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Americans can now renew their passports online, bypassing a cumbersome mail-in paper application process that often caused delays. The State Department announced Wednesday that its online passport renewal system is now fully operational. “By offering this online alternative to the traditional paper application process, the Department is embracing digital transformation to offer the most efficient and convenient passport renewal experience possible,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. After staffing shortages caused mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lengthy passport processing delays, the department ramped up hiring and introduced other technological improvements that have reduced wait times by about one-third over last year. It says most applications are now completed in far less than the advertised six weeks to eight weeks and the online renewal system is expected to further reduce that. The system will allow renewal applicants to skip the current process, which requires them to print out and send paper applications and a check by mail, and submit their documents and payment through a secure website, www.Travel.State.Gov/renewonline. (AP)

The owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse recklessly cut corners and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel, the Justice Department alleged Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port. The lawsuit filed in Maryland provides the most detailed account yet of the cascading series of failures on the Dali that left the vessel’s pilots and crew completely helpless in the face of looming disaster. The Justice Department alleges that mechanical and electrical systems on the massive container ship had been “jury-rigged” and improperly maintained, culminating in a horrific power outage moments before it crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. Six construction workers were killed when the bridge crumbled into the water. “This tragedy was entirely avoidable,” if not for the companies’ decision to place an “ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel,” says the lawsuit against Dali owner Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and manager Synergy Marine Group, both of Singapore. “They did so to reap the benefit of conducting business in American ports. Yet they cut corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure,” the complaint says. Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for Grace Ocean, said the owner and manager had no comment at this time but “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.” Justice Department officials refused to answer questions Wednesday about whether a criminal investigation into the bridge collapse remains ongoing. FBI agents boarded the vessel in April amid a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the catastrophe. The ship was leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka when its steering failed because of the power loss. Six members of a road work crew on the bridge were killed in the collapse. The men were working an overnight shift filling potholes on the bridge deck. The collapse snarled commercial shipping traffic through the Port of Baltimore for months before the channel was fully opened in June. The companies filed a court petition days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability in what could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history. Justice Department officials said there is no legal support for the companies’ bid to limit their legal liability and they would vigorously contest it. “With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in written statement. The case comes a day after the victims’ families declared their intent to file a claim seeking to hold the ship’s owner and manager fully liable for the disaster. Several other interested parties, including city officials and local businesses, have filed opposing claims accusing the companies of negligence. Documents released last week by the National Transportation Safety Board showed that investigators discovered a loose cable on the ship that, when disconnected, triggered an electrical blackout similar to what happened as it approached the bridge on March 26. But the Dali had already been experiencing power issues in the hours before the collapse. The first blackout occurred when […]

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, announced on Wednesday that his office reached an agreement with Christopher Brown, 23, to plead guilty “for possessing a firearm as part of a planned terror attack on the New York Jewish community in 2022.”

Brown pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to a count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, Bragg’s office said. It added that Brown is slated to be sentenced on Nov. 13 “to a promised sentence of 10 years in state prison, followed by five years post-release supervision.”

“Christopher Brown has been held accountable for his plan to commit a violent, antisemitic terrorist attack,” Bragg stated. “Thankfully, we were able to intervene and prevent him from following through.”

“I want Manhattan’s Jewish community to know that we are remaining extremely vigilant against threats of violence during this time of rising antisemitism, and our terrorism and hate-crimes units are continuing to conduct proactive investigations to keep everyone safe,” he added.

Brown admitted in the plea agreement that he wrote antisemitic posts on social media, including “God wants me to shoot up a synagogue and die” and “gonna ask a priest if I should become a husband or shoot up a synagogue and die,” in November 2022. He also “used social media to express support for Nazi ideology and accelerationism, a form of racially and ethnically motivated extremism,” per Bragg’s office.

He also “discussed getting tattoos of Nazi insignia, including a swastika on his heart,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stated, and “expressed support for and a desire to emulate Brenton Tarrant, who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.”

When officers arrested Brown on Nov. 18, 2022, at Penn Station in New York City, he had a knife, a swastika armband and a ski mask in his backpack. He had purchased a loaded gun in Pennsylvania for $650, the DA’s office said.

(JNS)

Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) is still waiting for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding his inquiry into the ongoing suspension of flights to Israel by U.S. airlines. Molinaro, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, requested clarification from FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on whether the agency had advised or encouraged airlines to halt flights to Israel. The congressman set a deadline of Sept. 6 but has yet to receive a reply. “With no answers and Jewish travelers left in limbo, there’s a growing perception that the FAA and Department of Transportation are involved in anti-Israel politics. They fear this is a boycott,” Molinaro said in a statement to Jewish Insider. An FAA spokesperson responded to the inquiry, saying the agency would “respond directly” to the congressman. Last month, Molinaro sent a letter to Whitaker asking for details on any official or unofficial communications between the FAA, U.S. airlines, and the International Civil Aviation Organization over the last two months. He also requested information on how the FAA ensures that political considerations do not influence its decision-making process. Molinaro noted the frustration of his constituents, many of whom had flights to Tel Aviv canceled with no clear timeline for resumption. He highlighted that non-U.S. airlines continue to fly into Israel without issue, while American carriers remain grounded. “Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is considered one of the safest airports in the world,” he added. The congressman also pointed out that the FAA’s last warning regarding Israeli airspace was issued in October 2023, following Hamas’ attack on Israel. Since then, there have been no new FAA advisories, yet U.S. airlines have maintained their suspension of flights, raising questions about the reasons behind the continued disruption. The issue gained further attention after Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) sent a letter to the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta, and United, urging them to reconsider their flight suspensions to avoid “discrimination against the Jewish State.” Torres’ staff has reportedly been in contact with the airlines, but no official response has been provided. The flight suspensions were extended after Iran launched missile attacks on Israel in April, which were intercepted by Israeli defense systems. American Airlines recently announced it would continue suspending flights to Israel until April 2025, while Delta has pushed its return to service until September 30, 2024. United Airlines has indefinitely suspended flights to Israel after a brief resumption earlier this year, leaving El Al as the only airline flying directly from the U.S. to Israel. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

When Ilan Buaron, a delivery driver for the popular delivery app Wolt, set out to deliver a pizza in Ramat Gan at 2am on Tuesday night, he had no idea the dramatic turn his delivery would take.

Buaron, aged 22, picked up the pizza from a restaurant, and was driving his moped towards the destination when he received a message on his cell phone. Buaron, who has been volunteering the past few years for Magen David Adom, received a message that a women was giving birth inside her home nearby.

Realizing the address was only two blocks away from his location, Buaron zoomed over to the women’s house, pizza in tow. Inside the home, he found a women in an advanced stage of labor. While this was the first time Buaron had been in an active labor situation, he nevertheless successfully delivered the new baby boy.  Baruch Hashem the baby is safe and well.

Despite all that was going on, Buaron even managed to contact to Wolt service center to let them know that the pizza he was carrying was likely not going to make it to its destination.

Buaron said: “I received a notification of an active birth on the way to the delivery address, I stopped here and helped the woman deliver her baby and I’m going to stay here a little longer.” A new pizza was sent to the customer, and when an ambulance soon arrived on the scene, the crew got to enjoy the fresh pizza from their local delivery man.

{Matzav.com}

The FBI has disrupted a group of Chinese hackers who were working at the direction of the Chinese government to infiltrate critical infrastructure in the U.S. and other countries and to spy on and steal data from universities, government agencies and others, Director Chris Wray said Wednesday. The hacking campaign known as Flax Typhoon installed malicious software on thousands of internet-connected devices, including cameras, video recorders, and home and office routers, to create a massive botnet — a network of infected computers. “Flax Typhoon’s actions caused real harm to its victims, who had to devote precious time to clean up the mess when they discovered the malware,” Wray said at the Aspen Cyber Summit. The FBI and Justice Department, which obtained a warrant to seize the botnet’s infrastructure, did not identify any of the targets by name but said they included universities, government agencies, telecommunications providers, media organizations and nongovernmental organizations. Half of the hijacked devices were located in the U.S., Wray said. “This was another successful disruption, but make no mistake — it’s just one round in a much longer fight,” Wray said. “The Chinese government is going to continue to target your organizations and our critical infrastructure, either by their own hand or concealed through their proxies, and we’ll continue to work with our partners to identify their malicious activity, disrupt their hacking campaigns, and bring them to light.” Flax Typhoon was described in a Microsoft report in August 2023 that said the group had stepped up its targeting of Taiwanese organizations as well as government agencies in other countries. The disruption was revealed nine months after Wray disclosed to Congress a separate takedown of a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as Volt Typhoon, in which U.S.-based small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies were hijacked by hackers to cover their tracks as they sowed the malware. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems across the U.S. (AP)

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The owners of the cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year, collapsing the span and killing six workers aboard it, prioritized profits over safety and knowingly let a dangerous, unseaworthy vessel loose on the open water, Justice Department attorneys asserted in a court filing Wednesday.

The court filing – signed by attorneys for the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland – revealed new details of mechanical problems on the Dali container ship and described how its owners took a “Band-Aid approach” to fixing some of them before the crash. It came as part of a civil case in which the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, are trying to cap how much money they could be asked to pay in liabilities at about $43.6 million.

“The ship’s owner and manager-who now ask the Court to limit their liability to less than $44 million-sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to ply the United States’ waterways,” attorneys wrote in the filing. “They did so to reap the profits of conducting business in American ports, while at the same time cutting corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure so that they could save time and money. Those responsible for the vessel must be held fully accountable for the catastrophic harm they caused, and punitive damages should be imposed to deter such misconduct.”

A spokesperson for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a press call Wednesday, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer called the deaths of the six construction workers “needless and heartbreaking.” He said the Justice Department is seeking $100 million in economic damages as well as unspecified punitive damages, a rare move for the government in civil cases but one officials made in the Dali case because of the “egregious facts” they discovered during their investigation.

Erek Barron, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine must “answer for their negligence” and “shoulder the burden” of the $100 million that U.S. government agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Labor, had to spend to clean the bridge wreckage and reopen the Port of Baltimore, one of the nation’s key shipping hubs.

The filing comes just before a Tuesday deadline for involved parties to object to the owner’s request for a damages cap in a case that is likely to be litigated for years, with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

The city of Baltimore and business owners in the region have also challenged the Dali owner’s and operator’s attempts to limit their monetary liability. In the coming days, attorneys for the families of those killed, as well as the state of Maryland, are also expected to make similar arguments in court against the requested cap.

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ship’s crew and owner allowed the Dali to leave port knowing the vessel had serious system problems, though no one has yet been charged criminally with any wrongdoing. Justice Department officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about the status of the criminal case, but the civil filing makes clear that U.S. officials believe that laws were violated.

“This tragedy was entirely avoidable,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “The electrical and mechanical systems on the DALI were improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations and norms for international shipping.”

The ship also experienced power loss the day before the crash – a matter that, by law, should have been reported to the Coast Guard, but was not, according to the filing.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is also investigating the incident, has said previously that the Dali suffered two electrical blackouts the day before the collision and experienced two more blackouts that disabled critical equipment, causing it to careen into a massive bridge spanning the frigid Patapsco River where an eight-person construction crew was doing road repairs.

The Justice Department filing, though, offers a far more detailed and plainspoken account of maintenance issues on the ship and what caused them, as well as a timeline of the minutes before the Dali hit the bridge.

All four backstops meant to help control the ship – the propeller, rudder, anchor and bow thruster – failed to work in the critical moments before the crash because, the department alleged, the Dali was unseaworthy.

The department alleged that about four minutes before the Dali collided with the Key Bridge, its key “number 1” electrical transformer tripped and cut power. That transformer, according to the filing, had long suffered the effects of heavy vibration, which is known to cause systems failures. But rather than fixing the problem, the department said, the ship’s owner and operator “took a Band-Aid approach.”

“They retrofitted the transformer with anti-vibration braces, one of which had cracked over time, had been repaired with welds, and had cracked again,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “And they also wedged a metal cargo hook between the transformer and a nearby steel beam, in a makeshift attempt to limit vibration.”

The Justice Department alleged that vibration problems on the ship were “not isolated.” A former chief officer reported that they were shaking loose the ship’s cargo lashings, and engineers reported they were cracking equipment in the engine room, according to the filing. Those “heavy vibrations” had been reported to Synergy, according to a prior Dali captain.

When the number 1 transformer failed on March 26 – plunging the crew into complete darkness – power should have transferred automatically to a backup, “number 2” transformer within seconds, Justice Department attorneys asserted. But that automated function, they wrote, had been “recklessly disabled,” leaving engineers struggling in the dark to manually reset tripped circuit breakers, a process that took a full minute as the ship surged closer to the bridge.

At the same time, a separate emergency generator should have turned on automatically and restored power steering – a backstop that maritime regulations require to kick in within 45 seconds of an outage. But it did not activate for well over a minute, Justice Department attorneys wrote, causing “more time wasted.”

Once power was restored to the ship’s steering system – known as the helm – a Maryland state pilot who had come aboard in port began issuing orders to steer the ship away from the bridge support beams. But the failed transformers meant the Dali’s propeller still was not working.

Then the ship lost power again.

This time, the Justice Department alleged the cause was an improper fuel pump, called a “flushing pump,” which the attorneys said the ship’s owners used “to save money and for their own convenience.”

“It was not designed to recover automatically from a blackout, a critical safety feature of the proper fuel pumps that the DALI should have been using,” department attorneys wrote, calling the choice to use a flushing pump instead “grossly negligent.”

After both blackouts, the pilot resorted to the left anchor, giving an emergency order to release it in hopes of forcing the Dali away from the bridge, according to the filing. But the anchor “was not ready for immediate release in an emergency, as required by law,” and by the time it dropped, it was too late, the attorneys alleged.

In a separate, “last-ditch” attempt to avoid a crash, the department said the pilot ordered the crew to apply full power to the ship’s bow thruster – a propeller on the front of the vessel that helps it move side to side. But when nothing happened, according to the filing, the pilot was told the bow thruster was unavailable.

At 1:28 a.m., the ship slammed into the bridge.

Six people were killed and two were injured as the roadway fell into the river below, cutting off the Port of Baltimore’s shipping channel for months as the state and federal government worked to recover the bodies of the construction workers and remove massive chunks of debris.

The Justice Department blamed Grace Ocean and Synergy in the filing for mismanaging the Dali and failing to train its crew, adding that during a recent inspection, officials found “loose bolts, nuts, and washers and broken electrical cable ties inside of both step-down transformers and electrical switchboards.” The ship’s electrical equipment “was in such poor condition that an independent testing agency discontinued further electrical testing due to ‘safety concerns,’” the filing said.

(c) Washington Post

Three U.S. citizens, including a Jewish man, have been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for their involvement in a failed coup attempt earlier this year. The men were among 37 individuals sentenced by a military tribunal last week for their participation in the May 19 effort to overthrow the Congolese government. The coup attempt, led by a Congolese political exile and long-time U.S. resident, ended in disaster when security forces foiled the plan, killing six people, including the ringleader. The attack was partially livestreamed before it was thwarted. Following the failed operation, Congolese forces captured the three Americans and dozens of others as they attempted to flee the presidential complex via the Congo River. Among the Americans convicted is Binyamin Reuven Zalman-Polun, a native of the Washington, D.C. area and father of three. Zalman-Polun, who had previously been a member of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, a Reform synagogue in the U.S. capital, had relocated to South Africa with his family several years ago. He was reportedly a business associate of the coup’s leader. The three men have testified that their statements were coerced under duress and without the presence of an interpreter during their interrogation. Despite their pleas, they now face the death penalty, which was reinstated in the DRC earlier this year. The three U.S. citizens are expected to appeal their sentences this week. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A newly released poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) reveals that a majority of Gazans now believe that Hamas’ decision to launch the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was incorrect. The poll, published on Tuesday, shows a significant shift in public opinion, with 57 percent of respondents in Gaza opposing the decision, while 39 percent still support it. This marks the first time since the Oct. 7 assault that a PSR poll has found a majority in Gaza expressing opposition to the attack. In contrast, a previous PSR poll conducted in June showed that 57 percent of Gazans believed the attack was the right decision. In the West Bank, support for the Oct. 7 attack remains higher, with 64 percent of respondents considering it the correct decision, although this also represents a drop in favorability. The PSR poll surveyed 1,200 people face-to-face, including 790 in the West Bank and 410 in Gaza, with a margin of error of 3.5 percent. Since Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza, support for Hamas and its actions has steadily declined in the territory, with the poll showing that only 35 percent of Gazans now support the terrorist group, down from 38 percent. The poll also revealed that despite support for the Oct. 7 attack, nearly 90 percent of respondents believe that Hamas fighters did not commit the atrocities shown in videos from that day. However, extensive documentation has since confirmed that Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas committed mass violence, including assaults against women and torture. The findings also show that Hamas remains more popular than the Fatah movement, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in both Gaza and the West Bank. PSR noted that the poll is the first to show a significant drop in support for the attack in both territories since the conflict began. This shift in public opinion comes amidst accusations from the IDF that Hamas attempted to falsify PSR poll results to inflate support for the group. PSR has investigated the claims and stated that no data manipulation was detected in its findings. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The U.S. State Department’s internal inspector general determined that suspended Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley was improperly allowed to access classified materials after his suspension, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

According to a report obtained by the AP, the department “deviated” from its standard procedures in handling the case and created “significant confusion as to what work Mr. Malley was authorized to do following the suspension.”

“The department failed to consistently notify employees who regularly interacted with Mr. Malley that he was no longer allowed to access classified information,” the report said. “These conditions likely led to special envoy Malley engaging on issues outside the limited scope of issues on which he was authorized to work.”

Malley was allowed to participate in a classified White House call on Iran one day after his suspension was enacted but before he was informed about it, according to the report. Senior State Department officials also successfully restored access to his suspended, unclassified email account.

The inspector general report was circulated within the department on Tuesday and delivered to Congress on Wednesday.

Malley has been on leave without pay from the State Department since June 2023, when media reports revealed that he was under FBI investigation for potentially mishandling classified information. In August 2023, Malley accepted a visiting professorship at Princeton University and a senior fellowship at Yale University despite still being listed by the State Department as its special envoy for Iran.

As the Biden administration’s point man on negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Malley led efforts to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the formal name for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—that he helped negotiate during the Obama administration.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly complained about the lack of transparency regarding Malley’s suspension. In July, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to threaten the department with a subpoena if it was not more forthcoming about Malley’s suspension.

“The department’s failure to cooperate with our repeated inquiries dating back to June 2023 into the suspension of Mr. Robert Malley’s security clearance is deeply troubling,” McCaul and Risch wrote. “Mr. Malley’s alleged misconduct is serious, and the department’s lack of transparency and blatant disregard for the urgency of our requests is unacceptable.”

The State Department has previously declined to comment on the matter beyond confirming that Malley is on leave and that his job responsibilities have been taken over by Abram Paley, the deputy special envoy for Iran.

The State Department did not immediately respond to JNS’s request for comment.

(JNS)

A top supplier of digital devices in U.S. prisons is launching a new program to help incarcerated individuals earn a high school diploma by using the company’s tablets. Advocates say the expansion in virtual education is promising, especially since many inmates lack basic literacy skills. But some advocates have said there are limits to what that prison technology can accomplish. The company ViaPath, which sells secure devices and telecommunications services for use in the criminal justice system, has announced that inmates across the country will soon be able to enroll in virtual classes through a partnership with Promising People, an education technology company, and American High School, a private online school based in South Florida that will grant the diplomas. The asynchronous classes will be available for free on ViaPath’s tablets, 700,000 of which the company says are already in use in nearly 2,000 prisons and jails. “If you get a high school diploma, you get a secondary education along with some trades and skills. The likelihood of you recidivating back into our prisons are very small,” said Tony Lowden, Chief Social Impact Officer for ViaPath. “We believe there’s an opportunity to help men and women come home differently.” A meta-analysis by the RAND Corporation found that education significantly reduces recidivism, suggesting that every $1 invested in education in prisons could save $4-5 on reincarceration costs. Lowden said the high school diploma program will offer a more comprehensive education than existing GED courses and provide inmates with greater earning potential once they’re released. The company said it will also offer career and technical education through virtual reality headsets. ViaPath maintains that its tablets are free for inmates to use and that it won’t charge for the educational programming. Still, prison telecoms is a lucrative industry, with state and local governments signing multimillion dollar contracts for phone services, tablets and apps that inmates can use to call loved ones, stream music or read e-books — for a fee. Charges for those services can rack up quickly for incarcerated individuals who make just 25 cents an hour, if that, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. After being incarcerated for 11 years in Florida, Ryan Moser knows the conveniences of prison tablets — and the shortcomings. “There’s a lot of advantages to the tablet. You can study whenever you want,” said Moser, who’s now a freelance journalist and communications consultant. But using a tablet behind bars isn’t like scrolling on an iPad at home, Moser said. The devices are generally charged or updated at a central kiosk inside the prison, and access can be inconsistent and unpredictable — and is ultimately up to correctional officers. “I remember it taking four days to get my tablet charged,” Moser said. “If you were a discipline problem or if you were someone that gave them an attitude, they might keep (your tablet) for a week, two weeks.” Keri Watson heads the Florida Prison Education Project at the University of Central Florida, which offers college-level courses inside prisons. She has questions about the delivery of virtual instruction behind bars but said she’s heartened by efforts to improve access. “The more programs in as many modalities as possible, the better,” Watson said. Digital infrastructure has helped prisons continue offering programming at times when volunteers can’t get inside, such […]

Electric vehicles made by General Motors have gained access to Tesla’s Superchargers, GM said Wednesday, marking another step forward for efforts to settle on a universal public charger network for battery-powered cars and trucks in the United States.

The update expands the number of vehicles compatible with the North American Charging Standard developed by Tesla. It could also allay some GM customers’ concerns about a lack of charging options.

The new changes take effect immediately, along with sales of the GM-approved power adapters.

“GM’s ongoing efforts to help accelerate the expansion of public charging infrastructure is an integral part of our commitment to an all-electric future,” Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy, said in a statement.

The deal makes roughly 17,800 Tesla Superchargers available to drivers of GM-manufactured vehicles such as the Chevy Bolt, Cadillac Lyriq and Silverado EV, with the help of an adapter that costs $225.

Some Tesla chargers won’t work with GM’s adapter, according to a GM fact sheet. Customers can use their mobile apps to locate compatible chargers, the company said.

GM estimates that the partnership with Tesla contributes to an overall network of 231,800 fast chargers across the United States available to drivers of its vehicles. GM is also part of IONNA, a joint venture of eight automakers that plans to build at least 30,000 high-powered chargers nationwide.

Wednesday’s announcement comes more than a year after General Motors first announced it would adopt the North American Charging Standard.

Several other automakers have agreed to work with the Tesla standard. Ford and Rivian have started distributing adapters for their EVs, while others, such as BMW, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz have promised to start making their vehicles compatible this year or next.

But the move to standardize EV charging infrastructure comes as sales of fully electric vehicles have been slowing industry-wide, leading some automakers to de-emphasize EVs in favor of hybrids.

General Motors delivered 38,355 electric vehicles in the first half of 2024.

(c) Washington Post

The IDF and Shin Bet revealed on Wednesday that former IDF Chief of Staff Bogie Ya’alon was the intended target of the attempted bombing attack in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Erev Rosh Hashanah 2023. “On September 15, 2023, there was an explosion of a device in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv,” the Shin Bet and IDF said. “There were no casualties. The investigation was assigned to the Central Unit of the Tel Aviv District and the Shin Bet. As part of the investigation, suspicions arose that the activation of the device was a terrorist attack attempt aimed at harming civilians who were in Yarkon Park at that time.” “With the progress of the investigation, the investigators from the Central Unit and Shin Bet succeeded in identifying the network involved in planting the explosive device and arrested eight suspects. The understanding of the security officials was that the device was intended to harm a senior official.” “The investigation, which included reviewing footage from cameras in the area around relevant individuals who frequented the attack site at that time, led to the conclusion that the target of the attack was the Chief of Staff and former Defense Minister – Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon.” Ynet reported that Ya’alon took a morning run every day through the park. The detained suspects were Israeli-Arabs who were directed by a Hezbollah operative in Lebanon. “Two suspects admitted to smuggling a bag containing numerous explosive devices, weapons and drugs,” said Elazar Rozilio, an officer with Tel Aviv’s Central Investigations Unit. “The investigation revealed other suspects who helped conceal the materials.” The suspects had “installed a camera on the device to enable remote monitoring of motion through the park pathways. The device was activated on a person mistakenly identified as Moshe Ya’alon but no one was harmed.” “As stated, intensive investigative activity using technological means led to the resolution of the security incident and the arrest of eight suspects. The detention of the suspects was extended periodically and a comprehensive gag order was placed on the investigation. Today, the gag order was lifted and we can now publish the details of the investigation and the security incident.” On Tuesday, the Shin Bet announced that it thwarted another attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior security official. The identity of the official has not yet been revealed. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The Israel Defense Forces has entered a new stage in the conflict against Iran’s regional terrorist proxies, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday, speaking shortly before a second wave of explosions hit Hezbollah communications devices across Beirut and Southern Lebanon.

“I estimate that we are at the beginning of a new period in this war,” he declared, speaking at the Ramat David Airbase near Haifa.

“The center of gravity is moving to the north. This means that we are moving forces, resources and energy to the north,” the defense minister said. “We did not forget the hostages, and we did not forget our missions in the south. This is our duty, and we carry it out simultaneously.”

Regarding the looming war with Hezbollah, he said “this operation is carried out by all the [security] bodies, and the mission is clear and simple: To bring the residents of the north back to their homes safely.”

The IDF is making “excellent achievements together with the Shin Bet [internal security agency], together with the Mossad,” Gallant noted.

“The prime minister, the chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet, of the Mossad, and the defense minister, all of them are participating in a joint effort, with one goal in mind, to bring the residents back,” he added.

Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran, “is not Hamas … and we need to take this into account. We need consistency over time. This war requires courage, determination and perseverance,” according to the defense minister.

Gallant’s office released the remarks shortly after more communications devices used by Hezbollah exploded across the terrorist organization’s main strongholds in Beirut and Southern Lebanon, killing at least nine.

According to the Lebanese government, more than 300 Hezbollah operatives sustained wounds in the latest series of device blasts.

On Tuesday, 2,700-plus Hezbollah operatives were wounded and at least 12 were killed in Lebanon when their pagers exploded, with the terrorist organization saying it held the Jewish state “fully responsible.”

The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Tuesday’s incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major clash with Hezbollah closer to reality.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Wednesday night approved “attack and defense plans for the north,” the army said.

“We still have many capabilities that we have not yet activated, I repeat, we have not yet activated. We saw some of these things here,” Halevi stated in remarks made at the Northern Command base in Tzfas.

“The rule is that every time we work on a certain stage, the next two stages are already ready to advance. At each stage, the price for Hezbollah must be high,” the Israeli army chief concluded.

Earlier on Wednesday, IDF Northern Command Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin said the army is striving to subdue Hezbollah’s threat on the northern border and “change the security reality as soon as possible.”

A U.S. official told ABC News on Tuesday that Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons will likely retaliate against Israel for the pager attacks, but “it could take them time to do so while they assess what happened.”

Israeli security officials also believe that Hezbollah is preparing for a large-scale assault in response to the attack attributed to Yerushalayim, the Israeli Kan News public broadcaster reported on Tuesday night.

(JNS)

A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood on the courthouse square since 1910 — a figure that was tightly wrapped in tarps the past four years, symbolizing the community’s enduring division over how to commemorate the past. Grenada’s first Black mayor in two decades seems determined to follow through on the city’s plans to relocate the monument to other public land. A concrete slab has already been poured behind a fire station about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) from the square. But a new fight might be developing. A Republican lawmaker from another part of Mississippi wrote to Grenada officials saying she believes the city is violating a state law that restricts the relocation of war memorials or monuments. The Grenada City Council voted to move the monument in 2020, weeks after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis. The vote seemed timely: Mississippi legislators had just retired the last state flag in the U.S. that prominently featured the Confederate battle emblem. The tarps went up soon after the vote, shrouding the Confederate soldier and the pedestal he stood on. But even as people complained about the eyesore, the move was delayed by tight budgets, state bureaucracy or political foot-dragging. Explanations vary, depending on who’s asked. A new mayor and city council took office in May, prepared to take action. On Sept. 11, with little advance notice, police blocked traffic and a work crew disassembled and removed the 20-foot (6.1-meter) stone structure. “I’m glad to see it move to a different location,” said Robin Whitfield, an artist with a studio just off Grenada’s historic square. “This represents that something has changed.” Still, Whitfield, who is white, said she wishes Grenada leaders had invited the community to engage in dialogue about the symbol, to bridge the gap between those who think moving it is erasing history and those who see it as a daily reminder of white supremacy. She was among the few people watching as a crane lifted parts of the monument onto a flatbed truck. “No one ever talked about it, other than yelling on Facebook,” Whitfield said. Mayor Charles Latham said the monument has been “quite a divisive figure” in the town of 12,300, where about 57% of residents are Black and 40% are white. “I understand people had family and stuff to fight and die in that war, and they should be proud of their family,” Latham said. “But you’ve got to understand that there were those who were oppressed by this, by the Confederate flag on there. There’s been a lot of hate and violence perpetrated against people of color, under the color of that flag.” The city received permission from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to move the Confederate monument, as required. But Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes of Picayune said the fire station site is inappropriate. “We are prepared to pursue such avenues that may be necessary to ensure that the statue is relocated to a more suitable and appropriate location,” she wrote, suggesting a Confederate cemetery closer to the courthouse square as an alternative. She said the Ladies Cemetery Association is willing to deed a parcel to the city to make it happen. The Confederate monument in Grenada is one of hundreds in the South, most of which were dedicated during […]

Jerusalem’s Old City and Yehuda and Shomron must be judenrein within a year, according to a Palestinian-drafted resolution, which the U.N. General Assembly passed on Wednesday.

The resolution, which passed by a 124-14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to give force to a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line.

More than 40 countries sponsored the resolution, which was the first that Palestinians filed after being granted unprecedented privileges, for a non-U.N. member, earlier this year.

The resolution calls on the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw completely from Yehuda and Shomron, eastern Yerushalayim and Gaza within 12 months, which means evacuating all Jewish communities beyond the armistice line, including Yerushalayim’s Old City.

It also bans arms sales to the IDF of any equipment that would be expected reasonably to be used in the territory over the 1949 lines and calls for a boycott of all products produced by Jews in those areas.

The resolution text lacks any mention of Israeli security concerns, historic ties to the lands or Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

The vote came after a day of debate on Tuesday.

Argentina, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the United States joined Israel in opposing the resolution.

Notably, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ukraine and Australia were among those who abstained.

General Assembly resolutions have no legal force, but the resolution’s passage on Wednesday is expected to be used in international courts and other fora to seek additional action against the Jewish state.

It is widely expected that the Palestinians will request that the U.N. Security Council take up the issue. Security Council resolutions are binding, but the United States would be expected to thwart such an effort, including with its veto power.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called it “a shameful decision that backs the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic terrorism.”

He added that the General Assembly “continues to dance to the music of the Palestinian Authority, which backs the Hamas murderers.”

Before the vote, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters he would back the implementation of the resolution should it pass.

Seth Riklin and Daniel Mariaschin, president and CEO respectively of B’nai B’rith International, said that the international nonprofit is “appalled” by the “atrocious” resolution.

“B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns the U.N. General Assembly’s passage of the first resolution officially sponsored by Palestinians days after they became the first non-member state group further upgraded to many member state privileges at the U.N. General Assembly, despite the world body’s own rules and practices,” the duo stated.

“Coming from an assembly in which Arab and other pro-Palestinian governments wield an automatic majority to annually condemn Israel more than all other countries combined, the motion is unprecedented in its shamelessly one-sided endorsement of Palestinian claims and political demands, and further erodes the U.N.’s credibility as a serious contributor to promoting conflict-resolution and universal human rights,” they added.

“Shame on all countries that enabled this atrocious affront to justice and peace as part of the latest UNGA ’emergency session’ on the Middle East that does nothing to help seriously address and settle the emergency,” Riklin and Mariaschin said.

Arsen Ostrovsky and Nadav Steinman, CEO and board chair respectively of the International Legal Forum, stated that “today, simply put, the United Nations has become the diplomatic arm of Hamas” and that the resolution “is just the latest in a litany of obscenely one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N. since Oct. 7.”

“All it does is reward the murderers, rapists and abductors of Hamas while pouring further fuel on worldwide antisemitism and eroding whatever remaining credibility of the already problematic and politicized International Court of Justice, upon which this resolution is meant to be based,” they added. “Ultimately, peace will only prevail when Hamas is defeated and the hostages are released, not through tiresome antics and pyrrhic Palestinian ‘victories’ at the U.N.”

(JNS)

REPORTER: “What’s the white House response to the exploding walkie-talkies in Lebanon today?” KIRBY: “What I can tell you is we were not involved in yesterday’s incidents or today’s in any way, and I don’t have anything more to share.”

Tupperware, a household brand once so popular it became the name of an entire product category, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday as consumers’ evolving shopping behaviors and increased competition led to slumping sales.

“Over the last several years, the Company’s financial position has been severely impacted by the challenging macroeconomic environment,” Laurie Ann Goldman, president and chief executive of Tupperware, said in a statement. “As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward.”

Tupperware, which came close to finding itself in this position last year, will seek court approval to start a sale process for the business to protect its brand and advance its “transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company,” the company said.

The Orlando-based food storage company will also seek court approval to continue operating during the bankruptcy process, including continuing to pay employees, as well as compensating vendors and suppliers for goods and services provided on or after the filing date.

“We plan to continue serving our valued customers with the high-quality products they love and trust throughout this process,” Goldman added.

A retailer or another homewares group may be interested in purchasing the brand, said Neil Saunders, managing director of analytics firm GlobalData, but only for a low price, given the brand’s waning growth prospects.

The news comes just more than a year after the company narrowly avoided bankruptcy. In August 2023, four months after Tupperware expressed “substantial doubt” about its viability amid declining sales, the company announced a deal to restructure its debt. Tupperware reduced its interest payments on debt by $150 million, secured a borrowing capacity of up to $21 million, cut its debt by $55 million and got a deadline extension to repay $348 million in interest and fees to the 2027 fiscal year.

Executives were “confident” in the restructuring plan, chief financial officer Mariela Matute said in a news release at the time.

A year later, the plan didn’t have legs to sustain the company. In June, Tupperware reported it was shuttering its only U.S. facility, in Hemingway, S.C., and would start laying off almost 150 employees later this month and through early next year, Retail Dive reported.

Founded in 1946 by chemist Earl Tupper, the food container brand quickly became a household name as women began selling the product in their homes in what was coined Tupperware parties.

But the business model that once enabled the company’s rise eventually led to its fall. Despite adapting to direct-to-consumer sales and stocking shelves in Target, increased competition and diminishing nostalgia around the brand led to declining sales.

Consumers are also seeking inexpensive alternatives, Saunders said. “Competition has intensified over recent years with the rise of cheaper platforms like Temu, and with retailers like Target innovating more with their own home storage and kitchenware brands,” he said.

(c) Washington Post