No need to wait for ice cream trucks anymore. An innovative new vending machine has come to Boro Park and the Catskills, doling out delicious self-serve ice cream on demand. The machines, developed by MunchHub, offer a wide range of flavors and toppings, providing customers with premium ice cream literally at the push of a button. The vending machines are already available at Zoom Convenience Store in Boro Park and at Panino in Woodbourne, with additional locations in Lakewood and Monsey. Best of all, MunchHub’s products meet the highest quality and kashrus standards, and their ice cream vending machine allow for cashless payment and real-time tracking, providing for a seamless and hassle-free experience – and excitement for kids as they watch their ice cream being prepared!

The U.K. government was ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic and serious errors in planning failed its citizens, an inquiry found Thursday. Retired judge Heather Hallett, who is leading the ongoing inquiry, said the government wrongly believed in 2019 that it was one of the best-prepared countries in the world for an outbreak and it anticipated the wrong pandemic — influenza. “This belief was dangerously mistaken,” Hallett said in releasing her first report. “In reality, the U.K. was ill-prepared for dealing with the whole-system civil emergency of a pandemic, let alone the coronavirus pandemic that actually struck.” The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for more than 235,000 deaths in the U.K. through the end of 2023 — one of the highest death tolls in the world.

A woman of about 70 years old was struck by the Jerusalem Light Rail on Thursday evening and killed. MDA paramedics who arrived at the scene found her without signs of life and with multi-systemic injuries. Sadly, they were forced to declare her death at the scene. Paramedic Shmuel Orlov said: ‘We arrived at the scene and saw the woman trapped under the train while she was unconscious and suffering from very severe multi-system injuries. Unfortunately, her injuries were critical and we had to pronounce her death at the scene.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The IDF has confirmed the death of an Israeli soldier who was seriously wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack on a military base in northern Israel last month. Sgt. First Class (res.) Efraim Ben Amram HY’D, 25, of the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, from Yesud HaMa’ala, has tragically passed away due to injuries sustained in the attack. The incident occurred on June 30 in the Merom Golan area, where Ben Amram was one of 19 troops injured. Since Hamas’s October 7 offensive, Hezbollah has carried out daily attacks on northern communities, resulting in the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists, along with 12 civilians. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

In an unprecedented move, the leading gedolim of Eretz Yisroel have launched Keren Olam HaTorah, the largest fundraising campaign in Jewish history. This monumental effort comes in response to devastating budget cuts by the Israeli government which have left yeshivos and kollelim facing a staggering $107 million deficit. As of April 1, Israel’s Supreme Court froze all funding for bochurim and yungerleit between the ages of 18-26, affecting over 50,000 bochurim and avreichim across more than 1,500 institutions.  BOCHURIM AND AVREICHIM ARE STARVING The effect of these cuts was immediately felt. Yeshivos are rationing food, electricity, and the air conditioning, leaving bochurim hungry and sweltering in the Israeli heat.

Shabbos Kestenbaum, an Orthodox Jewish Harvard student who is suing the school over its handling of the anti-Israel protests, speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
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Bagel enthusiasts might want to check they aren’t at risk of becoming unwitting drug mules by traveling to South Korea. That’s after reports customs officials have ratcheted up seizures of Trader Joe’s viral Everything but the Bagel mix under the East Asian country’s anti-narcotics laws, which are some of the strictest in the world. The seasoning contains poppy seeds, which South Korea has designated a controlled substance.
Though the seeds don’t actually contain high-inducing opium, they can produce a positive urine result, and authorities are apparently concerned that samples could be contaminated with other substances.