. (The median income figure is the point at which half the population is above and half below and is less distorted by extreme incomes than the average.) “We are back to that pre-COVID peak that we experienced,” said Liana Fox, assistant division chief in the Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division at the Census Bureau. The figures could become a talking point in the presidential campaign if Vice President Kamala Harris were to point to them as evidence that Americans’ financial health has largely recovered after inflation peaked at 9.1% in 2022. Former President Donald Trump might counter that household income grew much faster in his first three years in office than in the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, though income fell during his administration after the pandemic struck in 2020. The report showed that the typical American household, though having regained its 2019 purchasing power, essentially experienced no increase in living standards from 2019 to 2023. That is a sharp difference from the preceding four years, when inflation adjusted median incomes rose 14% from 2015 through 2019. The data is based on pre-tax incomes, including Social Security and other benefit programs, though it excludes noncash benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid. By racial groups, median household income rose 5.4% for whites to $84,630, increased 2.8% for Black Americans to $56,490 and was unchanged for Hispanics at $65,540. Asian incomes were also largely unchanged at $112,800. Census also calculated that 92% of Americans had health care in 2023, largely unchanged from the previous year, though the proportion of uninsured children ticked up a half-point to 5.8%. (AP)

This is your shortcut to a lucrative career! PCS/ FDU Masters in Accounting (since 2005)REMOTE Open House Monday, Sep. 16th Start your career in accounting with an edge: Short-term investment with long-term return Up-to-date syllabus keeping pace with changes in the working world and CPA exams Master’s degree from a top-tier institution with high recognition Experienced, dedicated, and knowledgeable professors High first-time CPA pass rate Serving: New York, New Jersey + REMOTE / NEW ISRAEL program for out of town students Planning on being in Israel?Make the most of your time and receive your Masters Degree in Accounting with a 98% placement rate.   Program ranked as:  Best Masters in Accounting (Eduniversal 2023)  Best American Colleges  (Forbes 2023) Join the Remote Open House on Monday, Sep. 16th to learn more:Women: 7:30pm  ||  Men: 9:00pm Join Remotely:email: nj@nj.pcsjobs.org for login information.   PCS Placement Advantage: – 8 placement directors to help graduates find jobs– Decades of relationships with 100s of firms– 98% plcement rate For more information:Women: (732)-367-1500 or email tova@nj.pcsjobs.org Men: (732)-905-9700 x 665 or email sara@nj.pcsjobs.org Visit: pcsnynj.org/course/masters-in-accounting-cpa

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, participated in the inaugural MEAD conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, addressing an audience that included Israeli officials.

The engagement, alongside statements from Knesset member Benny Gantz, suggests that efforts toward regional normalization may still be on the table, despite the ongoing conflicts against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Al Saud joined a panel discussion on Sunday night with her Moroccan and Bahraini counterparts. The audience included numerous Israelis, among them official representatives, as well as high-ranking U.S. officials.

Gantz, leader of Israel’s National Unity Party and a former War Cabinet member, addressed the normalization issue in his own interview on Sunday.

“I hope we can develop regional partnerships, partly through events like MEAD. Expanding our relationship with Saudi Arabia, a key Arab nation, could yield mutual benefits in security, economy, science and other areas,” said Gantz.

An Israeli source recently suggested that following the U.S. presidential election in November, a new opportunity might emerge for a three-way agreement involving the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The conference, spearheaded by former U.S. ambassadors to Israel David Friedman and Tom Nides, serves as a forum to facilitate discussions between American and Middle Eastern leaders, including those from moderate Arab states and Israel.

(JNS)

The number of FDNY first responders who have died from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks has now reached 370, surpassing the 343 department members who died on the day of the terror attacks, officials confirmed on Monday. In the past year alone, 28 more FDNY members have succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses, and officials warn that the toll will continue to rise as federal funding for the World Trade Center Health Program is set to run out by 2028. During a press conference, Lt. Jim Brosi, president of the FDNY Uniformed Fire Officers Association, called for urgent support for the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024, which would extend funding for the program through 2033. “We’re now hiring recruits who weren’t even born when the attacks happened,” Brosi said, emphasizing the need for permanent funding to ensure that future generations remember the sacrifices made by 9/11 responders. “The risk we run with not having additional, permanent funding is that the further we get away from this tragedy, the less likely people will be sympathetic to the need.” Brosi highlighted the loss of the most recent victim, a firefighter who was on active duty less than a year ago before being diagnosed with terminal cancer. “In less than 12 months, he went from riding a fire truck to being buried,” Brosi said. “That’s the part you won’t see in a statistic.” He also shared heartbreaking stories of other victims, including one who lost his voice to thyroid and esophageal cancer and another who now lives with a permanent colostomy bag. “These are significant ailments. People are suffering, and they’re not visible in the data,” Brosi said. The World Trade Center Health Program currently monitors and treats more than 132,000 first responders and survivors suffering from long-term health effects related to 9/11. However, FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro noted that lawmakers often underestimate the number of people who continue to join the program, resulting in incomplete funding. “Every time they go to Washington to get a funding bill, it never gets fully funded,” Ansbro said, adding that inflationary costs and advancements in cancer treatment have only increased the need for financial support. “We know our members keep getting sick. It’s not stopping.” If passed, the 2024 federal legislation would establish a new funding formula through 2090 and increase research funding for 9/11-related conditions. Without this support, the program could begin turning away new applicants as soon as 2028. Ansbro confirmed that the latest names were added to the Memorial Wall for Deaths Related to World Trade Center Illnesses at FDNY Headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, where there are currently 363 names. With space for 960 names, Ansbro acknowledged the grim reality: “At the rate we’re going, someday, we will reach that, we believe. Although we pray that 9/11 has claimed its last victims, we sadly know this isn’t the end.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism Party) is demanding that the Israel Defense Forces cancel its policy of forcing towns in Judea and Samaria to let in Palestinian workers, Arutz 7 reported on Monday.

While the military banned Palestinian Authority residents from working in Jewish communities in Yehuda and Shomron in the months following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, the restriction was lifted in late 2023.

Israeli courts subsequently ruled that the IDF has the final say regarding the admission of laborers, essentially giving it the authority to force communities to let in Palestinian workers despite ongoing security concerns.

“The communities must admit Palestinian laborers, even if they express explicit opposition to their entry,” Sukkot noted in a letter to IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth. “Palestinians are banned from entering inside the Green Line due to the security threat; in Yehuda and Shomron, they have to let them in, even if the communities oppose it.”

The current state of affairs “is a situation of discrimination between blood and blood in an unacceptable way,” the Israeli lawmaker charged, asking the IDF Central Command head to address the disparity with the situation inside pre-1967 Israel “as soon as possible” ahead of a discussion in the Knesset Yehuda and Shomron subcommittee.

Last month, following an attack in which a terrorist with a work permit hammered to death an Israeli resident of Shomron, Sukkot called on the government to reverse the decision to allow Palestinians to work in communities and industrial zones throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

“Tens of thousands of Palestinians enter communities in Yehuda and Shomron daily, and are located next to kindergartens, schools and the homes of families whose owners were called to the front lines,” Sukkot wrote in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

He noted that “the vast majority of Yehuda and Shomron Arabs expressed sympathy and support for the murderous actions of Hamas on Oct. 7 and believe the massacre was ‘justified, appropriate and praiseworthy.’”

Before the war, some 200,000 Palestinian workers were employed throughout the Jewish state, including 30,000 in Yehuda and Shomron.

Two surveys last year found that some two-thirds of Palestinians in Yehuda and Shomron support the Oct. 7 attacks, in which thousands of Hamas terrorists broke through the Gaza border, murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands more and took 251 captive.

Plans to readmit Palestinians to Jewish communities have been met with dismay by many Israelis. A poll taken in Eli, a town of some 4,500 inhabitants in the Binyamin region of Shomron, showed that 82% of residents oppose their entry, regardless of additional security measures.

(JNS)

A top U.S. government codebreaker who decrypted secret Soviet communications during the Cold War concluded that Ethel Rosenberg knew about her husband’s activities but “did not engage in the work herself,” according to a recently declassified memo that her sons say proves their mother was not a spy and should lead to her exoneration in the sensational 1950s atomic espionage case. The previously unreported assessment written days after Rosenberg’s arrest and shown to The Associated Press adds to the questions about the criminal case against Rosenberg, who along with her husband, Julius, was put to death in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union. The couple maintained their innocence until the end, and their sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol, have worked for decades to establish that their mother was falsely implicated in spying. The brothers consider the memo a smoking gun and are urging President Joe Biden to issue a formal proclamation saying she was wrongly convicted and executed. Historians have long regarded Julius Rosenberg as a Soviet spy. But questions about Ethel Rosenberg’s role have simmered for years, dividing those who side with the Meeropols and say she had zero role in espionage from some historians who contend there’s evidence she supported her husband’s activities. The handwritten memo from Meredith Gardner, a linguist and codebreaker for what later became known as the National Security Agency, cites decrypted Soviet communications in concluding that Ethel Rosenberg knew about Julius’ espionage work “but that due to illness she did not engage in the work herself.” Ethel Rosenberg went on trial with her husband months after the memo was written despite Gardner’s assessment, which the Meeropols believe would have been available to FBI and Justice Department officials investigating and prosecuting the case. “This puts it on both sides of the Atlantic — in other words, both the KGB and the NSA ended up agreeing that Ethel was not a spy,” Robert Meeropol said in an interview. “And so we have a situation in which a mother of two young children was executed as a master atomic spy when she wasn’t a spy at all.” The Meeropols recently obtained the Aug. 22, 1950, memo from the NSA through a Freedom of Information Act request and provided it to the AP. “This piece of documentation, juxtaposing my father’s work with her not doing the work, it seems to me nails it,” Michael Meeropol said. Secretive findings The document was written more than a week after Ethel Rosenberg’s arrest — her husband was arrested a month earlier — presumably to summarize what was known about a Soviet spy ring operating in the U.S. at the height of the Cold War and associated with the development of the atomic bomb. It refers to Julius Rosenberg, who worked as a civil engineer, by his Soviet code names — first “Antenna” and later “Liberal” — and characterizes him as a recruiting agent for Soviet intelligence. In a separate paragraph titled, “Mrs. Julius Rosenberg,” Gardner describes a decoded message as saying Ethel Rosenberg was a “party member” and “devoted wife” who knew of her husband’s work but didn’t engage in it. Harvey Klehr, a now-retired Emory University historian, said this week that the memo notwithstanding, his position is that Ethel Rosenberg conspired […]

North Carolina’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can have his name removed from election ballots in the key swing state, denying an appeal from the State Board of Elections that would have kept him on the ballot.

Local election officials estimate that designing, printing and preparing new ballots without Kennedy’s name will delay the process of sending out ballots by a minimum of two weeks and cost cash-strapped county offices more than $1 million, The Washington Post reported last week.

If Kennedy stays on the ballot, “it could disenfranchise countless voters who mistakenly believe that plaintiff remains a candidate for office,” the North Carolina Supreme Court said in its 4-3 ruling.

It acknowledged that the process of printing new ballots will “require considerable time and effort by our election officials and significant expense to the State” but said that this was a price worth paying to “protect voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience.”

When Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed former president Donald Trump last month, he also requested that his name be withdrawn from ballots in 10 battleground states, which he said was to ensure he does not swing the election to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

Earlier this week, the North Carolina State Court of Appeals ordered a reprint of mail ballots without Kennedy’s name, prompting the State Board of Elections to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

In its plea, the board pointed out that Kennedy had not sought to remove his name in all states, mitigating his right to do so in North Carolina, particularly considering how local election officials would be adversely affected.

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said Monday in a statement following the North Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling that 27 counties had started printing ballots and almost all others had finalized their proofs at the time of Kennedy’s withdrawal announcement Aug. 23.

More than half of the counties had started printing ballots by the time Kennedy’s campaign contacted the state board three days later to ask about the process of withdrawing his name, Bell said.

“We will continue to consult with counties and ballot vendors to determine the feasible start date for distributing absentee ballots statewide,” she said, adding that discussions had begun with the Defense Department on a potential waiver of the Sept. 21 federal deadline to send out overseas and military ballots, should ballots not be ready in all counties by that date.

Earlier Monday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against Kennedy’s request to remove his name from ballots there, reversing a lower court’s ruling last week.

Kennedy “neither pointed to any source of law that prescribes and defines a duty to withdraw a candidate’s name from the ballot nor demonstrated his clear legal right to performance of this specific duty,” the decision said.

Harris and Trump are locked in a tight race in the seven battleground states that are most likely to determine the outcome of the election. In North Carolina, Trump currently leads Harris by less than one point, according to The Washington Post’s polling average, while Harris leads Trump by one point in Michigan.

(c) Washington Post

Police officers from the Lev HaBira station in Jerusalem were called to a street in Mea Shearim on Monday evening due to concerns that there were illegal residents in the area. The officers who arrived at the scene conducted searches in a building under renovation, and after hearing noises from inside, they entered and found two Palestinians from Yehudah and Shomron, aged 19 and 20, lying on the roof of the apartment. The two were arrested by the officers. During the searches conducted by the officers, using ladders to navigate between the levels of the house, they identified another suspect – a 48-year-old Palestinian Authority resident, who was also arrested. This incident joins another arrest that took place a few hours earlier in the same neighborhood. Shortly after 4:00 PM, a report was received about a suspect and officers were dispatched to the scene, where they spotted a suspect walking down the street. Despite claiming to be a resident of East Jerusalem and 16 years old, a thorough investigation revealed that he was an 18-year-old illegal resident of Al-Eizariya, a town in the Palestinian Authority. The officers searched his belongings and found ammunition. The suspect was arrested and taken for questioning at the police station. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

In what can only be described as a groundbreaking strategy to combat antisemitism, Harvard University has responded to growing concerns by… expanding kosher food options. That’s right—while antisemitism continues to rise, the Ivy League’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism has concluded that the real solution to this age-old issue lies in what Jewish students can eat for lunch. “The university must ensure a welcoming environment for religiously observant Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” the task force declared, as if a nice kosher meal would be the key to solving centuries of hatred and discrimination. Their bold recommendation? Hot kosher lunches should be available by the start of next term at Hillel or at least one of the River Houses and at the Radcliffe Quad. In addition, the task force graciously suggested that pork products should be clearly marked in all dining facilities. Two months later, Harvard has triumphantly rolled out expanded kosher options—presumably because nothing alleviates the sting of growing antisemitism like some matzo ball soup. The university now boasts kosher offerings at Annenberg Hall and Pforzheimer House, where hot entrees and sides will be served from Sunday to Friday, and cold selections will be available on Shabbos. This grand gesture of inclusivity will be achieved with compostable wares—because even antisemitism needs to be eco-friendly. Jacob Miller, a Harvard senior and former president of Harvard Hillel, hailed the new kosher options as a “big win.” “The previous kosher lunch options were inadequate,” Miller told the Harvard Crimson, adding that these changes will “directly increase the quality of life for people who keep kosher or keep kosher-style.” Meanwhile, actual discussions about addressing antisemitism on campus? Well, those might have to wait. For now, at least Jewish students can enjoy a hot kosher meal while pondering the broader societal issues that apparently don’t need immediate attention. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Congress is set to grill former New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on Tuesday about his administration’s controversial directive to send more than 9,000 coronavirus-infected people back into nursing homes in the earliest days of the pandemic and other decisions he made that drew national scrutiny.

The hearing, coming more than four years after the order was issued and more than three years after Cuomo resigned as governor amid a cascade of sexual harassment complaints, arrives as many Americans have shifted their focus away from a virus that once dominated daily life. But Democrats in Congress have repeatedly joined Republicans to insist that Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic deserves scrutiny, with lawmakers asking why Cuomo’s administration balked at releasing accurate data on nursing home deaths and whether his family received preferential access to limited coronavirus tests.

In an interview, the congressman leading Tuesday’s hearing said it would provide a measure of accountability after New York’s order sparked a public health and political crisis.

“Our basic, point one, of the committee is do an after-action review and see what the lessons learned are,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), who chairs the House panel dedicated to investigating the nation’s coronavirus response. “Mistakes were made.”

A report issued Monday by the panel’s Republicans also concluded that Cuomo and his aides worked to influence a New York health department report that shifted blame for the nursing home deaths away from the Cuomo administration’s order.

Ahead of the hearing, Cuomo defended his actions as decisions made amid an unprecedented public health emergency and has blamed the ongoing scrutiny on political rivals. Tuesday’s hearing comes hours before a scheduled prime-time presidential debate where former president Donald Trump, a Cuomo foe, may be asked about his own failures in responding to the coronavirus.

“Remember what this [inquiry] is for the Republicans: an election-year block-and-tackle operation to protect Donald Trump and deflect from his leadership failures throughout COVID,” Cuomo wrote in a Daily Beast op-ed published Monday.

The March 2020 order by Cuomo’s administration – issued as New York reeled from the nation’s first surge of coronavirus, and intended to preserve hospital capacity – forced the state’s nursing homes to readmit residents who had developed covid, exposing many facilities’ older and often vulnerable residents to a deadly disease months before vaccines and treatments became available.

The decision has been linked to the deaths of at least hundreds and potentially thousands of people, according to outside experts and analysts. Those experts and some officials have acknowledged there was no need to force nursing homes to house coronavirus-infected patients given ample emergency capacity elsewhere in New York City, the outbreak’s epicenter in March 2020, and across the state. A pair of temporary hospitals, including a Navy hospital ship, went mostly unused.

Cuomo and his aides have repeatedly been unable to specify who wrote the nursing home order, which came to haunt the New York governor after he received national praise, a book deal and even an Emmy award for his televised coronavirus briefings early in the pandemic. (Cuomo later lost the Emmy after the sexual harassment allegations.) Families of nursing home residents swiftly demanded answers, and Cuomo rescinded the directive six weeks after it was issued amid public criticism. Advocates planning to attend Tuesday’s hearing say they remain unsatisfied by the former governor’s disclosures.

“I would really like to know who influenced that directive. Because it was not based on science,” said Janice Dean, a Fox News meteorologist whose father-in-law died of covid in a New York nursing home.

The state’s attorney general in January 2021 issued a report concluding that Cuomo’s administration had significantly undercounted nursing home deaths in its public data. In a conversation with state lawmakers the following month, a Cuomo aide blamed some of the administration’s transparency problems on pressure from the Trump administration.

“He has been squirming about it visibly from the moment it became public news and … he rarely speaks about it with honesty,” said Bill Hammond, senior fellow for health policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a New York think tank that sued the state to release nursing home data. Hammond on Monday night posted an analysis of the documents obtained by the House panel, concluding that they show new evidence of patient harms.

While Hammond and others have called for a holistic examination of Cuomo’s actions, many experts and even some members of Congress said they are bracing for Tuesday’s hearing to descend into political grandstanding.

Cuomo will face the same lawmakers who grilled Anthony S. Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an often chaotic hearing this summer that shed little new light on Fauci’s role in the nation’s coronavirus response. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) mocked Fauci and said she did not believe he was worthy of being called “doctor” in one widely shared clip.

Cuomo and his aides have telegraphed their own plan to be combative with the House panel, dismissing it in op-eds and statements as a “MAGA Covid panel” led by a “foot doctor.” (Wenstrup is a podiatric surgeon.)

Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat, made a preemptive plea that participants use Tuesday’s hearing to focus on lessons learned, rather than dwell on political fights. Family members of people who died of covid in New York nursing homes are expected to attend Tuesday’s hearing.

“I’m hoping that because of the amount of pain and suffering that family members have experienced due to the loss of their loved ones, that everybody … handles this hearing with the respect that they deserve,” Ruiz said in an interview Monday night.

Meanwhile, Cuomo has tried to link his nursing home policy to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, and other Democratic governors who also encouraged nursing homes to readmit patients positive for the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic. Hammond said the policies were significantly different, with New York going further than other states in requiring nursing homes to accept such patients, rather than the more flexible approach adopted by Minnesota that allowed nursing homes to turn away infected people.

The panel has spent more than a year examining New York’s nursing home policy, first in a May 2023 hearing with outside experts and then in transcribed interviews with Cuomo and his aides behind closed doors. The interview transcripts were posted on Monday.

Congressional Democrats have said they were shocked by the Cuomo administration’s order, given older Americans’ vulnerability to the virus.

“It wasn’t rocket science” to keep sick patients out of nursing homes, said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), a physician, at last year’s hearing. “Sometimes bad decisions are made. But we have got to try to understand why those decisions were made.”

(c) Washington Post

For Christopher Pugh, the 2020 election was a turning point. He already distrusted the government. But as he watched Fox News coverage in the immediate aftermath of the election and read posts on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X, that distrust grew. He now believes the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen and trusts few people other than former President Donald Trump to deliver him news about election results. “I trust Donald Trump, not the government,” said the 38-year-old Republican from Gulfport, Mississippi. “That’s it.” While most Americans trust government-certified election results at least a “moderate” amount, Republicans are more likely to trust Trump and his campaign, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts. Americans also are heading into the November election with concerns about misinformation. Many have low trust that the information they receive from presidential candidates — particularly Trump, but also Vice President Kamala Harris — is based on factual information. Trump continues to lie about the outcome of the 2020 election, saying it was rigged against him even after dozens of his court challenges failed, reviews, recounts and audits in battleground states all affirmed President Joe Biden’s win, and Trump’s own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Despite no evidence of any widespread fraud, a 2023 poll found that most Republicans believe Biden was not legitimately elected president. As Trump runs as the Republican candidate for the third time, he also is signaling that he can only lose through widespread fraud. Over the weekend he threatened to prosecute those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election should he win in November. “The only way they can beat us is to cheat,” Trump said at a Las Vegas rally in June. The recent findings from the AP-NORC survey show that a significant chunk of Trump’s supporters might be more inclined to believe what he says about the upcoming election results than they are to trust government certifications of election results. About two-thirds of Republicans trust Trump’s campaign at least a moderate amount to provide accurate information about the results of the 2024 election, while only about half say the same about the official certifications of results, the survey found. By contrast, about 9 in 10 Democrats trust the government certification at least a moderate amount, and an overwhelming majority, 82%, also have at least a moderate amount of trust in Harris and her campaign. Most Americans — around 7 in 10 — trust the government certifications of election results at least a moderate amount, according to the survey. Majorities also trust national and local TV news networks, as well as local or national newspapers, to provide accurate information about the outcome of this year’s presidential election. Danielle Almeida, a 45-year-old Democrat from Briarcliff Manor, New York, said she trusts government-certified election results and finds it alarming that some Americans don’t. “In order to have a democracy, we have to trust the system and the results of our elections,” she said, adding that she thinks Trump “does not care about fact-checking because he believes his supporters don’t care, either.” Americans are less likely to trust the campaigns overall — compared to sources such as the government and the media — but they have […]

The U.S. embassy in Yerushalayim released a “security alert” earlier this month noting what has been reported for more than a month—that Israel is delaying a digital entry procedure for visitors from visa-exempt countries until next year.

The Electronic Travel Authorization program will be open, on a voluntary basis, until Dec. 31, per the U.S. embassy. “During the pilot phase, submitting an application will be voluntary and free,” it stated. “Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, all travelers to Israel from visa-exempt countries must have a valid visa or ETA-IL approval before traveling to Israel, and it will cost 25 shekels to submit the application.”

It added that authorizations are good for two years. JNS sought comment from the embassy about whether it recommends that travelers apply during the pilot phase.

Daniel Eleff, founder and CEO of the Cleveland-based discount website DansDeals, told JNS that there is no need for travelers to apply for the digital entry until the very end of the year at earliest.

“Israel’s ETA requirements were announced before the horrific Oct. 7 pogrom took place. Due to the current war, Israel’s tourist numbers are down more than 80% from their peak,” Eleff said. “It’s no surprise to see that something that causes any additional friction, like an ETA form, be postponed.”

Eleff won’t be surprised to see the program postponed further.

“The ETA-IL is more about political reciprocity than security, so implementing it is hardly an urgent concern,” he told JNS. “Visitors to Israel should just ignore it for now and see what happens in late December.”

“If implementation is not further postponed, you can apply for one for free at the end of December, and it would be valid for two years from the application date,” he said. (JNS)

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump face off tonight for their first and possibly only debate before Election Day.

The state of the race as they meet in Philadelphia is starkly different than it was just more than two months ago, when Trump debated President Joe Biden in a performance that accelerated calls for Biden to leave the race. Since then, Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Harris, Trump survived an assassination attempt, and both tickets named running mates and made their cases to voters at their national party conventions.

Special coverage will begin with the PBS News Hour at 6 p.m. EDT. At 8 p.m., the digital special preshow begins, with a look back at major moments from the candidates and where they stand on key issues.

The Matzav.com simulcast of the ABC Presidential Debate will begin at 9 p.m. EDT.

WATCH:

Switzerland has once again claimed the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Countries rankings, marking the third consecutive year and seventh overall that the nation has ranked No. 1. Following Switzerland in the 2024 rankings are Japan (No. 2), the United States (No. 3), Canada (No. 4), and Australia (No. 5). European nations dominated the top 25, occupying 15 spots. Middle Eastern countries the United Arab Emirates and Qatar also made the list, alongside Asian powerhouses Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea. The rankings, developed in partnership with global communications firm WPP and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, are based on a survey of nearly 17,000 people from 36 countries. Participants rated nations on 73 attributes, including innovation, safety, leadership, and commitment to social justice. This year’s analysis included 89 countries, with Kuwait and Iceland joining the rankings for the first time. The Top 10 Best Countries in 2024: Switzerland Japan United States Canada Australia Sweden Germany United Kingdom New Zealand Denmark Switzerland’s consistent performance in key categories has kept it at the top. The country ranked No. 3 for quality of life, No. 5 for entrepreneurship, and No. 7 for social purpose. It also performed well in the “open for business” category (No. 2) and cultural influence (No. 8), though it ranked lower in heritage at No. 29. Meanwhile, Japan climbed four spots to No. 2, excelling in entrepreneurship and innovation, while the United States made its first-ever appearance in the top three. The U.S. rose from No. 5 in 2023 to No. 3 this year, with top rankings in power, agility, and cultural influence. “The United States’ steady climb reflects its global influence and economic resilience,” said analysts from U.S. News. While many top nations have maintained their positions, some countries experienced significant shifts. Finland and Belgium saw the largest drops among the top 25, falling six and five spots, respectively. Conversely, China and Japan experienced the most notable gains, each moving up four spots year-over-year. Israel, which fell 10 spots to No. 46, recorded its lowest ranking since the project began in 2016. The drop was attributed to worsening perceptions in areas like political stability and human rights. “Israel’s standing on the world stage will be drastically affected by this conflict,” said Clionadh Raleigh, CEO of Armed Conflict Location and Event Data. However, Raleigh noted that Israel’s relationships with certain global powers might allow for recovery in the future. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said last night that he is listening to the concerns of the Hamas hostages’ families and doing everything in his power to secure the captives’ release.

“I hear the anguish of the hostages’ families, who have lost what is dearest to them,” the premier said, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“My wife and I go to heart-rending meetings, that are simply heart-breaking. I hear. I listen. I also do not judge. I’m doing everything to return the hostages and to win the war,” Netanyahu continued.

The statement came after Kan News earlier on Monday published a recording of excerpts from a difficult conversation between Netanyahu and Rabbi Elhanan Danino, the father of hostage Ori Danino, who was one of six hostages murdered the terrorist group and whose bodies were found by IDF troops in a tunnel in Rafah on Aug. 31.

During the tense talk, a shiva call with family members in Yerushalayim, Danino implored Netanyahu to stop “messing around with nonsense and making quarrels” and to not “get involved in petty, cheap politics and spin,” adding, “without unity we do not deserve this country.”

“Stop messing with collecting mandates and messing with polls…. Stop. I really don’t know if there was a deal or not, but forgive me, sir, it all happened during your shift,” said Danino.

“My son was murdered in a tunnel you built, on your watch. Forgive me, forgive me, you’ve been in power for many years, a lot, the concrete and the dollars came in on your watch … you owe everyone’s lives …. God forbid, I don’t decide; I’m not part of the discussion out there. We kept quiet for 11 months because we believe in God, I believe that nothing will change. Close yourself off and think about the Jewish value you bring….” JNS

{Matzav.com Israel}

A hospital in northwest England where a neonatal nurse was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven others is facing an inquiry into how so many newborns were harmed. The investigation at the Countess of Chester Hospital begins Tuesday against a push by supporters of former nurse Lucy Letby for a legal review of the evidence used against her. But the inquiry being held in Liverpool won’t review the legal basis for Letby’s convictions. Instead, it will look at what failures led babies to repeatedly be harmed, how complaints by staff were managed and how parents were treated. It will also explore the culture within the National Health Service, which had a similar scandal when nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four infants and attacking nine others at Grantham Hospital in 1991. “Everyone was determined that it would not happen again,” said Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, an appellate judge leading the inquiry. “It has happened again. This is utterly unacceptable. I want to know what recommendations were made in all these inquiries, I want to know whether they were implemented? What difference did they make? Where does accountability lie for errors that are made?” Letby, 34, was convicted in 2023 of murder for seven infants and attempted murder of six others — including two attempts on one child. A case in which jurors couldn’t reach a decision was retried and Letby was convicted in July of another attempted murder. She was sentenced to 15 life terms with no chance of release — only the fourth woman in the United Kingdom to receive such a term. Prosecutors said she harmed babies in ways that left little trace, including injecting air into their bloodstreams, administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes, poisoning them with insulin and interfering with breathing tubes. She was the only employee on duty in the neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died between June 2015 and June 2016. Prosecutors described her as a “constant malevolent presence.” Letby testified that she never harmed a child and still maintains she is innocent. Although her appeals were rejected, another lawyer hopes to bring new evidence before the Criminal Cases Review Commission, or CCRC, which looks into possible injustices and could trigger an appeal. A growing number of supporters have rallied to her cause, particularly after a lengthy New Yorker article in May raised doubts about the circumstantial and statistical evidence used against her. A group of scientists, doctors and legal experts sent a confidential letter to Britain’s ministers of health and justice, asking to postpone the inquiry or look at a broader range of factors that led to the deaths of babies, “without the presumption of criminal intent,” at the hospital. The group that independently reviewed scientific evidence at Letby’s trial warned legal systems were “particularly vulnerable to errors” when dealing with technical matters, “especially in cases involving statistical anomalies in health care settings.” Numerous scientists have criticized the prosecution’s use of a chart showing Letby was always on shift when babies collapsed or died. In comparison, the chart showed that each of the other 38 nurses on staff were on staff only a few times when the babies were in danger. The chart also didn’t include the deaths of babies for which Letby […]

Sabah Haniyeh, the sister of Ismail Haniyeh, who served as the head of Hamas’s political until he was assassinated in Tehran in July, has been charged in Israel with incitement and identification with a terrorist organization.

In the transcript of her interrogation by the Israeli Police, published by Channel 12 for the first time on Monday, Sabah denies any connection to the terrorist organization.

“I’ve been in Israel for more than 40 years, I’ve been here since 1980,” she said, adding that she hadn’t been in touch with her brother in a long time. “The last time was before the war, almost a year ago.”

“We don’t talk about politics,” she insisted. “Once a year he calls, asks how I am, and that’s it. He doesn’t talk to us about anything and we don’t talk to him about anything. We don’t interfere in his things and he doesn’t interfere in our lives.”

The investigator challenged her claim that she wasn’t involved in the terror war against Israel: “The evidence shows that you use social media and spread pro-Hamas and pro-Gaza content.”

Sabah denied that she posted anything to social media and demanded that the interrogator show her the material.

He replied that police had the material, that she was a Hamas supporter and that “because of this, you have been arrested.”

Sabah, who was born in Gaza, gained Israeli citizenship through her marriage to an Arab Israeli. She told police interrogators that she is the only member of her family in Israel.

The rest died in Gaza, except for her brother, she said. The questioning took place prior to Ismail Haniyeh’s death in July.

(JNS)

Veteran pollster and former GOP strategist Frank Luntz has criticized former President Donald Trump’s recent vow to use the power of government to imprison his political opponents, calling it a “remarkable act of self-sabotage” for his 2024 campaign. Luntz’s remarks came over the weekend after Trump posted a controversial message on both X and Truth Social. “I have never seen a candidate more determined to blow an election,” Luntz wrote, sharing Trump’s post. He urged Trump to focus on key public issues such as affordability and immigration security, rather than making threats against political rivals. “Message to Donald: Focus on helping voters, not yourself,” Luntz added. Trump’s post declared his intention to monitor the 2024 presidential election closely, warning that those who engaged in “cheating” during the 2020 election would face prosecution and long prison sentences if he wins. “We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T!” Trump wrote, promising to pursue legal action against “Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials” involved in alleged wrongdoing. The post drew widespread condemnation, with critics accusing Trump of embracing authoritarian tactics and undermining the independence of the Department of Justice. Many also saw his statement as an escalation of his ongoing efforts to delegitimize the 2020 election results. “Heading into the home stretch, Trump’s campaign is pretty good this time. His campaign operations are better than 2016 and 2020… But he is not,” Luntz wrote. He added that the issues, including economic concerns and immigration, remain in Trump’s favor, but warned that Trump could sabotage his own chances if he continues with such rhetoric. Luntz concluded his analysis with a quote from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu: “You can’t have something stolen from you if you’ve already given it away,” suggesting that Trump’s behavior could ultimately cost him the election. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Yerushalayim has rejected a proposed visit to the Gaza Strip by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

Egypt had agreed to allow Abbas to enter Gaza via the Rafah border crossing but demanded that Israel approve the visit, which it did not.

An Arab diplomat from a country in the region confirmed to Kan that Ramallah had appealed to Israel and Egypt to assist with the visit.

According to the source, Egypt is ready to open the Rafah crossing to Abbas because it wants to strengthen its presence in Gaza and prepare for the P.A. to control the territory after the war, including the Gaza side of the crossing.

A senior P.A. official in Ramallah told Kan last month that an official request had also been submitted to Israel for Abbas to enter the Strip via one of the Israeli crossings, at Erez or Kerem Shalom.

The P.A. leader has not visited Gaza since Hamas violently seized control of the enclave in 2007.

(JNS)