Bars, restaurants, liquor-licensed businesses like bowling alleys and gyms in New York state will have to close at 10 p.m. each night amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. Establishments with State Liquor Authority-issued licenses will still be able to offer curbside pickup after 10 p.m., but will only be able to sell food, Cuomo said in a teleconference. The state will also limit private indoor gatherings to 10 people, the governor said. The new rules will take effect on Friday, Nov. 13 at 10 p.m., he said. DEVELOPING STORY – REFRESH FOR UPDATES

(By: Sandy Eller) The financial impact of the pandemic has left its devastating mark on small businesses everywhere, with countless people seeing their life’s work decimated by lingering lockdowns. That impact has been profoundly greater in New York’s red zones, where small businesses deemed non-essential by Governor Andrew Cuomo were gasping for breath after being closed for months last spring, only to find themselves at the center of a second shutdown this fall that lasted an additional four and a half weeks. Enter the Rise Up Red Zone initiative launched by activist Chaskel Bennett in tandem with the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition and the WhoWeAre Network as a grassroots movement to support local businesses in areas that had been designated as red zones.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday his state will conduct a manual hand recount of all ballots cast in the presidential race in the state, as he faces growing pressure from fellow Georgia Republicans over accusations of voting irregularities and mismanagement of the state’s elections. “This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvas all at once,” Raffensperger said at a press conference. “It will be a heavy lift.” He said the presidential contest will undergo a risk-limiting audit, which requires a full by-hand recount in each of Georgia’s 159 counties.

A wedding took place in Israel in September that had far-reaching and devastating consequences, including three deaths, Channel 13 News reported this week. About 100 people were present at the wedding and the majority of them were not wearing masks and social distancing regulations were violated. A “superspreader” couple from central Israel, unaware that they were positive for the coronavirus, attended the wedding and unwittingly infected 43 others, with three becoming seriously ill and eventually succumbing to the virus. The couple began to have symptoms of the coronavirus the day after the wedding but by then the damage had been done.

The Trump administration formally notified Congress on Tuesday that it plans to sell 50 stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a broader arms deal worth $23 billion aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran despite concern in Israel. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had authorized the sale in keeping with the administration’s Middle East peace efforts. The notification to lawmakers follows the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE, under which the Arab states have agreed to normalize relations with Israel. “This is in recognition of our deepening relationship and the UAE’s need for advanced defense capabilities to deter and defend itself against heightened threats from Iran,” Pompeo said in a statement.

Following a decline in his health status, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Soloveitchik, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Brisk Yeshiva will undergo critical surgery tomorrow in an attempt to save his life. The Rosh Yeshiva is currently hospitalized and in an induced coma in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Rav Soloveitchik was hospitalized on Friday night Parshas Lech Lecha. He was tested for Corona and found to be positive. He was admitted to the emergency Corona ward and his situation has been fluctuating ever since. Over the past few days, his health took a dramatic downturn and the 99-year-old Rosh Yeshiva was placed on a respirator. The surgery is meant to ease the stress on his airway. The public is being asked to recite Tehillim tomorrow and daven for his Refuaha Shelaima.

President-elect Joe Biden called President Trump’s refusal to concede the election an “embarrassment” on Tuesday and warned that failing to do so would reflect poorly on his legacy in office. “I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly,” Biden said, when asked to comment on Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat in last week’s presidential election. “The only thing that — how can I say this tactfully — I think it will not help the president’s legacy,” Biden, seemingly choosing his words carefully, added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday the world should have every confidence that a post-election transition in the United States will be smooth. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Pompeo told a State Department news conference. “We’re going to count all the votes… The world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the State Department is… successful today and successful when the president who’s in office on January 20, a minute afternoon, will also be successful.” (AP)

Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat died on Tuesday from complications of COVID-19 at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. Erekat was hospitalized in Jerusalem last month, a move that aroused much controversy among the Israeli public as well as in moderate Arab countries, such as the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, who blasted the PA for its shameless hypocrisy for Erekat’s treatment in an Israeli hospital while banning its own citizens from receiving medical care in Israel, even for life-saving care unavailable in the PA. Erekat was a senior figure in Palestinian politics for decades and was one of the chief architects of the Olso peace accords.

President Trump is continuing to battle after Democrat Joe Biden declared victory and began making announcements about his transition team. “WE WILL WIN!” Trump wrote on Twitter as his team alleges wrongdoing in some battleground state’s elections. “WE ARE MAKING BIG PROGRESS. RESULTS START TO COME IN NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Votes are still being counted in a handful of the key states in the presidential election – but a look at where the current vote totals stand points to a second straight White House race decided by razor thin margins. Biden, as of Monday afternoon, had won a record-breaking 75.67 million votes nationally. Trump, in defeat, garnered a massive 71.07 million votes.