The Jewish Home | JULY 14, 2022
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land to abstain from a 2019 United Nations Human Rights Council vote to condemn Israel over the Golan Heights. He was later forced to punish the ambassador, after receiving both internal and external threats, the diplomat added. On Saturday, a spokesperson for Somalia’s president said that the government is expected to consult its Parliament on the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
Florida Battles Giant Snails
Efforts have begun in Florida to eradicate invasive giant African snails capa-
ble of eating building plaster and stucco. The snails also consume 500 varieties of plants and carry diseases that affect humans. According to officials, work began last week to eradicate the snails, which can grow to a length of eight inches. State agriculture officials in New Port Richey, Florida, confirmed late in June that the snails bearing whirled, brown mottled shells were seen in the area just north of the Tampa Bay area.. Florida has eradicated these snails twice before in other parts of the state, most recently in a decade-long effort which ended in 2021 and collected about 170,000 of the snails. The snails have likely returned due to illegal international exotic pet trade or arriving hidden in cargo from overseas. In a statement, Nikki Fried, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, promised, “We will eradicate these snails. We’ve done it before, and we will do it again. “They are one of the most damaging snails in the world,” Fried added. He emphasized, “This is not something you want to touch. It is not something you want to eat.” A quarantine area has been set up in Pasco County, where the snails were
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initially found by a homeowner. The affected properties will be treated with a molluscicide bait, and snails are being collected by state workers aided by dogs trained to sniff them out.
American Airlines to Triple Pilots’ Pay
American Airlines has agreed to pay its pilots triple their usual rate after a computer glitch left thousands of flights with understaffed cockpits last week. The malfunction, which occurred early Saturday morning, allowed pilots to drop flights the airline was counting on them to fly throughout the rest of July, in order to take time off. The number of affected flights has already surged past 12,000, the Allied Pilots Association (APA) reported. American Airlines employs approximately 13,000 APA members. In addition to the triple pay, American has also agreed to permanent double-time pay for pilots who fly on peak days, which often fall during holiday periods. In a statement, American Airlines said, “We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with the APA and appreciate their partnership in coming to a resolution quickly to take care of our pilots, our team and our customers.” Ed Sicher, president of the APA, added in a message that he hopes the new agreement can act as a springboard to reach a new labor deal for American Airlines pilots. The staff shortage is not unique to American: This summer, the entire aviation industry has had to cancel thousands of U.S. flights due to a shortage of crew members, with cancellations often spiking over holiday weekends.
Elon Musk Backs Out of Twitter Deal Tesla CEO Elon Musk last week announced that he will back out of a deal to purchase Twitter.
Following the announcement, Musk spent the weekend at the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. At the conference, he spoke on stage but off record, though a source in the room told CNN that Musk had “tripled down on his decision to try to back out of the deal and claimed it was all about the bots.”
“Musk originally said he was going to fix the bot problem,” CNN’s Brian Stelter said on Reliable Sources on Sunday. “The same problem that he now says is stopping him from doing the deal.” He added that although the bots are “no doubt” a problem for Twitter, Musk may be more affected by them than the average user. “I suspect what’s going on here is, Musk has a very different experience on Twitter than the average user,” Stelter said. “He is overwhelmed by … replies and spam.” According to The New York Times’ reporter Lauren Hirsch, the stock market “basically dropped off the cliff,” including shares of Tesla, after Musk’s announcement. Meanwhile Musk’s lawyer sent Twitter a letter saying that he is pulling out since the social media platform is “in material breach of multiple provisions” of the original agreement. Twitter has promised to take Musk to court. Musk had announced his intention to buy Twitter in April for $44 billion.
They’re Coming from Cuba
The United States is seeing a surge of Cubans coming to the U.S. in numbers not seen in decades. From October to May, more than 140,000 Cubans have
