Congressman Max Rose, Member of the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, hosted Staten Island resident and longtime New York City Rabbi Avraham Hakohen “Romi” Cohn, a Holocaust survivor, to deliver the Opening Prayer before the House of Representatives today. “I’m especially honored to welcome Rabbi Cohn this week as we remember the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. Rabbi Cohn’s career is merely the continuation of a life spent fighting for the Jewish faith,” said Rose in a speech on the House floor, “Rabbi Cohn saw how a democracy can be corrupted into a fascist dictatorship, and what happens when anti-Semitism is allowed to fester. Sadly, across the country we see rising hatred and anti-Semitism.

Former Vice President Joe Biden seemed to get short-tempered with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie when asked about his son Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukraine. When Guthrie caught up with Biden on Monday, she noted the “irony” that more people know about Hunter’s work with the Burisma gas company now, thanks to President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal and his subsequent impeachment. This led to Biden saying that “no one has found anything wrong with [Hunter’s] dealings with Ukraine, except it sets a bad image.” “Well, do you agree that it sets a bad image?” Guthrie asked. “Do you think it was wrong for him to take that position knowing it was really because the company wanted access to you.” “That’s not true,” Biden snapped. “You’re saying things you don’t know what you’re talking about!

The latest episode of the Yeshiva World Podcast is now available – and it is a really timely and interesting interview. Rabbi Dr. Glatt, an infectious disease expert, describes the dangers of the coronavirus, and the likelihood of a potential outbreak. He explains why this illness is different than other viruses, including the flu. He shares advice and hashkafa from Gedolim about similar illnesses and how we should respond. Rabbi Glatt breaks down the potential scenarios we can expect in the U.S. in the coming weeks. He shares practical advice to protect ourselves. And much more. Listen and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app, including iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Podbean. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The first patients arrived Monday at a 1,000-bed hospital built in 10 days as part of China’s sweeping efforts to fight a new virus that is causing global alarm. Huoshenshan Hospital and a second 1,500-bed facility due to open this week were built by construction crews who are working around the clock in Wuhan, the central city where the outbreak was first detected in December. Some 50 million people are barred from leaving Wuhan and surrounding cities. The Wuhan treatment centers mark the second time Chinese leaders have responded to a new disease by building specialized hospitals almost overnight. As severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, spread in 2003, a facility in Beijing for patients with that viral disease was constructed in a week.

MK Uri Maklev (Degel HaTorah) attacked Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman and Yisrael Beiteinu on Sunday in an interview on the Knesset Channel in a rather surprising way, blasting them for using kosher phones. Maklev claimed that the reason for Liberman’s mysterious behavior – his apparent use of a kosher phone – is due to the fact that his party is a criminal party. “190 members of Yisrael Beiteinu have been investigated over the years by the police,” Maklev said. “Yisrael Beiteinu is a criminal party – dozens of them have been convicted – the people closest to Liberman.” “The only way that Liberman is close to religion is his kosher cellphone.

President Donald Trump used a Super Bowl pregame interview to rail against Democrats, accusing them of hatred and offering schoolyard insults about his potential 2020 rivals. “I see the hatred. … They don’t care about fairness, they don’t care about lying,” Trump said in a taped interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, which aired on Fox hours before sports’ biggest night of the year. Trump spent his weekend in Florida as most of the political world has been focused on Iowa, where Democrats on Monday will cast their first votes to choose the party’s nominee. Prompted by Hannity, Trump went through most of the major candidates one by one, deriding “Sleepy Joe” Biden, the former vice president, accusing Massachusetts Sen.

A man has beenLondon’s Metropolitan Police said it is investigating a terror-related incident after “a number of people” were stabbed and officers shot a man Sunday. The police force said the incident happened in the London’s Streatham neighborhood. The Metropolitan Police tweeted details of the incident on Sunday afternoon, saying “The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related.” The BBC said that witnesses reported hearing two gunshots just after 2 p.m. on Sunday. Social media showed multiple ambulances on the scene and helicopters in the air as helicopters responded to the incident. DEVELOPING STORY – REFRESH FOR UPDATES

Rabbi Micky Mellul, a Chabad shaliach in Creteil, France was in the US recently with a group of members from his community to spend “Shabbos by the Rebbe” in Crown Heights. The group visited Manhattan on Motzei Shabbos and had a disturbing encounter there, Rabbi Mellul told Collive. A homeless man approached Rabbi Mellul in Times Square and asked him if he was a rabbi and when Rabbi Mellul confirmed that he was, the man said: “I found something in the street. I want to make sandals from it but I first would like to know if it’s valuable.” The homeless man then proceeded to show him a blue velvet Tefillin bag with kosher Tefillin inside it.

A child walking to Yeshiva in Boro Park walked away after being run over by a garbage truck on Friday morning. It happened at 8:45AM at the intersection of 9th Avenue and 49th Street. As you can see in the attached video, the garbage truck didn’t see the boy crossing the street in the crosswalk, and struck the child. Sources tell YWN that the child says the truck went through a solid red light. Even worse, the driver got out of the vehicle, looked at the child, and simply drove away. The NYPD is actively looking for the driver. Bichasdei Hashem, the child was taken to the hospital by Boro Park Hatzolah, where he was treated for minor injuries and expected to be released. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Mekubal Rav Baruch Abuchatzeira, also known as the Baba Baruch, the son of the Baba Sali, recently related his view of Trump’s peace plan as part of a wide-ranging conversation with Kikar H’Shabbos which will be published in its entirety at a later date. “Look at a few wondrous things,” the Baba Baruch said. “Just the fact that America, President of the United States Trump – who dreamed that it would be like this? It’s all the signs of Moshiach and we need to rejoice.” “Look at the fear of the Arabs when they heard that Trump has a peace plan. But it won’t come to anything. Why? Because Moshiach will come and he’ll annul it – there won’t be a peace plan.” Baba Baruch also related the famous “watch dream” that has been riveting the town of Netivot for the past few years.