South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law, officials said, as police were trying to search President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday in their intensifying investigation. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 declaration that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote.

House Republicans teed up a vote this week on bipartisan legislation to gradually expand by 66 the number of federal judgeships across the country. Democrats, though, are having second thoughts now that President-elect Donald Trump has won a second term. The White House said Tuesday that if President Joe Biden were presented with the bill, he would veto it. A Congress closely divided along party lines would be unlikely to overturn a veto, likely dooming the bill’s chances this year. It’s an abrupt reversal for legislation that the Senate passed unanimously in August.

Evacuation orders and warnings have gone out to 20,000 Southern California residents Tuesday as firefighters battled a wind-driven wildfire in Malibu that burned near celebrities’ seaside mansions, horse farms and Pepperdine University, the sheriff’s department said. The “stubborn fire” is 0% contained and has drawn some 1,500 firefighters, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony C. Marrone said at a news conference Tuesday night. He said a preliminary aerial assessment estimates that seven structures were destroyed and eight structures damaged. The blaze has grown to more than 2,800 acres (1,133 hectares) — 600 acres (243 hectares) alone on Tuesday, according to Marrone. “This has been a traumatic 20 hours for the city of Malibu,” said Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart.

Three Jews entered Shechem overnight Tuesday on the way to Kever Yosef Tuesday after breaking through an IDF checkpoint. Local terrorists opened fire at them, lightly injuring them and forcing them to flee the area. They drove to Hadassah Har HaTzofim Hospital, where they were detained by the police. The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. An IDF spokesperson stated that “a report was received that during the night, gunfire was directed at an Israeli vehicle that breached a checkpoint and entered the city of Shechem unlawfully, within the Shomron Brigade’s area. The vehicle left the city and its occupants independently sought medical attention.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon on Tuesday, the latest in a series of medical incidents for him in recent years. McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, was walking out of his weekly party lunch with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso when he tripped and fell, Barrasso said, before walking back to his office on his own. Medical personnel were seen heading into his office minutes later. The longtime Republican leader, 82, also has a cut on his face, his office said, but “has been cleared to resume his schedule.” He did not attend a scheduled news conference immediately after the luncheon. Barrasso, the No.

HaRav Dovid Yosef on Wednesday was inaugurated as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel at the Yochanan Ben Zakai shul in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, where all inaugurations of Chief Rabbanim take place. HaRav Dovid’s brother, HaRav Avraham Yosef, and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Betzalel, placed the turban worn by HaRav Yosef’s illustrious father and former Chief Rabbi, HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef, z’tl, on HaRav Dovid’s head to the sounds of shofar blasts. The main ceremony, which will be broadcast live, will take place at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the presence of over 1,000 Rabbanim and public figures.

A stabbing attack that occurred at the police station in the northern city of Karmiel on Tuesday, which was originally thought to have been a criminal incident, is now being investigated as a terror attack. The incident began at about noon, when an Arab-Israeli, armed with a knife, arrived at the police station and stabbed a security guard and police officer, seriously injuring the guard and lightly injuring the officer. The police launched a manhunt after the terrorist, who fled the scene, locating him shortly later and taking him into custody. The suspect had been previously arrested over the weekend after a soldier reported he had tried to grab her gun.

The car-ramming in Bnei Brak on Tuesday evening, which the police initially suspected to be a criminal incident, was declared by the police later in the evening as a terror attack. The terrorist, an Arab-Israeli man in his 20s from the northern Arab-Israeli town of Zemer, had deliberately swerved onto the sidewalk and rammed into a pedestrian, lightly injuring him. The terrorist then fled the scene in his car. Police officers on motorcycles who were called to the scene chased after the terrorist’s car and caught him shortly later in a nearby underground parking garage.

In an increasingly rare occurrence, terrorists in central Gaza fired two salvos of rockets at Israel on Wednesday morning. Baruch Hashem, the rockets were intercepted or fell in open areas and caused no injuries or damage. The IDF spokesperson stated at 7:40 a.m. that “two launches were identified a short time ago that crossed from the central Gaza Strip and fell in open areas. There were no casualties.” “Sirens were sounded per the regulations,” the spokesperson added. Shortly later, two more rockets were fired. At 8:25 a.m., the IDF spokesperson stated that “a short time ago, the Air Force intercepted two projectiles that crossed from the central Gaza Strip. Sirens were sounded per regulations.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman The recent op-ed discussing financial disparities in our community raises important questions about responsibility and communal standards. While the author asks “Why is the burden to ‘tone down’ placed almost exclusively on those who have been blessed with material success?” and suggests that “the responsibility not [be] shared more evenly,” Our mesorah  actually does provide some guidance on this matter. The Gemorah in Moed Katan (27a-b) relates how Rabban Gamliel HaZaken directly addresses=d this issue. Seeing how burial expenses had become so burdensome that families would abandon their dead, Rabban Gamliel ordered across the board simple linen garments.