President Donald Trump on Monday said Sudan will be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism if it follows through on its pledge to pay $335 million to American terror victims and their families, but some hurt in the attacks weren’t happy with the deal. The move would open the door for the African country to get international loans and aid needed to revive its battered economy and rescue the country’s transition to democracy. The announcement, just two weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election, also comes as the Trump administration works to get other Arab countries, such as Sudan, to join the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s recent recognition of Israel.

The Justice Department announced charges Monday against Russian intelligence officers in a string of global cyberattacks that targeted a French presidential election, the Winter Olympics in South Korea and American businesses. The case implicates the same Kremlin unit that interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections, but is not related to the November vote. The indictment accuses the six defendants, all said to be current and former officers in the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU, of hacks that prosecutors say were aimed at furthering the Kremlin’s geopolitical interests and in destabilizing or punishing perceived enemies.

The following information is via the incredible Chaim V’Chessed Organization: Just recently, the Health Ministry announced a method for receiving exemptions from quarantine based on serological (antibodies) testing. This move was hailed as a significant benefit for many who had contracted Covid 19 abroad, but did not have a recognized PCR positive test. Now, only a few short days later, Health Ministry representatives have notified Chaim V’Chessed officials that this new process has been suspended. No meaningful reason has been given for this surprising change. Sources tell Chaim V’Chessed that the Ministry announced the new process prematurely, before determining exactly which types of serological tests would be accepted.

The nation’s top military leaders have been cleared to return to work at the Pentagon after having self-quarantined as a precaution following the positive COVID-19 test of a senior Coast Guard official in early October. The go-ahead to resume work from the Pentagon was given last week, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and after members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had multiple negative tests for the virus, officials said Monday. Some members of the Joint Chiefs happen to be away this week on personal business unrelated to the virus. The chiefs began working remotely two weeks ago after learning that Adm. Charles W. Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, had tested positive.

The number of passengers screened in a single day for flights in the U.S. topped one million for the first time since COVID-19 infections began to spike last March. The notable milestone, reached Sunday, signifies both the progress made since the darkest days of pandemic for the devastated U.S. airline industry, when fewer than 100,000 people were screened per day in April, and how far it still has to go. The million plus passengers screened Sunday compares with 2.6 million on the same day last year, or roughly 60% fewer, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA said that the 6.1 million passengers at U.S. checkpoints the week of Oct. 12 through Oct. 18 was the greatest volume measured since the start of the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied together in central Paris and across France across the country on Sunday in solidarity with a history teacher beheaded for discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and calling for “freedom of expression, freedom to teach.” French Jewish groups called on members to join the rally to call attention to the escalating threat of Islamic terrorism in France, JTA reported. Samuel Paty was beheaded on Friday in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by a 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee who was shot dead by police. His name was Samuel Paty. One of so many Islam's victims.France is under attack from within.#FranceBeheading pic.twitter.com/WVAklobPRM — Αναστάσιος Γ.

History was made when an Etihad Airways commercial flight landed at Ben Gurion at 7 a.m. on Monday morning, the first Gulf State commercial airline to land in Israel. The 787 Dreamliner returned to Abu Dhabi a few hours later, at 10 a.m. Monday carrying a delegation of Israeli tourism representatives who were invited by Etihad Airways and the UAE to meet with their Emirati counterparts. The Israeli tourism representatives, including businesspeople, travel agents and cargo agents, accompanied by journalists, will return to Israel on Wednesday, October 21. טיסה מסחרית של חברת התעופה הלאומית של אבו דאבי "איתיחאד" נחתה בנתב"ג.

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed nearly all Mideast nations into the throes of an economic recession this year, yet some rebound is expected as all but two — Lebanon and Oman — are anticipated to see some level of economic growth next year, according to a report published Monday by the International Monetary Fund. This comes as the IMF estimates that the global economy will shrink 4.4% this year, marking the worst annual plunge since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Well before the coronavirus swept across the globe, several Mideast countries had been struggling with issues ranging from lower oil prices and sluggish economic growth to corruption and high unemployment.

Coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu warned on Monday during a Knesset committee meeting that the reopening of Israel’s schools could lead to virus outbreaks among youth who will then infect adults and the elderly. “Youth is the driving force of coronavirus outbreaks,” Gamzu said, explaining that children and teens often carry the virus but are asymptomatic and unwittingly spread the virus further. “There’s no dam that can hold this current.” Also on Monday, eight preschool teachers and assistants in Ramat Gan tested positive for the coronavirus during routine tests for all teachers prior to the reopening of preschools and daycares this week, a discovery touted as a success since it was revealed prior to the teachers entering their classrooms.

After entire nations were shut down during the first surge of the coronavirus earlier this year, some countries and U.S. states are trying more targeted measures as cases rise again around the world, especially in Europe and the Americas. New York’s new round of virus shutdowns zeroes in on individual neighborhoods, closing schools and businesses in hot spots measuring just a couple of square miles. Spanish officials limited travel to and from some parts of Madrid before restrictions were widened throughout the capital and some suburbs. Italian authorities have sometimes quarantined spots as small as a single building.