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Sen. Chuck Schumer makes his Broadway debut
(New York Jewish Week) — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer made his Broadway debut on Tuesday night in the final scene of “Gutenberg! The Musical!” in the role of “producer.”
In a one-minute long video posted to his Instagram account, Schumer pops up from the crowd to uproarious applause. “I need them two,” he says, while bounding up to the stage.
“It’s Broadway producer Sen. Chuck Schumer,” says Josh Gad, who stars alongside Andrew Rannells as the show’s main characters, Bud Davenport and Doug Simon.
“This show is fantastic,” Schumer says after he joins Rannells and Gad on stage. “I don’t need to hear another note.”
“I’m a Broadway producer and I hold in my hands a Broadway contract. You’ve got your show,” he says, waving a folder above his head before handing it to Gad’s character and hugging the two actors. He then dances off stage.
The musical comedy, which premiered in London in 2006, follows friends and aspiring playwrights Bud and Doug as they write and attempt to sell their own Broadway musical about Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. Bud and Doug act out the show themselves to win over producers — with no funding, minimal props and no other cast members, Bud and Doug have to play every role themselves. They eventually win over a producer to fund their Broadway dreams.
In the 2023 Broadway version of “Gutenberg,” playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre at 138 West 48th St., the role of the producer who finally gives the pair a contract is often a surprise celeb, usually an actor or singer. Earlier this week, Jewish Broadway stars Ethan Slater and Idina Menzel guest-starred. Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Victor Garber also made cameos this month.
“What fun to join Doug, Bud, and everyone at Gutenberg tonight! Congrats to Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells on an incredible show!” Schumer captioned his social media posts. His office provided the same statement via email in a comment to the New York Jewish Week.
Over the past weeks, Schumer has worked to avoid a government shutdown in Congress and maintained support for aid to Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. In mid-October, Schumer led a bi-partisan congressional delegation to Israel, where his group had to hide in a bomb shelter under the threat of rocket attacks. He also spoke at the March for Israel on the National Mall on Nov. 14, which drew a crowd of 290,000 Israel supporters.
In a statement released yesterday, he applauded the Israel-Hamas deal to release 50 of the hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7. “I am pleased and relieved that we are close to seeing the first 50 hostages be released and reunited with their loved ones,” he said. “The release of 50 out of 240 hostages would mark real progress, but we cannot rest until all the hostages are free.”
Schumer also added that the Senate will “continue working to pass additional humanitarian assistance for innocent Palestinians, and make sure that Israel has the aid it needs to defend itself to ensure Hamas can never again pose such a threat to Israel.”
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The post Sen. Chuck Schumer makes his Broadway debut appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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