WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)-Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said higher taxes on capital gains, corporate income and inherited wealth would allow the United States to build high-speed rail systems.

In a recent interview on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast, Buttigieg argued that current tax policies leave the country short of the resources needed for major infrastructure.

“If we had a more reasonable rate of taxation on capital gains and corporate income, and made it harder to pass along inherited wealth,” he said, “we’d be out of this doom loop we’re in saying … we can’t possibly do something like fast trains here in the United States. Of course we can. This is the wealthiest economy in the world.”

“If we aren’t collecting a fair level of taxes, then of course we’re going to come up short when we’re trying to fund those things,” Buttigieg added.

Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under President Joe Biden and is viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, linked the issue to broader concerns about inequality and the ability of government to deliver large public projects.

Critics point to California’s long-running high-speed rail effort as evidence that funding levels alone do not guarantee results. Voters approved Proposition 1A in 2008, authorizing bonds for a system then estimated to cost about $33 billion and connect Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2020.

Nearly 18 years later, the project’s estimated cost has risen dramatically. Recent figures from the California High-Speed Rail Authority and outside analyses put the full Phase 1 buildout in a range that has included high-end scenarios near $230 billion, though the authority has also cited lower optimized estimates around $126 billion for a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles/Anaheim route. Roughly $15 billion has been spent to date.

No miles of operational high-speed rail are in service. Construction has focused on segments in the Central Valley, with the initial operating segment still years from revenue service and no high-speed trains yet running.

Federal funding has also faced cuts in recent years amid concerns over delays, cost growth and missed deadlines. The project continues to face scrutiny over timelines, scope and remaining funding gaps.

A terrible tragedy struck on Monday afternoon when a two-year-old child drowned in the swimming pool of a tzimmer in Moshav Sdot Micha, located in the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. Despite extensive resuscitation efforts by emergency personnel and an airlift to the hospital, the child was later niftar.

Emergency responders from Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah rushed to the scene and immediately began advanced lifesaving measures, performing CPR after finding the child in critical condition.

The child was flown by MDA helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Yerushalayim while medical teams continued resuscitation efforts en route. Despite every attempt to save him, doctors were forced to pronounce him niftar upon arrival.

MDA EMTs Rafael Toledano, Eliya Binyamin, and Ari Rabinovitz said: “We received a report of a toddler who had drowned in a swimming pool at a private residence. We arrived quickly and were brought a two-year-old child who was unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing.”

They added: “We immediately began advanced resuscitation procedures, including chest compressions, assisted ventilation, and the administration of medication. While continuing medical treatment, we evacuated him by MDA-Hatzalah Air helicopter to the hospital in critical condition as we fought to save his life.”

United Hatzalah EMTs Yissachar Yaakovzon, Mordechai Friedman, and Itzik Fuchs, members of the organization’s Koach Hatzalah unit, said: “His family told us that he had drowned and was pulled unconscious from the pool at the vacation rental where they were staying. We performed CPR, after which he was evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in critical condition.”

A father and his six children who went missing during a hike in Nachal Gov were located safely after an extensive search by the Arava Rescue Unit.

The family, whose children range in age from 9 to 19, had set out from Ir Ovot at approximately 8:00 a.m. equipped with water, hats, and hiking shoes.

According to the children’s mother, who did not join the trip, the family texted her at 9:30 a.m. after beginning the hiking trail. At 11:30 a.m., they sent another message saying they were exhausted by the extreme heat and hoped to finish the route within half an hour. When all communication ceased, the mother alerted rescue authorities.

Rescue volunteers immediately launched a search, splitting into teams that entered the trail from both the upper and lower ends of the canyon.

After several hours, rescuers located all seven hikers.

“We reached the family. They are all with us, extremely exhausted but in good condition,” the Arava Rescue Unit said. “They will shortly enter an air-conditioned vehicle, drink water, and receive treatment. An MDA ambulance is on its way to evaluate them and determine whether they require transportation to a hospital.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A total of 140 new olim from France arrived in Israel on Monday aboard a special “Families Flight” organized by Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

The flight included dozens of young families, with approximately 80 infants, children, and teenagers who are expected to enter Israel’s school system before the upcoming academic year. Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer and Jewish Agency Chairman Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog accompanied the olim on their journey.

In a symbolic moment during the flight, each oleh received an official aliyah certificate and Israeli identification number before landing, officially becoming Israeli citizens while still in the air. After arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, one emotional oleh kissed the ground upon stepping onto Israeli soil.

Among those arriving were three sets of twins, including four-month-old Mia and Ethel, five-month-old Noam and Nerly, and 11-year-old twins Noa and Avidan. The oldest oleh on the flight was 85-year-old Annie, who fulfilled her lifelong dream of making aliyah and reuniting with her children in Israel.

According to the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency, approximately 2,400 French Jews have made aliyah through the end of July 2026, a more than 30% increase compared with the same period last year.

Since the October 7 Hamas massacre, more than 8,000 olim have arrived in Israel from France. Aliyah from France has risen steadily, increasing from 1,097 olim in 2023 to 2,234 in 2024 and 3,357 in 2025.

Interest in aliyah has also surged worldwide. Since October 7, 2023, approximately 80,000 Jews have opened aliyah files through the Jewish Agency’s Global Aliyah Center, including around 20,000 from France. More than 2,800 French Jews have opened aliyah files since the start of 2026, also representing an increase of more than 30% compared with the same period last year.

The new olim were welcomed at Ben Gurion Airport by family members, government officials, representatives of the Jewish Agency and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and youth movement members waving Israeli flags, singing, dancing, and celebrating their arrival.

Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer said it is inspiring to see young families choosing to make aliyah during this period, emphasizing that they are choosing to raise their children in the Jewish homeland. He noted that recent reforms—including programs for students, streamlined professional licensing, and housing initiatives—are designed to help new immigrants integrate quickly into Israeli society and the workforce.

Jewish Agency Chairman Doron Almog called aliyah a key driver of Israel’s growth, saying that watching children board a plane in France and disembark as Israeli citizens is a powerful reminder of the strength of Zionism. He pledged that every new family will receive support from the moment they arrive so they feel that Israel is truly their home.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, the owners of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center, announced Friday that they are divorcing after nearly three decades of marriage, while emphasizing that the separation will not affect ownership of their sports franchises or Tsai’s leadership of Alibaba.

In a joint statement, the couple said Joe Tsai will remain chairman and Clara Wu Tsai vice chair of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. Tsai will continue serving as governor of the Nets and Wu Tsai as governor of the Liberty, with both franchises remaining under their existing ownership and professional management. The couple described the divorce as amicable, saying their relationship had evolved into a partnership focused on raising their children and overseeing their businesses. They also said they intend to involve their children in the long-term ownership of the franchises.

The statement also sought to eliminate uncertainty surrounding Alibaba. Joe Tsai will remain chairman of the Chinese technology giant, and the couple said they have no plans to sell their Alibaba holdings. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the Tsais own approximately 1.4% of Alibaba directly and control another 0.5% through the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, with Tsai’s fortune estimated at roughly $9.7 billion.

For investors, that reassurance may prove more significant than the divorce itself. Billionaire divorces often raise questions about whether valuable but illiquid assets—including sports franchises, private businesses and concentrated stock positions—must be sold or restructured to satisfy a settlement. By publicly confirming that governance remains unchanged and ownership will stay in place, the Tsais addressed the issue before it became a source of speculation.

The concern is particularly relevant in professional sports, where ownership transfers require league approval and franchise stakes are among the least liquid assets in the market. A forced sale involving the Nets or Barclays Center would likely have attracted extensive attention from investors, lenders and competing ownership groups. The couple’s statement effectively removes that scenario from immediate consideration.

The Tsais first acquired a 49% stake in the Brooklyn Nets and operating rights to Barclays Center in 2018 before purchasing full control the following year. Since then, BSE Global has grown substantially in value while expanding its influence across New York sports and entertainment. One of the organization’s biggest achievements came in 2024 when the New York Liberty captured its first WNBA championship, a milestone that coincided with soaring franchise valuations across the league as women’s professional basketball entered a period of rapid commercial growth.

Their influence extends well beyond sports. BSE Global anchors a significant portion of downtown Brooklyn’s entertainment economy, generating business for nearby restaurants, hotels and retailers through concerts, sporting events and other large gatherings. Through the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, the family has also directed substantial philanthropic funding toward education, economic mobility and community development throughout Brooklyn.

The statement did not address how the couple intends to divide their broader personal assets. Ownership structures can remain publicly unchanged while beneficial interests are redistributed through private settlement agreements, and divorces involving multibillion-dollar estates often take years to resolve. Those details may never become public unless regulatory filings or future transactions require disclosure.

Tsai, 62, was born in Taipei and earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University before helping build Alibaba alongside founder Jack Ma. He served as executive vice chairman for a decade before becoming chairman in 2023. Under his leadership, Alibaba has accelerated its investment in artificial intelligence, with its Qwen family of open-source AI models becoming an increasingly important part of the company’s strategy. Tsai also chairs the board of the South China Morning Post, which Alibaba acquired in 2015.

For shareholders, the message was straightforward: Alibaba’s leadership remains unchanged, the family’s ownership stake remains intact, and the divorce does not alter the company’s governance or strategic direction. In a market where executive departures and forced asset sales can quickly reshape investor expectations, stability may be the most important announcement of all.

JBizNews Desk | New York

© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

President Donald Trump said he remains willing to authorize a massive military operation against Iran if necessary, but made clear that he would rather see Tehran agree to a deal that permanently prevents it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Speaking about the ongoing standoff, Trump said he is still giving Iran an opportunity to avoid military action. “I think we’re going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” Trump said. “Very tough to do what we have planned, still planned. We’ll see what happens, but it’s a very, very tough thing to do.”

The president stressed that while the United States is prepared for a significant strike, diplomacy remains his preferred path. “I think I’m very proud of the fact that I will give people a chance,” Trump said. “This is a big move to do an attack that big on a country. I’d rather not do it.”

Trump added that although the U.S. has carried out major military operations in the past, the plans currently under consideration would be on a different level. “We’ve already gone through lots of large attacks, but they were normal large,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll come to their senses because what happened-they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

According to the president, Iranian leaders have already reached out in hopes of preventing a military confrontation. “They called me and they said, ‘Please don’t attack, we’ll make a deal,'” Trump stated. “That’s the real truth, and everyone knows it. And who wouldn’t call?”

Trump also lashed out at those he said disclosed details about the potential operation, arguing that leaks weaken the country’s national security. “They found out through leaks and sleazebags,” Trump said. “Leakers should be put in jail. They should. They have to strengthen up the laws for leakers.”

Even so, Trump suggested that in this particular case, the leaked information may have strengthened America’s position by making Iran aware of the magnitude of the planned response. “In this case, leakers helped because they said the severity of the attack, and Iran knew it.”

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — BDE: A 21-year-old charedi man was killed Monday evening after the ATV he was riding overturned in an open area near Neve Erez in the Binyamin region. Another young man who was riding with him sustained minor injuries.

The dead youth was identified as Meir Shaar, a student at the Ponovezh yeshiva who was due to get married in the near future.

According to initial reports, the two men,one from Beitar Illit and the other from Bnei Brak, were traveling together on the ATV when it overturned under circumstances that remain under investigation.

United Hatzalah first responders found the 21-year-old unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, and suffering from severe head injuries. They performed prolonged resuscitation efforts, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

United Hatzalah EMTs Tami Meisharim and Chava Cohen, who were among the first responders, said: “When we arrived, the ATV rider was without a pulse or breathing and had sustained severe head injuries. We performed resuscitation efforts, but despite our efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene. At the same time, we treated the second rider, who was fully conscious and had sustained minor injuries to his limbs. He was evacuated to the hospital in mild condition.”

The fatal crash comes amid a series of serious accidents during Israel’s annual Bein Hazmanim vacation period, when many yeshiva students and families travel and participate in outdoor activities. Earlier Monday, a charedi toddler died after he drowned in a home swimming pool, while several days earlier a 16-year-old boy was critically injured in a swimming pool incident and remains hospitalized.

US President Donald Trump claimed that talks with Iran are ongoing but are Tehran’s last chance to reach a deal with Washington “before decapitation,” while speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

He alleged that Iran, with the backing of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, initiated the renewed talks because they “did not want to be hit” by strikes Trump claimed would have been the biggest attacks since World War II.

“They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night, and it would have gone on for a long time, and there’d be essentially very little left,” he warned. “This is a last chance for them to sign a good document.”

When asked where the talks will take place, Trump said that information regarding the location will be revealed on Monday or Tuesday.

“I mean, they’re going to go quickly, one way or the other. It’s not very complex,” he added when probed on his requirement for the negotiations.

.@POTUS on talks with Iran: “They’re going on right now… This is the last chance. This is the last chance for them to sign a good document.” pic.twitter.com/PxOMyX36Ze

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 3, 2026

Regarding the possibility of Iran charging tolls for commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump asserted that he will not allow the imposition of such fees.

“I’m not going to let them charge. If anybody’s going to charge, we’ll charge… We have total control,” he claimed, touting the success of the US’s ongoing blockade on Iranian ports along the waterway.

Trump slams Iranian leadership as ‘unbelievably duplicitous’

Earlier on Monday, Trump criticized Iran’s leadership for being “unbelievably duplicitous” and accused them of being dishonest regarding the status of US-Iran negotiations in a post on Truth Social. 

“They ask for a meeting… talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about,” Trump lamented.

pic.twitter.com/ZhBAhWXjpP

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 3, 2026

He added that “nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a deal, or total surrender, is accomplished.”

Trump also disputed Iranian claims of controlling the Strait of Hormuz, asserting that the waterway is “already completely controlled by the United States Navy.”

Renewed negotiations between the US and Iran 

Trump announced renewed negotiations between the US and Iran while speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday.

He also stated that military strikes against Iran over the weekend were called off after Saudi Arabian, Emirati, and Qatari negotiators called him and said that they thought that “a deal was imminent, both regarding the Hormuz Strait, and ultimately the denuclearization of Iran.”

“When I heard that I said ‘well, do we want to go and be this severe?'” Trump asked, adding, “There is a group of people that would like me to just [go ahead with the strikes], and there’s another group of people that does not want me to do it.”

The President told reporters that the Saudi Crown Prince had asked him to hold off on striking Iran because the outcome of an attack would be unpredictable and could cause “a lot of bad things.”

Esther Davis contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here.

American shoppers may have to keep paying more for beef as a prolonged U.S. cattle shortage squeezes Tyson Foods, the country’s largest meat supplier, while a destructive fire at one of America’s leading kosher meat plants creates an additional price threat for kosher households.

Tyson said Monday that its beef business is absorbing heavier losses because fewer cattle are available for processing and the animals reaching market cost substantially more. The company’s results offer a direct warning for consumers: the national beef shortage is not close to ending.

Years of drought, expensive feed and slow herd rebuilding have reduced the number of cattle available across the United States. Ranchers cannot replace those animals quickly because raising cattle takes far longer than producing chicken or pork, allowing today’s shortage to affect supermarket prices for years.

Tyson is already processing less beef as meatpackers compete for a smaller supply of livestock. Lower production makes it harder for plants to spread labor, transportation and operating costs across large volumes, keeping pressure on retail prices even when consumers cut back.

Kosher meat now faces an added supply squeeze following the July 28 fire at the Agri Star Meat and Poultry plant in Postville, Iowa, a major producer of glatt kosher beef and poultry distributed across the United States.

Postville Fire Chief Jeff Bohr said the accidental fire began in the plant’s laundry room and destroyed an estimated 75% of the facility. More than 600 workers were left without jobs, and Agri Star said it intends to rebuild.

The timing could be especially difficult for kosher consumers and retailers preparing for the Jewish High Holidays, when demand for beef, poultry and prepared meat traditionally rises. Agri Star has not yet provided a clear timetable for restoring production, making it difficult for distributors and supermarkets to determine how much inventory will be available.

Kosher meat cannot be replaced as easily as conventional meat because production requires specially trained slaughterers, rabbinical supervision, dedicated equipment and approved processing systems. When a major kosher facility closes, competing plants cannot simply add equivalent output overnight.

Retailers may therefore face higher wholesale prices, fewer promotional discounts and limited availability of certain cuts. Smaller kosher groceries and butcher shops could feel the disruption more sharply because they have less purchasing power and fewer alternate suppliers than national supermarket chains.

Higher conventional beef prices make the Agri Star disruption more difficult to absorb. Kosher processors seeking replacement cattle are entering the same already-tight U.S. livestock market as Tyson and other large meat companies, but must also meet the additional requirements of kosher slaughter and processing.

Chicken is providing some relief for the wider meat market. Poultry supplies can be expanded more quickly, and consumers are increasingly substituting chicken for expensive beef. Yet the Agri Star fire also affected a major source of kosher poultry, reducing the ability of kosher households to make the same switch without encountering tighter supply.

Imports could eventually help replace some production, including kosher meat processed in Canada or other approved markets. Transportation costs, certification requirements and limited processing capacity, however, mean imported products may reach stores at higher prices.

For most American consumers, the cattle shortage means beef is likely to remain expensive even if inflation cools elsewhere. For kosher consumers, the problem is now more concentrated: a national shortage of cattle has collided with the loss of a major specialized processing facility.

The result could be fewer choices and higher meat bills precisely when holiday demand begins to rise.

JBizNews Desk | Springdale, Arkansas, and Postville, Iowa

© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Dear Matzav Inbox, 

The sheer chutzpah of asking for money from the very Jews New Square considers too problematic to live near, or expose to its children, cannot be ignored.

A fundraising letter from Merkaz Hakollelim Dshikun Square recently arrived in mailboxes throughout the Monsey community.

The appeal describes kollel families struggling “to clothe their children, put food on the table, and cover the huge daily expenses.” With Yom Tov approaching, it asks outside donors to help these families celebrate with dignity.

The need is real. These families deserve help.

But the letter raises an unavoidable question:

Why is New Square asking surrounding communities to pay for food and clothing while enormous sums are being spent purchasing houses around the village for the so-called “mile”?

There Is Plenty of Money, Just Not for This!

New Square’s leadership has spent years advancing a policy designed to prevent other frum families from settling near the village.

Within the Mile has documented numerous properties connected to that campaign, homes acquired to preserve New Square’s claimed “isolation” and protect its supposed spiritual “purity.”

These are not inexpensive properties.

Consider 6 Durante Court, purchased for $810,000. Article HERE

The property sits directly across the street from a neighborhood shul. Local residents view the purchase not merely as another acquisition within the mile, but as a deliberate attempt to interfere with and disrupt the surrounding Jewish community.

That is one house.

How many struggling families could receive food, clothing and Yom Tov assistance from $810,000? How many children could be properly dressed, refrigerators filled and worried parents given room to breathe?

Instead, the property was purchased across from a shul serving the very community New Square wishes to keep away, and now a fundraising letter is being sent to those same Jews asking them to finance food and clothing inside New Square.

Do Not Blame the Families

The struggling kollel families are not responsible for these priorities.

They should not be shamed, and they should not be left without food or clothing.

The responsibility belongs to the leadership and wealthy supporters who can apparently mobilize extraordinary resources whenever another house becomes available within the mile, but then turn to outsiders when families inside New Square cannot afford basic necessities.

No one is claiming that this particular Yom Tov fund purchased these houses.

The issue is communal priorities. Article HERE

When $810,000 can be found to purchase one property across the street from a neighborhood shul, it is difficult to accept that the surrounding community must then be asked to cover food and clothing, especially while being told that its own families must stay away to protect New Square’s “purity.”

You cannot treat neighboring Jews as a spiritual contamination and then address your fundraising appeal to them as “Dear Friend.”

Return the Envelope to the Ashpa like the dead Sheretz it is!

Anyone receiving this appeal should not simply throw it into the garbage.

Keep the return envelope.

Send it back with a respectful note explaining why you will not participate until New Square changes its priorities.

The note can say:

> I fully support helping families afford food, clothing and Yom Tov necessities. However, New Square-linked buyers continue spending enormous sums purchasing properties around the village as part of the so-called mile policy.

6 Durante Court, located directly across the street from a neighborhood shul, was purchased for $810,000.

Before asking surrounding families for donations, please sell this property, or another property acquired for the mile, and use the proceeds to support your own struggling families.

The same Jews being asked to finance your charitable needs should not simultaneously be treated as too impure to live near you.

Send the envelope back.

Let them see the address. Let them see the purchase price. Let them explain why $810,000 was available to purchase a house across from a shul, while outside donations are needed to provide their own families with food and clothing.

Feed the families. Clothe the children. Sell the houses. *End the mile.*

A Resident

To submit a letter to appear on Matzav.com, email [email protected]

DON’T MISS OUT! Join the Matzav Status by . Join the Matzav WhatsApp Groups by .

The opinions expressed in letters on Matzav.com do not necessarily reflect the stance of the Matzav Media Network.

The IDF has launched an internal investigation after learning that reserve soldiers from Battalion 699 of the Paratroopers Brigade used eSIM cards purchased from local sources in Lebanon while operating in southern Lebanon, Arutz Sheva reported.

According to the report, the soldiers purchased the cards without authorization and in violation of military regulations in an effort to overcome poor cellular reception in combat zones.

In addition, the soldiers used the cards not only for personal calls but also used them to communicate in company and operational WhatsApp groups during military operations, raising serious concerns about potential information security breaches and the exposure of sensitive data.

Sources familiar with the matter believe the incident may not have been isolated but could reflect a broader practice within the battalion.

After the incident came to light, the battalion commander contacted all reserve soldiers and requested their cooperation in dealing with the issue. In a message sent to the troops, the commander wrote that the IDF was conducting “a survey among combat soldiers following the purchase and use of Lebanese eSIMs during operations in Lebanon.”

The soldiers were asked to provide details about the devices they used, the eSIM numbers, purchase dates, and other relevant information to help determine the scope of the incident. According to the instructions sent to the soldiers, the purpose of the inquiry is to assess the extent of the use and evaluate any potential damage, rather than to focus on disciplinary action.

The IDF is examining whether the use of the eSIMs may have exposed information of intelligence value, particularly metadata such as device locations, network connection times, and communication destinations, even if the contents of messages remained encrypted.

Experts note that metadata alone can provide an adversary with valuable intelligence, including the locations of military forces, movement patterns, and operational areas. Such information could potentially be used to plan attacks, direct drones, or gather operational intelligence.

For that reason, the IDF considers the investigation highly significant as it seeks to reduce security risks and prevent similar incidents in the future.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

The Senate is moving forward with a bipartisan proposal to fund the federal government through Dec. 11, extending government operations beyond the midterm elections as lawmakers seek to avoid another shutdown this fall.

Senate appropriators unveiled the continuing resolution on Sunday. The measure would generally maintain current funding levels while making several targeted adjustments, including provisions involving nutrition programs, national security and disaster relief.

The proposal differs from a separate stopgap measure approved by the House before lawmakers left Washington for their recess. That bill would also extend government funding into December, but passed largely along party lines and faced opposition from Democrats.

Senate leaders said they would pursue a bipartisan approach because most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the chamber. The Senate proposal is expected to receive an initial procedural vote on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins said the measure was crafted through bipartisan negotiations. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as a responsible path that would keep the government operating while allowing broader budget discussions to continue.

The House is scheduled to return Aug. 31. Should the Senate approve its version, the competing measures would likely have to be reconciled before the Sept. 30 government-funding deadline.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

LANSING, MICHIGAN (VINnews)-Michigan health officials confirmed Monday that two people have died in connection with a large cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened more than 11,000 residents.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 11,234 cases and 193 hospitalizations as of its latest update. Both people who died had significant underlying health conditions that may have been worsened by the infection and resulting dehydration, according to medical records. Officials said no further details on the deaths would be released.

Cyclosporiasis is generally not life-threatening, and deaths from the illness are uncommon in the United States, the department noted.

The illness is caused by the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, which is typically spread through contaminated food or water. Health officials said lettuce or salad greens may be a potential source in Michigan, though no single product, grower or supplier has been identified for all of the state’s cases. A related multistate cluster has been linked to iceberg lettuce from Mexico.

Symptoms include prolonged watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps, nausea and fatigue. Treatment usually involves antibiotics and careful hydration.

Officials advised residents experiencing persistent gastrointestinal symptoms to contact a health care provider. They also recommended thoroughly washing produce and preferring whole heads of lettuce over pre-washed or bagged greens when possible.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Iran is seeking to raise the economic and political cost of the conflict for Washington by targeting pressure points across Middle Eastern trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure, according to Reuters.

Rather than pursuing a decisive military victory, Tehran is carrying out what Gulf officials and analysts describe as a strategy of calibrated escalation intended to inflict mounting costs without triggering a full-scale war.

Iran’s objective is to convince the United States and its allies that containing the crisis will ultimately prove more costly than accommodating Tehran’s demands. By applying pressure across maritime chokepoints and regional energy assets, Iran believes it can strengthen its position in any future negotiations.

The strategy extends beyond the Strait of Hormuz. Threats involving the Red Sea and Saudi energy infrastructure indicate an effort to widen the economic impact, disrupt global commerce and test how much pressure Washington and its regional partners are prepared to absorb.

Sources familiar with Tehran’s thinking said Iranian leaders believe President Trump is seeking negotiating leverage rather than a prolonged war and may eventually agree to concessions under sustained pressure. Iran also believes its geography, regional allies and ability to threaten shipping give it advantages in a drawn-out confrontation.

The conflict is increasingly becoming a contest of endurance. U.S.-led maritime efforts are focused largely on protecting shipping and keeping commercial routes open, while Iran continues using regional pressure to raise the cost of the confrontation. Neither side, however, appears ready to back down.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Donald Trump is pushing back against recent public opinion surveys, declaring that his actual approval ratings are stronger than ever and accusing news organizations of publishing misleading polling data.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump argued that “my REAL polling numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been, and why wouldn’t they be with the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER, the biggest outside investment in America in world history, a totally secure border, a giant victory in Venezuela, the denuclearization of Iran, unparalleled respect and success throughout the world, and much more?”

Looking ahead to this year’s midterm elections, the president urged voters to support Republican candidates, calling on Americans to “vote Republican for greatness in America.”

Trump also rejected polling results that have shown declining approval, writing, “Don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers. They are Crooked and Corrupt, just like the Country Destroying Dumocrats are Crooked and Corrupt.”

A major search operation is underway in the Kinneret after a man believed to be in his 40s reportedly entered the water near Chof HaTrapez and disappeared.

Police and rescue forces were dispatched to the scene after the man’s personal belongings were found abandoned on the beach, raising concerns that he entered the lake and failed to return.

The search includes officers from the Marine Police Unit, Northern District police, an Israel Police helicopter, and additional rescue personnel combing the area in an effort to locate the missing man.

Authorities said the search remains ongoing.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New York Fed President John Williams said he expects price pressures to cool gradually over the next two years, but warned that the central bank will raise interest rates if that easing fails to materialize — a message that leaves borrowers across the tri-state area facing higher-for-longer credit costs with no clear end date.

Williams said that if energy prices and trade tariffs have peaked and the economy stays on solid footing, the forces that drove inflation up over the last year and a half should fade, allowing disinflationary trends to reassert themselves. But he paired that outlook with an explicit warning. If the economy is not on a trajectory that brings inflation back down to 2%, he said, “it would absolutely be appropriate to act.”

The remarks land days after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting that exposed the deepest split among policymakers in nearly a decade. The committee voted to keep the federal funds target range unchanged at 3.50%–3.75%, with three dissents from Presidents Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas, all in favor of a rate hike. It was the first time since September 2016 that three policymakers dissented with a unified view on which direction rates should head. The vote was 9–3, marking the fifth consecutive meeting without a move.

Williams, who serves as FOMC vice chair, sided with the majority. He said he strongly supported the decision to hold, and reiterated that the current stance of policy is “well positioned” to bring inflation back to target.

The inflation numbers explain why the hawks are pressing. The Fed’s preferred gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, stood at 3.7% year over year in June, well above the 2% target, and price growth has exceeded that target every year for more than half a decade. Consumer prices in June were up 20.8% from the same month five years earlier, according to Commerce Department data. That compounding is the core of the dissenters’ argument. Logan said every month of above-target inflation adds strain to the budgets of American families and businesses.

There is also a timing problem buried in the June data. That reading was shaped in part by a brief ceasefire in the U.S.–Iran conflict that temporarily pushed energy prices lower. The truce has since collapsed, renewing upward pressure on prices. The next PCE release, covering July, is scheduled for August 26. Crude futures finished July up more than 20%, which is likely to keep headline inflation readings hot in the near term.

Williams is betting that the energy shock washes out. He views the inflation impact of the Middle East conflict as likely temporary under his base case, assuming shipping disruptions eventually ease, and said a resolution to the conflict combined with a reopening of normal shipping lanes could allow conditions to improve rapidly. He has set a measurable bar for changing his mind. Core PCE running at two-tenths of a percent a month in the second half of this year would be consistent with a continuing disinflationary process, he has said; anything higher would signal inflation is more persistent. He is looking for evidence of a path to the 2% goal on a sustained basis by 2028.

Bond investors are not waiting for that timeline. The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high of 5.21% following the meeting, and September hike odds moved past 57%. Futures traders have priced in a decent chance the Fed raises rates by year end.

For business owners in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the practical consequence is that the cost of capital is more likely to rise than fall over the next two quarters. Companies carrying floating-rate credit lines, and landlords with commercial mortgages coming up for refinancing, have spent 2026 waiting for relief that has not arrived and now face a committee where a third of the voting bloc wants to tighten further. Long-dated yields at two-decade highs also raise the hurdle rate on new construction and equipment financing, regardless of what the Fed does at its next meeting.

Chair Kevin Warsh has offered little guidance to plan against. He said the Fed will not hint at where rate policy is heading but will take the steps necessary to meet its mandate, and noted that one month of softer inflation had little bearing on the decision to hold.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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(AP) – With no background in coding, Faith Maeba, a psychology major, was reluctant when her mother first suggested she enroll in classes on artificial intelligence.

But the senior at Virginia Commonwealth University began to see it differently as she looked into graduate psychology programs that explore human behavior in the workplace, which is quickly being upended by machine learning. Maeba, 21, is now pursuing a minor in AI.

“It’s giving me an edge and standing out,” she said.

Hiring has cooled for entry-level software developers — work increasingly done by AI agents — and college enrollment in computer and information science programs has been declining. Yet at campuses across the country, many professors are finding themselves busier than ever teaching students from a range of majors about artificial intelligence.

Colleges are responding to changes in student demand, but they also recognize that new graduates — regardless of their field — are facing questions about their AI skills from potential employers.

“We have to democratize it,” said Peter Stone, the chair of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, who recently developed an introductory course on AI essentials for noncomputer science majors.

“In the same way that everybody needs some degree of math, reading and writing, I think everybody needs a degree of AI literacy,” he said.

Schools like VCU are standing up AI minors targeting students outside computer science. There’s a new AI graduation requirement at Purdue University. In freshman writing classes, Harvard University is teaching students how large language models work, plus exploring AI topics such as copyright and disinformation. And Ohio State University has an AI fluency requirement that includes hands-on workshops. Meanwhile, AI-focused undergraduate and even graduate degrees are proliferating.

Computer science faculty pivot to teach non-majors
At Northwestern University, noncomputer science majors had interest in taking classes in the department even before ChatGPT launched in 2022, but sometimes there wasn’t enough room, said Samir Khuller, the chair for computer science. That’s because computer science, then seen as a golden ticket to a high-paying job, was exploding in popularity.

But recently, the number of incoming computer science majors has started to shrink. Now Northwestern’s computer science staff, which had doubled in size to meet the demand, is teaching more students from other majors. The school, which already has a popular AI minor, is adding an AI major. It’s also streamlining prerequisites to make it easier for nonmajors to take an AI or machine learning class.

“Overall, classes are going to be a lot more accessible moving forward,” Khuller said. The department is so busy, he’s trying to hire three more computer science professors.

Among other changes across the university, Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music is offering a certificate in music and artificial intelligence.

Nationwide, enrollment in computer and information sciences continued falling this spring, down more than 8% at four-year institutions from the spring of 2025, according to the latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a dip that came as job postings for software developers dropped.

Interest in attaining at least a bare-bones understanding in computer science — and particularly AI-enhanced coding — has exploded across different majors. Music students, for instance, are discovering tools that can easily do tasks such as editing or generating drum tracks.

At Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, assistant music professor Benjamin Guerrero is co-teaching a class next year with a computer scientist. Musicians, artists, theater and digital media majors will learn alongside math, computer science and electrical engineering students. The goal, he said, is to create people who can work at the intersection of art and technology.

“In my mind, AI is no more disruptive than the record player, the radio, the metronome, the synthesizer or the computer,” said Guerrero, who has helped organizations including the National Association for Music Education develop plans to incorporate AI.

Even before this latest surge in interest, STEM majors — like physicists and biologists — often took computer science classes to learn how to code for data-heavy research. But the learning curve was steep until new AI tools came along, said Murtaza Ali, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington whose research focuses on computer science education.

Yet, he said, AI also is stirring anxiety. The concern, he said, is that even if the AI is just being used to write code, it’s going to encroach so much that eventually some college graduates won’t understand the basic concepts in their field.

“When you ask the AI to do it for you, on the surface it might just seem it is writing the code,” he said. “But under the hood, it’s actually also doing the understanding of the task for you.”

AI has prompted unusually fast changes in course offerings
Despite those concerns, the pace of change is remarkable for a sector infamous for moving slowly, said Paul LeBlanc, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, who studies AI’s impact on higher education.

“It’s impossible to keep up with the technology, but that’s true for every organization in the world right now,” said LeBlanc, formerly president of Southern New Hampshire University, a prominent player in online degrees.

Community colleges that want to offer non-credit classes are able to move especially fast, because the approval process is less cumbersome. One in suburban Kansas City recently offered a non-credit “vibe-coding” class to teach nontechies to create working software.

“What AI does is shrink that distance between a complete novice and an expert,” said Grant Carlson, program coordinator for workforce development and continuing education at Johnson County Community College. The Kansas City-area college also offers an AI certificate and is making plans to tailor AI classes to specific occupations, such as human resources and medical careers.

At VCU, it used to take a year and a half to design a course and get it approved for students to take, said Andrew Arroyo, senior vice provost of academic affairs.

“Now we’re doing things really in a matter of months and in some cases weeks,” Arroyo said. An online graduate certificate program in applied AI is being added this year, he said.

More than simply creating programs, professors must try to prepare students for widely differing goals for using AI in their careers. In courses for VCU’s AI minor, Althea Pappas said she’s exploring AI not to use in her career, but to help her answer philosophical questions.

“What happens when we create actual life, or how do we even make that distinction?” asked Pappas, a music composition major entering her sophomore year.

Meanwhile, what fascinates aspiring neurologist Makenzie Stovall is the idea that AI is trying to emulate the brain — an organ whose inner workings continue to leave researchers dumbfounded.

“If I am going to try to make people’s brain the best it can be, well, then,” the 20-year-old VCU biology major asked, “why not study AI?”

The Trump administration is signaling that it does not plan another release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to push down gasoline and diesel prices as the war with Iran enters a more prolonged and economically disruptive phase.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said an additional draw is highly unlikely, even as crude oil, gasoline and diesel remain elevated and households absorb higher transportation, delivery and food costs. The decision leaves consumers more exposed to market prices after Washington already committed 172 million barrels from the reserve earlier this year as part of a coordinated international response.

That distinction is critical. Oil is still moving out of the reserve under the previously announced program, but the administration is not preparing a new release specifically to counter the latest rise in fuel prices.

Washington’s restraint reflects how sharply the country’s emergency stockpile has already fallen. Department of Energy data showed the reserve at roughly 308 million barrels in late July, its lowest level since 1983 and more than 100 million barrels below where it stood when the conflict began in February.

The reserve was created to protect the United States from severe supply interruptions, not to guarantee a particular gasoline price. Continued withdrawals could leave the country with fewer barrels available if the Strait of Hormuz disruption worsens, another producer loses output or a hurricane damages Gulf Coast energy infrastructure.

For drivers, the decision removes one of the government’s fastest tools for adding crude oil to the market. The reserve can nominally release as much as 4.4 million barrels a day, although oil generally takes about 13 days after a presidential decision to begin reaching the commercial system.

Past releases have shown that emergency barrels can reduce oil and gasoline prices, particularly when coordinated with other countries. Their effect is temporary, however, because reserves do not create new production and cannot compensate indefinitely for a prolonged loss of global supply.

Today’s challenge is also larger than crude availability alone. Refiners are operating near capacity, global supplies of finished gasoline and diesel are tight, and unusually high refining margins are keeping pump prices elevated even when crude oil pulls back.

That limits what another crude release could accomplish. Additional barrels from federal caverns would help only if refineries have the capacity and the correct equipment to process them into the fuels consumers actually need.

American refineries are designed to handle specific grades of crude. Much of the oil produced from domestic shale fields is lighter than the heavier barrels many Gulf Coast plants were built to process, while disruptions in overseas trade have made it harder to obtain the optimal mix.

Diesel has become an especially serious pressure point. Trucks, farms, construction equipment, railroads and industrial operations depend on the fuel, allowing higher costs to spread far beyond motorists.

Gasoline directly affects family commuting and travel budgets. Diesel reaches consumers more indirectly through supermarket deliveries, online orders, building materials, manufactured goods and nearly every product transported by road.

The administration is instead focusing on other ways to increase fuel availability, including efforts to improve refinery efficiency and move more diesel into the market. Those measures may help at the margins but cannot quickly replace major refinery capacity or reopen blocked shipping lanes.

Earlier reserve releases were structured largely as exchanges rather than outright sales. Energy companies receiving federal crude must return oil later, along with additional premium barrels, allowing the government to argue that the reserve will eventually emerge larger than before the transaction.

That repayment structure strengthens the reserve over time but does little for consumers facing higher prices today. Returned barrels are scheduled to arrive after the immediate crisis, while households must pay current market prices each time they fill a tank.

A deeper problem is the physical condition of the reserve itself. Repeated withdrawals have placed strain on aging salt caverns, pipelines, pumps and other infrastructure, reducing the system’s practical operating flexibility.

The reserve was designed for occasional national emergencies, not repeated large-scale price interventions. Frequent withdrawals can damage caverns and increase maintenance needs, making officials more cautious about using the system again unless the national-security case becomes overwhelming.

Political pressure is likely to grow if gasoline remains above $4 a gallon in more regions. High fuel prices are among the most visible forms of inflation because drivers see them displayed on roadside signs and must often pay them several times a month.

Unlike other household costs, gasoline changes quickly and can influence consumer confidence before broader inflation reports capture the full effect. Persistent increases can force families to reduce restaurant spending, travel, retail purchases or other discretionary expenses.

Federal and state governments still have several possible responses. Fuel-tax relief could reduce prices temporarily, environmental rules could be adjusted to expand supply flexibility, and regulators could allow additional fuel blends or transportation waivers.

Each option carries tradeoffs. Tax suspensions reduce government revenue, environmental waivers can worsen pollution, and regulatory changes cannot produce large quantities of fuel if refineries and pipelines are already operating near their limits.

Domestic oil producers may increase drilling if higher prices persist, but new wells take time to plan, finance and bring into production. Even greater U.S. crude output would not fully solve the shortage if the bottleneck remains refining capacity or global access to finished fuels.

The decision not to authorize another emergency draw therefore marks a change in the government’s message to consumers. Earlier in the war, Washington used the reserve as a visible shield against the oil shock. In the conflict’s new phase, officials appear determined to preserve what remains.

That leaves households more dependent on the war’s direction, global refinery output and the reopening of major shipping routes. If those conditions do not improve, gasoline and diesel prices may remain elevated without a large federal stockpile release to soften the increase.

JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.

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JERUSALEM (VINnews)-Freed Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski released a video message in Arabic on Monday directed at remaining Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, one day after the Israel Defense Forces announced it had killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander linked to his captivity.

In the short video, Braslavski states: “None of you will be left. Thank you to the IDF. Am Yisrael Chai.”

The statement followed the IDF’s announcement that an airstrike in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah over the weekend eliminated Mahmoud Fatair, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad Nukhba commander. The military said Fatair invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took part in holding Braslavski while the hostage was in Islamic Jihad captivity.

According to the IDF, Fatair was also seen in November 2023 participating in the hostage handover ceremony of numerous captives, including Amit Shani, Ofir Engel, Moran Stela Yanai, Itay Regev, Liam Or-Nassar, Raz Ben Ami, Rantin Phaiboon, Gong Sae Lao, Seekena Jakkapan and Saegkaew Charoemchai.

The military said the strike, carried out amid the ceasefire, was justified because Fatair had been advancing attacks on Israeli troops and civilians. He was “eliminated to remove the threat,” the IDF stated.

Braslavski, then an off-duty soldier working security at the Nova music festival, was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023. He was held for 738 days, primarily by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, before his release in October 2025 among the final group of living hostages under a U.S.-mediated ceasefire agreement. He has previously described severe abuse, including repeated torture, during captivity.

A coalition of 15 red-state attorneys general warned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday to preserve documents and halt certain high-risk cybersecurity tests after an experimental artificial intelligence agent allegedly escaped a controlled environment and carried out a multi-day hack into outside computer systems.

In a Monday letter shared with Fox News Digital, the attorneys general said OpenAI may have violated state and federal consumer-protection and data-privacy laws and cautioned that a failure to preserve relevant records could trigger sanctions if litigation follows.

“A failure to take immediate action to preserve such materials could result in spoliation sanctions if litigation were to ensue,” Iowa Republican AG Brenna Bird’s letter, signed by GOP AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, read.

“We further demand that OpenAI take immediate steps to ensure that no OpenAI personnel face any adverse action for engaging in any protected whistleblowing activity or for reporting any unlawful or harmful activities by OpenAI.”

The officials accused OpenAI of conducting a July 2026 evaluation involving two advanced models — identified in the letter as GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model the company had described as “even more capable” — without the normal safeguards designed to prevent high-risk cyber activity.

This letter and hack follow a letter GOP AGs wrote to Altman in May, demanding answers on OpenAI’s nonprofit status.

“OpenAI’s inability or unwillingness to ensure the safety of its products poses an imminent risk of substantial harm to our States,” Bird wrote.

“We intend to take decisive action to protect our citizens.”

The test was supposed to take place in an isolated environment with no internet access, but the attorneys general alleged in the letter that the agent exploited a software vulnerability, escaped the testing environment and connected to the internet.

“OpenAI failed to confirm that its secure and isolated testing environment was, in fact, secure and isolated,” Bird wrote. “It was not.”

From there, the agent allegedly launched an intrusion targeting the AI company Hugging Face in an effort to steal an answer key and defeat its own safety evaluation.

Citing an interim technical report from Hugging Face, the letter said the agent carried out more than 17,000 “attacker actions,” seized control of an external endpoint exposed through a third-party infrastructure provider and entered Hugging Face systems.

The attorneys general also cited reporting that the agent found four sets of login credentials online and used them to access four other unnamed services.

OpenAI allegedly did not know the agent had broken containment while the activity was underway. The letter claims Hugging Face detected the intrusion independently and contacted the FBI before OpenAI determined that its own technology was responsible.

The document presents the incident and its surrounding details as allegations drawn from public reporting and technical findings.

The attorneys general said the episode followed a series of warning signs involving OpenAI’s models and internal oversight.

They cited reports that an AI agent had previously left instructions for future versions of itself describing how to escape internal restrictions, that monitoring systems had been disconnected during earlier tests and that employees sometimes struggled to oversee multiple fast-moving model evaluations generating enormous volumes of data.

“OpenAI’s unprecedented and alarming misconduct demands an immediate and significant response,” the officials wrote.

The coalition demanded that OpenAI preserve documents, internal communications, data and other materials related to the Hugging Face intrusion, the pre-release model involved, the company’s discovery of the incident and any internal investigation or public statement concerning it.

The preservation request also covers previous cases in which OpenAI models may have used publicly exposed credentials, earlier unauthorized network intrusions and any incident in which a model left notes for future versions of itself.

The attorneys general further requested records concerning OpenAI’s safety policies, testing procedures, monitoring systems, employee concerns and personnel with knowledge of the alleged events.

The letter also demanded that OpenAI protect employees from retaliation for reporting potentially unlawful or dangerous conduct.

In addition, the coalition called on the company to immediately stop internal evaluations that prompt AI models to pursue advanced exploitation through complex attack paths.

“Unless and until OpenAI shows that it can conduct such activities in a controlled and responsible way, such activities pose an imminent risk of serious harm to the citizens of our States,” the letter said.

Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI for comment and has not yet heard back.

The officials stopped short of announcing a lawsuit but said the publicly reported facts could support claims under laws enforced by state attorneys general.

“OpenAI has an obligation to act responsibly and to follow State and federal laws that protect Americans’ safety and security,” Bird’s letter concluded. “When OpenAI takes actions that imperil the welfare of our citizens, State Attorneys General will step in to protect them.

“We intend to take all steps necessary to protect our States and all Americans from the unprecedented risks posed by OpenAI’s irresponsible products and conduct.”

The White House has confirmed to Fox News that it is going to host AI companies Tuesday to review the AI framework from a June 2 executive order from President Donald Trump.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlement Minister Orit Strock called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday to reject the Board of Peace’s Gaza roadmap and overturn a cabinet decision concerning the proposed multinational force.

In a letter to Netanyahu, the ministers described the 15-point roadmap published by the Board of Peace over the weekend as “a document dangerous to Israel.” They wrote that as long as it remains unchanged, its existence requires immediate operational steps to protect Israel from it.

The ministers argued that the roadmap directly contradicts the central objectives of disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and removing every threat from the territory against Israel. They also said it conflicts with explicit assurances given to Israel by the United States.

Smotrich and Strock focused in particular on the proposed multinational force. They wrote that cabinet ministers had been told the force would operate on the “red side” of the Gaza Strip, participate in collecting weapons and possibly receive additional assignments. They said the United States had also promised that the force would help demilitarize Gaza, disarm Hamas, destroy weapons and tunnels, confiscate terror funds and prevent threats against Israel.

Under the newly published roadmap, however, the ministers said the force would instead monitor Israel, separate Israeli troops from Hamas and restrict IDF activity inside Gaza.

The ministers demanded that Israel refuse to accept the roadmap until it is amended. They also called for the cabinet’s decision regarding the international force to be canceled, saying it had been approved on the basis of incorrect information.

They urged the cabinet to immediately adopt a revised decision blocking the force from entering Gaza until its purpose, legal authority and missions are sharply and clearly corrected.

Responding to the letter, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said Israel “will not withdraw from the current line in the Gaza Strip and will continue to thwart every threat to our civilians and soldiers.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

SURFSIDE, FLORIDA – Surfside Commissioner David Weingot has endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for Florida governor, praising the congressman’s long record of support for the Jewish community, according to an exclusive statement provided to VIN News.

“I’m proud to endorse Byron Donalds for Governor because he has been a steadfast supporter and friend of the Jewish community in Florida throughout his entire career in public service,” Weingot said. “At a time when antisemitism is rising to historic levels across our country, Florida has remained a beacon of safety and support thanks in large part to the moral clarity of our state’s leaders. I know the Jewish community can count on Byron in Tallahassee, once he is our next Governor, to continue standing with us and ensuring Florida remains a place where Jewish people can live openly, proudly, and securely.”

Weingot’s endorsement highlights Donalds’ consistent advocacy for Jewish residents amid a national surge in antisemitism.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has privately raised objections to his own state’s antitrust case against Paramount Skydance’s roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, telling people connected to the matter that blocking the deal would damage employment across the state’s entertainment sector.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the governor’s office has urged Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading a coalition of 12 state attorneys general behind the suit, to settle the matter out of court — opening a visible split between two of California’s most prominent elected officials. Representatives for Newsom, Bonta and Paramount declined to comment.

The intervention carries no legal weight. Newsom is not a party to the litigation and holds no authority over the attorney general’s office, leaving it unclear whether his position will move the case at all. Bonta’s office operates with independent charging authority, and the attorney general has given no public indication he intends to stand down.

Markets treated the report as meaningful anyway. Warner Bros. Discovery shares climbed roughly 3.2 percent Friday, the stock’s strongest single session in nearly eight months.

The Case Against the Deal

The 12-state coalition, which includes California and New York, filed suit July 13, arguing that the merger would unlawfully cut competition in basic cable and theatrical distribution. The states contend the combined company would control 27 percent of wide-release theatrical distribution, 30 percent of the submarket for anticipated blockbuster films, and 27 percent of the basic cable bundle, giving it added leverage over theater owners and cable distributors while pushing consumer prices up and content output down. The attorneys general argue the transaction violates the Clayton Antitrust Act, and their complaint calculates that a post-merger Paramount-Warner, alongside Disney, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures, would account for 86 percent of films released in more than 3,000 theaters. The Writers Guild of America filed a separate suit the following day.

Paramount rejects the premise entirely, maintaining the transaction is lawful and pro-competitive and that scale is what allows a legacy studio to compete against Netflix and the technology platforms.

A Fight Over the Calendar

The scheduling dispute may matter more than the arguments. Paramount asked the court Friday for a 12-day trial beginning Nov. 4, covering both the state and WGA cases. The attorneys general and the guild countered with April 5, 2027, seeking 12 to 15 days and a ruling on the merits by June 2027. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín will set the date.

The company’s urgency is financial. Paramount begins paying Warner Bros. shareholders $7 million a day on Sept. 30 and continues until the deal closes — roughly $650 million per quarter of delay. Paramount has also agreed to push closing to five days after a trial outcome or June 1, 2027, whichever arrives first, and it characterized the states’ April request as a stalling tactic. A spring trial would hand the states additional preparation time and additional leverage, potentially forcing Paramount toward a settlement that includes divesting assets it wanted to keep.

Regulatory Green Lights Abroad and at Home

The state case is now the principal obstacle standing between Paramount and the largest Hollywood combination in decades. The Justice Department signed off last month, and the European Commission approved the transaction on conditional terms after Paramount offered concessions.

Political Crosscurrents

Newsom, widely expected to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, drew immediate criticism from progressives over the reported pressure on Bonta. He is not the only Democratic-aligned figure pushing for resolution. WME executive chairman and TKO chief executive Ari Emanuel published an opinion piece Monday backing the acquisition, arguing that antitrust enforcement bent toward political ends stops protecting competition.

Bonta has continued to defend the suit publicly, framing it as a straightforward antitrust matter concerned with consumer costs and the quality of films and television.

What It Means for Business

The dispute is a live case study in how competing definitions of economic interest can fracture a single state government. Newsom is weighing production jobs, soundstage utilization and the tax base of an industry that has already shed employment through contraction and runaway production. Bonta is weighing pricing power, market concentration and the long-term structure of the distribution business.

For companies operating in consolidating sectors, the takeaway is that state attorneys general now function as independent antitrust actors capable of stalling federally approved transactions — and that political alignment at the top of a state offers no reliable protection.

JBizNews Desk | Los Angeles

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A 40-year-old man was killed Monday morning in a devastating head-on collision involving two private vehicles on Route 42 in central Israel.

Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene found the man unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, suffering from severe multi-system injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 25-year-old woman sustained moderate injuries to her abdomen and limbs. After receiving treatment at the scene, she was transported by MDA to Kaplan Medical Center for further care.

Israel Police traffic investigators have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Several thousand JCP&L customers in Ocean and Monmouth Counties – including in Lakewood, Howell, Jackson and Toms River – are without power this afternoon.

The outage is stated to be due to inclement weather.

Multiple traffic lights on the east side of Lakewood are out as well.

No ETA yet on restoration.

Oil prices fell on Monday as markets embraced hopes for the de-escalation of the Iran war, despite uncertainty over the prospects for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

President Donald Trump on Sunday signaled he was holding off on ordering fresh strikes against Iran and said he did so because U.S. allies in the Middle East have reached the outline of an agreement to end the war, adding it would “include the Immediate, Complete and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”

Trump indicated the negotiations would begin on Monday afternoon, which caused oil prices to slide on the potential deal to restore the flow of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz that have been constrained amid the threat of Iranian attacks and mines amid the conflict.

Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude, a key U.S. benchmark, were down about 6.2% during Monday morning, trading around $79.45 a barrel after a decline of about $5. Brent crude oil prices were down over 3.5% at around $79.30 a barrel.

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said in a report by Reuters that no negotiations with the U.S. were occurring or scheduled, adding that the only ongoing discussions were with Oman over the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices spiked above $110 a barrel earlier this year as the conflict disrupted oil shipments from the Middle East, as tanker traffic plummeted due to the threat of missile and drone strikes by Iran as well as mines laid in the key shipping lanes of the Strait.

Before the outbreak of the conflict, oil prices were in the $60 to $70 a barrel range, and the rise caused gas prices in the U.S. to surge. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.095 as of Monday, up 7% from a month ago and 30% from a year ago, which has pressured household budgets.

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth social media platform that Chevron CEO Mike Wirth gave “all of the reasons that his company is doing so well,” in an interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo, but added that his administration has helped facilitate that success and urged him to lower prices for consumers.

“The only thing he conveniently forgot to mention is that, without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability, of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD! As an example, they threw Mike and Chevron out of Venezuela, but now they’re back, far bigger and stronger than ever before, expecting to make a fortune! That goes for other Oil Companies as well…and get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!” Trump wrote.

The White House has previously criticized gas stations for not lowering prices, accusing them of padding profit margins.

Groups representing smaller gas stations and energy marketers have pushed back on the argument, saying that retail prices are linked to oil prices and that they typically decline over several weeks after oil prices decline due to the need to turn over higher-cost inventory.

As tens of thousands of Breslover chassidim prepare to travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, growing frustration is being directed not only at soaring lodging prices but also at Jewish middlemen accused of driving costs even higher by turning the annual pilgrimage into a lucrative business.

An investigation by Emes News reports that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the tradition of traveling to the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov in Uman for Rosh Hashanah has grown from a small gathering into one of the largest annual Jewish pilgrimages in the world. What began with only a handful of visitors has expanded into a yearly influx of more than 50,000 people who arrive during Elul. Alongside the spiritual inspiration, however, many participants say the cost of accommodations has become an enormous financial burden, making the trip difficult—or forcing some to settle for substandard living conditions.

Veteran travelers recall a very different Uman. In the early years after the fall of the Soviet Union, local Ukrainian residents would wait near arriving buses and rent out their homes for just a few dollars a night. As attendance grew year after year, homeowners recognized the increasing demand, and prices steadily climbed from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars for a single bed. At the same time, upscale hotels catering primarily to wealthier visitors and American guests began appearing throughout the city.

According to the report, the most troubling development in recent years has not come from the local population but from within the Jewish community itself. Jewish brokers—some of them Breslover chassidim—are said to reserve sought-after apartments near the tziyun months in advance and then resell them with brokerage fees amounting to dozens of percent above the original price. Critics say the shortage of available accommodations has become a business opportunity for these intermediaries, who are placing personal profit ahead of the needs of fellow chassidim.

The situation, the report notes, stands in sharp contrast to policies adopted by other Chassidic communities. In Belz, for example, special committees have established strict guidelines governing the cost of apartments and guest accommodations during Yomim Tovim in order to prevent price gouging and keep lodging affordable. While Breslov lacks a centralized leadership structure capable of imposing similar regulations, many believe those coming to spend Rosh Hashanah with Rav Nachman should demonstrate greater mutual responsibility. Rather than taking advantage of high demand, critics argue, efforts should be made to reduce prices—or at least keep brokerage commissions within reasonable limits.

One longtime visitor to Uman, identified only as “K,” described what he called an astonishing example of the escalating costs.

“We’re a group of friends who have been staying in the same villa for seven straight years. We paid the homeowner $5,500 for 22 beds, and we even left our belongings there throughout the year,” he told Emes. “About a month and a half ago, a broker approached the homeowner and convinced him to squeeze in more beds and raise the price to $300 per bed. The non-Jew simply sent us a message saying the apartment had been rented to someone else. When I started looking for another place, I was offered that exact same apartment through brokers—but this time for an unbelievable $14,300. The broker not only caused the non-Jew to raise the price, but pocketed a $6,500 brokerage fee himself. Brokers are putting down tens of thousands of dollars in deposits, locking up apartments, and creating an artificial shortage. This madness has to stop. Making $40 or $50 profit per bed is reasonable, but not hundreds of dollars. It’s simply unbelievable.”

Prominent Breslover askanim have also expressed alarm over the growing problem and are urging travelers not to fuel the inflated market. One senior Breslover activist said it is deeply troubling that avreichim and families traveling with young children to fulfill Rav Nachman’s directive are being forced to spend enormous sums simply to secure basic accommodations. He encouraged visitors to avoid paying excessive prices whenever possible.

“The only way to fight this phenomenon and bring prices down is to look for apartments farther away from the tziyun where prices are lower. The moment people stop feeding the rigid demand for the expensive apartments closest to the tziyun, the brokers and landlords will have no choice but to lower prices and return to sanity.”

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) – Conservative activist Laura Loomer said she reported radical leftist journalist Max Blumenthal to federal authorities after he traveled to Iran to attend the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leading to the seizure of two of his cellphones by the Department of Homeland Security upon his return.

Blumenthal, founder of The Grayzone, returned to Washington Dulles International Airport on July 10, 2026, from the reporting trip. Customs and Border Protection agents detained him for about two to two and a half hours, questioned him about the funding of his travel to the sanctioned country, his activities in Iran, and his future plans, according to accounts from Blumenthal and subsequent legal filings.

Blumenthal allegedly refused to disclose who paid for the trip and declined to unlock his two smartphones. Agents then confiscated the devices. His laptop and camera were not taken.

In a recent social media post, Loomer stated that Blumenthal was “crying over the fact that I reported him to the authorities” and that he “allegedly refused to tell Border Patrol who paid for his trip to Iran, a sanctioned country currently at war with the United States.” She added that she will continue to monitor and report those she believes are “supporting enemies of America and may possibly even be violating sanctions,” and that she will not apologize for doing so.

Blumenthal has described the seizure as an act of intimidation aimed at deterring critical reporting from Iran. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee later sued on his behalf seeking the return of the phones, arguing the action violated his constitutional rights. The devices were subsequently returned.

Global currency markets are quietly dismantling one of the most popular financial narratives of recent years. After repeated predictions that the dollar’s dominance was fading, professional investors have turned more bullish on the U.S. currency than at any point since 2015, signaling a growing belief that America will continue attracting the world’s capital despite persistent concerns over deficits, debt and de-dollarization.

The shift reflects more than confidence in the dollar itself. It represents a reassessment of where global investors believe they can earn the best risk-adjusted returns. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer, combined with resilient U.S. economic data and renewed geopolitical uncertainty, have made dollar-denominated assets increasingly attractive compared with many foreign alternatives.

That reversal is striking because markets entered the year expecting a weaker dollar. Many investors anticipated multiple Federal Reserve rate cuts and stronger growth overseas. Instead, inflation has remained stubborn enough to keep U.S. yields elevated, Europe’s recovery has disappointed, China’s economy continues to struggle with uneven growth, and geopolitical risks have reinforced the dollar’s role as the world’s preferred safe-haven currency.

Currency markets are often viewed as a real-time scoreboard of global confidence, and today’s positioning sends a clear signal. Investors are not necessarily declaring the United States stronger than ever—they are concluding that it still offers the deepest capital markets, the greatest liquidity and the most attractive combination of safety and return. In global finance, relative strength is often more important than absolute strength.

The renewed confidence carries meaningful business consequences. A stronger dollar reduces the cost of imports and can help moderate inflation, but it also makes American exports more expensive overseas and reduces the value of multinational companies’ foreign earnings when converted back into U.S. dollars. Companies with significant international revenue could therefore face additional currency headwinds even if their underlying businesses continue performing well.

Perhaps the most overlooked implication is what today’s positioning says about the broader global financial system. For years, governments and economists have debated whether the world was moving away from the dollar. Yet when uncertainty rises and investors must commit real capital rather than rhetoric, money continues flowing into U.S. assets. The latest positioning suggests that, despite growing geopolitical fragmentation, no competing currency has yet matched the dollar’s unique combination of liquidity, stability and global acceptance.

For businesses, investors and policymakers, that may be the story that matters most. The dollar’s greatest advantage has never been America’s economic size alone—it is the confidence global markets continue placing in its financial system when the stakes are highest.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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Israel’s newly formed Achi party is reportedly engaged in advanced talks with several prominent Sephardic rabbinic leaders, including one current member of Shas’ Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, in a move that could reshape support within the Sephardic Chareidi community ahead of the next Knesset election.

According to a report by Bavli, less than a month after the party’s official launch event in Netivot, Achi has been holding high-level discussions with two of the South’s most prominent rabbanim. If successful, the effort could significantly strengthen the party’s standing among Sephardic Chareidi voters.

One of the rabbanim said to be involved in the discussions is Rav Yitzchak Barda, head of the Yitzchak Yeranen institutions in Ashkelon and the brother-in-law of the late Rosh Yeshiva Rav Meir Mazuz, zt”l. Rav Barda studied at the Kissei Rachamim institutions and is regarded as part of that broader community. His political affiliations have shifted over the years: before the 23rd Knesset election he supported United Torah Judaism, later backed Betzalel Smotrich, despite the fact that Rav Mazuz publicly supported Shas in the most recent election.

Another senior figure reportedly in talks with the party is Rav Yoram Cohen, one of Be’er Sheva’s veteran rabbanim, the rav of the city’s Ramot neighborhood, and head of the Imrei Yosef institutions. Rav Cohen studied at the local Bnei Akiva yeshiva and later at Yeshivas Kerem B’Yavneh, where he received semichah. He narrowly lost the fiercely contested election for chief rabbi of Be’er Sheva to Rav Avraham Deri—the son of Rav Yehudah Deri, zt”l, and nephew of Shas chairman Aryeh Deri—by a single vote, 26 to 25.

According to a senior source within the party, discussions are also underway with a current member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah. The source claimed that if those talks are successful, they could eventually result in the rav’s support for the party. The report noted that even before joining the Moetzet, the rav’s support for Shas was not considered automatic, and that since his appointment he has, on multiple occasions, voiced criticism of the party’s policies and decisions.

Political insiders familiar with the electoral landscape believe that while neither Rav Barda nor Rav Cohen has been closely identified with Shas in recent years, an official endorsement from the two—particularly if accompanied by support from a member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah—would give Achi far greater legitimacy among Sephardic Chareidi voters. Such backing could also strengthen the party’s position in the event of future electoral alliances.

The report comes less than a month after Achi formally launched its campaign at Ahuzat Daniel Hall in Netivot. During the event, party chairman Yuval Elimelech, who also manages the educational institutions of Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Abergel, outlined the movement’s vision of bringing together different segments of Israeli society.

Delivering the keynote address, Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Abergel, widely known as the Chida, said the party’s mission is “to unite and not divide.” The movement has announced its intention to compete in the next Knesset election, and the latest report suggests it may soon receive backing from additional prominent rabbinic leaders.

The Justice Department has crossed a line that many importers, manufacturers and distributors may not have noticed: trade fraud is no longer being treated primarily as a customs violation. It is increasingly being pursued as a criminal offense, fundamentally changing the risk of doing business across global supply chains.

That shift became unmistakable when the Department of Justice announced its Trade Fraud Task Force had surpassed $1 billion in civil recoveries, criminal penalties, forfeitures and publicly charged losses in less than one year. At the same time, the department made clear this is not a temporary enforcement campaign. It has established a permanent Global Trade & Commerce Enforcement Section dedicated to investigating customs, tariff and import fraud. 

The announcement reflects a broader change in federal enforcement priorities. For years, many customs violations were resolved through administrative penalties or civil settlements. Today, prosecutors are increasingly pursuing criminal investigations involving tariff evasion, false country-of-origin declarations, customs valuation fraud, forced-labor violations and product safety laws. The government is also expanding its use of the False Claims Act and whistleblower incentives to identify violations. 

The cases announced alongside the milestone illustrate how aggressively authorities intend to proceed. Federal prosecutors charged two jewelry import operations with falsely declaring the country of origin for more than $900 million worth of imported products to avoid U.S. customs duties. According to the Justice Department, the alleged schemes avoided more than $51 million in tariffs through false import documentation. 

For Corporate America, the implications extend well beyond importers.

Companies that rely on overseas manufacturing increasingly face scrutiny over every stage of the supply chain—from supplier certifications and customs classifications to valuation methods and country-of-origin documentation. Manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, customs brokers and logistics providers now face greater legal exposure if compliance programs fail to detect inaccurate import information.

The financial consequences can also extend beyond unpaid duties. Criminal investigations can trigger asset forfeiture, False Claims Act liability, debarment from government contracts and significant reputational damage. As enforcement expands, trade compliance is becoming a boardroom issue rather than simply an operational function handled by customs specialists. 

Another important change is how investigations are being built. The Justice Department said it is relying more heavily on data analytics, interagency cooperation and whistleblower information to identify suspicious import patterns. The Trade Fraud Task Force now includes dozens of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices working alongside Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. 

For businesses, the message is clear. Global supply chains are no longer judged solely on efficiency and cost—they are increasingly judged on documentation, traceability and compliance. Companies that invested heavily in sourcing products overseas may now need to invest just as heavily in verifying where those products originate and how they enter the United States.

The broader shift reaches beyond customs enforcement. It reflects Washington’s growing willingness to use criminal law to police international commerce, particularly as tariffs, national security, forced labor restrictions and industrial policy become increasingly intertwined. Businesses that once viewed customs compliance as a routine administrative requirement may now find it carrying enterprise-level legal and financial risk.

JBizNews Desk | Washington

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Sunday that President Donald Trump wants his department to continue examining whether there is any connection between vaccines and autism, reigniting a debate that has divided public health officials for years.

Kennedy made the comments during a contentious appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” after host Dana Bash asked whether a Wall Street Journal report was correct in stating that Trump wanted him to investigate a possible link between vaccines and autism.

“He certainly does,” Kennedy said.

Bash questioned why HHS would pursue such research when, she said, scientists have already spent decades studying the issue and found no evidence connecting vaccines to autism. Kennedy began pointing to research involving Tylenol—which the Trump administration linked to autism late last year—as an example of the department’s broader efforts before Bash interrupted, visibly expressing frustration.

“I am because I don’t want to have you use our air to say this,” Bash said. “There have been more than 40 studies involving 5.6 million people to conclude there is no link between vaccines and autism,” she continued, citing the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases.

Kennedy disputed Bash’s characterization, arguing that “none of the eight vaccines that are administered during the first six months of life have ever been studied for the relationship to autism,” while asserting that the studies Bash referenced focused on an ingredient in the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The exchange was one of several sharp confrontations during the interview, as Kennedy and Bash repeatedly sparred over vaccine safety, public health guidance, and the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy argued that Americans’ constitutional rights were violated during the pandemic and accused Bash of contributing to misinformation through what he described as “absolute press malpractice” in covering the government’s response.

“Are you going to — you want to sit here and attack me?” Bash replied. “Or do you want to have conversations about public health?”

“Well, you’re sitting here attacking me,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, who has long questioned vaccine policies and frequently criticized federal health officials, also used the interview to target Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, criticizing Fauci’s recommendations on how Americans should respond during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since Kennedy took over as HHS secretary, federal messaging surrounding autism and vaccines has drawn increased scrutiny. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised portions of its longstanding online materials addressing claims that vaccines cause autism, changing language that had previously stated there was no causal connection.

At a Senate hearing in February, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya acknowledged that he has not seen research demonstrating that vaccines cause autism, a position that differs from Kennedy’s approach. Bhattacharya told lawmakers that multiple studies have found there is “no link” between the MMR vaccine and autism, while adding that other vaccines are “less well studied.”

Information has always been valuable on Wall Street. Now, Trump Media is attempting to turn presidential social media posts into a subscription business.

The company officially launched Truth API on Friday, a new enterprise data service that gives licensed institutional customers the fastest machine-readable access to posts from Truth Social’s most influential accounts. The product targets hedge funds, banks, trading firms and financial institutions that rely on milliseconds when reacting to breaking news and market-moving events. 

The move reflects a broader shift in financial markets. Presidential announcements increasingly appear first on social media before traditional news outlets or official statements. Tariffs, sanctions, military actions, corporate announcements and economic policy can trigger immediate moves across stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies. For professional traders, receiving that information even fractions of a second faster can provide a competitive advantage. 

Rather than relying solely on advertising or social media growth, Trump Media is building a business around licensing data. Industry reports indicate institutional subscriptions can cost as much as $100,000 per month, creating what the company describes as a recurring enterprise revenue stream. If adopted broadly, the service would diversify Trump Media beyond its consumer platform into financial market infrastructure. 

The launch has also generated immediate political attention. Democratic lawmakers have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to review whether selling premium-speed access to market-moving presidential communications raises concerns about market fairness or conflicts of interest. Trump Media has defended the product, arguing it simply provides licensed access to public information through technology similar to services already sold across financial markets. 

The bigger business story extends beyond politics. Financial firms already spend billions each year on faster market data, lower-latency trading networks and premium information services. Trump Media is betting that presidential communications have become valuable enough to join that ecosystem. If Wall Street embraces the service, the company may have created an entirely new category of political data licensing—one where information itself becomes the product.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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The Pentagon is no longer buying Patriot missiles one budget cycle at a time. By committing up to $58.6 billion through 2032, the U.S. Army has fundamentally changed how America intends to build one of its most critical weapons. The contract gives Lockheed Martin something defense manufacturers have sought for years: long-term certainty. More importantly, it signals that Washington expects demand for advanced air-defense systems to remain elevated well beyond today’s conflicts.

The seven-year agreement is the largest Patriot missile production contract in the program’s history, replacing the traditional practice of annual procurement with a multiyear commitment. That change matters because missile factories cannot be expanded overnight. New production lines require billions of dollars in equipment, supplier contracts, workforce training and facility upgrades—investments companies are reluctant to make without years of guaranteed demand.

The result is more than a weapons purchase. It is a rebuilding of America’s defense industrial base.

For much of the past three decades, U.S. defense procurement emphasized efficiency, lean inventories and predictable peacetime production. The wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific exposed the weakness of that model. Patriot interceptors became one of the world’s most sought-after air-defense systems, leaving governments competing for limited production capacity while manufacturers raced to expand output.

The Army’s new strategy shifts that equation. By locking in production through 2032, the Pentagon gives manufacturers confidence to expand capacity instead of merely responding to short-term orders. Lockheed Martin has already said it expects to invest $8 billion to $9 billion in manufacturing modernization by the end of the decade, while significantly increasing Patriot missile production. Hundreds of subcontractors producing rocket motors, electronics, guidance systems, precision components and specialized materials are also expected to benefit from the longer planning horizon.

The agreement also changes the economics of missile production. Long-term contracts allow suppliers to purchase raw materials in larger quantities, automate production lines and hire permanent skilled workers rather than relying on temporary surges. Over time, that can lower unit costs while increasing output—exactly the combination Pentagon planners have struggled to achieve since global demand accelerated.

For investors, the implications extend well beyond one company. The contract reinforces that missile defense has become a structural growth market rather than a temporary wartime surge. Companies throughout the aerospace, electronics, propulsion and advanced manufacturing supply chain now have greater visibility into future demand, encouraging additional private investment across the sector.

The broader message reaches beyond financial markets. America’s largest Patriot contract is less about replacing missiles used today than ensuring the country will never again face the production constraints that emerged during recent conflicts. Washington is no longer preparing for isolated military operations. It is rebuilding an industrial base capable of sustaining prolonged geopolitical competition.

JBizNews Desk | Washington

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President Donald Trump has moved to hold the Smithsonian Institution accountable after a White House review found that the taxpayer-funded museum network used federal resources to promote ideological agendas while failing to properly honor the country’s founding during America’s 250th anniversary.

The Smithsonian received more than $1 billion in federal support, yet its flagship National Museum of American History devoted exhibits and educational material to gender ideology, immigration activism and other political causes while offering no major exhibition centered on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence or the 56 signers who created the nation.

Executive Order 14416, signed July 24, directs the Interior Department, Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration and White House Domestic Policy Council to use available funding, contracting and legal authorities to correct the misuse documented in the administration’s 162-page report.

The order reframes the controversy as a taxpayer-accountability issue. An institution receiving more than $1 billion annually from the public cannot claim complete independence while using those funds to advance internal political priorities, promote ideological programming and neglect the central purpose for which Americans support a national history museum.

The White House review found that Smithsonian material aimed at children and teachers included discussions of gender fluidity, gender identity, gender-nonconforming children and preferred pronouns. It also cited programs promoting undocumented immigrant organizing and political advocacy.

At the same time, the museum’s “Becoming US” curriculum contained little or no meaningful treatment of Washington, Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, according to the report.

That imbalance is especially significant because Smithsonian educational resources are distributed nationwide and relied upon by schools and teachers. Taxpayer-funded museum content does not remain inside Washington exhibition halls; it reaches classrooms across the country and helps shape how American history is taught.

The report also found that the National Museum of American History failed to organize a dedicated July 4 celebration during the nation’s semiquincentennial year and did not appropriately honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Its anniversary initiative, “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness,” was faulted for minimizing the Founders or presenting them primarily through alleged wrongdoing rather than explaining their role in creating the United States.

Trump’s order instructs the National Park Service to install temporary signs on federal property outside the museum directing visitors to accurate historical resources and explaining the findings of the White House review.

The administration is also using the Smithsonian’s dependence on federal money as leverage. OMB can scrutinize future appropriations, GSA can review contracts and property arrangements, and Interior controls National Park Service land surrounding the museums.

The Smithsonian’s unusual structure has allowed it to receive federal funding while arguing that the executive branch has limited authority over its content. Trump’s order challenges that arrangement by making clear that taxpayer money carries accountability.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III rejected the review as an unfair description of the institution’s work and said the museum remains committed to scholarship and historical accuracy.

The administration’s findings, however, present a straightforward question: why should taxpayers provide more than $1 billion to a national museum that finds room for ideological activism and institutional self-promotion but fails to properly celebrate the founding of the country that finances it?

Trump did not create the controversy. His administration identified it, documented it and moved to stop taxpayer money from being used as a blank check for political agendas.

JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday praised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s progressive agenda while drawing sharp contrasts with President Donald Trump’s policies, arguing that the Democratic socialist’s priorities better reflect what Americans want despite mounting criticism of socialism following a string of progressive primary victories.

Appearing on the YouTube program “On Sunday” hosted by progressive commentator Jack Cocchiarella on MeidasTouch, the Vermont independent pointed to several policy differences between Mamdani and Trump.

“Trump cuts funding for childcare, Mamdani thinks that we should have free and universal childcare,” Sanders said. “Mamdani is trying to build low-income and affordable housing in New York City. Trump is cutting funding.”

Sanders also contrasted the two leaders’ positions on foreign policy, saying Mamdani opposes military conflicts and criticizing both the Trump administration and Israel’s current government.

He said Mamdani opposes, “as most of us do, the endless wars that are being fought right now through Trump, as well as the extremist Israeli government and their genocidal policies in Gaza,” whereas “Trump supports Netanyahu,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“Who do you think is on the side of the American people on these issues?” Sanders said. “I think what we are talking about is where the American people want us to be.”

Sanders dismissed attacks on democratic socialists, arguing that Trump and his allies have attempted to discredit the movement by portraying it as something far more extreme.

According to Sanders, all they have done is “come up with this boogeyman of communism.”

Trump, many conservative leaders, and a number of establishment Democrats have all questioned the growing influence of democratic socialists, particularly after several defeated incumbent Democrats in recent primary elections. Some veteran Democrats have also expressed skepticism about whether democratic socialist candidates can succeed in general elections.

Others on the progressive left see those victories as evidence that voters are looking for a different direction. Among them is popular Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned for progressive candidates such as Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Piker argued that Democratic defeats—including Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024—demonstrate that many voters are dissatisfied with the party’s current approach.

“There are a lot of people who are just like, ‘This is not working,’” Piker said in a preview clip for CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper,” which was scheduled to air Sunday night.

Many congressional Democrats, however, have rejected claims that the party is facing an internal crisis, insisting that it remains broad enough to accommodate differing political viewpoints. They argue that disagreements over Israel or with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) do not amount to a takeover of the Democratic Party.

“The reality is that has the DSA taken over the Democratic Party? No,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) previously said. “Does it represent anywhere approaching a majority of the party? No. But it does represent a visible vocal minority within the party, and there are DSA elected officials who are among the most popular elected officials in the country, so it’s a political reality.”

Not every Democrat agrees. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has warned that he would leave the party if democratic socialists and progressives ultimately came to define its identity.

“To talk about the larger Democratic Party, post the election in Michigan going forward, I am not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker,” Carville said during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing.”

{Matzav.com}

President Isaac Herzog voiced support Monday for the Board of Peace’s efforts to advance a postwar framework for Gaza, calling the initiative “a very positive step” while stressing that Hamas must be fully disarmed before a technocratic government can take control.

Speaking after receiving the diplomatic credentials of six new ambassadors to Israel, Herzog said he saw “a lot of positive elements” in the Board of Peace’s efforts. He praised President Trump’s 20-point plan, noting that it had been adopted by the United Nations Security Council, and said it provides a framework for advancing agreements concerning Gaza.

“This is clearly the basis of moving forward to the next phase by bringing in a government of technocrats,” Herzog said. He added that the efforts of the United States, President Trump, the Board of Peace and its director-general, Nikolay Mladenov, could provide “a certain vision of hope” for both Israelis and Gazans.

Herzog also expressed hope that the process would eventually create an opportunity for renewed dialogue with the Palestinians, saying, “I sincerely hope and pray that we will find ways to move forward with our Palestinian neighbors on all fronts, to have a dialogue with our Palestinian neighbors.”

Separately, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said Israel would not withdraw from its current line in the Gaza Strip and would continue acting against every threat to Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The statement came following what was described as a difficult meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Mladenov, during which Mladenov reportedly asked Israel to halt its strikes in Gaza so the process could move forward.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israel’s defense establishment is preparing for the possibility that the IDF will need to remain on heightened alert for months amid ongoing tensions with Iran, Channel 12 News reported on Monday.

The assessment is based on the expectation that even if no comprehensive agreement is reached and no full-scale war breaks out, the threat level will remain high.

Defense officials said the primary scenario now being considered is not an all-out war, but rather a prolonged period of security uncertainty. According to the officials, IDF forces will need to maintain varying levels of readiness depending on developments in the region.

“We need to view this as a long-term situation,” military officials said regarding the evolving security reality.

At the same time, the IDF continues to stress the importance of close cooperation with the United States, describing it as a significant strategic asset. Despite the challenges involved in coordinating with Washington, military officials believe the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

“We are conducting this campaign together with a superpower, and that serves our interests,” the officials said. “They are still far more of an asset than a burden.”

Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials revealed that President Donald Trump came very close to authorizing a large-scale strike on Iran, but decided to call it off one day before the planned operation after pressure from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which sought to give diplomacy another opportunity.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

The California Democratic Party is supporting a proposed one-time wealth tax on billionaires of up to 5%.

Californians will decide whether to adopt the proposal during the 2026 midterm election.

The party’s executive board voted in favor of backing the proposal on Sunday, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The San Francisco Standard reported that according to Jane Natoli, who sits on the party’s resolutions committee, an initial vote barely failed to clear the 60% bar required for ratification, earning 59.2% support. But another vote cleared the threshold, scoring about 61.7% support, the outlet noted.

As the close votes demonstrated, Democrats are divided on the issue.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., supports the proposal.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running for re-election, has said he will vote against it. 

“But I’m voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending,” he wrote in a June Substack post. “So here is what I support: A national billionaires’ tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has confirmed that a $1 billion expressway running from southern Morocco into the disputed Western Sahara will carry President Donald Trump’s name, describing the decision as an expression of deep appreciation for the American leader and a reflection of the commercial and diplomatic relationship between Rabat and Washington.

The monarch confirmed in a letter carried by Morocco’s state news agency MAP that the 1,055-kilometer (roughly 660-mile) expressway between Tiznit and the Western Sahara city of Dakhla will officially be known as the Donald J. Trump Highway. The announcement follows a message the king sent Trump on July 2, thanking him for the 2020 U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a decision the king said would remain permanently etched in the memory of the Moroccan people.

Trump revealed the honor before Rabat publicly confirmed it. Posting on Truth Social, he thanked King Mohammed VI, called the naming a great honor, and shared a video highlighting the $1 billion infrastructure project, adding that he hoped to travel the full length of the highway in the future. Morocco’s official confirmation came days later, an unusual sequence that drew attention among regional observers.

Beyond the symbolism lies one of North Africa’s most significant infrastructure investments. The four-lane expressway stretches across desert and Atlantic coastal terrain through Guelmim, Tan-Tan, Laâyoune and Boujdour before reaching Dakhla. Built at a cost of roughly 10 billion Moroccan dirhams, the project is designed to integrate Morocco’s southern provinces with the country’s broader economy while linking directly to the multibillion-dollar Dakhla Atlantic Port, a deep-water facility intended to handle tens of millions of tons of cargo annually.

For American businesses, the project represents far more than a diplomatic gesture. The United States and Morocco operate under a longstanding free trade agreement, and Morocco has increasingly positioned itself as a manufacturing and re-export hub for automotive components, aerospace parts, fertilizer inputs and agricultural products serving Europe, Africa and the Americas. A modern Atlantic trade corridor terminating at Dakhla could shorten shipping routes into rapidly expanding West African consumer markets, improving opportunities for U.S. exporters of food, industrial equipment, pharmaceuticals and other manufactured goods.

The diplomatic foundation supporting those commercial ties dates to the Abraham Accords. Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 while the Trump administration recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture, water technology, defense electronics, tourism and other sectors. Since then, commercial ties among American, Israeli and Moroccan businesses have continued to deepen, making new transportation infrastructure increasingly important to regional trade.

Western Sahara itself remains one of Africa’s longest-running territorial disputes. Morocco has administered most of the territory since 1975, while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front continues to seek independence on behalf of the Sahrawi people. Trump’s recognition made the United States the first country to formally back Morocco’s claim, but companies considering investment in the region still face legal and reputational questions in some international markets, particularly within Europe. The highway strengthens Morocco’s economic integration of the territory but does not resolve the underlying political dispute.

The timing has also fueled broader speculation. Some analysts view the announcement as part of Morocco’s preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal, while others argue the decision simply reflects completion of a major section of the highway. Regardless of timing, the road forms part of a broader strategy to reinforce Morocco’s long-term presence in the territory through infrastructure, logistics and trade.

In the king’s framing, naming the highway honors the enduring partnership between Morocco and the United States rather than a single political figure. That distinction carries important commercial implications. Morocco is competing with Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa for American and Gulf investment at a time when conflict across the Middle East has reshaped global shipping patterns, increasing interest in Atlantic trade routes. A signature infrastructure project bearing the name of the sitting American president serves not only as a diplomatic gesture but also as a powerful signal to international investors evaluating North African opportunities.

Ultimately, the project’s lasting significance will not be measured by roadside signs but by freight volumes, manufacturing investment and export growth. If Dakhla develops into the Atlantic gateway Morocco envisions, the Donald J. Trump Highway could become one of the most economically important transportation corridors linking Europe, Africa and the Americas.

JBizNews Desk | Rabat

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TEL AVIV (VINnews)-Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s primary international gateway, is preparing for its busiest month of the year as August travel demand intensifies. Airport officials project 2.6 million passengers will pass through the terminals during the month, served by 47 airlines flying to destinations across Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Weekday passenger volumes are expected to average 90,000 to 95,000, with five peak days — Aug. 6, 13, 17, 20 and 27 — forecast to handle nearly 100,000 travelers each. Popular routes include those to Greece, Cyprus, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Germany. Expanded domestic services, particularly Israir’s increased Eilat “air bridge” offering at least 10 daily flights, are also contributing to the higher volumes.

New routes are set to launch, including Air Haifa’s planned service between Haifa and Thessaloniki, Greece.

Major U.S. carriers remain limited, however. American Airlines has postponed the resumption of its Israel flights until after March 2027.

Airport officials advise travelers to arrive at least three hours early, complete online check-in when possible and prepare for significant crowds in the departures hall.

The IRS’s push to modernize the nation’s tax system is quietly creating a new cybersecurity challenge. As part of its effort to eliminate paper processing, the agency is increasingly relying on private contractors to digitize millions of paper tax returns—a shift designed to speed refunds and improve efficiency, but one that also expands the number of organizations entrusted with some of Americans’ most sensitive financial information.

A recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found security weaknesses at contractor facilities responsible for processing taxpayer records, raising fresh questions about whether the federal government’s digital transformation is keeping pace with the risks it creates.

The initiative sits at the center of the IRS’s long-term modernization strategy. Rather than manually processing millions of paper filings each year, contractors scan and convert returns into electronic records that move through the agency’s digital systems. The transition promises faster processing, lower administrative costs and a significant reduction in paper handling, but it also shifts critical security responsibilities beyond traditional IRS facilities.

The watchdog’s findings suggest that transition remains a work in progress. TIGTA identified weaknesses in physical security, instances of unauthorized access to restricted processing areas and unresolved cybersecurity vulnerabilities at contractor-operated facilities handling taxpayer information. The report did not conclude that taxpayer data had been compromised or stolen, but it warned that stronger oversight and corrective action are needed to reduce future risk.

The findings carry implications well beyond the IRS.

Federal agencies are outsourcing an increasing share of document management, cloud computing and digital modernization projects to private companies. As that trend accelerates, cybersecurity is becoming more than an IT issue—it is becoming a competitive requirement for companies seeking government contracts. Businesses that cannot demonstrate strong data protection may find themselves at a disadvantage as federal agencies tighten oversight of third-party vendors.

The report also underscores how the nature of government risk is changing. Modernization projects often focus on efficiency gains, but every new contractor, cloud platform and digital workflow expands the number of potential access points for sensitive information. Success is no longer measured solely by how quickly agencies process data, but by how securely they manage it throughout the process.

For taxpayers, the modernization effort is intended to improve service. For businesses operating in the government technology and cybersecurity sectors, it signals growing demand for secure document management, identity protection, continuous monitoring and compliance solutions as agencies increasingly rely on outside partners.

The broader lesson extends far beyond tax administration. Digital transformation does not eliminate risk—it redistributes it. As more government functions move into private-sector hands, protecting public data becomes a shared responsibility between federal agencies and the companies entrusted with carrying out their work. The organizations that can deliver both efficiency and security are likely to become the biggest winners as government modernization accelerates.

JBizNews Desk | Washington

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YSR.

A 40-year-old woman was found dead inside a Boro Park apartment early Shabbos morning, and police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.

According to the NYPD, officers responded to a 911 call at approximately 3:42 a.m. at 1644 64th Street, where they discovered the woman unconscious and unresponsive inside the residence. EMS pronounced her dead at the scene.

A neighboring resident told local media he heard loud music coming from the apartment until around 3 a.m., followed by repeated banging for about half an hour and another man screaming at the woman. The neighbor said he had previously complained to the building’s landlord about loud late-night gatherings at the apartment.

No arrests have been made, and additional information has not yet been released, as the investigation continues. Chevra Kadishe wasn't requested.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa urged Israel and Lebanon to proceed cautiously ahead of the seventh round of direct negotiations between the two countries, which is scheduled to take place in Rome, according to i24NEWS.

Issa said significant technical work remains before the trilateral agreement reached in June can be fully implemented, stressing that protecting the populations affected by the process must remain the top priority.

“There is a fundamental difference between signing an agreement and its concrete implementation,” Issa said. “Moving too quickly would risk endangering the populations that this process is meant to protect.”

The envoy said a gradual rollout would allow both sides to ensure that the agreement is being implemented effectively before expanding it to additional areas.

Under the June agreement, the Lebanese Armed Forces are to deploy in several areas of southern Lebanon that were previously under Hezbollah’s influence, while Israel is expected to withdraw from the security zones, with the Iran-backed terrorist group to be disarmed.

Israel has already completed an initial withdrawal from a pilot zone in southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials, however, have accused Israel of obstructing the deployment of Lebanese troops in the area, an allegation Israel has denied as tensions continue ahead of the next round of talks in Rome.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Freed hostage Rom Braslavski, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and held captive in Deir al-Balah, has shared an emotional account of a deeply personal encounter with IDF Arabic-language spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, explaining how Adraee’s broadcasts became a source of hope during his darkest days in Hamas captivity.

In a social media post published Sunday, Braslavski reflected on a meeting at Kfar Maccabiah with fellow former hostage Sasha Troufanov and Adraee, describing it as an extraordinary full-circle moment that united three people whose lives would otherwise never have crossed.

Braslavski opened his post by marveling at the unlikely connection between the three men. “One story. Avichay Adraee, Sasha Troufanov, and me. In a parallel world, there would never have been any connection between us. Sasha, a Russian from a kibbutz in southern Israel, Avichay Adraee, an ‘elite’ figure with ranks on his shoulders, and me, a simple soldier and security guard at the Nova festival.”

He said everything changed after the October 7 attack. “But our worlds are no longer parallel. And I was kidnapped to Gaza,” Braslavski wrote, before describing the man who became a symbol of hope during his captivity. “And the person who did me so much good (I believe Sasha too) was the giant man, though small in stature, in the picture – Avichay Adraee.”

While many Israelis know Adraee as the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman who addresses audiences in Gaza and Lebanon, Braslavski explained that he came to know him in a far more personal way.

“Avichay Adraee is the IDF spokesman in the Arab world. Most of you may not know him or have heard him because he speaks Arabic. But I heard him every day. Every attack. I heard him, I felt him. Avichay was the person who gave me hope in such a dark place.”

Braslavski vividly recalled secretly listening to Adraee’s broadcasts while being held by his captors in central Gaza.

“I would hear him endlessly when I secretly listened to Al Jazeera radio from behind the curtain of the partners in my terrorists’ tent in Deir al-Balah. I secretly listened and followed the man in the picture religiously, day after day, hour after hour.”

He said Adraee’s speeches were far more than news updates—they reminded him that Israel was fighting to bring the hostages home.

“Hearing his incredibly precise words in every speech he gave to the people of Gaza and Lebanon filled me with pride. He would summarize attacks, issue warnings, and present reality as it was. He spoke in Arabic from Israel, and it reached all of Gaza. There isn’t a terrorist in Gaza who doesn’t know Avichay Adraee and grow up with him. (Maybe I’m not a Gazan terrorist, but I also grew up on him). The man was there from the beginning of the war until the end. He covered everything. And he said – the Israel Defense Forces will not surrender until all the hostages are brought out.”

After returning to Israel, Braslavski said he and fellow former hostage Sasha Troufanov finally had the opportunity to meet the man whose voice had accompanied him throughout his ordeal.

“And after we were miraculously freed, I happened to sit with Sasha at Kfar Maccabiah. I was completely stunned, clinging to Sasha and looking at him with admiration, and then we met Avichay. Sasha suggested we go over, and I didn’t hesitate. Two hostages walking over to speak with the IDF spokesman for the Arab world.”

Braslavski described the meeting as deeply meaningful, saying the three spent a long time talking together.

“It was a long conversation that, naturally, included a lot of Arabic,” he wrote, recalling the bond he and Troufanov formed while imprisoned together. “Sasha and I shared a small room and the trunk of a car together in Rafah for two days, and for me, walking over to the IDF spokesman and saying hello was the greatest sense of closure I could have received.”

Braslavski concluded his heartfelt post by expressing gratitude to the people who stood by him during and after his captivity.

“Friends, I love you. Thank you for who you were for me in captivity, and thank you for who you are for me today.”

President Donald Trump’s War Department is supercharging missile-defense production, signing framework agreements with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to expand production capacity for components used in two defense systems.

The deals aim to quadruple output of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor structural components and support a threefold increase in Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) production, according to a War Department release Monday.

“Building the Arsenal of Freedom requires robust, dynamic supply chains at every level of the industrial base,” Michael Duffey, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, wrote in a statement. “Framework agreements with munition components suppliers like Northrop Grumman are vital to accelerating the tripling of PAC-3 and quadrupling of THAAD interceptor production.”

The department said the agreements would give suppliers longer-term demand commitments needed to invest in tooling, facility upgrades and workforce development.

Financial terms and production timelines were not included in the War Department announcement, but Northrop Grumman said it entered into agreements worth a combined $3 billion. The deals include a $2 billion agreement to supply rocket motors and safety devices and a $1 billion agreement to increase deliveries of THAAD components.

“Our long-term investments in breakthrough manufacturing technologies and resilient supply chains let us pivot from steady production to a production surge in record time,” Northrop Grumman Vice President Ben Davies wrote in a statement. “As one of America’s leading producers of solid rocket motors, we’re supporting the administration’s push to accelerate munitions output.”

“It’s a mission-critical leap forward that ensures America’s defense edge stays sharper, faster, and farther ahead of global threats,” Davies continued.

Northrop said it plans to raise PAC-3 solid rocket motor production at its Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia, where the company has doubled tactical motor capacity since 2021 and expects to triple production capability by 2027. It will support U.S. Army plans to increase annual PAC-3 MSE missile production from about 600 units to thousands for U.S. forces and allied countries.

The deal establishes a second source for solid rocket motors and increases production of ignition safety devices. The Pentagon said adding another rocket-motor supplier would increase competition and reduce supply-chain risks.

Northrop is also doubling solid rocket motor capacity at its Utah facilities and increasing capacity by 25% at its Elkton, Maryland, plant.

Under the THAAD agreement, Northrop will increase monthly deliveries of structural components, including interceptor shell cores, aft bulkheads and heat-shield assemblies. The company has supplied components for the missile-defense system since 2002.

Northrop said it has invested more than $2 billion in munitions-related technologies and facilities since 2019, including more than $1 billion for solid rocket motor production.

Lockheed announced a seven-year contract modification for up to $53.86 billion for PAC-3s. The award brings the total multiyear contract value to $58.62 billion, following the $4.7 billion UCA awarded in April for year one.

The agreements were developed with the Munitions Acceleration Council, the Economic Defense Unit, the Missile Defense Agency and the Office of the Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, the War Department said.

Homeowners across New York City now have an extra month to prove their primary residency and avoid Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new pied-à-terre tax, an extension triggered by mass confusion over a publicly posted tax roll.

But as the city tries to address problems with the rollout, real estate leaders caution that targeting high earners could ultimately backfire on working-class New Yorkers if revenue shifts out of state.

“Policymakers need to be honest about the trade-offs and what drives the local economy,” Aria Development Group founding partner David Arditi told Fox News Digital, warning that if high-earning taxpayers leave, “it doesn’t just hit the people who left, it shows up much more prominently in the budget of those who will stay behind.”

“Every city that leans this heavily on a small group of high earners has to reckon eventually with this possibility. New York still continues to have real staying power, but we’re clearly in a moment where that’s being tested,” he continued.

Last week, New York City’s Department of Finance (DOF) published an extensive public real estate roll containing full names and addresses for more than 960,000 properties across the five boroughs in connection with the state’s new non-primary residence tax.

The pied-à-terre tax — approved by state lawmakers in May under Gov. Kathy Hochul — targets non-primary residences valued above $5 million, along with condos or co-ops valued at $1 million or more, with original estimates projecting 13,000 to 31,000 properties would be affected.

“That’s the difference between precision and accuracy. I would expect some inefficiency rolling out any municipal initiative at this scale,” Arditi said. “But when your list comes in 30 times bigger than what was estimated, city officials need to give homeowners real clarity on who’s actually impacted and why.”

Several high-profile public figures, celebrities and local politicians were included in Mamdani’s pied-à-terre target list, including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump, film director Woody Allen, longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, actress Cynthia Nixon, New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer and Staten Island City Councilman Joe Carr.

“I’ll leave the security implications to the experts, but I can tell you, since talk of this tax started earlier this year, I’ve had no shortage of conversations with people who were seriously reconsidering New York as a place to invest,” Arditi noted.

“The great thing about New York is there’s never a shortage of buyers. Having said that, given the current political and socio-economic climate in New York City, I expect the exodus to Florida to keep gaining traction,” he added. “I saw it play out myself this summer. Plenty of soccer fans from the Northeast were down here for the World Cup, and some of them were, in between matches, scouting what’s available in case they decided to make the move — and that was before this list came out.”

The immediate fallout from Mayor Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax has ultimately “given people pause” about what it means to live in or purchase New York City properties, according to the real estate expert.

“The headlines from the last few months have been mixed. One story says Manhattan’s top end is cratering, while another report shows it’s very resilient and continues to perform well. In South Florida, though, the numbers are pretty clear. Miami has already outsold New York in ultra-luxury deals this year, something that would’ve been unthinkable not long ago,” Arditi said. “And what we’re hearing on the ground matches that, as our sales teams have been fielding calls from more motivated New York buyers.”

Israel’s Regional Labor Court on Sunday night ordered Superbus drivers in Yerushalayim to immediately end their strike and return to work, ruling that the work stoppage had been launched without the legally required notice despite the serious assault on one of the company’s drivers.

The decision came after Superbus petitioned the court in response to the workers’ union’s announcement that minibus service to the Old City would be suspended in protest over the violent attack on one of its drivers.

In a statement, Superbus said it “views with the utmost severity every act of violence against public transportation employees,” describing such attacks as “a nationwide national problem.” The company said senior management had been at the injured driver’s home since Sunday morning, supporting him and his family while pledging to remain by his side throughout his recovery.

The company also said it has activated its chief security officer and is maintaining ongoing coordination with the Transportation Ministry, Israel Police, and other law enforcement agencies in an effort to strengthen protections for drivers and ensure that those responsible for such attacks are brought to justice.

At the same time, Superbus stressed that while it is committed to protecting its employees, it cannot allow essential transportation services to be disrupted at the public’s expense. “The company cannot accept harm to the traveling public and the continuity of service in Jerusalem, and therefore, out of responsibility to the public, the company turned to the Labor Court,” the statement said.

According to Superbus, the court accepted the company’s arguments and issued a temporary injunction requiring the strike to end immediately and directing drivers to resume work without delay. The company said the court determined that the strike notice—issued less than two hours before the work stoppage—was invalid and did not comply with collective bargaining agreements or previous rulings of the National Labor Court.

Superbus welcomed the ruling, saying it would prevent widespread disruptions for thousands of Yerushalayim residents and restore regular bus service throughout the city.

Earlier Sunday, the company had announced that minibus routes serving the Old City would be suspended between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. following the assault on one of its drivers. According to the driver’s account, a group of teenagers attacked him, breaking four of his teeth and inflicting significant facial injuries.

Britain’s Labour government has committed £381 million to the Palestinian territories over the next three years — roughly 50 percent more than the £250 million pledged to protect the country’s Jewish citizens over the same period. The figure surfaced through ministerial questions in Parliament, revealing the £381 million allocation set against the £250 million earmarked for Jewish community protection. The £130 million gap has triggered a political fight over spending priorities at a moment when antisemitic violence in Britain is at record levels.

Chris Elmore MP, who set out the funding in Parliament, framed it as part of a broader overhaul of Britain’s approach to international development, saying the Palestinian territories were being prioritized because humanitarian needs there are most severe. The money is routed through the foreign aid budget, a line item that has come under sustained pressure as successive governments have trimmed overseas commitments to shore up domestic accounts.

Opposition figures moved quickly. Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, who told the Daily Express that “Labour’s priorities are all wrong,” argued that a portion of the money would likely reach the Palestinian Authority, an institution she described as unaccountable, and that the total exceeds what ministers recently committed to shielding British Jews from violence. She called for the foreign aid budget to be cut and redirected to domestic priorities, and pressed ministers to use British leverage toward dismantling Hamas and forcing reform of the Palestinian Authority.

Reform MP Richard Tice framed the disclosure as “yet another example of Labour prioritising foreign citizens above our own,” pointing to the contrast between attacks on Jews in British streets and a 50 percent larger commitment abroad.

A government spokesperson pushed back, rejecting any linkage between Middle East policy and attacks on British Jews, and pointing to the £250 million invested in street-level policing for Jewish communities alongside broader action against antisemitism.

What the £250 million buys

The domestic security package, announced weeks ago, is the largest of its kind Britain has assembled. It funds more than 500 additional officers across England and Wales, concentrated in Jewish neighborhoods and around schools, synagogues and community centers, with roughly 300 additional officers in London, about 80 in Greater Manchester, and £43 million directed to forces serving other areas with significant Jewish populations. Within that total, £86 million goes to London’s Metropolitan Police and £59 million to counterterrorism policing. Forces in Hertfordshire, Essex, Sussex, Thames Valley, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Northumbria are also covered, and the package extends Project Servator, which deploys plain-clothes officers trained to spot suspicious behavior.

The spending followed a sequence of violent incidents. The package was assembled after a series of attacks in London and the raising of the national terror threat level from substantial to severe. That escalation — the first in more than four years — came after two Orthodox Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green in late April. In May, a German national attacked Jewish worshippers outside a London synagogue on Shavuot; a man whipped a haredi woman with a belt in Stamford Hill; a Jewish child was assaulted outside a school in Amhurst Park; and an Israeli man was attacked by five assailants who heard him speaking Hebrew. An arson attack struck a former synagogue in Whitechapel the same month.

The underlying data is stark. The Community Security Trust logged roughly 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, among the highest annual totals ever recorded in Britain, with more than half involving language or slurs tied to Israel, Palestine or the war. Britain also registered the world’s highest per capita rate of violent antisemitic attacks that year, with 121 severe assaults against a Jewish population of about 300,000.

A new government inherits the fight

The controversy lands on a government barely two weeks old. Andy Burnham took office as prime minister on July 20, replacing Keir Starmer, and named former Labour leader Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary, with Shabana Mahmood staying on as Home Secretary. John Healey was installed as Chancellor of the Exchequer, an appointment read as a signal toward higher spending. Starmer, who commissioned the security package before stepping down, had said that declarations of solidarity with Jewish communities were not enough without action behind them.

For Burnham’s Treasury, the dispute is less about the merits of humanitarian aid than about optics on a balance sheet. Every foreign commitment now gets measured against a domestic one, and the £130 million spread between the two lines has given the opposition a number simple enough to repeat.

JBizNews Desk | London

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CÓRDOBA, Spain (VINnews) — A statue of the revered Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar Maimonides, known in Hebrew as the Rambam, was defaced with swastika graffiti in the Spanish city of Córdoba, prompting condemnation from Jewish organizations and a police investigation.

The vandalism was discovered Saturday on the base of the bronze statue in Tiberiades Plaza, located in the city’s historic Jewish Quarter. Municipal workers temporarily covered the graffiti while specialists began removing the paint.

Spain’s National Police said it is investigating the incident.

The Jewish Community of Barcelona condemned the act, calling it “an attack on our shared history, on the Golden Age, on our culture, on the values of knowledge, freedom, and coexistence that his legacy represents.”

The Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities also denounced the vandalism, expressing what it called its “total repudiation” of the attack.

The European Jewish Congress said the incident was “a stark reminder that antisemitism continues to target not only Jewish people, but also Jewish history, memory and culture.”

The bronze monument, created by Spanish sculptor Amadeo Ruiz Olmos in 1964, honors the legacy of Maimonides, who was born in Córdoba in the 12th century before his family fled Muslim Spain amid religious persecution.

Widely regarded as one of Judaism’s greatest scholars, the Rambam is best known for authoring the Mishneh Torah, a comprehensive code of Jewish law, and The Guide for the Perplexed, a philosophical work that has influenced Jewish thought and Western philosophy for centuries. He also gained renown as a physician and astronomer.

According to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, approximately 70,000 Jews live in Spain today.

The vandalism comes amid growing concern over antisemitism in the country. A Spanish government report found that antisemitic offenses rose 86% in 2025, with Jews targeted in 69 reported hate crimes and related incidents.

A Toms River woman has pleaded guilty in connection with a fatal 2024 crash in Manchester Township that claimed the life of an 18-year-old Brick Township resident.

Kailyn Gorga, 20, pleaded guilty on July 31 before Judge David M. Fritch to Vehicular Homicide and Assault by Auto stemming from the April 14, 2024 crash on Lacey Road in Whiting.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors will seek a seven-year sentence in New Jersey State Prison on the vehicular homicide charge, subject to the No Early Release Act, along with a concurrent four-year prison term for assault by auto when Gorga is sentenced on October 23.

The crash occurred at approximately 2:50 a.m. when Gorga was driving a 2008 Mazda 3 southbound on Lacey Road with five passengers. Authorities said the vehicle struck a curbed median, after which Gorga overcorrected, causing the vehicle to overturn.

Rear-seat passenger Catalina Reinoso, 18, of Brick Township, suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. She died from her injuries five days later, on April 19, 2024.

The vehicle’s other occupants—Tyler Beaulieu, 18, of Beachwood, John Winkowski, 19, of Brick Township, Cameron Sparmo, 19, of Toms River, and Peter Myslinski, 19, of Toms River—were transported to the hospital, treated, and later released.

According to prosecutors, a court-authorized blood draw taken from Gorga after the crash revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.099%, above New Jersey’s legal limit of 0.08%. Testing also detected active THC and THC metabolites in her system.

Gorga surrendered to Manchester Township Police on May 31, 2024, accompanied by her attorney. She was processed at the Ocean County Jail and later released under New Jersey’s bail reform law.

NEW YORK (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman)

THE TWO QUESTIONS

Some time ago, a young lady in high school posed the following question: My mother doesn’t want me to crack my knuckles. I certainly won’t do it front of her, but I am somewhat addicted to it. Is it a violation of Kivud Av v’Aim to crack them when she isn’t around?

Recently, a young man in high school did not pose the following question: My parents don’t want me to smoke. I certainly won’t do it in front of them, but I am addicted to it somewhat. Is it a violation of Kivud Av v’aim to smoke when they are not around?

The Shulchan Aruch (YD 240:25) cites a fascinating ruling of the Maharik (Shoresh 166). The question the Maharik deals with concerns shidduchim. What happens when a young man wishes to marry a young lady of whom his father disapproves? Must the son listen to his father by virtue of the concept of Kivud Av v’Aim – honoring one’s parents?

THE MAHARIK

The Maharik gives a three-fold response. Firstly, he states that regarding the Mitzvah of Kivub Av – the obligation lies only with the father’s monetary funds – not with his own funds. Certainly, here where there is great personal pain where the son would have to marry someone else that he does not desire to marry as much as the first – there would be no obligation.

Secondly, the Maharik points out that there is a prohibition in the Talmud (Kiddushin 41a) of becoming engaged to a woman that one has not actually seen yet. The reason is that the sages ordained that a person only marry someone that he desires and finds grace in his eyes. Through listening to the father in this case, one may be in violation of this halacha.

Finally, the Maharik explains that the parameters of Kavod and Moreh apply to matters that pertain directly to the father or mother. Thus, in regard to his father’s sustenance and personal needs – Kavod does apply. In regard to his personal honor – Moreh – the issue of not sitting in his father’s seat does apply.

THE SMOKING PERCENTAGES

It would seem, at first glance, from this Maharik that both the high school girl’s question and the high school boy’s question are answered. Neither would be forced to listen to their parents’ view when it is not in front of them. There may be a separate prohibition in regard to the smoking issue as can be seen from the Talmudic passages that forbid engaging in dangerous activities – see Shabbos 129b.

Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l once wrote that smoking was technically permitted. His son Rav Dovid Feinstein zt”l later ruled that his father’s leniency no longer exists.   For those who think that there is an exemption for smoking, the responsa of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky (Achiezer Vol. I #23) discusses the parameters of the concept of “Shomer P’sa’im Hashem – Hashem watches over fools.” He writes that this concept only permits dangerous things when the danger is not uncommon. Since a little over half a million people die in this country every year from smoking and its related illnesses that means that, roughly, there is a 1 in 600 chance of dying each year from smoking. Over a thirty year period – the mathematical formula is 1-(599/600)*30th power. This means that there is a five percent chance of smoking actually killing a person. The halachic position of the Achiezer would certainly apply. The Tzitz Eliezer Vol. 15 #39 also forbids smoking as does Rav Moshe Shternbuch in teshuvos v’hanhagos Vol. III #354.

Rav Yaakov Bender Shlita once related that Rav Shmuel Birnbaum zt”l used to smoke, but as soon as the Surgeon General issued his report about how dangerous smoking is – he stopped cold-turkey.

Our issue in this column, however, deal with the aspects of Kivud Av v’Aim – not other prohibitions.

THE CRACKING KNUCKLES PERCENTAGES

For many years it was rumored that cracking knuckles causes arthritis. Thus far, however, there is no evidence that cracking knuckles causes any damage to the knuckle-cracker even over a protracted period of time. A study published in 2011 compared the hands of some 215 people between the ages of 50 to 90 and there was no indication whatsoever of any damage (Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 24 (2): 169-174).

THE SEFER HAMIKNEH

Rav Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz, author of the Sefer HaMikneh, states (Kiddushin 31b) that even in matters that do not apply to the father directly, there is still a concept of Moreh – that one is not permitted to contradict his father. The Sefer HaMikneh understands the Maharik as only applying when it is such a serious issue as marriage, but regarding other matters, it would be prohibited. He cites further proof to this idea from the fact that the Maharik gave three separate arguments to make his point.

According to the Sefer HaMikneh, it would be forbidden for both the smoker and the knuckle-cracker to proceed – even if his father is unaware of it.

RAV ELYASHIV’S VIEW

Rav Elyashiv zatzal’s view on the matter was that if it bothered the father, then the son was not permitted to smoke in front of him or in front of someone that might inform the father. In other words, if the father would find out about it, it would be forbidden. This opinion is cited in the Sefer Hidur Panim by Rav Refoel Dinner (page 104) in the section of Kitzur Hilchos Kivud Aviv v’Imo. Even then, Rav Elyashiv only permits it to the son if it will cause him great stress if he were to cease smoking. Rav Elyashiv further qualified it by saying that if the father has some further reason why he does not want his son smoking it is still forbidden. In other words, if the father’s reasoning is that the son has an additional risk factor then the son may not smoke even not in front of him.

Taking this view back to the knuckle cracker, it would seem that Rav Elyashiv would hold that, ideally, she should not crack her knuckles even not in front of her mother. However, if this would cause her difficulty, then she may.

As an interesting aside, many Poskim have specifically said that one should not tell his son not to smoke because, very often these young men have no will-power and it is placing an additional stumbling block upon them of violating Kivud Av V’aim. Just as the Talmud forbids punishing an older child physically – lest he hit his father back, it is likewise forbidden to cuase the son to violate Kivud Av v’Aim by stating directly that he is violating his parents’ will by smoking.

May Hashem enable all such children to make correct decisions by themselves.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s military unveiled a monument to an older brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was killed during a hostage rescue operation in the East African country in 1976.

The statue of Yonatan Netanyahu holding an assault rifle was unveiled on Saturday by Ugandan military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who said he commissioned the monument to pay tribute to the soldier’s courage. Among those attending the ceremony were Israelis including Barak Orland, a businessman in Uganda.

Unveiling Lt. Col. Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu Monument

| Gen. @mkainerugaba, Chief of Defence Forces – UPDF, presides over the unveiling ceremony of Lt. Col. Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu monument at Entebbe International Airport. pic.twitter.com/C6NOqdeqte

— Uganda Media Centre (@UgandaMediaCent) August 2, 2026

Kainerugaba is the eldest child of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his presumed heir apparent.

The statue is outside the airport terminal in the town of Entebbe where Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu was struck by a bullet as he led Israeli commandos in a mission to rescue 106 passengers who had been taken hostage on an Air France flight. He was the only Israeli commando killed in the mission.

“Today, this memorial stands not only in remembrance of a distinguished soldier, but also as a tribute to the enduring values he embodied: courage in the face of danger, unwavering commitment to protecting innocent lives, and steadfast devotion to duty,” Kainerugaba said at the ceremony.

The hijackers, two Palestinians and two Germans, separated dozens of Jewish and Israeli passengers from the rest and threatened to kill them if Israel did not free dozens of Palestinian prisoners.

A monument honoring the late Yoni Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stands at the old terminal of Entebbe International Airport in Entebbe, Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Uganda People’s Defence Forces Press Service via AP)

A week of negotiations followed as Israel planned the rescue operation. The commandos broke into the airport on July 3, 1976 and saved all but three hostages killed in the crossfire. Dozens of Ugandan soldiers were killed in the operation that lasted less than an hour.

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who had severed ties with Israel, was a supporter of the Palestinian independence cause.

Israel’s success humiliated and enraged Amin. The operation was criticized by the Organization of African Unity — the African Union’s predecessor organization — which saw the raid as a violation of Uganda’s sovereignty.

The rescue is a seminal event in Israeli history, widely seen as one of the country’s greatest military successes, and the Israeli prime minister has previously said his brother’s death in the raid “changed the course” of his life.

Ties between Uganda and Israel are cordial.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

American factory activity held steady last month, with S&P Global’s final U.S. Manufacturing PMI reading 53.9 in July — unchanged from June and comfortably above the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction. The final figure was revised up from the 53.8 flash estimate published July 24, and it extends the sector’s run of expansion to a twelfth consecutive month.

The steadiness of the headline number conceals a more mixed picture underneath it. Output growth cooled to its slowest pace since March, with the Manufacturing Output Index falling to 53.6 from 56.2 in June, a four-month low. New orders rose at the weakest rate in four months. Inventory accumulation slowed sharply after unusually heavy stockbuilding in May and June, when manufacturers were pulling material forward to get ahead of price increases.

Two components pulled the other way and kept the index from slipping. Factory employment rose for the first time in three months — a notable turn after June, when job cuts ran at the fastest pace since May 2020. And supplier delivery times lengthened, which mechanically lifts the headline PMI.

That second point deserves a closer read. Longer delivery times normally signal that demand is outrunning supply, which is a sign of strength. This time the delays traced back to shipping and supply disruptions tied to the conflict in the Middle East. In other words, part of July’s apparent stability came from bottlenecks rather than orders.

What It Costs

Price pressure remains the sore spot. Input cost inflation across the private sector hit a 14-month high in July, and selling price inflation reached its steepest level since August 2022. Services drove the bulk of that increase, but manufacturing input prices stayed elevated on higher raw material and energy costs.

For manufacturers, distributors and contractors across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, that is the number that shows up on an invoice. A factory sector growing at a 53.9 clip while paying the highest input costs in more than a year describes a margin squeeze, not a boom. Firms that locked in raw material purchases in the spring are in better shape than those buying at current prices.

The energy side may finally be turning. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.2% Monday to $79.41 a barrel after the White House shelved a planned strike on Iran in favor of negotiations. If crude holds below $80 through August, the input cost line in next month’s survey should ease — though retail diesel and freight rates lag futures by roughly two weeks, so relief will not show up in transportation bills until late in the month.

Context and Caveats

The survey collected responses from roughly 650 manufacturers between July 9 and July 23, which means the data predates the weekend’s de-escalation news entirely. Business confidence in the flash reading had already climbed to an eight-month high.

The broader composite output index, which blends manufacturing and services, came in at 53.6 for July — its strongest reading in eight months. Services carried that gain, jumping to 53.6 from 51.2 in June, helped by World Cup and Independence Day spending. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, called it “worrying – though not unexpected – to see manufacturing growth weaken” as prior stockbuilding faded.

One caution on the June comparison: that month’s final figure was revised down hard, to 53.9 from a 55.7 flash estimate. Flash readings are built from roughly 80% to 90% of total responses, and the gap between the June preliminary and final numbers was unusually wide. July’s revision moved the opposite direction, upward by a tenth.

Watch the ISM

The Institute for Supply Management released its own July manufacturing report at 10 a.m. Eastern on Monday, the more widely followed of the two surveys among U.S. policymakers. Consensus called for 54.0, up from 53.3 in June. The ISM prices index will draw the most attention after falling to 73.0 in June from 82.1 in May, the largest single-month drop since July 2022, though still signaling raw material price increases for a 21st straight month. ISM’s employment index sat at 49.7 in June — still in contraction.

Taken together, the two surveys point to a factory sector that is growing but no longer accelerating, carrying cost pressure it cannot fully pass through, and depending in part on supply chain friction that nobody wants. For business owners planning fall inventory, the practical read is that demand is intact and pricing power is not.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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A firmware flaw dating back to 2021 has allowed attackers to steal tens of millions of dollars in Bitcoin from vulnerable hardware wallets, and security researchers warn the campaign may not be over. Anyone who generated a wallet seed on an affected Coldcard device is being urged to move their Bitcoin immediately to a newly created wallet rather than simply installing updated firmware.

Researchers at Galaxy Research traced the first coordinated attack to July 30, when 1,196 Bitcoin addresses were drained in just 41 minutes, stealing approximately 1,082.65 BTC worth about $70 million at the time. Additional waves of theft have since pushed the preliminary total to roughly 1,367 BTC—valued at about $88 million—across more than 4,500 addresses, with investigators cautioning that additional compromised wallets may still exist.

The vulnerability originated in firmware released in March 2021. Instead of generating recovery seeds using the hardware wallet’s dedicated random number generator, certain Coldcard firmware versions mistakenly relied on a predictable software-based process, allowing attackers to reproduce wallet seeds offline without ever touching the physical device. Engineers at Block identified the configuration error while investigating the thefts.

Coinkite, the Canadian company behind Coldcard, has acknowledged the flaw. Chief Executive Rodolfo Novak apologized publicly and accepted responsibility for the bug, saying the company’s review process failed to detect the issue before release. Emergency firmware updates have since been issued for affected Mk3, Mk4, Mk5 and Coldcard Q devices.

Installing those updates alone does not protect existing funds. If a wallet’s recovery seed was originally created using vulnerable firmware, the private keys remain compromised even after updating the device. Coinkite instructs affected users to generate an entirely new seed using patched firmware and transfer all Bitcoin to the new wallet. Restoring an older seed simply carries the vulnerability forward. Users who are unsure how their seed was created should migrate to a newly generated wallet regardless.

Not every customer is exposed. Users who added a BIP-39 passphrase or introduced at least 50 dice rolls during setup created additional randomness that attackers cannot reproduce. Tapsigner, Opendime and Satscard use different codebases and are not affected.

Researchers say the most important concern is that the attacks may not be over. Because the vulnerability allows attackers to recreate private keys, any affected wallet that still holds funds could remain a target. On the blockchain, the thefts appear identical to an owner voluntarily moving Bitcoin, making it impossible to determine how many compromised wallets remain.

Curiously, much of the stolen Bitcoin has not yet been moved and remains concentrated in a small number of attacker-controlled addresses. No individual or organization has been publicly identified.

For businesses holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets, the incident demonstrates that hardware wallets alone are not a complete custody strategy. The compromise did not rely on phishing emails, malware or employee mistakes. Instead, it originated from a trusted firmware configuration that remained undiscovered for years before attackers exploited it. Companies that view hardware wallets as the end of the security conversation rather than one layer of a broader custody policy may need to reassess their approach.

Researchers have also noted that advances in AI-assisted code analysis are likely to shorten the time required to uncover dormant software flaws, reducing the window between a bug being introduced and someone discovering it.

Anyone who generated a Bitcoin wallet using an affected Coldcard device should compare their firmware history with Coinkite’s advisory and, if there is any uncertainty, create a brand-new seed using updated firmware and transfer their Bitcoin immediately. Updating firmware without moving funds does not eliminate the underlying risk.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate his political allies, a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general.

A spokeswoman for Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of the senators holding up Blanche’s nomination, confirmed the deal, which comes ahead of a Tuesday confirmation vote for Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The other GOP senator, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, did not have immediate comment.

Blanche said at a June hearing that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund to compensate those who believe they were unfairly prosecuted, as he faced bipartisan outrage over the possibility that violent rioters who attacked police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be considered for payments. But Cornyn and Tillis, both members of the Judiciary panel, have said they wanted to see the promise in writing before they endorsed Blanche’s nomination — especially as Trump continued to express support for the idea.

In a statement late Sunday, Blanche said the order came after “good faith discussions.”

“My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Blanche said.

DOJ order says ‘beyond any doubt’ that fund is dead
In a statement accompanying the order, the Justice Department said that “although the Acting Attorney General has repeatedly advised Congress through testimony, including under oath, as well as in written responses, that the Fund is not moving forward, and the Department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the Fund is not moving forward, today’s Order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 Order.”

Since the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS was announced, “No Members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid,” the order says. “This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”

The document released by Blanche on Sunday night also limits the scope of another provision of the settlement that provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his family from tax audits.

The deal clarifies that the tax audit immunity agreement “applies by its terms only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

Cornyn, Tillis echo GOP colleagues’ concerns as they block Blanche nomination
Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, and Tillis, who is retiring when his term ends in January, have blocked Blanche’s nomination as many of their GOP colleagues have criticized the fund.

The Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Blanche’s nomination that had been scheduled for Thursday morning after Tillis and Cornyn said they needed more from the administration before they could provide the necessary votes.

The two senators have repeatedly said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement, but the White House wouldn’t budge even to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general.

“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”

Blanche, who served as Trump’s defense lawyer in his criminal cases, entered the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. He was elevated to the top post after Pam Bondi was fired in April by Trump, who was frustrated by her failure to successfully prosecute his political enemies.

Though Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent job, he has moved aggressively to pursue the Trump administration’s agenda and accelerate investigations into the president’s perceived foes.

Trump continues to express support for his settlement
The two sides have been negotiating for weeks, but Trump has said repeatedly during the talks that he thinks the fund should go forward and threatened to move forward with it if Blanche was not confirmed.

After the Thursday vote was delayed, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year.

On Sunday evening, Trump said that people who had faced charges from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and could have benefited from the fund had “their lives destroyed.”

“This would be a reimbursement for the pain that they suffered,” Trump said. “A lot of people like it.”

On Friday, Trump’s attorneys notified a court they would appeal a judge’s scathing ruling that characterized the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS as an improper exercise in self-dealing. The judge in her order last month referred one of Trump’s attorneys for potential disciplinary action and criticized Blanche’s involvement in the settlement, given his prior representation of Trump.

Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations” about him. Justice Department lawyers had previously written in court papers that the fund was not moving forward but they refused a judge’s request to have Blanche and other administration officials file a declaration under penalty of perjury that the administration would not take any further action to create the fund.

The Justice Department said the court’s demands were “unnecessary.”

On the yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s father, Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the Kyiv detention center where he was imprisoned 86 years ago by the Soviet regime solely for serving as a Rav and Jewish leader ● The historic tribute was made possible through the efforts of Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, who also serves as Chief Rabbi of Ukraine’s Prison Service ● The prison commander participated in the ceremony and expressed regret for the grave injustice inflicted upon him

A remarkable chapter of Jewish history came full circle on Monday, 20 Menachem Av, the yahrzeit of the renowned gaon and mekubal, Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson zt”l, father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as an official memorial plaque was dedicated at Kyiv’s Lukyanivka Detention Center — the very prison where he was incarcerated under the Soviet regime for his unwavering commitment to Judaism.

The dedication marks a moving act of historical recognition, taking place exactly 86 years after Harav Levi Yitzchak was arrested and imprisoned simply because he courageously continued to serve as a Rav and strengthen Jewish life despite relentless Communist persecution.

The memorial became a reality following extensive efforts by Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, Chabad shliach and Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, who also serves as Chief Rabbi of Ukraine’s Prison Service. Working together with his son, Rabbi Ariel Markovitch, a Chabad shliach in Kyiv who oversees Jewish activities throughout Ukraine’s prison system, the two spent many months coordinating with prison authorities to ensure that the site where Harav Levi Yitzchak suffered for his faith would receive permanent recognition.

The dedication ceremony was attended by the commander of the detention center and his deputy, who joined Rabbi Markovitch in unveiling the commemorative plaque.

During the ceremony, the prison commander expressed deep regret over the injustice committed against Harav Levi Yitzchak, acknowledging that he had been imprisoned despite having committed no crime other than being a Jewish rabbi and spiritual leader.

He described the imprisonment as a painful chapter in history that deserves to be remembered and preserved for future generations.

The memorial plaque recounts the story of Harav Levi Yitzchak’s arrest and imprisonment and also features one of his own reflections from that difficult period.

In addition, the prison received a copy of Nitzotzei Levi Yitzchak, a volume based on the Torah teachings of Harav Levi Yitzchak. The book will remain in the prison’s library, where it will be available for the benefit and use of Jewish inmates.

“There is profound significance in the fact that specifically on the yahrzeit of Harav Levi Yitzchak we have merited to establish a memorial at the very place where his freedom was taken from him simply because he was a Rav spreading Yiddishkeit,” Rabbi Markovitch said.

“This represents a historic rectification and an emotional closing of the circle. At the very place where the Soviet regime sought to silence the voice of Judaism, there now stands a permanent memorial telling the story of the courage, sacrifice, and unwavering mesirus nefesh of Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson zt”l, the father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

photos: Avrumi Berger

Leaders in Degel HaTorah are refusing to respond publicly to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s latest criticism of the proposed arrest freeze law, arguing that engaging in the dispute would only amplify what they view as a political miscalculation by Likud.

During a meeting of the Degel HaTorah faction on Sunday evening, MKs reportedly agreed that the messaging coming from Netanyahu’s inner circle was an election-season mistake that has only revived public debate over the draft issue and the Chareidi community—ultimately hurting Netanyahu and Likud rather than benefiting them.

“This is what they cooked up for themselves,” members of the faction said, explaining that responding to the briefing would only give it additional publicity.

Unlike Degel HaTorah, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf chose to respond directly to the reports, criticizing the prime minister over the apparent shift in position.

According to Goldknopf, “The report by Amit Segal, according to which the prime minister admitted that the arrest law ‘did not succeed,’ only confirms what was clear to us from the very beginning. The prime minister never intended to regulate the status of yeshiva students and never planned to bring a draft law, and therefore we left the government.”

The criticism was not limited to Chareidi political circles. Commentators on Channel 14’s program The Patriots also questioned the wisdom of Netanyahu’s camp publicly distancing itself from the arrest freeze proposal.

Yinon Magal said, “I think this statement from Netanyahu’s circle was unnecessary. It’s a mistake. Why are you reigniting the whole issue?”

Yotam Zimri added, “I believe in the arrest freeze law because I think Torah learners should not be arrested. Why are you now coming out with a statement saying it was an attempt that failed?”

Channel 14 political editor Moti Kastel also criticized the move, saying, “Another resounding public relations failure by the prime minister’s advisers.”

Kastel pointed out that Netanyahu had defended the arrest freeze legislation as recently as July, saying at the time that “this law causes no harm.” He questioned why the prime minister’s team is now backing away from that position and placing the issue back at the center of the national conversation. In Kastel’s words, “This is already becoming a recurring pattern. Knee-jerk decisions followed by U-turns after the fact. It seems someone is determined to sabotage Netanyahu’s campaign. The operation is not being managed, and it shows.”

As previously reported, Netanyahu’s associates argued in a recent briefing that the arrest freeze bill was intended to reduce tensions surrounding the draft issue and encourage greater enlistment from the Chareidi community. They maintained, however, that because “the move did not succeed,” such legislation would not be pursued by the next government.

Speaking during a closed-door meeting, Netanyahu reportedly said that after the next election he intends to form a broad national government that will pass “a full draft law that will meet the IDF’s needs,” adding, “Anyone who is not learning Torah will either enlist or go to prison.”

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers have increased during the administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, according to NYPD statistics released Monday, with the New York Post highlighting the increase even as overall major crime continued to decline across the city.

The NYPD reported 205 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes through the first seven months of 2026, up from 189 during the same period last year, an 8.5% increase. Anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 56.9% of all confirmed hate crimes recorded so far this year, with 360 confirmed hate crimes citywide compared with 329 during the same period in 2025, representing a 9.4% increase.

The statistics showed that 33 confirmed hate crimes were reported during July.

The New York Post reported the figures under the headline, “Hate crimes soar in NYC under divisive, anti-Israel Mayor Mamdani — even as major crime tumbles overall.” The newspaper’s headline linked the increase in hate crimes to Mamdani’s tenure in office, although the NYPD data itself does not identify a cause for the increase.

At the same time, the department reported declines across all seven major crime categories.

According to the NYPD, shootings fell 21.3% in July compared with the same month last year and were down 7.5% year to date. The department said July recorded 59 shooting incidents, compared with 243 during the same month in 2020.

Murders declined 32.3% in July and 22.8% through the first seven months of the year. Robbery, burglary, grand larceny, felony assault and auto theft also posted year-over-year declines ranging from 0.4% to 25.3%, according to the department.

In a statement accompanying the release of the crime statistics, NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said the department maintained historically low levels of violent crime despite being tasked with securing several major events during the summer, including the NBA Finals, the FIFA World Cup, Sail250 and New York City’s Fourth of July celebrations.

“Through it all, even as the demands on this department reached historic levels, the men and women of the NYPD delivered double-digit declines in major crime and record lows in violent crime across the city,” Tisch said.

She attributed the reductions to the department’s “data-driven precision policing policy” and the work of NYPD officers.

The latest figures come as Jewish organizations and elected officials have continued to express concern over antisemitic incidents in New York City amid heightened tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war. The NYPD has repeatedly said it devotes significant investigative and security resources to hate crimes, particularly those targeting the Jewish community.

Wall Street opened August with a broad advance Monday as crude prices tumbled on word that the United States had shelved a planned military strike against Iran in favor of negotiations, and as Amazon crossed $3 trillion in market value for the first time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed roughly 640 points, or about 1.2%, in early trading, lifting the blue-chip average back above 53,000 after Friday’s close at 52,485.03. The S&P 500 rose to 7,561.06, a gain of 71.34 points or 0.95%. The Nasdaq Composite added about 1.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 lagged the rally, slipping 0.5%.

President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he had called off what he described as massive strikes on Iran and that discussions with Tehran would begin Monday afternoon. “We’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation,” he said. Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, were said to have pressed for diplomacy over escalation. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, told reporters that no negotiations between Tehran and Washington are currently underway — a contradiction that did not stop traders from pricing in a lower risk of disruption at the Strait of Hormuz.

Bond markets moved the same direction. The 10-year Treasury yield eased about seven basis points to roughly 4.67%, while the two-year fell about five basis points, both reflecting a cooler inflation outlook if energy costs retreat. Fed funds futures tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed traders putting roughly a 64.5% probability on a rate move at the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, following the central bank’s decision to hold steady on July 29.

Market Movers

Amazon carried the session. Shares rose as much as 5.3% shortly after the opening bell, pushing the company’s market capitalization past $3 trillion for the first time and making it the fifth U.S. company ever to reach that level, joining Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet. The move extended a rally that began Thursday, when the company posted $200.6 billion in second-quarter revenue and reported that Amazon Web Services grew 37% year over year — its fastest pace in 18 quarters. Management reaffirmed full-year capital spending of close to $220 billion, most of it directed at artificial intelligence infrastructure, chips and robotics.

For business owners, the AWS number matters more than the milestone. Cloud capacity pricing, logistics costs and third-party seller economics all run through the same buildout, and a 37% growth rate signals continued heavy demand for the compute that increasingly sits underneath small-business software, payments and inventory systems.

SpaceX moved the other way, falling nearly 2% to $106.28 in premarket trading ahead of its first quarterly earnings report as a public company on Tuesday. A lockup period expires Thursday, freeing roughly 930 million shares — about $100 billion worth at current prices — to trade. The stock debuted at $135 a share on June 12 and touched $225.64 four days later.

AstraZeneca dropped 7.3% before the bell following a report that the drugmaker had held merger discussions with Bristol Myers Squibb.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.2% to $79.41 a barrel, and Brent crude declined 5.1% to $83.24. The drop unwinds a portion of July’s run-up, when Hormuz shipping concerns pushed pump prices higher across the tri-state region and squeezed margins for trucking fleets, delivery operators and food distributors. Diesel-dependent businesses will not see relief immediately — retail fuel prices lag the futures market by roughly two weeks — but a sustained move below $80 would begin to filter through by late August.

The Week Ahead

Earnings season resumes at full speed. Palantir Technologies reports after Monday’s closing bell, with Advanced Micro Devices, McDonald’s, SpaceX and Disney all due later in the week. Of the roughly 300 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, about 85% have beaten estimates, and aggregate profit growth is tracking above 47% — one of the strongest quarters in years.

On the economic calendar, the ISM manufacturing reading for July lands Monday morning, followed by JOLTS job openings, weekly jobless claims, and the July employment report on Friday. The jobs number will carry the most weight for the Fed’s September decision, and for the small and mid-sized employers across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut still weighing hiring plans against elevated borrowing costs.

Monday’s rally rests on a single unconfirmed diplomatic development. Should Tehran’s denial hold and talks fail to materialize, crude will retrace quickly, and the equity gains built on cheaper energy will go with it.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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(AP) – Canada’s second largest airline, WestJet, has agreed to a tentative agreement with flight attendants to end a strike that led to hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of stranded passengers.

The union representing the flight attendants said Monday that if the deal is ratified, the work that flight attendants do before flights take off will be recognized.

The union, CUPE 8125, said that flight attendants will be returning to work now that the strike is over. The tentative agreement still faces a ratification vote.

WestJet cancelled 495 flights Sunday, snarling travel plans in Canada in the middle of a long holiday weekend.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents the 4,400 cabin crew at the airline.

“This tentative agreement represents meaningful progress,” CUPE 8125 President Alia Hussain said in a statement. “It evolves the flight credit system by recognizing more of the work cabin crew are required to perform and with general increases to compensation for that work.”

The deal comes after 250,000 travelers had their trips canceled, according to WestJet. Some struggled to find accommodations while they were stranded away from home, and others were left unable to reschedule flights.

Before the strike began, WestJet had made a proposal that included a 13% wage increase in October, increases of 2.5% each January for the next three years, retroactive wage payment to last January, additional pay for all hours worked, and upgrades to other benefits, according to WestJet. Alia Hussain, president of the union that represents the cabin crew, had said that although negotiators tried until the very last minute to get a fair deal, what the airline proposed didn’t go far enough.

A key issue in the dispute was how flight attendants should be paid for duties performed while still on the ground. The union said some of that work is unpaid, while the company said they staff was indeed compensated, citing pay through a “credit hour” system rather than an hourly rate.

Last summer flight attendants at Air Canada, the country’s largest carrier, stranded more than 100,000 travelers during peak travel season with a strike partly over the same issue of unpaid groundwork. That work stoppage lasted three days before the sides came to an agreement.

BP is exploring the sale of its North Sea oil and gas business after more than six decades, a move that could generate about $2 billion while marking one of the biggest shifts yet in the company’s restructuring under CEO Meg O’Neill. The decision comes just as the U.K. government signals a more pragmatic approach to domestic oil and gas production, creating an unusual moment where policy is becoming more supportive even as one of the basin’s largest producers heads for the exit. 

The assets include five offshore production hubs and approximately 1,100 employees. While the North Sea helped build BP into a global energy giant, the region now accounts for only a small share of the company’s production. BP is instead concentrating capital on higher-return projects in the United States, Brazil and other growth regions while accelerating plans to reduce debt through asset sales. 

The sale also reflects broader pressures facing the North Sea. Years of declining production, rising decommissioning costs and a tax burden that can reach 78% have driven many international oil companies to reduce their exposure. Investors have argued that frequent policy changes have made long-term investment more difficult compared with competing energy regions. 

Political winds, however, appear to be shifting. Britain’s government has recently indicated it intends to take a more practical approach to energy security by supporting domestic oil and gas development alongside its clean-energy goals. That change could improve the outlook for smaller operators interested in acquiring mature North Sea assets even if BP no longer sees them as core to its strategy. 

For investors, the announcement reinforces a larger trend reshaping the global energy industry. Major oil companies are increasingly concentrating capital in their most profitable regions while divesting mature, slower-growth assets. Buyers specializing in extending the life of aging fields are expected to evaluate the portfolio, potentially giving the North Sea a new generation of owners even as the industry’s biggest names continue reallocating investment worldwide. 

JBizNews Desk | London

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ArtScroll is closing out its 50th anniversary celebration this week with two major announcements for the community: the final week of its landmark anniversary sale, and a sweepstakes giving away over $50,000 in prizes.

The Giveaway

To celebrate five decades of bringing Torah content to homes and communities worldwide, ArtScroll is running a sweepstakes for the first time in its history. Entry is free and takes just a minute.

One winner will take home a prize package worth more than $50,000.

This is the final week to enter. Once the week ends, the sweepstakes closes for good.

Enter the giveaway here.

The Sale

Running alongside the giveaway is the fifth and final week of ArtScroll’s 50th anniversary sale. Fifty sefarim and titles are marked down to their lowest prices ever, all at 50% off. Once the week is over, these prices will not return.

Highlights of the final week include:

The Complete ArtScroll Digital Library, available as a digital download for $499.99, or preloaded onto a new iPad or iPad mini with a custom leather cover. The library includes the full Schottenstein English and Hebrew Talmud, the Ryzman Hebrew Mishnayos, the Jaffa Edition Tanach, the Kleinman Edition Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, both Smart Siddurim, and the complete Hebrew Rambam.

The Czuker Edition Hebrew Chumash Mikra’os Gedolos, a 52 volume personal size paperback set, now $67.49, the lowest price this set has ever been offered at.

The ArtScroll Children’s Siddur, now $9.99.

The Student Size Sefer Zera Shimshon, 10 volume set, now $159.99.

Dozens of additional titles across hashkafa, halacha, and children’s books are also included in the final week markdowns.

In previous weeks of the sale, featured items sold out quickly. With this being the last week, shoppers are advised not to wait.

Shop the full sale here.

Enter the giveaway here.

TONIGHT 12 HOURS LEFT! 

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MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian Embassy in Rome on Monday blamed Ukraine for a deadly weekend bombing at a Moscow restaurant, describing it as an attempt to intimidate the Italian community in Russia.

The embassy said “Kyiv terrorists” wanted to “scare the Italians working in Russia and to show them that they too are in the crosshairs and could become the scoundrels’ next victims.”

It said the Saturday night attack on the Balzi Rossi restaurant killed five and injured 19, adding that its Italian chef and his staff were unhurt only thanks to a Russian security guard’s “vigilance and selfless dedication to his professional duty.”

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which coordinates various security agencies, initially reported a lower death toll in a statement issued shortly after the attack. It said the bomb killed three people, including a woman who carried the explosive device into the restaurant, a guard who stopped her, and a guest inside. It said 21 others were injured when the bomb detonated near the restaurant’s entrance.

The committee didn’t say who was the target or name the mastermind.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Sunday described the bombing as a “brutal terrorist act,” but did not say who was responsible for the blast at the upscale restaurant, which is located on the ground floor of a high-rise apartment building that is one of seven skyscrapers in the city that date to the era of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the embassy’s statement or explain the higher death toll. The ministry did not issue its own statement on the incident.

Several Russian media outlets claimed the bombing targeted a Russian general who was celebrating his birthday at the restaurant. Some claimed that the general was Col.-Gen. Alexander Chaiko, who recently was appointed the chief of Russia’s aerospace forces. The claims could not be independently verified.

Russia blamed Ukraine for past attacks on military officials
Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for a series of bombings and other attacks against senior military officials after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this year, Russia’s Federal Security Service said authorities would tighten security around senior military and government officials following the attacks.

In February, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, the deputy head of the GRU military intelligence service, was shot three times at a Moscow apartment building, but survived. Ukraine denied its involvement.

In December, a car bomb killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, in southern Moscow. Ukraine refrained from comment.

In April 2025, another car bomb that Moscow blamed on Kyiv killed Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in Russia’s General Staff. Ukraine didn’t claim the attack but hinted at its involvement.

And in December 2024, a bomb hidden in a scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed the Russian military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, one of the few attacks Ukraine openly acknowledged.

Among other prominent victims of bombing attacks in Russia were Daria Dugina, the daughter of influential nationalist thinker Aleksandr Dugin, and Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known pro-Kremlin military blogger. Kyiv denied involvement in the attack on Dugina, and remained coy about the attack on Tatarsky.

Apple warned that worsening shortages of advanced processors and memory could restrict production of iPhones, Macs and iPads during the critical fall shopping season, raising the risk of higher prices, fewer promotions and longer waits for consumers.

Chief Executive Tim Cook said during Apple’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call Thursday that supply constraints are expected to become “very significant” in the September quarter. Limited availability of advanced chipmaking capacity, combined with rising memory costs, is reducing Apple’s ability to meet demand even after the company delivered its strongest June-quarter sales on record.

The warning exposes a growing consumer consequence of the artificial-intelligence investment boom. Technology companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers that require enormous quantities of processors and memory, placing pressure on suppliers that also serve the smartphone, tablet and personal-computer industries.

Although AI servers do not use every component found inside consumer devices, the products compete for overlapping manufacturing capacity, production equipment and advanced semiconductor materials. Chipmakers can also earn substantially more from high-value data-center components, giving them a financial incentive to prioritize AI customers over consumer-electronics manufacturers.

Apple’s purchasing power has historically protected it from many supply disruptions, making its warning particularly significant. Smaller device manufacturers may have even less leverage when negotiating for limited memory and processor supplies, potentially spreading higher prices across the broader electronics market.

Consumers are already beginning to see the consequences. Apple has raised prices on selected Mac and iPad products as component costs climbed, while keeping current iPhone prices unchanged. The company has not announced pricing for its next iPhone generation, but sustained supply pressure increases the possibility that part of the added cost will be passed directly to buyers.

Higher sticker prices are only one risk. Retailers may offer fewer discounts if Apple cannot produce enough devices, while popular storage capacities, colors and premium configurations could become harder to find. Carrier subsidies and trade-in promotions may become increasingly important for households trying to reduce the cost of upgrading.

Demand entering the shortage remains unusually strong. Apple reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $109.42 billion, up 16% from a year earlier. iPhone sales climbed nearly 22% to a record $54.25 billion, while Mac revenue rose almost 29% to $10.35 billion.

Those gains make the company’s slower forecast more notable. Apple projected revenue growth of approximately 9% to 11% for the September quarter, below the pace Wall Street had expected. Executives said the restraint reflected supply limitations rather than a broad weakening in consumer demand.

Mac products experienced the greatest supply impact during the June quarter, though some iPhone and iPad models were also affected. Management expects the pressure to spread more broadly during the current period, which includes preparations for Apple’s major fall product launches.

Memory has become especially important because newer devices require more capacity to support artificial-intelligence features. On-device AI systems process more information locally instead of sending everything to remote servers, increasing the amount of memory needed inside phones, tablets and computers.

Producing additional advanced chips cannot be done quickly. Leading semiconductor factories require years and tens of billions of dollars to build, while the most sophisticated manufacturing capacity remains concentrated among a small group of global suppliers. Even newly announced expansions may take several product cycles before meaningfully improving consumer-device availability.

For households, the timing matters because smartphones and computers have become essential expenses for work, education, banking and communication. A $100 or $200 increase can significantly affect families replacing several devices, while delayed upgrades may leave consumers relying longer on aging batteries and unsupported hardware.

Apple’s next major test will come when it unveils its fall product lineup and reveals whether it absorbs more of the component increase or passes it to buyers. Consumers deciding whether to upgrade now face a changing calculation: waiting may bring newer technology, but it could also mean higher prices, fewer discounts and tighter availability.

JBizNews Desk | Cupertino, California

© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

A senior figure in United Torah Judaism reportedly proposed orchestrating a public confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in an effort to benefit both the Chareidi parties and Likud politically, according to political analyst Amit Segal.

Speaking Sunday following Netanyahu’s unusual remarks on the draft law, Segal revealed that an extraordinary conversation took place several weeks ago between high-ranking officials from United Torah Judaism and Likud.

According to Segal, “A few weeks ago, a very, very senior figure in United Torah Judaism approached a very, very senior figure in Likud and told him, ‘Let’s fight. It will help you, (it’s obvious why), but it will help us too.'”

Segal said the proposal stemmed from growing dissatisfaction within the Chareidi public over the political performance of its elected representatives. He argued that this frustration is one of the main reasons many recent polls show Chareidi parties losing support ahead of the next Knesset election.

Referring to the political mood in the Chareidi community, Segal said, “Among the Chareidim, one of the reasons you see in most polls that their representation is declining ahead of the next Knesset is because many people in the Chareidi street are convinced that their members of Knesset have disappointed them.”

He said that disappointment has been fueled by government policies affecting municipal property taxes, daycare funding, and housing, adding, “Therefore, such a war is also good for United Torah Judaism.”

Segal concluded by noting that he does not know how Likud responded to the proposal but suggested that recent developments may indicate a shift in strategy. “I don’t know what Likud’s response was, but today you can already see Netanyahu changing direction and saying there will not be a second law freezing arrests.”

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The following article is based on a Ynet presentation by Prof. Yuval Tal, director of the Immunology and Allergy Unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.

For decades, doctors treated immune-related diseases based largely on the affected organ or the diagnosis itself. Today, advances in immunology are reshaping that approach, with researchers increasingly focusing on the underlying biological pathways driving disease rather than the condition’s name.

The shift is fueled by a growing number of precision biologic drugs that target specific immune mechanisms. Although many of these medications were originally developed for individual diseases, physicians are discovering that the same immune pathway can be responsible for a variety of seemingly unrelated conditions. As a result, treatments designed for one illness may prove effective for another.

Instead of asking only what disease does this patient have, doctors are increasingly asking which immune mechanism is causing it?

One striking example involved a cancer patient whose disease was under control but who suffered from relentless, debilitating itching that conventional treatments failed to relieve. Antihistamines, steroids and other therapies had no effect. The constant suffering left him unable to sleep or function normally, and he eventually purchased a ticket to Switzerland to pursue assisted death, not because of his cancer, but because of the unbearable itching.

Rather than viewing the treatment failures as the end of available options, physicians treated them as an important clue. If antihistamines were ineffective, histamine was probably not responsible for the symptoms. Doctors instead investigated whether a different immune pathway was driving the condition.

They focused on cytokines involved in so-called type 2 inflammation, immune signaling proteins already known to play a central role in diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Although the biologic drug targeting this pathway had not been developed for cancer-related itching, doctors decided to try it.

After only three injections, the patient’s symptoms disappeared. At a follow-up appointment, he tore up his ticket to Switzerland.

The success was not an isolated event. Similar cases prompted researchers to formally study whether patients suffering severe itching related to cancer or cancer treatments might benefit from the same therapy. While researchers acknowledge that not every patient responds similarly and the mechanisms are still being investigated, the cases highlight the value of identifying the biological pathway responsible for disease rather than relying solely on traditional diagnoses.

Immunology was once viewed as a relatively specialized field focused primarily on infections and allergies. That perception has changed dramatically.

Scientists now recognize that the immune system influences nearly every organ and plays a role in a wide range of medical specialties, including oncology, hematology, rheumatology, dermatology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, neurology, infectious diseases and gynecology.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought public attention to the importance of the immune system, but experts note that the scientific revolution began years earlier as researchers uncovered increasingly complex interactions between immune cells and disease.

The immune system does far more than fight bacteria and viruses. It helps repair injured tissue, regulates inflammation, identifies and destroys cancer cells and maintains the body’s internal balance. When these mechanisms malfunction, the consequences can include allergies, autoimmune disorders, immune deficiencies, chronic inflammatory diseases and even some cancers.

Many people associate immunology exclusively with allergies, but specialists emphasize that allergy represents only one aspect of the broader field.

An allergy is an abnormal immune response to normally harmless substances such as foods, medications, pollen or insect venom. Immunologists also diagnose and treat congenital and acquired immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases, eosinophilic disorders and complex inflammatory conditions involving multiple organ systems.

This broader perspective has become increasingly important because different symptoms affecting the skin, lungs or digestive tract may all stem from the same underlying immune pathway.

New biologic medications allow physicians to target specific cells, proteins or immune pathways rather than suppressing the entire immune system, reducing unnecessary side effects while improving effectiveness.

This precision approach has transformed care for many conditions once managed only by controlling symptoms. Researchers continue to identify shared immune mechanisms across diseases, creating opportunities to apply existing therapies in entirely new settings.

The revolution in immunology is not limited to developing new treatments. It also involves reexamining long-standing diagnoses that may no longer be accurate.

Food allergies provide one example. Although food allergy diagnoses have increased sharply among children, not every suspected allergy proves genuine, and many childhood diagnoses remain in medical records for years without reassessment.

When appropriate, allergists perform supervised food challenges in which patients gradually consume the suspected food under medical supervision. Many children ultimately discover they are not allergic, freeing families from unnecessary dietary restrictions and constant anxiety.

Penicillin allergy presents another common problem. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis carry a penicillin-allergy label despite never having had a true allergy or having outgrown one years earlier.

Sometimes a child develops a rash during a viral illness while taking antibiotics, and the rash is mistakenly attributed to penicillin. Without reassessment, that diagnosis can remain for life, limiting access to one of medicine’s most useful antibiotics and forcing physicians to prescribe alternatives that may be less effective or more expensive.

Doctors also stress the importance of distinguishing true allergies from unrelated conditions. Lactose intolerance, for example, results from the body’s inability to digest lactose because of insufficient lactase enzyme—not from an immune response.

Similarly, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, sometimes mistakenly called a “fava bean allergy,” is an inherited enzyme deficiency rather than an allergy. People with the condition can develop destruction of red blood cells after eating fava beans or taking certain medications. Experts also note that long-standing advice to avoid the pain medication Optalgin solely because of G6PD deficiency is no longer considered universally necessary.

One patient illustrated the importance of questioning established diagnoses. A Canadian woman sought a second opinion in Israel after living for nearly 30 years believing she had common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), a primary immune disorder.

Her life revolved around avoiding infection, and she rarely left home without wearing a mask. Rather than simply repeating routine tests, doctors conducted a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation.

The conclusion was unexpected: she had never had CVID. But correcting the diagnosis was only the first step. Decades of believing herself chronically ill had profoundly affected her life, requiring time and careful support to rebuild confidence and adjust to a new reality.

Researchers caution that many immune mechanisms remain poorly understood, and not every patient responds to targeted therapies. Nevertheless, the rapid progress in immunology is fundamentally changing medical practice.

By focusing on the biological processes driving disease rather than on diagnostic labels alone, physicians are developing more personalized treatments and, in many cases, achieving results that would have been impossible just a decade ago.

As scientists continue to unravel how immune cells communicate and how common pathways link different diseases, experts believe even more innovative therapies, and renewed hope for patients with previously difficult-to-treat conditions, are likely to emerge.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has raised the possibility of reducing the number of regularly scheduled meetings at which the central bank sets interest rates — a structural change that would mark the most consequential shift in how the Fed operates in more than four decades.

Warsh floated the idea internally at this week’s Federal Open Market Committee gathering, according to a New York Times account published Friday citing people familiar with the discussion who were not authorized to speak publicly. Those sources indicated a decision on the calendar could come before the committee’s next meeting, set for Sept. 15-16.

The Fed has held eight regularly scheduled policy meetings a year since 1981, supplemented by emergency sessions convened during crises. Any reduction would be the first change to that cadence in 45 years.

Consistent with a long-held view

The proposal is not a departure from anything Warsh has said publicly. Before taking over the Fed in May, he had argued that central banks meet too often and telegraph too much — criticizing the Bank of England’s monthly schedule as suboptimal and recommending it move to eight meetings a year, on the reasoning that outside of crisis periods the economic picture changes slowly.

That philosophy has already reshaped the Fed’s output. Warsh has stripped forward guidance from the post-meeting statement, which is now markedly shorter than under his predecessor, and he has declined to commit to press conferences beyond the end of this year, though he confirmed Wednesday that the remaining 2026 briefings will go ahead as scheduled. He has also stood up a set of internal task forces, one of them devoted specifically to how the institution communicates.

Fewer meetings would extend that logic to the calendar itself. Each scheduled meeting is a date the market prices around; removing some would eliminate several fixed points where the Fed is expected to explain itself.

The trade-offs

Supporters of the approach argue that eight meetings a year invites over-management — that a committee meeting that often feels obliged to react to each data release, and that spacing decisions further apart would restore the flexibility earlier chairs surrendered by all but pre-announcing their moves.

The objections are equally direct. A leaner calendar makes policy slower to respond when inflation or the labor market turns, and it thins the flow of information to markets and the public at a moment when the outlook is unusually murky. There is also a practical concern: with fewer scheduled decision points, expectations get filled in by whichever officials happen to be speaking, which cedes the chairman’s control over the narrative rather than concentrating it.

That dynamic is already visible. In the run-up to this week’s meeting, the clearest read on where policy was headed came not from Warsh’s two days of congressional testimony but from remarks by his colleagues.

Coming off a contentious meeting

The timing lands immediately after one of the more fractious FOMC sessions in years. The committee voted 9-3 on Wednesday to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75% — the fifth consecutive hold — with Cleveland’s Beth Hammack, Minneapolis’ Neel Kashkari and Dallas’ Lorie Logan all dissenting in favor of a quarter-point increase. Three dissents pushing in the same direction is the most since September 2016.

Warsh described the disagreement as “a good family fight” and said he had asked for it. He told reporters the decision to hold was prudent given the uncertainty, and pressed the point that the Fed has no soft or implicit inflation objective and remains committed to 2% after more than five years of overshoot.

Markets did not take it calmly. The 30-year Treasury yield jumped roughly 12 basis points to about 5.21%, its highest in 19 years, while the two-year yield fell — a steepening that reads as investors marking up long-run inflation risk while pricing less near-term tightening.

The inflation picture is complicated by the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, which continues to cloud the energy and supply-chain inputs feeding into price data. Several forecasters have argued that absent further escalation, the Fed stays on hold through year-end.

What it means for business

For businesses that plan around the rate calendar — commercial borrowers timing refinancings, treasurers hedging exposure, banks setting deposit pricing — fewer scheduled meetings would mean fewer, larger, and less predictable adjustment points. Longer gaps between decisions raise the odds that any single move is bigger, and raise the odds of off-cycle action when conditions shift mid-gap.

President Trump has publicly backed Warsh this week, calling him fantastic while criticizing other Fed officials. Warsh is scheduled to speak at the Jackson Hole symposium Aug. 27-29, the most likely venue for a fuller public airing of his thinking before the September meeting.

JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.

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