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intentionally or as the result of arson, we don’t yet know. We will continue investigating and the moment we have findings, we will bring them to them to the relevant parties,” Simchi said.

Fireman officer Nissim Twito concurred, saying that we are “absolutely talking about something man-made.”

He added, “The investigation is being conducted together with Israel Police and the forensic lab and so on, and when we have the conclusions, we will update.”

The fire began blazing on Sunday, and has so far consumed some 5,000 acres of forest, in an event similar in scale to the 2010 Mount Carmel disaster.

Among the localities where residents were forced to evacuate are Givat Yearim, Tzova, Ein Rafa, Ein Nakuba, Sho’eva, the Eitanim psychiatric hospital, Shoresh, and Har Eitan. In addition, the Metzuda Winery was completely destroyed, with damages expected to range between 7-8 million shekel ($2,166,633-2,476,152).

Full Diplomatic Relations with Morocco Soon

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday announced that Israel and Morocco would upgrade to a full diplomatic relationship within two months.

“Within two months, full embassies will be open — in Israel and in Rabat,” Lapid asserted on Thursday morning after inaugurating Israel’s Liaison Office during his historic trip to Rabat, Morocco.

He added that Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita is expected to arrive in Israel for the opening of a Tel Aviv embassy in October or early November.

Present at the inauguration ceremony were Welfare Minister Meir Cohen (Blue and White), Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee head MK Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid), and Charge D’affaires David Govrin. Morocco was represented at the ceremony by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohcine Jazouli.

In a statement, Lapid said, “This historic visit is a continuation of the longstanding friendship and deep roots and traditions that the Jewish community in Morocco, and the large community of Israelis with origins in Morocco, have.”

Thursday’s ceremony followed a Wednesday evening meeting between Bourita and Lapid, during which three cooperation agreements were signed on the issues of political consultation; culture, youth, and sports; and air service between the two countries.

Judge: Keep “Remain in Mexico” Policy

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Biden administration to reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

According to the judge, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, the current administration acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it chose to end the program. In addition, the administration violated procedural laws and failed to see “several of the main benefits” of the policy.

The program was suspended on U.S. President Joe Biden’s first day in office and formally ended in June.

Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling follows a lawsuit brought forward by Texas and Missouri. In his ruling, the judge agreed that the two states were being harmed by Biden’s decision, since migrants allowed to remain in the U.S. would use the country’s healthcare system, send their children to U.S. schools, and apply for driver’s licenses.

The judge had stayed his decision for one week in order to give the administration time to appeal.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “It is critical that intending migrants understand clearly that they will be turned back if they enter the United States illegally and do not have a basis for relief under our laws.”

SCOTUS Tackles Evictions

The Supreme Court granted a request from a group of New York landlords to block part of the state’s eviction moratorium.

The moratorium was set to expire August 31.

In an unsigned order, the court said it blocked a part of the moratorium allowing a tenant to “self-certify financial hardship,” thereby precluding a landlord from contesting the certification and denying the landlord a hearing. ing teaching that ordinarily ‘no man can be a judge in his own case’ consistent with the Due Process Clause.”

The ruling noted that another part of the moratorium would remain in place, allowing courts to consider a pandemic-related hardship partially by assessing a tenant’s income prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, highlighting the fact that the law was set to expire in “less than three weeks.”

According to Breyer, “The New York Legislature is responsible for responding to a grave and unpredictable public health crisis” and “must combat the spread of a virulent disease, mitigate the financial suffering caused by business closures, and minimize the number of unnecessary evictions.”

The landlords’ attorney, Randy Mastro, responded, “On behalf of New York’s small landlords, we are extremely grateful to the Supreme Court for reaffirming that, ‘even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.’”

New York Attorney General Letitia James noted that the moratorium was set to expire at the end of August and emphasized that “in the meantime, New York is in the process of distributing billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated rental-assistance benefits to landlords and their tenants, which will render many eviction proceedings unnecessary.”

According to her, blocking the moratorium “would disrupt the State’s fragile and ongoing recovery from the pandemic by abruptly inundating the courts with eviction proceedings before they are fully equipped to resume such actions.”

No Homeless Near Schools?

Buscaino called on his colleagues to prohibit tents from going up within 500 feet of any public school in the city, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Buscaino, who is running for mayor, said he wants the Council to use its new anti-camping ordinance to make sidewalks around the over-1,000 campuses in the area to be declared “no camping zones.”

Buscaino’s statement was made on Monday, the first day of school, outside Larchmont Charter School in Hollywood. Scuffles soon broke out between Buscaino’s aides and protesters.

The new no-camping ordinance prohibits people from sitting, sleeping, lying, or storing property on sidewalks within 500 feet of “sensitive uses” but does not allow enforcement unless the Council has voted in favor of it and proper signage is installed.

Homeless advocates have claimed that Buscaino’s proposal paints them as criminals who pose a threat to families.

In June, Buscaino was ushered out of a news conference on the Venice Boardwalk when someone noticed that a homeless woman near him had a knife.

Last year, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority noted that at least 66,436 people were homeless in Los Angeles County, a 12.7% increase from the year before. At least 41,000 of them live in city of Los Angeles.

T-Mobile Data Breach

T-Mobile confirmed this week that it was hit by a data breach but declined to say whether any personal information from customers was accessed or how widespread the damage may be.

The company’s acknowledgement of a breach comes after hackers said that they were selling “full customer info” obtained from T-Mobile servers that pertained to what the hackers claimed were over 100 million people.

Late Sunday, the company said it was “aware of claims made in an underground forum” and “actively investigating their validity.” On Monday, the company said it has closed a vulnerability used by hackers to gain entry to T-Mobile’s systems and is working with the “highest degree of urgency” to investigate the breach.

“We have been working around the clock to investigate claims being made that T-Mobile data may have been illegally accessed,” the company said in a statement, adding that it is working with law enforcement on the matter. “We have determined that unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data occurred, however we have not yet determined that there is any personal customer data involved.”

“Until we have completed this assessment, we cannot confirm the reported number of records affected or the validity of statements made by others,” the statement continued.

U.S. Census Surprises

The white population in America shrunk for the first time in U.S. history, according to U.S. Census data around race and ethnicity released on Thursday.

The dip marks the first time since the Census was implemented in 1790 that the number of people who identify as white has decreased.

In 2010, the white population was 223.6 million and in 2020 it was 204.3 million, a decrease of 8.6%, according to the data. Despite the drop, the white population is still the largest among groups. Part of this decrease is due to an aging population and fewer births.

Additionally, the number of people identifying as white fell below 60% for the first time, dropping to 57.8% in the 2020 Census. The data shows the U.S. is continuing its trend towards becoming a diverse, majority-minority country.

Other racial groups actually grew over the decade. For instance, the population of those who identified as black alone increased by 5.6%. Additionally, the population identifying as two or more races increased by 275.7% over the decade.

Maryland is now the most diverse state on the U.S.’s East Coast. At the same time, Washington, D.C., has continued to lose black residents.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s diversity index shows that Maryland is one of the most diverse states in the U.S., behind Nevada, California, and Hawaii. Both Maryland and Hawaii became majority non-white over the past decade.

Currently, there are six states, not including D.C., in which people of color comprise the majority of the population: California, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas.

Maryland Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who served on the statewide Complete Count Committee that oversaw Census efforts last year, said, “This is a trend that we’ve (been) expecting for a while now, and it’s something that we should be really proud of.”

The only jurisdiction in the area where the white portion of the population increased during the past decade was D.C., which is now “whiter” than it has been in over 50 years, although blacks are still the largest racial group in the area.

Andrew Trueblood, the director of the D.C. Office of Planning, said, “We knew the District of Columbia was at risk of an undercount — and that’s regardless of what happened in the world with a global pandemic. We have a lot of concern that our most vulnerable residents were not count-

ed.”

He added that it is “too early” to draw conclusions based on the data.

Thinking of Changing Careers?

Nearly one in every three U.S. workers under 40 have considered changing their occupation or field of work since the COVID-19 pandemic began, The Washington Post reported.

According to a Washington PostSchar School poll conducted early last month, approximately one in five workers overall considered a professional shift. Many of those told The Post that the pandemic “altered how they think about what is important in life and their careers. It has given them a heightened understanding that life is short and that now is the time to make the changes they have long dreamed of,” the site said.

The Post-Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University poll also showed that since the start of the pandemic, 28% of U.S. adults have seriously considered moving, and 17% say they have already moved, either temporarily or permanently. This was especially true for adults under age 40, who are the most likely group to have considered moving or done so already.

In addition, nearly half of U.S. adults said it was “extremely” or “very” important to them to have easy access to hiking, fishing and camping. It also found that 59% of workers want to return to their workplace all or most of the time after the pandemic is over, while 10% want to mostly work remotely, and 8% want to always work remotely. The rest of those polled said they would like to split the time working in-office and remotely evenly.

The poll, conducted between July 6-21 by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, included a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with 75% reached on cellphones and 25% on landlines. It has an error margin of +/- 4%.

Blue Origin Sues NASA

The Blue Origin space company, owned by Jeff Bezos, sued NASA’s Moon program in federal court on Monday. The suit follows a complaint launched months ago by Blue Origin, in an effort to win a portion of the lunar lander funds granted to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The suit could potentially delay NASA’s efforts to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024, as well as put a procedural pause on SpaceX’s contract.

The Blue Origin complaint, filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, is under a protective order. It broadly challenges NASA’s decision to choose SpaceX for the lunar lander award.

Three firms competed for the lunar lander award: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics. Upon learning of NASA’s decision, Blue Origin filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), complaining that NASA had originally said it might choose two companies, not just one, and claiming NASA unfairly negotiated the terms of SpaceX’s contract. According to NASA, limited funding from Congress only allowed for one contract.

In July, the GAO rejected Blue Origin’s complaints and deemed NASA’s decision fair and lawful.