Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski returned to Poland, the country of his youth, and paid tribute on Thursday to a Polish couple who took him in and protected him when he was a child, saving him from the Holocaust during World War II. Stefania and Jan Buchala were posthumously declared as “Righteous Among the Nations,” an honor bestowed by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, in a ceremony attended by their grandson. The 87-year-old Polanski, who now lives in France, traveled to Poland for the occasion. That’s one of the very few countries Polanski can travel to safely given that he remains a fugitive from U.S. law after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the United States the following year.

This video below says it all. It was taken today, October 15, on Fillmore Avenue and Marine Parkway at the Marine Park basketball court. Zero compliance. No masks. No social distancing whatsoever. Yet – there is no Sheriff, no Police, no DOH, no DOB, no FDNY, no media. NO ENFORCEMENT WHATSOEVER. Is it because these are non-Jews playing in this park? Or is it because just about every single NYC inspectors is busy shutting down Shuls and Jewish-owned business? Why during a pandemic only some communities lose their constitutionally protected rights while others don’t? (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Governments across Europe are ratcheting up restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus as the continent recorded its highest weekly number of new infections since the start of the pandemic. The World Health Organization said Tuesday there were more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in Europe last week, a jump of 34% compared to the previous week, with Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounting for more than half of new infections recorded in the region. The increasing case numbers are partly the result of more testing, but the U.N. health agency noted that deaths were also up 16% in the region last week compared to the previous week.

Twitter suffered a massive outage that affected most of its services on Thursday. Users began to report issues starting around 5:15 p.m. ET. People could not refresh their timeline, tweet, search or access their lists; some were able to send direct messages. TweetDeck was also not working. The social media giant did not immediately release a statement regarding a cause of the problem, only stating, “We are currently investigating this issue.” and “We are continuing to monitor as our teams investigate.” TRACK THE OUTAGE MAP HERE. The outage comes on the heels of criticism from users who believe Twitter blocked the spread of a New York Post story in an attempt to help Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden will compete for TV audiences in dueling town halls on Thursday night instead of meeting face-to-face for their second debate as originally planned. The two will take questions in different cities on different networks: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed out of plans for the presidential faceoff originally scheduled for the evening after debate organizers said it would be held virtually following Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis. The town halls offer a different format for the two candidates to present themselves to voters, after the two held a chaotic and combative first debate late last month.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day and County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert has announced a new Commissioner’s Standing Order related to COVID-19. This order requires that all educational institutions, childcare programs and school transportation companies, are responsible to require and ensure that all children and students over age two cover their noses and mouths with acceptable face coverings at all times, other than during approved mask breaks where students can maintain social distancing. “It is critical that we do everything within our power to protect the children of our community,” said County Executive Ed Day. “This Order gives our inspectors the ability to issue fines to the businesses and institutions responsible for the safety of our children.

Three Rockland County Shuls are suing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying he engaged in a “streak of anti-Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state’s coronavirus infection rate. The Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed late Wednesday accused the Democrat of making negative, false, and discriminatory statements about the Jewish Orthodox community as he imposed new coronavirus measures to counter the state’s rising infection rate in so-called “red zone” areas. Cuomo’s statements and actions were painful for residents in an area north of New York City where a man invaded a Chanukah celebration in December and stabbed or slashed five people, the lawsuit said. Grafton Thomas awaits trial after pleading not guilty.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination cleared a key hurdle Thursday as Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans powered past Democrats’ objections in the drive to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick before the Nov. 3 election. The panel set Oct. 22 for its vote to recommend Barrett’s nomination to the full Senate for a final vote by month’s end. “A sham,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. “Power grab,” decried Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Not normal,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “You don’t convene a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, in the middle of a pandemic, when the Senate’s on recess, when voting has already started in the presidential election in a majority of states,” declared Sen. Chris Coon, D-Del.

Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, will suspend in-person events until Monday after two people associated with the campaign tested positive for the coronavirus. Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said Thursday that Biden had no exposure, though he and Harris spent several hours campaigning together in Arizona on Oct. 8, when the two people were on a flight with Harris. Both candidates have tested negative for COVID-19 multiple times since then, and Biden’s campaign said he tested negative again on Thursday. It’s the Biden campaign’s first major coronavirus scare, after months of careful health procedures that brought mockery from President Donald Trump, even after a White House virus outbreak that included the president and first lady Melania Trump.

C-SPAN has suspended political editor Steve Scully, who was at one time slated to moderate a presidential debate, indefinitely after he admitted he lied about his Twitter being hacked when a message to former Trump aide turned adversary Anthony Scaramucci emerged. Scully, the “Washington Journal” host who was selected to moderate the now-canceled town hall event, went viral last week after a tweet sent from his account indicated he had reached out to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, something he later alleged was the result of being hacked. Scully issued his first statement addressing the controversy following his suspension.