Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said Sunday that he held a conversation the previous night with President Donald Trump regarding the developing memorandum of understanding aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the broader negotiations surrounding a permanent agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

Netanyahu said the discussion focused on the emerging diplomatic framework with Iran and ongoing coordination between Washington and Israel.

According to the prime minister, he conveyed his “deep appreciation to President Trump for his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, including during Operation Roaring Lion and Epic Fury, when American and Israeli forces fought shoulder to shoulder against the Iranian threat.”

Netanyahu said he and Trump were in full agreement regarding the core objective of any future arrangement with Tehran.

“President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger. That means dismantling Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and removing its enriched nuclear material from its territory.”

The Israeli premier added that Trump also reiterated support for Israel’s freedom of military action throughout the region.

“President Trump also reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon.”

Netanyahu emphasized what he described as the growing strategic alliance between Israel and the United States.

“the partnership between us and our two countries has been proven on the battlefield and has never been stronger.”

He concluded with a blunt declaration mirroring Trump’s longstanding position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“My policy, like President Trump’s, remains unchanged: Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu’s remarks came only minutes after Trump published a forceful statement defending the negotiations currently underway with Iran and contrasting them sharply with the Obama-era nuclear agreement.

“One of the worst deals ever made by our Country was the Iran Nuclear Deal, put forth and signed into existence by Barack Hussein Obama and the rank amateurs of the Obama Administration. It was a direct path to Iran developing a Nuclear Weapon. Not so with the transaction currently being negotiated with Iran by the Trump Administration – THE EXACT OPPOSITE, in fact!” Trump wrote.

Trump said negotiations with Tehran were advancing steadily and insisted there was no need for the United States to rush into a final agreement.

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side.”

The president also stressed that U.S. pressure on Iran would remain firmly in place until a final agreement is completed and formally approved.

He noted that the blockade of Iran will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is “reached, certified, and signed.”

Trump further warned that both Washington and Tehran must proceed cautiously in order to avoid strategic mistakes.

“both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes! Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.”

Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen, an Australian-born Chipotle rival that once planned to open hundreds of U.S. locations, has abruptly closed all of its American restaurants after six years in the Chicago area.

“All GYG USA restaurants permanently closed,” a message on the company’s U.S. website says. “Effective from May 22nd, GYG USA restaurants will cease trading. Thank you for your support.”

The chain also announced the move on Instagram, thanking customers and employees in Chicagoland, where all eight of its U.S. restaurants were located.

“After six years of burritos and big dreams in Chicagoland, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our US restaurants,” the post read. “To every guest who came through our doors – you chose us, and we never took that for granted.”

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“To our team – thank you. Your passion and your purpose built something special. If you’re ever in Australia, Singapore or Japan, come find us – we’ll have your favs waiting for you. Chicagoland, Thank you!”

The shutdown marks a sharp reversal for Guzman y Gomez, which had recently reaffirmed its intent to expand in the U.S. market. The company (ASX: GYG) was founded in Australia by native New Yorkers Steven Marks and Robert Hazan and made its U.S. debut in 2020 with ambitions to build a much larger American footprint.

“I have always been confident in the differentiation of our food and guest experience, however this was not translating to an improvement in sales momentum,” Marks said in an Australian Securities Exchange announcement, Business News Australia reported.

“Having spent the last three months in the US, I realized this was going to take significantly more time and capital than we had expected.

“In assessing the trajectory of the current network, the board and I have concluded that the business is unlikely to deliver the performance that would justify continued investment of shareholder capital.”

FMR FAST FOOD CEO PREDICTS MORE RESTAURANTS WILL CLOSE NATIONWIDE OVER HIGHER PRICES

The company chose the Chicago area as its entry point. At the time, its founders said they intended to open “hundreds, if not thousands” of Guzman y Gomez locations across the country.

Instead, the company is exiting the U.S. entirely, which has helped is stock price in Australia surge more than $3 Australian from $18.05 to $21.10 when the news dropped Friday morning.

“We have a long runway ahead of us in Australia as we progress towards our longterm target of 1,000 restaurants and segment underlying EBITDA as a percentage of network sales of 10%,” Marks said.

“Concentrating our capital, focus and infrastructure behind this opportunity is the most effective way to compound shareholder value over the long term.”

The retreat comes as U.S. restaurants face pressure from cautious consumers, higher food costs and declining traffic.

ITALIAN RESTAURANT CHAIN FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY, CITING INFLATION AND HIGHER INTEREST RATES

TheStreet reported that three in 10 Americans have cut back on retail spending and restaurant visits compared with a year earlier, citing S&P Global data. Food-away-from-home prices rose 39.3% from January 2019 to January 2026, far faster than in the previous seven-year period, according to the same report.

Those headwinds have weighed on chains across the industry, especially those trying to scale in crowded categories.

Guzman y Gomez positioned itself as a cleaner take on fast-casual Mexican food, touting no added preservatives, no artificial flavors, no added colors and no “unacceptable additives” on its Australian website.

Its U.S. closure leaves Chipotle — which has roughly 4,000 restaurants — without one of its smaller fast-casual Mexican challengers in the American market.

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RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner told Reuters the exit could be positive for Guzman y Gomez’s broader business because its U.S. operations had limited prospects and were weighing on earnings.

“The U.S. business had very low prospects of being successful, and the losses of the business were weighing down the earnings of the group so the sooner exit than anticipated is positive,” Toner said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The reported initiative centers on attempts to have Ra’am’s parent body — the Southern Faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel — officially designated as a terrorist organization.

According to the report, the proposed justification for such a designation would be allegations that the movement transferred donations and aid into the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war.

The effort is reportedly still in its early stages but comes as Israel’s political system faces growing uncertainty over the timing of the next national elections.

Sources close to Netanyahu reportedly argue that aid and financial transfers made to Gaza during wartime effectively constituted support for terrorist-linked entities operating inside the enclave.

Turning the proposal into reality, however, would require overcoming major legal and security obstacles.

Any move to classify the Southern Faction as a terrorist organization would reportedly necessitate changes to Israeli legislation, including amendments in the Knesset and revisions to definitions contained within Israel’s Counterterrorism Law.

The process would also require formal recommendations and legal opinions from Israeli security agencies, particularly the Shin Bet.

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio sharply rejected suggestions that President Trump is weakening U.S. policy toward Iran, insisting the administration will never allow the Islamic Republic to develop a nuclear weapon.

“The idea that somehow this president, given everything he’s already proven he’s willing to do, is going to somehow agree to a deal that ultimately winds up putting Iran in a stronger position when it comes to nuclear ambitions is absurd,” Rubio said.

“That’s just not going to happen,” he added.

Rubio made the remarks amid criticism from some quarters that the Trump administration is easing pressure on Iran and undermining “Operation Epic Fury,” a reference to prior U.S. actions against Iranian nuclear capabilities.

“Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon, certainly not as long as Donald Trump is President of the United States,” Rubio declared.

Veteran Shas lawmaker Yaakov Margi has informed party chairman Aryeh Deri that he does not intend to run in the next Knesset election, bringing an end to a lengthy political career that included more than two decades in the Knesset and senior government positions.

Margi has long been considered one of the most experienced and influential figures within the Shas movement, having served in a variety of key parliamentary and ministerial roles over the years.

In a statement issued following reports about his departure, Margi stressed that he is not severing ties with the party.

“The reports about my leaving the Shas movement are not correct. In recent days I spoke with the movement’s chairman, Rabbi Aryeh Deri, and expressed my desire not to be placed on the list for the next Knesset, after 23 years in which I served as a member of Knesset, director-general of the movement and Minister of Religious Affairs and Welfare. The movement chairman asked me to wait on the decision. I wish to clarify: I am not leaving the Shas movement. The Shas movement is my home. Any position assigned to me by the Council of Torah Sages and the movement chairman, I will fulfill with dedication and a sense of mission.”

Margi becomes the second Shas MK in recent days to announce plans to leave political life.

Just one week earlier, Moshe Arbel submitted his resignation from the Knesset.

In his resignation letter, Arbel explained that his decision was tied to the approaching end of the current Knesset term. He said he hopes to dedicate more time to his family, continue Torah learning, and complete a doctorate in law at Reichman University.

Shortly afterward, Arbel was appointed chairman of the Mehadrin company.

Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Yuval Inbar, a former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot and squadron commander, was identified as one of the two people killed in Sunday’s deadly light aircraft crash in the Jezreel Valley. He was 50 years old.

Inbar, a resident of Hagor, leaves behind his wife and three children and was still actively serving in the reserves at the time of his death. Authorities have not yet released the identity of the second victim.

The Southern Sharon Regional Council paid tribute to Inbar, stating: “Yuval, married to Lou, and father of Liah, Shalev, and Nevo, worked for years with dedication, responsibility, and a sense of mission for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.”

Southern Sharon Regional Council head Oshrat Gani Gonen also mourned his passing, saying: “My heart is with the Inbar family and with the Hagor community at this difficult time. Yuval was a man of values, a true citizen, a beloved and dedicated family man who, for many years, dedicated himself to significant and extraordinary work for the security of the State of Israel. This is a huge loss to his family, friends, and the entire community.”

The fatal crash took place Sunday morning when the light aircraft went down in an open area near Tel Adashim in the Afula region.

Emergency teams evacuated both victims from the wreckage in critical condition to Emek Hospital, where doctors later pronounced them dead.

MDA paramedic Maor Atedagi described the scene upon arrival.

“This is a serious incident. We arrived at the scene with ambulances, intensive care vehicles and immediate response motorcycles. They led us through the field to the plane that crashed. The plane had severe damage to the fuselage and two men were lying nearby.”

Atedagi said medics immediately discovered the victims were in critical condition.

“They were unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. We immediately began performing advanced CPR and evacuated them in MDA intensive care units to the hospital in critical condition.”

{Matzav.com}

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company to buy Chinese satellite equipment linked to its drone program, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Leaked commercial contracts and shipping records from the company show that the IRGC’s Aerospace Force reportedly acquired a Chinese-made 4.5-meter motorized satellite antenna manufactured by StarWin in late 2025. 

The technology was reportedly sent from Shanghai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas aboard the Chinese container ship Zhong Gu Yin Chuan. 

After landing in Dubai on August 28, 2025, the ship left behind a container, which was then collected on November 23, 2025, by the Iranian Rama III, according to the Financial Times.

This ship’s GPS showed that the Rama III sailed from the Persian Gulf, pausing briefly off the coast of Oman; however, upon reviewing satellite imagery from the same day, the Financial Times found that the ship was not in its reported position, indicating that the vessel may have been “spoofing.”

Satellite footage shows vessel entering Bandar Abbas port

Four days later, on November 29, the Financial Times reported that satellite imagery of Bandar Abbas showed a vessel of the same size and color as the Rama III entering the port.

The shipment, which was dated October 2025 and described in customs documents seen by the Financial Times as “antenna and accessories,” weighed nearly 1.8 tonnes split across six cases.

According to a contract seen by the Financial Times, Telesun – a self-described “UAE-based provider of fixed and mobile satellite communications systems across the Middle East and North Africa” – acquired the equipment on behalf of Ertebatat Faragostar Kish (EFK), an Iranian telecommunications company working on a project for Iran’s Saman Industrial Group.

Telesun, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, and Iran’s London embassy did not respond to the Financial Times’s request for comment.

Chinese companies reportedly planning clandestine arms sales to Iran

Two weeks ago, The New York Times, citing US officials, reported that Chinese companies have been plotting to carry out clandestine arms sales to Iran, transporting weapons through other countries to hide the origin of the materials.

According to the report, the US has gathered intelligence indicating that Chinese companies have been in communication with Iranian officials regarding arms sales.

It is unclear whether any weapons have been shipped yet or how many sales have been approved by Chinese officials, and, according to the NYT, US officials briefed on the matter disagree on those specifics.

The anonymous US officials shared that at least one of the countries China was planning to use to hide the origin of the weapons shipments was in Africa.

US officials allegedly do not believe that the Chinese government has formally approved of moves to supply finished weapons to Iran, but they noted that it is unlikely that the government did not know about communications between Iran and Chinese companies.

Goldie Katz contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here.

Americans are firing up their grills this Memorial Day weekend under the weight of mounting financial strain, with new polling showing a broad cross-section of voters changing how they shop, blaming President Trump for higher costs, and souring on the economy at rates not seen in years.

A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents told CNN pollsters they had altered their grocery store purchases in recent months to stay within budget. 59 percent of Americans said they had cut back on extras and entertainment.
More than three-quarters of Americans, including 55 percent of Republicans, said Trump’s policies had driven up the cost of living in their communities.

The discontent is bipartisan and deepening. Nearly half of voters rated the economy “poor” in the latest New York Times/Siena College survey, an 11-point jump since January. Gallup reported this week that economic confidence has sunk to a four-year low.

Gas prices have climbed alongside grocery bills. The national average for a gallon of regular hit $4.56 ahead of Memorial Day, according to AAA, the highest level for the holiday in four years and $1.38 above where it stood a year ago. The auto club tied the surge to the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has kept crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel.

Nearly 80 percent of voters — a majority of Republicans among them — said the Trump administration bears responsibility for the price spike, according to a Fox News poll released this month. Large majorities also faulted oil companies, the war in Iran and government regulations.

The Fox survey found 57 percent of voters saying Mr. Trump’s policies have hurt the country, up from 51 percent who said the same a year earlier.

The shift in consumer behavior has been swift. Shoppers across party lines described trading down to cheaper brands, skipping nonessentials and pulling back on dining out and weekend outings — the kind of belt-tightening that economists watch as a leading signal of softening demand.

For the White House, the polling lands at an inopportune moment. Memorial Day traditionally opens the summer travel season, and the combination of record holiday traffic and four-year-high pump prices has put the cost of living squarely in front of voters as the midterm election cycle gets underway.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The United States and Iran are reportedly moving closer to a broad interim agreement that could dramatically lower tensions in the Middle East, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping, and restart negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, according to details emerging from ongoing diplomatic talks.

Sources familiar with the negotiations said the developing memorandum of understanding would create a 60-day cease-fire arrangement aimed at freezing military escalation while both sides work toward a longer-term deal. The proposal would also pave the way for Iran to resume oil exports and broader international trade in exchange for nuclear-related concessions and regional de-escalation.

The negotiations gained urgency amid reports that the United States had recently been preparing possible military strike options against Iran before diplomatic momentum accelerated over the weekend.

President Donald Trump had reportedly been weighing a military response against a negotiated settlement but shifted toward diplomacy by last night, according to officials cited in the report.

Another significant element emerging from the talks is Trump’s reported effort to persuade Arab states involved in the mediation process to join the Abraham Accords as part of a broader regional realignment.

Sources indicated that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were among the nations encouraged to participate in a wider normalization framework connected to the negotiations. It remains uncertain whether any governments have formally accepted those conditions.

Officials familiar with the discussions stressed that the proposed arrangement is intended as a temporary framework rather than a final peace agreement.

Under the current proposal, Iran would receive meaningful economic relief, but American officials emphasized that the strategy remains based on what they described as “relief for performance,” meaning sanctions relief would continue only if Tehran complies with its obligations.

One of the central provisions of the draft agreement is a 60-day cease-fire period that could later be extended if both sides agree. During that time, military operations and direct escalation would reportedly pause while negotiations continue.

The framework also calls for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to unrestricted international shipping. Iran would reportedly agree to remove naval mines believed to have been deployed in the waterway and permit free commercial passage without tolls or interference.

In exchange, the United States would reportedly loosen restrictions on Iranian ports and issue sanctions waivers allowing Tehran to resume oil exports on a broader scale.

The agreement would also restart negotiations surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. Iran would reportedly pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons and would enter discussions regarding limits on uranium enrichment and reductions to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

According to U.S. officials, Iranian representatives have already delivered verbal assurances through mediators regarding possible concessions.

Despite the cease-fire arrangement, the United States would reportedly maintain its current military posture in the region throughout the negotiation period. Any major reduction of American forces would occur only if a permanent agreement is ultimately finalized.

Another complicated issue in the negotiations involves the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Sources said the proposed framework contains language aimed at ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah along the northern border.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly expressed concerns about parts of the developing agreement during a recent conversation with Trump.

Officials said representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan participated in discussions supporting the framework.

Despite growing optimism surrounding the talks, negotiators acknowledged that major disagreements remain unresolved.

Iran reportedly pushed for immediate access to frozen assets and permanent sanctions relief, but the United States rejected those demands, insisting broader economic relief would depend on verified Iranian compliance.

There were also indications that Iranian officials may not yet fully support every provision outlined by American negotiators.

Questions additionally remain over whether Tehran would ultimately uphold commitments related to the Strait of Hormuz and whether it would agree to meaningful nuclear limitations.

The White House is reportedly hoping to announce the framework as early as Sunday, though officials cautioned that negotiations remain fragile and the deal could still unravel before any agreement is formally implemented.

Yaakov Shwekey returns with an all-new English EP, Happiness, featuring four original songs that blend uplifting summer energy with powerful messages of gratitude, Jewish pride, and joy. Produced by Yaakov Shwekey and Yitzy Waldner, the project delivers a fresh, contemporary sound while staying deeply rooted in emotion and meaning.

The EP opens with “Thank You,” a reminder to recognize the everyday blessings and hidden moments of gratitude that often go unnoticed. “Ani Yehudi” serves as a powerful anthem of Jewish identity and resilience, reflecting on generations of struggle, survival, and unwavering pride. The title track, “Happiness,” draws inspiration from the Abarbanel’s famous encouragement to the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, that even in moments of darkness, a Jew must never let go of joy. Closing out the project is “Soulful,” a song centered around the power music has to shape emotions, elevate the soul, and bring a person somewhere deeper.

Musically, the EP moves between uplifting pop, emotional ballads, and energetic anthems, creating a listening experience that feels both modern and timeless. Windows down, volume up! This collection was made to be blasted all summer long.

(JNS) – Israel has compiled a list of thousands of terrorists tied to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and is systematically targeting them for killing or capture, according to a May 20 report in The Wall Street Journal.

An Israeli task force, drawing on military intelligence and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), has identified terrorists using video footage, facial recognition, intercepted communications and detainee interrogations, according to the report. Officials cited by the Journal said hundreds of names have already been “crossed off” the list in strikes across Gaza and beyond, including those of terrorists accused of involvement in attacks on Israeli communities and the Supernova music festival.

The targets range from senior Hamas figures to lower-level participants, including men accused of breaching the Gaza border fence or documenting attacks on mobile devices, the report said. Israeli officials told the Journal that terrorists can be marked for targeted killing if intelligence links them to the attacks, while others have been detained and are awaiting trial in Israel.

The campaign has continued during periods of ceasefire, with Israel saying it is pursuing those responsible for the assault that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.

After the Oct. 7 massacre, the worst since the Holocaust to befall the Jewish people, CUNY Law’s graduation ceremonies have turned into anti-Israel platforms in which students wave Palestinian flags and signs and chant pro-Gaza slogans.

Thursday’s graduation ceremony was no different. As each student walked on stage, they held up to the audience Palestinian flags and signs with slogans such as “CUNY DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE NOW!,” “JEWS AGAINST GENOCIDE,” “SILENCE = DEATH” and “NONE OF OUR TUITION FOR ISRAEL’S CRIMES.” On the other hand, no American flags were visible.

In the short video clip posted online illustrating this moment, not a single student veered from the terror-supporting script, while the audience whooped and cheered and clapped.

At CUNY Law’s first graduation ceremony following Oct. 7, a student speaker used her platform to heavily criticize Israel. After fierce backlash from then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other public officials, the school condemned the talk as hate speech.

As a result of the controversy, CUNY stopped allowing students to deliver remarks at the graduation ceremony, prompting students to file a lawsuit alleging that CUNY was violating students’ free speech rights.

HOUSE ADVANCES PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BILL AS TRUMP BACKS END TO CLOCK CHANGES, WITH RETAILERS, RESTAURANTS AND WORKFORCE POISED FOR ECONOMIC BOOST

By JBizNews Desk

May 23, 2026 — The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, May 22, voted 48-1 to advance the Sunshine Protection Act, folding the long-stalled measure into the broader Motor Vehicle Modernization Act and sending it to the House floor in what Congressional sponsors are billing as the most serious push in four years to lock the United States into permanent daylight saving time. President Donald Trump endorsed the vote Thursday evening on Truth Social, writing that “Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks,” and pledging to “work very hard” to see the bill signed into law.

The legislation, originally introduced by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), would permanently advance the nation’s clocks forward one hour, ending the twice-yearly springing forward and falling back that has governed American timekeeping for decades. Buchanan’s office confirmed the bill carries 32 bipartisan cosponsors in the House, with the Senate companion measure carrying 18 cosponsors. States such as Hawaii and most of Arizona that currently opt out of daylight saving would retain that flexibility under the bill’s framework.

For American businesses, the economic stakes are substantial. Chambers of Commerce across the country have historically backed permanent daylight saving time, citing extended evening daylight as a proven driver of after-work foot traffic into restaurants, retail centers, sporting venues and entertainment districts. Analysis from the JPMorgan Chase Institute has previously documented that the fall switch back to standard time triggers card-spending declines of between 2.2% and 4.9% depending on metro area, with supermarkets absorbing per-capita retail drops of nearly 6%. Locking in permanent daylight time would, in effect, eliminate that recurring autumn drag on consumer activity, delivering what one Orrin G. Hatch Foundation policy director previously described as “a stimulus package all on its own.”

Hospitality stands to be a primary beneficiary. PNC economist Kurt Rankin has noted that restaurants, hotels, golf operators, fuel retailers and outdoor recreation businesses capture outsized sales lifts from extended evening daylight, sectors that collectively employ tens of millions of American workers and remain central to small-business job creation. The National Retail Federation has historically backed daylight saving time as a tailwind for member sales, and the trade group has been actively examining the implications of a permanent shift on the broader retail economy.

The workforce productivity case is equally direct. University-based research has long documented that the spring-forward transition costs the average American worker roughly 40 minutes of sleep, producing measurable spikes in workplace errors, injuries and absenteeism in the days that follow. A 2014 University of Colorado Boulder study tied a 17% jump in traffic fatalities to the spring transition, while other peer-reviewed work has linked the biannual disruption to elevated heart attack and stroke risk in the immediate aftermath. Employers across manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and corporate sectors absorb those costs through lost output, higher insurance claims and degraded performance, a recurring annual tax on American labor productivity that the Sunshine Protection Act would eliminate outright.

Compliance and operational costs would also fall. Cities, school districts, transit systems, broadcasters and Fortune 500 IT departments collectively spend significant sums each year reconfiguring scheduling systems, signage, public clocks and software for the twice-annual shift, costs Trump highlighted in his Thursday statement, noting that “many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive.” For multinational corporations coordinating across U.S. time zones, a fixed national clock simplifies meeting logistics, payroll cycles and supply-chain coordination with international partners.

The bill’s prospects on the House floor remain uncertain. The Senate unanimously passed an earlier version of the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022 only to see it stall in the House, and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz has previously cautioned that there are “very real and complicated issues and countervailing arguments on both sides,” with sleep scientists and pediatric medicine groups continuing to lobby in favor of permanent standard time rather than permanent daylight time. But the 48-1 committee vote, the bipartisan cosponsor roster and direct White House backing mark the most favorable alignment for the measure since 2022.

For Congress, the calculation is increasingly an economic one. With the U.S. consumer economy representing roughly two-thirds of gross domestic product and small businesses driving the majority of net new job creation, even modest, durable tailwinds for retail and hospitality spending carry real macroeconomic weight. Eliminating the recurring productivity hit on the American workforce — across factories, offices, hospitals and the federal payroll itself — represents a rare piece of legislation with the potential to deliver measurable gains to GDP, employment and consumer activity without expanding the deficit. Whether the House converts this momentum into final passage will shape the daylight, and the economic rhythm, of every American workday going forward.

JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

A major political crisis is brewing inside Israel’s coalition after Degel HaTorah reportedly informed Prime Minister Netanyahu that it does not intend to advance the controversial draft law before the next elections.

According to Hebrew media reports, the message delivered Sunday night marks a dramatic escalation in the ongoing dispute surrounding the military draft status of yeshiva bochurim — one of the most explosive issues facing the current government.

Sources close to Netanyahu reportedly reacted furiously, accusing Degel HaTorah of never truly wanting a draft law in the first place.

“From the beginning they didn’t want a draft law,” officials in Netanyahu’s circle reportedly charged, while also accusing the party of attempting to shift the blame onto the prime minister.

The standoff threatens to further destabilize the coalition at a time of mounting political and security tensions across Israel.

Political insiders believe the decision is heavily tied to the position of Hagaon HaRav Dov Landau, who reportedly refuses to approve the current version of the law — viewed by many in the chareidi world as overly harsh — without the full agreement of Hagaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Senior Israeli security officials are reportedly expressing deep concern over the emerging agreement between the United States and Iran, warning that the proposed deal may ultimately endanger Israel’s long-term security interests.

According to a report by Channel 12, Israeli officials believe the agreement — which could reportedly be signed within days — would give Iran critical time to recover economically and militarily following months of conflict and international pressure.

“As it seems, this does not serve Israel’s interest,” senior officials reportedly warned.

Israeli security officials are said to be particularly focused on whether Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium will actually be removed from the country, as repeatedly promised by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Officials also reportedly fear that once sanctions are eased and tensions cool, “it will be hard for the Americans and us to go back and fight.”

The report further states that Israeli officials are troubled by the apparent lack of provisions dealing with Iran’s ballistic missile program and Tehran’s vast regional terror proxy network, including Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups across the Middle East.

Israeli officials are also emphasizing that any final agreement must preserve the IDF’s operational freedom in Lebanon amid ongoing threats from Hezbollah.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

JBizNews Desk
PARIS — Sunday, May 24, 2026

A Paris appeals court on Thursday found Airbus and Air France guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the 2009 crash of a Rio-to-Paris flight that killed 228 people, overturning a lower-court acquittal that had stood for nearly three years and reopening one of the most contested corporate-liability cases in European aviation.

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled that the French flag carrier and Europe’s largest aerospace manufacturer were “solely and entirely responsible,” ordering each company to pay 225,000 euros — roughly $261,000 — the maximum criminal fine allowed under French law for corporate manslaughter.

The financial penalties are relatively minor for companies of that scale, but the criminal convictions themselves are highly consequential: a rare instance of both an airline and an aircraft manufacturer being held criminally liable for a commercial aviation disaster.

Flight AF447, an Airbus A330 operating between Rio de Janeiro and Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew members aboard. The victims included 72 French citizens and 58 Brazilians. The aircraft’s black boxes were not recovered until 2011 following a deep-ocean search operation costing tens of millions of dollars.

Investigators later determined that the chain of events began when ice crystals blocked the aircraft’s pitot tubes — external sensors used to measure airspeed — causing unreliable speed readings during severe turbulence at high altitude.

The aircraft’s autopilot disconnected automatically when the data became inconsistent, forcing the pilots to fly manually under deteriorating conditions. Investigators concluded that the crew inadvertently placed the aircraft into an aerodynamic stall after pulling the nose upward, causing the wings to lose lift before the aircraft descended into the ocean.

The technical sequence itself has long been established. Thursday’s ruling instead focused on whether Airbus and Air France failed to adequately address the risks associated with the system failure.

The appeals court concluded that Airbus underestimated the dangers linked to pitot tube malfunctions and failed to provide sufficient warnings to airlines regarding the severity of the risk. Air France was separately found to have inadequately trained pilots to respond to high-altitude instrument failures and emergency manual-flight conditions.

The verdict marks a sharp reversal from the companies’ acquittal in 2023, when a lower French court ruled there was insufficient evidence proving a direct causal link between corporate decisions and the crash itself. While civil liability had already been established previously, criminal responsibility had been rejected.

Families of the victims, led by the association Entraide et Solidarité AF447 and its president Danièle Lamy, appealed the acquittal and secured the retrial that ultimately produced Thursday’s ruling.

Airbus moved quickly Thursday to signal that the legal battle is far from over.

In a statement issued from Toulouse, the company acknowledged the ruling while emphasizing that the appeals court’s decision contradicted both the earlier acquittal and prior conclusions reached by French investigating magistrates and prosecutors.

Airbus said it would immediately appeal to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court for criminal and civil matters. Air France is widely expected to pursue the same course.

Any further proceedings will focus less on the facts of the crash itself and more on the legal standards and reasoning used by the appeals court in assigning criminal responsibility.

For investors, the market reaction reflected the broader reputational implications more than the direct financial cost. Airbus shares fell roughly 4.3% in Paris trading Thursday, while Air France-KLM shares declined nearly 1%.

The AF447 disaster already reshaped global aviation standards years ago. Regulators and airlines revised pitot tube specifications, expanded pilot training for unreliable airspeed events and increased emphasis on manual handling of aircraft during automation failures.

The crash became one of the most heavily studied incidents in modern pilot training programs, particularly around how crews respond when automated systems unexpectedly transfer control back to humans during high-stress emergencies.

What changed Thursday was not aviation procedure but the legal record.

After 17 years, multiple investigations, two major trials and a sustained campaign by victims’ families, a French court has now placed criminal responsibility directly on both the aircraft manufacturer and the airline operator.

Whether those convictions ultimately survive the next round of appeals will determine whether AF447 is remembered primarily as a tragedy that transformed aviation safety — or as one of the rare cases where Europe’s aviation establishment was criminally held to account.

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

An Iraqi national trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump, the Jewish daughter of US President Donald Trump, in retaliation for the 2020 US killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the New York Post reported Friday.

The suspect was identified as Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, a militia commander in Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah and an IRGC operative who is also accused of carrying out a string of recent attacks on Jewish targets in Europe and North America. Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey on May 15 and extradited to the United States, where he was charged by the US Justice Department with six counts of terrorism-related offenses tied to nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the US.

According to the Post, which cited sources familiar with the investigation, Al-Saadi made a formal “pledge” to kill Ivanka Trump and was found in possession of blueprints of her home in Florida. He had also posted on his X account a map of the area in Florida where Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, reside, accompanied by an Arabic-language message that translated to: “I say to the Americans look at this picture and know that neither your palaces nor the Secret Service will protect you.”

Entifadh Qanbar, a former deputy military attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Washington who now serves as president of the Future Foundation, told the Post that Al-Saadi spoke openly of avenging Soleimani after the general’s death. “After Qasem was killed, he went around telling people, ‘We need to kill Ivanka to burn down the house of Trump the way he burned down our house,'” Qanbar said. “We heard that he had a plan of Ivanka’s house in Florida.”

Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad’s international airport in January 2020, in an operation ordered by Trump during his first term. According to Qanbar, Al-Saadi was raised in Baghdad primarily by his Iraqi mother before being sent to Tehran for training with the IRGC, where he came to view Soleimani as a personal mentor. A federal criminal complaint includes a photograph from Al-Saadi’s Snapchat account showing him with Soleimani.

Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, is currently serving as one of the administration’s key negotiators in the ongoing diplomatic track between the United States and Iran, lending the alleged plot added geopolitical weight as Washington and Tehran continue to work toward an end to the Israel-Iran war.

The Justice Department said court filings show Al-Saadi was involved in bombings, stabbings, arson, and plots against shuls and US-linked facilities. Among the attacks attributed to him are the firebombing of a Bank of New York Mellon office in Amsterdam in March, a shooting at the US consulate building in Toronto in March, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London in April. He is also accused of involvement in the bombing of a shul in Liège, Belgium, and a series of arson attacks across the continent. Researcher and former hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov said Al-Saadi maintained close connections to Soleimani and later to his successor, Esmail Qaani.

Federal investigators allege that Al-Saadi used an Iraqi service passport and a travel agency as cover to move between countries and coordinate with terror cells, while frequently posting on social media in a manner that ultimately aided in his identification. He is being held in solitary confinement in federal custody in New York.

The alleged plot is the latest in a series of Iranian retaliatory schemes targeting senior US officials uncovered since Soleimani’s killing. Pakistani national Asif Raza Merchant was charged in September 2024 with seeking to hire a hitman to assassinate unidentified US politicians and testified in his trial that he was pressured by the IRGC.

The IRGC has been linked to multiple plots against former Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Three young children tragically lost their lives in separate hot car incidents over the past week, underscoring the ongoing dangers families face as temperatures rise heading into Memorial Day Weekend.

According to the advocacy group Kids and Car Safety, at least five children nationwide have already died in hot cars in 2026.

The recent tragedies include:

• A 2-month-old infant in Fredericksburg on May 20 after reportedly being left in a vehicle by the child’s mother.
• A 1-year-old child in Brookwood on May 20 after reportedly being left in a vehicle by the child’s father.
• A 4-year-old child in Los Angeles on May 19 after reportedly being left in a vehicle by a carpool driver.

Data collected by Kids and Car Safety shows that at least 1,177 children have died in hot cars nationwide since 1990, while another 7,500 survived with varying degrees of injury. Approximately 86% of the children who die are age 3 or younger, and more than half were unknowingly left behind by otherwise loving and responsible caregivers.

Safety advocates warn that long holiday weekends often coincide with an increase in vehicle-related child tragedies due to disrupted routines and schedule changes. In many cases, children who were supposed to be dropped off at daycare were unintentionally forgotten in the back seat.

Amber Rollins, Executive Director of Kids and Car Safety, said the tragedies are entirely preventable.

“Somewhere today, a parent is kissing their baby goodbye, completely unaware that a routine day could end in tragedy,” Rollins said. “A simple reminder habit, a check of the back seat, or lifesaving technology can spare a family a lifetime of grief.”

Advocates are also renewing calls for federal action on occupant detection technology in vehicles. A provision passed as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue regulations by November 2023 mandating technology designed to help prevent hot car deaths in new vehicles. According to Kids and Car Safety, the final rule is now more than two years overdue.

The organization says automakers do not need to wait for federal regulations and can begin implementing the technology immediately.

Parents and caregivers are urged to take extra precautions, including placing essential items such as phones, handbags, work badges, or diaper bags in the back seat as reminders to check for children before exiting the vehicle. Safety experts also recommend asking childcare providers to immediately call if a child does not arrive as scheduled.

Families are additionally reminded to keep vehicles locked at all times and ensure children cannot access parked cars unattended.

TLS readers are encouraged to share ideas, habits, products, or technology they have personally found effective in helping prevent children from being left in vehicles. Community awareness and shared safety practices may help save lives.

Walmart Inc. confirmed in internal memos circulated to staff on Friday, May 22, 2026, that two of its senior executives are departing the company. Tom Ward, chief operating officer of warehouse-club arm Sam’s Club, is retiring, and Cedric Clark, executive vice president of U.S. store operations, is leaving the business altogether. The memos, distributed from Walmart’s Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters, mark the first major leadership turnover under new chief executive John Furner, who succeeded Doug McMillon in February as Walmart’s sixth chief executive in company history.

The internal communications said a replacement for Clark will be named in the “coming weeks.” The timing of Ward’s succession at Sam’s Club has not been disclosed. Both departures come roughly four months into Furner’s tenure and follow the four senior executive elevations he announced in January when he took the top job.

The leadership turnover arrives during a period of sustained operational strength at Walmart. The company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings on Thursday, May 21, with mixed results, telling investors its business remains strong despite consumer pressures from elevated gas prices and the lingering economic strain of the U.S.-Iran war. Walmart’s e-commerce and delivery network now reaches 95% of U.S. households in under three hours, a capability the company has built through aggressive investment in supply chain technology and fulfillment automation.

Furner, a 32-year Walmart veteran who previously ran Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club U.S., has signaled from the outset that his agenda centers on consolidating decision-making and harnessing artificial intelligence across retail operations. In a January statement, Furner said: “As AI rapidly reshapes retail, we are centralizing our platforms to accelerate shared capabilities, freeing up our operating segments to be more focused on and closer to our customers and members.”

That centralization push is the strategic context for the latest departures. Walmart has invested heavily in generative AI shopping tools, automated fulfillment, and a platform consolidation strategy that pulls historically separate operating units — Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, and Walmart International — onto shared digital infrastructure. The reorganization has elevated technologists and platform leaders while compressing the traditional store-operations hierarchy that Clark oversaw.

Furner’s January reshuffle installed Daniel Guggina as the new chief operating officer of Walmart U.S., replacing Furner himself in that role. Chris Nicholas, formerly chief executive of Sam’s Club U.S., was promoted to president and chief executive of Walmart International, succeeding Kathryn McLay, who departed the company on April 30, 2026, after a decade of service. Latriece Watkins stepped up to lead Sam’s Club U.S. The company also added Shishir Mehrotra, chief executive of Superhuman and former leader at Grammarly, to its board of directors in January, deepening the technology bench at the governance level.

The board has telegraphed strong support for the transition. Lead independent director Randall Stephenson noted in Walmart’s 2026 proxy statement that the succession has been “seamless” and that the board “remains highly engaged in talent development and succession planning.” Chairman Greg Penner, a member of the Walton family that founded the company, has publicly endorsed the centralization strategy.

The financial backdrop is robust. Walmart returned $15.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases in fiscal 2026 and authorized a new $30 billion share repurchase program. The company posted $483 billion in U.S. net sales and more than $713 billion in total revenue. Its market capitalization places it among the most valuable U.S. companies by enterprise scale, behind only the largest Magnificent 7 technology names.

The departing executives leave substantial legacies. Tom Ward, a longtime Walmart veteran, was central to building out Sam’s Club’s member experience and supply chain capabilities during a period of intensifying rivalry with Costco. Cedric Clark oversaw store operations across Walmart’s roughly 4,600 U.S. stores, responsible for execution at the physical heart of the business — the in-store experience that still generates the majority of company revenue despite the rapid growth of e-commerce.

The pattern of senior departures and internal promotions suggests Furner is consolidating authority around a smaller, more technology-focused leadership group. That mirrors the playbook used by other large-cap retailers — including Target under chief executive Brian Cornell and Amazon under chief executive Andy Jassy — as they reorganize around AI-enabled supply chain, merchandising, and customer-service capabilities.

For investors, the leadership churn at Walmart is being read as confirmation that Furner intends to move quickly. The company has long been seen as a deliberate, slow-changing institution under Doug McMillon’s 11-year tenure. Furner’s willingness to reshape his executive bench within four months marks a notable shift in pace. Whether that velocity translates into accelerated earnings growth, faster e-commerce gains against Amazon, and stronger differentiation against Costco and Target will be the central question heading into the company’s fiscal second-quarter results later this summer.

For Walmart’s more than two million U.S. associates and its global workforce, the message from the top is clear. The company that has dominated American retail for two decades is preparing for a different kind of next decade, and the leadership team being assembled in Bentonville reflects that bet.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

A 25-year-old Hendon man has been charged with racially and religiously aggravated assault after two Jewish men were attacked outside a local shul on Shavuos night, police announced Sunday.

Daniel Nikzamir, of Sunningfields Road, NW4, faces two counts of racially or religiously aggravated assault by beating, one count of assault by beating, and charges of racially aggravated criminal damage. The incident occurred at approximately 9 p.m. on May 21 on Sunningfields Road, where dozens of Yidden had gathered for the Yom Tov outside the shul.

Two victims sustained minor injuries.

Nikzamir was detained by members of the public before Metropolitan Police officers arrived at the scene within ten minutes. He appeared at Willesden Magistrate’s Court on May 23, pleaded not guilty, and was released on bail pending a hearing at Harrow Crown Court on June 22.

One shul member told the Daily Mail that a victim was “punched in the face, breaking his glasses.”

Detective Superintendent Will Lexton-Jones of the Metropolitan Police’s North West Basic Command Unit said: “Incidents of this nature rightly cause concern in the community. We continue to offer support to local residents, particularly to the two men who were victims of this alleged attack.”

The charges are the latest development in a troubling pattern of antisemitic violence across north London. The attack follows stabbings of two Jewish men in nearby Golders Green last month and the beating of an Israeli man overheard speaking Hebrew, also in Golders Green.

Police said that since the end of March, more than 90 hate crime arrests have been made across London, over 70 of them for antisemitic offenses. A Community Protection Team of 100 officers has been established, integrating neighborhood policing, specialist protection, and counter-terrorism capabilities to enhance security for Jewish communities.

Multiple news reports surfaced Thursday alleging that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani paid several visits to a Muslim cleric who has engaged in Holocaust denial and celebrated Oct. 7.

Mamdani met with Sheikh Fadhel Al-Sahlani, imam of the Al-Khoei Islamic Center in Jamaica, Queens, at least three times in the past year and a half, at one point saying of a visit paid to the mosque, “It feels like returning home to be here.”

Even pro-Israel leaders, however, do not have clean hands in this regard. Former NYC mayors Michael Bloomberg and Eric Adams also visited the cleric with antisemitic leanings.

Al-Sahlani praises Hamas from the pulpit. (Credit: Al-Khoei Islamic Center)

The Iraqi native said in an interview with the New York Sun in January 2006 that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust “has been exaggerated.”

“The numbers which have been mentioned are too much,” Al-Sahlani told Sun reporter Russell Berman. “The numbers, the reasons, we have to study more.” He even supported “Iran’s proposal to hold a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran, saying there is ‘nothing wrong with studying more,'” the Sun reported at the time.

Mamdani and Al-Sahlani shake hands warmly. (From a Facebook post)

The conference, which took place in December 2006 and was called the “International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust,” had been organized by Iran’s former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and it drew all manner of Holocaust deniers and skeptics, who used it to delegitimize the State of Israel.

“It is a kind of dream,” Al-Sahlani said in response to the Sun reporter’s question about Ahmadinejad’s desire to destroy Israel. “But we have to be realistic. Even we have to accept a fact that we don’t like.”

Mamdani takes the pulpit at Al-Sahlani’s mosque. (YouTube screengrab)

Fast forward to November 2023, shortly after the worst massacre to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Al-Sahlani celebrated the actual attempted genocide of Israelis.

“One movement can make a great change,” he said in a sermon. “What we are witnessing is that one movement, Hamas, has made a big difference not only for the Arab Muslim world, but the whole world, the whole world, mashallah [Allah has willed it].”

Turkey’s main opposition party accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his allies of carrying out a “judicial coup” after riot police stormed CHP headquarters in Ankara on Sunday following a three-day standoff inside the building.

The crisis began after a Turkish appeals court annulled the CHP’s 2023 leadership election, removed party leader Ozgur Ozel and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who lost to Erdogan in Turkey’s 2023 presidential election, and a much weaker opponent to Erdogan than Ozel.

Ozel refused to recognize the ruling and remained inside party headquarters with supporters. Turkish media reported police later entered the building using tear gas, shields and plastic bullets while forcing their way floor by floor through the headquarters.

“This is a judicial coup,” Ozel said during the standoff, accusing Erdogan’s government of trying to remove the opposition through the courts after failing to defeat it politically.

The CHP, founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is Turkey’s main secular opposition party and is currently led by Ozgur Ozel. The party emerged as Erdogan’s strongest political challenge after major victories in the 2024 municipal elections.

After police entered the building, Ozel and supporters marched toward the Turkish parliament in Ankara. “CHP is in the streets from now on,” he declared, raising the question going forward of whether Erdogan’s opponents can still freely organize and compete for power in Turkey.

NEW YORK (AP) — First, the bad news.

Users of credit cards that accrue airline miles and points toward various travel perks are likely to find their balances won’t take them as far this summer.

As jet fuel prices have jumped during the Iran war, so have the cost of airline tickets and fees for checking bags. Airfares in April were 21% higher than a year earlier, the Labor Department reported last week. Flights already are more expensive during the summer since there’s more demand.

That means travelers who wanted to use an airline-branded credit card or a travel rewards card from a bank with a specific trip or a first-class seat in mind may have to shell out some cash, choose a different destination or fly at inconvenient times to get the most out of their accounts, travel experts say.

Frequent flyers
In the early years of frequent flyer programs, airlines published tables that showed customers how much a higher class of service or flying a certain distance would cost in miles. Nearly all airlines now continuously adjust their airfares, an algorithim-powered strategy known as dynamic pricing.

Flights priced in points are based on overall demand, just like regular fares. The cash value of those seats often will roughly equal the same in points. Higher airfares typically translate into needing more miles or points to buy a ticket.

Long before the current disruption to global oil supplies, consumers, a pair of U.S. senators and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cried foul over the airline practice of increasing the number of points or miles needed to earn a free flight or offering fewer redeemable seats before people could cash in their loyalty stockpiles.

“There’s no question that dynamic award pricing, higher redemption rates on some domestic routes, and added fees have made it harder to find the outsized deals that travelers enjoyed a decade ago,” said Brian Kelly, the travel and credit card rewards expert better known as The Points Guy. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean points have lost value. It just means consumers need to be more strategic about how they redeem them.”

Earning loyalty
Now, the better news.

There are a lot of ways to accrue airline miles, and most don’t come with an expiration date. Signing up for an airline’s frequent flyer program is the simplest method and usually doesn’t cost anything. Depending on the carrier, members can earn miles when they fly with the airline or its partners and can redeem them for perks like discounted flights, seat upgrades or checked bags. Higher tiers of loyalty programs can also unlock benefits like priority boarding or waived baggage fees.

Major airlines also partner with banks to market co-branded credit cards that carry an annual fee. The cards earn users miles whenever they buy something.

“When you’re going to spend money anyway, you might as well get something back for it,” said Adam Morvitz, a credit card miles expert and CEO of point.me, a travel loyalty platform. “If you’re already buying groceries, paying for gas or booking a hotel, a travel rewards card turns that everyday spending into points that can fund your next trip.”

This is where being a frequent flyer or having an airline credit card might yield summer savings. To offset their jet fuel costs, some U.S. airlines have raised the checked baggage fees for domestic flights and many short-haul international flights. United Airlines raised the price of the first checked bag from $40 to $50. Delta Air Lines’ first checked bag fee went from $35 to $45.

The airlines still are allowing customers in the upper tiers of their loyalty programs or who hold credit cards like the Delta SkyMiles Card from American Express or United’s card with Chase to check a bag for free.

Extra miles
Financial institutions like American Express, Chase Bank and CitiBank issue their own travel credit cards that supply points with purchases. Travelers that want the option of flying with more airlines tend to favor these. Depending on the card, perks can include airport lounge access, travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees and TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credits.

“For those who spend responsibly, the value is incredible as you’re able to get more in value from the perks, even if there is an annual fee,” he said.

For beginners, Morvitz recommends flexible points cards over airline-specific options because they can be transferred across loyalty programs and provide more redemption options if an airline changes its award pricing. He said consumers should match a card to their actual spending habits — such as choosing cards with bonus categories for groceries or dining — while also considering whether annual fees are justified by the benefits they’ll actually use.

A lot of banks are promoting sizable sign-up bonuses while people make summer plans, such as offering 100,000 miles or even 150,000 miles or points to new customers who qualify and spend a certain amount of money within a specific period — usually the first three months. Kelly said the bonuses make it a good time to get one of these cards, which might make trips more affordable for people needing extra points.

Those sign-up offers also can be among the most valuable features of rewards cards, sometimes worth more than $1,000 in travel, Morvitz said. But consumers should carefully track minimum spending requirements to qualify. He also recommends using category bonuses and shopping portals to maximize rewards and always attaching a frequent flyer number to airline reservations.

Pay as you go
The important thing to remember is that the value of a bank travel card or an airline loyalty card evaporates if you carry a balance. The average credit card interest rate is between 21% and 24%, so even carrying a $1,000 balance can quickly wipe out any savings from a complimentary checked bag.

“Travel rewards cards are one of the best financial tools available to responsible cardholders, but they’re designed for people who treat them like a debit card,” Morvitz said. “Spend what you’d spend anyway and always pay the balance in full each month. The moment you start carrying a balance and paying interest, the math works against you.”

Hotels are another place where travelers may not get as much from their rewards points this summer. Hyatt overhauled its loyalty program this week to take it from three tiers to five. While some lower-cost hotel stays will require the same number of points, the same might not be true for Hyatt’s more upscale properties.

The travel blog One Mile at a Time estimated that some of Hyatt’s most elite properties would cost as much as 67% more with points under the new system.

“If you’re sitting on hotel points, don’t sit and hoard them. … They quickly seem to be getting less valuable,” said Sally French, who covers credit cards and loyalty programs for Nerd Wallet.

The cost of buying a home in America just got sharply more expensive. Freddie Mac reported Thursday morning that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 6.51% for the week ending May 21, up from 6.36% a week earlier and the highest level in roughly nine months. A year ago, the same rate stood at 6.86%.

The jump, announced in Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, lands at the worst possible moment for the housing market. Spring is the season when most American families try to close on a home before summer moves and the new school year. Instead, buyers are watching their monthly payments climb week by week with no clear ceiling in sight.

Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, framed the shift bluntly in the release accompanying the data. He urged aspiring buyers to shop multiple lenders, noting that comparing quotes can save thousands as rates fluctuate. It was a quiet acknowledgment that the friendly rate environment many had banked on for 2026 has slipped away.

Other industry trackers showed conditions even tighter than Freddie Mac’s headline figure suggests. The Mortgage Bankers Association put the average 30-year rate at 6.56% through last Friday, a seven-week high. Mortgage News Daily, which tracks daily lender pricing rather than weekly averages, showed rates around 6.65% to 6.67% mid-week. Zillow’s lender survey pegged the average closer to 6.73%.

The driver is no mystery. The 10-year Treasury yield, the benchmark mortgage rates track most closely, has jumped roughly 15 basis points over the past week to about 4.6%. Bond investors are pricing in two related shocks at once: persistent inflation, after the April consumer price index showed prices rising 3.8% annually, and the economic fallout from the ongoing U.S.-Iran war, which has pushed oil prices sharply higher and rippled through the cost of everything from gasoline to manufactured goods.

Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said higher Treasury yields continued to push mortgage rates higher through the prior week, weighing on affordability and application activity. Purchase applications have softened in step with the climb.

Inside the Federal Reserve, the calculation has flipped. Just months ago, futures markets were pricing in cuts to the federal funds rate before year-end. Now, traders see essentially no chance of a 2026 cut and rising odds that the Fed’s next move could be a hike. That marks one of the more dramatic policy reversals of the cycle and reflects how seriously policymakers are taking the inflationary pressure from the oil-price spike tied to the Middle East conflict.

For households, the math is unforgiving. At 6.51%, the monthly principal-and-interest payment on a $400,000 loan runs about $2,529, versus $2,492 at 6.36% just one week earlier and $2,624 had rates climbed to 7%. Mortgage originators say a return to the 5% range is what would actually unlock the sidelined buyers who have been waiting since 2022. That five-handle now looks distant.

The supply side offers little relief. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said following the trade group’s latest existing-home sales release that inventory remains tight at a 4.4-month supply — well below the six months considered balanced. Existing-home sales ticked up just 0.2% in April to a 4.02 million annual pace, with the median price up 0.9% year over year to $417,800. Yun warned that unless supply meaningfully increases, home price growth could outpace wage growth and further erode the homeownership rate.

That leaves first-time buyers caught in the familiar squeeze: prices that won’t come down because inventory won’t come up, and financing costs that won’t come down because inflation won’t come down. Many are simply waiting. Nicholas Barta, division president at Security First Financial, said borrowers have psychologically adjusted to the mid-to-high-six range in a way they had not during the 2022–2023 spike, but the qualification math at 7% remains punishing.

For the spring season, the damage may already be done. Buyers who started shopping in March on the assumption that the Federal Reserve would soon cut, and that the 30-year would drift back into the high fives, are recalibrating in real time. Sellers are recalibrating too. Listings that sat through April at aspirational prices are starting to see cuts, particularly across parts of the South and West where inventory has loosened the most.

The path forward depends on factors well outside the housing market. A de-escalation in the Iran conflict and a meaningful drop in oil prices would pull Treasury yields lower and pull mortgage rates with them. A second inflation surprise in the May CPI report, due next month, would do the opposite. For now, the housing market is once again hostage to forces playing out thousands of miles away.

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Major U.S. and global commercial real estate lenders, including Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche Bank, have started aggressively unloading troubled property loans at steep discounts — in some cases taking losses of up to 85% — signaling that the long-running strategy known across the industry as “extend and pretend” is finally breaking down.

For the past three years, many banks avoided recognizing losses by repeatedly extending commercial real estate loans instead of forcing borrowers into default. Now, with interest rates still elevated, office buildings sitting half-empty, and hundreds of billions of dollars in debt coming due, lenders are beginning to accept painful losses rather than continue pretending troubled properties will recover quickly.

The shift is becoming visible across major U.S. cities.

In Manhattan, Shanghai Commercial Bank reportedly sold debt tied to a stalled condo conversion project at 335 W. 35th Street at roughly an 85% discount to the loan’s payoff amount. In Los Angeles, lenders led by Goldman Sachs seized control of the historic Radford Studio Center, with Netflix now reportedly negotiating to buy the property at a fraction of its previous valuation.

In San Francisco, investors tied to a $240 million commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) deal backed by the office tower at 600 California Street absorbed major losses after the underlying loan sale generated only about $101 million for bondholders.

Meanwhile, in Downtown Los Angeles, Brookfield Property Partners and its lenders are trying to offload nearly 5 million square feet of office space tied to distressed buildings — roughly 18% of the entire downtown office market.

The numbers behind the crisis are staggering.

According to Trepp, the commercial real estate data firm, the delinquency rate for office loans packaged into CMBS securities surged to a record 12.34% earlier this year — higher than the worst periods of the 2008 financial crisis. The overall CMBS special servicing rate climbed to 11.38% in April, with office buildings driving most of the distress.

The biggest problem is refinancing.

During the ultra-low interest-rate years of 2020 and 2021, many office landlords borrowed money at rates near 3% or 4%. Those same borrowers are now trying to refinance loans at rates closer to 6% or 7%, while simultaneously dealing with lower occupancy rates caused by remote and hybrid work.

Many buildings simply no longer generate enough rent to support the new financing costs.

Nationwide office occupancy remains stuck around 80%, according to CommercialEdge, well below the levels many buildings need to break even.

The scale of debt coming due is enormous.

The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates roughly $875 billion in commercial real estate loans will mature during 2026 alone. Banks hold nearly half of that exposure.

Regional banks remain especially vulnerable because many concentrated heavily in commercial property lending during the low-rate era.

Bank analysts have repeatedly flagged institutions including New York Community Bancorp, Valley National Bancorp, Western Alliance, Zions Bancorporation, and Cullen/Frost Bankers as among the most exposed to commercial real estate stress.

The issue matters far beyond Wall Street or large office towers.

When regional banks absorb losses, they often tighten lending across the board. That means small business owners, restaurant operators, doctors, contractors, and families seeking home equity loans can all face tougher borrowing conditions.

Banks in stressed markets are already demanding larger down payments, shortening loan terms, and raising financing requirements for small-business and commercial borrowers.

The crisis is also reshaping cities themselves.

Empty office towers in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, D.C., and parts of New York City are reducing property-tax revenue that local governments rely on to fund schools, police, transit systems, and city services.

San Francisco officials have already warned of structural budget gaps tied partly to collapsing downtown office values. Chicago and New York are facing similar pressures.

Politicians are increasingly pushing office-to-apartment conversions as a solution.

Congress recently advanced bipartisan legislation designed to encourage developers to convert older office buildings into housing as the U.S. faces an estimated 4.7 million-home shortage.

But the reality is more complicated.

Many office towers are difficult or prohibitively expensive to convert because of plumbing layouts, window spacing, elevator configurations, and zoning rules. Industry experts say only a relatively small percentage of distressed office buildings are actually suitable for residential conversion.

While banks are taking losses, large investment firms are moving in aggressively.

Private equity giants including Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Brookfield, Starwood Capital Group, and Carlyle Group have raised billions of dollars specifically to buy distressed commercial real estate loans at discounted prices.

Executives including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick have all described distressed commercial real estate as one of the biggest investing opportunities of the current cycle.

The basic strategy is simple: buy distressed assets cheaply, wait for markets to stabilize, and eventually profit when values recover.

There are early signs the worst may eventually pass.

Industry analysts say the market cannot recover until losses are finally recognized and bad loans clear through the system. Banks taking losses today may actually help reset the market faster by allowing new investors and new uses for old properties to emerge.

But the pain is unlikely to end quickly.

The more than $130 billion in distressed commercial real estate debt already circulating through the financial system is expected to continue pressuring banks, property owners, and city budgets well into 2027.

The lesson of the current cycle is becoming increasingly clear: the lenders who accepted smaller losses early are moving forward. The ones who waited the longest are now absorbing the deepest pain.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

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U.S. Southern Command, the Pentagon combatant command responsible for military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean, announced on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group has entered the Caribbean Sea as the Trump administration intensifies its economic, judicial, and diplomatic campaign against the Cuban government. The announcement, made through an official SOUTHCOM statement and a video posted to its X account, called the deployment “the epitome of readiness and presence, unmatched reach and lethality, and strategic advantage.”

The USS Nimitz is a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, effectively a floating military airbase capable of carrying dozens of fighter jets, surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and thousands of sailors and Marines. The broader carrier strike group includes guided-missile destroyers, support ships, radar systems, and combat aircraft designed to project American military power anywhere in the world without relying on foreign bases.

The strike group, deployed as part of the multinational Southern Seas 2026 maritime exercise, includes the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), the embarked Carrier Air Wing 17 of nine squadrons flying F/A-18C/E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, C-2A Greyhounds, and MH-60R/S Sea Hawks, the guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101), and the fleet oiler USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201). The carrier had recently completed joint naval exercises with the Brazilian Navy off Rio de Janeiro before transiting into SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility.

The timing carries unmistakable political weight. The carrier’s arrival coincided with three coordinated moves by Washington the same day. The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a federal criminal indictment against 94-year-old former Cuban leader Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, in which four people were killed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican and son of Cuban immigrants, released a Spanish-language video urging Cubans to reject what he called the island’s communist leadership. And President Donald Trump posted a presidential statement linking Cuba to the captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, writing that the indictment and removal of Maduro “sent a clear message to his socialist allies in Havana: this is our hemisphere, and those who destabilize it and threaten the United States will face consequences.”

For business and markets, the deployment reads as the climax of a months-long pressure campaign that has already reshaped the regional economic landscape. According to U.S. Treasury and State Department records, the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions on Cuba since January 2026. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard assets have intercepted at least seven oil tankers carrying fuel destined for the island. Trump signed an executive order on May 1 expanding restrictions on Cuba’s energy, defense, mining, and financial services sectors. The cumulative result, according to regional energy analysts, is an 80% to 90% collapse in Cuban energy imports, triggering blackouts lasting up to 25 hours per day across more than 55% of the island’s territory.

The economic implications stretch well beyond Cuba’s borders. The Caribbean is one of the most important commercial corridors in the Western Hemisphere, anchoring trade flows between the Port of Houston, Port of New Orleans, Port of Miami, and Latin American export hubs. Roughly 40% of U.S. waterborne foreign trade transits through the region. Major shipping lines including A.P. Moller-Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and Crowley Maritime route container traffic through nearby waters. Any sustained military presence raises insurance, routing, and compliance costs for commercial operators, even without direct military conflict.

Cruise operators are especially exposed. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, and MSC Cruises all run major Caribbean itineraries, including stops in Jamaica, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, and the Dominican Republic. The Caribbean cruise market generates roughly $30 billion annually in passenger spending across the region. Cruise stocks briefly fell last year when the USS Gerald R. Ford deployed to the Caribbean during the operation that resulted in Maduro’s capture. Investors are now watching closely for a similar market reaction tied to the Nimitz deployment.

The pressure campaign has also disrupted regional energy markets. With Cuba’s imports collapsing, fuel flows from Venezuela — historically Havana’s main supplier through subsidized oil agreements — have sharply declined. PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil company now operating under a transitional government after Maduro’s removal, has reduced shipments to Cuba. The shift has tightened diesel and heavy fuel oil supplies across parts of the Caribbean and Central America, raising costs for utilities, freight operators, and businesses dependent on imported energy.

Financial institutions are also feeling the impact. Cuba has been largely cut off from U.S. banking channels since the 1960s, but some European and Canadian banks have continued facilitating trade and remittance flows. Trump’s May 1 executive order expanded restrictions on financial services tied to Cuban entities, increasing compliance pressure on banks including Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, and Royal Bank of Canada. Money-transfer channels used by Cuban families are facing increased scrutiny as Washington tightens enforcement.

The Cuban-American business community in South Florida, centered in Miami-Dade County, has emerged as one of the strongest supporters of the administration’s hardline approach. The community includes major real estate, hospitality, banking, and trade interests that have long favored stronger pressure on Havana. Rubio, before becoming secretary of state, was one of the most influential advocates of that position in Washington. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also aligned the state’s economic and political agenda with the administration’s broader Caribbean strategy.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials last week, warning that negotiations would not remain open indefinitely. The administration is reportedly seeking concessions involving political prisoners, migration controls, and counternarcotics cooperation. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the indictment against Castro, calling it “a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation.”

For defense contractors, the deployment is quietly positive. Companies including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, General Dynamics, and Huntington Ingalls Industries benefit from ongoing carrier operations, maintenance cycles, munitions demand, and naval support contracts. Huntington Ingalls, which built all active Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, is also constructing the Navy’s next-generation Gerald R. Ford-class fleet. The USS Nimitz, commissioned in 1975, is scheduled for retirement in March 2027 following this deployment, making this one of its final major operations.

Regional governments are now navigating increasingly difficult trade and diplomatic calculations. Countries including Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic maintain significant migration, trade, tourism, and remittance ties with both Washington and Havana. Many are now assessing whether the administration’s tougher Cuba posture could expand more broadly across the hemisphere.

The Nimitz will eventually return to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia after completing its Caribbean mission. But the message sent by its arrival — to Havana, Caracas, Beijing, and global markets — is likely to outlast the carrier itself.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

A video circulating online shows a white nationalist wearing a T-shirt that says “Whites Against Replacement” harassing a Jewish man. Using obscenities, he pokes fun at the man’s appearance, calls him “Jew” using the word as an epithet, and tells him to “go to Israel.”

The exhortation to go to Israel is interesting in light of the fact that both extremes of the right and left are united on “Free Palestine” ideology.

LANGUAGE WARNING

A police officer stands in the background, watching quietly. At one point, the Jewish man engages with the police officer, but at no point does the officer attempt to stop the verbal assault.

Is this free speech? The answer is not so simple. Abusive speech directed at an individual, such as name calling, offensive and vulgar language and personal insults, is classified as “fighting words,” words that by design provoke a physical reaction and cause a fight. Fighting words are not protected under the First Amendment.

General insults directed at a crowd of people fall outside of this narrow classification, but it’s clear from the video that one person is directly targeted by “fighting words.”

If anyone knows the people in the video and a good lawyer, this is grounds for a lawsuit.

By JBizNews Desk

NEW YORK, May 24, 2026 — Nearly every American has received one at this point: the fake IRS call, the text claiming a package cannot be delivered, the urgent message pretending to come from a bank, hospital, or even a family member in distress.

Congress now says the problem has become large enough to demand answers directly from the country’s biggest telecommunications companies.

Representative David Schweikert, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Joint Economic Committee, and Senator Maggie Hassan, the New Hampshire Democrat serving as the committee’s senior member, sent a bipartisan letter Wednesday to AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., and T-Mobile US Inc. demanding detailed explanations of what the carriers are actually doing to detect, block, and prevent fraudulent calls and text-message scams moving through their networks.

The request comes as financial losses tied to scams continue rising sharply across the United States.

According to figures cited by the committee, scams cost Americans an estimated $200 billion during 2024. The Federal Trade Commission separately reported $16.6 billion in officially confirmed fraud losses last year, up roughly 33% from the prior year, while outside estimates suggest the true scale may be dramatically higher because many victims never report losses.

The financial damage has increasingly become concentrated among older Americans.

The FBI reported that seniors lost more than $4.8 billion to fraud schemes in 2024 alone, with many cases involving life savings wiped out through phone-based impersonation scams, investment fraud, romance scams, or fake emergency requests targeting retirees.

Lawmakers from both parties have spent the past year escalating scrutiny of what they increasingly describe as a highly organized international scam economy tied to criminal networks operating across Southeast Asia and other overseas jurisdictions.

The bipartisan nature of the congressional letter is itself notable in Washington.

Schweikert and Hassan rarely align publicly on major economic or regulatory issues, but both lawmakers argued the burden of scam detection has fallen too heavily on ordinary consumers rather than the communications companies transmitting the fraudulent traffic.

“Consumers need to be able to trust that the calls and texts they receive — from their doctor’s office or their child’s school, for example — are authentic,” the lawmakers wrote. “Scam communications, however, are increasingly difficult to distinguish from legitimate messages, and too much of the burden of detection is falling on customers.”

The committee is requesting detailed information from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile regarding how they identify suspicious activity, how many scam calls and texts they block, how they coordinate with law enforcement, and what actions are taken against bad actors once fraudulent traffic is detected.

The letter effectively asks the carriers to prove their anti-scam systems are working at a time when reported fraud losses continue climbing.

The pressure on telecom providers has been building since Congress passed the TRACED Act in 2019, legislation aimed at combating robocalls and spoofed phone numbers. The law authorized the Federal Communications Commission to require carriers to implement authentication technology known as STIR/SHAKEN, designed to verify whether incoming calls are actually originating from the numbers displayed on caller ID.

While the technology has reduced portions of spoofed traffic, enforcement gaps remain — particularly involving smaller carriers, international routing systems, and increasingly sophisticated scam operations capable of adapting around detection systems.

Congressional investigators now appear increasingly skeptical that the existing protections are enough.

The telecom industry is also not the only target.

Lawmakers have recently expanded scam-related investigations into social media platforms, artificial-intelligence companies, online dating services, and digital advertising systems increasingly used by criminal networks to locate victims and distribute fraudulent content.

Earlier this year, members of the bipartisan Stop Scams Caucus sent a similar letter to Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg after reports suggested Meta-owned platforms may have played a significant role in distributing scam advertisements and fraudulent content targeting American consumers.

Several lawmakers are also pursuing legislation aimed at disrupting the overseas criminal organizations orchestrating many of the operations.

For AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, the political implications extend beyond consumer complaints alone.

Telecommunications companies rely heavily on federal regulators and congressional support for spectrum access, merger approvals, infrastructure policy, and universal-service funding decisions. Sustained bipartisan criticism that consumers are losing billions through scams delivered across carrier networks could eventually lead to tougher reporting requirements, enforcement standards, or financial penalties.

At the moment, however, Congress is still primarily demanding transparency.

For consumers, the guidance from regulators and law enforcement remains consistent: government agencies, banks, hospitals, and legitimate businesses generally do not demand immediate payment through gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or urgent threats delivered over unsolicited calls or text messages.

Security experts continue advising Americans to independently verify any suspicious communication by contacting institutions directly through official phone numbers rather than responding through incoming messages.

The broader issue now confronting Washington is larger than individual scams themselves.

The United States has built one of the world’s most advanced communications infrastructures, yet criminal networks continue exploiting those systems at industrial scale to target ordinary Americans.

Congress is now asking the telecom industry a direct question: if the carriers possess the data, network visibility, and technical tools to identify fraudulent traffic, why are the losses still accelerating?

The answers may shape the next phase of federal regulation surrounding America’s phone networks — and determine how aggressively telecom companies are ultimately required to police the systems they operate.

JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

NEW YORK (VINnews) – Two New York City police officers are facing scrutiny after a photo circulated online appearing to show them displaying hand gestures linked to a violent street gang, prompting an internal NYPD investigation.

The image, which spread widely on social media, shows two uniformed officers wearing face coverings while posing with a civilian inside what appeared to be a fast-food restaurant. Former law enforcement officials familiar with gang activity said the gestures resembled symbols associated with the Mac Baller Brims, a faction connected to the Bloods gang.

The NYPD confirmed the matter is being reviewed by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

Former police officials said the photo raised concerns about professionalism and public perception, particularly given the department’s longstanding efforts to combat gang violence in the Bronx and other parts of the city.

A law enforcement source familiar with the situation said the officers were allegedly joking while taking the photo and did not expect it to become public.

Authorities have previously identified the Mac Baller Brims as a violent criminal organization connected to shootings, robberies and drug trafficking in New York City.

The incident comes as the NYPD continues efforts to rebuild its ranks amid recruitment challenges and increased public scrutiny of officer conduct.

(VINnews) – A 14-year-old boy was killed and another teenager seriously injured after the pair rode on top of a moving subway train across New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge, authorities said Saturday.

The incident happened Friday afternoon on a J train traveling from Manhattan into Brooklyn. Investigators said the two teens were riding atop the train when they came into contact with a low overhead structure on the bridge.

Emergency crews responding to the scene found both teens unconscious on the tracks. The younger boy was pronounced dead, while the 18-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

Story here 👉️ https://t.co/bwa3s5Q4qy A 14-year-old was killed and an 18-year-old was injured after falling from a J train while subway surfing on the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan on Friday. Another subway surfing incident happened at this same location last Friday. New… pic.twitter.com/y35cHauort

— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) May 23, 2026

Police are reviewing video footage as part of the investigation.

Residents gathered Saturday at the apartment building where the younger teen lived, leaving handwritten messages and paying tribute to him.

Neighbors described the boy as respectful and well-liked, saying the tragedy deeply affected the community.

The incident renewed attention on the dangerous trend known as “subway surfing,” where individuals climb onto the exterior of moving trains, often for social media videos or thrills.

Transit officials have repeatedly warned that the practice can result in catastrophic injuries or death, particularly on elevated tracks and bridges with limited overhead clearance.

City officials have launched multiple awareness campaigns in recent years aimed at discouraging the activity among young people after several fatal incidents involving minors.

by Menachem Friedman. Two weeks ago, I sat in a room where people decide who gets another chance at life.

I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

In Venice.
A city known for its beauty… hosting conversations that carry life-and-death weight.

About 150 leaders in transplant medicine from around the world.

Surgeons.
Innovators.
Researchers.

Including Enrico Benedetti Massimo Mangiola Giuliano Testa Lloyd Ratner MD MPH FACS FICS(Hon) Frank J.M.F. Dor, MD PhD FEBS(Hon) FRCS Shimul A. Shah, MD, MHCM Liza Johannesson, MD, PhD Bernie Tobin Charles Miller Dixon Kaufman Mikel Prieto and many others doing this work every single day.

For the first time, Renewal was invited into those conversations.

And even now…

It’s not the innovation that stays with me.

It’s the weight those people carry.

Because every conversation in that room had someone behind it.

A patient waiting.
A family hoping.
A clock that doesn’t slow down.

We talk about transplantation like it’s medicine.

But sitting there, you realize…

It’s people making impossible decisions in real time.

Who moves forward.
Who waits.
What risks are worth taking.
What chances are worth giving.

And then there’s the part that doesn’t show up in those rooms enough…

The person who says yes.

Not a doctor.
Not a researcher.

A regular person who chooses to give a part of themselves… so someone else can live.

That’s the part that stays with you.

Not the statistics.
Not the breakthroughs.

The quiet courage.
The responsibility.
The moments where everything comes down to a single decision.

What struck me most…

Was watching leaders from competing transplant centers openly share what’s working.

No ego.
No guarding information.

Just one goal:

Saving more lives.

That’s what real greatness looks like.

Grateful to Dr. Enrico Benedetti.

And deeply honored that Renewal now has a seat at this table.

Because this isn’t just the future of kidney, liver, and even uterus transplantation.

It’s a reflection of how far one human being is willing to go for another.

Russia launched one of its most devastating aerial barrages of the war against Ukraine overnight Sunday, firing hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv — including the powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile — in an attack that killed at least two people and wounded dozens more, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow used the Oreshnik missile during the assault, marking the third known deployment of the weapon since the war began more than four years ago.

The attack left destruction scattered across the Ukrainian capital and surrounding areas. Authorities reported damage near government facilities, apartment buildings, schools, markets, and commercial centers. Officials said at least 83 people were injured.

Zelenskyy stated on Telegram that the Oreshnik — a missile capable of carrying either nuclear or conventional warheads — struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region. Ukrainian officials did not immediately specify what the intended target had been.

Russia’s Defense Ministry later acknowledged using the Oreshnik along with multiple other missile systems during the overnight bombardment. Moscow claimed the strikes targeted Ukrainian “military command and control facilities,” airfields, and defense industry sites, though it did not identify specific locations.

Russian officials also insisted no civilian targets had been struck during the operation. According to Russian state media, the Defense Ministry described the attack as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes against “civilian facilities on Russian territory.”

The latest escalation came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned a Ukrainian drone strike on a dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Moscow blamed Kyiv for the attack and accused Ukraine of targeting civilians.

Putin said there were no military or security installations near the dormitory and directed the Russian military to prepare retaliatory measures.

Russian emergency officials later announced that the death toll from the strike in Starobilsk had climbed to 21 after rescue operations concluded Saturday night. Another 42 people were reported wounded. Kremlin-backed authorities in the Luhansk region declared Sunday and Monday official days of mourning.

During an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council convened at Russia’s request, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk rejected Moscow’s allegations of war crimes.

He dismissed the accusations as a “pure propaganda show” and maintained that the May 22 attacks “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

Since the opening months of the war, Ukraine and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Russia of deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. The Kremlin has consistently denied those allegations.

Russia first introduced the Oreshnik missile into combat in November 2024 during a strike on Dnipro. The weapon was deployed again earlier this year in western Ukraine’s Lviv region.

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Sunday’s attack involved approximately 600 drones and 90 missiles launched from air, sea, and ground platforms. Ukrainian defenses reportedly intercepted or jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles, while another 19 missiles failed to hit their intended targets.

Prior to the assault, Zelenskyy had warned that intelligence shared by the United States and other Western allies indicated Russia was preparing another Oreshnik strike.

European leaders quickly condemned the bombardment and the use of the hypersonic missile.

“Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers. These are abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible,” said Kaja Kallas in a post on X.

She added that European Union foreign ministers would soon meet to “discuss how to dial up the international pressure on Russia.”

Putin previously boasted that the Oreshnik — whose name translates to “hazelnut tree” in Russian — travels at Mach 10, or ten times the speed of sound, and can penetrate underground bunkers buried “three, four or more floors down.”

The Russian leader also claimed the missile moves “like a meteorite” and cannot be intercepted by any missile defense system. Putin argued that several conventionally armed Oreshnik missiles could inflict destruction comparable to a nuclear strike.

Throughout the night, air raid sirens echoed across Kyiv while fires and thick smoke spread throughout the city. Associated Press journalists reported hearing massive explosions near downtown government buildings.

Zelenskyy acknowledged that not every incoming ballistic missile had been intercepted and said Kyiv was the primary focus of the Russian attack.

The strike also highlighted Ukraine’s continuing shortage of advanced air defense interceptors. Kyiv relies heavily on U.S.-supplied Patriot missile system batteries to stop ballistic missiles, but officials say interceptor supplies remain critically low.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has accelerated efforts to develop a domestically produced alternative system, though officials admit the project will require enormous resources and time.

Military analysts suggested Russia may have intentionally flooded Kyiv with large numbers of ballistic missiles in hopes of draining Ukraine’s limited stockpile ahead of an anticipated escalation later this summer.

Ukraine’s emergency services reported damage at roughly 50 sites across the capital, including homes, schools, shopping centers, police facilities, and warehouses.

Firefighters continued battling blazes well into the morning as rescue crews searched through collapsed buildings.

“It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war,” said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who had worked in the market that was damaged for 22 years.

“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I am not staying there anymore, there is no possibility,” she added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”

Another resident, 74-year-old Yevhen Zosin, described the terrifying moments after the blasts began.

“Then there was another explosion and she and I were thrown back like a pin by the shock wave. We both survived, she and I. My apartment was blown to pieces,” he said.

In Kyiv’s Shevchenko district, officials said a five-story apartment building was struck, sparking a deadly fire that killed one person.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a school building was also damaged while civilians were sheltering inside. Authorities reported that supermarkets and storage facilities around the city sustained heavy damage as well.

Regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said several communities across the broader Kyiv region also suffered destruction.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities reported that a Ukrainian drone strike killed one civilian in the town of Grayvoron near the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted or electronically disabled 33 Ukrainian drones overnight, including aircraft flying over the Moscow region, western Russia, southwestern Russia, and Russian-occupied Crimea.

A proposed New York tax on all-cash home purchases above $1 million in New York City is likely to be dropped from the final state budget, according to people familiar with negotiations in Albany, marking a significant setback for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s effort to close a multibillion-dollar city budget gap without raising broad income or corporate tax rates.

Bloomberg first reported the likely collapse Thursday morning, citing officials involved in the negotiations. The proposal would have imposed a 1% levy on buyers purchasing residential properties in cash above the $1 million threshold and was projected to generate roughly $160 million annually for New York City.

The measure formed part of the broader $8 billion state aid framework Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled earlier this month in support of Mamdani’s proposed $124.7 billion city budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie confirmed last week that the proposal was “part of the plan to help close the city’s deficit,” while State Senator James Skoufis, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, acknowledged the levy had become part of the wider budget negotiations.

But more than six weeks after the April 1 budget deadline, lawmakers familiar with negotiations now say the proposal is unlikely to survive the final vote as resistance from real estate interests and moderate Democrats intensified.

The policy argument behind the tax centered on how New York currently treats cash buyers versus financed buyers.

According to the nonprofit Center for New York City Neighborhoods, more than 60% of the nearly 18,000 home sales completed in New York City during the first half of 2025 were all-cash transactions, with a median purchase price of roughly $939,000.

In Manhattan’s luxury market, nearly nine out of every ten transactions above $3 million closed entirely in cash.

Mamdani’s office and progressive lawmakers argued that wealthy cash buyers — often institutional investors, second-home owners or foreign purchasers — effectively avoid the city’s mortgage-recording tax, which generates approximately $812 million annually but applies only to financed transactions.

The opposition came swiftly from the real estate industry, brokerage firms and centrist Democrats increasingly wary of Mamdani’s broader tax posture.

James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, warned earlier this month that the city’s budget problems “will not be solved by more taxes,” adding that increasing transaction costs would discourage sales activity and potentially reduce overall revenue collected by the city, state and MTA.

Lobbying from broker associations and real estate trade groups intensified over the past two weeks as lawmakers weighed the proposal’s economic impact against the city’s fiscal needs.

The collapse also arrives during a broader wave of pushback against Mamdani’s economic agenda.

Earlier Thursday, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon warned on Bloomberg Television that the mayor’s broader tax proposals risk damaging New York’s competitiveness as a business center.

“People think that somehow being anti-business is going to help the city, it’s not,” Dimon said.

Jeff Bezos separately criticized the administration this week on CNBC over New York City’s $43 billion school budget and broader spending structure.

Meanwhile, the Multicultural Business Coalition, an immigrant-led organization representing more than 50 chambers of commerce, has assembled a war chest exceeding $1 million to oppose Mamdani’s proposed city-owned grocery store initiative and is weighing legal action against the city.

The likely demise of the cash-purchase tax leaves another major proposal still alive inside negotiations: the pied-à-terre surcharge outlined by Hochul last week.

That measure would impose annual surcharges ranging from 0.8% to 1.05% on one- to three-family homes valued above $5 million, along with higher assessments on luxury condos and co-ops beginning at $1 million in market value. State officials estimate the proposal could generate roughly $500 million annually if approved.

The practical implications now move in two directions.

For City Hall, the loss of $160 million is not catastrophic on its own, but it reinforces a broader problem confronting Mamdani’s fiscal strategy. Each revenue proposal rejected in Albany increases pressure on the remaining tax measures — including the proposed 11.5% corporate tax rate and the 2% surcharge on residents earning more than $1 million annually.

Every failed revenue line eventually forces a choice between spending cuts, additional borrowing or new taxes elsewhere.

For the real estate market, however, the retreat is likely to produce short-term relief.

Luxury brokers said transaction activity slowed in March and April as buyers waited to see whether the levy would become law. With the proposal now appearing unlikely to survive, analysts expect some sidelined purchasers to move forward with transactions before future versions of the tax potentially re-emerge.

The Hamptons, Hudson Valley and several upstate luxury markets that had also been discussed in potential statewide expansions of the levy could similarly benefit from a rebound in transaction activity.

Politically, the episode reveals the limits of Mamdani’s support inside Albany even on comparatively targeted tax measures.

Unlike broader income or corporate tax increases, the cash-purchase levy focused almost exclusively on wealthy buyers and sought to address what supporters viewed as an imbalance in the existing mortgage-tax system.

That even this narrower proposal appears headed for defeat underscores how cautious the center of New York’s Democratic establishment remains toward large-scale tax expansion tied to Mamdani’s agenda.

The final state budget is expected before the end of May.

Neither Mamdani’s office nor Hochul’s office had publicly commented on the apparent collapse of the proposal by Thursday afternoon.

JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All rights reserved.

Bitcoin is closing one of its toughest stretches of the year as a rare convergence of macro, institutional, and technical headwinds bears down on the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The coin briefly broke below the key $75,000 support level this past week before paring losses to trade near $77,500 as of the Friday ETF market close, capping a multi-day slide that has erased more than $126 billion in crypto market value since mid-month.

The most striking signal came from the institutional side. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs bled $1.26 billion last week, the steepest weekly drawdown since late January, according to data cited by The Block. The exodus marked a six-day outflow streak that began May 15 and snapped what had been a six-week run of positive inflows. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) posted $448 million in outflows on Monday alone — its second-largest single-day redemption of 2026 — followed by Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB at $109.6 million and Fidelity’s FBTC at $63.4 million. Smaller outflows continued through Friday, when IBIT shed another $68 million and FBTC another $36 million, per Benzinga data.

The asymmetry has become sharp at the issuer level. BlackRock’s IBIT closed Friday with $61.1 billion in net assets against $64.8 billion in cumulative net inflows, meaning current market value now sits roughly $3.7 billion below the dollars investors have put into the fund. Fidelity’s FBTC, by contrast, still carries about a $3.2 billion cushion of net assets over cumulative inflows. IBIT alone accounts for roughly 4% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply, making its flows a closely watched proxy for institutional sentiment.

The macro backdrop has turned sharply against risk assets. April Producer Price Index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed wholesale inflation surging to 6% year-over-year, well above the 4.9% consensus and the highest reading since January 2023. Core PPI climbed to 5.2%, also above the 4.3% estimate. Both CPI and PPI now sit at three-year highs, driven in part by the energy spike tied to the U.S.-Iran war and lingering tariff pass-through from earlier in the year. The Cleveland Fed’s Inflation Nowcasting tool projects another 38-basis-point jump in trailing-twelve-month inflation to 4.18% by month-end.

Markets have responded by repricing the Federal Reserve’s path. CME FedWatch Tool data through late March showed roughly a 30% probability of a rate hike by year-end, with the odds of a cut collapsing to under 3%. The Atlanta Fed’s Market Probability Tracker placed rate-hike odds above rate-cut odds within a three-month window for the first time in this cycle. JPMorgan Chase projects the Fed’s next move will be an increase, though it expects the hike to come in the third quarter of 2027. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires May 15, 2026, has thus far resisted calls to tighten in response to the energy shock, but markets are no longer pricing in the rate cuts that fueled the early-year crypto rally.

Bitcoin’s technical picture has weakened in step. The coin cleared $80,000 on May 4 and tested its 200-day moving average near $82,000 before stalling. The 20-day exponential moving average has now flipped from support to resistance near the $78,000 mark. Aggregate cumulative volume delta on Bitcoin’s spot order books ran negative for nine consecutive sessions through May 19, the longest sustained net-selling stretch of 2026, according to a Nexo note cited by The Block. Total crypto liquidations reached roughly $657 million in a single 24-hour window on Monday, with $584 million — about 89% — coming from long positions, per Glassnode and Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

Spot Ether ETFs have fared even worse. The category logged a tenth consecutive day of outflows on Friday, the longest negative streak since March 2025, with Ether trading near $2,130 at the ETF close.

Bulls argue the structural picture remains intact. Despite the week’s losses, spot Bitcoin ETFs still hold $57.1 billion in cumulative net inflows and $98.9 billion in total net assets across all 12 funds, with year-to-date inflows still above $65 billion. The $1.26 billion in weekly outflows represents less than 2% of that cumulative base. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has argued that even amid 2026’s redemption periods, “the overarching trend continues to be historically favorable” and that spot BTC ETFs have “substantially exceeded initial market forecasts” for inflows.

Some analysts read the rotation as healthy. FXTM senior market analyst Lukman Otunuga wrote in a recent note that “despite a difficult 2025, bitcoin may stage a comeback in 2026,” citing the prospect of lower rates and thinning active supply as eventual tailwinds. Whether the Fed’s rate path delivers those cuts is now the central question hanging over both crypto and broader risk assets.

The next catalysts will come from the macro calendar. May CPI data due in early June, the Fed’s June FOMC meeting, and any progress in the U.S.-Iran negotiations announced this weekend — which could pull oil sharply lower and ease inflation pressure — will all weigh heavily. A signed deal with Iran that reopens the Strait of Hormuz and brings Iranian crude back to global markets would be unambiguously bullish for Bitcoin, removing the energy-led inflation impulse currently driving hawkish Fed repricing.

For now, traders are watching $75,000 as the line in the sand. A clean break below that level, accompanied by accelerating ETF redemptions, would mark the most material crypto drawdown of the year. A hold and a rebound, particularly if paired with an Iran peace announcement and softer inflation data, could quickly reverse the narrative. Bitcoin, as always, sits at the intersection of macro, flow, and sentiment — and right now all three are pulling the same direction.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

(AP) – Authorities braced for the possibility that a damaged chemical tank in Southern California could leak or explode as an evacuation order continued into the Memorial Day weekend for 50,000 residents with no timeline on when they can return.

The pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors at a company site in Garden Grove, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

No injuries have been reported. Air monitoring tests have so far found that air pollution around the evacuation zone is so far within normal limits, and specialized equipment has been deployed to ensure no gas is released from the compromised tank, state and federal environmental officials said Saturday.

Meanwhile, some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action lawsuit on Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, the company that operates the facility where the tank is located.

Lawyers for residents living in the evacuation zone argued in their federal court lawsuit that regardless of what happens next, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.

“There is no good outcome here for the people who live nearby,” the lawyers wrote in a statement. “In the best-case scenario, a slow, controlled leak still forces residents out of their homes for an indefinite period, disrupting families, businesses, and daily life. In the worst case, a catastrophic explosion could send a plume and debris across a far wider area, damaging thousands of properties and exposing residents to serious health risks.”

Spokespersons for the company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.

Officials said the valves on the tank are broken or “gummed up,” which prevented crews from removing the chemical or relieving the pressure on the tank, said Craig Covey, Orange County Fire Authority division chief.

Firefighters’ first hope is to find a way to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it won’t leak or explode. If that is not possible, Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton said it would be best if the tank sprang a leak so the chemical could be mostly contained. An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario.

If the temperature inside the tank continues to increase, the pressure will continue to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas, because officials said the pressure relief valves on the tank were no longer working. Whelton said it’s unlikely that firefighters would consider creating a hole in the tank because of fears that could create a spark that might ignite the volatile and flammable gas.

Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes and planning was underway to ensure a possible leak could quickly be prevented from spreading into waterways or the ocean, Covey said in an early evening post on social media platform X.

“Sitting back and allowing these tanks to fail is unacceptable,” Covey said, adding there was no guarantee tanks will not breach and leak. “Our goal is to protect your homes — no damage to them — and protect the environment.”

Tank wasn’t cooling as first thought
Efforts to cool the tank appeared to be working Friday, but Covey backtracked the following day, saying a reading conducted by drones actually showed the temperature on the outside of the tank, not the inside.

“Unfortunately I do have to report that the temperature was 90 degrees,” Covey said, up from 77 Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) the previous morning.

Cooling the tank is important because the liquid chemical’s flashpoint is 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Residents are frustrated and stressed
Initially people in Garden Grove were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders were then expanded to some parts of five other Orange County cities including Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. Some people with pets planned to sleep in their cars.

Several shelters remained open Saturday, including at three high schools.

Marco Solano, 32, spent Friday night at his parents’ home, frustrated by the situation and monitoring the news to see if he could go home.

“I don’t think that they should have dangerous chemicals in a neighborhood area, especially that dangerous that they have to evacuate people,” Solano said. “But again, it’s not up to me. I don’t make the laws. I don’t make the rules. We just have to do what is best I guess.”

Solano, who has multiple jobs, said he felt very tired and weak and believed the stress of the chemical leak was exacerbating his anemia and ulcerative colitis.

“This has been affecting me quite a bit,” he said.

Solano also said he went to his apartment after work Friday to grab belongings and saw other residents who had not evacuated, and he was worried for them.

Exposure could lead to health problems
The damaged tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. It holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems and even render someone unconscious. It can also cause neurological problems and irritate the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical. But Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and residents may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Whelton said the volume of chemical in the tank is much smaller than in the disastrous 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which he studied when more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride was released after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.

“Many of these are acute, fast-acting effects. But the longer somebody stays in contact with it, the more potential for significant damage that occurs,” Whelton said.

If there is an explosion, officials said they expect “severe structural damage and significant harm” in the blast zone closest to the tank.

If an explosion releases the chemical into the air, Whelton said, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did in East Palestine. General tests, often completed with handheld detectors, may not be capable of detecting the chemical. Indoor tests of buildings and homes may also be needed before residents return home.

The weather will be an important factor in determining where a plume of chemicals would go in the event of an explosion. Officials were developing maps to predict different scenarios about which areas would be most affected.

Meanwhile containment barriers have been set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said.

Emergency declaration
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County, making state resources available to local agencies and letting state-owned properties and fairgrounds be used for shelters if necessary.

Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the incident and supporting employees impacted by evacuations.

GKN agreed to pay state regulators more than $900,000 in 2025 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

QINYUAN, China (AP) — Authorities in northern China were investigating a coal mine operator with a focus on safety lapses, as rescuers searched for those missing in the country’s deadliest coal mine explosion in recent years that killed at least 82 people.

An Associated Press reporter witnessed police and security guarding the entrance to the mining facility located in Qinyuan county in the city of Changzhi as emergency vehicles were on site.

Hundreds of emergency responders and medical personnel were sent to help with rescue efforts, state media reported. Rescuers were taking turns to go down the mine shaft, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, facing hurdles including flooded tunnels.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a thorough investigation and accountability of those responsible following the explosion Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi.

Two were missing and dozens of miners were hospitalized, local officials said late Saturday. The death toll was revised down from 90, with officials blaming “chaotic” scenes in the aftermath and inaccurate information provided by the mine operator as a reason.

Some hospitalized miners recalled seeing smoke and blacking out, according to state media reports. Many among the injured were hurt by toxic gas.

Coal-rich province
The inland Shanxi province, located southwest of Beijing with a population of around 34 million, is China’s main coal-mining area.

A few hundred meters (yards) from the mine lies the village of Shangzhuang, where some of the miners who work at the site live, including some of the victims, residents said.

The village includes a single main street through which mining trucks pass. On both sides stand two-story houses, some with red-tiled roofs. Some of them are divided into separate rooms and rented out to people including miners.

After the explosion, other mines in the area shut down and some miners left, while others stayed behind waiting to receive their pay, residents said.

Wang Linjun, a coal miner at Liushenyu, said he was at home when the gas explosion occurred.

“My heart is very heavy,” he told the AP. “Thinking that those who eat together and work together suddenly are gone, no one would feel good.” Wang said he does not want to continue at the job, but doesn’t know where to go.

Miners can be paid more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month.

Feng Renfu, also a miner at Liushenyu, said he was working underground in a pit next to the one where the accident took place. Feng said he and his co-workers smelled gas and withdrew from the underground.

“My father is over 80 and he is worried about me. He always calls me to check if I am safe and well in my job,” Feng said. “There are eight people in my family and they all depend on me.”

Safety lapses investigated
The coal mine has “seriously” violated the law, according to local officials, although they did not elaborate on the specific violations. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that blueprints provided by the Liushenyu coal mine did not match the actual layout, which hampered rescue efforts.

State media said those responsible had been “placed under control.” On Sunday, a commentary in the official People’s Daily newspaper called for all regions and departments to learn from the accident and to “always keep safety in mind.”

Local authorities also announced a “comprehensive, blanket” inspection of the coal mining sector that would include checks of coal mines’ gas drainage, ventilation, safety monitoring systems and their underground layouts.

A broader inspection of coal mines could put pressure on the province’s ability to produce its annual capacity of around 1.3 billion metric tons of coal, which accounts for nearly a third of China’s total. The country’s total coal output rose to approximately 4.8 billion metric tons last year.

China still relies on coal
Coal remains a major energy source in China, given its high availability and low cost, even as the country accelerates its green energy transition. Mining accidents were common and authorities had implemented measures to help improve safety over the past years.

China’s National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 put the Liushenyu mine, operated by the privately run Shanxi Tongzhou group, on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines.

The Trump administration is escalating its effort to recast the public narrative surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot, with the Department of Justice now removing online records of prosecutions tied to the attack and dismissing them as political messaging pushed by the Biden administration.

The DOJ confirmed that it has deleted numerous press releases detailing arrests, convictions, guilty pleas, and sentencing announcements connected to the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol, where hundreds of Trump supporters entered the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The move comes as President Donald Trump continues sweeping actions aimed at undoing the legal consequences faced by those charged in the Capitol unrest. On his first day back in the White House in January 2025, Trump issued pardons, commuted prison terms, or pledged to terminate the prosecutions of all more than 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the riot — including defendants convicted of violently assaulting police officers using objects such as flagpoles, crutches, and even a hockey stick.

The administration took another controversial step Monday when the Justice Department unveiled a new $1.776 billion compensation fund intended for Trump supporters and allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by federal investigations and prosecutions. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has declined to rule out the possibility that even rioters convicted of violent crimes could qualify for compensation, triggering criticism from lawmakers in both parties.

Questions about the disappearing records erupted after a journalist wrote Friday on X that the DOJ was “quietly” erasing Jan. 6-related case announcements from its website. Among the deleted items was a release involving a Texas defendant who admitted to assault charges connected to January 6 and separately faced state allegations involving solicitation of a minor.

The department quickly fired back through its official “rapid response” account, insisting the removals were intentional and public.

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”

Also removed were announcements involving major seditious conspiracy prosecutions against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two organizations heavily tied to the Capitol breach.

Last month, the Justice Department formally requested that a federal appeals court throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions in those cases. The request went unchallenged and was approved Thursday. One day later, federal prosecutors moved to fully dismiss the prosecutions against the group members.

{Matzav.com}

Imagine for a moment that two countries are at war. One is firing missiles at the other. People are dying. Cities are being hit. And yet, in the middle of all of this, the country being attacked opens its doors to 30,000 citizens of the country attacking it — and welcomes them in to spend a week praying at its holiest religious site.

That is exactly what is happening right now in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization confirmed through Iran’s state news agency IRNA on Friday, May 22, 2026, that roughly 30,000 Iranian pilgrims have safely arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj — the once-in-a-lifetime religious journey that all Muslims with the means must make at least once in their lives. The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, headed by Hajj Minister Tawfiq Al Rabiah, confirmed that more than 1.2 million total pilgrims from around the world have arrived in the kingdom, with 1.8 million expected by the time the rites begin Monday, May 26.

The natural question is the obvious one. Iran has been firing drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia for months. The Saudi air defense system, the PAC-3 interceptor network supplied by the United States, is down to about 14% of its pre-war stockpile because of how many incoming Iranian threats it has had to shoot out of the sky. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued its first-ever Level 3 “Reconsider Travel” warning specifically targeting the Hajj.

So why on earth would Saudi Arabia open the gates to thousands of Iranian citizens right now?

The answer comes down to three things: money, religion, and a careful business decision both governments have quietly made.

The money is enormous.

The Hajj is not just a religious event. It is one of the largest annual businesses in the entire Arab world. According to Saudi General Authority for Statistics data, the Hajj and year-round religious tourism generate roughly $12 billion every year for the Saudi economy. That is more than the entire annual gross domestic product of dozens of countries.

That $12 billion supports more than 1 million jobs in Saudi Arabia. Hotels in Mecca and Medina. Restaurants. Taxi drivers. Bus operators. Airline workers at Saudia. Doctors and nurses staffing pilgrimage hospitals. Construction workers. Cleaners. Security guards. Telecommunications workers at STC, Mobily, and Zain Saudi Arabia. The Hajj is the lifeblood of an entire layer of the Saudi economy that has nothing to do with oil.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan is built on growing this number, not shrinking it. The kingdom wants to bring 30 million annual religious visitors to Saudi Arabia by 2030, generating an additional $13.32 billion in government revenue on top of what the Hajj already produces. Blocking Iranians from coming this year would mean publicly admitting that the religious tourism business can be turned off by war — which is the last message Mohammed bin Salman wants the world to hear.

The religion matters even more.

Saudi Arabia’s king holds a special title: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. That title gives the kingdom religious authority across the entire Muslim world — about 1.9 billion people. It is the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s soft power and a major reason the kingdom carries diplomatic weight far beyond what its size and population would normally justify.

If Saudi Arabia were to ban Iranian pilgrims because of the war, it would essentially be saying: we will deny Muslims their religious obligation because of politics. That is exactly the accusation Iran’s leadership has spent decades trying to make stick. Banning Iranians would hand Tehran a propaganda victory worth more than anything Iran could win on the battlefield. It would also alienate Shia Muslim populations across Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Pakistan, and India — many of whom Saudi Arabia is actively trying to court diplomatically.

So Saudi Arabia does the opposite. It welcomes the Iranians in. It deploys security to protect them. It coordinates their entry with Iraqi authorities, who escort the pilgrims through border crossings in overland convoys. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has personally ordered, according to Gulf News, the “full mobilization of operational, security, and preventive plans” to make sure the pilgrimage goes smoothly. Neither MBS nor Hajj Minister Al Rabiah mentioned Iran or the war by name in their public statements. The silence is the message: the Hajj is bigger than the war.

Iran needs this too.

For Iran, the calculation is just as cold and just as practical. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei could have ordered an Iranian boycott of the Hajj, as Iran did between 1988 and 1990 after a deadly clash in Mecca. Boycotting would have sent a powerful political message.

But it would have also denied tens of thousands of Iranian Muslims their religious obligation, particularly older pilgrims for whom the Hajj is the spiritual goal of a lifetime. It would have meant that Iran’s government was telling its own faithful: politics matters more than your Hajj. That is a message no leader of an officially Islamic republic wants to deliver to their population.

So instead, Iran quietly sent 30,000 pilgrims through Iraqi territory, coordinated with Saudi authorities through diplomatic back-channels, and called it a wartime compromise. The normal Iranian quota is 86,700. This year is about a third of that. Iran can claim it stayed religiously faithful. Saudi Arabia can claim it kept the holy sites open to all Muslims. Both governments get what they need.

How the system actually works.

The 2023 China-brokered deal that restored diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the quiet machinery making all of this possible. That agreement, negotiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s team, reopened embassies in both capitals and established working channels between the two foreign ministries. The war has bent that relationship, but it has not broken it.

Iraq has taken a practical middleman role. Its Interior Minister, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shamari, announced Iraqi authorities are escorting Iranian pilgrim convoys through border crossings and coordinating directly with both Tehran and Riyadh. Ali Reza Rashidan, head of Iran’s Hajj Committee, confirmed direct discussions with the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. Iranian Ambassador to Riyadh Ali Reza Enayati announced the safe arrival of the first pilgrim group on Saudi soil.

For pilgrims themselves, the experience is largely unchanged. “We know we are at the safest place in the world,” Fatima, a 36-year-old German housewife traveling with her family, told AFP reporters in Mecca. Mecca’s hotels are sold out. Jeddah’s restaurants are packed. Saudia is running additional flights. Pilgrimage infrastructure built over decades is operating at full capacity.

The lesson for the rest of the world.

The Hajj is teaching everyone a quiet lesson right now. Even in war, certain institutions are too valuable to break. Saudi Arabia earns $12 billion, preserves its religious authority over 1.9 billion Muslims, and maintains a diplomatic channel with its largest regional rival. Iran delivers its citizens’ religious obligation, preserves its own Islamic credentials, and keeps a working line of communication with Riyadh open.

Both countries are doing the math, and both are reaching the same conclusion. Block the pilgrimage and everyone loses. Allow it to happen and everyone wins something — including the pilgrims who just want to pray.

For everyday Americans, the takeaway is simple. The headlines about war suggest a region in chaos. The reality on the ground is more complicated. Countries that are firing missiles at each other can still find ways to keep oil flowing, ports running, planes in the air, and religious pilgrims moving across borders. The global economy holds together not because nations love each other, but because the cost of letting it fall apart is higher than anyone is willing to pay.

The pilgrimage runs through Friday, May 29. By then, several hundred thousand more Iranian and other pilgrims will have entered and exited the kingdom. If the rites pass without major incident — and Saudi Arabia is working overtime to make sure they do — both Riyadh and Tehran will quietly count it as a win. Neither will say so publicly. That, too, is part of how the system works.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Tired of opening your electric bill just to watch the rates climb higher every year? It feels like throwing money into a black hole that only gets deeper.

But what if your roof could actually pay you back?

Switching to solar isn’t just about going green—it’s about putting more green in your pocket. Every panel up there is working for you, turning sunlight into savings month after month.

Here’s why homeowners are making the jump right now:

• Slash (or erase) your monthly bill. Most homeowners see their electric costs drop dramatically from day one, some all the way to zero!

• Tax credits = real cash back. The solar tax credit puts thousands of dollars back in your pocket, and it’s still on the table for now.

• Lock in today’s rates. Utility companies raise prices nearly every year. Solar lets you freeze your energy costs while everyone else keeps paying more.

• .

Pro Tip: The best time to go solar was ten years ago. The second best time is today, before local incentives and net-metering programs hit their caps and the window closes.

Ready to see how much you could save? A free quote takes minutes, and there’s zero obligation! You’ll only regret not having done it sooner.

Check us out: https://www.powermontsolar.com

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HealthSharing began gaining popularity as a way to alleviate the strain of these exorbitant costs. Since the late 1900s, other religious factions have used HealthShares to combat healthcare expenses and to create a medical system in-line with their beliefs.

The results were enticing:

– significantly lower healthcare expenses
– choice of providers without “out-of-network” limitations
– no fighting with insurance companies and their bureaucracy

Slowly, members of our community started joining other religious HealthShares, reaping the benefits they had to offer.

But there was one catch. 

By definition, HealthShare means a group of people coming together under shared religious beliefs to share in each other’s medical expenses. Shared beliefs are a necessary government regulation for legally recognized HealthShares – and something all members must sign in agreement on.

The questions emerged.

Are there halachic ramifications for frum individuals and families joining a Christian-based HealthShare?

What if there are no alternatives for the frum community?

United Refuah HealthShare, the first and only Jewish HealthShare, was founded in 2017 by Rabbi Boruch Chaim Manies and other prominent members of the Cleveland community.

There was one goal: to bring affordable healthcare to the frum community – without the questionable halachic and hashkafic participation in non-Jewish HealthShares.

It has since exploded, saving members an estimated $180 million to date.

Find out if United Refuah is the right fit for you and your family. 

Limited time offer! Switch from another HealthShare and get your 3rd month of membership free*! Promo Code: Shavuos-TLS

*applied as a refund. Expires June 1st. New applications only.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dramatically widening its authority to block people from entering the United States for public health reasons, including lawful permanent residents, as officials scramble to contain concerns surrounding the ongoing Ebola outbreak in central Africa.

Under a new interim final rule issued Friday, lawful permanent U.S. residents who have recently traveled through the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan will temporarily be barred from entering the country if they were in those nations within the previous 21 days. The restriction is expected to remain in effect through mid-June, according to the agency.

Federal officials said the move was prompted by the expanding Ebola outbreak currently affecting the region.

One administration official, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, warned that enforcing the new policy could prove highly problematic.

“It will be extremely challenging to implement without chaos and confusion.”

The order significantly broadens already-existing travel measures tied to the spread of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a version of the disease for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments.

Earlier this week, the CDC announced that foreign nationals who had recently been present in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan would be prohibited from entering the United States.

American citizens returning from those countries are still permitted entry, but they must arrive through Washington Dulles International Airport, where federal authorities have implemented heightened health screening procedures.

The restrictions rank among the toughest travel controls ever imposed by the United States during an Ebola outbreak. Since Ebola was first identified in the 1970s, more than 30 outbreaks have been recorded worldwide, including the deadly west Africa epidemic between 2014 and 2016 that killed more than 11,000 people.

“The rule does not permanently bar lawful permanent residents from returning to the United States,” a Friday statement from the CDC said. “Instead, it gives CDC discretionary authority to restrict entry when needed and allowed by law.”

According to a report in the New York Times that Politico said it could not independently verify, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials earlier this week diverted an Air France flight carrying a passenger from Congo, forcing the plane to land in Montreal instead of its scheduled destination in Detroit.

Health authorities say the outbreak has already resulted in more than 700 suspected infections and over 150 suspected deaths, with the overwhelming majority of cases reported inside Congo.

Officials at the World Health Organization fear the virus may have been spreading undetected for months before being identified, partly because health workers initially were not testing for the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak.

{Matzav.com}

The Toms River Township Office of Emergency Management has officially declared a local emergency and reinstated a summer curfew for juveniles on the barrier island sections of the township, citing concerns over potential disorderly behavior and large “pop-up” gatherings during the upcoming summer season.

According to the declaration signed by Emergency Management Coordinator and Police Chief Guy Maire, and obtained by TLS, the curfew is intended to prevent a repeat of issues seen during previous summers, including vandalism, criminal mischief, unruly gatherings, and social media-organized parties that affected shore communities between 2020 and 2025.

Under the order, juveniles age 17 and under will be prohibited from being in public areas on the barrier island between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. The curfew took effect at 12:00 a.m. on Friday, May 22, 2026, and will remain in place through 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

The curfew applies to the North Beach and Ortley Beach sections of Toms River.

Township officials stated the previous curfew measures were effective in helping preserve public order and safety during the summer months and said reinstating the restrictions this year is a precautionary step to avoid similar disturbances.

Several exceptions are included in the order, including juveniles accompanied by parents or guardians, traveling to or from work, attending organized activities, handling emergencies, or exercising constitutionally protected rights such as religious observance or free speech.

The declaration also outlines enforcement procedures. Juveniles found violating the curfew will first receive warnings and an opportunity to leave before being subject to a stationhouse adjustment. No juvenile delinquency charges or summonses will be issued under the order. However, parents, guardians, caretakers, or business operators who knowingly allow violations may face penalties under state emergency management laws.

Walmart chief financial officer John David Rainey confirmed on Thursday, May 21, 2026, that the world’s largest retailer has formally applied to recover money it paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled illegal in a 6-3 decision on February 20, 2026. Speaking during Walmart’s fiscal first-quarter earnings discussion, Rainey said the filing places Walmart alongside Apple, Home Depot, General Motors, John Deere, FedEx, and Costco in defying President Donald Trump’s April 21 warning that he would “remember” companies that sought refunds.

“We have availed ourselves of the option to participate in those refunds. For us, it’s a relatively small part of our overall business,” Rainey said. He clarified that Walmart is the importer of record on roughly half of 1% of its U.S. sales — a figure that translates to about $2.42 billion in potentially eligible imports against the $483 billion in U.S. net sales the company posted in fiscal 2026.

The scale of the refund pool is staggering. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a portal in April for importers to claim more than $160 billion in refunds tied to the voided tariffs. Trump responded by telling reporters he would “fight” having to pay the money back and that companies would be “brilliant” not to seek refunds. His “I’ll remember” line was interpreted across corporate America as a thinly veiled threat to retaliate through future regulatory, procurement, or trade decisions.

For several weeks, the threat appeared to work. Apple, Amazon, and other politically exposed firms initially held off filing, over concerns about White House retaliation. That posture has now collapsed. Apple has confirmed it is seeking refunds. Levi Strauss chief financial officer Harmit Singh told investors earlier in May that the apparel maker expects to receive roughly $80 million in refunds for duties paid on denim and other imports. Gap Inc. chief financial officer Katrina O’Connell said in March that “the tariff impact has been significant to our performance,” signaling Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, and the namesake Gap brand will all benefit.

Smaller companies are already receiving checks. Oshkosh Corporation chief financial officer Matt Field confirmed earlier this month that the truck and military vehicle manufacturer has begun receiving payments. “Following acceptance of our initial filing, we have begun receiving payments on our tariff refund claims, representing an initial portion of our total claims submitted,” Field said. Basic Fun, the toymaker behind Care Bears and Tonka trucks, has also started receiving funds. Chief executive Jay Foreman said the initial refunds represent about 5% of the company’s total claim. “We will utilize the refund dollars to help support our 2026 cash flow and invest in our team. This is the toughest time of the year for toy companies,” Foreman said. He added that the company will use the funds to increase salaries and announce promotions.

Logistics giants UPS, FedEx, and DHL have committed to filing refund claims on behalf of customer shippers who paid duties through their networks, requiring no further action from those importers. FedEx earlier sued the U.S. government in the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking a full refund and citing “injury” from the duties.

The National Retail Federation, which represents retailers from Walmart down to small brands and manufacturers, has called for “a seamless process to refund the tariffs to U.S. importers,” arguing the refunds “will serve as an economic boost and allow companies to reinvest in their operations, their employees and their customers.”

The political backdrop remains tense. Trump has complained that the Supreme Court ruling did not include language barring refunds for tariffs already collected. “I’m not happy with the Supreme Court, I’ll be honest with you,” he told reporters in April. The president has separately floated using tariff revenue to fund direct “tariff dividend” checks to Americans, though any such program would require Congress to pass legislation.

Several refund-related bills are now sitting in committee. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, introduced the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025, proposing stimulus checks funded by tariff revenue. Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, introduced a separate March 2026 bill for tax rebates tied to tariff-driven price increases. Representative Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, introduced the Trump Tariff Rebate Act, and Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, introduced the American Consumer Tariff Rebate Act of 2026. All four remain stalled.

“The likelihood of tariff refunds passing in Congress still seems remote,” Bankrate financial analyst Stephen Kates said. “A Republican-backed bill would all but admit that tariffs were a policy mistake.”

Consumers hoping for lower prices are likely to be disappointed. A survey by the CNBC CFO Council found that of 25 chief financial officers polled, 12 said their companies planned to apply for refunds, but none said they intended to pass the savings directly to customers. The funds, instead, are being earmarked for cash flow, capital expenditure, share buybacks, and worker compensation.

For investors, refund flows could become a meaningful near-term earnings tailwind for retailers and manufacturers that absorbed tariff costs without fully passing them through. Many large retailers, including Walmart and Gap, have not yet factored the Supreme Court ruling or potential refunds into their forward guidance, leaving room for upside revisions as checks arrive. Apparel companies, toymakers, automakers, logistics-heavy importers, and home improvement chains stand to benefit most.

The broader question hanging over corporate America is whether Trump will follow through on his retaliatory rhetoric. The fact that Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, has now publicly disclosed its filing suggests the math has been done — and the financial upside has won.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Israeli news commentator Yishai Cohen is urging Israeli Police Commissioner Danny Levy to announce immunity protections for yeshiva students who come to police stations to file complaints, warning that cooperation between police and the military could create a dangerous situation in which bochurim become afraid to approach law enforcement.

Speaking during an appearance on the “Kipot Barzel” program on the Srugim site, Cohen sharply criticized the growing coordination between Israeli police and the military police regarding yeshiva students classified as draft evaders.

According to Cohen, the commissioner’s decision to cooperate with military enforcement efforts came only after pressure stemming from a High Court ruling, despite months of resistance from police leadership.

“The police commissioner opposed this for months, but ultimately the High Court ruled and he was forced to comply,” Cohen said.

At the same time, Cohen argued that a clear distinction must be made between ordinary enforcement encounters and situations in which yeshiva students are simply trying to seek help from authorities.

“The police commissioner needs to declare that immunity will be granted to yeshiva students who come to file police complaints regarding crimes. It cannot be that yeshiva students are unable to file complaints with police because they fear being arrested.”

Cohen stressed that the current situation could discourage victims from reporting crimes or seeking police assistance.

“There is a difference between a yeshiva student who is stopped by a traffic officer and a yeshiva student who comes to file a complaint with police. Yeshiva students must not be afraid to come to a police station.”

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A large-scale program has been launched for the first time to train doctors and health professionals from the charedi sector in Israel, amid an increasingly severe shortage of physicians in the country. The stated goal is to significantly increase the number of charedi students entering medical studies and the Israeli healthcare system.

The program will include structured pre-academic preparatory courses, bridging gaps in mathematics, English, and science, along with personal mentoring, living stipends, financial support, professional guidance, and social and cultural assistance throughout the years of study. In addition, guidance tracks will be opened for health professions such as speech therapy, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy, fields that are currently in short supply and can later serve as a basis for four-year medical programs.

The initiative is backed by the Kemach Foundation (promoting charedi professionals), the Ministry of Health, the Authority for Social and Economic Development of the Haredi sector, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, the JDC, and additional partners. The program will be headed by Prof. Yossi Makori, former chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, who described it as a national effort to address one of the most critical problems in the healthcare system: the shortage of doctors and caregivers.

According to Makori, Israel is currently significantly behind OECD countries in the number of medical students and new doctors entering the system. “A real opportunity has been created here,” he said. “There is a population with high motivation, excellent abilities, and a desire to integrate. This program is designed to remove barriers and enable them to reach places that were previously almost inaccessible.”

The first cohort is expected to include around 280 Haredi men and women across all tracks, from preparatory programs to support for students already admitted to medical and health sciences studies.

However, even the program’s initiators acknowledge the scale of the challenge. According to presented data, only 0.3% of Haredi students currently study medicine, compared to 1.2% in the general Jewish population, amounting to only a few dozen Haredi medical students per year. The program’s ambitious target is to add about 2,000 Haredi men and women to health and caregiving professions within five years.

Importantly, the program does not create a separate medical track for charedim and does not include a dedicated segregated faculty or preferential admissions. Studies will take place within existing medical faculties and accredited institutions in Israel. The emphasis, according to organizers, is on a broad “support envelope” to help charedi students overcome barriers and succeed in demanding academic studies.

The Kemach Foundation stressed that a key goal is enabling students to maintain their Haredi identity throughout their studies. “The potential already exists in the field, and our mission is to ensure it is not lost along the way,” said CEO Moti Feldstein. “Our role will be to ensure graduates can preserve their identity even within such demanding academic frameworks.”

By JBizNews Desk

WASHINGTON — May 24, 2026

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday sanctioned nine individuals it accuses of helping Hizballah deepen its influence inside Lebanon’s political, military and security institutions, widening Washington’s financial pressure campaign even as fragile Lebanese-Israeli ceasefire talks continue under U.S. mediation.

The designations were issued by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under Executive Order 13224, the post-9/11 counterterrorism authority long used against Hizballah and Iran-linked networks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would continue targeting officials and operatives who enable Hizballah’s activities inside the Lebanese state apparatus, calling for the group’s complete disarmament.

“Hizballah is a terrorist organization,” Bessent said in Treasury’s statement. “The United States will continue to expose and disrupt individuals who abuse Lebanon’s institutions to support Hizballah and Iran’s destabilizing agenda.”

The sanctions package reaches unusually deep into Lebanon’s governing structure.

Treasury targeted four sitting members of Lebanon’s parliament aligned with Hizballah, including Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb Fanich, described by OFAC as head of Hizballah’s executive council, along with lawmakers Hassan Fadlallah, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan.

According to Treasury, the group played central roles in preserving Hizballah’s control and influence across key Lebanese state institutions while coordinating politically with Iran-backed networks.

The action also penetrates Lebanon’s official security establishment.

OFAC designated Col. Samir Hamadi, identified as chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces Intelligence Directorate’s Dahiyah branch, and Brig. Gen. Khattar Nasser al-Din of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces General Security Directorate.

Treasury accused both officials of providing intelligence support and operational coordination to Hizballah during the ongoing regional conflict.

The sanctions extended further into the Amal Movement, the Shiite political and militia organization allied closely with Hizballah.

Treasury designated Ahmad Asaad Baalbaki, Amal’s security director, alleging he deployed joint forces alongside Hizballah against domestic political opponents, and Ali Ahmad Safawi, described as commander of Amal militia operations in southern Lebanon, whom OFAC accused of taking operational orders from Hizballah for coordinated attacks against Israel.

The most diplomatically sensitive designation was that of Mohammad Reza Sheibani, Iran’s ambassador-designate to Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities had already reportedly declared Sheibani persona non grata over allegations of political interference. Thursday’s U.S. sanctions formally place Tehran’s diplomatic channel into Beirut under the same terrorism-financing framework Washington uses against Hizballah operatives and military facilitators.

For Lebanon’s financial system, the implications are immediate.

Under Executive Order 13224, all property and interests in property tied to the designated individuals that fall under U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The measures also increase secondary-sanctions exposure for foreign financial institutions and businesses that continue processing transactions linked to the named individuals or their associated entities.

That poses renewed pressure on Lebanon’s banking sector, which has struggled for years to rebuild international correspondent relationships following the country’s catastrophic 2019 financial collapse.

Banks across the Gulf and Europe are expected to immediately reassess compliance exposure tied to Lebanese political and security-sector clients.

Treasury’s action follows a broader escalation in Washington’s sanctions campaign throughout 2026, including earlier moves targeting Hizballah-linked gold trading operations, Iranian oil transport networks and regional financing channels tied to Tehran’s proxies.

The timing of Thursday’s designations is particularly notable.

The sanctions arrive while U.S.-brokered discussions between Lebanese and Israeli officials remain underway in Washington. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently said additional negotiation rounds were expected following the latest extension of the ceasefire framework.

Senior U.S. officials signaled that the sanctions are intended to strengthen Lebanon’s legitimate state institutions while isolating actors accused of operating on Hizballah’s behalf from within the government itself.

The State Department said in a parallel statement that Washington remains committed to supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty and official institutions while combating terrorist infiltration inside the state.

Hizballah dismissed the measures shortly after their release, saying the sanctions would have “absolutely no effect” on the group’s operational posture amid continued Israeli military activity near the Lebanese border.

Still, the financial consequences for the designated individuals are substantial.

The sanctions sharply restrict access to dollar-denominated assets, global banking systems, insurance markets, and international travel channels tied to U.S.-linked financial infrastructure.

For multinational firms and investors with remaining exposure to Lebanon, the broader signal from Washington is difficult to ignore.

By sanctioning sitting parliamentarians, security officials and an accredited Iranian diplomat in the same package, the Trump administration is demonstrating a willingness to use OFAC authorities not only against armed groups, but against political and institutional actors accused of enabling them.

That escalation is likely to trigger another wave of compliance reviews across banking, telecommunications, shipping, commodities and infrastructure sectors with exposure to Lebanon or Iranian-linked networks.

Treasury officials indicated Thursday’s action is not expected to be the final round.

The administration framed the measures as part of an ongoing campaign aimed at pressuring Hizballah financially, diplomatically and politically while pushing Beirut toward broader state consolidation and eventual disarmament talks.

Whether that pressure changes realities on the ground — or simply hardens the region’s divisions further — now becomes the next test for Washington’s strategy in Lebanon.

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Thousands of residents of Bnei Brak filled the streets late last night for the heartbreaking levayah of Mrs. Ayala Davidson a”h, the young wife of Reb Shlomo Zalman Davidson, who passed away during Shavuos after battling severe injuries sustained in last week’s devastating crash on Highway 1.

The horrific accident had already claimed the life of her young son, Avinoam Meir Davidson z”l. Since the crash on Erev Shabbos last week, Mrs. Davidson had remained in critical condition as doctors fought to save her life. Tragically, during the Yom Tov, she was niftar, leaving her family, friends, and the broader community shattered.

The levayah began shortly after midnight outside her parents’ home on Rechov Harav Kook 22 in Bnei Brak and proceeded to the cemetery in Elad, where she was laid to rest.

Scenes of overwhelming grief unfolded throughout the funeral, particularly during the hespeidim, when her injured husband, Reb Shlomo Zalman Davidson, temporarily left the hospital in order to participate in the levayah and eulogize his wife through tears.

In emotional remarks, he described her extraordinary devotion to Torah, her home, and her children.

“Every evening she would make a personal accounting of how devoted she had been to Torah and to the children. She never wasted her time on emptiness. Spirituality stood above everything else for her. She studied works of mussar.”

Her son also delivered a tearful farewell that left the crowd weeping.

“Please daven for us, that Father should have a complete recovery and the strength to raise us in the service of Hashem, and that the Ribbono Shel Olam should redeem us from all suffering and send the Geulah soon.”

Mrs. Davidson’s father, Reb Aharon Seller, also delivered emotional divrei hesped. Among the rabbanim and public figures attending the levayah was Ateres Shlomo rosh yeshiva Rav Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, who addressed the mourners as well. A son of the Davidson family studies in the Ateres Shlomo Talmud Torah network.

The passing of Mrs. Ayala Davidson a”h, only days after losing her young child in the same tragedy, has plunged the family, the community, and much of Bnei Brak into deep mourning. Residents accompanied her on her final journey amid profound pain and heartfelt prayers for the recovery of the injured and comfort for the grieving family.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have already mobilized to assist the shattered family and support the five orphaned children left behind. Officials at Kupat Ha’ir said they have been astonished by the outpouring of support, noting that the tragedy has touched the hearts of Jews across the country in an unusually powerful way.

At the same time, organizers stressed that despite the widespread generosity, the funds collected so far remain far from sufficient to cover the family’s enormous needs — including the care of the orphaned children and the ongoing medical rehabilitation of the father, who remains injured, widowed, and mourning the loss of his young son.

Gedolei Yisroel have called on the public to join the special fundraising campaign established for the family.

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews)  A Temple Mount activist dressed in priestly garments was released from jail after being arrested during the holiday of Shavuot for waving the “Two Loaves” offering at the Temple Mount compound.

The activist was arrested by police forces after successfully sneaking into the Temple Mount area carrying the “Shtei HaLechem” (two breads) offering and performing the traditional waving ceremony associated with the holiday.

הפרגוד: “זכינו להניף את שתי הלחם בהר הבית”
הכהן יצא ממעצר והעביר מסר. pic.twitter.com/LRaO5X2yhv

— הפרגוד (@moshepargod) May 24, 2026

In a video filmed immediately after his release from prison, while still wearing the white priestly garments, the activist shared his feelings and noted that this was a continuation of an activity that had already begun last year. He said that despite the heavy police security at the entrances to the Temple Mount, the activists managed to outmaneuver the security forces.

He also hinted that alongside the successful waving ceremony, another planned event that day did not succeed: “There was another event that didn’t work out.”

Americans may need roughly $2.57 million to retire comfortably by 2043, up sharply from the $1.75 million projected for 2033, according to a 2025 Goldman Sachs retirement survey.

The increase reflects years of inflation that have driven up the costs of housing, health care and daily expenses. Households headed by someone 65 or older now spend about $122,000 annually, compared with roughly $60,000 in 2000, the survey explained.

Financial experts told Realtor.com that home equity can help supplement retirement income through tools such as reverse mortgages and home equity investments, but they caution against relying on it as a primary strategy.

“The $2.57 million number from Goldman Sachs isn’t meant to be paralyzing,” said Alex Langan, chief investment officer of Langan Financial Group. “It’s meant to be a wake-up call. The gap between what most people are saving and what retirement actually costs is real and it’s widening. Your home is a meaningful part of the answer for a lot of people. It just can’t be the only answer.”

Why home equity alone may not be enough

Many retirees are “house rich, cash poor,” meaning that they own homes with significant value while lacking dependable income or liquid savings, Realtor.com explained.

“Unfortunately, this is common among people over 65. On paper, they have significant equity in their homes, but not enough liquid savings or dependable income to comfortably support their retirement,” said Pam Krueger, founder and CEO of Wealthramp in San Francisco.

Experts say rising property taxes, insurance premiums and maintenance costs can strain retirees, even if their homes are fully paid off.

Langan said many clients incorrectly assume their homes alone can fund retirement.

“You can’t pay your property tax bill with home equity,” he said. “You can’t cover a medical expense with it. You can’t use it to get through a rough patch without doing something specific to access it. And every way to access it has strings attached.”

Downsizing may not always solve the problem either because housing costs and transaction expenses can reduce expected savings, experts added.

Reverse mortgages and other equity options

Reverse mortgages are attracting renewed interest from older homeowners seeking additional income without monthly loan payments, according to the report.

Some retirees are also exploring home equity investments, which provide cash in exchange for a share of a home’s future value.

“Closing costs [for reverse mortgages] can be higher than those with traditional mortgages, and there are origination fees, loan servicing fees, interest, monthly mortgage insurance premiums and an upfront mortgage insurance premium,” Michael Micheletti, chief communications officer at Unlock Technologies, told Realtor.com.

“It’s gaining interest among retirees because of the different qualification criteria and the fact that there are no monthly payments,” Micheletti said.

Financial planners say home equity should support, but not replace, broader retirement planning strategies that include timely Social Security distributions, investment diversification and liquid savings.

This article was written by Jonathan Delozier and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation. It was reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication. The system helps convert company announcements and industry data into HousingWire-style news coverage.

This post was originally published on here.

Welcome To The Jungle

On this episode of Let’s Talk Kashrus, Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger is joined by Rabbi Dovi Goldstein, Managing Director of Kosher SA, for a fascinating look into the world of kosher safaris in South Africa. From luxury five-star lodges with sealed kosher kitchens and mashgichim flown in on demand, to self-drive family safari adventures with coolers and portable braais, Rabbi Goldstein explains how travelers can experience the African wilderness without compromising on kashrus. The conversation explores the unique challenges and opportunities involved in certifying safari environments deep in the jungle, far from civilization. Along the way, listeners get an inside look at one of South Africa’s most remarkable and unexpected kosher industries.

View it its entirety at: https://www.kashrusawareness.com/post/welcome-to-the-jungle

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Transcription

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Hello everyone and welcome back to Let’s Talk Kashrus, presented by the Kashrus Awareness Project in conjunction with the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Today I am privileged to be joined by Rabbi Dovi Goldstein, MD at Kosher SA, that South Africa. Thank you, Rabbi Goldstein for being here.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: Thank you so much, it’s a great pleasure.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Now there is another, there is another famous Rabbi Goldstein from South Africa, that’s the Chief Rabbi, which you’re not yet.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: I’m not the Chief Rabbi.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: You’re the other Rabbi Goldstein from South Africa.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: That’s right and it’s a privilege because I shared an office or the back of an office with him, but we’re not actually related, but he is a dear mentor and friend.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: But it’s good to literally have you here from Johannesburg, South Africa here on the East Coast to be able to do this interview and conversation. So you head the organization in South Africa, the Kashrus organization called Kosher SA, Kosher South Africa. That’s right. You’re the MD which is the Managing Director.

And today we’d like to talk to you about the topic of _Kashrus_and Safaris. First of all, for those of our listeners who don’t know what a safari is, tell us what a safari is and then you’ll discuss how to certify a safari.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: Fantastic. So a safari’s a broad term.

Generally it means that you’re going into a wild place, and it’s a really wild place, so it’s not a manufactured wild place, it’s not a zoo. It’s wild and things happen in the way that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created in the beginning of time. Nothing’s changed in many of these places. And the idea is to go there and to just be part of nature and to view nature, obviously in the safety of your own vehicle or of a safari vehicle, because these animals will kill you.

So there’s the big five, lions and leopards, buffaloes, elephants, etc. And the point is that you’re going into a very natural environment that is undeveloped, some places there’s never been development, so it hasn’t even been rehabilitated. And it’s just a very magical place and some of these places are enormous, like the Kruger National Park which is right by our doorstep, four hours away from Johannesburg by car, and people go there because it’s just a phenomenal experience and for many people it’s a bucket list experience in their lives, people spend time there.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: So people go on vacation to safaris and they spend several days at a time in a safari environment, they’ll stay in a hotel or something of that sort.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: Absolutely.

So people would go there for a week at a time or for three days at a time, four days at a time, some are ten days at a time. There’s some, we’ve met an American couple, Jewish American couple that comes here for three months. They’re retired, they spend three months on safari every single year.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Really?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: Which is just phenomenal, but it is something which is remarkable that a week on safari often feels like you’ve been away for a month or for two months because you’re just in such a different framework and your mind’s changed that you come out of there and you just feel rejuvenated.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Wow, that must be why people do that. You’re right. But what Kashrus complications are there when people go to a safari? First of all, what are you certifying there?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: So there’s a couple different ways to do it. So let’s call it right at the top, there’s some very expensive safaris which are pretty much geared to the American market or to the European market and these are very exclusive safaris.

I went to go and check one out a number of years ago and I always do my research beforehand, why do you want us and I went onto their website and it said their room was like, I don’t know, five thousand dollars a night or something like that. But then it said take a suite, fine, not so unusual. Then it said take a corner for like five suites, and then it was like no, take the whole place for like whatever it was, a hundred thousand dollars a night and I said to the guys, I said who’s taking that? They said no, when stars come, they always take the whole facility. So that’s the highest end.

So we’ve got about eight safari lodges is what they called that have a Kosher certified kitchen. So that kitchen’s locked all year round. Wow. And only when it’s booked for a _Kosher_consumer, you fly in a Mashgiach, we open the locks, we break the seals, all the food is flown in and it’s very gourmet.

So that’s the highest level of safari. But let’s talk there’s a whole gamut, when we go on safari we obviously, living there we don’t go on such a safari like that. We’ll go what’s called a self-drive safari. So you’re staying in a vehicle, you’re staying in a resort, you’re bringing your own food.

We do this as a family once or twice a year, which is a great Bracha and it’s just incredible to be part of that kind of thing. There’s no one driving you, we’re driving ourselves in our own vehicles and it’s just a very magical experience, very close to nature and just very close to something very real.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: So if you’re not on the high end and you’re on what I would call the low end and you go yourself in your vehicle, do you need and could you get Kosher food?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: So what’s remarkable about South Africa is that besides for meat, and let’s say Pas Yisroel, and wine, the penetration of Kosher products throughout South Africa is incredible. Incredibly accessible.

So you can literally go with a cooler box of meat, and you know, like Kiddish wine or whatever you want, and everything else you can buy in the villages or the towns around these safari areas. So you don’t actually need to prepare so extensively. There’s plenty of things to buy.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Which we’ll discuss in a separate conversation about South Africa in general and the _kashrus_there.

But this is more about the safaris. Now the bulk of the safari supervision that you’re talking about are these high-end type of arrangements where someone might be paying $5,000 a night for a room?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: So the high-end ones where you are having a mashgiach there, those are high-end. There is also like a middle tier where it is not you know $2,000 or $3,000 or $4,000 a night. And they could have a kitchen that is kosher certified, obviously we’d have to send a mashgiach.

But there’s many ways to do it. And as I said, it’s pretty incredible that you can go there fully immersed, you know, we’re talking about many miles away from any civilization and have a gourmet experience. Experience. Yeah.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Have you ever served as a mashgiach in that environment or have you only kind of overseen the operations?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: I’ve overseen it but I have been a few times with training of the staff. So it’s not an official trip, right? So I’ve been there for a night or two nights and we train the staff. Unfortunately, I don’t do it enough. When I took on the role, I said this is going to be what I’m going to be doing, you know what I mean? Sounds very attractive.

Very attractive. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time. I’ve got a great RC, Rabbi Alon Joseph. He travels to these places probably every month.

He’s training, he’s meeting with guests, he’s meeting with new lodges. We’re trying to expand this. We believe it’s one of the greatest products that South Africa has to export. Right.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: That no one else really could offer, right? You’re saying eight lodgings that you have in the vicinity of the safaris in South Africa. And these are all about four hours from Johannesburg?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: Let’s say between four and six hours. But at these very high-end places, people are flying in private jets and they’re going, they’ve often got a private landing strip. So people don’t even come to Johannesburg sometimes, they fly directly in and it’s just a remarkable experience.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: By the way, after this episode, get ready for an uptick in reservations.

R’ Dovi Goldstein: That’s what we’re hoping, right?

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Before we close the conversation, what would you say because it’s a very, very unique arrangement, very, very different than certifying a more conventional environment, what would you say is the biggest _kashrus_challenge in producing that type of service?

R’ Dovi Goldstein: So a place that has a dedicated kitchen is generally pretty easy because it’s a kitchen, it’s all set up, it’s totally kosher, it’s locked up, milk, meat, separate milk, meat, everything. And these places because they’re so high-end and five-star do things properly. So nothing, there’s no shortcuts.

So actually to certify a safari at the highest end is not difficult. But I think it is important to note, is that because money’s not an issue? Money’s not an issue. Exactly. So they’ll have the best quality cutlery and stoves and they’re not afraid to do that because their guests are paying so much.

But I think what is important to highlight is that let’s call it middle-end and even let’s call it lower-end, there are so many other ways to do it. And obviously it can get challenging if you don’t have a mashgiach there. We wouldn’t certify such a place. But there’s plenty of ways to also go on safari without it having to be high-end.

As I say, many families, most South African families travel to safari and they, they bring their own food. And they bring their own food or they buy food in the vicinity. They bring their own braai—we call it a braai, you call it a barbecue. They bring their own barbecue, they bring their own pots and pans, and it’s not very difficult to have a safari and what I would like to say is people shouldn’t be afraid when they see the high-end prices to think you know that’s the only way to do it.

There’s plenty of other ways to do it and with research and obviously with AI today, there’s many ways to do it and it’s something which I would believe almost anyone could achieve if they put their mind to it and they’ll find a price point which works for them. Or I imagine they could reach out to you and your office, right, for information and guidance. Absolutely. And if they go onto our website which is koshersa.co.za or za, koshersa.co.za.

Dot za. We call it a zebra, right, a zebra, you call it a zebra. And if they go onto our website they can find it and obviously they can contact us. We have many people especially during the vacation time that join our WhatsApp lines and join our communication channels and they can ask us for advice and we’d be so happy to help them find a way to do it.

R’ Yitzchok Hisiger: Okay Rabbi Goldstein, this is a fascinating topic. Thank you so much for being here and we look forward to speaking to you.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israeli Ministry of Education has filed a massive lawsuit against an association in Ashkelon, alleging what it says is one of the largest fake-reporting fraud schemes ever uncovered in a Torah institution.

According to the statement of claim published by Galei Tzahal, the association reported to the Ministry of Education that 648 kollel students and yeshiva students were enrolled in its institutions, while in reality only dozens of students were actually studying there. Through these reports, the association allegedly succeeded in receiving millions of shekels from state funds.

Data presented in the lawsuit states that between 2012 and 2022, more than 40 million shekels were transferred to the association based on the number of kollel and yeshiva students it continuously reported.

The fraud was uncovered during 2022, when a covert inspection at the institution revealed that at most only a few dozen students were present on site.

Investigators found that inside the relatively small building, which was claimed to house six different Torah institutions operated by the association, there were actually billiards and ping-pong tables in the basement shelter and kindergartens on the first floor.

The second and third floors could accommodate only about 100 people in total, and there investigators found dozens of kollel students, while the yeshiva that had been reported to the Ministry of Education did not exist at all.

According to testimony obtained by investigators, the fraud scheme apparently operated through the fictitious registration of kollel students, who in return allegedly gave part of their stipends back to the association in cash.

At this stage, the Ministry of Education is seeking only about 3 million shekels from the association, representing the support funds transferred at the beginning of 2022, during the period when the inspections took place. However, the ministry added that there is reasonable basis to believe the fraudulent method had been operating for many years beforehand.

Journalist Tuvia Yagelnik summarized the report on the affair by saying: “This is only the tip of the iceberg of a large industry of fictitious reporting about kollel students in the Haredi community.”

For a long time, the U.S. dollar has been the most important money in the world. Almost every country uses it to buy and sell things across borders. Oil is priced in dollars. Big international loans are made in dollars. Even when two countries that don’t speak English want to trade with each other, they usually agree to use dollars in the middle. People call the dollar the world’s “reserve currency” — like the main money everyone else trusts and saves.

But something is changing. People are using less and less paper money. Walk into a coffee shop in New York, London, or Tel Aviv and most people pay with their phone, a card, or a tap. Cash is slowly disappearing. And as money becomes digital, big countries are starting to ask a simple question: if money is just numbers on a screen now, why do we have to use America’s numbers? Why can’t we use our own?

This is the heart of the story. The world is moving to digital money, and the United States has to decide how to keep the dollar on top.

Here is the simple picture. Imagine the global economy as a giant playground. For 80 years, every kid who wanted to trade snacks had to first swap their snacks for dollar tokens. America made the tokens. America counted the tokens. If America didn’t like you, it could stop you from using the tokens — that’s what economic sanctions are. Now imagine the kids start saying, “Let’s just trade snacks directly. Or let’s make our own tokens.” That’s exactly what countries like China, Russia, India, Brazil, and others are starting to do.

The way they’re doing it is through something called a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Think of it as official digital money made by a country’s central bank. China has one called the digital yuan or e-CNY. India has one called the e-rupee. Brazil has one called Drex. Europe is building one called the digital euro. The numbers are already big. China’s digital yuan has been used in more than 3.4 billion transactions worth about $2.3 trillion. India’s e-rupee has roughly 7 million users. These aren’t toys anymore.

A group of countries called BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus newer members like the UAE, Iran, and Indonesia — is now trying to link all their digital currencies together. The plan is simple. If an Indian company wants to buy something from a Brazilian company, they could do it directly in e-rupees and Drex without ever touching a dollar. India, which is hosting the 2026 BRICS summit, has formally proposed this idea, led by its central bank, the Reserve Bank of India.

For the dollar, this is a real threat — at least in theory. If enough world trade moves off dollar rails, the U.S. loses some of its power.

So what is America doing about it? Here’s where the story gets interesting.

Most countries are responding by building their own government digital money. America has decided to do the opposite. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning a U.S. central bank digital currency. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ended May 15, 2026, told Congress he would not pursue one either. The reason is mostly political. Many Americans, on both the right and left, don’t want the government to be able to track every dollar they spend. Banks don’t want it either, because it could pull money out of the banking system.

Instead, Washington has placed a bet on something called stablecoins. A stablecoin is digital money made by a private company, but each coin is backed by a real U.S. dollar — or by U.S. government bonds, which are basically promises from the U.S. Treasury. The two biggest are Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC. Together with smaller ones, the global stablecoin market is now worth about $200 billion.

Here’s the clever part. When someone in Argentina, Nigeria, Turkey, or Vietnam uses a dollar-backed stablecoin to save money or send a payment, they are — without thinking about it — buying dollars. The stablecoin company has to hold real dollars or U.S. Treasuries in the background to back the coin. Tether alone now holds about $100 billion in U.S. Treasuries, making it one of the biggest buyers of American government debt in the world.

So while China is building its own digital money to escape the dollar, America is letting private companies spread the dollar to every smartphone on the planet. It’s a different strategy with the same goal: keep the dollar on top.

Congress has been helping. The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, set the rules for how stablecoin companies have to operate in the United States. It banned them from paying interest to users, which protects American banks from losing deposits. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill has said openly that growing the stablecoin market will “extend the reserve currency status” of the dollar around the world. That’s the official strategy in Washington.

The numbers behind dollar dominance still look strong. The U.S. dollar is on one side of 89% of all foreign exchange trades worldwide, compared to 29% for the euro and just 10% for the yuan. About 58% of global foreign-exchange reserves are still held in dollars. Oil, gold, and most major commodities are still priced in dollars. Even Saudi Arabia, despite years of speculation about it switching to yuan, still sells most of its oil in dollars.

But there are warning signs. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Thailand, and Hong Kong are quietly testing a multi-country digital currency network called Project mBridge that can settle trades without dollars. Russia has been pushed off dollar rails by sanctions over the war in Ukraine and has been trading oil with China and India in local currencies. Iran, similarly cut off by sanctions, has joined the same effort. Argentina, Egypt, and parts of Africa are seeing huge growth in stablecoin use — which is good for the dollar — but they’re also exploring CBDC alternatives.

What does it all mean for normal people and investors?

A few simple things. First, the dollar isn’t disappearing anytime soon. The global system runs on it, and even the people trying to build alternatives know that replacing 80 years of dollar plumbing takes decades, not years. Second, the dollar is changing form. Less of it will be paper. More of it will be stablecoins on phones, instant payments through the Federal Reserve’s FedNow system, and digital tokens on bank apps. Third, the competition is real. China’s digital yuan and a future BRICS digital network are not going to overtake the dollar overnight, but they will chip away at its share — especially in regions like Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia where America has less influence.

For U.S. companies, the cashless shift is mostly good news. Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Block, Stripe, Coinbase, Robinhood, and the big banks all benefit when payments move to digital rails. U.S. Treasury demand from stablecoin issuers helps keep American borrowing costs lower than they would otherwise be. For foreign companies trying to escape the dollar, the path is harder than it looks — building parallel payment systems takes years and trust, and trust is something the dollar still has by default.

The bottom line is this. The world is going cashless, but cashless does not automatically mean dollar-less. The form of the money is changing, but the dollar’s role at the center of the global system is still mostly intact — for now. Washington’s bet is that stablecoins will carry the dollar into the digital age the same way Treasury bills carried it through the analog one. Beijing, New Delhi, and Brasília are betting the opposite. The race is on, and the next ten years will tell us who was right.

The dollar has been king for a long time. It still wears the crown. But for the first time in a generation, there are other players on the board.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Spanish police arrested four Global Sumud Flotilla activists at Bilbao Airport on Saturday after violent clashes erupted following the return of members of the Spanish delegation from Turkey.

Videos circulating online from the airport in Bilbao, located in Spain’s Basque region, showed officers dragging activists across the terminal floor and striking several individuals with batons as chaos unfolded inside the airport.

The incident comes only days after the Spanish government sharply condemned Israel over its handling of activists detained aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces.

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Earlier this week, Spain summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released controversial footage showing detained flotilla activists kneeling handcuffed at Ashdod Port while he waved an Israeli flag and declared, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.”

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares blasted Israel’s conduct, describing the treatment of the activists as “monstrous,” “inhumane,” and “disgraceful.”

Following Saturday’s airport clashes, Israel’s Foreign Ministry fired back with a sarcastic statement targeting the Spanish government.

“We demand an explanation from the Spanish government regarding its treatment of the flotilla anarchists,” the ministry said, accusing the activists of bringing disorder and confrontation wherever they go.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

YWN regrets to inform you of the petirah of R’ Yisroel Chaim Pichey Z”L, who was niftar over Shavuos at the age of 91.

R’ Yisroel Chaim z”l, a son-in-law of Mike Tress zt”l, was a talmid of Telz Cleveland and a rebbi in the Yeshiva of Brooklyn for many years, before moving to Lakewood several years ago.

He is survived by his wife, Donya yb”l, and his children R’ Eli, R’ Shloimy, Rochel Levine, Hena Rivka Willner, Chaya Sara Lefkowitz, Leebah Kahn, Dusie Basch, and Shevy Eisgrau.

The levaya is scheduled to take place at the Sons of Israel Holocaust Memorial Chapel in Lakewood at 9:30 AM Sunday, with kevurah in the Wellwood cemetery on Long Island.

Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced on Friday, May 22, 2026, that Runway 4/22 at LaGuardia Airport reopened at 7:45 p.m. local time, ending a two-and-a-half-day closure that snarled travel during the unofficial kickoff to the Memorial Day weekend and exposed how a single piece of damaged airfield pavement can cascade through the U.S. aviation system. “Following a thorough inspection of LaGuardia’s airfield pavement using ground-penetrating radar, areas of concern were identified and proactively repaired. Those repairs are now complete, and Runway 4/22 has reopened. Our investigation into the cause of the sinkhole is ongoing,” the Port Authority said in a statement.

The sinkhole was first spotted at approximately 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, during a routine morning inspection of the airfield. The opening developed on taxiway Bravo, near but not directly on Runway 4/22, in an area where a new underground fuel pipeline had been constructed to bring jet fuel closer to aircraft and reduce the need for fuel trucks crossing the airfield. The runway was immediately taken out of service while engineers conducted core samples and sonar scans to check for additional weak points underground.

The business cost piled up quickly. According to flight-tracking service FlightAware, nearly 290 flights were canceled and more than 310 were delayed at LaGuardia on Wednesday alone, compounded by severe evening thunderstorms. Thursday saw another 51 cancellations. Friday delivered the biggest hit yet as the airport headed into the long weekend with one runway still down: by mid-morning Friday, 130 flight delays and five cancellations were already on the board, and the numbers grew through the day.

For the airlines that anchor LaGuardia — primarily Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and Spirit Airlines — the disruption translates directly into real money. Industry estimates put the cost of a single canceled domestic flight at between $20,000 and $40,000 when factoring in crew repositioning, passenger compensation, hotel vouchers, rebooking expenses, and lost revenue. A three-day operational hit at one of the busiest domestic hubs in the country can push aggregate airline losses into the tens of millions of dollars before any indirect costs are counted.

LaGuardia, which mostly handles domestic travel, runs about half the daily traffic of nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport, but its location in Queens makes it the preferred gateway for business travelers heading to Manhattan. A disruption at LGA ripples outward to Boston Logan, Reagan National, Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, and other connected hubs, since aircraft and crews scheduled to fly in and out are forced to reposition. The Federal Aviation Administration advised travelers throughout the closure to check directly with carriers and posted real-time updates at fly.faa.gov.

Travelers absorbed the brunt. Sally Marchetto and her family, flying home to St. Louis, ended up rebooking onto separate flights and staying in an Airbnb in Queens. “Tomorrow, I’m leaving at 9 a.m., and my 80-year-old parents will have to go at like 2:30,” she told local reporters. Ossining resident Lee Weinberg lost a full day getting to Kansas City after Delta canceled his flight at 9:30 p.m. the night before. Olijuah Williams of Queens, headed to Atlanta, had his flight scrapped entirely. The stories repeated across hundreds of stranded passengers, many of whom turned to Airbnb, Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt properties around the airport — a small windfall for hospitality businesses in East Elmhurst, Astoria, and Long Island City at the expense of the airlines.

For LaGuardia itself, the timing was awful. The airport has spent more than $8 billion over the past decade on a comprehensive redevelopment, replacing the aging terminals that former Vice President Joe Biden once compared to a “third-world country.” The new Terminal B and renovated Terminal C, anchored by Delta, were meant to symbolize a modern, reliable LGA. A sinkhole and a runway shutdown undercut that narrative in the worst possible week.

The episode also highlights a broader business concern: aging U.S. airport infrastructure. LaGuardia’s runway and taxiway system, like much of the nation’s airfield pavement, dates in parts to the mid-twentieth century. The American Society of Civil Engineers in its most recent infrastructure report card gave U.S. aviation a “D+” grade, citing deferred maintenance, capacity constraints, and outdated ground systems. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed in 2021 allocated $25 billion for airport improvements, but disbursement has lagged demand, and large hubs like LGA continue to operate at or near full capacity with limited margin for surprise repairs.

This was not LaGuardia’s only operational crisis of 2026. The same runway was the site of a fatal collision in March between an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 regional jet operated by Jazz Aviation and an airport fire truck. Two pilots were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board, chaired by Jennifer Homendy, found that the airport’s ground surveillance system failed to generate a proximity alert and that the fire truck lacked a transponder to broadcast its location to air traffic control. That investigation remains open and has put fresh pressure on the Port Authority to upgrade ground-movement safety technology — a multimillion-dollar capital expenditure now likely to accelerate.

For investors, the larger story is exposure. Airline shares are tightly correlated to operational reliability at the major hubs. Delta, which has its largest New York presence at LGA, is most exposed to repeat disruptions. American Airlines and JetBlue carry significant LaGuardia schedules as well. Suppliers to airport modernization — including engineering and construction firms AECOM, Skanska, Turner Construction, and Jacobs Solutions — stand to benefit from any acceleration of infrastructure spending triggered by the year’s incidents.

Travelers will see residual delays through the weekend, the Port Authority warned, and the cause of the sinkhole remains under investigation. For the airlines, the airport, and the 70,000-plus passengers who pass through LaGuardia each day, the message from the past 72 hours is simple: in modern aviation, a single soft spot in the pavement can cost the industry millions and remind everyone how fragile the system really is.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

If you filled up your tank this weekend, you already know: gas is expensive again.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) said Thursday, May 21, 2026, that the national average price for regular gasoline has climbed to $4.56 a gallon — the highest Memorial Day weekend level in four years and $1.38 more than last year. By Sunday, millions of Americans were feeling it firsthand as a record 45 million people hit the highways for the holiday weekend.

A normal 15-gallon fill-up that cost around $48 last Memorial Day now costs roughly $68.

For families driving from New York to the Jersey Shore, Chicago to a lake house, or Los Angeles to San Diego, that difference adds up fast. A road trip that once felt affordable suddenly costs noticeably more before the vacation even begins.

“Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel,” said Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel.

People are still traveling. They’ve waited months for the holiday weekend. But many are watching every dollar more closely.

The current national average sits just below the all-time Memorial Day record of $4.61 per gallon, set in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global oil markets.

This time, the cause is different.

Gas prices have surged more than 50% since late February, when the U.S.-Iran conflict escalated and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most important oil routes — became heavily disrupted. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes through the strait, meaning instability there quickly affects fuel prices everywhere.

For the first time in nearly three years, every U.S. state is now averaging above $4 a gallon.

Drivers in California are paying the most, with average prices around $6.14 per gallon, meaning a standard fill-up can cost more than $90. Washington ($5.78), Hawaii ($5.64), Oregon ($5.35), Alaska ($5.27), Nevada ($5.27), Illinois ($5.01), Arizona ($4.81), Colorado ($4.76), and Ohio ($4.76) are also among the most expensive states.

Drivers in the Gulf Coast and Southeast are paying slightly less, though prices are still historically high. Mississippi currently has the cheapest average at $4.01, followed by Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, and South Carolina.

According to GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan, at least 19 states are expected to post record-high Memorial Day gas prices this weekend.

The pain is hitting working families hardest.

Research from Bank of America shows roughly 1 in 10 lower-income households are now spending more than 10% of monthly income on gasoline alone. Economists at Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab estimate American households have spent an extra $24 billion on gasoline since the Iran conflict began earlier this year — roughly $200 extra per household.

For many families, that money would normally go toward groceries, utility bills, summer camps, or savings.

Americans are already changing habits to cope.

Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Walmart, and Kroger discount fuel stations are seeing heavier traffic as drivers search for cheaper prices. Gas price apps are surging in popularity. More commuters are carpooling, combining errands, or working remotely extra days to avoid filling up as often.

Some families are shortening vacations altogether, replacing longer road trips with closer regional getaways.

Small businesses are under pressure too.

Contractors, landscapers, delivery drivers, plumbers, electricians, rideshare drivers, and trucking companies are all absorbing sharply higher fuel costs. Many are adding fuel surcharges or raising prices, which then pushes costs higher across the broader economy — from food delivery to home repairs.

Industry analysts warn prices may climb further.

GasBuddy projects the national average could approach $4.80 per gallon during peak summer travel season. If tensions in the Middle East worsen or the Strait of Hormuz remains partially closed deep into the summer, analysts say the all-time U.S. record of $5.02 per gallon set in June 2022 could come back into play.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says gasoline demand is still rising while inventories are tightening, leaving little room for additional supply disruptions.

There is one possible relief valve.

The Trump administration is currently engaged in negotiations with Iran through mediators in Oman and Pakistan, and reports this weekend suggest Tehran may agree to surrender part of its enriched uranium stockpile as part of a broader agreement that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

If a deal is finalized, oil prices could fall quickly — and gasoline prices would likely follow. If negotiations collapse, drivers could face another leg higher at the pump.

For now, AAA says travelers should plan carefully: fill up in cheaper states when possible, monitor gas-price apps, avoid speeding, and check tire pressure to improve fuel economy.

For millions of Americans heading home from the holiday weekend, one thing is clear: the Iran conflict is no longer just a geopolitical story happening overseas. It is now directly shaping household budgets across the country every time drivers stop for gas.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

In this episode, Rabbi Reinman discusses the continuing war with the Greeks and the diplomatic maneuvers of the Maccabees.

WATCH:

Chapter Forty-four: Enemies and Allies

Even as the Maccabees cleansed and purified the Bais Hamikdash, the decrees of Antiochus banning the practice of Judaism remained in place. Before embarking on his campaign against the Parthians, Antiochus had not seen fit to fulfill his promise to rescind them. Perhaps he wanted to keep his options open until the results of the campaign became clear. They became clear quickly enough. Antiochus died, and the Parthians soundly defeated the Syrian army. Nonetheless, as long as the Jewish people were in control of their own land, the decrees were irrelevant.

Instability in the Seleucid Empire gave Judea a short period of respite. After the death of Antiochus IV, his ten-year-old son Antiochus V inherited the throne. Lysias, one of the generals who had fought against the Maccabees, was appointed regent. There were other pretenders to the throne, and Lysias had his hands full protecting the life of the young Antiochus and preserving the throne for him.

In 163 b.c.e., Lysias returned to Judea with a massive army of 20,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and dozens of war elephants. The Maccabee forces were defeated. Judah’s brother Elazar mistakenly thought he saw Lysias in a tower atop a huge elephant. He ran under it and plunged his  sword into its belly. The elephant collapsed on top of Elazar and killed him. The rest of the Maccabees did not fare much better. They withdrew in defeat and barricaded themselves in Jerusalem.

The Greeks besieged Jerusalem, but shortly afterward, Lysias received word that Philip, a rival for the throne, was attempting to seize power in the capital of Antioch. Alarmed, he informed Yehuda that, by his power as royal regent, he was rescinding the restrictions on Jewish religious practice. Then he took most of his army and hurried home. After returning to Antioch, Lysias ordered the execution of Menelaus, the extreme Hellenizer who had bought the office of Kohein Gadol from Antiochus IV, even though he was not a Kohein, and tyrannized the Hasidim. In effect, Lysias was granting the Jewish rebels the religious victory they were seeking in the hopes that Judea would thus be pacified, that it would remain a tax-paying part of the Seleucid Empire ….

Read full chapter and earlier chapters at www.rabbireinman.com.

This post was originally published on this site.

SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Starship V3 rocket on Friday, May 22, 2026, from its Starbase facility in South Texas, deploying 20 mock Starlink satellites in space and executing a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean — a critical milestone for Elon Musk’s company just two days after SpaceX filed its prospectus with regulators to take the company public in what is expected to be the largest initial public offering in history. The test, the 12th major flight of the Starship program and the debut of the redesigned V3 version, lifted off at 5:30 p.m. local time from the southern tip of Texas and stretched halfway around the world during its hour-long flight.

The flight achieved most of its major objectives despite minor anomalies. One of the six engines on the Starship upper stage shut down early during ascent, and the Super Heavy booster spun out of control and broke apart over the Gulf of Mexico after the booster’s controlled re-entry burn failed. SpaceX lost communications with the booster moments before splashdown, indicating it likely disintegrated. But the Starship upper stage itself reached space, deployed its entire payload, scanned its own heat shield with two specialized companion satellites, and made a controlled re-entry through the atmosphere before splashing down upright in the Indian Ocean under what appeared to be full control. The vehicle then toppled over and ignited, as expected.

“It’s pretty incredible to see this happening live from space now,” SpaceX employee Kate Tice told viewers on the company’s livestream as applause and chants of “USA, USA” erupted from employees in the Starbase control room. Musk later called the launch and landing “an epic” event on his X social media platform.

The successful payload deployment is a critical commercial validation. The 20 mock satellites were designed to mimic the size, weight, and release mechanics of next-generation Starlink satellites — the larger, more powerful units that SpaceX plans to deploy at a much higher cadence once Starship enters operational service. Two additional modified satellites that Starship deployed scanned the spacecraft’s heat shield and transmitted data back to ground operators during the vehicle’s descent, providing real-time engineering data that will inform future flights. All of the satellites are expected to fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

For SpaceX and its investors, the timing could not have been better. Musk announced earlier in the week that the company had filed its S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for an IPO expected next month. Industry analysts estimate SpaceX could be valued at between $400 billion and $500 billion at the time of the offering, which would make it the largest U.S. IPO in history, eclipsing Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion offering in 2019 and Alibaba’s $25 billion raise in 2014. Investors are already getting exposure to the rocket company through exchange-traded funds, with shares of publicly traded space sector ETFs including ARKX rallying sharply this week on the IPO news and Friday’s successful test.

The financial stakes of Friday’s test were enormous. A spectacular failure, especially of the highly publicized V3 debut, would have raised hard questions for IPO underwriters about whether the Starship program is ready for the commercial cadence SpaceX has been promising. Back-to-back Starship test failures in January and March 2025 ended in midair explosions that rained debris into the Atlantic. The ninth test in May 2025 also failed. The tenth test in August 2025 became the first to successfully deploy mock satellites and execute a controlled splashdown. Friday’s flight took that progress and built on it with the larger, more powerful V3 design.

The new Starship V3 is significantly bigger and more capable than earlier versions. The fully stacked vehicle stands roughly 400 feet tall — taller than the Statue of Liberty including its pedestal. The Super Heavy booster generates more thrust at liftoff than any rocket ever built, surpassing NASA’s legendary Saturn V that sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. V3 features upgraded engines, larger and stronger booster fins for stability, and a refined heat shield that SpaceX has been iteratively rebuilding flight after flight. The company’s stated goal is to ultimately catch the booster mid-air with the launch tower’s robotic “chopsticks” arms, fully reusing the rocket within hours of landing.

The commercial logic behind Starship is staggering. SpaceX intends to use the rocket to deploy thousands of next-generation Starlink satellites, which deliver internet service to consumers and enterprises in places where terrestrial broadband cannot reach. Starlink currently serves more than 5 million subscribers in over 100 countries, and the V3 Starlink satellites that Starship will eventually carry are designed to provide direct-to-cell service to standard smartphones — eliminating dead zones for T-Mobile, Verizon Communications, AT&T, and other partner carriers. The satellite communications market is projected to grow to more than $100 billion annually by 2030, and SpaceX is positioned to capture a dominant share.

NASA is equally invested. The U.S. space agency has ordered two Starships to serve as the lunar lander for its Artemis program, which intends to return American astronauts to the moon later this decade. NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has publicly emphasized Starship’s importance to U.S. space leadership, particularly as China accelerates its own crewed lunar program with the goal of landing Chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030. Every successful Starship test moves the Artemis timeline closer to reality.

Musk’s ultimate ambition extends much further. The Starship program is explicitly designed to enable human missions to Mars. SpaceX has been transparent about its intention to use the rocket to land cargo and eventually crew on the Red Planet within the next decade. Friday’s successful payload deployment is one small step in that long-term technology development, but every successful flight reduces the technical risk and validates the underlying engineering.

For investors, the story is even bigger than rockets. Musk has been openly framing SpaceX as an integrated artificial intelligence and satellite communications company, not just a launch provider. The Starlink subscriber base generates recurring revenue. The launch business generates contracted revenue from NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, commercial satellite operators, and international space agencies. The data and connectivity layer Starlink provides enables a new generation of AI applications, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things deployments, and global enterprise communications. Investors buying into the SpaceX IPO are buying exposure to all of those revenue streams at once.

The competition is intensifying. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is developing its own large-class New Glenn rocket, which has flown several successful missions and is now positioning to compete for both NASA and commercial contracts. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the United Launch Alliance continue to dominate certain national security launches but face cost disadvantages against SpaceX. Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, Stoke Space, and other smaller competitors are pursuing niche segments. China’s State-Owned Long March rockets and the privately backed LandSpace are accelerating launch cadence at lower price points. The competitive pressure is real, but SpaceX’s lead in reusable rocketry — the technology that fundamentally lowers per-launch costs — remains substantial.

For everyday Americans, the SpaceX IPO will be one of the most-watched financial events of the year. Investment advisors at Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, Morgan Stanley, Edward Jones, and Merrill Lynch are already fielding client questions about how to get access. The IPO is expected to be heavily oversubscribed, with institutional allocations dominating early share distributions. Retail investors will likely need to wait for the secondary market for meaningful access, though some brokers including Robinhood Markets and SoFi Technologies have built IPO access tools that have democratized retail participation in earlier high-profile offerings.

The political backdrop is also significant. Musk’s complicated relationship with President Donald Trump — including Musk’s brief role leading the Department of Government Efficiency before his very public falling-out with the administration earlier this year — has not slowed SpaceX’s federal contracting. Starship’s central role in the Artemis program and SpaceX’s dominant share of U.S. national security launches make the company effectively too important to U.S. space and defense capabilities to be politically sidelined. Musk has also drawn renewed criticism for his political activities and X platform statements, but SpaceX the company has continued executing through the noise.

For the broader space economy, Friday’s test is a clear signal that the next phase of orbital commerce is real and arriving on a faster timeline than skeptics expected. Satellite internet, lunar logistics, in-space manufacturing, asteroid mining, space tourism, and eventually interplanetary cargo and crew transportation all depend on a working heavy-lift reusable rocket. Starship V3 is now closer than ever to delivering that capability.

The SpaceX IPO timeline appears intact. The Starship program is back on track. The Starlink business continues to grow. NASA’s moon program is moving forward. Musk’s Mars ambitions remain wildly aspirational, but each successful test brings them incrementally closer to credible.

For Wall Street, the practical message is straightforward. SpaceX just demonstrated that its next-generation rocket can fly, deploy payload, and return controlled — three weeks before its public offering. Investors will price that in.

— JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

LONDON (VINnews) — Members of the Stamford Hill Orthodox Jewish community expressed relief following the sentencing of Tavius Jean Charles, who carried out a sustained campaign of antisemitic threats and vandalism in the area.

A spokesman for Shomrim, the volunteer Jewish security patrol that operates in Stamford Hill, stated: “Stamford Hill’s Orthodox Jewish community can sleep easier with this extremely unpleasant character off our streets.”

Synagogue manager Barry Bard, one of the victims, described Jean Charles as a “danger to society” in a victim impact statement. He said some members of his congregation at Belz Synagogue are “terrified for their lives” following the repeated incidents, including direct death threats shouted outside the synagogue.

Other victims echoed the fear. David Bard told the court he remembered “every single word” of the hateful abuse, while Joel Scher, whose car window was smashed by a rock thrown by Jean Charles, initially believed he was being shot at

The sentencing on Friday at Southwark Crown Court has been viewed locally as a measure of justice in a community that has faced heightened antisemitic tensions in recent months. Shomrim and local residents have long advocated for stronger responses to such incidents, with the group actively involved in community protection and documentation of hate crimes.

Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke said the outcome demonstrates how seriously authorities take antisemitic hate crimes, adding there is “no place for hate in the capital.”

Jean Charles received a restraining order banning him from entering Stamford Hill and contacting victims, providing additional reassurance to the tightly knit Hasidic community, which has been a frequent target of such abuse.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence on Friday, saying she needed to leave office as her husband battles cancer. She is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.

In her resignation letter, which she posted on social media, Gabbard said she told Trump she would leave her job overseeing the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies on June 30. She said her husband had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote in the letter, which was reported earlier by Fox News.

Trump, in his own social media post, said “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.” He said her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

While Gabbard says her departure is for personal reasons, the juxtaposition between her long-held, anti-interventionism stance and Trump’s series of overseas military operations had seemed to put them on a collision course.

Iran put Gabbard and Trump at odds
There had been rumblings that Gabbard would split with Trump after the president’s decision to strike Iran, which caused some division within his administration. Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation in March and said he “cannot in good conscience” back the war.

Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, built her political name on her opposition to foreign wars. This put her in an awkward position when the U.S. joined Israel in launching attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

During a congressional hearing in March, her measured comments were notable for their careful non-endorsement of the Iran war. She repeatedly dodged questions about whether the White House had been warned of potential fallout from the conflict, including Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial for global oil shipments.

Gabbard said in written remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee that there had been no effort by Iran to rebuild its nuclear capability after U.S. attacks last year “obliterated” its nuclear program. That statement contradicted Trump, who has repeatedly asserted that the war was necessary to head off an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic.

This created several awkward exchanges with lawmakers who asked Gabbard for her opinion on the threat posed by Iran as the nation’s top intelligence official. She repeatedly said it was Trump’s decision to strike, not hers.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said.

Gabbard’s departure follows Trump having ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in late March, in the midst of mounting criticism over her leadership of the department — including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.

The second Cabinet member to leave was Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to growing frustration over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. And Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April, after being the target of various misconduct investigations.

Lukas, who will be taking over for Gabbard, was an intelligence aide to the acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, in 2020 during Trump’s first term. A former policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, he also served as deputy senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council in the final year of Trump’s previous administration.

A surprising choice for the job
A military veteran but without any intelligence experience, Gabbard was a surprising choice for director of national intelligence. She ran for president in 2020 on a progressive platform and her opposition to U.S. involvement in foreign military conflicts.

Citing her military experience, she argued that U.S. wars in the Middle East had destabilized the region, made the U.S. less safe and cost thousands of American lives. Gabbard later dropped out of the race and endorsed the ultimate winner, President Joe Biden.

Two years later, she left the Democratic Party to become an independent, saying her old party was dominated by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues. She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans and became a contributor to Fox News.

She later endorsed Trump, who also was a strong critic of past U.S. wars in the Middle East and campaigned on a pledge to avoid unnecessary wars and nation-building overseas.

Iran caused early tensions
But friction with the president started soon after he began his second term and tapped Gabbard to lead ODNI, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve coordination between the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Shortly after taking on the job and before this year’s war, Gabbard testified before lawmakers that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. After Trump launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last June, he said Gabbard was wrong and that he didn’t care what she said.

She appeared to be back in Trump’s good graces when she took a lead role in Trump’s effort to relitigate his 2020 election loss to Biden. She appeared at an FBI search of election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, even though her office was created to focus on foreign espionage, not state elections.

Gabbard made big changes in her time in office
Gabbard vowed to eliminate what she said was the politicization of intelligence by government insiders. But she quickly used her office to support some of Trump’s most partisan arguments — that he won the 2020 election.

She also worked to undermine the results of earlier investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.

In her year on the job, Gabbard oversaw a sharp reduction in the intelligence workforce, as well as the creation of a new task force that she charged with considering big changes to the intelligence service.

Earlier this year, an intelligence sector whistleblower filed a complaint that Gabbard was withholding intelligence for political reasons, a complaint that prompted calls from Democrats for Gabbard’s resignation.

Gabbard, 44, was born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa, raised in Hawaii and spent a year of her childhood in the Philippines. She was first elected as a 21-year-old to Hawaii’s House of Representatives but had to leave after one term when her National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

As the first Hindu member of the House, Gabbard was sworn into office with her hand on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu devotional work. She was also the first American Samoan elected to Congress.

During her four House terms, she became known for speaking out against her party’s leadership. Her early support for Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ 2016 Democratic presidential primary run made her a popular figure in progressive politics nationally.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding that the Justice Department’s pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish him for challenging his mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year.

The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes. The Trump administration touted the charges against Abrego Garcia last year at a press conference in which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, “This is what American justice looks like.”

“The evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, in Nashville, Tenn., said in his ruling granting Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution.”

Abrego Garcia’s deportation became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they were ordered to return him to the U.S. In his motion to dismiss, Abrego Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.

Despite the win in criminal court, his future in the United States is uncertain. Barred from deporting him to El Salvador, administration officials have threatened to deport him to a series of African countries, most recently Liberia.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department,” his criminal defense attorneys said in a statement after Friday’s ruling. “We are so pleased that he is a free man.”

The Justice Department vowed to appeal, calling the judge’s order “wrong and dangerous.”

Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness,” a rarely-met standard that usually requires evidence like a prosecutor admitting that charges were filed in retaliation against someone. But the judge did find there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” — including the timing of the indictment, statements made by then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the sustained oversight of the case by other top Justice Department officials — that the case against Abrego Garcia was thoroughly tainted.

The government’s own explanations weren’t convincing, Crenshaw wrote.

Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors claiming that he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

In the Friday ruling, Crenshaw wrote that the timing of the charges was central to the presumption of vindictiveness. Homeland Security had been aware of the traffic stop for two years and had closed the case against Abrego Garcia when it deported him. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he should be brought back to the U.S., they reopened the case. While the government bore the responsibility to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness, prosecutors did not call as a witness the person who reopened the case, to explain why. Instead they offered only “secondhand testimony.”

In a statement released by the group We are CASA, which has been supporting Abrego Garcia and his family, he thanked God for the dismissal of the criminal charges.

“Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill; and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward,” he said.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation violated a 2019 immigration court order granting him protection from deportation to his home country, after the judge found he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years although he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. The 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, but he was not given residency status.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreigners in the U.S. who want a green card will need to leave and apply in their home country, the Trump administration announced Friday, in a surprise change to a longstanding policy that sowed confusion and concern among aid groups, immigration lawyers and immigrants.

For over half a century, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the entire process for permanent residence in the United States — including individuals married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and political asylum seekers, among others.

The announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said foreigners who are in the U.S. temporarily and who want to apply to become lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, have to return home and apply there, except in “extraordinary circumstances.” USCIS officers would decide whether applicants meet those.

“Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process,” the agency said in a statement.

It is the latest step by the Trump administration making legal immigration more difficult for foreigners already in the U.S. and for those hoping to come here.

Hundreds of thousands apply for green cards from the US each year
“The goal of this policy is very explicit. Senior officials in this administration have said over and over that they want fewer people to get permanent residency because permanent residency is a path to citizenship and they want to block that path for as many people as possible,” said Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS during the Biden administration, who added that about 600,000 people already in the U.S. apply each year for a green card.

USCIS did not say when the change would come into effect, whether individuals would be required to remain in another country throughout the entire process, or whether the policy impacts foreigners whose green card applications are already underway.

In an emailed statement to the Associated Press the agency said people who provide an “economic benefit” or “national interest” could likely stay in the U.S. while others would have to go abroad to apply.

The changes come on top of steps the administration has already taken to restrict and limit entry for people from dozens of countries. In some cases, there are outright bans on travel from those countries, while people from others face pauses in visa processing. Experts and attorneys warned that forcing people from those countries to return home to apply for a green card would result in them being barred from coming back.

“If families are told that the non-citizen family member must return to his or her country of origin to process their immigrant visa, but immigrant visas are not being processed there, it’s a Catch-22. These policies will effectively create an indefinite separation of families,” wrote World Relief, a humanitarian and refugee resettlement organization.

Confusion over who the change applies to
USCIS described the change as a return to “the original intent of the law” and closing a “loophole.”

But immigration lawyers and aid groups pushed back, saying it was longstanding practice for many groups to be able to adjust their status in the U.S. and that many people couldn’t return home because it wasn’t safe or they had no embassy to apply at. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, for example, has been closed since the U.S. pullout in August 2021.

“USCIS is trying to upend decades of processing of adjustment of status,” said Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “This all applies very broadly to anyone seeking a green card”.

Among them could be individuals married to U.S. citizens, immigrants with humanitarian protection who are applying for a green card, and holders of work visas — including doctors and professionals — as well as student and religious visa holders, the attorney noted.

At some U.S. consulates abroad, wait times for a visa appointment could take up to more than a year, said Dalal-Dheini.

Immigration attorneys were picking through the policy memo and announcement Friday afternoon, trying to decipher who it would apply to.

Organizations that provide legal and other assistance to immigrants said they were hearing from clients concerned about what the new guidance would mean for them.

“It’s really hard to tell how this is going to be applied,” said Jessie De Haven, senior staff attorney with the California Immigration Project a non profit that provides legal services to low income immigrants. “I do think it might have a chilling effect on people applying.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge threw out author Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against first lady Melania Trump on Friday, ruling that his “contorted” attempt to prevent her from suing him for $1 billion over his statements about her and Jeffrey Epstein “is not how the federal courts work.”

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in federal court in Manhattan chided Wolff for an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship” and said she “will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.”

Vyskocil, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, agreed that Wolff and the first lady “have a real dispute,” but said “they must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else.”

Wolff sued Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t retract statements that the lawyer said had caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”

Wolff wanted a judge to declare that he did not defame the first lady and that, were she to pursue a lawsuit against him, she would be liable for costs, fees and unspecified monetary damages.

Wolff originally sued in state court in New York under a law barring lawsuits designed to silence critics. Such lawsuits are known as SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. Brito then had the case transferred to federal court and later sought to have it dismissed or moved to a federal court in Florida.

Vyskocil, in her 45-page decision, said that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and “dismisses this case to be litigated like any other.”

Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for Melania Trump, said she “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”

In April, Melania Trump made a statement at the White House denying any affiliation with Epstein, the millionaire financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Reading prepared remarks, the first lady said she and her lawyers were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” that suggested she had ties to Epstein.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Melania Trump said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

In his lawsuit, Wolff argued that the Trumps “have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with costly legal actions “to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean style confessions and apologies.”

He said the threats were “designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Wolff has published a dozen books, including four bestsellers about the president.

Wolff said in the lawsuit that Melania Trump’s threat to sue him was related to statements he made to The Daily Beast and in three social media videos. Some statements were incomplete phrases and were taken out of context, he said.

Others, the lawsuit said, were protected speech. For instance, the statement that the Trumps were in a “sham marriage, trophy marriage,” was a “fair and justified” statement of opinion, it said.

The lawsuit noted that Wolff never said Melania Trump was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

In July 2025, after receiving a letter from Brito, The Daily Beast retracted an article titled, “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” that was based on an interview with Wolff.

Wolff, in his lawsuit, said his comments pertained to the first lady’s “involvement” last year managing the matter “behind the scenes” at the White House — not that she was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

Among other statements Wolff said were true were those his comments about Melania Trump meeting Donald Trump in Epstein’s social circle, and that Donald Trump liked to have sex with his friend’s wives and first slept with Melania Trump on Epstein’s private jet.

LEBANON (VINnews) – Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire now in its second month, Iran-backed Hezbollah has continued its aggression against Israel, with the terrorist group showing little interest in ending hostilities that have claimed dozens of Israeli lives and displaced communities on both sides of the border.

The fragile truce, intended to halt the conflict that resumed on March 2, has been repeatedly undermined by Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm or withdraw from southern Lebanon, according to Israeli officials. While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carry out targeted operations to neutralize threats and protect civilians, the Lebanese terror group—designated a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and Britain—has persisted with attacks.

Senior Hezbollah MP Dr. Hussein al Hajj Hassan, in a rare interview, made clear the group’s uncompromising stance: Israel must halt all defensive actions, fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, release prisoners, and allow Hezbollah strongholds to be rebuilt before any talks can proceed.

“We don’t negotiate under fire,” al Hajj Hassan said. “That’s not negotiation. That’s humiliation.”

Critics view such demands as a transparent effort to buy time for rearmament while embedding deeper into civilian areas, a tactic long used by Hezbollah to draw Israeli responses that cause collateral damage. The group has a history of initiating cross-border attacks, embedding rocket launchers in villages, and operating as a proxy for Iran’s regional ambitions.

Lebanese health authorities, often aligned with Hezbollah influence, claim more than 3,000 deaths since early March, including civilians. However, these figures are difficult to independently verify and do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, nor do they account for Hezbollah’s practice of operating from within populated areas. Meanwhile, at least 21 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire was supposed to take effect, underscoring the ongoing threat posed by the terror group.

UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, has logged thousands of alleged Israeli violations by air, land and sea. Israeli officials counter that many such incidents involve necessary responses to Hezbollah provocations, reconnaissance of threat sites, or enforcement of the ceasefire terms that require the Lebanese army to take control of the south—something Hezbollah has actively prevented.

As indirect talks continue in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese officials, Israel maintains that true peace requires Hezbollah’s complete disarmament south of the Litani River, in line with UN Resolution 1701, and the return of displaced Israeli residents to their homes in the north.

Hezbollah’s leadership insists it seeks “a peace with dignity and independence,” yet its actions—continued attacks, rejection of phased de-escalation, and maximalist demands—suggest a preference for perpetual conflict over genuine security for Lebanon’s people. Israeli leaders have repeatedly signaled openness to a diplomatic resolution that ensures lasting calm along the border, but only if Hezbollah ceases using Lebanese territory as a launchpad for Iranian aggression.

A hotel employee in Cambria, California, was fired after verbally confronting an Israeli couple, telling them “Free Palestine” and accusing them of being “baby killers.”

Footage of the incident spread rapidly across social media after being posted online.

The video shows the Israeli couple arriving at the hotel to check into rooms they had reserved when the front desk worker began berating them while recording the interaction himself. He later uploaded the footage to social media, writing that he had “never looked the devil in the eye” the way he did that night and claiming there were “child murderers” staying at the hotel.

During the confrontation, the Israeli woman told the employee that he was expected to remain professional and provide equal treatment to all guests. She was later heard telling her husband in Hebrew, “I’m afraid he will break into our room and do something to us.”

A young child could also be heard in the background repeatedly calling out, “Mommy, mommy.”

According to reports circulating online, the family ultimately decided not to stay at the hotel and found accommodations elsewhere.

Pro-Israel activist Hen Mazzig reacted to the incident by noting that the employee’s dismissal did not end the controversy.

“The employee was fired. This is where the story usually ends. It does not end here. He launched a GoFundMe called ‘Support Ryan’s Stand for Justice.’ Almost $8,000 raised in roughly a day. In his own words, he was let go for ‘speaking up on the genocide.’”

“That is one version of events. The other version is on camera. This is what 2026 looks like for Jews,” he concluded.