The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. After three years of falling homicide totals, 2020 ended with 769 homicides – 274 more than the previous year and the most since the 784 homicides in 2016. The latest shooting victim figures told the same story, with the year ending with 4,033 shooting victims compared with 2,598 the year before. And it never let up, as is illustrated by the fact that in December, there were 50 homicides — 19 more than occurred in December 2019.

Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from refrigeration for two nights. The Grafton Police Department said the former Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. The department said in a news release that he was in jail. Police did not identify the pharmacist, saying he has not yet been formally charged. His motive remains unclear. Police said that detectives believe he knew the spoiled doses would be useless and people who received them would mistakenly think they’d been vaccinated when they hadn’t.

Former CNN talk show host Larry King has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for more than a week, the news channel reported Saturday. Citing an unidentified person close to the family, CNN said the 87-year-old King is undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Hospital protocols have kept King’s family members from visiting him. The Peabody Award-winning broadcaster was among America’s most prominent interviewers of celebrities, presidents and other newsmakers during a half-century career that included 25 years with a nightly show on CNN. He has had medical issues in recent decades, including heart attacks and diagnoses of diabetes and lung cancer. Last year, King lost two of his five children within weeks of each other.

Iran said Saturday it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility “as soon as possible,” pushing its program a technical step away from weapons-grade levels as it increases pressure on the West over the tattered atomic deal. The move comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the waning days of the administration of President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2018. That set in motion an escalating series of incidents capped by a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad a year ago, an anniversary coming Sunday that has American officials now worried about possible retaliation by Iran.

The NYPD is investigating a shots fired incident at a Jewish-owned business on Walworth Street in Williamsburg. Sources tell YWN that a the business owner arrived at his establishment on Friday (New Years morning), and noticed the front window broken. The man figured it was caused by fireworks. But tonight, the man took a closer look at the window, and thought it may have been caused by a gunshot. The man called Williamsburg Shomrim to look, who advised the man that it appeared to be a gunshot. The NYPD was called, and Detectives are investigating the incident. JOIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO ALREADY ARE ALERTED OF BREAKING NEWS LIKE THIS IN LIVE TIME: YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a coalition of 11 senators who have been enlisted for Trump’s effort to subvert the will of American voters. This follows the declaration from Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first to buck Senate leadership by saying he would join with House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress.

Israel’s Health Ministry published the number of new cases of the Coronavirus that were reported on Friday and found that 6,004 people tested positive for the virus. The percentage of positive tests that came back over the course of the day was 6.1 percent of the 98,000 tests that were conducted. On Shabbos, some 2,154 people tested positive for the virus. Israel currently has 739 patients in serious condition with the disease and 177 of them are connected to ventilators. The total number of fatalities in Israel due to the virus since it began is 3,384. 30 of them died yesterday and another 7 today. 21 residents in a senior’s home in Bat Yam tested positive for the virus.

Over a million Israelis have been vaccinated as of Friday, over 11% of its population and over 45% of those over 60. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ was present as the millionth inoculation was carried out in the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, a move meant to encourage Arab Israelis to show up in greater numbers to be vaccinated (and for Netanyahu to score political points in the Arab sector ahead of the upcoming election). The Arab-Israeli sector has been lagging far behind the Jewish sector in getting vaccinated with many Arabs reportedly believing rumors spread on social media that the vaccine is unsafe. “It’s important to me that the Arab public in Israel be vaccinated quickly,” Netanyahu said. “It’s saving lives.” “We’re breaking all the records,” Netanyahu added.

The worrying rise in coronavirus cases in Israel’s Chareidi sector continues, with about 2,800 Chareidim diagnosed with COVID-19 over Shabbos alone, almost half of the 6,004 new cases confirmed throughout the country. There are currently 48,701 active cases, with 739 seriously ill patients, of whom 177 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 3,384. Adv. Kabha Mu’awiya, who heads the Health Ministry’s search operations of ZAKA Israel and ZAKA Tel Aviv said: “Fifty teams worked around the clock over Shabbos throughout all the Chareidi cities and yishuvim.

The top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Friday that his country was fully prepared to respond to any U.S. military pressure as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration. Gen. Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony at Tehran University commemorating the upcoming one-year anniversary of the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who headed the expeditionary Quds force, on Jan. 3, 2020. At the time, Iran retaliated by launching a ballistic missile strike on a military base in Iraq that caused brain concussion injuries to about 100 U.S. troops. Washington and Tehran came dangerously close to war as the crisis escalated.