WhatsApp Growth Slumps As Rivals Signal, Telegram Rise

 Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, is seeing its growth decline following a fiasco that forced the company to clarify a privacy update it had sent to users.

Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said Wednesday that Signal saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of Jan. 5 to Jan. 12. That’s a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 the previous week. Telegram, an already-popular messaging app for people around the world, saw 15.7 million downloads in the Jan. 5 to Jan. 12 period, roughly twice the 7.6 million downloads it saw the previous week.

WhatsApp, meanwhile, saw downloads shrink to 10.6 million, down from 12.7 million the week before.

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To help Israel fight the pandemic, ER doctor Deena Wasserman specializing in disaster relief makes aliyah

Emergency room doctor Deena Wasserman has, like nearly all medical professionals, been fighting the coronavirus pandemic since it emerged in early 2020. Wasserman, though, has the distinction of having served on the front lines on two continents — first in her native United States, and since this past August, in Israel, her new home.

As an ER doctor trained in disaster relief — she was a flight physician with a helicopter EMS team during her post-residency fellowship — Wasserman is without question a huge asset to her new employers at Samson Assuta University Hospital in the central Israeli city of Ashdod. But making the move across the Atlantic from Philadelphia in the middle of a pandemic has been a mission of its own.

Wasserman made the decision to emigrate to Israel long before the global health crisis hit — in fact, she knew the Jewish state was her final destination even before she started her medical training at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The 29-year-old has grandparents, aunts, and uncles already living in the Holy Land (not to mention a couple siblings, who took the leap before her), and traveled to Israel often, including a yearlong stint at a religious seminary after high school.

Dr. Deena Wasserman displays her new Israeli passport. (Courtesy)

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Health Ministry worker suspected of sending his ex to quarantine 4 times

DIN: I guess working for the Health Ministry has some benefits!

A man employed by the Health Ministry has been arrested on suspicion of sending his former partner into quarantine for no reason on four occasions, the Israel Police said Thursday.

The suspect, aged 35 and hailing from northern Israel, has been an external contractor for a Health Ministry coronavirus response center in charge of monitoring infections and quarantining those who have come in contact with confirmed patients.

But he has been questioned on suspicion of abuse of power, fraud, violation of privacy, breach of trust and falsely sending an individual to quarantine.

On four occasions, the man sent a woman who used to be his partner text messages falsely informing her that she had been near a COVID-19 patient and therefore has to isolate for 14 days.

His alleged actions were revealed after the Health Ministry received four appeals from the same woman against quarantine instructions, which prompted the ministry to order an inquiry into the matter.

After being questioned, the suspect was released under restrictive conditions.

Police said they would hand the case over to prosecutors in the coming days.

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MK Chiloni Asks Israel AG Mandelblit If Prohibiting Jews from Davening With a Minyan but Allowing Protests Isn't a Chillul Hashem?

השר אמסלם שואל את מנדלבליט איך הוא לא מתבייש לאסור תפילה בציבור

 

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Harvard Univ Caves Into "the woke left" and Kicks Out Rep Elise Stefanik From Advisory Committee

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is accusing her alma mater, Harvard University, of caving to “the woke Left” after the school’s Institute of Politics on Tuesday dropped her from an advisory committee, citing her public remarks about fraud in the 2020 election.

Harvard distanced itself from the upstate congresswoman as a result of Wednesday’s Capitol riot by President Trump’s supporters after he told them he was robbed of re-election by fraud. 

“Congratulations, Harvard, the entire Board of the Institute of Politics now consists only of Joe Biden voters — how reflective of America,” Stefanik said in a statement.

“As a conservative Republican, it is a rite of passage and badge of honor to join the long line of leaders who have been boycotted, protested, and canceled by colleges and universities across America,” she said.

“The decision by Harvard’s administration to cower and cave to the woke Left will continue to erode diversity of thought, public discourse, and ultimately the student experience. The Ivory Tower’s march toward a monoculture of like-minded, intolerant liberal views demonstrates the sneering disdain for everyday Americans and will instill a culture of fear for students who will understand that a conservative viewpoint will not be tolerated and will be silenced.”

Stefanik, 36, graduated from Harvard in 2006 with an undergraduate degree in government.

Douglas Elmendorf, dean at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said he asked Stefanik to resign after reviewing her public statements about the election. He said he was not displaying political bias.

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Over 11,000 Kosher ice-cream containers recalled for having metal shards ....

 

Not only is this ice cream add-on not tasty — it’s not edible. 

The US Food & Drug Administration this month announced a recall of 11,371 Weis Markets ice-cream containers for being “contaminated with extraneous material, specifically metal filling equipment parts.” 

Of the recalled treats, the majority (10,869 containers) are of 48-ounce Weis’ Quality Cookies and Cream, and 502 are for commercial-sale only 3-gallon bulk containers of Klein’s Vanilla Dairy flavor. 

The recall follows an ice cream eater making a very unwanted finding in their dessert.

“There has been one report of a customer who discovered an intact piece of metal equipment in the Weis Quality Cookies and Cream Ice Cream,” the FDA wrote. “There is concern of an additional piece of equipment present in the ice cream product(s) possibly presenting a choking hazard.” 

The product was sold at 197 Weis Markets’ stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and West Virginia. Anyone who bought the product — which has a sell-by date of 10/29/2020 — can return it for a full refund. 

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Nancy Pelosi wore the same funeral dress for both impeachments

 Nancy Pelosi has an impeachment dress. 

When lawmakers gathered to impeach President Trump for a second time Wednesday, the House Speaker donned the same black dress she wore the first time it happened. 

The sleek black business frock, which some likened to funeral garb, immediately caught the eye of Twitter denizens who realized the look matched Pelosi’s Dec. 2019 impeachment outfit. 

“I KNOW this shouldn’t be the focus but Nancy Pelosi in the same dress for both impeachments is the exact kind of trolling our grandmothers taught us and the exact kind of business I am here for,” Jen Curran quipped. 

“the fact that nancy pelosi wore the same dress to both of trump’s impeachment hearings is so iconic,” Isabell Austin tweeted. 

Not only did the dress match, Pelosi opted for the same gold necklace she paired the look with in 2019. It’s not clear if the shoes also matched. 

“Pelosi, ever the powerful wielder of dress as symbol, chooses a funeral, somber black for her impeachment outfit, which is a striking, potent choice,” @Potenspuella wrote. 

Aides later confirmed the dresses were the same. 

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AOC and other progressives have a new goal: Silence the press

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a wellspring of truly terrible ideas for years, but her new one might be her worst on yet: A Ministry of Truth.

During a live stream on her Instagram page, Ocasio-Cortez was asked by a viewer if, to help with national healing, there were congressional plans to institute any “truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives.”

The socialist congresswoman replied that, yes, indeed, she and some of her colleagues have been exploring media literacy initiatives to help “rein in” the press and combat misinformation after last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“It’s one thing to have differentiating opinions but it’s another thing entirely to just say things that are false,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “So that’s something that we’re looking into.”

Oh, are they?

Now, perhaps in the political systems favored by AOC citizens are impelled to look to government for ultimate truth, but that’s not the case in the United States. At least, not yet. Here, the Constitution “reins in” Congress from intruding on the speech of citizens, journalists, or any private institutions, not the other way around.

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Tiger ‘attacks’ Snowman

Frosty was no match for the King of the Jungle.

Wild photos show the moment a tiger mauled a snowman to nothing but a pathetic pile of powder at a zoo in Finland.

“Animal attacks on snowmen have continued in Korkeasaari,” the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helinksi wrote in a playful Facebook post Wednesday. “For safety reasons, we recommend that snowmen do not hide pieces of meat, blood or animal hair in their pockets.”

The snowman appears to be wearing a wig before the male Siberian tiger pounces — chopping its head in half with his grrr-eat big paw.

“Amur tiger, a beautiful but ferocious beast,” one user posted. 

It wasn’t immediately clear if the zoo had actually stuffed meat or another kind of reward inside the snowman, but it’s generally considered good for tigers in captivity to work for their food.

The zoo is home to 150 animal species and almost 1,000 plants. In 2016, Siberian tiger triplets were born there.

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Research finds Israel has world's healthiest diet

 A major study at the University of Washington published in "The Lancet" found that Israel has the lowest rate of diet-related deaths.

Research carried out by Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington in the US has found that Israel has the world's healthiest diet, or to be more precise, the world's least unhealthy diet. The results of the study entitled the 'Global Burden of Disease' were published in the UK medical journal "The Lancet."

The research tracked trends in consumption of 15 dietary factors from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries.

Dr. Murray wrote, "This study affirms what many have thought for several years - that poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world. While sodium, sugar, and fat have been the focus of policy debates over the past two decades, our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds, and vegetables. The paper also highlights the need for comprehensive interventions to promote the production, distribution, and consumption of healthy foods across all nations."

The study says, "The countries with the lowest rates of diet-related deaths were Israel (89 deaths per 100,000 people), France, Spain, Japan, and Andorra."

The UK ranked 23rd (127 deaths per 100,000) above Ireland (24th) and Sweden (25th), and the US ranked 43rd (171 deaths per 100,000) after Rwanda and Nigeria (41st and 42nd), China ranked 140th (350 deaths per 100,000 people), and India 118th (310 deaths per 100,000 people). The countries with the highest rates of diet-related deaths were Uzbekistan (892 deaths per 100,000 people), Afghanistan, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 4, 2019

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019

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