Despite getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Colin Powell remained vulnerable to the virus because of his advanced age and history of cancer, highlighting the continued risk to many Americans until more of the population is immunized. Powell, a four-star general who became the first Black secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, […]

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s total number of coronavirus infections has topped 8 million, more than 5% of the population, and the daily infection toll hit a new record. The national coronavirus task force said Monday that 34,325 new infections over the past day raised the pandemic total to 8,027,012. It also said 998 people died […]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s capital returned to the lowest level on its COVID-19 pandemic warning system Monday for the first time since June. In practice, the shift from the yellow to green category changes meant only small changes to daily life. Mask wearing is still common in streets of the city of 9 million, […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli automotive company City Transformer, creator of a compact electric car which can shrink in size to squeeze through traffic and into parking spaces, has announced that it will collaborate with emergency response organization United Hatzalah to incorporate the vehicles into Hatzalah’s fleet. The agreement will see the EMS organization become the […]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has limited the ability for now for the nonprofit running Oak Ridge National Laboratory to place employees on unpaid leave who receive exemptions to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in Knoxville issued the temporary restraining order Friday barring UT-Battelle from placing employees on indefinite […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Two robbers attacked a man sitting in his car in Boro Park and forced him to open the trunk which contained over a million dollars worth of jewelry in two bags. The two grabbed the bags and escaped. A video from security cameras which was posted by Boro Park Shomrim captured […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A mitzvah campaign by Chabad chasidim in Manhattan this week succeeded in arousing a priest to his Jewish roots after more than 80 years, according to a report by Matzav. During a regular trip to Manhattan, Rabbi Yosef Kratz, caretaker of 770, and Rabbi Yehuda Pevzner who coordinates the Crown Heights […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it will ask its outside experts to meet in late November to scrutinize Merck’s pill to treat COVID-19. The Nov. 30 meeting means U.S. regulators almost certainly won’t issue a decision on the drug until December, signaling that the agency will conduct a detailed review […]

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry has warned against what it calls possible “political manipulation” of a renewed probe by the World Health Organization into the origins of the coronavirus. Foreign Ministry spoksperson Zhao Lijian said China would “continue to support and participate in global scientific tracing and firmly oppose any forms of political manipulation.” The […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Gerer rebbe’s face shone with satisfaction at a huge gathering which took place Tuesday night in the Jerusalem Conference Center. 200 of his chasidim underwent a grueling test on the entire Shas from prominent rabbinic figures in the Lithuanian Torah world, Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, Rabbi of Ramat Elchanan and Rabbi Boruch […]