A huge brushfire broke out near Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, closing Highway 1 and forcing residents of Shoresh and Sho’evah to be evacuated. Dozens of firefighting teams and six aircraft are fighting the flames, which are only meters away from residential homes. A summer camp in the area with 850 teenagers was also evacuated along with a nearby shopping center and gas station. Israel is currently enduring an extreme heatwave that is not scheduled to break until next week, with the heat accelerating the fire. However, Fire and Rescue Commissioner Dedi Simchi said that the fire was manmade, either deliberately or accidentally. מפקד מחוז ירושלים בכבאות, טפסר ניסים טוויטו: "כ-60 משפחות פונו בשורש, האש מאיימת על תחנת הדלק במחלף שואבה.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said workers in New York City’s airports and public transit system will have to get coronavirus vaccinations or face weekly testing, but he stopped short Monday of mandating either masks or inoculations for the general public, saying he lacks the legal authority to do so. The Democrat urged New York’s bars and restaurants to adopt a policy of only serving vaccinated people and said that more hospitals should require workers to get vaccines. He said that imposing mandates, though, would require an act of the Legislature to restore emergency powers that have expired. “The Legislature would have to come back, they’d have to pass a law to do that. So I don’t have any legal authority to mandate,” Cuomo said of a mask mandate.

The NYPD reported that 18 people were shot around NYC in the span of 24 hours on Saturday in six shooting incidents. One of those incident involved a coordinated attack which left 10 people shot. The NYPD says that two men strode up to a crowd outside a barbershop in the New York City borough of Queens and opened fire, wounding 10 people before fleeing on mopeds, police said Sunday morning. The shooting in the borough’s Corona neighborhood took place just before 11 p.m. Saturday. The eight men and two women, who range in age from 19 to 72, were all hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. The most seriously injured victim suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.

Amrom Fromowitz, z’l, one of the three bochurim killed in the terrible accident in Ukraine on Wednesday was a chassan who was soon to be married. Amrom, z’l, 20, the son of Rav Chaim, who is part of the Vizhnitzer chassidus in Monsey, began learning in Eretz Yisrael three years ago in Yeshivas Emek HaTalmud and transferred to the Mir this past year. This past Pesach, he got engaged to a girl from Boro Park. Habochur Hershy Weiss, z’l, 20, was the son of Reb Moshe Weiss of Golders Green, London. His grandfather is the ba’al chessed, Rav Nachman Reich of “Reich Catering.” Heshy, z’l, learned in Satmar mosdos in London and then traveled to Eretz Yisrael to learn in the Mir. Habochur Eliezer Brull, z’l, 19, was the son of Reb Yidel Brull of Williamsburg.

Hundreds of people gathered in Kolomyya, Ukraine on Thursday to attend the heartrending levayos of the three yeshivah bochurim killed in a plane accident on Wednesday. The three niftarim were in Ukraine as part of a larger group of bochurim on a Bein Hazemanim tiyul to kivrei tzaddikim so the bochurim were accompanied on their final journey by their friends and chavrusas. B’Chadrei Chareidim reported that Rav Meir Nachman Elhadad, who displayed incredible emunah after losing two sons in the Meron tragedy, happened to be in Ukraine and rushed to Kolomyya to attend the levaya and give chizuk to those left behind. “Ribbono shel Olam, we don’t understand your chesbonos,” Rav Eldhadad said.

In a show of support, multiple prominent leaders gathered to honor New York and New Jersey law enforcement officials for going beyond the call of duty to save countless lives while keeping the community safe during the pandemic. Community leaders and law enforcement chaplains were among those who expressed their deepest appreciation to members of law enforcement for their dedication. “Throughout the most difficult circumstances, law enforcement professionals stayed the course and risked their own lives to save others, and for that we are grateful,” said law enforcement Chaplain Rabbi Abe Friedman.

New Information Emerges About the Hevron 1929 Massacre By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com They could have been saved.  According to a new video interview, apparently, information about the unprovoked murder spree against the Jewish residents of Hevron, including the relocated Slabodka Yeshiva, had reached Jerusalem on the fateful day itself. Mr. Harbater, a wealthy American who lived in the Kiryat Moshe section of Jerusalem, had begged the British to start a convoy toward Hevron in order to stop the carnage and to save the critically wounded.  He offered to pay for the expenses involved in arranging such a convoy.  The British refused.

Thanks to volunteers from Williamsburg Shomrim, a man with a gun was arrested and the gun taken off the street. Sources tell YWN that Williamsburg Shomrim witnessed a male and female stealing packages from homes on Wednesday afternoon. Shomrim immediately contacted the NYPD, and when police attempted to stop the suspects, they threw a gun they had in their pants into the street and fled on foot. Police apprehended both suspects and took them both into custody. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Horror unfolded on Wednesday morning, when word spread of an unthinkable tragedy which claimed the lives of three Yeshiva Bochrim. Sources tell YWN that the three Bochrim, from Monsey, Williamsburg, and London, were part of a group of Bochrim from Mir Yerushalayim who were in Ukraine visiting Mekomos Hakedoshim. The Bochrim took a sightseeing plane ride in Western Ukraine on Wednesday afternoon, and for reasons still unknown, a horrific accident occurred when the plane went down in Prykarpattia, and crashed into a private house near the village of Sheparivtsi. Sheparivtsi is near the border with Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Hungary. Misaskim in the United States were working with local authorities to ensure Kavod Hames.

Dozens of Iranians marched down a major street in Tehran on Monday, online videos show, amid ongoing protests over water shortages in southwestern Iran. The demonstrators are seen in the videos marching down Jomhuri Islami Avenue — or “Islamic Republic Avenue” in Farsi — and calling on police to support them. Men on motorbikes and those in cars behind them honk their horns in time with their shouts. The demonstrators later dispersed peacefully. Security forces have maintained a heavier-than-normal presence recently in the Iranian capital.