The Kremlin brushed off allegations Tuesday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the victim of an intentional poisoning orchestrated by authorities and said there were no grounds for a criminal investigation so far since it hasn’t been fully established what caused the politician to fall into a coma. The insistence by the Russian government that Navalny wasn’t necessarily poisoned — comments amplified by Russian doctors and pro-Kremlin media — came a day after doctors at a German hospital where the 44-year-old is being treated said tests indicated he was poisoned. Moscow’s dismissals elicited outrage from Navalny’s allies, who say the Kremlin was behind the illness of its most prominent critic.

Israel coronavirus czar, Prof. Ronni Gamzu, said on Tuesday that Israel’s infection rate is among the highest in the world and the Arab sector is a “disaster.” In his weekly public briefing on Tuesday, Gamzu also warned that following a stabilization period in the Chareidi sector, there’s been a rise in infection since the beginning of Elul, when the school year [for Chareidi boys] began. “The government still hasn’t reached a decision regarding schools in red cities,” Gamzu said. “The capsules in yeshivas gedolos are preferable because they keep the bochurim out of their homes [where they could infect their family members].” Regarding the Arab sector, Gamzu said: “We clearly see a rise in infection in the Arab sector.

There are reports of a possible infiltration attempt on the Israel Lebanon border on Tuesday evening, while the IDF fired flares into the sky, lighting up the entire area. The flares were seen in Manara, a kibbutz in the North.The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit later confirmed that a security incident had occurred, but no details have officially been released at this time. The IDF Spokesperson stated that roads in the area were closed, but provided no additional information. DEVELOPING STORY – REFRESH FOR UPDATES STAY WITH YWN WHATSAPP FOR BREAKING UPDATES IN LIVE TIME!  YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status. YWN WHATSAPP GROUPS: CLICK HERE to be dded to an official YWN WhatsApp Group.

Steve Bannon won’t have to come to a Manhattan courthouse next week for a hearing on charges that he defrauded donors to a fund promoted to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist can appear in her court along with three co-defendants on a video screen because of the health threat posed by the coronavirus. Bannon, 66, has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he siphoned a million dollars from the $25 million fund to pay personal expenses and a salary for a co-defendant. Prosecutors say thousands of investors contributed to the fund after they were promised that all of the money would be spent on the wall and no organizers would be compensated.

Aron Schweitzer is a choshuve member of the Belzer kehila and beloved kindergarten Rebbi in Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal Canada. We were all shocked and saddened when his wife suddenly passed away at the young age of 55. She had ran a home daycare which was a big source of income for the family. Reb Aron is now left, not only grieving the loss of his wife, but with debts up to 50 thousand dollars which has accumulated over the years, plus the costs of the kevurah. Reb Aron has been an integral part of our community for so many years and contributed to the kehal in many ways. The LEAST we can do for him is ease his financial burden. Please contribute and may we only share in simchos.

Protesters repeatedly set fire late Monday night to a police union headquarters building and were repelled by officers spraying tear gas, officials said. Twenty-five people were arrested amid clashes that stretched into Tuesday morning. People in a group of about 300 people hurled rocks and bottles at officers and set three fires to the sides of the building and one to an awning, police said. All the fires were put out. One demonstrator climbed atop the building’s roof to unfurl a banner and the building’s walls were spray-painted, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Portland has been gripped by nightly protests for nearly three months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Demonstrations, often violent, have targeted police buildings and federal buildings.

The U.S. banking industry’s second quarter profits fell by 70% from a year ago, the FDIC said Tuesday, as low interest rates and the economic turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic weighed heavily on big and small banks alike. Total bank profits across 5,066 insured institutions were $18.8 billion, compared with profits of $62.5 billion in the same period a year ago. This was the second consecutive quarter of steep profit declines as banks set aside billions to cover potentially bad loans back in April. Most of the profit decline is tied directly to the pandemic. Banks are now facing tens of billions of dollars of loans that appeared healthy in March, but are now in forbearance or deferral because those borrowers can no longer pay.

The post Maran Sar Hatorah Nasi: The Best Yissachar-Zevulun Pact of Our Generation Is At Shas Yiden appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A Black man shot multiple times, apparently in the back, by police in Wisconsin is paralyzed from the waist down and has “eight holes” in his body, the father of victim Jacob Blake said. The shooting in broad daylight on Sunday by police in Kenosha, captured on cellphone video that quickly spread on social media, ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities. It comes three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police set off demonstrations around the United States and touched off a wider reckoning on race. Blake’s father, also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times in a story published Tuesday that he didn’t know if his 29-year-old son’s paralysis would be permanent.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended his trip to Jerusalem by taking off on a historic flight – the first official nonstop flight from Tel Aviv to Khartoum – on Tuesday morning. Israel and Sudan do not currently maintain diplomatic relations and there are no direct flights between the two countries. Pompeo will “express support for deepening the Sudan-Israel relationship” during his visit in the wake of the historic Israel-UAE agreement, the US State Department said. U.S.