A massive fire is burning in industrial buildings in Middletown, NY, Thursday morning. The fire is in a complex on Midland Avenue that houses a movie studio, and other commercial/industrial businesses – including some owned by Jews. The building also has an Amazon warehouse. Embers of the fire have started a large brush fire nearby. Firefighters are continuing to battle the blaze as of 12:30PM. The cause of the fire was unknown. JOIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO ALREADY ARE ALERTED OF BREAKING NEWS LIKE THIS IN LIVE TIME: YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status. YWN WHATSAPP GROUPS: CLICK HERE to be added to an official YWN WhatsApp Group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it’s “just a matter of time” until the state orders a halt to indoor dining. A shutdown likely will come “in the next week or two,” de Blasio said Thursday at a news briefing. On Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo had warned that the entire city could be placed into the state’s orange-zone category of Covid-19 problem areas, which means indoor dining must cease and outdoor dining must be limited to four people per table. Restaurants were closed for more than five months during the initial outbreak, and have been limited to 25% capacity since Sept. 30. The orange zone would apply to New York City if the state calculation for seven-day average positive tests reaches 3%.

A rapper who shot off a flamethrower while standing on an occupied New York City bus surrendered to police on Wednesday. Authorities said Dupree G.O.D was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. There was no information on when he would be arraigned. He was in police custody Wednesday night. The musical artist was filmed earlier this month in an unauthorized stunt that he said was part of a tribute video for the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The clip gained attention on social media after a police union tweeted it as an example of the city becoming less safe. NYC OUT OF CONTROL: Man with a FLAMETHROWER stands on top of a Bus and fires away at the public.

A video taken on Wednesday, depicts a police officer hitting and kicking Charedi demonstrators during a protest that took place earlier on Mount Zion in Yerushalayim. A police spokesperson said that the video only showed a part of the actual incident and that the protesters had surrounded the police officer and threatened him prior to the footage seen in the video. However, additional footage from the protest that was released later, showed clearly, that the official response given by the police spokesperson was incorrect, and the officer in question acted violently towards the protesters even before the original footage was filmed. Photographer Yishai Yerushalmi, who filmed the violent actions of the officer, published the clip in its entirety on Wednesday evening.

In an extremely rare move, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit published footage of the attack that took place on Wednesday night in Syria, when IAF bombers destroyed military targets and munition warehouses belonging to the Iranian Al Quds group and the Syrian military. The action came after the IDF discovered a number of IEDs that were planted by Syrian forces along the border with Israel. It is assumed that the targets of the IEDs were IDF forces who regularly patrol the area. The IDF believes that the Syrian forces who placed the IEDs did so at the behest of Iranian instructions. The Spokesperson’s Unit said that the placement of the IEDs was proof that Iranian forces are becoming more entrenched inside Syria.

Twelve years have passed (according to the Jewish calendar) since the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai, India during which at least 174 people lost their lives. The attack on the Chabad house left six dead, including Chabad Shluchim Rav Gabi HY”D, and Rivky Hotzber HY”D. No one who remembers that day can forget the frightened face of two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg, who was miraculously saved from the carnage by his nanny Sandra Samuel. Moshe, who turned 14 on Wednesday, went to the kevarim of his parents on the yahrtzeit on Tuesday, together with his grandparents and other relatives, and recited Kaddish. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The IDF neutralized explosives found on the Israel-Syrian border on Tuesday in the southern Golan Heights, the trigger for the IDF strikes on Iranian and Syrian military sites in Syria overnight Tuesday. The three mines were planted on the border several weeks ago by Syrian nationals residing nearby under the direction of Iran’s Quds Forces. The IEDs were discovered on the Syrian side of the security fence where IDF troops routinely carry out patrols. A similar attempt to plant explosives was made by an Iranian-directed Syrian cell in the same area in August but on that occasion, the cell was spotted by the IDF and eliminated. IDF combat engineering troops were called to the site to disarm the IEDs.   (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced he is running for mayor of New York City on Wednesday, joining an already crowded field of candidates for the 2021 election. Adams, who entered politics after a two-decade career as a police officer, announced his candidacy in a video posted overnight. “Whether it’s the pandemic or violence in our streets we don’t feel safe, and too often city government makes things worse with inefficiency that leads to inequality and holds our people back,” the 60-year-old Adams says in the video, in which he also describes being victimized by police brutality in his youth and joining the police in order to fight for reforms from the inside.

A large number of police forces stormed the Itzkowitz Shul in the center of Bnei Brak on Tuesday due to the claim that there was a large number of people gathering inside in direct violation of the Coronavirus restrictions issued by the government. Sources from the Shul said that they were complying with the restrictions and that there was no need for the police action. A spokesperson for the police said: “Officers saw a shul which claimed to be closed, but under a close investigation found that there were dozens of people gathering inside in violation of the restrictions. This gathering endangered their own health and the health of others.

SpaceX’s newly launched capsule with four astronauts arrived Monday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. The Dragon capsule pulled up and docked late Monday night, following a 27-hour, completely automated flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The linkup occurred 262 miles (422 kilometers) above Idaho. “Oh, what a good voice to hear,” space station astronaut Kate Rubins called out when the Dragon’s commander, Mike Hopkins, first made radio contact. “We can’t wait to have you on board,” she added after the two spacecraft were latched together. This is the second astronaut mission for SpaceX. But it’s the first time Elon Musk’s company delivered a crew for a full half-year station stay. The two-pilot test flight earlier this year lasted two months.