New research suggests Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could offer an unexpected boost for some cancer patients. A study has found that people with advanced lung or skin cancer lived significantly longer if they received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy. Researchers say it’s not about protection from the virus — it’s about the mRNA molecule itself, which seems to “activate” the immune system and help cancer drugs work better.
Pakistan on Thursday banned a radical Islamist party behind recent violent protests that left at least one police officer and four civilians dead, the government said. The decision, approved by the federal Cabinet on the recommendation of the Punjab provincial government, came more than a week after thousands of supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, or TLP, clashed with police on the outskirts of Lahore. The protesters were attempting to march to the capital, Islamabad, to hold a rally in support of Palestinians. More than 100 police officers and dozens of protesters were injured in the clashes. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement that the Cabinet had agreed to outlaw the hard-line TLP under the country’s anti-terrorism law, accusing it of involvement in violent and extremist activities. It’s the second time in recent years that the TLP has been banned. The party was first outlawed in April 2021 after violent protests over the publication of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in France. At that time, TLP demanded the expulsion of the French envoy. The ban was lifted in November 2021 after the group reached a deal with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, a move that drew criticism by many other parties for allowing the group to resume political activities. The statement said TLP did not adhere to the agreement and indulged in violence. However, in its own statement released late Thursday, the TLP rejected the government’s decision to outlaw it, calling the move ”unconstitutional and politically motivated.” The latest ban followed new unrest last week, when security forces dispersed the group’s “long march” near Lahore. Authorities say police are now searching for TLP leader Saad Rizvi, who went into hiding after the clashes erupted on Oct. 13, when protesters tried to remove shipping containers placed by police to block roads to halt their rally. Police suspect Rizvi was hiding somewhere in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after fleeing the outskirts of Lahore, and officers were conducting raids to nab him. However, his party has said it lost contact with Rizvi hours after police launched the operation to disperse the rally near Lahore. Authorities have said that the demonstrators had been determined since Oct. 10 to stage a pro-Palestinian rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, and police repeatedly came under attack by the demonstrators with batons, rocks and guns. Punjab government spokesperson Uzma Bukhari told reporters earlier Thursday that they have sent a summary to Sharif’s government, suggesting to ban TLP for the recent violence. She said the party’s offices have already been shut by the Punjab government. Police have arrested hundreds of TLP supporters since last week, and Bukhari said the party’s bank accounts have been seized, and terror charges are being filed against those members of the party who were involved in attacks on police during the violence. She said a ban that was imposed on rallies last week is still in place in anticipation of any reaction from TLP. TLP, known for staging violent rallies, gained prominence in Pakistan’s 2018 election by campaigning on the single issue of defending the country’s blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam. In the past, it had mainly staged rallies against the desecration abroad of the Quran. (AP)
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As the next Knesset elections draw closer, tensions inside the right-wing bloc are intensifying, particularly between National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich.
The two, who only recently ran together on a joint list, have since clashed over their shared voter base. On Thursday evening, Ben Gvir took a pointed swipe at his former political partner while discussing the coalition’s proposed bill to lower the electoral threshold.
“I’m considering supporting the reduction of the threshold,” Ben Gvir told Kan News. “I want to help him,” he added with a smirk, alluding to polls showing Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party hovering dangerously close to failing to cross the minimum vote percentage needed to enter the next Knesset.
Ben Gvir also criticized Smotrich’s recent remarks about Saudi Arabia, in which the finance minister quipped that the Saudis should “keep riding camels” if they demand a Palestinian state as a condition for normalization.
“I wouldn’t speak that way about camels or the desert,” Ben Gvir said. “We must speak respectfully about every person. I don’t like those kinds of statements about people.”
In the last election, the two right-wing leaders were pressured by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to unite out of fear that separate runs would waste right-wing votes and jeopardize the bloc’s majority. Whether the coalition will now move forward with lowering the electoral threshold — potentially allowing them to part ways without risk — remains to be seen.
{Matzav.com}
WATCH: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas Has Arrived in Monsey to Headline an Event Supporting Congressman Mike Lawler
Shares of American Airlines surged after the airline raised its annual profit forecast, signaling a recovery in pricing power following a challenging few months for the industry.
Alaska Airlines has grounded all flights nationwide tonight due to an IT outage impacting operations.
AG Pam Bondi announces investigations into Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and others for allegedly targeting ICE agents.
China and India have reduced their Russian oil imports to comply with US sanctions targeting Rosneft and Lukoil.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a majority of Americans support US recognition of a Palestinian state, with 59% of respondents in favor, 33% opposed, and the remainder unsure or declining to answer.
It was revealed that Zohran Mamdani attended last night’s debate with a private security detail, highlighting the contrast between his personal protection and his stance on defunding the police.
California, under Governor Gavin Newsom, has issued 62,000 commercial driver’s license permits to illegal aliens and migrants.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a stern warning to cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S., saying, “So our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated Al-Qaeda. We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down and we will kill you.”
President Putin declared that Russia would never yield to U.S. pressure, describing the sanctions as an “unfriendly” act and insisting they would “not significantly impact our economic well-being.”
FBI Director Kash Patel fired back at Stephen A. Smith’s claim that the NBA gambling bust was “revenge” from President Trump for the league’s left-wing activism, calling it “the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard out of anyone in modern history—and I live most of my time in Washington, D.C.”
Trump: “A friend of mine called the other day and said he wanted to cover any shortfall caused by the Democrats’ shutdown. Today, he sent us a check for $130 million—it’s going straight to the military.”
At a White House roundtable on cartel activity, President Trump denied reports that B-1B bombers were flying near Venezuela—despite radar evidence suggesting otherwise—stating, “No, it’s not accurate. No, it’s false. But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons.”
U.S. home sales are finally showing signs of life. Existing-home sales rose 1.5% in September — the fastest pace since February — as mortgage rates dipped and more listings hit the market. The median home price climbed 2.1% from last year to $415,200, a record high for September. Inventory rose 14% from a year ago but remains below pre-pandemic levels. With 30-year mortgage rates falling to around 6.27%, more buyers are reentering the market — though affordability remains a major hurdle after years of soaring prices.
An inspiring encounter took place in Yerushalayim when the Rebbe of Sanz paid a visit to the home of the Slonimer Rebbe on Rechov Salant. The meeting between the two rebbes centered on reflections about the recent war, the miracles that Klal Yisroel has witnessed, and the extraordinary flourishing of Torah learning across the nation.
The two rebbes spoke at length about what the Jewish people have endured over the past two years. The Sanzer Rebbe expressed deep gratitude to Hashem “for the chassodim gedolim and open miracles experienced during this difficult period.”
The Slonimer Rebbe, filled with wonder, noted that baruch Hashem, “the number of benches in the batei medrash has multiplied to a degree never before seen in Jewish history.” In response, the Sanzer Rebbe remarked that “perhaps this very growth explains why there is such fierce opposition to the Torah hakdosha today.”
The visit concluded with the Rebbes sharing a lechaim and parting with warm brachos for peace and continued hatzlacha in spreading Torah throughout Klal Yisroel.
{Matzav.com}
Clippy, the animated paper clip that annoyed Microsoft Office users nearly three decades ago, might have just been ahead of its time. Microsoft introduced a new artificial intelligence character called Mico (pronounced MEE’koh) on Thursday, a floating cartoon face shaped like a blob or flame that will embody the software giant’s Copilot virtual assistant and marks the latest attempt by tech companies to imbue their AI chatbots with more of a personality. Copilot’s cute new emoji-like exterior comes as AI developers face a crossroads in how they present their increasingly capable chatbots to consumers without causing harm or backlash. Some have opted for faceless symbols, others like Elon Musk’s xAI are selling flirtatious, human-like avatars and Microsoft is looking for a middle ground that’s friendly without being obsequious. “When you talk about something sad, you can see Mico’s face change. You can see it dance around and move as it gets excited with you,” said Jacob Andreou, corporate vice president of product and growth for Microsoft AI, in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s in this effort of really landing this AI companion that you can really feel.” In the U.S. only so far, Copilot users on laptops and phone apps can speak to Mico, which changes colors, spins around and wears glasses when in “study” mode. It’s also easy to shut off, which is a big difference from Microsoft’s Clippit, better known as Clippy and infamous for its persistence in offering advice on word processing tools when it first appeared on desktop screens in 1997. “It was not well-attuned to user needs at the time,” said Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Microsoft pushed it, we resisted it and they got rid of it. I think we’re much more ready for things like that today.” Reimer, co-author of a new book called “How to Make AI Useful,” said AI developers are balancing how much personality to give AI assistants based on who their expected users are. Tech-savvy adopters of advanced AI coding tools may want it to “act much more like a machine because at the back end they know it’s a machine,” Reimer said. “But individuals who are not as trustful in a machine are going to be best supported — not replaced — by technology that feels a little more like a human.” Microsoft, a provider of work productivity tools that is far less reliant on digital advertising revenue than its Big Tech competitors, also has less incentive to make its AI companion overly engaging in a way that’s been tied to social isolation, harmful misinformation and, in some cases, suicides. Andreou said Microsoft has watched as some AI developers veered away from “giving AI any sort of embodiment,” while others are moving in the opposite direction in enabling AI girlfriends. “Those two paths don’t really resonate with us that much,” he said. Andreou said the companion’s design is meant to be “genuinely useful” and not so validating that it would “tell us exactly what we want to hear, confirm biases we already have, or even suck you in from a time-spent perspective and just kind of try to kind of monopolize and deepen the session and increase the time you’re spending with these systems.” “Being sycophantic — short-term, maybe — has a user respond […]
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