Jooish News

Mrs. Faigy Lipshitz, R’ Nechemiah Lipshitz, R’ Mendy Lipshitz, R’ Tzvi Chaim Lipshitz, Mrs. Kaila Wolpin, Mrs. Peryl Rochwarger and Mrs. Chani Gewirtzman will be sitting Shiva at 1160 Robin Dr, Lakewood, NJ 08701

Hours:

Tuesday-Thursday:

10:30-1:30
3:30-7:45
8:30-10:30

Friday:

10:30-12:30. Please don’t come after 2:00.

They will be getting up Sunday morning.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.

After years of public criticism and petitions to the Supreme Court of Israel, the Israel Police have begun testing a new method for dispersing protests: water cannons using water mixed with pepper spray, instead of the controversial “skunk” spray.

According to a Ynet report, police have conducted trials of the new method during several protests in recent weeks. Police officials believe that the measure is more effective in dispersing crowds and say there is an increasing inclination to make the use of pepper spray in water cannons a permanent alternative as part of a broader shift in policy.

The internal discussions within the police began following prolonged public criticism of the skunk spray, a crowd-control tool based on spraying a liquid with an extremely strong and persistent odor. The skunk spray was first introduced in 2008 by the Border Police for dealing with violent disturbances, but over the years, opposition to its use has steadily grown.

In recent months, dozens of Chareidi residents of Jerusalem, together with Deputy Mayor Tzachi Brim, filed a petition against the National Security Minister and the police, demanding that the use of the skunk spray be stopped. The petition argues that the substance causes health and environmental harm, has never undergone a proper professional safety assessment, and was never approved by the Ministry of Health.

According to the petitioners, the liquid is sprayed even in densely populated areas and narrow streets; causes respiratory and skin irritation; harms children, the elderly, and pregnant women; leads to property damage; and leaves a lingering odor that can linger for days.

At the time, the police said that their contract with the manufacturer of the skunk spray was due to expire and that alternative means of dispersing protests were being examined. The current trials with pepper spray in water cannons appear to be the first concrete step in that transition.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

When the 58-year-old fraud victim told investigators in Maryland the details of how she had been duped out of $1.7 million, they knew she was hardly alone.

A year-long, expanding investigation – the results of which were made public Monday – revealed just how widespread her plight was: more than 650 victims, targeted by the same three call centers in India and losing over $48 million. The fraudsters posed as tech support workers, allowing them to gain access to victims’ computers, or described themselves as American law enforcement as part of elaborate ruses.

“A staggering amount of money,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, head of the bureau’s Baltimore field office. “It’s infuriating and it’s unfair.”

The probe led authorities in India to raid the call centers on Dec. 11 and 12, Paul said. Those operations were “dismantled,” according to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, leading to the arrest of six leaders and the seizure of laptops, cellphones, other devices and cash.

Maryland officials said the victims probably will never see their money again.

Investigators this week described how the scams started at the call centers, where workers spent their days looking for American targets through email, text messages, phone calls and computer pop-up warnings.

They often played the role of a tech support worker from, say, Microsoft or Apple, persuading their marks to download software onto their computers. Or they said they were calling from the U.S. Social Security Administration to report that criminals were using the victim’s Social Security number for money laundering, drug trafficking or child pornography. “It’s always something that sounds horrific,” FBI agent Jeremy Capello said.

The terrified victims are often transferred to someone purporting to be from U.S. law enforcement agencies such as the FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration.

“The antennas come down because you think you’re talking to a trusted person in the government,” said John McCarthy, the top prosecutor in Montgomery County, Maryland. “That’s how they suck you into this.”

The big goal: convincing the victims that their money wasn’t safe in the bank and that it needed to be transferred for safekeeping, to the FBI or DEA or even the U.S. Treasury Department. Soon enough, the target – often an otherwise smart person but fully in the grip of skilled impersonators – is routing money to specific bank accounts, purchasing and moving cryptocurrency, buying gold bars for an “agent” of the government to pick up, or sending cash.

“It’s all about the art of making people believe you’re someone you’re not,” said Capello, who works in the FBI’s Baltimore field office and has investigated white-collar fraud for 16 years.

The first person to reach targets, Capello said, often speaks with a noticeable Indian accent. As the victim talks to more people faking identities – especially the purported American law enforcement officers – the voices tend to become more American-sounding, according to Capello. Sometimes that is how the fraudsters speak, but sometimes they are Americanizing their voice through software and AI, according to Capello.

Another central part of the scam: convincing the victims to keep their money movements secret so as not to attract attention from the criminals who already knew about them.

The 58-year-old reported the fraud to detectives at the Montgomery County Police Department, who had arrested several gold-bar scammers working in Maryland, some with ties to Indian call centers. They had put out the word: Come to us if you have been swindled. By the time the 58-year-old fraud victim had arrived, the Montgomery detectives, working alongside the FBI, were determined to trace the frauds to the call centers overseas.

The woman provided a wealth of data of the people she was dealing with: bank account numbers, email addresses, phone numbers. “We were off to the races,” Capello said.

Investigators worked closely with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), slowly linking the woman’s details with others in Maryland and elsewhere in the United States.

The U.S. and Montgomery County investigators were able to present their case to Indian authorities through an FBI agent stationed in Delhi solely tasked with helping to investigate scam call centers in India, according to Capello. Before authorities there could search the call centers, though, they needed sworn statements from at least two U.S. victims, which Capello and the Montgomery detectives were able to provide.

The India raids took place in Noida, Delhi and Kolkata, according to authorities there.

“During the period 2022-2025,” India’s Central Bureau of Investigation said in a news release, “the accused individuals, operating under pseudonymous identities of US Government officials from Drug Enforcement [Administration], Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Social Security Administration, conspired to target US victims by threatening them that their Social Security Numbers had been used for money laundering and drug deliveries.”

The Indian call centers used in frauds, Capello said, sell each other lists of potential American targets with phone numbers and email addresses. And they work in highly competitive operations, with quotas posted on the walls, he said.

The fraudsters present themselves as concerned, diligent government agents, but their power and intimidation is never far from the surface. And they’re not scared to bring it the fore, Capello said, recalling how one victim – balking at their demands – suddenly received an email with what looked like a genuine American arrest warrant and a threat that he would be locked up if he did not follow orders.

The message, in no uncertain terms, was this: “How do we know you’re not involved in this too?”

“These scams exploit fear, trust and vulnerability. They are deeply personal crimes,” Montgomery County Police Captain Marc Erme said.

Capello said it remains very difficult to recover any of the money. But he feels like their work – dismantling the three call centers – will help prevent more scams.

“We’re making an impact,” he said. “We’re chipping away at it.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

{Matzav.com}

Yisrael Hayom journalist Ariel Kahana spoke about the hypocrisy of the left and other topics in an interview with Kol Chai on Tuesday morning.

Regarding the reopening of the Rafah Crossing, Kahana said, “This is a significant achievement in my view. No goods are entering, inspections on our side are extremely strict, and our forces are currently deployed along the Philadelphi Corridor, doing everything possible to prevent smuggling. We’re also closely monitoring who is allowed to enter. As a result, the situation today is far better than it was after the Disengagement.”

“But it’s important to remember—and this applies to all the concessions Israel is making regarding Gaza—that everything ultimately stems from the fact that, as a country, we turned the hostages into an almost exclusive goal of the war. We effectively said, ‘Give us the hostages, and we’ll accept that Hamas remains in Gaza; we’ll accept that the Palestinian Authority enters, and make concessions here and there.’ These are the prices we paid.”

Kahana accused the left of major hypocrisy: “All those who are now criticizing and attacking—those who shouted every Motzei Shabbos ‘Bring them all home now,’ and everyone who called to stop the war—I remind you that they didn’t even want us to enter the Philadelphi Corridor and demanded that we withdraw from Rafah, claiming that it wasn’t important. And now they’re all complaining about what, in my view, are minimal concessions made by Netanyahu in order to secure the hostages.”

“That is trying to hold the stick at both ends,” Kahana emphasized. “This hypocrisy really infuriates me.”

After the Rafah Crossing reopened on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “Smotrich and Ben Gvir, as usual, folded. Rafah reopened this morning in both directions—with Palestinian Authority representatives present and no IDF forces on site.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Higher-income Americans and those with college degrees have ramped up their spending more quickly in the past three years than other consumers, according to new data released Tuesday, evidence of worsening inequality that may explain some of the growing pessimism about the economy.

The data, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, also show that in the final three months of last year, lower-income and rural households faced higher inflation than higher-income households. The spending data focuses only on goods excluding autos, and does not capture likely spending by higher-income households on travel, restaurants and entertainment.

The figures add support to the notion of a “K-shaped” economy, in which upper-income Americans are fueling a disproportionate share of the consumption that is the primary driver of the economy, while lower-income households see fewer gains. Poorer households in general often experience higher inflation, with a greater share of their spending being set aside for goods that have seen prices soar since the pandemic, things like housing, groceries, and utilities.

The New York Fed’s data show that households with incomes of $125,000 and higher have boosted their spending 2.3%, adjusted for inflation, since 2023, while middle-income households — those between $40,000 and $125,000 — have increased their spending by 1.6%. Those earning below $40,000 have lifted their spending by just 0.9%, the report showed.

The figures are an addition to the New York Fed’s economic heterogeneity indicators, a series of data sets intended to track variations in the economy by geographic region and demographic and income groups.

The report underscores a pattern that has emerged since the pandemic: Lower-income households fared better in 2021 and 2022, when companies were desperate to hire and offered higher pay and benefits, while the government also provided several economic stimulus checks. Yet beginning roughly in early 2023, slower hiring and sharp gains in stock market values fueled spending by wealthier households.

The division is also clear when examined through the lens of education. In 2023 and most of 2024, inflation-adjusted spending by non-college households fell below its January 2023 level. It only regained that level in November 2024, while households with a college graduate had by then boosted their spending by 4%.

The New York Fed notes that college-educated households continued to spend at a rapid pace in 2025 even as hiring slowed and there were a spate of job cuts in white-collar industries such as high tech, government and marketing.

“The difference in the trend in retail spending between college graduates and nongraduates is consistent with the story of a ‘K-shaped economy,’” Rajashri Chakrabarti, an economic research advisor at the New York Fed, and three colleagues wrote.

JACKSON HEIGHTS, Queens (VINnews) — A 17-year-old student was arrested after allegedly sending antisemitic emails threatening violence to hundreds of classmates at a Queens charter school, prompting an investigation by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force, authorities said.

Police said officers from the 115th Precinct responded to a 911 call shortly after 12:30 p.m. Monday reporting a possible bias-related incident at Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights. School administrators told officers that a student had distributed antisemitic messages through a school email account to more than 300 students.

A violent, antisemitic threat made today at Renaissance Charter School is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. Hate and threats of violence have no place in our schools or our community.

I am relieved that no one was harmed and that the student is in custody. This must be fully…

— Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramosqns) February 2, 2026

According to law enforcement sources, the emails contained explicit threats of violence against Jews and referenced an intended time for an attack. Authorities emphasized that no violence occurred and that the situation was contained quickly.

The student was arrested at the school and later charged with making a terroristic threat and aggravated harassment as a hate crime. His arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was pending as of Tuesday, police said.

The case comes amid heightened concern over antisemitic incidents across New York City. The NYPD has reported a sharp increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes in recent months, with such cases accounting for a significant share of all bias-related incidents.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose district includes the school, said in a statement that she was relieved no one was harmed and praised the swift response by school officials and law enforcement.

“Our Jewish neighbors, students and families deserve safety, dignity and protection,” Ramos said, adding that officials will continue working to ensure the community’s security.

Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

Elon Musk is combining SpaceX and xAI in a deal that values the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion, as the world’s richest man looks to fuel his increasingly costly ambitions in artificial intelligence and space exploration.

The acquisition of xAI was announced in a statement on SpaceX’s website signed by Musk and confirming a Bloomberg News report earlier Monday.

The deal gives SpaceX a valuation of $1 trillion, and xAI a value of $250 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The combined company’s valuation was announced to employees in a memo on Monday, some of the people said earlier.

SpaceX said it acquired xAI to “form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.”

The company is still expecting to hold an initial public offering later this year, one of the people said. SpaceX had been planning an IPO that could raise as much as $50 billion, in what would be the biggest initial share sale to date.

The combined firm’s shares are expected to be worth $526.59 each, according to some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The deal is all stock, one of the people said.

Representatives for SpaceX and xAI didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The deal brings together two of the largest closely held companies in the world. XAI raised funds at a $230 billion valuation in January, while SpaceX was set to go ahead with a share sale in December at a valuation of about $800 billion.

Terms of the offering including price and valuation weren’t disclosed in the statement on SpaceX’s website.

The companies will remain operationally separate because SpaceX is subject to international regulations that control how information and technology related to defense systems are transported and shared, and xAI isn’t, according to a person familiar with the matter.

xAI will exist as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SpaceX, according to another person familiar with the matter.

In a memo, SpaceX said employees should be cautious about interfacing with xAI employees, as not all of them are cleared to work under those regulations, one of the people said. Business Insider reported earlier on the plan to keep operations separate.

In explaining the rationale for the deal, Musk said in the statement that the least expensive way to do AI computations within two to three years will be in space.

“This cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity,” he wrote.

SpaceX is requesting permission to launch as many as a million satellites into the Earth’s orbit for the plan, according to a filing Friday.

The offering further entangles Musk’s various business ventures. The billionaire acquired social media platform Twitter in late 2022, renamed it X, then merged the site with his artificial intelligence startup xAI in a $33 billion deal.

XAI, which also operates chatbot Grok, is an expensive operation, burning around $1 billion a month in service of its stated ambition to gain “a deeper understanding of our universe.”

A merger with SpaceX pools capital, talent, access to computing power – and blurs corporate boundaries.

Unlike some of Musk’s other ventures, SpaceX stands out as arguably his most successful and consistent business. The company, the only American one that can routinely send astronauts to and from the International Space Station, is a key rocket launch provider for both NASA and the US Department of Defense, which the White House has moved to rename the Department of War.

The increasing revenue it’s generating from the Starlink network of more than 9,000 satellites is even more significant, now outpacing launch sales and presenting a potential source of funding for xAI’s capital-intensive business.

Following the announcement of the acquisition, SpaceX also noted that one of its Falcon 9 rockets suffered an undisclosed issue after launching a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit. The company said that while the upper port of the rocket safely deployed all the satellites on board, a mishap occurred just before the vehicle was set to take itself out of orbit.

The incident marks a relatively rare misstep for the Falcon 9, which last suffered in an-flight issue in 2024. “Teams are reviewing data to determine root cause and corrective actions before returning to flight,” SpaceX said in a statement on X.

(c) 2026, Bloomberg

Translated by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

This letter was written on 22 Shevat 5707 (February 12, 1947) by Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva, from Jerusalem to members of his yeshiva community still stranded abroad, most likely in Shanghai or in transit, awaiting immigration certificates to Eretz Yisrael.

The Mir Yeshiva, founded in 1815 in present-day Belarus, had grown to nearly 500 students under Rav Leizer Yudel’s interwar leadership. When the Nazis and Soviets divided Poland in 1939, the yeshiva fled to Lithuania. In 1940, through visas issued by Dutch consul Jan Zwartendijk and Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara in Kovno, the bulk of the yeshiva escaped across Siberia to Kobe, Japan, and then to Shanghai — making the Mir the only major European yeshiva to survive the Holocaust intact. Rav Leizer Yudel himself, due to health issues, traveled separately through Odessa and Turkey to Palestine, where he opened a small branch of the yeshiva in Jerusalem in 1944 with about ten students. The main body — led by his son-in-law Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz and mashgiach Rav Yechezkel Levenstein — remained in Shanghai’s Beth Aharon Synagogue throughout the war. Even after Japan’s surrender in August 1945, transportation difficulties kept most members stranded until late 1946 or early 1947.

The barrier to entering Eretz Yisrael was the British Mandatory government’s stranglehold on Jewish immigration. The White Paper of 1939 had capped Jewish entry at 75,000 over five years. That quota was exhausted by December 1945, but the British continued permitting only 1,500 certificates per month — a pitiful number given that over 250,000 survivors languished in European DP camps and thousands more were stranded in Shanghai. From the summer of 1946 onward, the British began deducting intercepted “illegal” immigrants from this quota, and by December 1946, half the monthly certificates were allocated to detainees in the British internment camps on Cyprus, where over 50,000 Jews were ultimately imprisoned. This left roughly 750 certificates per month for the entire Jewish Agency to distribute worldwide.

Within this impossible reality, Rav Leizer Yudel had been promised up to 30 certificates for his yeshiva members — and then the promise was revoked. As he writes with evident pain, “here they had agreed to give me up to 30 certificates, but they changed their decision and broke their promise.” Such reversals were tragically common. Even the most prominent Torah leaders, he notes, had been unable to secure “even a single certificate.”

His reference to “two months in a place of confinement” alludes to the Atlit detention camp near Haifa, where arriving immigrants were held temporarily before release — not confinement abroad, as the recipients had misunderstood. The letter also mentions a ship departing America around the 20th of Shevat carrying his son-in-law Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz and his son to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Shmuelevitz had left Shanghai for New York with the last contingent of students in early 1947 and was now en route to join his father-in-law at the Mir in Jerusalem, where he would serve as Rosh Yeshiva for decades.

This letter captures a pivotal moment: the great Rosh Yeshiva of Mir straining with every fiber to bring his talmidim home, hampered at every turn by a British policy that, in the aftermath of the greatest catastrophe in Jewish history, continued to bar the gates of the Holy Land to the shattered remnants of European Jewry

                                            —-

Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivas Mir — Jerusalem, Eretz Yisrael

22 Shevat 5707 (February 12, 1947)

Rabbi L. J. Finkel | Dean of the Rabbinical College | MIR | Jerusalem, Palestine

To my dear and beloved friends, may they live long, with goodness and pleasantness.

After wishes of peace and blessing, with abundant love!

Your letter indeed reached me at its proper time. I read your words, spoken from great pain and anguish. I empathize with you in your suffering — your pain is my pain. My heart mourns for you, on account of the amount of suffering that has fallen upon your lot. Let us hope that after the full measure of suffering has been heaped [upon you], you will have already merited to arrive in Eretz Yisrael, for indeed Chazal have said that Eretz Yisrael is acquired through suffering.

Regarding that which you wrote — that I had promised you to obtain certificates on your behalf — indeed, the fault is not mine. For indeed, here they had agreed to give me up to 30 certificates, but they changed their decision and broke their promise.

It is well known that the situation does not always remain in its place; it changes its face and the times shift, as [they do] from day to day. And if so, your complaints should not be directed at me. For is it not known to you that the entire nation is steeped in distress and finds itself in such a state? And if this destruction has struck us as well, behold, our obligation is to give thanks to Hashem Yisbarach [for His kindnesses] — that He left us alive, through His abundant mercy. And if your grievance and complaints are about the fact that I want you to come to our Holy Land — if about this, then indeed you are right, and you are justified in this complaint!

But know, my dear and beloved ones, that everything that is within our ability — we are doing, truly with mesiras nefesh.

We are exerting ourselves on your behalf so that you should come to the good and desirable Land, with Hashem’s help. But everyone knows the great difficulties that we encounter, and there is no counsel or recourse against the authorities. For have even our great leaders who stand at the helm obtained even a single certificate? I have already mentioned this once, and I mention it again: that perhaps it would be proper for you to turn to Mr. Horowitz for help, and if he can assist in this matter — in obtaining the certificates — then how good [that would be].

This week I received regards from Mr. Breuer, who met with you. In the course of his conversation with me, it became clear to me that you are mistaken regarding what I wrote to you — that you would need to spend two months in a place of confinement. My intention was not that you would need to spend these two months abroad, but rather in the place where Mr. Weinhaus is located — in Eretz Yisrael, in Atlit (an absorption center).

Mr. Breuer also told me that on the 20th of this month, a ship is crossing from America to Eretz Yisrael, and on this ship my son-in-law and my son, may they live long, will be coming. Please be so kind as to convey to my son-in-law, the Gaon Rav Chaim, may his light shine, who will be sailing on this ship — [a message by way of] Brisk to me — informing us on which day the ship departs. And incidentally, it is proper and important that he [Rav Chaim Shmulevitz] should accompany them on their journey to Haifa, and there perhaps I will be able to meet with him for some hours before his [continued] journey to the United States. Perhaps it would also be proper that you too — all of you — should make your way on this ship. And would that it should be that all of you will be able to come on this ship, with Hashem’s help.

I conclude with a blessing from the holy and sanctified place: Strengthen yourselves and be courageous, and let not your spirits fall! With Hashem’s help we shall merit to see each other face to face, here in “the city of our strength” [Yerushalayim]. And through His salvation we shall be saved.

I hereby wish for you good health and “superior light” and all that is good. May you merit to see the return of Hashem with the captivity of His people, and the ingathering of those who were scattered, from the lands of their dispersion, to the land of their forefathers — with the coming of the righteous Redeemer, speedily, Amen.

With the prayer of one who anticipates seeing you,

[Rabbi] Eliezer Yehuda Finkel

The Jackson Township Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 168 and the Superior Officers Association issued a statement commending township leadership following the promotion of Chief Nelson and ten additional promotions within the Jackson Police Department.

“The Jackson P.B.A. and S.O.A. would like to take a moment to acknowledge not only the promotion of Chief Nelson, but also the ten additional promotions granted within our Police Department by Mayor Kuhn and the Council, led by President Burnstein,” the statement said. “This level of growth is both unprecedented and necessary.”

The unions also credited Mayor Kuhn for her leadership in guiding the department through prior challenges – specifically surrounding the retirement of Chief Kunz.

“We recognize that reaching this point required steady leadership from Mayor Kuhn to address and resolve prior challenges,” the statement continued. “We look forward to working collaboratively with Chief Nelson and Mayor Kuhn as we continue building a Police Department that meets the needs of our amazing community.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump met for nearly two hours with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House on Tuesday, conducting a friendly face-to-face mere weeks after threatening military action against the South American country and accusing the leader of pumping cocaine into the United States.

Trump said afterward that he and Petro hadn’t been “the best of friends,” suggesting that he’d felt insulted by the president of Colombia because he didn’t know him and because the two had never met.

Afterward, he’d changed his mind, saying, “We had a very good meeting. I thought he was terrific.”

Trump said the pair discussed cooperation in counternarcotics operations and a number of other topics.

The meeting followed Trump saying Petro — who has continued to criticize Trump and the U.S. operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro — has become more willing to work with his administration to stem the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia.

The good feelings seemed to be mutual.

Petro posted on X a picture of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal,” with a signed inscription reading, “You are great.” Colombia’s president wrote, ironically, in Spanish, “What did Trump mean to say to me with this dedication? I don’t understand English very well.”

Petro also said in an interview with Colombia’s Caracol Radio that he asked Trump to help mediate an escalating trade war between his country and Ecuador.

Still, past bad blood continues to loom. Indeed, in the days prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Petro, a leftist politician, continued to poke at the conservative U.S. president, calling Trump an “accomplice to genocide” in the Gaza Strip, while asserting that the capture of Maduro was a kidnapping.

And ahead of his departure for Washington, Petro called on Colombians to take to the streets of Bogotá during the White House meeting. He plans to hold a news conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington later Tuesday.

Petro brought along Foreign Relations Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, Defense Minister Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez and Ambassador Daniel García-Peña, while Trump was joined by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who was born in Colombia.

Just minutes before the meeting started, Petro, in a video shared by his office, described himself as a politician who has denounced and prosecuted drug traffickers.

Accompanied by one of his daughters and his granddaughter, he lamented that most of his children live outside of Colombia, in exile, due to the fight he’s waging against drug trafficking. “We have truly suffered its effects directly,” Petro said.

There’s been a shift in US-Colombia relations
Historically, Colombia has been a U.S. ally. For the past 30 years, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas. Colombia is also designated by the U.S. as a major non-NATO ally.

But relations between the leaders have been strained by Trump’s massing U.S. forces in the region for unprecedented deadly military strikes targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific. At least 126 people have been killed in 36 known strikes.

In October, Trump’s Republican administration announced it was imposing sanctions on Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.

The Treasury Department leveled the penalties against Petro; his wife, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.

The sanctions, which had to be waived to allow Petro to travel to Washington this week, came after the U.S. administration in September announced it was adding Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades.

Then came the audacious military operation last month to capture Maduro and his wife to face federal drug conspiracy charges, a move that Petro has forcefully denounced. Following Maduro’s ouster, Trump put Colombia on notice and ominously warned Petro he could be next.

Colombia is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said of Petro last month. “And he’s not gonna be doing it very long, let me tell you.”

But a few days later, tensions eased somewhat after a call between the leaders. Trump said Petro in their hourlong conversation explained “the drug situation and other disagreements.” And Trump extended an invitation to Petro for the White House visit.

Trump skips greeting Petro, who comes bearing gifts
The Colombian president said he’d planned to use the meeting to detail his country’s counternarcotics initiatives to Trump. And in a diplomatic gesture amid the acrimony, Colombian officials said Petro came bearing gifts, including a signature Wounaan indigenous basket from Colombia’s Chocó region for Trump and a handmade gown crafted by indigenous artisans from Nariño for first lady Melania Trump.

Petro’s office released a photo of Trump and Petro chatting as they walked the colonnade toward the Oval Office at the start of the visit. García-Peña, Colombia’s envoy to Washington, is captured in the frame holding a copy of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.”

Trump skipped on greeting Petro upon his arrival and posing for a photograph with him in front of the North Portico of the White House before a gathered press, a set piece for most foreign leaders’ visits. Instead, Petro arrived at a side entrance of the White House along West Executive Avenue, minutes before the start of their scheduled meeting.

The two leaders did not deliver joint statements before the press, something Trump typically does at the start or end of most leader visits.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coast guard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Chios has killed at least 14 people, the coast guard said late Tuesday, while a search and rescue operation involving patrol boats, a helicopter and divers was underway for potentially missing people.

The coast guard said another 25 migrants, including about 11 children, were rescued and transported to a hospital on Chios, as were two coast guard officers who were injured in the incident. Of the 14 bodies collected, 11 were those of men and three were of women, the coast guard said.

It added that it was not immediately clear how many people had been on the speedboat, and a search and rescue operation involving four patrol vessels, an air force helicopter and a private boat carrying divers was underway for potentially missing passengers.

Video footage by a local news site showed at least one person being carried in a blanket from a boat moored on the side of a jetty into a waiting coast guard vehicle with blue flashing lights, as others appear to lead two children, one of them limping, toward the car.

The coast guard did not immediately have further information on exactly how the collision occurred, or on the identities of the casualties or the other passengers on the speedboat.

Michalis Giannakos, the head of Greece’s public hospital workers’ union, said staff at the hospital in Chios were all on alert to handle the sudden influx of injured and were on standby for potentially more people. Speaking on Greece’s Open TV channel, Giannakos said several of the injured required surgery.

Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Fatal accidents are a common occurrence. Many undertake the short but often perilous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the eastern Aegean. But increased patrols and allegations of pushbacks — summary deportations without allowing for asylum applications — by Greek authorities have reduced crossing attempts.

Greece, along with several other European Union countries, has been tightening its regulations on migration. In December, the European Union was overhauling its migration system, including streamlining deportations and increasing detentions.

There has long been a fierce debate among EU members about migration. Since a surge in asylum-seekers and other migrants to Europe a decade ago, public debate on the issue has shifted and far-right parties have gained political power. EU migration policies have hardened, and the number of asylum-seekers is down from record levels.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu held an extended three-hour strategy session in Yerushalayim on Tuesday night with White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, focusing on coordination ahead of impending U.S. discussions with Tehran. During the meeting, Netanyahu cautioned that Iran’s record shows it cannot be relied upon to honor diplomatic commitments and stressed that any broader regional understanding must place security first. The talks also centered on Gaza, with Netanyahu reiterating Israel’s insistence on the complete dismantling of Hamas and the full demilitarization of the Strip. As Witkoff prepares for sensitive meetings with Iranian officials in Turkey, Israeli officials made clear that no “grand bargain” can come at the expense of removing terrorist threats.

The meeting was timed to prepare Witkoff ahead of his planned talks in Istanbul on Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu “emphasized his position that Iran has proven time and time again that its promises cannot be relied upon.” The warning comes amid reports that Tehran is proposing limits on uranium enrichment in return for sanctions relief. Netanyahu urged the American side to approach such offers with skepticism, arguing that without intrusive inspections and meaningful penalties for violations, any agreement would simply mask Iran’s nuclear aims.

Netanyahu also briefed U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee on newly uncovered intelligence pointing to abuse of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. According to the Prime Minister, Israeli forces uncovered “serious violations,” including the use of bags bearing the logo of UNRWA to hide weapons and military gear. Israeli officials say the findings underscore claims that terrorist groups have penetrated international aid mechanisms, raising concerns about future reconstruction efforts.

On the domestic front, Netanyahu spelled out what he described as Israel’s “uncompromising demands” for ending the war in Gaza. He reiterated that Hamas must be fully disarmed and the territory completely demilitarized before any rebuilding can begin. “The Prime Minister clarified that the Palestinian Authority will not be part of the management of the Strip in any way,” the official statement said, highlighting a clear divergence between Israel’s position and views held by some in Washington. Netanyahu insisted that Israel’s war objectives must be fully achieved before reconstruction proceeds.

The talks also addressed the potential second phase of the ceasefire, with Netanyahu stressing that Israel will not permit terrorist groups to regroup or rearm under the cover of humanitarian pauses. By presenting Witkoff with a broad assessment that included input from Israel’s senior security leadership, Netanyahu sought to ensure the envoy enters discussions with Tehran fully briefed on Israel’s assessment of the “multi-arena” threat. The meeting ended with an understanding that while Washington pursues diplomatic avenues, Israel remains prepared for the possibility that Iran’s “promises” will again go unfulfilled.

{Matzav.com}

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The almost monthlong disappearance from public view of Bolivia’s towering socialist icon, ex-leader Evo Morales, shortly after the Jan. 3 U.S. seizure of his close ally former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is alarming his supporters, roiling his enemies and galvanizing the internet.

On Monday, he missed a ceremony that he typically attends welcoming students back from summer break. On Sunday, Morales was a no-show for the fourth straight weekly broadcast of his political radio show, which he has hosted without interruption for years.

Since early January, he has skipped scheduled meetings with members of his coca-leaf growing union in Bolivia’s remote Chapare region and his daily stream of social media content has all but dried up.

Although Morales has spent the past year evading an arrest warrant on charges of human trafficking, his fugitive status hasn’t stopped the firebrand union leader from speaking at rallies, receiving supporters, giving interviews, posting on X — or even running an unconventional presidential campaign last year — all from his political stronghold in the Chapare.

Morales rejects the statutory rape allegations as politically motivated.

The question of Morales’ whereabouts has set off furious speculation as the Trump administration imposes its political will in South America through sanctions, punitive tariffs, electoral endorsements, financial bailouts and military action.

Explanations range from dengue to exile
Morales’ close associates have privately declined to provide an explanation for his absences while publicly telling supporters that the former president has been recovering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral illness with symptoms that typically last no longer than a week.

“We have asked our brother Evo Morales to rest completely,” said Dieter Mendoza, vice president of a body of farmers known as the Six Federations that runs the coca-leaf trade in the tropics, declining to elaborate.

For Morales’ rivals, the mystery has stirred resentful memories of 2019, when he resigned under pressure from the military after his disputed bid for an unconstitutional third term provoked mass protests. Morales fled to Mexico then took refuge in Argentina, only to return home when Luis Arce, his former finance minister, took the presidency in 2020.

“Evo Morales is in Mexico,” declared right-wing lawmaker Edgar Zegarra, offering no evidence but demanding that the government prove otherwise. “He has not appeared, not even at political events, and they don’t know how to justify it.”

Security officials within Bolivia’s first conservative government following almost 20 years of dominance by Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, have been cryptic.

“The former president has not left Bolivia,” said Police Commander Gen. General Mirko Sokol, “at least not through any official channels.”

WhatsApp messages and calls to Morales went unanswered Monday.

Morales withdraws as Bolivia veers to the right
Bolivia’s election of centrist President Rodrigo Paz last October came as part of a wider ideological swing across Latin America, where U.S. President Donald Trump has become increasingly entangled in regional politics.

In the last two years, right-wing would-be saviors have come to power in countries wracked by economic crisis like Argentina and consumed by fears of violent crime like Chile. Costa Rica’s election of a right-wing populist Monday reinforced the trend.

Like Maduro and his mentor and predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, Morales was openly hostile to the United States and cozied up to its political foes during his 14 years as Bolivia’s first Indigenous president from 2006 to 2019.

In 2008, Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador and counternarcotics officials for allegedly conspiring against his government. Russia poured money into Bolivia’s energy and lithium mining sectors. Chinese companies won contracts to build highways and dams. Iran offered the country its drone technology.

Now Paz is trying to reverse the political direction. His government has scrapped visa requirements for American tourists, held talks with U.S. officials on securing loans to rescue Bolivia’s economy and paved the way for the return of the Drug Enforcement Agency to Bolivia, a regional cocaine-trafficking hub.

The prospect of the DEA’s reappearance has rattled the Bolivian tropics still scarred from an aggressive U.S.-backed war on drugs in the late 1990s that forced coca farmers to eradicate their crops. The plant is the raw material of cocaine but it also holds deep cultural and spiritual significance in the country.

Coca farmers in the Chapare say they haven’t seen Morales since Jan. 8, as panic about a rare overflight by a Super Puma helicopter gripped the jungle region. Deputy Social Defense Minister, Ernesto Justiniano, later explained it was a data collection mission in coordination with foreign agencies, including the DEA, but had nothing to do with Morales.

“State surveillance should not be a threat to anyone,” he said.

Government critics join the frenzy
Right-wing contenders in last year’s presidential election campaign — including ex-President Jorge Quiroga, who ultimately lost the runoff to the more moderate Paz — vowed that if elected, they’d yank Morales from his hideout in the Chapare and lock him up.

Now, they’re seizing on unverified rumors of Morales’ escape to ratchet up the pressure on Paz.

“He’s playing hide-and-seek, he’s making a mockery of the state,” Quiroga said of Morales. “The country cannot speak of legal security when an arrest warrant is not executed.”

Bolivia’s judiciary, with its history of tacking where political winds blow, has already freed right-wing opposition figures and pursued cases against former officials, detaining former President Arce just weeks after Paz’s inauguration.

But unlike Arce, Morales retains a strong, albeit small, base of support. Loyalists protecting him from arrest have vowed to resist with guerrilla tactics if security forces invade the Chapare.

Morales could appear at any time and quash the speculation about his status.

But for now his inner circle appears content to leave things a mystery.

“Our brother president is doing very well,” said Leonardo Loza, a former senator and close friend of Morales. “He is in a corner of our greater homeland.”

A 13-year-old Australian boy is being hailed as a hero for his sheer endurance and bravery after swimming about 2½ miles in rough waters then running about a mile to rescue his family who had been swept out to sea.

Austin Appelbee, his mother, Joanne, and two siblings Beau, 12, and Grace, 8, were on vacation kayaking and paddleboarding off the coast of Quindalup, in Geographe Bay, in southwestern Australia, when the weather deteriorated, according to local authorities and Australian media reports.

Fearing for her family, Joanne made the difficult choice to send Austin to get help, she told Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC News, calling it “one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.”

“I knew he was the strongest and he could do it,” she said of her teenage son. “I have three babies. All three of them made it. That was all that mattered,” she added about the family ordeal where she spent more than eight hours clinging to a paddleboard in the ocean.

Western Australia Police Force said in a statement that it received an emergency call about 6 p.m. Friday that a woman and her two children had been swept out to sea in rough conditions.

Austin paddled to get help before his kayak took on water and failed him, police said. He then swam nearly 2½ miles in fading light and rough conditions before reaching land to ring the alarm.

“The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough – his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” said Inspector James Bradley, South West District office said in a statement Monday. “This incident is a reminder that ocean conditions can change rapidly. Thankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival.”

Austin, in an interview with ABC News, recalled that his mother had directed him to “go get help” while she stayed with his siblings.

“I knew it would be a long way … but the kayak kept taking in water, I was fighting rough seas,” he said. “I was very puffed out but I couldn’t feel how tired I was,” he added. “The waves were massive.”

Austin said he decided to ditch the kayak and remove his life jacket, which were making it difficult for him to swim, and alternated between swimming breaststroke, freestyle and survival backstroke – an energy-preserving stroke for long distances. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,” he told himself, putting happier thoughts about his family and school friends into his mind to pull through, he said.

“I just said ‘all right, not today, not today, not today.’ I have to keep on going.”

Finally, he made it to shore.

“I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed,” he said. But his feat of endurance was not over. He then sprinted over another mile to find a phone, where he called emergency services and told them his family was stranded at sea, he said.

“A multiagency search and rescue response was initiated,” police said, involving multiple marine sea rescue services and a rescue helicopter.

The family did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Washington Post.

“This is what a true West Aussie hero looks like,” said Roger Cook, the premier of Western Australia, in a post on social media Tuesday, calling Austin’s feat of endurance an “extraordinary act of courage,” to save his family.

“Austin’s bravery is beyond his years, showing remarkable courage, resilience and determination in the face of real danger. Well done, Austin – we’re so proud of what you’ve done.”

Mike Tipton, a survival expert and professor of Human and Applied Physiology at Britain’s University of Portsmouth, said Austin’s survival was a “remarkable achievement.”

“He must be an accomplished swimmer, but even then, the water was cold enough to incapacitate him without unrelenting effort. He was clearly driven on by the desire to save his family – this is a common and critical factor in such survival scenarios,” he told The Post by email.

The Naturaliste Marine Rescue group, a volunteer group which was among the first responders, said the weekend’s rescue had the “best possible outcome, one we won’t forget in a hurry.”

“The bravery, strength, and courage shown by this family were extraordinary,” it said in a Facebook post. Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland told ABC that the teenager’s efforts were “superhuman” and that his description of the kayak and paddleboards meant that his family was found “within an hour.”

“Fantastic effort from all involved in trying conditions. A great outcome,” Marine Rescue Busselton, a volunteer organization also involved with the incident, said in a social media post. “Please be mindful of the strong offshore winds that can occur this time of year.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

{Matzav.com}

A 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a violent carjacking and stabbing of an Asbury Park taxi driver last month, Howell Township Police announced, while a second suspect remains at large, authorities said today.

As previously reported by TLS, the attack occurred after a late-night fare ended in a secluded parking area.

The incident occurred on January 16, 2026, at approximately 11:15 p.m., when a Howell Township patrol officer found a 46-year-old taxi driver bleeding from the face on Old Tavern Road. The officer immediately rendered aid, and the victim reported that he had just been attacked by two passengers.

According to investigators, the two men had taken a taxi from Neptune to a parking lot across from the entrance to Oak Glen Park. Upon arrival, one of the passengers produced a knife and slashed the driver in the face before the pair stole the taxi and fled. The injured driver managed to escape on foot and was later located by police.

A short time later, responding Howell officers located the stolen taxi abandoned on Maxim Road. A perimeter was set up and a K-9 track was initiated, but the suspects were not located at that time. The vehicle was recovered and seized.

The victim was treated at Jersey Shore Medical Center for a facial laceration and was listed in stable condition.

Following further investigation led by Detective Vincent Bonner, police identified one of the assailants as Melvin J. Cruz-Salmoran, 19, a foreign national of Mexico last known to reside in Neptune Township. On February 1, 2026, he was charged with first-degree carjacking, second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

On February 3, Howell detectives, working with the FBI’s Jersey Shore Safe Streets Task Force, located and arrested Cruz-Salmoran in Neptune Township. Authorities said other individuals at the residence attempted to conceal his whereabouts.

Also taken into custody at the scene were Jose Luis Acevedo Jimenez, 27, a foreign national of Mexico, who faces federal immigration charges for allegedly lying to agents; Jennifer Lopez, 22, of Neptune, who was charged locally with providing false information to authorities; and Jovanni Cruz-Salmoran, 29, also a foreign national of Mexico, who was arrested by federal agents on a warrant of removal after ICE confirmed his status.

Melvin Cruz-Salmoran was processed at Howell Police Headquarters and transported to Monmouth County Correctional Institution pending further court proceedings. Acevedo Jimenez and Jovanni Cruz-Salmoran were taken to ICE’s Newark Field Office for processing, while Lopez was processed in Neptune and released pending a future court appearance.

Detectives continue to investigate and are seeking to identify and apprehend the second suspect involved in the attack. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Vincent Bonner at 732-938-4575 ext. 2647.

A faster way to get through airport security may be coming to an airport near you.

TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, a new program that uses facial recognition, is expanding to 65 airports this spring. The expansion will prioritize 2026 World Cup host cities, where travel is expected to surge, said Transportation Security Administration spokesperson R. Carter Langston.

“Passengers seem to absolutely appreciate it – the speed, the efficiency,” Langston said. “All they show is their face, and the officer just waves them right into the checkpoint. No hassling with passports or IDs or phones.”

The TSA launched the first iteration of the program in 2021 in partnership with Delta Air Lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It’s now available for five airlines across 28 airports.

Critics worry that the program raises privacy concerns. It is voluntary, and travelers can opt out at any time and use a standard ID verification instead.

– – –

What is PreCheck Touchless ID?

The TSA said in an email that the initiative is a joint effort from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, airports and airlines that allows travelers “to move through dedicated lanes with ease, enjoying a smoother and more convenient airport experience.”

The program uses the CBP Traveler Verification Service to create “a secure biometric template of a passenger’s live facial image taken at the checkpoint and matches it against a gallery of templates of pre-staged photos that the passenger previously provided to the government (e.g., U.S. Passport or Visa),” the agency website said.

– – –

Who is eligible for PreCheck Touchless ID?

To use the program, fliers must be a current TSA PreCheck member with a valid “known traveler number” and an active airline profile (such as being enrolled in a loyalty program). They must also have a valid passport uploaded to their airline profile.

The airlines currently participating in the program include:

Alaska

American

Delta

Southwest

United

TSA PreCheck Touchless ID offers current TSA PreCheck members an expedited airport security screening by way of “facial comparison technology.”

It’s only available at select airports, through participating airlines – which vary. For example, travelers at John F. Kennedy International Airport, but only if they are flying with Alaska, American, Delta or United. It is available at George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, but only for passengers flying with Alaska, American, Delta or United. For a list of availability, visit the TSA website.

– – –

How can travelers opt in?

To use the program, travelers must first opt in through their airline’s website or app before checking in to their flight.

The process varies by airline, but you can generally find the prompt under a “travel documents” section (where you add your known traveler number or passport details) of your airline loyalty program app or website.

American Airlines customers, for example, will find the opt-in choice toward the bottom of the “Information and password” page of their AAdvantage profile, while Alaska Airlines customers should go to their account settings, then click into the “travel documents” section.

Once travelers have opted in, then checked in for their flight, a TSA PreCheck Touchless ID symbol should appear on their boarding pass. If the symbol is not on your boarding pass, you won’t be able to use the lane, even if you show an employee that you are enrolled in the program.

At the airport, travelers should follow signs to a separate TSA PreCheck Touchless ID lane. Instead of handing an ID over to an officer to verify your identity, you’ll instead pause to scan your face, then keep moving.

– – –

Is it really faster?

It can be, for two reasons.

First: There is no slowdown to hand over and scan your ID; travelers must only pause during their walk through the line dividers before proceeding to the X-ray machines.

Second: Because the program is new, requires signing up in advance and is not available for every airline, it’s getting a fraction of the traffic that regular security, Clear or PreCheck lanes are.

We’ve had mixed results. When it works, it’s incredible; you really are through in seconds.

But we’ve also been delayed when the facial comparison machine was undergoing maintenance and was out of use, sending us back into the longer PreCheck lane.

Which airports offer PreCheck Touchless ID?
TSA PreCheck Touchless ID is already available at 28 airports (however, participating airlines will vary; check the TSA website for more information):

Boston Logan International Airport

Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Dallas Love Field

Denver International Airport

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Dulles International Airport

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Harry Reid International Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

John F. Kennedy International Airport

John Wayne Airport

Kansas City International Airport

LaGuardia Airport

Los Angeles International Airport

Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport

Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport

Oakland International Airport

Palm Beach International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Portland International Airport

Reagan National Airport

Salt Lake City International Airport

San Francisco International Airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

William P. Hobby Airport

– – –

What are the privacy concerns?

The TSA is using more facial recognition at the airport, including in regular security lanes and CBP checks.

The CBP says its Enhanced Passenger Processing involves taking a traveler’s photo using “auto capture technology” to simplify the inspection and adjudication process.

Travelers can also use biometric screenings to speed through Global Entry, using a CBP app.

The TSA says on its website that it may share your information with “CBP, DHS S&T, or others as necessary.” The agency confirmed that that includes sharing information about travelers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check for deportation orders.

There has been a bipartisan effort to put more guardrails on its use at airports.

In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security said that photos of travelers were taken in a data breach, accessed through the network of one of its subcontractors. (The TSA says its databases are encrypted.)

A Senate bill would allow officers to continue scanning travelers’ faces if they opt in; it would ban the technology’s use for anything other than verifying identities. It would also require the agency to immediately delete the scans once the check is complete.

If you change your mind about TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, you can opt out at any time and ask for standard ID verification instead. You can opt out of any facial recognition at the airport by saying, “I’d prefer a standard ID check.”

The agency also says it deletes photos and personal data within 24 hours of scheduled flight departures. The TSA website’s FAQ section addresses some privacy concerns and says that all data collected during facial comparison checks is protected.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post

A U.S. Navy fighter aircraft destroyed an Iranian drone that moved toward the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday, an encounter that underscored rising friction as the Trump administration warns it could use force to push Tehran back into negotiations.

According to U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins, the drone “aggressively approached” the carrier with “unclear intent” and “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.”

The downing came just hours after Iranian units harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed commercial ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said, linking the aerial incident to a broader pattern of maritime pressure.

Hawkins said the aircraft involved was an Iranian Shahed-139, which was destroyed by an F-35C launched from the Lincoln while the carrier was operating roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) off Iran’s southern coastline. U.S. officials reported no injuries to American personnel and no damage to U.S. equipment.

Later the same day, forces from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps again confronted the same merchant vessel, the military said.

In a statement, Hawkins said two fast boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone closed in on the tanker “at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”

The destroyer USS McFaul moved in and escorted the Stena Imperative “with defensive air support from the U.S. Air Force,” the statement said, adding that the ship was able to continue its voyage without incident.

The episodes unfolded against a backdrop of strained relations between Washington and Tehran, tensions that flared anew after Iran’s leadership spent weeks suppressing protests that erupted in late December over worsening economic conditions and later broadened into a challenge to the Islamic Republic.

President Donald Trump said in early January that he would “rescue” Iranians from what he described as a brutal government crackdown, a stance that evolved into a renewed pressure campaign aimed at compelling Iran to reach a nuclear agreement. Trump has also maintained that Iranian nuclear facilities were “obliterated” during U.S. strikes carried out in June.

“We have talks going on with Iran. We’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, declining to spell out where he would draw the line for military action.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

The U.S. interception occurred only hours after Iran’s president said Tuesday that he had directed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with Washington, one of the clearest signals in months that Tehran is open to renewed talks after negotiations collapsed last summer.

Behind the scenes, Turkey has been attempting to facilitate discussions expected later this week, as U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff travels through the region. A Turkish official later said the venue for any talks remained undecided, but that Ankara stood ready to assist the diplomatic effort.

{Matzav.com}

The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].

Question:

What is being done to curtail the excess speeding, accidents, and fatalities on route 70?

I have lived here for 20 years and I have never seen the destruction by motor vehicles that I’m seeing over the past few years. My friend and I ran to do a few errands today. We ran to Aldi’s and were heading back to airport road.

As we were leaving Aldi’s two cars traveling East, clearly racing in the middle of the day, went flying past us at a rate of at least 90 to 100 miles an hour. I can’t even imagine what would happen if they hit anyone at that speed.

But more amazing was here in the same short trip, we caught the light on 70 and New Hampshire when I totally different car, an SUV, went flying past us through the red light! I would say it was red for a good three to four seconds.

It’s a miracle that New Hampshire’s traffic had not started through the intersection yet. What is going to be done about this? It is so dangerous to drive on 70 today.

Response from Mayor Coles:

Our police department has been working with the municipalities along Rt 70, from Brick to Manchester, along with the State Police, Sheriff’s Department, and County Prosecutor’s office to stage targeted enforcement along the road to try and eliminate this activity. I will also ask the chief to do some additional enforcement there.

Thanks,

—————–

Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]

Have a question for the Chief? Send it to [email protected]

The House on Tuesday approved a sweeping funding package to bring a brief government shutdown to an end, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for his signature after the lapse began over the weekend.

The bill cleared the chamber by a 217–214 vote.

Trump has said he will sign it “immediately.”

Once enacted, the measure will provide funding for most federal agencies through the end of September. The sole exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which would receive funding for only two additional weeks as Democrats press for changes following the fatal shooting of two Americans by federal agents in Minneapolis.

By carving out DHS, the legislation sets off a compressed 10-day sprint for lawmakers to negotiate a separate agreement, with Democrats seeking reforms aimed at curbing the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Under the bill, DHS funding is scheduled to run out on Feb. 13.

Earlier Tuesday, House Republicans narrowly advanced the legislation on a procedural vote, 217–215, without Democratic support.

Final passage was delayed by a day after Democrats privately signaled they would not supply the large number of votes required to fast-track the bill on Monday. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not reveal how he would vote, saying only that his caucus held “a variety of perspectives” on the package.

Following a party meeting Tuesday, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., also declined to say how she would vote when questioned ahead of the roll call.

The procedural vote underscored the razor-thin margin Republicans hold in the House. The vote was kept open longer than usual after Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., unexpectedly joined Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in opposing it. Massie has consistently resisted spending bills and was widely viewed as unlikely to change his position. Rose, who complained that the Senate had failed to act on the SAVE Act requiring proof of citizenship to vote, ultimately switched his vote to support the rule.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democratic negotiator on funding issues in the House, said she planned to back the bill and was confident it would pass. She said she and other Democrats spoke in favor of the legislation during their internal meeting.

“I believe this is an opportunity to isolate DHS and go at it, hammer and tongs, tooth and nail — whatever phrase you want to use, rather than having to figure out what the heck is going to happen to five other bills and all those departments,” DeLauro said. “There’s unbelievable bipartisan, bicameral support on those bills. So why squander that? And then take the next 10 days, next Friday, and just bring DHS up.”

The agreement to temporarily set aside DHS funding while approving the rest of the spending bills was reached by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the White House after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti prompted a nationwide backlash.

After the Senate passed the package Friday by a 71–29 vote, Trump urged House Republicans to approve the bill without changes, tamping down internal calls to alter the agreement.

Even with the shutdown ended, lawmakers from both parties acknowledge that reaching a bipartisan deal on DHS funding will be difficult.

Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, said meeting the next deadline would be a challenge.

“There are vast differences,” he said. “I would expect — and I’m hearing that there could be just another, we kick the can down the road a little bit longer until those differences can be worked out … at least, probably, March 1.”

{Matzav.com}

The House on Tuesday passed a roughly $1.2 trillion spending package to end the partial government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump and setting the stage for a debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding.

The vote was 217-214, and wraps up congressional work on 11 of the 12 annual appropriations bills, funding the vast majority of the government for the budget year ending Sept. 30. The last bill still to be worked out covers the Department of Homeland Security where Democrats are demanding more restrictions on enforcement operations.

Trump has said he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk.

Speaker Mike Johnson needed near-unanimous support from his Republican conference to proceed to a final vote. He narrowly got it during a procedural vote that was held open for nearly an hour as leaders worked to gain support from a handful of GOP lawmakers who were trying to advance other priorities unrelated to the funding measure.

“We have to work through individual members’ concerns. That’s the game here. It’s a consensus building operation. We do it every day,” Johnson said.

Trump had weighed in Monday in a social media post, calling on Republicans to stay united and telling holdouts “There can be NO CHANGES at this time.”

“We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly — One that will not benefit Republicans or Democrats. I hope everyone will vote, YES!,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

The measure once signed will end the partial government shutdown that began Saturday, In addition to funding most of the federal government through Sept. 30, it includes a short-term funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13 as lawmakers negotiate potential changes for the agency that enforces the nation’s immigration laws — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Running Trump’s ‘play call’

The House had previously approved the final package of spending bills, but the Senate broke up that package so that more negotiations could take place for the Homeland Security funding bill. Democrats are demanding changes in response to events in Minneapolis, where two American citizens were shot and killed by federal agents.

Johnson said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday” it was Trump’s “play call to do it this way. He had already conceded he wants to turn down the volume, so to speak.” But GOP leaders sounded as if they still had work to do in convincing the rank-and-file to join them as House lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday after a week back in their congressional districts.

“We always work till the midnight hour to get the votes,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “You never start the process with everybody on board. You work through it, and you could say that about every major bill we’ve passed.”

Key differences from the last shutdown

The path to the current partial shutdown differs from the fall impasse, which affected more agencies and lasted a record 43 days.

Then, the debate was over extending temporary coronavirus pandemic-era subsidies for those who get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Democrats were unsuccessful in getting those subsidies included as part of a package to end the shutdown.

Congress has made important progress since then, passing six of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund federal agencies and programs. That includes important programs such as nutrition assistance and fully operating national parks and historic sites. They are funded through Sept. 30. The remaining bills passed Tuesday represent roughly three-quarters of federal spending set annually by Congress, including the Defense Department.

(AP)

The price of a single pack of cigarettes in the Gaza Strip has surged dramatically in recent months, crossing the 100-shekel mark and at times reaching into the thousands, according to sources familiar with the situation, amid acute shortages caused by the ongoing war.

Sources said that a carton containing ten packs is now selling for more than 1,000 shekels, underscoring the enormous profits tied to cigarette smuggling into Gaza Strip. The soaring prices have turned cigarettes into one of the most lucrative black-market commodities in the territory.

Against this backdrop, it was cleared for publication on Tuesday that Betzalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, is suspected of involvement in smuggling cigarettes into Gaza.

A source familiar with the investigation said the combination of severe shortages and high demand has transformed cigarettes into an exceptionally expensive product, with prices in some cases reaching thousands of shekels. It was reported last week that prosecutors are expected to file an indictment against Zini, and on Tuesday morning police requested an extension of his detention.

The investigation is being handled by the Southern District’s major crimes unit. As part of the probe, a sweeping gag order has been imposed on the case — which involves large-scale smuggling operations and numerous suspects — until February 10.

Indictments against 13 suspects connected to the affair are expected to be filed with the Beersheva District Court on Wednesday afternoon, after their submission was delayed to allow investigators to complete additional inquiries.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The first husband of former first lady Jill Biden has been charged with killing his wife at their Delaware home in late December, authorities announced in a news release Tuesday.

William Stevenson, 77, of Wilmington was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975. Caroline Harrison, the Delaware Attorney General’s spokesperson, confirmed in a phone call that Stevenson is the former husband of Jill Biden.

Stevenson remains in jail after failing to post $500,000 bail after his arrest Monday on first-degree murder charges. He is charged with killing Linda Stevenson, 64, on Dec. 28.

Police were called to the home for a reported domestic dispute after 11 p.m. and found a woman unresponsive in the living room, according to a prior news release. Life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

She ran a bookkeeping business and was described as a family-oriented mother and grandmother and a Philadelphia Eagles fan, according to her obituary, which does not mention her husband.

Stevenson was charged in a grand jury indictment after a weekslong investigation by detectives in the Delaware Department of Justice.

It was not immediately clear if Stevenson has a lawyer. He founded a popular music venue in Newark called the Stone Balloon in the early 1970s.

Jill Biden married U.S. Sen. Joe Biden in 1977. He served as U.S. president from January 2021 to January 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general announced plans Tuesday to deploy legal observers to monitor federal immigration enforcement actions in the state.

The initiative will send observers, who will wear purple safety vests, to areas of reported immigration enforcement activity to collect information “that may inform future legal action,” according to Attorney General Letitia James.

Tensions remain high nationwide over President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, particularly following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota. Videos of agents conducting immigration arrests throughout the country have drawn criticism over heavy-handed tactics, often going viral online.

In a statement, James, a Democrat, said she is “proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action.”

“We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,” she said.

James said her office’s observers will serve as “neutral witnesses” who will identify violations of law, but will not interfere with enforcement activity. She has also asked New Yorkers to submit videos of federal immigration enforcement actions to her office for review.

Separately, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said she will pursue legislation this year that would allow people to sue federal officers “when they act outside the scope of their duties,” along with a proposal to keep immigration agents out of schools, hospitals and houses of worship unless they have a warrant from a judge.

An Ocean County Superior Court judge has denied a lawsuit seeking to halt a Jackson Township Planning Board approval for a proposed yeshiva, ruling that the challenge was premature and failed to meet the legal standard for emergency relief, TLS has learned.

Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. rejected an application by Jackson resident Chris Podolski that sought to block the project pending further environmental review by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Podolski, who lives near the proposed campus planned for Frank Applegate Road, had argued that the planning board acted improperly by approving the development before DEP jurisdictional determinations regarding wetlands, flood hazards and water quality were finalized.

In his ruling, Hodgson found that the plaintiff did not demonstrate irreparable harm or a likelihood of success on the merits, both of which are key requirements for the issuance of temporary restraints under New Jersey law.

The lawsuit challenged the planning board’s approval, contending that the board relied on incomplete or speculative environmental information and should have delayed action until DEP reviews were complete. Podolski further alleged that the approval created a misleading public record suggesting that no flood hazard or Category One waterway issues were present.

Attorneys for the township, the planning board and the property owner countered that environmental permitting falls squarely within the DEP’s jurisdiction and that local land use boards are permitted to grant approvals conditioned on obtaining outside agency permits. They also argued that objections related to DEP determinations must be raised through the state’s administrative appeals process, not through an emergency court application.

Hodgson agreed, noting that municipal planning boards have long been authorized to approve applications subject to conditions, including future compliance with state and federal agency requirements. He further found that the plaintiff retained an adequate legal remedy through a traditional prerogative writ challenge once a final resolution is adopted by the board.

The judge emphasized that no memorializing resolution had yet been issued by the planning board, undercutting the request for immediate judicial intervention. While acknowledging the plaintiff’s concerns, Hodgson ruled that the case did not warrant extraordinary relief at this stage.

The order denying the application leaves the planning board’s approval vote intact, subject to required environmental permits and future legal challenges through established appeal channels.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday sharply criticized Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid following his proposal to designate Qatar as an enemy state, dismissing the move as part of Israel’s internal political disputes and accusing Israel of direct aggression against Doha.

Speaking at the ministry’s weekly press briefing, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari addressed the bill introduced by Yair Lapid, without mentioning him by name. According to reports carried by Israeli media, al-Ansari said Qatar has become accustomed to being dragged into Israel’s domestic political battles.

“With regard to what was submitted by the leader of the opposition in Israel, we have honestly grown used to Qatar’s name being used within Israel’s internal conflict,” al-Ansari said. “It does not interest us at all.”

Al-Ansari went further, accusing Israel of acting as the aggressor, claiming that Israel had carried out a direct strike on Qatari territory. “Israel is the one that bombed the State of Qatar. It is the one that struck a residential compound in the city of Doha,” he said. “It is the aggressive party in this context.”

He added that any Israelis seeking to label Qatar an enemy should instead “return to the attack carried out by the Israeli prime minister, which constituted a blatant and direct assault on the State of Qatar.”

Separately, al-Ansari addressed the limited reopening of the Rafah Crossing, calling for it to be opened not only for people but also for humanitarian supplies. He expressed opposition to the use of the crossing as a political pressure tactic.

At present, the crossing is open only for the restricted movement of individuals, with no entry permitted for goods or aid shipments.

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday stressed Israel’s unwavering position that the complete disarmament of Hamas and the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip must precede any reconstruction efforts, according to a statement from his office following a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Netanyahu made clear during the discussions that the Palestinian Authority would have no role in administering Gaza, a stance he described as non-negotiable. He also briefed Witkoff on what Israel alleges are violations involving UNRWA, claiming that aid bags from the United Nations agency have been used to conceal weapons.

The meeting comes amid ongoing implementation of the second phase of a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire framework under President Trump’s 20-point plan, which ties further Israeli troop withdrawals and reconstruction to Hamas’s disarmament. Witkoff has previously expressed optimism that Hamas would demilitarize, stating the group “has no choice” and would surrender weapons.

Ahead of Witkoff’s scheduled discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Netanyahu cautioned that Iran has “repeatedly proven that its promises are unreliable,” underscoring Israel’s skepticism toward any diplomatic engagements with Tehran on its nuclear program or regional activities.

The talks between Netanyahu and Witkoff also addressed broader regional issues, including efforts to advance the Gaza plan and tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Witkoff’s visit to Israel included meetings with senior officials such as Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.

The agency overseeing construction of the $16 billion Gateway rail tunnel linking New York and New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that a federal funding freeze could bring one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects to a standstill.

The Gateway project is designed to create a new rail passage beneath the Hudson River for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. Officials say the work must be completed before repairs can begin on the existing tunnel, which is more than a century old and has suffered long-term damage from saltwater exposure. Project leaders warn that construction will be halted on Feb. 6 if federal funding is not released, and officials from both states have pressed the administration to allow the money to flow.

In a statement issued late Monday, the Gateway Development Commission said it has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims, though court records confirming the filing were not immediately available.

“Despite its contractual commitments to fund the project, the federal government has suspended the release of its contractually obligated funds since October 1, 2025,” the commission said in the statement. “The lawsuit makes clear that the shifting explanations the administration has provided for this breach are plainly unlawful.”

Representatives for the US Department of Transportation and the White House did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking comment.

The Trump administration is currently holding back roughly $18 billion allocated to public transportation projects in jurisdictions led by Democratic mayors or governors. Those projects include New York City’s Second Avenue subway extension into Harlem and planned transit upgrades in Chicago. In October, the Transportation Department said it was examining whether the projects comply with a new policy prohibiting race- and sex-based contracting requirements.

Transit agencies say they have already submitted documentation demonstrating that their projects meet the new standards, but the funding has still not been released. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York City’s transit system, needs federal support to finalize an agreement within the next several months to renovate an existing tunnel along Second Avenue, according to Jamie Torres-Springer, the MTA’s president of construction and development, who spoke Wednesday.

Completion of the new Hudson River tunnel, along with rehabilitation of the current one, is expected to significantly increase rail capacity, cut down on chronic delays, and allow more Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains to enter and exit Manhattan. Gateway officials describe the tunnel as a critical transportation artery, carrying 450 trains and tens of thousands of passengers through the corridor each day.

A shutdown of construction would mark another serious blow to a long-running effort to relieve congestion on the Northeast Corridor. In 2010, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie canceled an earlier tunnel proposal known as Access to the Region’s Core, or ARC, arguing at the time that the state could be left responsible for potential cost overruns.

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (AP) — The Small Business Administration said in a policy note that green card holders won’t be allowed to apply for SBA loans, effective March 1.

The move is the latest by the SBA as it works to tighten loan restrictions and restructure the agency.

Last year, it tightened a requirement that businesses applying for loans must be 100% owned by U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or lawful permanent residents, up from a 51% standard.

In December, it issued a policy note that said up to 5% of a business could be non-citizen owned. But the current policy rescinds that, as well as making lawful permanent residents ineligible, too.

The SBA did not respond to a request for comment.

The SBA doesn’t give out direct loans, except when they’re related to disasters, but it works with lenders to distribute loans to small businesses. The loans typically have better rates than traditional loans.

Small business advocacy group the Small Business Majority said the move is “a decision that will limit the growth of small businesses and jobs throughout the United States.”

“The latest decision by SBA fails to recognize that immigrants are twice as likely to start a business as native-born U.S. citizens,” said Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer. “Given that reality, SBA’s severe restrictions will have a negative impact on small business creation throughout this country for years to come.”

U.S. homebuilders are circulating a plan that would call for the construction of nearly one million homes branded as “Trump Homes,” an initiative aimed at easing the country’s housing affordability crunch, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

Under the concept, builders would offer entry-level homes through a pathway-to-ownership structure, enabling private investors to provide tens of billions of dollars in capital to support the effort, according to Bloomberg News, which cited people familiar with the proposal.

News of the discussions boosted homebuilder stocks in early trading, with shares of Lennar, D.R. Horton, Pultegroup, Toll Brothers, Taylor Morrison Home, and KB Home rising between 5% and 7%.

Lennar declined to comment on the report, while the other builders mentioned and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The proposal is being floated as many Americans continue to struggle with high housing costs amid persistent inflation, a combination that has weighed heavily on home sales nationwide.

If the plan were carried out at the scale being discussed—roughly one million homes—it could result in more than $250 billion in new housing supply, according to Bloomberg News estimates.

Despite the potential scope, a White House official told Bloomberg News that the administration is not actively weighing the proposal at this time.

The report also noted that implementing such a program would be complex and could face hurdles in securing sufficient backing to move forward.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at limiting large institutional investors from competing with individual buyers, a move intended to improve housing affordability.

{Matzav.com}

One of the most common things I heard in my clinic over the years was some version of this:

“I guess this is just part of getting older.”

The sentence usually came from someone with knee pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, or stiff hands. Often, they brought a specialist’s report with X-rays or an MRI mentioning “arthritis,” “degeneration,” or “wear and tear.” The conclusion seemed obvious: “Something is wrong with my joint.”

Joint pain is one of the most common reasons people seek treatment—and one of the most misunderstood.

The “wear and tear” story

The dominant explanation for joint pain is that joints wear out like mechanical parts. Use them long enough, and they break down.

It sounds logical—but clinically, it doesn’t hold up well.

Many patients with terrible-looking X-rays have little or no pain. Others with mild findings are in significant pain and disability. Studies confirm this pattern repeatedly.

The reason is simple: joints are living tissue, not door hinges. They respond to movement, circulation, and nervous system input. Pain is not a direct readout of tissue damage—it’s more complex than we thought.

When the joint isn’t the problem

Over time, I noticed patterns that didn’t fit a purely structural explanation:

Joint pain that moves from side to side. Pain that flares during stress. Pain that persists long after an injury healed. Pain that improves unexpectedly without any structural change.

These patterns suggest the joint itself often isn’t the primary driver of ongoing pain.

This doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real—it means the source may not be what we assume.

Arthritis: A label, not a life sentence

“Arthritis” is one of the scariest words patients hear. But at its most basic level, it simply means inflammation or age-related changes in a joint.

Here’s the crucial point: imaging studies show most adults have some degree of arthritis, especially as they age—including many people with no joint pain at all.

Arthritis on an X-ray doesn’t automatically predict pain or disability. It’s a descriptive finding, not always an explanation for why pain persists.

When medical treatment is necessary

To be clear, some situations do require medical or surgical treatment: acute fractures, major tears, progressive neurological symptoms, advanced inflammatory disease, or severe loss of function.

I referred many patients for orthopedic evaluation when it was the right choice. But these cases represent a much smaller percentage of the chronic joint pain people live with every day.

The nervous system’s role

Pain is processed by the nervous system. When pain becomes chronic, the system can become overly protective—continuing to send danger signals even when the joint is relatively stable.

Fear, repeated imaging, constant symptom-monitoring, and movement avoidance all reinforce this cycle. The pain is real, but the reason for this is that nervous system has become overly sensitive.

What You Can Do

So if your joint pain isn’t purely structural, what should you do about it?

Here are the steps I recommended to patients:

1. Understand neuroplastic pain. When pain persists long after tissues have healed, or doesn’t match structural findings, it’s often what’s called neuroplastic pain—pain driven by an overprotective nervous system rather than ongoing tissue damage.

The good news? Neuroplastic pain can be reversed. I highly recommend the book The Way Out by Alan Gordon. It’s a practical, compassionate guide to retraining your nervous system and reducing chronic pain. Many of my patients found it life-changing.

2. Keep moving. Gentle, regular movement is medicine for joints. Walking, swimming, tai chi, or simple range-of-motion exercises all work. Start easy and build confidence. The goal isn’t to push through pain, but to show your nervous system the joint is safe to use.

3. Address inflammation and weight issues through diet. As I discussed in my article on diet, whole foods reduce systemic inflammation. Cut out processed foods, excess sugar, and unhealthy oils. Many of my joint pain patients noticed significant improvement just from dietary changes. And of course, weight loss, when needed, takes significant pressure off weight-bearing joints like knees, hips, and ankles. Even losing 10-15 pounds can make a noticeable difference in joint comfort

4. Reduce stress. Remember, pain flares during stressful periods. The practices I discussed in “F is for Feelings”—exercise, talking with friends, working with your thoughts—all help calm an overprotective nervous system.

5. Consider acupuncture. Acupuncture increases blood flow to the area, helps muscles relax, and calms the nervous system. Many patients who thought they needed surgery found relief through acupuncture treatments.

6. Change your story about your joints. Instead of “my knee is deteriorating,” try “my knee is being protected right now, and I can help it feel safer.” This isn’t positive thinking—it’s understanding how your nervous system actually works.

If you’ve tried these approaches for a few months without improvement, or if you have the serious symptoms I mentioned earlier, then it’s time to see a specialist.

But for most people with chronic joint pain, these steps can make a significant difference.

The Good News

Joint pain is common, but it’s not destiny.

Many people improve significantly when they stop viewing their joints as broken parts and start supporting them as living, adaptable tissue.

Healthy joints aren’t about having the perfect joints of a ten year old. Rather, they’re about restoring trust in the amazing—and resilient—body you have now.

Until next time, stay well—and keep moving forward with confidence. You can do it!

(AP) – If you have gifting to loved ones on your mind, here are some considerations related to taxes and logistics.

Gifting logistics
Unless you’re writing a check from your bank account, the logistics of gifting funds can get a bit complicated.

If you want to gift from your IRA, your only option is to sell a chunk of it, then pay any taxes due, then write a check. That’s not terrible, so long as you understand the tax implications. IRA withdrawals are typically subject to ordinary income tax, along with penalties if you’re not yet 59½. You could also trigger some knock-on tax effects like the income-related monthly adjustment amount. In other words, gifting from your IRA isn’t as seamless as making a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA or naming someone as a beneficiary of your IRA.

Things can also get tricky if you want your financial gift to go toward an investment account for someone else. It’s straightforward if you’re giving a gift to an adult with an eye toward setting them on an investing path: The recipient will have to set up the account, whether an IRA or a taxable brokerage account, and you can then write a check or transfer funds directly to the financial institution.

If you’re giving an investment gift to a child, you have options.

1. 529: Best if you know the money will be for college. It will compound tax-free and skirt taxes upon withdrawal for qualified higher-education expenses. Plus you’ll typically get a state tax break on a contribution to your home state’s plan.

2. UGMA/UTMA (Uniform Gifts/Transfers to Minors Act): This is an open-ended way to save for minor children. There are no strictures on how the money is ultimately used, and the assets can be invested in almost anything. Note that UGMA/UTMA assets may reduce a student’s eligibility for financial aid.

3. IRA (if the child has earned income): Funding an IRA can ensure that a young adult fully benefits from compounding for retirement, and the IRA wrapper offers tax benefits. But the young person needs to have earned enough compensation (from work) in a given year to cover the amount of the IRA contribution you’re making on their behalf, though the contribution doesn’t have to come directly from the young adult’s own coffers.

Gift tax: a nonissue for most
If you give $19,000 or less to any one individual in a single year, there are no reporting or tax requirements. Married couples can give twice that amount with no tax or reporting requirements.

Even if you give more than $19,000 to an individual in a single year, it’s not automatically subject to gift tax. Rather, anyone exceeding the gift-tax threshold in a single year must file the gift tax return form, and that excess amount counts against their lifetime exclusion amount. Only when those excess amounts (combined with the value of the individual’s estate) exceed the lifetime exclusion amount—currently nearly $14 million—does anyone actually owe taxes on those gifts. So that’s not a barrier for most people.

Tax benefits are limited
Because the lifetime gift/estate tax exclusion amount is currently so high, avoiding estate tax shouldn’t be a major motivation for most people to gift assets to individuals during their lifetimes—at least for now. The estate tax exclusion has been much lower in the past and could go lower again: It was $2 million as recently as 2008, for example. Moreover, some states levy their own estate taxes, and in most cases, they’re lower than the federal threshold.

In contrast with making gifts to qualified charities, you won’t be able to earn a tax deduction on your gift to an individual. The exception is a contribution to a 529 college savings plan; you may be eligible for a state tax deduction or credit.

In a similar vein, gifting appreciated assets is unlikely to remove the taxes due on the gains, though it will shift the tax burden to the recipient.

Iran has demanded last-minute changes to the venue and format of planned negotiations with the United States, a move that could derail talks scheduled for Friday and sharply raise the risk of military escalation at a moment when U.S. forces are already massed across the Gulf.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Axios that Tehran is retreating from understandings reached only days ago—after several countries had already been invited to participate—injecting new uncertainty into a diplomatic effort President Donald Trump has publicly described as preferable to war, but only up to a point.

According to the sources, Iran now wants to shift the talks from Istanbul to Oman, and insists the discussions be strictly bilateral with Washington, abandoning a format that would have included several Arab and Muslim countries as observers.

U.S. and regional officials warn that if the new demands scupper Friday’s meeting, they could push Trump off the diplomatic track and toward the military option—one he has repeatedly said he hopes to avoid, even as he assembles what he has called an “armada” of U.S. naval power in the region.

Behind the scenes, the reversal has triggered a flurry of calls and consultations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke Tuesday with his counterparts in Oman and Turkey, as well as with the prime minister of Qatar, according to officials familiar with the outreach.

On the American side, White House envoy Steve Witkoff met in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, underscoring how closely the diplomatic maneuvering is being watched by U.S. allies who fear a weak deal—or no deal at all.

Israeli officials said the meeting focused squarely on Iran. Netanyahu was joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Mossad Director David Barnea, and military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, a lineup signaling that Israel is preparing for outcomes well beyond diplomacy.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Central Command says a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea U.S. unced Tuesday. In an emailed statement Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said the drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and it “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.”

The U.S. military says the shootdown also occurred within hours of another incident in which Iranian forces harassed a U.S.-flagged and U.S. crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz.

Graphic footage capturing the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a speech at a Utah college campus spread rapidly online, amassing millions of views within hours.

Now, lawyers representing the man accused of killing Kirk are asking a state judge to prevent those videos from being shown at a court hearing set for Tuesday. The defense is also requesting that television and still cameras be excluded from the courtroom, contending that coverage by what they describe as “highly biased” media outlets threatens the fairness of the proceedings.

Prosecutors, joined by attorneys for news organizations, have urged District Judge Tony Graf to keep the hearing open to the public. Legal scholars, however, say the defense’s concerns are not unfounded. Media exposure in widely followed cases like that of Tyler Robinson can have a measurable “biasing effect” on prospective jurors, according to Cornell Law School professor Valerie Hans.

“There were videos about the killing, and pictures and analysis (and) the entire saga of how this particular defendant came to turn himself in,” said Hans, who specializes in jury research. “When jurors come to a trial with this kind of background information from the media, it shapes how they see the evidence that is presented in the courtroom.”

Robinson, 22, faces an aggravated murder charge in connection with the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, and prosecutors have indicated they will pursue the death penalty.

Roughly 3,000 people were present at the outdoor rally where Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA known for energizing young voters to support President Donald Trump, was speaking when he was shot.

Under Utah law, prosecutors must prove the presence of aggravating factors to obtain a death sentence, including that the crime was particularly heinous or cruel. The graphic videos circulating online could become relevant to that determination.

Viewing such footage could lead people to conclude, “‘Yeah, this was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel,’” Hans said.

The challenge of selecting an impartial jury is further complicated by the intense political discourse surrounding Kirk and the influence of his organization during Trump’s 2024 election campaign.

Even before Robinson was taken into custody, speculation spread about the identity of the shooter and his political beliefs, said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown.

“People are just projecting a lot of their own sense of what they think was going on, and that really creates concerns about whether they can be open to hearing the actual evidence that’s presented,” she said.

As the case has progressed, Robinson’s attorneys have increasingly alleged media bias, at one point accusing news outlets of attempting to read lips to determine what their client was saying privately to his lawyers during court appearances.

Those concerns intensified after a television camera operator zoomed in on Robinson’s face as he spoke with his attorneys during a Jan. 16 hearing. The move violated courtroom rules, leading the judge to halt filming of Robinson for the rest of that session.

“Rather than being a beacon for truth and openness, the News Media have simply become a financial investor in this case,” defense attorneys wrote in a motion seeking to seal portions of their claims regarding media conduct. Making those filings public, they argued, “will simply generate even more views of the offending coverage, and more revenue for the News Media.”

Prosecutors have acknowledged the extraordinary public attention on the case but maintain that it does not justify limiting public access to the courts. Transparency, they argued, must be preserved regardless of the circumstances.

“This case arose, and will remain, in the public eye. That reality favors greater transparency of case proceedings, not less,” Utah County prosecutors wrote in a filing.

The defense is also attempting to have local prosecutors removed from the case, asserting a conflict of interest because the daughter of a deputy county attorney involved in the prosecution attended the rally where Kirk was killed.

Prosecutors responded that they could introduce video evidence at Tuesday’s hearing to show that the daughter is not a critical witness, noting that many others captured the shooting on camera.

According to prosecutors, one of those recordings depicts the moment the bullet struck Kirk, followed by blood flowing from his neck and Kirk collapsing from his chair.

{Matzav.com}

Hamas is planning to retain de facto control over Gaza even after the establishment of a new governing body envisioned under a ceasefire agreement, according to a leaked internal document broadcast Sunday by Kan.

The document, described by KAN as a confidential memo circulated only among Hamas officials inside Gaza, lays out detailed instructions for how operatives should behave ahead of the launch of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). While the ceasefire framework calls for Hamas to relinquish administrative authority, the memo instead directs affiliates to continue operations “as if nothing had changed,” while taking care not to attract suspicion from the incoming administration.

Among the guidance: Hamas officials are told to avoid personal contact with NCAG members, refrain from sharing information outside approved channels, and ensure that NCAG officials are not targeted or interfered with — all while maintaining Hamas’ internal command structure beneath the surface.

“No personal contact should be made, or information and news should be passed on to the NCAG, outside of the relevant channels,” the document states, according to KAN’s reporting.

The leak comes as the NCAG prepares to formally assume responsibility for Gaza’s civil administration, a step intended to signal a break from Hamas rule after years of direct control.

On Monday, the committee unveiled a new logo that appears designed to project institutional legitimacy and continuity with existing Palestinian governance structures.

The emblem prominently features an eagle clutching a shield bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag, along with a banner in its talons. In earlier versions associated with Palestinian institutions, the banner read “Palestine” in Arabic. In the NCAG’s version, the text has been replaced with the committee’s acronym — a subtle but deliberate shift that mirrors the visual language of the Palestinian Authority, without explicitly invoking it.

The logo marks a departure from the committee’s earlier insignia, which depicted a stylized bird rising from a city skyline in Palestinian flag colors, a design critics had dismissed as symbolic rather than governmental.

Israeli officials have long warned that Hamas would seek to preserve its grip on Gaza Strip through indirect means, even if it formally steps aside from public-facing governance. The leaked memo appears to reinforce those concerns, suggesting a strategy focused on blending into the background while retaining operational control.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic lawmaker is raising new concerns about a Food and Drug Administration program designed to drastically shorten the review of certain drugs, including whether senior officials involved in the effort are complying with federal ethics rules.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts took issue with the agency’s handling of the program and questioned its legal underpinnings, noting that Congress did not sign off on the plan.

The new scrutiny comes as the FDA is scheduled to hold an employee town hall Tuesday afternoon on the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program, according to three agency staffers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters.

Under the voucher program, drugmakers are promised expedited reviews of one to two months for new medicines that support “ national interests.” It’s at the center of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s stated goal of “cutting red tape” and “challenging assumptions” at the agency.

But the effort has become a flashpoint for controversy outside and inside the agency, with several senior staffers declining to sign off on drug approvals going through the program, as previously reported by the AP.

“The public must have transparency about the ‘voucher’ program, under which drug approvals have been made almost wholly and in an unprecedented manner by the FDA’s political leadership,” states Auchincloss, who is a member of a House subcommittee on health.

Auchincloss asserts that the FDA has failed to publish or disclose financial disclosure forms for eight senior FDA officials who vote on which drugs should receive priority vouchers. Membership of group, which was first reported by Stat News, is mostly comprised of officials closely aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including Deputy FDA Commissioner Dr. Sara Brenner, Dr. Vinay Prasad, who oversees vaccines, and Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, FDA’s drug center director.

The forms, which are collected annually by the Office of Government Ethics, list investments, outside income and other financial details for senior government officials and their spouses. Such disclosures are considered critical to avoiding potential conflicts of interest at the FDA, where staffers are often involved in regulating multibillion-dollar, publicly traded companies.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to AP’s questions about the letter.

Elsewhere in his letter, Auchincloss questions whether the FDA had the legal authority to establish the voucher program without action from Congress, which typically legislates such programs into law. His letter states that the FDA’s legal office “was not consulted nor provided findings to support the agency’s claim,” that it could independently establish the program.

Auchincloss also notes that FDA officials did not respond to two letters he sent last year requesting information. In the new letter, the lawmaker instructs the agency to “affirm or refute,” his findings.

In November, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey sent a letter seeking answers to 15 questions about the FDA’s voucher program. Pallone is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees health agencies.

The agency did not respond to the letter, according to a committee staffer.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran are flaring after U.S. forces downed an Iranian drone near the USS Abraham Lincoln  aircraft carrier and Iranian gunboats reportedly threatened a U.S.-flagged tanker transiting one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, just days before expected diplomatic talks are set to take place.

U.S. officials told Reuters that the Navy shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone after it approached the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The unmanned aircraft was destroyed by an F-35 stealth fighter jet operating from the carrier, according to the officials, in what they described as a defensive action amid heightened regional alert.

The incident came as a separate confrontation unfolded in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a significant share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas must pass.

British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said that a U.S.-flagged tanker, the Stena Imperative, was approached by six small armed boats belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps while transiting the strait roughly 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast.

According to Vanguard Tech, the gunboats hailed the tanker over radio and ordered its captain “to stop the engines and prepare to be boarded.” Instead, the vessel increased speed, maintained its course, and never entered Iranian territorial waters.

“The vessel is now being escorted by a U.S. warship,” the company said.

Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Imperative remained within Oman’s maritime economic zone as it continued toward Bahrain, where it is scheduled to arrive at the port of Sitrah on Feb. 5.

The British maritime security agency UKMTO confirmed an earlier report of the encounter, saying a merchant vessel had been “hailed on VHF by numerous small armed vessels,” ignored orders to stop, and “continued on its planned route.” UKMTO said authorities were investigating and warned all ships in the Strait of Hormuz to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.

Iran’s Fars news agency, which is closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, denied Vanguard Tech’s account, citing unnamed officials who claimed a vessel had been intercepted after entering Iranian waters without permission—a claim contradicted by publicly available tracking data.

The confrontation follows a week of sharp rhetoric from Tehran. A senior Revolutionary Guards official threatened last week to block passage through the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a U.S. attack, and the Guards held military exercises in the strategic waterway over the weekend.

The maritime incidents are unfolding against a broader backdrop of rising military pressure. At least 10 U.S. warships—including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers—were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters as of last week, a deployment President Donald Trump has described as an “armada,” though he has said he hopes it will not be used.

Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over its violent crackdown on recent protests and its nuclear program. Speaking to CBS News last week, the president said he had already held conversations with Iranian officials and planned to have more.

“I told them two things,” Trump said. “No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters. They’re killing them by the thousands.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Tensions between Washington and Tehran are flaring after U.S. forces downed an Iranian drone near the USS Abraham Lincoln  aircraft carrier and Iranian gunboats reportedly threatened a U.S.-flagged tanker transiting one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, just days before expected diplomatic talks are set to take place.

U.S. officials told Reuters that the Navy shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone after it approached the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. The unmanned aircraft was destroyed by an F-35 stealth fighter jet operating from the carrier, according to the officials, in what they described as a defensive action amid heightened regional alert.

The incident came as a separate confrontation unfolded in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a significant share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas must pass.

British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said that a U.S.-flagged tanker, the Stena Imperative, was approached by six small armed boats belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps while transiting the strait roughly 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast.

According to Vanguard Tech, the gunboats hailed the tanker over radio and ordered its captain “to stop the engines and prepare to be boarded.” Instead, the vessel increased speed, maintained its course, and never entered Iranian territorial waters.

“The vessel is now being escorted by a U.S. warship,” the company said.

Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Imperative remained within Oman’s maritime economic zone as it continued toward Bahrain, where it is scheduled to arrive at the port of Sitrah on Feb. 5.

The British maritime security agency UKMTO confirmed an earlier report of the encounter, saying a merchant vessel had been “hailed on VHF by numerous small armed vessels,” ignored orders to stop, and “continued on its planned route.” UKMTO said authorities were investigating and warned all ships in the Strait of Hormuz to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.

Iran’s Fars news agency, which is closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, denied Vanguard Tech’s account, citing unnamed officials who claimed a vessel had been intercepted after entering Iranian waters without permission—a claim contradicted by publicly available tracking data.

The confrontation follows a week of sharp rhetoric from Tehran. A senior Revolutionary Guards official threatened last week to block passage through the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a U.S. attack, and the Guards held military exercises in the strategic waterway over the weekend.

The maritime incidents are unfolding against a broader backdrop of rising military pressure. At least 10 U.S. warships—including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers—were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters as of last week, a deployment President Donald Trump has described as an “armada,” though he has said he hopes it will not be used.

Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over its violent crackdown on recent protests and its nuclear program. Speaking to CBS News last week, the president said he had already held conversations with Iranian officials and planned to have more.

“I told them two things,” Trump said. “No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters. They’re killing them by the thousands.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Democratic Party is getting a blunt reminder that the math underneath American politic is not looking good for them.

The reminder came from Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, who used an upset Democratic special-election win as a jumping-off point to deliver a stark message about population trends that he said favor Republicans over the long haul.

“We often lose sight of the long term because we’re so focused on the short term,” Enten said Sunday on CNN Newsroom, speaking with anchor Jessica Dean. “So today I wanted to take a look at some long-term population trends.”

Those trends, Enten argued, “really should set off a flashing red siren to Democrats nationwide, while bringing a big smile to the faces of Republicans nationwide.”

The immediate backdrop was Saturday’s special election in a deep-red Texas state Senate district. Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a first-time candidate and local union leader, defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss — who had been endorsed by Donald Trump — by a decisive 57 percent to 43 percent. Trump had carried the district by more than 17 points in the 2024 presidential race, making Rehmet’s win a rare Democratic breakthrough.

But Enten cautioned against reading the result as a broader realignment. Since the 2020 Census, the five states with the biggest population gains — Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona — all voted for Trump in 2024.

“This is not just a red-state boom,” Enten said. “We’re also looking at what I would dare call a blue-state depression.”

The states with the lowest domestic net migration this decade, he noted, were California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts — all states won by Kamala Harris in 2024.

If those shifts persist through the 2030 Census, Enten said, the consequences could be significant. Based on current estimates, Democrats could lose seven seats in the U.S. House through reapportionment, with those seats moving to Republican-leaning states.

“That’s not just about the House,” Enten said. “It’s also about the Electoral College.”

Under the existing map, a Democrat winning the traditional blue states plus the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could scrape together 270 electoral votes — the bare minimum to win. Applying today’s population estimates, Enten said, that same coalition would fall short.

“You’d only get to 263 electoral votes,” he said. “Which would mean a Republican victory.”

The Census is still years away, and Enten stressed that population trends can change. But his conclusion was that even as Democrats notch headline-grabbing wins like the one in Texas, the demographic shifts reshaping political power may be quietly tilting the battlefield against them.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Rav Yitzchok Yosef, the former Rishon LeTzion, delivered sharp criticism on Motzaei Shabbos of Sephardim who adopt Ashkenazi customs out of what he described as a sense of inferiority, saying such behavior reflects disrespect toward their own rabbinic tradition.

Speaking during his weekly shiur at the Yazdim Shul, Rav Yosef said, “The problem in our generation is that people imitate Ashkenazi customs in everything, as if we have no customs at all and only Ashkenazim have good ones.” While acknowledging the strengths of the Ashkenazi Torah world, he stressed that imitation should be selective. “Imitate them in the good things they have — establishing yeshivos, building kollelim, burning enthusiasm in learning, deep analysis and iyun. But do you have to do everything they do?”

Rav Yosef addressed specific wedding-related practices, including fasting on the wedding day and immersing in a mikveh before the chuppah, rejecting these customs for Sephardim. “They fast on their wedding day — let them fast. It’s the custom of their forefathers. We follow the customs of our forefathers. Maran does not write in the Shulchan Aruch that a chassan must fast on the day of his wedding. The Rav, zichrono livrachah — Rav Ovadia — was opposed to chassanim fasting.” He added that priorities had been distorted: “They took what is secondary and made it primary.” Instead, he advised that a chassan should spend the day learning or reciting Tehillim. “Today they copy everything from Ashkenazim, even going to the mikveh. We never heard of such a thing. In our times, this didn’t exist.”

During the shiur, Rav Yosef also related that Ashkenazim sometimes approach him privately seeking to adopt Sephardic practice for the sake of leniency. “Sometimes Ashkenazim come to me quietly and say, ‘Rav, your halachos are easier. Look, on Pesach I have what to eat: rice, everything, legumes. Ashkenazim have nothing — only potatoes.’”

He distinguished between people raised in religious homes and baalei teshuvah. “I ask him, ‘Was your father religious or not? If you’re the son of Lapid and you grew up on Bialik, then yes, be Sephardi, completely. But if you’re the son of a religious father, don’t abandon the Torah of your mother. Your father followed the opinion of the Rema — continue as your father did.’”

Addressing baalei teshuvah from secular families who insist on adopting Ashkenazi stringencies, Rav Yosef said, “If he’s a baal teshuvah and his father was secular, what is ‘the Torah of your mother’? The Torah of Bialik? What Torah is that? Therefore, someone whose father was secular and wants to be Sephardi should follow Sephardic practice here in Eretz Yisroel, because this is asra d’mara.” He cited the kabbalist Rav Yaakov Pragi, who served as rav and av beis din in Alexandria, Egypt, and condemned adopting Ashkenazi stringencies such as wearing tzitzis out and conducting a yichud room. “Is this not disrespecting your rabbanim? As if your rabbis aren’t important? Rav Ezra Attiya? Rav Ben Tzion? Maran? Rav Tzadkah? They’re not important? Only Ashkenazim matter?”

Rav Yosef further criticized changes in dress, particularly the practice of wearing tzitzis outside one’s clothing. “If they take out their tzitzis, then I also need to take out my tzitzis. But did Rav Ezra Attiya do that? Did the Kaf HaChaim do that? Did the Ben Ish Chai do that? When Maran wore a cloak, fine. When he wore a frock coat, were his tzitzis outside? No. They were always inside. So why imitate Ashkenazim?”

He contrasted this with Ashkenazi pride in their own customs. “They wear a gartel. It’s not required by halachah, but it’s their custom. No one would dare tell an Ashkenazi to change his minhag, and rightly so. Kol hakavod to them. So why shouldn’t it be the same for us?”

Rav Yosef concluded with a pointed message: “Why constantly imitate them? As if your rabbis aren’t important enough. Every community should hold fast to its own customs.” He ended with a stern warning, again quoting Rav Pragi: “One who adopts stringencies against his rabbis, against the Shulchan Aruch, is showing contempt for the honor of his rabbis.”

{Matzav.com}

LONDON (AP) — In France, civil servants will ditch Zoom and Teams for a homegrown video conference system. Soldiers in Austria are using open source office software to write reports after the military dropped Microsoft Office. Bureaucrats in a German state have also turned to free software for their administrative work.

Around Europe, governments and institutions are seeking to reduce their use of digital services from U.S. Big Tech companies and turning to domestic or free alternatives. The push for “digital sovereignty” is gaining attention as the Trump administration strikes an increasingly belligerent posture toward the continent, highlighted by recent tensions over Greenland that intensified fears that Silicon Valley giants could be compelled to cut off access.

Concerns about data privacy and worries that Europe is not doing enough to keep up with the United States and Chinese tech leadership are also fueling the drive.

The French government referenced some of these concerns when it announced last week that 2.5 million civil servants would stop using video conference tools from U.S. providers — including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and GoTo Meeting — by 2027 and switch to Visio, a homegrown service.

The objective is “to put an end to the use of non-European solutions, to guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool,” the announcement said.

“We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data, and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors,” David Amiel, a civil service minister, said in a press release.

Microsoft said it continues to “partner closely with the government in France and respect the importance of security, privacy, and digital trust for public institutions.”

The company said it is “focused on providing customers with greater choice, stronger data protection, and resilient cloud services — ensuring data stays in Europe, under European law, with robust security and privacy protections.”

Zoom, Webex and GoTo Meeting did not respond to requests for comment.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been pushing digital sovereignty for years. But there’s now a lot more “political momentum behind this idea now that we need to de-risk from U.S. tech,” Nick Reiners, at the Eurasia Group.

“It feels kind of like there’s a real zeitgeist shift,” Reiners said

It was a hot topic at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of global political and business elites last month in Davos, Switzerland. The European Commission’s official for tech sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen, told an audience that Europe’s reliance on others “can be weaponized against us.”

“That’s why it’s so important that we are not dependent on one country or one company when it comes to very critical fields of our economy or society,” she said, without naming countries or companies.

A decisive moment came last year when the Trump administration sanctioned the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor after the tribunal, based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an ally of President Donald Trump.

The sanctions led Microsoft to cancel Khan’s ICC email, a move that was first reported by The Associated Press and sparked fears of a “kill switch” that Big Tech companies can use to turn off service at will.

Microsoft maintains it kept in touch with the ICC “throughout the process that resulted in the disconnection of its sanctioned official from Microsoft services. At no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”

Microsoft President Brad Smith has repeatedly sought to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties, the company’s press office said, and pointed to an interview he did last month with CNN in Davos in which he said that jobs, trade and investment. as well as security, would be affected by a rift over Greenland.

“Europe is the American tech sector’s biggest market after the United States itself. It all depends on trust. Trust requires dialogue,” Smith said.

Other incidents have added to the movement. There’s a growing sense that repeated EU efforts to rein in tech giants such as Google with blockbuster antitrust fines and sweeping digital rule books haven’t done much to curb their dominance.

Billionaire Elon Musk is also a factor. Officials worry about relying on his Starlink satellite internet system for communications in Ukraine.

Washington and Brussels wrangled for years over data transfer agreements, triggered by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations of U.S. cyber-snooping.

With online services now mainly hosted in the cloud through data centers, Europeans fear that their data is vulnerable.

U.S. cloud providers have responded by setting up so-called “sovereign cloud” operations, with data centers located in European countries, owned by European entities and with physical and remote access only for staff who are European Union residents.

The idea is that “only Europeans can take decisions so that they can’t be coerced by the U.S.,” Reiners said.

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein last year migrated 44,000 employee inboxes from Microsoft to an open source email program. It also switched from Microsoft’s SharePoint file sharing system to Nextcloud, an open source platform, and is even considering replacing Windows with Linux and telephones and videoconferencing with open source systems.

“We want to become independent of large tech companies and ensure digital sovereignty,” Digitalization Minister Dirk Schrödter said in an October announcement.

The French city of Lyon said last year that it’s deploying free office software to replace Microsoft. Denmark’s government and the cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus have also been trying out open-source software.

“We must never make ourselves so dependent on so few that we can no longer act freely,” Digital Minister Caroline Stage Olsen wrote on LinkedIn last year. “Too much public digital infrastructure is currently tied up with very few foreign suppliers.”

The Austrian military said it has also switched to LibreOffice, a software package with word processor, spreadsheet and presentation programs that mirrors Microsoft 365’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The Document Foundation, a nonprofit based in Germany that’s behind LibreOffice, said the military’s switch “reflects a growing demand for independence from single vendors.” Reports also said the military was concerned that Microsoft was moving file storage online to the cloud — the standard version of LibreOffice is not cloud-based.

Some Italian cities and regions adopted the software years ago, said Italo Vignoli, a spokesman for The Document Foundation. Back then, the appeal was not needing to pay for software licenses. Now, it’s the main reason is to avoid being locked into a proprietary system.

“At first, it was: we will save money and by the way, we will get freedom,” Vignoli said. “Today it is: we will be free and by the way, we will also save some money.”

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli supermarkets have begun rationing milk and other dairy products as farmers continue an open-ended strike, raising fears of empty shelves by the weekend.

Shoppers are being limited to two or three units per purchase, with chains including Carrefour and Mahsanei Hashuk implementing restrictions. The strike, which halts raw milk deliveries, has already caused economic losses estimated at 10 million shekels ($2.8 million) per day, according to industry sources cited by Israel Hayom.

Dairies are currently relying on remaining inventory, which may last only until Thursday. Without a swift resolution, the industry warns of a severe shortage in fresh milk, cottage cheese, and soft cheeses by Sunday.

Farmers say the strike will escalate unless the Knesset transfers discussions on dairy reforms to the Economics Committee. “The supply stoppage has no time limit. Final decisions will be made on Wednesday, but the fundamental decision is to raise the level of protest,” a senior source told Israel Hayom.

Industry officials said panic buying has already intensified the shortage, and some chains are preparing further rationing measures to stretch remaining supplies.

(AP) – Multiple AI-generated photos falsely claiming to show New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a child and his mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, along with other high-profile public figures, were shared widely on social media Monday.

The images originated on an X account labeled as parody after a huge tranche of new Epstein files was released by the Justice Department on Friday. They are clearly watermarked as AI and other elements they contain do not add up.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Images show Mamdani as a child and his mother with Jeffrey Epstein and other public figures linked to the disgraced financier.

THE FACTS: The images were created with artificial intelligence. They all contain a digital watermark identifying them as such and first appeared on a parody X account that says it creates “high quality AI videos and memes.”

In one of the images, Mamdani and Nair appear in the front of a group photo with Maxwell, Epstein, former President Bill Clinton, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. They seem to be posing at night on a crowded city street. Mamdani looks to be a preteen or young teenager.

Another supposedly shows the same group of people, minus Nair, in what appears to be a tropical setting. Epstein is pictured holding Clinton sitting in his arms, while Maxwell has her arm around Mamdani, who appears slightly younger.

Other AI-generated images circulating online depict Mamdani as a baby being held by Nair while she poses with Epstein, Clinton, Maxwell and Bezos. None of Epstein’s victims have publicly accused Clinton, Gates or Bezos of being involved in his crimes.

Google’s Gemini app detected SynthID, a digital watermarking tool for identifying content that has been generated or altered with AI, in all the images described above. This means they were created or edited, either entirely or in part, by Google’s AI models.

The X account that first posted the images describes itself as “an AI-powered meme engine” that uses “AI to create memes, songs, stories, and visuals that call things exactly how they are — fast, loud, and impossible to ignore.”

An inquiry sent to the account went unanswered. However, a post by the account seems to acknowledge that it created the images.

“Damn you guys failed,” it reads. “I purposely made him a baby which would technically make this pic 34 years old. Yikes.”

The photos began circulating after an email emerged in which a publicist, Peggy Siegal, wrote to Epstein about seeing a variety of luminaries, including Clinton, Bezos and Nair, an award-winning Indian filmmaker, at 2009 afterparty for a film held at Maxwell’s townhouse.

While Mamdani appears as a baby or young child in all of the images, he was 18 in 2009, when Nair is said to have attended the party.

The images have led to related falsehoods that have spread online in their wake. For example, one claims that Epstein is Mamdani’s father. This is not true — Mamdani’s father is Mahmood Mamdani, an anthropology professor at Columbia University. Another alleges that Nair’s first marriage was to a relative of Epstein. It was not. She was previously married to photographer Mitch Epstein. A search of public records and existing reporting about the two men reveals no evidence of familial ties. Epstein is a common last name among Jewish families.

The NYC Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Mitch Epstein declined to comment.

(AP) – Don Lemon said about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week, even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.

Lemon told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn’t have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he had been allowed to surrender to authorities.

“I was walking up to the room and I pressed the elevator button, and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” the independent journalist said Monday on the show on the show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

He asked the agents who they were and said they identified themselves. Lemon asked to see a warrant and was told they didn’t have it. The agents then summoned an FBI agent to come in from outside to show Lemon the warrant on a cell phone.

The Department of Justice and FBI didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Kimmel introduced Lemon, his first guest of the night, by saying he was “was arrested for committing journalism.”

Lemon’s attorney has said Lemon plans to plead not guilty. He told reporters “I will not be silenced” after he was released in response to a judge’s orders.

A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon, another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, and others on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted the Sunday service by entering the church.

Lemon said he couldn’t say much about the case but he said he was not a protester.

“I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening. I was following that one group around, and so that’s what I did. I reported on them,” Lemon said.

Lemon said he asked the arresting officers if they would let him make a phone call. He said he was told no and that he could talk to his attorney the next day. He tried to use Siri on his Apple Watch to call his husband and his attorney but neither picked up.

A diamond bracelet he was wearing kept getting caught on his handcuffs, which hurt, and the agents told Lemon they would take it off. Lemon said he asked if the agent would mind taking it up to Lemon’s husband in his hotel room and they agreed to do that.

“And that’s how my husband found out. Otherwise, no one would have known where I was,” Lemon said.

Lemon said he was kept in a holding room at the federal courthouse from midnight until 1 p.m. the following day.

Kimmel himself became a symbol of a fight against censorship last year, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr had pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air shortly before that.

ABC lifted the suspension after a public outcry, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before. In Congress, Democratic senators raised concerns that Carr’s actions trampled on the First Amendment.

More than two months ahead of Pesach, Coca-Cola has completed the kashering of its production lines at the company’s plant in Bnei Brak, following a carefully coordinated process carried out under close rabbinic supervision.

As it does every year, Coca-Cola in Israel began preparations well in advance in order to meet the high demand for mehadrin kosher-for-Pesach beverages. The process involves complex logistics and precise coordination between the kashrus authorities, factory management, production staff, and mashgichim.

Preparation for Pesach includes replacing and adapting raw materials with ingredients approved for Pesach, alongside continuous supervision throughout every stage of production. Special Pesach production is carried out under the oversight of the rabbonim of Bnei Brak, Rav Chaim Yitzchak Eizik Landau and Rav Shevach Tzvi Rosenblatt, together with the Tel Aviv Rabbinate.

The kashering process began deep into the winter, when Pesach was still far off, and concluded in recent days, more than two months before the Yom Tov.

Last week, the formal koshering of the factory took place during a special event attended by senior rabbinic figures. Among those present were Rav Chaim Yitzchak Eizik Landau, Rav Shevach Tzvi Rosenblatt, Rav Yaakov Roza of Bat Yam, and Rav Yehuda Katz of the Tel Aviv Rabbinate, who oversees kashrus matters for Coca-Cola. Also in attendance were Rav Moshe Cohen, chief supervisor for the Pesach kashering on behalf of the Bnei Brak rabbinate; Rav Boaz Halevi, chief supervisor for the Tel Aviv Rabbinate; Rav Bentzion Friedman, head of the Tel Aviv kashrus department; Rav Avraham Stitzberg, responsible for kashrus at Coca-Cola Israel; and additional representatives from the Bnei Brak rabbinate.

The rabbonim were received by Ido Givon, plant manager; Doron Wolf, plant technologist; and Vladimir Vol, syrup room manager.

Rav Landau, Av Beis Din of Bnei Brak, noted the exceptional care taken to avoid any concern of chametz at the Coca-Cola plant, both for Pesach and throughout the year, emphasizing the high standards maintained in cooperation with the Tel Aviv Rabbinate’s kashrus system.

Rav Rosenblatt likewise expressed his satisfaction with the ongoing collaboration, praising the company’s meticulous attention to halachic detail and the close working relationship between factory management, employees, and the kashrus authorities.

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (VINnews) — While New York City recorded historic lows in shootings, murders, and overall major crime in January, the city saw a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents, according to NYPD data released Monday.

The city’s Hate Crimes Task Force investigated 58 bias-related incidents last month, up 152% from 23 in January 2025. Anti-Jewish offenses accounted for 31 cases, a 182% rise from 11 the previous year, representing more than half of all reported hate crimes.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch highlighted the city’s continued success in reducing violent crime, including a 60% drop in murders and record lows in shootings. However, the spike in antisemitic acts underscores persistent challenges for law enforcement and the city’s Jewish community.

“These results show our officers remain focused on public safety, but bias-motivated crimes require dedicated attention,” Tisch said.

The NYPD said the rise in reported bias incidents comes amid an overall decline in major crimes, including a 16% drop in retail theft and a more than 50% decrease in crime in school safety zones.

The Party Planner Puzzle

We have discussed party planners in the past, but this week we focus on another angle. Rabbi Yaakov Eisenbach – Rabbinic Coordinator at the cRc gives us the mashgiach’s perspective of giving a hechsher to an event that is being run by a party planner, and the complexities it entails.

View it in its entirety at: https://www.kashrusawareness.com/post/the-party-planner-puzzle

Listen wherever you get your podcasts!

🎤 https://open.spotify.com/show/6Rj5rIndHc886Fblqh8U49

🍎 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-kashrus/id1631553497

https://24six.app/app/podcast/collection/985

https://mytat.me/o112

https://www.kosher.com/shows/lets-talk-kashrus-73

CLICK HERE to watch more episodes of Let’s Talk Kashrus

______

We invite your questions, comments, or feedback. If there’s a specific kashrus topic you’d like to bring to public attention, feel free to contact us by email: [email protected]

Message or call: 678-8-Kosher

You can also visit our website www.kashrusawareness.com for a growing list of resources, timely conversations, and to watch episodes of the Let’s Talk Kashrus audio-visual series.

Join a Let’s Talk Kashrus WhatsApp Group for educational content and kashrus updates

Click here to Join a LTK WhatsApp Group

Below is a transcript of the entire episode

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Hello everyone and welcome back to Let’s Talk Kashrus, presented by the Kashrus Awareness Project. Today I am privileged to be joined by Rabbi Yaakov Eisenbach, rabbinic coordinator for food service at the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Thank you Rabbi Eisenbach for joining us, how are you?

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Doing wonderful.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: We want to talk to you about today just for a few minutes is party planners.

Now we’ve done some episodes about party planners but I want to hear from you as a veteran Mashgiach what you encounter when you deal with party planners and hopefully we could have a few takeaways from this conversation both for party planners who may be watching this and also for the everyday man for the consumer so that they should know what happens when there is that interaction between the party planner who’s trying to do their job and the Mashgiach who obviously has an achrayus to do his job.

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: You can have a party planner who does the party themselves. And they’ll do from A to Z and I always tell the party planners because I’ve gone to party planners, I’ve been dealing with this for years. I say go under Hashgacha.

She says, “We’re not a caterer.” I said, “You are a caterer. You have keilim. You have utensils. Whether it’s toiveled or not Idon’t know because no one’s overseeing any of these party planners.

And where’s it washed? This is just an example. They’ll go into a house and you have equipment and they’re doing fifty person party. Now, are they cooking the food? No.” I said, “The only difference between you and a caterer will say is that they might have a kitchen. But no difference, you’re getting the food is like you’re having a kitchen, you’re preparing it, you’re keeping you’re renting hot boxes, you’re renting equipment.

Is it kosher, not kosher equipment, who’s kashering it for you?” So if you go into a private party and someone invites you for a parlor meeting you should look for a Mashgiach. But then these party planners will go ahead and as one partyplanner once told me, we just gotta get the job done. Whatever it takes to do. So if it’s a Shabbos party for example, they might send the person we ran out of ice, go get the ice on Shabbos.

Now, being at a party your it doesn’t meet your standard that you’re having the goyim doing things that would not be permitted in your own house. So that’s a regular party planner and I’ve been dealing with it and I’ve gone I’ve tried in Chicago where I’ve gone to shuls and met with the _Rabbonim_to give policies. Some shuls do have policies. But I said you have a party planner coming in here.

I’ll give you a case yesterday. Somebody there was a shul, very good in Hashgacha, the regular Mashgiach is out of town, one of our caterers doing a job, and they say, “Could you do us a favor and could you find us a Mashgiach?” So I was out of town but I texted them a couple names. So this person texted back and I told them I can’t talk, speak to my associate who I work with if you have any questions about it. So here’s a prime example.

So the party planner said be here at five o’clock. Now Shabbos means it already started. So obviously everything was prepared beforehand, meaning they brought the food, had to put it in the hot boxes or however they’re prepping, putting up the blech if it’s being done properly, and they said to come at five o’clock. Five o’clock means come by the meal.

So a lot of these party planners it’s more of a show that they have to have a Mashgiach because the shul requires a Mashgiach but they’re dictating what time to come. Five o’clock, everything is done. Meaning whatever had to been done for the prep, tables are set, the oven was put in or whatever they’re using for equipment for Shabbos if they’re doing it properly. So my associate told them, which I would have told them, you call up when they’re bringing the food, you’re there from the beginning till after clean-up.

And I’ve had that too where another rabbi came up to me two weeks ago. He had a party planner in his shul, okay, they hired their own Mashgiach, it’s usually a CRC Mashgiach that they hire because I can’t stop them, they’re a freelancer to do what they want. And they went ahead and and he’s hired by her so he’s not following the CRC rule as far as that is and he left at the end after everything was done. Meantime the party planner’s there loading up her car for after I mean I don’t even know what she did or he did whoever the party planner was and just loaded all, cleaned up the thing and loaded up the truck and had the non-Jewish person I think I don’t know they took it away on Shabbos or just not.

But if what happened by us that doesn’t do it because either sometimes we have to move it let’s say if we’re in an area where they gotta get it out, so they have the truck parked and they leave it there. Mashgiach holds onto the keys until after Shabbos so we know no one can say anything. And then they go.

But here, the rabbi came to me and says, we don’t allow her back. We gave her a phone call. We’re not allowing this party planner back. So these are just issues that the party planners themselves do on their own because they don’t have to play by rules.

But then we had a story, I would say, about two years ago. They bought new equipment, was a party, bought new equipment for hotel, everything right. What was the problem? The tevilas keilim. So, gotta do a party, so the mashgiach went with the workers there.

There was a river right there to go tovel the keilim. Wow. Every single kli. Wow.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: What percentage of party planners do you think today have hashgacha?

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: None. None. I have not heard of a party planner. We once had a caterer who was really,

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: at least the ones you deal with.

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: The ones I deal with. I haven’t heard anybody from out of town tell me.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Like you said, that’s a big, big problem. First of all, who’s overseeing, even if the caterer they use has hashgacha, we’re assuming the caterer they’re using.

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: I mean, they’re getting the food. They’re getting the food from somewhere. A drop-off. A drop-off means here’s your food, zei gezunt.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: But who’s ensuring that the _hashgacha_on that establishment is reliable? Who’s ensuring that however their keilim are being washed, that that’s being washed properly? Right?

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Not being washed in a facility with somebody’s house. Somebody’s house. You wouldn’t eat in their house. I’ve had this.

Now she has her own dishes or he has his own dishes, the party planner. Now you have those dishes washed in someone’s house, fine. And then they want to go ahead and do a vort or a fifty person dinner and you got a beautiful china. And she’s bringing it with the caterer.

CRC caterer or whatever hashgacha they’re under. You don’t know what these plates are. What do they say to you?

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: So what do you do as a representative of the CRC? You show up, a party planner brings their own dishes and you don’t know where those dishes have been. So what do you do? You say you can’t use them?

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Right.

They’re not used. We’ll walk out. If you insist on that, I’ll tell the mashgiach, he’ll be paid for his full day, we will walk out.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: But I would say the takeaway from our conversation is twofold.

From the party planner standpoint, obviously we would encourage every party planner to have a reputable hashgacha. No question. It’s definitely an extra expense for them, but it’s vital that they have hashgacha. Right? Am I right about that?

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Yeah.

It’s not such an extra expense over a year. You know what I’m saying?

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: You know, and it’s and I would say from the consumer standpoint, I think maybe the way to make inroads on this issue is if people, when you hire a party planner, the first question you should be asking is, do you have hashgacha? And then the more it becomes part of the conversation, maybe, maybe, maybe there will be some kind of transformation.

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Comes from pressure from the consumer, literally.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Rabbi Eisenbach, it’s been a pleasure sitting with you.

It’s so nice to hear your reminiscences about your experiences in kashrus, besides for your insight regarding this specific topic of party planners, and we hope to speak to you again. Thank you.

R’ Yaakov Eisenbach: Thank you.

New York (VINnews) — A new business alliance has launched in New York to protect Jewish and Israeli companies as concerns grow over anti-Israel sentiment and rising antisemitism in the city, the New York Post reported.

The New York-Israeli Chamber of Commerce Coalition brings together the New York State Chamber of Commerce, the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, and other business groups to support Israeli-founded firms and Jewish-owned businesses. The coalition said its formation comes amid policy shifts under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has rolled back city protections for Israel and rescinded previous anti-boycott executive orders.

“New York City’s strength and growth have always come from its diversity and welcoming of entrepreneurs from around the world,” said Heather Mulligan, president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State, one of the coalition’s members.

The coalition cited a recent surge in anti-Israel protests and antisemitic incidents targeting businesses, including vandalism and workplace pressure to distance themselves from Israel. Al Kinel, president of the coalition, said the alliance aims to reinstate policies that protect Israeli and Jewish firms from economic discrimination.

New York is home to roughly 676 Israeli-founded companies, including 20 valued at more than $1 billion, according to a report from the United States-Israel Business Alliance. Collectively, these businesses employ tens of thousands of people and contribute significant tax revenue to the city.

“Israel is a strong friend and ally of the United States,” said Mark Jaffe, president of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. “Israeli-backed businesses provide jobs, drive innovation, and support local communities. We are proud to stand with them.”

The coalition’s members include executives from Israeli-founded tech firms, advocacy groups, and business councils. Guy Franklin, CEO of Israeli Mapped in NY, said the city hosts the largest Israeli tech ecosystem outside Israel, contributing to both the economy and local communities.

The coalition said it will work collectively to promote policies that safeguard Israeli and Jewish businesses while opposing discriminatory practices that could threaten jobs and economic growth.

HONG KONG (AP) — China will ban hidden door handles on cars, commonly used on Tesla’s electric vehicles and many other EV models, starting next year.

All car doors must include a mechanical release function for handles, except for the tailgate, according to details released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday.

Officials said the policy aims to address safety concerns after fatal EV accidents where electronic doors reportedly failed to operate and trapped passengers inside vehicles.

The new requirement will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. For car models that were already approved, carmakers will have until Jan. 1, 2029, to make design changes to match the regulations.

Vehicles including Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, BMW’s iX3, and other models by many Chinese brands feature retractable car door handles that could be subject to the new rules.

Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at technology research and advisory group Omdia, said the global impact of China’s new rules could be substantial and other jurisdictions may follow suit on retractable door handles. Carmakers will be facing potentially costly redesigns or retrofits.

“China is the first major automotive market to explicitly ban electrical pop-out and press-to-release hidden door handles,” he said. “While other regions have flagged safety concerns, China is the first to formalize this into a national safety standard.”

It’s likely that regulators in Europe and elsewhere will reference or align with China’s approach, Liu said. The new requirements would impact premium EVs more as retractable door handles “are treated as a design and aerodynamic statement,” he added.

A draft of the proposed rules was published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in September for public comment.

Last year, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into cases where Tesla’s electronic door handles reportedly failed to work.

A wedding in central Israel nearly turned into a tragedy on Tuesday evening when a chosson collapsed and went into cardiac arrest in front of stunned guests.

The incident occurred at a wedding hall in the Gezer Regional Council, east of Rechovot, where the 34-year-old chosson suddenly fell to the ground mid-event. Guests immediately called for help as panic spread through the hall.

Luckily, one of the attendees, Ben Sinai, is a trained paramedic with Ichud Hatzolah. He rushed to the chosson’s side and began life-saving resuscitation efforts within moments.

“Suddenly I saw a commotion and heard cries for help,” Sinai recounted. “I saw that the chosson had collapsed and gone into cardiac arrest. I immediately called for help and began resuscitation efforts with the assistance of additional medics, including the use of the event hall’s defibrillator.”

An ambulance was dispatched to the scene as resuscitation continued. After prolonged efforts, the chosson’s heart began beating again.

He was transported to Kaplan Medical Center in Rechovot, where hospital officials report that he is in serious but stable condition.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Walmart on Tuesday became the first U.S. retailer to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, joining an exclusive group of mostly technology companies.

The milestone comes as Walmart’s stock has climbed more than 24% over the past year, fueled by growth in e-commerce, its advertising business, and initiatives aimed at attracting higher-income shoppers.

New CEO John Furner, who took over Sunday, has overseen programs such as curbside pickup, private-label brand expansion, and the growth of Walmart’s third-party marketplace, all of which have helped boost profits and online sales.

Walmart reported a 5.8% revenue increase in its fiscal third quarter, with e-commerce sales up 27% and its advertising business growing 53%. The company expects full-year sales growth of 4.8% to 5.1% and is set to release fourth-quarter earnings later this month.

photos: Moshe Goldstein

For the Torah public, Vilna is far more than a travel destination. Known for generations as “Yerushalayim D’Lita,” the city is inseparable from the legacy of the Vilna Gaon and the flourishing of Torah life in Eastern Europe. Now, with the upcoming spring–summer 2026 season, travel to Vilna is set to become significantly easier following the announcement of a new direct flight route.

Israeli airline Arkia will operate three weekly flights from Ben Gurion Airport to Vilnius, a move that has been warmly welcomed within the chareidi travel sector. Industry officials say the new route will greatly simplify travel to Vilna, nearby Kaunas, and surrounding areas long associated with Torah heritage and kevorim.

According to Vilnius Airport, the flights will operate three times a week, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. This schedule is considered particularly convenient for frum travelers, allowing departures early in the week and returns ahead of Shabbos.

The route will be serviced by Airbus A320 aircraft, with a flight time of approximately four hours, placing travelers within quick reach of some of the most historically significant centers of Torah life in Eastern Europe.

While Lithuania’s winters are known for their extreme cold — with temperatures currently plunging to as low as 26 degrees below zero — the summer months offer a far more temperate and pleasant climate. For Israeli travelers, the Lithuanian summer provides a welcome escape from the heat, with mild weather well-suited for walking tours and extended visits in Vilna and nearby Kaunas.

The launch of Arkia’s new route comes as competition intensifies among airlines seeking to serve the growing chareidi demand for heritage travel.

{Matzav.com}

Senior Israeli officials are pressing the Trump administration to take military action against Iran, but the White House is digging in against a strike, according to a new report from Axios.

Israeli leaders, including IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, have urged the United States to consider attacking Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Zamir traveled to Washington over the weekend, where he briefed senior U.S. officials on Israel’s offensive and defensive preparations should war break out with Tehran.

Among those briefed was Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, according to the report. But the message did not move the needle.

“It’s safe to say that nothing came out of that meeting to change his or the president’s mind on attacking Iran,” one U.S. official told Axios, referring to Caine and Donald Trump. “It’s really the Israelis who want a strike. The president is just not there.”

Another senior U.S. official put it more bluntly: Trump “really does not want to do it.”

Three senior advisers told Axios that the president initially leaned toward military action during the height of Iran’s mass protests, viewing internal instability as a potential opening. That calculus has since changed.
Now, those advisers say, Trump and much of his inner circle believe a strike would be the wrong move — one that could ignite a wider regional war without delivering a decisive outcome.

Still, the door is not fully closed.

A senior official from one of the countries mediating between Washington and Tehran warned that Trump’s posture could harden quickly if diplomacy falters.

“If Iran doesn’t come to the talks on Friday with tangible things,” the official said, “it could find itself very quickly in a very bad situation.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers in a letter Monday that she attended an FBI search of the elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, last week because President Donald Trump asked for her to be there.

She also acknowledged that she “facilitated” what she described as a brief phone call between Trump and FBI agents who carried out the search but insisted that neither she nor the president had issued any directives.

The letter to top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees marked Gabbard’s first detailed explanation for her unusual presence at an FBI search during which agents armed with a warrant seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county.

Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been a frequent target of the president’s ire. He has long insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud in the county cost him victory in Georgia in his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Gabbard’s arrival in Georgia raised immediate questions among Democratic officials because the FBI search of the election center was a law enforcement, not intelligence, activity and because the position of national intelligence director is typically focused on foreign threats rather than domestic concerns.

In her letter, Gabbard said her presence was specifically requested by Trump and she accompanied senior FBI officials “under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.”

Gabbard has been central to Trump administration efforts to cast doubt on intelligence community conclusions of Russian interference on Trump’s behalf during his successful 2016 campaign, and her presence in Georgia has been feared by Democrats as laying the groundwork for the federal government to assert that the 2020 race he lost was somehow tainted by foreign meddling or to cast doubt on the integrity of future elections.

Gabbard in her letter suggested that election systems are at risk of foreign interference, citing what she said was intelligence showing that electronic voting systems “have been vulnerable to exploitation” that could result in the manipulation of votes.

She said that in order to “preserve the integrity of our elections, we must understand whether there has been foreign or other malign interference in our elections, and whether vulnerabilities exist in our election infrastructure that could be exploited in future elections.” She did not explain why Fulton County was singled out for scrutiny, saying she had not seen the warrant that investigators submitted to a judge for approval.

Audits, state officials, courts and Trump’s own former attorney general have rejected the idea that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election that could have altered the outcome. The 2024 election that Trump won was also seen as relatively trouble-free at the polls.

Gabbard also appeared to confirm a report earlier Monday from The New York Times that she had helped arrange a call between Trump and FBI agents. It is rare for a president to communicate directly with rank-and-file FBI personnel about specific investigations.

“While visiting the FBI Field Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their professionalism and great work, and facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the agents personally for their work. He did not ask any questions, nor did he or I issue any directives,” she wrote.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — On the edge of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, volunteers ladle hot soup into plastic containers as residents wrapped in heavy coats queue for a meal they cannot cook at home. Yuliia Dolotova, a mother of two, is among them, waiting with her 18-month-old son, Bohdanchyk, bundled in layers against the biting cold.

Life, she says, has been reduced to the most basic essentials: warmth, light and food.

“All day long, there’s no electricity, no way to cook food for the kids. Pretty much everyone is in this situation,” Dolotova, 37, said.

She lives in Troieshchyna, one of Kyiv’s hardest-hit districts, battered by repeated Russian attacks since the full-scale Russian invasion four years ago. Russian strikes using drones and missiles have left hundreds of thousands of people without heat or electricity as temperatures plunge as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit). The harsh winter is expected to continue in the coming weeks.

Without heat, water pipes in the district have also frozen and burst, adding to the strain on daily life.

Damage to the grid and power stations is at its worst since the war began. As soon as utility and energy crews restore heating to some buildings and power engineers finally manage to set outage schedules so people know when electricity will be cut, Russia launches another strike — and the same work has to be done all over again.

The hardship is compounded by the long absence of Dolotova’s husband, who is fighting in the east and has seen his youngest son only twice since birth. She looks after her two sons — Bohdanchyk and 11-year-old Daniil — and the family dog, who rarely gets out for a walk.

At night her building, a Soviet-era tower block, goes completely dark. Her toddler son has learned to grip her cellphone, flashlight on, as she manhandles his stroller up six flights of stairs to their apartment. The stairs have already broken two strollers.

Inside, she flicks on battery-powered lamps one by one. Before bedtime, the two brothers huddle together for warmth, playing in silence near the frost-lined windows by flashlight. At bedtime, Dolotova insulates the bed with foam rubber to try to keep them warm.

Dolotova’s husband is serving in the Zaporizhzhia area — one of the war’s most volatile sectors.

“He should be coming soon. I live from leave to leave,” Dolotova said. “I wait for him — that’s what keeps me going. You tell yourself, just a little longer, and he’ll come. You count the days.”

WASHINGTON (VINnews) — An investigation has identified 890 accounts at Swiss bank Credit Suisse with potential links to the Nazi regime, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said ahead of a Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on banks’ facilitation of Holocaust-era activities.

The accounts included previously undisclosed wartime holdings for the German Foreign Office, a German arms manufacturer, the German Red Cross, and the paramilitary organization SS, Grassley said. New details also emerged on a scheme to help Nazis flee to Argentina after World War II.

Grassley, a Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has been investigating Credit Suisse’s role during the Holocaust for years. “The SS’s economic arm maintained an account at Credit Suisse, and the bank’s relationships with Nazi organizations were more extensive than previously known,” he said.

UBS Group, which acquired Credit Suisse in an emergency takeover in 2023, said it is cooperating with a review conducted by former U.S. prosecutor Neil Barofsky to document the scope of Nazi-linked accounts. UBS executives said the investigation is a voluntary effort to provide transparency and closure.

“We approach today’s topic with solemn respect,” Robert Karofsky, president of UBS Americas, said in prepared testimony. “Our priority is to complete this review so that the world can benefit from the findings in the coming final report.”

The investigation is expected to conclude by early summer, with a final report due by year-end, according to Senate Judiciary aides.

Credit Suisse and UBS previously reached a global settlement in 1999 over Holocaust-era claims. Both banks have apologized for their roles during World War II and acknowledged the dark period in Swiss banking history.

Grassley said the new findings highlight gaps in the historical record, with implications for understanding financial support networks of the Nazi regime and the broader efforts to account for victims and collaborators.

A major new study suggests that when you drink your coffee may be just as important as how much you drink it — and that an evening cup could erase many of coffee’s health benefits.

Research published in the prestigious European Heart Journal followed more than 40,000 participants over nearly two decades as part of the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The findings indicate that coffee consumption in the morning is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of death from heart disease, while drinking coffee later in the day appears to eliminate those advantages entirely.

According to the researchers, people who primarily drank coffee in the morning experienced an approximate 31 percent reduction in mortality from cardiovascular disease. By contrast, among those who consumed coffee in the afternoon or evening, the protective effect disappeared, leaving their risk levels similar to people who did not drink coffee at all.

The researchers emphasized that the difference was not related to the amount of caffeine consumed, but rather to the timing of coffee intake in relation to the body’s biological clock. Even though evening coffee drinkers consumed the same powerful antioxidants, their bodies did not translate those compounds into cardiovascular protection.

Surprisingly, the pattern held true across all types of coffee, including filter coffee, espresso, instant coffee, and even decaffeinated varieties. The scientists explained that late-day coffee consumption may disrupt the body’s internal circadian rhythm, interfering with metabolic processes that are meant to slow down during periods of rest. This physiological disruption appears to negate the beneficial effects of coffee’s active components.

The study concludes that coffee remains an important ally in reducing the risk of chronic disease, but only when consumed in harmony with the body’s natural rest cycle. To maximize heart health benefits, researchers recommend sticking to morning coffee and avoiding late-day consumption. A simple change in daily timing, they suggest, could determine whether coffee truly works in your favor.

The information provided in this Matzav.com report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. It should not be considered a recommendation for treatment or disease prevention. For any medical concerns, consult a qualified healthcare professional.

{Matzav.com}

PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors raided the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Tuesday as part of a preliminary investigation into a range of alleged offences, including spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes.

The investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement. It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.

Prosecutors also asked Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to attend “voluntary interviews” on April 20. Employees of X have also been summoned that same week to be heard as witnesses, the statement said. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.

A spokesperson for X did not respond to a request for comment.

In a message posted on X, the Paris prosecutors’ office announced the ongoing searches at the company’s offices in France and said it was leaving the platform while calling on followers to join it on other social media.

“At this stage, the conduct of the investigation is based on a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law, as it operates on the national territory,” the prosecutors’ statement said.

European Union police agency Europol ’’is supporting the French authorities in this,″ Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth told The Associated Press, without elaborating.

The investigation was first opened following reports by a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X were likely to have distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system.

It was later expanded after Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust and spread sexually explicit deepfakes, the statement said. Holocaust denial is a crime in France.

Grok wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.

Musk’s artificial intelligence company built xAI and it is integrated into his X platform.

In later posts on its X account, the chatbot acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, said it had been deleted and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B in Auschwitz gas chambers was used to kill more than 1 million people.

Grok has a history of making antisemitic comments. Musk’s company took down posts from the chatbot that appeared to praise Adolf Hitler after complaints.

X is also under pressure from the EU. The 27-nation bloc’s executive arm opened an investigation last month after Grok spewed nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform.

Brussels has already hit X with a 120-million euro (then-$140 million) fine for shortcomings under the bloc’s sweeping digital regulations, including blue checkmarks that broke the rules on “deceptive design practices” that risked exposing users to scams and manipulation.

By Y.M. Lowy

Multiple subway lines faced significant delays this morning, disrupting rush hour travel, including the D and F lines that run through Boro Park.

According to MTA service alerts around 9:15 a.m., disruptions were reported on the B, M, F, 7, C, D, N, Q, R, E, 2, 6, J, 4 and 5 trains. While some service changes had been scheduled in advance for signal and track maintenance, many of the delays were unexpected and caused widespread commuting problems.

The MTA reported a mix of issues, including switch and signal malfunctions and trains whose emergency brakes activated during travel. Several trains had to be taken out of service as a result, further cutting service across affected lines.

The 7 train saw severe delays in both directions after a person was struck by a train at the Grand Central–42nd Street station.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish court convicted two Swedes of terrorism and attempted murder for detonating two hand grenades near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen in October 2024.

The Copenhagen City Court sentenced the younger of the two men, aged 18, to 12 years in prison, and the older, aged 21, to 14 years in prison, according to Swedish news agency TT. They were said to be acting on behalf of a criminal gang.

In the early hours of Oct. 2, 2024, the pair threw two hand grenades in the direction of the Israeli embassy in the Danish capital. The devices did not reach their target but instead detonated on the terrace of a residential building nearby, inhabited by a family with children. Nobody was injured.

The explosions happened about 100 meters (109 yards) from the embassy, which is located in an area with other embassies, the local police said at the time. Copenhagen’s Jewish school, Carolineskolen, is located down the street from the embassy, but it was closed at the time of the attack.

The two men admitted to throwing the grenades but said they did it for money and denied being ideologically motivated to attack an Israeli institution.

The Danish court disagreed on whether the two should be convicted of terrorism, according to TT. Two judges and four jurors concluded that the Swedes were guilty of terrorism, while one judge and two jurors disagreed.

The younger of the two men is also facing charges in Sweden for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, just one day before the Danish attack, according to TT. The older also faces criminal charges in connection with another attack in Sweden.

Lawyers for the two men said they would appeal the verdicts, which include deportation to Sweden in addition to the prison sentences.

Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years. Criminal gangs often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits. Two main gangs — the Foxtrot network and its rival Rumba — have been involved in deadly feuds.

Israel’s governing coalition has set an aggressive deadline to pass the long-delayed conscription law within two weeks, as the chareidi parties race against time to finalize the bill’s wording amid mounting political and legal pressure. The coming days are expected to determine not only the fate of the legislation, but also the stability of the government and the passage of the state budget.

Leaders of the chareidi parties acknowledge that every day without an approved conscription law weakens their position. As a result, coalition partners have decided to dramatically accelerate the process. According to a first report, the coalition’s goal is to complete the bill’s third and final reading in the Knesset within just fourteen days, in an effort to end a prolonged saga that has become a direct threat to the government’s survival.

Within the chareidi factions, the end of the current week has been marked as a critical milestone. Lawmakers are hoping that by then, the final version of the bill will be ready. Drafting the legislation remains the most complex hurdle, as significant disagreements between the various sides have yet to be fully resolved despite heavy coalition pressure and stated goodwill.

Attention is now focused on the legal adviser to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Miri Frenkel-Shor, who is tasked with translating political understandings into binding legal language that can withstand scrutiny.

The coalition’s plan calls for a rapid legislative “blitz.” Once the draft is completed, a comprehensive discussion on the revised text is expected to take place as early as Sunday. If that stage proceeds smoothly, committee votes to advance the bill are scheduled to begin the following Tuesday. The coalition’s ultimate objective is to bring the law to a decisive vote in the Knesset plenum the following Monday, formally closing the issue.

However, the ambitious timetable hinges on a single decisive factor: whether the version prepared by Frenkel-Shor by the end of the week will be acceptable to the Gedolei Yisroel. The days ahead are expected to be especially tense, with far-reaching implications not only for the future of the conscription framework, but for the coalition as a whole and for the approval of the state budget waiting in the wings.

{Matzav.com}

Dozens of residents at a local nursing home are being evacuated after a sprinkler burst pipe caused flooding at the facility, authorities told TLS.

The incident began early this morning, prompting dozens of emergency personnel from around Ocean County.

The pipe bursting incident is among many similar incidents as a result of the consistently-freezing temperatures.

Approximately 45-60 residents are being transported to a facility in Trenton for the time being, emergency personnel told TLS.

There are no reports of injuries at this time.

NEW YORK (VINnews) — US President Donald Trump said that his administration is seeking $1 billion in damages from Harvard University, sharply criticizing the Ivy League institution over what he described as serious misconduct and antisemitism.

In a post published Monday on Truth Social, Trump wrote that “Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to The Failing New York Times,” adding that Harvard has “for a long time been behaving very badly.” He accused the university of committing “serious and heinous illegalities.”

Trump said Harvard had proposed what he called a “convoluted job training concept,” which was rejected because it was “wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful.” He said the proposal was “merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars,” a figure he said “should be much higher.”

“This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event,” Trump wrote. “Harvard will have to live with the consequences of their wrongdoings.” He added, “In any event, this case will continue until justice is served.”

Trump announced, “We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.”

He also sharply criticized Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber, writing that Garber “has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America itself.” Trump noted that Garber “was hired AFTER the antisemitism charges were brought,” adding, “I wonder why???”

Trump cited reporting by The New York Times, quoting the newspaper as stating: “Some connected to the University, however, think Harvard has no option but to eventually cut a deal. The Administration has repeatedly attempted to cut off research grants, which would be an untenable crisis. Like many major research universities, Harvard relies on federal funding for its financial model.”

In December, Trump’s administration appealed a judge’s ruling that it had unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard and barred further efforts to cut off research funding. Trump said last year that his administration had been close to reaching a deal with Harvard that would have included a $500 million payment following months of negotiations over university policies.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 13-year-old boy is credited with saving the lives of his mother and two younger siblings with an hourslong swim after the family was swept out to sea off the Australian coast.

Austin Appelbee swam 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to shore to raise the alarm after he got into difficulties on Friday with his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, police said.

Austin said he initially set off for help on an inflatable kayak that was taking water. He abandoned the kayak then took off his life jacket because it impeded his swimming.

He said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam for around four hours through rough seas for shore, raising the alarm at 6 p.m.

A 13-year-old boy in Australia has been hailed for saving his family from drowning after they were swept out to sea.

Austin Appelbee was with his mother and two younger siblings when they got into difficulty.

He managed to swim two and a half miles to shore to raise the alarm… pic.twitter.com/wbwXZNvNDi

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) February 3, 2026

“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. … I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” Austin said on Tuesday. “And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”

The family, from the state capital Perth, were on vacation and were using kayaks and paddle boards hired from their hotel around noon when rough ocean and wind conditions started dragging them out to sea.

A search helicopter found the mom and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8:30 p.m., police said. They had drifted 14 kilometers (9 miles) from Quindalup in Western Australia state, after spending up to 10 hours in the water.

“The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough — his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” Police Inspector James Bradley said.

Joanne Appelbee told reporters on Tuesday she sent her oldest child for help because she could not leave the three children.

“One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin: ‘Try and get to shore and get some help. This could get really serious really quickly,‘” she told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

She said she was confident he would reach shore but was filled with doubt as the sunset set and help had not arrived.

“We kept positive, we were singing and we were joking and … we were treating it as a bit of a game until the sun started to go down and that’s when it was getting very choppy. Very big waves,” she said.

The three were all shivering and Beau had lost sensation in his legs because of the cold by the time they were rescued, the mom said.

“I have three babies. All three made it. That was all that mattered,” she said.

All four family members were medically assessed but none required hospital admission.

photos: Issac G.

President Donald Trump said Monday night that his administration is pursuing a $1 billion damages claim against Harvard University, intensifying a long-running dispute over federal funding and campus policies.

“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The announcement comes as the administration continues to challenge a December court ruling that found it acted unlawfully when it cut off more than $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, barring further attempts to halt the university’s research funding.

Harvard has been at the center of a broader effort by the Trump administration to use federal dollars as leverage to compel changes at colleges and universities nationwide, which Trump has argued are dominated by antisemitic sentiment and “radical left” thinking.

Trump previously said the White House had been nearing an agreement with Harvard that would have required the university to pay $500 million, following extended negotiations focused on institutional policies.

Administration officials have repeatedly accused Harvard and other elite schools of advancing what they describe as “woke” ideology while failing to adequately safeguard Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations, backing those claims with legal filings and demands for substantial financial settlements.

Earlier Monday, The New York Times reported that Trump had withdrawn a demand for a $200 million settlement payment from Harvard after lengthy talks between the sides.

Speaking to reporters last September, Trump said discussions were approaching a $500 million settlement, which would have included provisions for opening trade schools as part of the agreement.

“They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” Trump said in his post late Monday evening.

“It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,” he added, without identifying which laws he believes the university violated.

“This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event,” he added, without detailing the legal grounds for criminal charges or the specific actions he contends would justify them.

{Matzav.com}

Antisemitic hate crimes surged across New York City in January, accounting for the majority of all reported bias incidents, even as the NYPD touted historic declines in gun violence.

According to NYPD data, antisemitic incidents jumped 182 percent in January 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier. The department recorded 31 anti-Jewish hate crimes last month, up from 11 in January 2025, making Jews the most frequently targeted group by a wide margin.

Overall, the NYPD’s hate crimes task force investigated 58 bias incidents in January, a 152 percent increase from the 23 cases recorded a year ago. Anti-Jewish incidents alone accounted for more than half of all reported hate crimes, despite Jews making up an estimated 10 percent of the city’s population.

The next most-targeted groups trailed far behind. The department reported seven anti-Muslim incidents, up from zero a year earlier, five incidents targeting Asians, and five related to sexual orientation. Smaller numbers of cases involved religion more broadly (3), Black New Yorkers (2), gender (2), age (1), Hispanics (1), and whites (1).

The spike in antisemitic incidents comes as Mamdani, who has publicly called for New York City to divest from Israel Bonds and has said he would seek the arrest of Israel’s prime minister if he entered the city, began his term as mayor on Jan. 1. The NYPD statistics do not draw any causal connection to political leadership, but the timing is likely to intensify criticism from Jewish community leaders and elected officials already warning about rising antisemitism citywide.

The hate crime figures appeared at the end of an NYPD press release otherwise focused on crime reductions. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the department delivered “the fewest shooting incidents, victims and murders in recorded history” for the month of January, citing 40 shooting incidents and 47 victims — both lower than previous all-time lows.

“Murder declined to its lowest level for January, shattering the previous record,” the department said, noting that Manhattan and Staten Island went the entire month without a homicide.
Retail theft was down 16 percent, according to the NYPD, and crime in school safety zones dropped by more than 50 percent under what the department described as a “data-driven strategy.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president said Tuesday he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.

Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region. Foreign ministers from Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been invited to attend the talks, if they happen, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to journalists.

But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

Iran’s president signals talks are possible
Writing on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”

“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.

The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.

Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issue
Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.

Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.

He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.

The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.

Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”

“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.

“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.

Witkoff traveling to Israel
Witkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

While in Israel, Witkoff will meet with the head of the Mossad intelligence service and the Israeli military’s chief of staff, according to another official who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel is expected to ask that any agreement with Iran include removing enriched uranium from the country, stopping the enrichment of uranium, limiting the creation of ballistic missiles and ending support for Tehran’s proxies.

However, Shakhani in his interview rejected giving up uranium enrichment — a major obstacle in earlier talks with the U.S. In November, Araghchi said Iran was doing no enrichment in the country because of the U.S. bombing of the nuclear sites.

Witkoff later will travel to Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.

“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

Mike Pompeo, a hard-liner on Iran who served as CIA director and secretary of state in Trump’s first term, said it was “unimaginable that there can be a deal.”

“I think they may come away with some set of understandings,” Pompeo said at Dubai’s World Governments Summit. “But to think that there’s a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the ayatollah is still in power is something I pray for but find unimaginable.”

Also Tuesday, a ship transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, reported being hailed on the radio “by numerous small armed vessels,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

There was no identifying information on the vessel, which continued into the Persian Gulf. The position of the incident appeared to be in Iranian territorial waters, where officials had warned of a naval drill by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Qatar is transferring substantial sums to ostensibly civilian institutions in Israel, raising concerns among experts over transparency and national security, according to an interview published Monday.

Ran Yishai, head of the Research Department at the Jerusalem Institute for Applied Policy, told Israel National News that Qatari donations flow to universities, hospitals, schools, clinics, and welfare programs, often through opaque channels. He highlighted recent funding for the French Hospital in eastern Jerusalem, reportedly funneled through a Palestinian Authority bank to circumvent Israeli oversight.

Yishai described Qatar as a Muslim Brotherhood-aligned state using financial influence to shape public opinion. While some donations are monitored, he warned that many operate without scrutiny. He criticized Israel for not confronting foreign diplomats involved in such transfers, citing examples including the Turkish, Italian, and British consulates allegedly supporting activities contrary to Israeli interests.

“The distinction between civilian support and backing for terrorism is often blurred,” Yishai said. He cited institutions like Al Jazeera and UNRWA, which appear civilian but, in his view, have ties to organizations suspected of terrorism.

Yishai emphasized that his findings rely on open-source information rather than classified intelligence and urged Israeli policymakers to take action.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israel Defense Forces on Monday unveiled a new directive that for the first time formally regulates the service of Haredi soldiers, creating voluntary tracks, religious accommodations, and oversight mechanisms.

The directive introduces three service paths: the “Magen” Track, placing Haredi soldiers in all-male units, primarily in support roles; the “Herev” Track, a fully gender-segregated framework with male commanders and religious leadership; and the “David” Track, also known as the Hasmonean Brigade, where all personnel follow a religious lifestyle. Soldiers must declare a Haredi lifestyle and pass an interview to participate.

Accommodations include prayer schedules, stricter kosher standards, dress guidelines, and tailored educational programs. Women and other personnel may enter Haredi units only when operationally necessary, the IDF said.

The directive establishes oversight at multiple levels, including a new Chief of Staff Advisor for Haredi Affairs, Avinoam Emunah, and senior integration liaisons in each branch. Officials may consult rabbis and public figures, and the Defense Ministry’s comptroller will conduct audits, with civilian oversight possible.

Defense Minister Israel Katz described the directive as a “historic step” toward integrating Haredi citizens while respecting their religious lifestyle and emphasized their role in Israel’s defense.

The order will be formally issued as a binding General Staff directive across the IDF in the coming weeks.

JERUSALEM (VINnews)  — In advance of U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s planned visit to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and senior Israeli defense officials, Israeli officials plan to present Witkoff with four core principles that they say must be included in any future Iran agreement. Without these elements, Israel would view any deal as weak and dangerous.

Galei Tzahal reported that the first demand is the removal of all enriched uranium currently held by Iran, estimated at around 400 kilograms of highly enriched material, to a third country. The second calls for a complete halt to uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. The third principle involves imposing strict limitations on Iran’s ballistic missile program, including restrictions on both missile range and production capacity. The fourth requires an end to Iran’s financial and military support for proxy groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.

Officials also warned against a deal focused solely on Iran’s nuclear program, saying that such an agreement would be weak and bad not only for Israel but for the entire region.

Nikki Haley criticized renewed diplomatic engagement with Iran on Monday, voicing opposition as Washington and Tehran move toward talks focused on Iran’s nuclear program.

In a message posted on social media, the former US ambassador to the United Nations argued that negotiations with Tehran are fundamentally flawed. “You can’t make a deal with a regime that lies about its nuclear production, oppresses its people, and spreads terror around the world. Iran can’t be trusted,” Haley wrote.

Her remarks came after reports indicated that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are scheduled to meet Friday in Istanbul to explore the possibility of a nuclear agreement.

President Donald Trump has publicly urged Iran to come to terms with the United States over its nuclear activities, while also making clear that military action remains an option if diplomacy fails.

Addressing reporters on Monday, Trump spoke about the ongoing discussions and the US posture toward Iran, saying, “We have big ships heading to Iran right now. The biggest and the best. We have talks going on with Iran, we will see how it all works out.”

He added further comments emphasizing uncertainty about the administration’s next steps. “I can’t tell you what I’m going to do, because right now we have a tremendous force going there, just like we did in Venezuela – even bigger. And they’ll be there soon,” continued Trump.

Trump went on to express a preference for a diplomatic resolution while warning of consequences if negotiations collapse. “I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen. But if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. I’d be very foolish if I were to tell you. But right now we’re talking to them. We’re talking to Iran. And if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things will happen.”

Haley’s position echoed comments made a day earlier by Senator Lindsey Graham, who also rejected the idea of striking a deal with Iran and suggested that lasting stability in the region would require the collapse of the current Iranian leadership.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Graham argued that removing Iran’s rulers would have a transformative effect on the region. “The biggest thing you could possibly do to the Middle East is take this regime down, and they’re as weak as they’ve ever been since 1979,” he said.

Graham concluded by directly urging presidential action, adding, “Mr. President, you can do it, I hope you will do it,” he added.

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Deep in the Ben Shemen pine forest near the towns of Modiin and Modiin Illit lies an ancient structure with a dome. The structure was named in Arabic Hirbet Al-Arbawi and in Hebrew Hurvat Ha’Gardi, named for one of the Hasmonean sons, Yochanan Ha’Gardi. The imposing structure and its location led scholars to wonder whether it had any connection to the Maccabees.

About 25 years ago, four yeshiva students from the Tshibin yeshiva and other chasidic yeshivos visited the structure and decided as a practical joke to set up a matzevah (headstone) and write that this is the tomb of Matityahu ben Yochanan Kohen Gadol. The four headed to Har Hamenuchos, purchased a headstone and engraved the words: Tomb of Matisyahu ben Yochanan. They added cement and a logo of the Aguda Le’Ma’an Kivrei Tzadikim (Association for preserving tombs of the righteous), a fictitious organization, and left the site.

Little did they know that people would begin to take their actions seriously. Numerous rabbis and public figures came to pray at the site, candles were lit, pictures were placed and especially on Chanukah every year, streams of people come to dance and pray at what they believe to be the tomb of the father of the Maccabees. People even began to believe that they had experienced miraculous salvations there.

Recently Mishpacha magazine decided to burst the balloon, revealing that the tomb is a fictitious creation of four young boys and has no credibility as the tomb of Matisyahu. One of the original Bochurim, Rav Shmuel Frankel, who is now in his 40s, said that “We wanted to make a tomb for tourists to com. Had we known how this would develop, its obvious we wouldn’t have done it.”

Channel 12 News chief political analyst Amit Segal weighed in on a letter sent by families of Israeli hostages to Gal Hirsch, in which they called for his resignation and accused him of intimidating them while advancing the Prime Minister’s political agenda.

In his remarks, Segal referred to Hirsch’s assertion that the families’ messaging and that of Hamas had effectively aligned. “Gal Hirsch says they and Hamas essentially spoke in the same voice. We all know the videos Hamas released every Saturday included messages that were almost identical to what was said at the protests – for example, that Netanyahu is delaying a deal, that now is the time to stop the war, and that military pressure endangers the hostages’ lives. Those who later returned told us what they were instructed to say and what the objective was,” Segal said.

Segal went on to explain that such overlap in messaging raises difficult questions in the political arena. “There’s a rule in politics – when two enemies run the same campaign, one of them is wrong. I can accept the claim that we and Hamas said the same thing, but that we were right – because morally, Israel benefits from returning all the hostages. But don’t gaslight us and say it didn’t happen. Say that it was important on a moral level. Don’t say Hamas said one thing and we said the opposite – because that’s not what happened.”

He further stressed that his criticism was not directed at the act of protesting itself, noting the emotional impact those demonstrations had on captives. “There’s a claim often made in interviews with returning hostages, who said the protests warmed their hearts – and that is absolutely true. The point was never to say that protests are bad,” Segal clarified.

However, Segal argued that the broader narrative promoted at the time was counterproductive. “But the narrative that claimed there is only one way to bring the hostages back – by surrendering, withdrawing, ending the war, all of them now and at any price – that was a serious mistake. It did not help the effort to bring the hostages home,” he concluded.

{Matzav.com}

A frozen pipe burst at the headquarters of Misaskim of Central Jersey, causing thousands of dollars in damage, the organization tells TLS.

The pipe burst due to the ongoing weather freeze, sending gallons of water into their facility and soaking shelves of Sefarim and Siddurim, as well as cushions Aveilim use for seating. Many of the items were rendered unusable and will need to be replaced.

Misaskim is a volunteer-based organization that provides support and assistance to individuals experiencing crisis or tragedy by providing them with vital bereavement services, all-the-while safeguarding the dignity of the deceased. Volunteers and staff worked to remove water, dry the affected areas and salvage what they could, but much of the damage was irreversible.

The organization is assessing repair costs and determining how long it will take to fully restore the space.

(To help with some of the costs, a tax deductible donation can be made here.)

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A man of about 30 years old was pulled on Monday morning from a Mikveh in Jerusalem while unconscious. Magen David Adom medics and paramedics who were called to the scene found the man with no signs of life.

Medical teams provided intensive treatment, including advanced resuscitation efforts, and urgently evacuated him to Shaare Zedek Medical Center while continuing attempts to stabilize his condition.

MDA paramedic Moshe Benita, who treated the man at the scene, described the dramatic moments: “We saw the man lying unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. Bystanders told us they had pulled him from the water in that condition. We immediately began medical treatment including chest compressions, ventilation, and administering medication, and evacuated him to the hospital while performing resuscitation. His condition was described as critical.”

This is unfortunately the second such case this week in Jerusalem. On Sunday, the Lelov Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Biderman, of blessed memory, drowned at the age of 84. The Rebbe had arrived in the afternoon to immerse in a mikveh at his study hall, where he apparently lost consciousness. His Gabbaim pulled him out the water but medics failed to resuscitate him and he passed away.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — IDF forces located a large cache of weapons, including several rockets and about 110 mortar shells east of the “Yellow Line” in the southern Gaza Strip, in an area under Israeli control, the IDF Spokesperson announced on Tuesday. The weapons were hidden inside UNRWA humanitarian aid sacks and inside blankets, and were discovered during an operation by the 7th Brigade under the Gaza Division to clear the area of tunnels and various weapons.

The discovery was made possible following the interrogation of suspects who had arrived in the Yellow Line area.

Last Saturday, the IDF struck several Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip in response to ceasefire violations by the terror organization. An IDF statement said: “The IDF and Shin Bet struck commanders and terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.”

According to the statement, “During the night and up to now, four commanders and additional terrorists from the terror organizations were attacked. In addition, the IDF struck a weapons storage facility, a weapons production site, and two Hamas terror organization launch infrastructures in the central Gaza Strip.”

It was also stated: “The terror organizations in the Strip systematically violate international law, while cynically exploiting civilian institutions and operating among the local population. The IDF and Shin Bet view any violation of the agreement with great severity and will continue to act against any attempt by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terror attacks against IDF forces and civilians of the State of Israel.” According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 29 Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes over the weekend.

Despite Hamas’s violations of the agreement, at the beginning of the week the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt reopened in both directions, after being closed for most of the war. This is part of the implementation of Phase II of the agreement. Under the agreed framework, about 150 people per day are expected to leave Gaza for Egypt, and 50 will make the journey in the opposite direction.

Jews in New York City were the targets of 31 suspected hate crimes last month — roughly one incident per day — according to new figures released Monday by the New York City Police Department.

Those incidents represented 54 percent of the 58 total bias crimes reported citywide in January, making antisemitic offenses the largest single category during the month.

The January tally reflected a 182 percent increase compared with the same month last year, though it was lower than the 40 antisemitic incidents recorded in December. January also marked the first full month of the city’s new administration under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

City officials noted that antisemitic crime levels tend to rise and fall based on a range of factors, including protest activity and seasonal conditions.

In addition to crimes targeting Jews, police recorded one incident motivated by age bias, five against Asians, two against Black individuals, two related to gender, one targeting Hispanic people, seven against Muslims, three aimed at other religious groups, five based on sexual orientation, and one targeting white people.

Authorities cautioned that the statistics are preliminary and may be revised following investigations. In some cases, incidents initially believed to be hate crimes are later determined to have been motivated by other factors. Convictions in hate crime cases also remain relatively uncommon.

Hate crimes carry harsher penalties than non-bias offenses because they are viewed as attacks on an entire community rather than a single individual.

At the same time, the NYPD reported that major crimes — including murder, robbery, shootings, and felony assaults — declined overall last month, continuing a broader downward trend in violent crime across the city.

Jews continue to be targeted in New York City at higher rates than any other group. In 2025, police recorded 330 antisemitic incidents, accounting for 57 percent of the 576 total hate crimes reported citywide, according to NYPD data.

Jewish security officials and experts on hate crimes have also warned that many antisemitic incidents likely go unreported and never reach law enforcement statistics.

Among the January cases, two teenagers were charged with spray-painting 73 swastikas on a playground used by Jewish children; a rabbi was assaulted on Holocaust Remembrance Day; and a driver rammed his vehicle into Chabad’s 770.

In response to rising antisemitism, members of the New York City Council announced last week the creation of a new Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and introduced legislation aimed at curbing hate crimes.

{Matzav.com}

The IDF announced on Tuesday that it has finalized the drafting of a new General Staff order regulating the service of Chareidi soldiers in designated IDF frameworks.

Until now, the policy governing the service of Chareidi soldiers was an internal policy of the IDF Personnel Directorate. From now on, the policy is anchored in a General Staff order, which has binding legal force and requires formal implementation, oversight, and periodic updates up to the level of the General Staff. Enshrining the policy in an official order is intended to provide full transparency regarding service conditions and to ensure their long-term stability.

The order establishes three service tracks that allow Chareidi soldiers to serve in frameworks adapted to their way of life. A member of the Chareidi public who chooses a track that is not defined as a designated service track will serve under the Joint Service Order.

Magen track – All-male teams serving in regular, mostly combat support units, such as intelligence.

Cherev track – Fully gender-segregated units, with male command staff who observe a religious lifestyle (except in exceptional cases approved through a special authorization process).

David track (Chashmonaim Brigade) – Units in which all soldiers and staff maintain an observant lifestyle.

It is noted that the Chashmonaim Brigade currently lacks a mikveh (ritual bath), posing difficulties for Chabad soldiers who require one for religious reasons.

Eligibility and conditions

Participation in these specialist frameworks will be entirely voluntary. Recruits choosing to serve in them must declare adherence to a Chareidi lifestyle and pass an interview verifying religious affiliation.

The order also specifies additional rights for Chareidi soldiers, including designated Zemanei Tefillah, enhanced kashrus standards (including Mehadrin and Shemita l’Chumrah), a declaration of allegiance to the army as an alternative to an oath, and other arrangements.

The IDF stressed that the directive will not infringe on the rights of other groups, including women. Female personnel or other officers may enter Chareidi frameworks only when required by their duties and pending command approval.

Oversight and advisory framework  

The order also establishes the new position of the chief of staff’s adviser on Chareidi affairs, a formal institutional role. The adviser, Avinoam Emunah, is empowered to advise, supervise, and guide military officials—from commanders to personnel officers and educational units.

In addition, each branch and major directorate will appoint a senior-level Chareidi integration officer to oversee implementation in their area.

Implementation of the order has already begun and will continue in the coming weeks, with additional detailed instructions to be issued soon by the IDF’s Personnel Directorate.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

JERUSALEM(VINnews) — During the course of a wedding held at a kibbutz in the Gezer Regional Council in central Israel, the 34-year-old groom suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed unconscious.

Ben Sinai, a medic with United Hatzalah who was also one of the guests at the event, noticed the commotion and, once he understood what had happened, immediately began performing CPR on the groom. Sinai succeeded in restoring the groom’s pulse, and he was evacuated to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot sedated and on a ventilator, in stable condition.

Chasan and Kallah a short time before his collapse

Sinai recounted: “I was in the hall as one of the wedding guests. Suddenly I saw a commotion and heard cries for help, and I noticed the groom had collapsed and was in cardiac arrest. I immediately called for assistance and began resuscitation efforts with the help of additional medics, including using the event hall’s defibrillator. After prolonged resuscitation efforts, his heart miraculously began beating again. He was evacuated to the hospital, and at this stage his condition is serious.”

A relative of the groom said that he suffered from Myotonic dystrophy and that this may have caused the weakening of his heart muscle in a moment of extreme stress. The relative added that his condition is still serious and doctors are trying to treat his sepsis and insert a pacemaker.

BEIT SHE’AN (VINnews) — The Israel Defense Forces’ Hasmonean Brigade, a dedicated infantry unit for ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) soldiers, held a handover ceremony in Beit She’an as Col. Shemer Raviv assumed command, replacing Col. Avinoam Emunah.

Raviv, who previously commanded the Paran Regional Brigade along Israel’s southern border with Egypt, takes the helm of the Hasmonean Brigade amid efforts to expand Haredi enlistment in the military. The unit, established in late 2024, is designed to accommodate ultra-Orthodox troops while preserving their religious lifestyle, including provisions for daily Torah study.

Emunah, the brigade’s inaugural commander since its founding, is set to be promoted to brigadier general. He will transition to a new advisory role as the chief of staff’s adviser on ultra-Orthodox affairs, the IDF announced.

The leadership change coincides with preparations for a forthcoming General Staff order that will formalize arrangements to facilitate service for ultra-Orthodox soldiers. The move comes as the military continues to address challenges in recruiting and integrating Haredi men into the IDF ranks, following broader policy shifts on conscription.

The Hasmonean Brigade operates under the IDF’s Education and Training Command and is intended to combine combat readiness with religious observance for Haredi enlistees.

US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday for high-level meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, according to two senior Israeli officials.

The talks are expected to focus largely on Iran, coming shortly after Zamir traveled to Washington, DC over the weekend for a round of consultations with senior American defense officials regarding the Islamic Republic.

After completing his visit to Israel, Witkoff is scheduled to meet Friday in Istanbul with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi to discuss a potential nuclear agreement and related matters, a US official said on Monday.

“The president’s been calling for them to make a deal. The meeting is to hear what they have to say,” the official said.

Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt have been involved in facilitating the planned meeting, Axios previously reported, citing two sources familiar with the effort.

At the same time, Iranian media reported Monday that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian instructed officials to initiate nuclear negotiations with the United States after President Donald Trump expressed optimism about reaching an agreement that could avert military action against Iran.

The reports follow a period of heightened tension after Iranian authorities responded forcefully to anti-government protests that reached their peak last month. In response, Trump threatened military action and ordered the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.

Iran has warned that any US military strike ordered by Trump would prompt retaliation against Israel and American military targets throughout the region.

Netanyahu addressed those threats during a speech to the Knesset on Monday, declaring that Israel was “ready for every scenario.”

“Whoever attacks us will face unbearable consequences,” the premier warned.

Even as pressure mounts on Tehran, Trump has continued to say he hopes diplomacy will succeed. Iranian officials have also stated that they favor negotiations, while simultaneously vowing a severe response to any attack.

“President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States,” the Fars news agency reported, citing an unnamed government source.

“Iran and the United States will hold talks on the nuclear file,” Fars said, without providing a timeline.

The report was also published by the state-run newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.

Without detailing the substance of any potential agreement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said regional countries are helping relay messages between the sides. “Countries of the region are acting as mediators in the exchange of messages.

“Several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalizing the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days,” he added. “This concerns the method and framework.”

Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Araqchi said he believes Iran can reach an agreement with the United States.

Other countries in the region are also working to prevent the standoff with Iran from escalating further. Jordan’s foreign minister conveyed that position during a phone call Monday with his Iranian counterpart.

“Jordan will not be a battleground in any regional conflict or a launching pad for any military action against Iran,” Ayman Safadi told Araqchi, according to a statement from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry.

Safadi added that Amman, a close US ally, “will not permit any party to violate its airspace or threaten its security and the safety of its citizens,” while underscoring Jordan’s support for de-escalation and restoring calm.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Russia continues efforts to reduce tensions surrounding Iran, noting that Moscow has long offered to assist by processing or storing Iran’s enriched uranium.

{Matzav.com}

Israel Police announced on Tuesday that the investigative team that examined the leak of the doctored Sdei Teiman video by the disgraced military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has completed its main investigative activities.

However, Police Chief Danny Levy has decided that the findings will not be transferred to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, despite the police legal adviser’s conclusion that the attorney general was not involved in the leak.

Instead, the file will be sent to the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser Yael Kotick.

Kotick will decide whether the material should be reviewed by an external body to assess whether further investigative steps are necessary, such as the summoning of additional suspects or witnesses or the filing of further indictments.

The police further stated that, “in light of the fact that this is a case of high public sensitivity, and by virtue of the public responsibility of the police chief, and in order to strengthen public trust, the chief believes it is appropriate to allow an additional senior professional authority, external to the police, to examine the entirety of the investigative actions that were taken—as is customary in investigations of this type and as determined in a Supreme Court ruling.”

Such an external authority, the police noted, has not yet been appointed.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

I was once travelling in a car with a person who expressed disdain for those mean police officers who give speeding tickets.  I asked that person whether they had any relatives who speed dangerously.  “Yes,” came the reply.  “Don’t you realize that the fear of those mean police officers is what is keeping those relatives from a tragic car crash?  Those mean police officers are what is keeping your relatives alive. We should rather have hakaras hatov to them,” was my response.  That response changed that person’s perspective. 

The Chazon Ish once remarked that he could never run a loan Gemach because he would have too much rachmanus and that would eventually lead to the Gemach to become defunct.  He explained that in Torah communities a Gemach is absolutely necessary in order for members of the community to function – to make a chasunah, or any simcha for that matter.  If the one who runs the Gemach doesn’t run it with an iron hand, without showing rachmanus – that Gemach will eventually run out of money. 

There are many people who are horrified at the actions. perspectives and statements of minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Often, they personify the opposite of the ideals of Mussar and mentschlechkeit that we hold dear.

Since taking office in late 2022, Itamar Ben Gvir has implemented an overhaul of conditions for Palestinian security prisoners. He ended fresh pita baking in prisons, dramatically reduced shower times, canceled access to canteens, removed electronic devices from cells, ended daily outdoor time, switched to a minimal food menu, stopped financial deposits, suspended family visits and Red Cross access, and sharply curtailed access to lawyers. After October 7, 2023, he even secured Knesset approval for a “prison emergency” allowing detainees to be housed on mattresses instead of beds, and he ordered the reopening of the underground Raqefet prison beneath the Nitzan complex in Ramle — a facility closed in 1985 as inhumane — which grew from a capacity of 15 to holding approximately 100 inmates in windowless, underground cells. He banned the early administrative release of security prisoners serving sentences of up to three years.  He even publicly confirmed that all reports of harsh conditions were accurate, stating that worsening those conditions was one of his highest goals!

Ben Gvir’s steps are genuinely harsh. And concern for prisoners’ basic dignity is a legitimate Torah value.

But the fact is that no matter, how repulsive people find his actions and statements – he is saving lives.  Innocent lives.  That mean police officer is a deterrent to family members who speed excessively, that mean Gemach guy is ensuring that Gemachs remain for the community, and Ben Gvir’s actions are minimizing would-be terrorists. Pikuach Nefesh, however, does trump these concerns.

Just as the Chazon Ish recognized that rachmanus in the wrong place destroys the institution meant to help people, misplaced rachmanus toward those who have committed or would commit acts of terror endangers the very lives we’re trying to protect.  The Chazon Ish also explained that he himself –  would not be able to do an effective job in that position.

There will be some that argue that it actually increases terrorism, but anyone with a shred of honesty  will realize the sheer self-deception of this.  Shin Bet Director David Zini recently stated that the policy of worsening conditions at security prisons does have a deterring effect. Last week, it was reported that people in Shin Bet remarked, “We checked with sources, and you don’t understand: they are afraid to go to Ben-Gvir’s prisons, they don’t carry out attacks because Ben-Gvir’s jails are hell for them.”

It does make sense.

 There will be others who will say that there is always a third way where both of these extremes can be balanced – a firm but compassionate approach.  This is, of course, the ideal, but by and large, this is not very attainable when faced with extreme conditions.  And what has been going on until now, well, how has that been working out, exactly?

 This is not to say that we should be hiring  minister Ben Gvir to deliver Mussar Shmuessim about sensitivity in the great Yeshivos of Slabodka, Mir, and BMG.  But we should have a sense of appreciation for what he is doing and look at it no differently than what the Chazon Ish said about those that run our free loan Gemachs.

There is also a drashos HaRan (#4?) that says that the Tuvei HaIr in a community must have among its ranks a cheap miser and a spendthrift, in order to ensure that the community be run effectively.  The Ran clearly indicates that a governing body composed entirely of compassionate individuals will inevitably fail in its duty to protect, just as one composed entirely of harsh individuals will fail in its duty to nurture. Sometimes the greatest chesed is done by those whom the world mistakes for being cruel.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

Israel’s dairy farmers announced on Monday that they will stop supplying milk to dairies beginning this morning, stepping up their protest against a dairy industry reform promoted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The farmers argue that the reform is “destructive,” warning that it could cause severe damage to local producers and jeopardize the long-term stability of Israel’s dairy sector.

The issue was addressed earlier Monday at a farm conference organized by the Binyamin Region, the Farm Alliance, and Arutz Sheva, where Smotrich was questioned about the possibility that farmers would suspend milk production.

Smotrich sharply criticized the move, saying it would only strengthen the case for reform. “If they stop milk production, they would play into my hands since they would explain to the citizens of Israel what happens when an industry is managed in such a communist, centralized manner where whoever wants can flip the switch.”

He went on to compare the farmers’ threat to actions taken by other sectors in the past. “Once it’s the electric company employees, after that it’s the ports, and now it’s the growers. This won’t happen. The citizens of Israel will not be hostages of any monopoly or any pressure group.”

The standoff comes after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously approved the dairy reform last month. According to estimates from the Finance Ministry, the changes are expected to save the public between one and two billion shekels annually.

The ministry said the reform is intended to open the dairy market to competition, reduce consumer prices, and dismantle the centralized planning system that has governed the industry for decades.

The legislation calls for the cancellation of the production quota system, a transition to an open market, and the removal of all tariffs on dairy products. It also includes a safety net for producers aimed at ensuring a consistent supply of fresh milk to consumers at affordable prices.

In addition, the reform establishes a new legal mechanism to regulate protected milk procurement, alongside a gradual program to buy back existing quotas as the market shifts to the new framework.

{Matzav.com}

The Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with managing the daily affairs of postwar Gaza in place of Hamas has replaced its logo with the one used by the Palestinian Authority, causing consternation in Israel.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) initially came out with its own unique logo, featuring a bird in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

But earlier today, the NCAG updated its social media accounts with a new logo that appears to be identical to the one of the Palestinian Authority, which features a golden eagle looking to its right with a Palestinian flag on its chest.

The only difference between the new NCAG logo and that of the PA is that the shield below the eagle has the NCAG acronym, rather than the word Palestine. The logo change appears to be a modest attempt by the technocratic committee to attach itself to the PA, despite Israeli efforts to separate the two bodies completely.

Official logo of PA

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vehemently opposed the PA having a role in governing postwar Gaza, but he did concede last week that PA representatives will be part of the operational mechanism at the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a sharp statement, saying that Israel had been misled during the early planning stages. “The logo of the Gaza Management Committee that was presented to Israel was completely different from the one that was published. Israel will not accept the use of the Palestinian Authority’s emblem, and the Authority will not be a partner in managing Gaza.”

MK Avigdor Liberman wrote in a post on X: “Finally, the October 7 government has handed control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. This is, of course, in addition to the entry of aid trucks, fuel, and electricity for Hamas terrorists. We were promised ‘total victory’ and received total disgrace. This feeble leadership must be removed, and the sooner the better.”

Ynet reported that the committee’s role, for now, is limited to technical and logistical actions only, without broad governing authority. At this stage, its members have not entered the Gaza Strip, but the current assessment is that half of them will operate from Egypt rather than from Gaza itself.

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-Maj. Ella Waweya, known widely as “Captain Ella,” has been selected to replace Col. Avichay Adraee as the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesperson, the military announced.

Waweya, one of the most senior female Arab Muslim officers in the IDF, currently serves as Adraee’s deputy and heads the Arabic communications desk in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. She enlisted in 2013 and has risen through the ranks in the unit.

She will be promoted to lieutenant colonel upon assuming the role. A handover ceremony is expected in the coming weeks.

Adraee, who held the position for approximately 20 years since 2005, is set to retire from the military.

Waweya, 36, a Muslim Arab from Qalansawe, is the highest-ranking Muslim Arab woman in the IDF. She is recognized for her trailblazing service, including receiving awards such as the President’s Award of Excellence, and for her outreach efforts via social media and Arabic-language platforms, where she is popularly known as “Captain Ella.”

Her appointment marks a historic step in the IDF’s Arabic outreach, placing a Muslim officer in the prominent public-facing role long held by Adraee, who became a familiar figure across the Arab world through his frequent statements and social media activity.

Iran’s president said Tuesday he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.

Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region. Foreign ministers from Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been invited to attend the talks, if they happen, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to journalists.

But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

Iran’s president signals talks are possible

Writing on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”

“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.

The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.

Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issue

Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.

Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.

He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.

The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.

Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”

“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.

“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.

Witkoff traveling to Israel

Witkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

While in Israel, Witkoff will meet with the head of the Mossad intelligence service and the Israeli military’s chief of staff, according to another official who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel is expected to ask that any agreement with Iran include removing enriched uranium from the country, stopping the enrichment of uranium, limiting the creation of ballistic missiles and ending support for Tehran’s proxies.

However, Shakhani in his interview rejected giving up uranium enrichment — a major obstacle in earlier talks with the U.S. In November, Araghchi said Iran was doing no enrichment in the country because of the U.S. bombing of the nuclear sites.

Witkoff later will travel to Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.

“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

Mike Pompeo, a hard-liner on Iran who served as CIA director and secretary of state in Trump’s first term, said it was “unimaginable that there can be a deal.”

“I think they may come away with some set of understandings,” Pompeo said at Dubai’s World Governments Summit. “But to think that there’s a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the ayatollah is still in power is something I pray for but find unimaginable.”

Also Tuesday, a ship transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, reported being hailed on the radio “by numerous small armed vessels,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

There was no identifying information on the vessel, which continued into the Persian Gulf. The position of the incident appeared to be in Iranian territorial waters, where officials had warned of a naval drill by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days.

(AP)

Maj. Ella Waweya, known in the Arab world as “Captain Ella,” has been appointed as the IDF’s spokesperson in Arabic.

She will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and will replace Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, who is retiring from the IDF after 20 years of service. She currently serves as Adraee’s deputy.

Waweya, one of the most senior female Arab officers in the IDF, grew up in the Arab-Israeli city of Qalansawe. At age 22, she decided to volunteer for national service, which she completed at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.

Two years later, she enlisted in the IDF and served as a new-media NCO in the Arabic Communications Department of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. In 2018, she received the Outstanding Officer citation of the IDF Operations Directorate.

In an interview in July at the Security and Service Conference organized by Ynet, Yedioth Achronot, and the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), she said, “The media arena is a battlefield. It is a war that is no less difficult than any other front.

“When we look today at October 7, when Hamas terrorists entered the Gaza border communities and Israel, they came in with cameras, with the aim of shaping perceptions and creating a cycle of hatred. We present our truth. We expose what the other side is doing and show our truth, and we do so with courage. This is extremely important — and, as I said, it is no less important and no less a battle over public consciousness and over the truth.”

Asked about her half a million followers on TikTok, she said, “I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Each of these platforms has its own audience. On Twitter you find opinion leaders and journalists. On TikTok, the main arena is Yehuda and Shomron and Gaza. On Instagram, the audience is mixed—from the West, from Israel, and from Arab society in general, including Lebanese users. The target audience is the Arabic-speaking public across the Middle East.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

WATCH: