The Senate approved a bipartisan measure Thursday aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in a post-impeachment bid to constrain the White House. The rebuke was the Senate’s first major vote since acquitting Trump on impeachment charges last week. Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution if it reaches his desk, warning that if his “hands were tied, Iran would have a field day.’” The measure, authored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says Trump must win approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran.

By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky
By no stretch of the imagination is Newark, New Jersey, the epicenter of the Torah world. Yet for one evening, the city of Newark hosted the most significant celebration of Torah accomplishments in the United States: The World Siyum of Dirshu...
The post Dirshu World Siyum North America Highlight Video appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Oxford Dictionary (OED), considered the UK’s leading dictionary, updated the definition of the word Yid to include “a supporter of or player for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club,” its publishers stated on Wednesday. Rival teams playing the Spurs have engaged in anti-Semitic verbal abuse against the team due to its association with the Jewish community and in response, Spurs fans adopted the traditionally derisive “Yid” as a self-identifying nickname. Both Jewish and non-Jewish Spur fans can be heard chanting “Yids,” “Yid Army,” and “yiddos” at Tottenham games, defending its use by saying they are reclaiming the words from their derogatory meanings. However, other Tottenham fans, including Jewish ones, are opposed to the use of the term.

A 20-year-old Chareidi Israeli was sentenced to two years of prison in France and a fine of €14,000 ($15,223) for smuggling khat on Wednesday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday afternoon. The 20-year-old was arrested a week ago at the airport in Paris when 40 kilograms of khat was found in his possession. The Chareidi young man was convinced to smuggle khat into Europe by a Kiryat Sefer man, the man behind the network recruiting hundreds of Chareidi young men and women to smuggle Khat into Europe, according to a Chareidim10 report. Another young man from a Chareidi family was arrested in Chechkoslovia two weeks ago when 40 kilograms of khat was found in his possession.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he might end the long-running practice of letting other administration officials listen in on presidential calls with foreign leaders. That’s after Trump’s impeachment was triggered by his July phone call with the president of Ukraine. “I may end the practice entirely,” Trump told Geraldo Rivera in a radio interview that aired Thursday. Trump also offered new insights into his feelings about being impeached, saying it made him think about the “dark” days when Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal before his own likely impeachment. “Well, it’s a terrible thing and, you know, I think of Nixon more than anybody else and what that dark period was in our country and the whole thing with the tapes and the horror show,” Trump said.

Last month, Yad L’Achim held a counter missionary conference in Ashdod with the participation of about 500 avreichim from various kehillos in the city, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. Following the conference, over a hundred participants registered to volunteer for Yad L’Achim’s efforts to fight against the missionaries in Ashdod. Yad L’Achim utilized the new volunteers to arrange a Kabbalas Shabbos at the entrance of the largest missionary church in the city, which is located in the city’s industrial zone. The church, which calls itself “Beit Hillel” holds activities with the goal of gaining the trust of Jews in Ashdod and nearby areas and influencing them to convert to Christianity.

A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 60,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures reported by each government’s health authority as of Wednesday in Beijing: — Mainland China: 1,367 deaths among 59,804 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei. — Hong Kong: 51 cases, 1 death — Macao: 10 — Japan: 251, including 218 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 1 death — Singapore: 58 — Thailand: 33 — South Korea: 28 — Malaysia: 19 — Taiwan: 18 — Vietnam: 16 — Australia: 14 — Germany: 16 — United States: 15. Separately, one U.S.

Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, is returning to the White House as his reelection campaign moves into high gear. Hicks will be serving as counselor to the president, working with presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made public. She will not be part of the White House communications department, but will be working closely with Kushner and White House political director Brian Jack, a White House official confirmed.

A federal court has ordered a temporary halt in Microsoft’s work on a $10 billion military cloud contract that Amazon was initially expected to win. Amazon sued in November to revisit that decision, alleging that President Donald Trump’s bias against the company hurt its chances to win the project. Amazon requested the court injunction last month. Both the documents requesting the block and the judge’s decision to issue the temporary injunction are sealed by the court. A public court notice, however, confirmed the injunction on the Pentagon and noted that Amazon will have to establish a security fund of $42 million that will be used to pay damages if the court later finds the injunction was improper. No further details of the decision were immediately available.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren says she’s raised about $6 million from online donors since last week’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, fueled by people who want to see her stay in the 2020 race despite underwhelming performances in Iowa and New Hampshire. The Massachusetts senator told The Associated Press on Thursday that she had spoken to Senate colleagues about the race and that “right now, it’s wide open.” “There’s a lot of froth. It’s going to be a long process,” Warren said during an interview in the hallways of the Senate. Warren finished third in Iowa, behind the race’s other strong progressive voice, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.