Jewish members of the Park Slope Food Coop, a Brooklyn grocery cooperative with some 15,000 members, say they have faced threats, physical intimidation, and antisemitic harassment from pro-boycott activists in the weeks leading up to a vote Tuesday night on whether to ban Israeli products from the store’s shelves.

The vote, originally scheduled to take place in person at The Picnic House in Prospect Park, was moved to Zoom after members raised “explicit concerns about their safety,” according to internal emails obtained by The New York Post. Coop coordinators Ann Herpel and Matt Hoagland acknowledged in a message to members that even with newly hired security personnel on site, “we cannot guarantee their security.” The coop has also instituted a check-in station for parts of the building.

“People were nervous to go physically,” coop member Ramon Maislen told The Post. “They are fairly violent,” he alleged of the anti-Israel faction within the membership.

A separate internal email from coop management stated that disagreements over the vote had “escalated into verbal confrontations and, in some cases, physical altercations” between members, and that the coop had received threats requiring coordination with the NYPD.

One Jewish member affiliated with the anti-boycott group Coop 4 Unity described witnessing a pro-boycott member physically menace someone distributing flyers opposing the policy change.

“A member walked up to another guy who was flyering and got really physically aggressive,” she said. “He backed up to him closely and started yelling about genocide and apartheid.” Coop staffers eventually intervened.

“The whole time I was out there flyering, my heart was racing,” the 37-year-old mother of two said. “I’m a mom of two. I could think of 1 million other things I could be doing.”

At a meeting last month, one coop member sparked outrage when he declared “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country” and compared Jews to Nazis.

A formal complaint reviewed by The Post described a longtime member experiencing severe anxiety after receiving emails from boycott organizers referring to “Zionists.” She wrote: “I lost sleep. I had diarrhea. My stomach was in knots for the two weeks between the April 14 email and the April 29 meeting.” She arrived at a prior meeting hours early out of fear she would be prevented from entering, and described the atmosphere as “intimidating,” saying pro-Palestinian activists had “flooded” the venue wearing keffiyehs and watermelon imagery, causing other members to stay away entirely.

Maislen filed a formal complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights in 2024, alleging that he and other Jewish members were harassed for opposing the boycott campaign.
Outside the coop on Monday, pro-Palestinian activists chanted about genocide, apartheid, and Zionism while the newly hired security guards stood nearby. Many shoppers told The Post they were disgusted by the protesters.

Despite the intensity of the conflict, the practical scope of the proposed boycott is narrow. The coop currently carries only a handful of Israeli products: matzo sold seasonally for Pesach, Bamba snack chips, some hummus, an herb, and two Ecolove hair care products — five items in all, or eight if certain produce and tahini brands are included depending on the version of the proposal.

But opponents say the stakes go far beyond the products themselves. Noah Potter, 54, a lawyer and coop member since 2012, said a yes vote would be “a scalp hanging from the belt” of the BDS movement.

“It’s about putting the coop’s brand on the BDS ideology,” Potter said. “When BDS comes into an organization, the modus operandi is to polarize and expel, purge and cause the organization to adopt a statement that is highly reductionist, and inflammatory, and assigns blame to the extent of incarnating evil.”

Boycott organizers have framed their campaign around accusations of genocide, apartheid, and violations of international law — accusations Israel and its supporters vigorously dispute. Among the movement’s stated demands was the “right of return” for all descendants of Palestinians displaced in the 1948 War of Independence, a position that, if implemented, would effectively end Israel’s existence as a Jewish-majority state.

The anti-Israel campaign at the coop has been ongoing since 2012, but intensified sharply following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin publicly opposed the measure ahead of the vote. “This proposed boycott serves to further divide New Yorkers,” she told The Times of Israel. “I hope the Coop rejects BDS and instead remains focused on the mission that has guided it for more than 50 years.”

An informal survey estimated that nearly 1,000 current members would leave the coop if the boycott passes — a prospect that concerns Maislen and other opponents beyond the principle of the matter.

“My concern is that if coop members leave in disgust, it actually kind of harms us in a way, because if we have to have another vote, there’s just fewer people that are on our side,” Maislen said.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that negotiations with Iran over a ceasefire extension and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will require several more days, as new American strikes in southern Iran complicated the fragile diplomatic picture.

Speaking to reporters before departing India, Rubio said talks are ongoing but complex. “There is a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document,” he said. “So, it’ll take a few days.”

Rubio emphasized that President Donald Trump is unwilling to accept an unsatisfactory agreement, and said the central sticking point at this stage is the status of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which a significant portion of the world’s oil supply passes. Iran had sought to charge tolls for ships transiting the strait — a condition the US flatly rejected.

“The straits need to be open, unimpeded, without tolls,” Rubio said.

The remarks came despite the US having launched new strikes against Iranian targets in the south, an action that raised questions about the durability of the ceasefire framework already in place.

In a separate development with implications for the Iran portfolio and broader Middle East diplomacy, Rubio has promoted his longtime aide Michael Needham to the post of assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser, according to a source familiar with the matter. The appointment was first reported by Axios.

Needham, who currently serves as State Department counselor, previously served as Rubio’s chief of staff in the US Senate and as chief executive of Heritage Action for America, a conservative grassroots advocacy organization.
In his new role, Needham will serve alongside Rubio, who holds the dual position of secretary of state and acting national security adviser — an arrangement that has given the State Department unusual influence over the administration’s foreign policy apparatus.

Though Needham has largely kept a lower public profile, he has been a central figure in several key diplomatic initiatives, including negotiations around potential US involvement in Greenland and, notably, the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades, which culminated in a ceasefire agreement earlier this year.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a chilling series of threats against both Israel and the United States on Tuesday, declaring that “Israel will not live to see another 15 years” while warning that America will soon have “no safe haven” anywhere in the Middle East.

The fiery statements were aired by Iranian state television and published in an official Telegram message tied to the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage.

“Death to Israel” and “Death to America” remain the Islamic Republic’s guiding slogans, Khamenei declared, reaffirming Tehran’s longstanding hostility toward the Jewish state and the United States.

The remarks echoed a notorious prediction made years earlier by his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who once claimed Israel would not survive another 25 years.

In Tuesday’s message, Mojtaba Khamenei also warned that the United States is rapidly losing its grip on the Middle East.

“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for U.S. bases,” he wrote.

“The United States not only will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region but day by day, it is growing more distant from its former status,” he added.

The threats come at a highly sensitive moment as Washington and Tehran continue negotiations aimed at ending the recent war and establishing a broader agreement.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly since assuming power following the death of his father in a massive airstrike on Tehran during the opening stages of the recent joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A 12-year-old juvenile was arrested Monday afternoon after allegedly attempting to force entry into a residence in Howell Township, according to police.

The incident occurred around 3:28 p.m. on May 25 in the area of Princeton Drive. Howell Township Police said officers responded to reports of a male attempting to break into a home.

Upon arrival, officers found the homeowner holding the juvenile suspect on the ground outside the residence. The victim told police he was inside his home when he heard a loud bang coming from the front door. When he went to investigate, he discovered the front door had allegedly been kicked open, causing damage to the door frame.

Police said the homeowner then observed the suspect running toward the side of the driveway, where he allegedly got onto an e-bike and attempted to flee the scene.

According to investigators, the homeowner followed the suspect in his vehicle and was able to stop him a short distance away before holding him down on the ground until officers arrived.

Authorities said Ring camera footage provided by the victim allegedly showed the juvenile approach the front door before delivering a forceful backward kick that damaged and opened the door.

The juvenile was charged with criminal mischief and later released to his father at police headquarters, police said.

Later that evening, the juvenile’s mother reportedly contacted police claiming the homeowner had pointed a firearm at her son during the encounter. Officers returned to the scene and reviewed surveillance footage while also speaking with several witnesses. Police said all witnesses stated that no firearm was displayed at any point during the incident, and investigators found no evidence to substantiate the allegation.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Ptl. Lavarin #722 at 732-938-4575 ext. 2722.

By JBizNews Desk

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is rapidly emerging as one of the most aggressive forces in American antitrust enforcement, moving to challenge major media and entertainment consolidation efforts as the Trump administration’s Justice Department scales back several high-profile merger fights.

The shift accelerated after a landmark April 15 jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where 33 states and the District of Columbia defeated Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster subsidiary on monopolization claims after the Department of Justice settled mid-trial without securing a breakup of the company.

The verdict is now reshaping expectations across Wall Street, corporate boardrooms, and the media industry.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James led the coalition that refused to accept the DOJ settlement and instead pressed forward independently. The jury ultimately found that Live Nation unlawfully monopolized primary ticketing and amphitheater services while also illegally tying amphitheater access to concert promotion contracts.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, a Republican, criticized the federal settlement as inadequate, saying it “falls far short of protecting consumers.” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a Democrat, called the DOJ’s approach “barely a slap on the wrist.”

The bipartisan push marked a significant moment in the balance of antitrust power between Washington and the states.

The remedies phase in the Live Nation case is still ongoing, with states seeking broad structural relief that could ultimately include a forced divestiture of Ticketmaster — a remedy federal officials declined to pursue. Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino has repeatedly defended the company’s business model as procompetitive and consumer-friendly, but the jury rejected those arguments across the central claims presented at trial.

Attention is now shifting toward two major pending media transactions that state officials appear increasingly willing to challenge independently.

On April 17, Chief Judge Troy L. Nunley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a preliminary injunction blocking further integration between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, siding with an eight-state coalition led by California and New York.

The states argued the combination would substantially reduce competition across more than 30 local television markets and raise retransmission fees ultimately passed on to cable and satellite customers. Under the ruling, Nexstar must continue operating Tegna as an independent company pending final judgment.

Nexstar Chief Executive Perry Sook has argued the merger is necessary to compete against streaming giants and digital advertising platforms, but state enforcers contend the concentration in local broadcasting markets remains too severe.

The next major flashpoint may become the proposed Paramount Skydance Corporation acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, announced February 27 in a transaction valued at roughly $110 billion including debt.

Although the deal cleared the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period earlier this year, several attorneys general have signaled privately and publicly that federal clearance may no longer guarantee completion.

The transaction, backed by David Ellison and the Ellison family investor consortium, is being framed by executives as a necessary scale response to streaming competition from Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and YouTube. Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim, himself a former Trump-era DOJ antitrust chief, has defended the merger as procompetitive.

But after the Live Nation verdict, corporate advisers increasingly fear states could adopt the same litigation strategy against large media combinations even when federal regulators step aside.

The broader concern for corporate America is that states are no longer merely supplementing federal antitrust enforcement — they are increasingly replacing it.

Several consumer advocacy organizations and former enforcement officials have criticized the Trump administration’s merger posture, arguing that behavioral settlements and negotiated conduct remedies have replaced structural breakups that historically defined major antitrust cases.

The Live Nation case crystallized those frustrations and emboldened states to assert authority under both federal and state competition laws.

At the same time, states are building new procedural tools to expand oversight. California, Washington, and Colorado have already enacted state-level “mini-HSR” laws requiring merger notifications at the state level, while similar legislation is advancing in multiple additional states. The measures effectively create a second layer of merger review beyond Washington, significantly increasing regulatory complexity and closing risk for large transactions.

Markets are already reacting to the new environment.

Shares of Nexstar have underperformed since the California injunction, while merger arbitrage spreads tied to the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction have widened amid growing uncertainty over potential state litigation. Live Nation shares also remain under pressure as investors wait to see whether courts ultimately order structural remedies involving Ticketmaster.

For corporate executives, private equity firms, and investment bankers, the lesson from the past several months is becoming increasingly clear: federal approval alone may no longer be enough to close transformative mergers in the United States.

State attorneys general — operating with growing legal sophistication, bipartisan political cover, and increasingly favorable court precedents — are now prepared to litigate national-scale antitrust battles on their own.

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

President Donald Trump will convene his full Cabinet at Camp David on Wednesday as negotiations with Iran enter a critical phase, Fox News reported today.

All Cabinet members are expected to attend, including outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The rare Camp David gathering comes as the administration weighs its next steps in talks aimed at securing a broader agreement with Iran.

The discussions are focused on a fragile regional framework that could include Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and efforts to keep the ceasefire from collapsing.

The meeting comes after U.S. military action tied to Iranian threats near Hormuz yesterday, which they framed as a defensive strike. American officials said the strikes did not mark the end of the ceasefire, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Hormuz must remain open “one way or the other.”

The timing is being watched closely in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also will meet tomorrow with his Cabinet as concern grows over the shape of a possible U.S.-Iran framework. There is no confirmation that the two meetings are coordinated, but the parallel timing adds to the sense that major decisions may be nearing.

BEIT HANOUN (VINnews) – Israeli forces destroyed more than 6 miles of underground tunnels and hundreds of above-ground terrorist infrastructures in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The IDF described the area as a former central terrorist stronghold for Hamas. Military officials said the operation targeted an extensive network used by the Iran-backed terrorist group for attacks against Israel.

The operation dismantled both subterranean tunnels — which Hamas has historically used for smuggling, command centers and surprise attacks — and numerous surface-level facilities including buildings utilized for military purposes.

No immediate details were released on the time frame of the destruction or whether it was part of a larger ongoing operation in the region. The IDF has conducted repeated missions in northern Gaza to degrade Hamas capabilities and prevent the group from regrouping since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre that triggered the current war.

The announcement comes amid continued Israeli efforts to eliminate remaining Hamas infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip.

American Airlines announced today that it will begin installing SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service on more than 500 narrowbody aircraft starting in early 2027, part of a major effort by the carrier to upgrade its inflight customer experience.

The Fort Worth-based airline said the rollout will initially focus on its Airbus narrowbody fleet, including newly delivered A321XLR and A321neo aircraft used on domestic and short-haul international routes.

The airline said Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit satellite network is expected to provide significantly faster and more reliable internet service than traditional inflight Wi-Fi systems, allowing passengers to stream video, play online games, browse the internet and use collaboration tools during flights. The company said Starlink’s Aero Terminal technology can support speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second per antenna.

Garboden said the upgraded service is intended to provide passengers with an “at-home level” internet experience in the air, eliminating concerns about lag time or needing to download documents before boarding.

Financial terms of the agreement between American Airlines and SpaceX were not disclosed.

The announcement comes as airlines worldwide race to improve onboard connectivity amid rising demand for premium travel experiences following the COVID-19 pandemic. Several major carriers, including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines, have also announced plans to deploy Starlink across portions of their fleets.

American currently offers complimentary Wi-Fi to members of its loyalty program on most flights through a partnership with AT&T. The airline said the Starlink installation is part of a broader effort to modernize its fleet during its centennial year in 2026.

There are currently about 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that connect more than 3 million customers in 100 countries, according to the company.

New York — Mid-market consumers across the Tri-State area are navigating a steep divergence in transportation costs as summer approaches. While localized dealership inventories show a minor 0.2% cooling in new vehicle sticker prices following a holiday weekend sales push, regional auto insurance premiums continue an aggressive upward climb, creating a compounding fixed cost for commuting households.

Regulatory Pressures Drive Local Premiums Higher

Data from regional regulatory filings indicates that the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area remains one of the most expensive corridors in the nation for automotive coverage. According to recent disclosures from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), New York drivers are now averaging just over $4,000 annually for comprehensive coverage, sitting nearly $1,500 above the baseline national average.
The regional spikes are a trailing reaction to severe underwriting losses from previous fiscal quarters, driven heavily by skyrocketing repair overhead for digital vehicle components, like bumper sensors and built-in camera arrays. Furthermore, state officials note that systemic issues like litigation bottlenecks, medical claim severity under the state’s no-fault system, and organized insurance fraud loops have added an estimated $300 premium penalty to every single driver’s annual policy.

Mandated Statutory Floor Hikes Hit New Jersey

Across the Hudson River, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) is overseeing an equally sharp shift in baseline driver expenses. On January 1, 2026, the state officially executed Phase II of its mandatory auto insurance modernization reform under public law. This statutory change automatically raised the legal floor for bodily injury liability coverage from $25,000 to $35,000 per person, and from $50,000 to $70,000 per accident.
While the policy expansion was designed to shield crash victims from out-of-pocket medical debt caused by modern economic inflation, the higher legal baseline has automatically trickled down into standard monthly premium adjustments for budget-tier policyholders. Tri-State families renewing basic, state-minimum policies this season are encountering automatic rate hikes as carriers realign their baseline underwriting rules to match the new statutory thresholds.

Consumers Adjust Strategies to Dodge Price Volatility

For the everyday consumer, the shifting pricing structure is altering vehicle purchasing and maintenance strategies. Regional consumer protection panels report a significant increase in drivers opting for higher deductibles—shifting from a standard $500 to $1,000 threshold—in an immediate effort to suppress monthly premium bills.
However, local insurance analysts warn this exposure leaves working household budgets vulnerable to sudden out-of-pocket liabilities if minor accidents occur on dense commuter corridors like the Garden State Parkway or the Long Island Expressway. To offset the crunch, consumer advocates are urging drivers to aggressively audit their existing policy profiles by requesting multi-policy bundles or opting into telematics tracking applications, as individual zip-code pricing formulas vary wildly between metropolitan neighborhoods.

JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

By JBizNews Desk

East Rutherford, N.J. — May 26, 2026 — New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has secured another reduction in NJ Transit’s controversial 2026 FIFA World Cup fare pricing, cutting round-trip service from New York Penn Station to MetLife Stadium to $98 after the original $150 price triggered widespread backlash across the tri-state region.

The governor announced earlier this month that the latest reduction — down from an interim $105 fare — was achieved through a corporate sponsorship package funded by DoorDash, Audible, FanDuel, DraftKings, PSE&G, South Jersey Industries, and American Water, which she emphasized would come “without New Jersey taxpayer money.”

The pricing battle quickly became one of the most politically sensitive operational issues surrounding the 2026 World Cup buildup.

NJ Transit Chief Executive Officer Kris Kolluri had defended the original $150 round-trip fare as a necessary cost-recovery mechanism tied to roughly $48 million in tournament operating expenses and an estimated $6 million logistics bill per match day needed to move approximately 40,000 fans through the Meadowlands rail network during each of the tournament’s eight matches at MetLife Stadium.

The comparison to ordinary commuter pricing fueled the outrage.

A standard round-trip fare between New York Penn Station and MetLife Stadium currently costs approximately $12.90, meaning the original World Cup pricing represented an effective 11-times premium over normal transit service.

Criticism escalated rapidly after the April announcement, with local officials, transit advocates and commuters accusing NJ Transit and state officials of turning public infrastructure into a FIFA profit center at the expense of residents.

The sponsorship model ultimately became the political solution.

By replacing taxpayer subsidy with private corporate underwriting, Sherrill effectively repositioned the fare reduction from a government bailout into a high-profile public-private partnership tied to what is expected to become the largest sporting event ever hosted in North America.

For the sponsors, the economics are equally clear.

DoorDash, Audible, FanDuel and DraftKings gain massive global brand exposure tied to World Cup transportation and fan mobility infrastructure, while regulated utilities including PSE&G, South Jersey Industries and American Water strengthen goodwill with Trenton policymakers at a time when infrastructure approvals, energy-transition investments and future rate cases remain front and center across New Jersey politics.

The fare rollback also reflects growing coordination between New Jersey and New York officials seeking to maximize the economic impact of the World Cup across the broader metropolitan region.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul separately reduced MTA special-event bus pricing to $20 from $80 for New York City fans traveling to MetLife Stadium, reinforcing a broader tri-state strategy focused on visitor spending, tourism capture and regional transportation capacity.

Tourism officials across New York and New Jersey estimate the tournament could generate several billion dollars in combined economic activity across hospitality, retail, transportation and entertainment sectors during the June-through-July tournament window.

Operationally, however, the transportation challenge remains enormous.

NJ Transit’s board has already approved a contract worth up to $3.4 million with A Yankee Line, Inc. to provide emergency backup bus capacity, with 100 buses on standby during standard match days and 125 buses reserved for the July 19 World Cup final.

The pressure on the rail and bus system will intensify further because private parking at MetLife Stadium will largely be prohibited during match days, while ride-share access will also face significant restrictions designed to reduce roadway congestion and security risks.

That effectively forces tens of thousands of spectators directly onto the public transportation network.

The first World Cup match at MetLife Stadium is scheduled for June 13, with the venue hosting eight total matches, including the tournament final.

Ticket pricing itself has already underscored the event’s massive economic scale.

Early group-stage seats have started around $60, while premium Category 1 tickets for the final have exceeded $10,000 before resale markups, with secondary-market pricing in some cases already climbing far higher.

For Governor Sherrill, the fare reduction represents more than a transportation adjustment.

It converts what had become a politically damaging narrative around transit price gouging into a corporate-sponsored affordability initiative she can carry into the broader fiscal and infrastructure debates ahead of the 2026 election cycle.

The operational test, however, still lies ahead.

Once the crowds arrive next summer, the success or failure of the entire strategy may ultimately depend less on the ticket price — and more on whether the trains actually move.

JBizNews Desk

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

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is expecting inflation to fall further by the end of the year as energy prices ease and economic growth continues to accelerate.

Hassett joined FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria” to discuss inflation, energy prices, artificial intelligence investment and the broader outlook for the U.S. economy.

Hassett pointed to falling Treasury yields and what he described as strong underlying economic momentum as signs that inflation pressures could continue easing in the months ahead. He argued that lower oil prices would likely have an immediate impact on consumers and businesses if disruptions tied to the Strait of Hormuz ease.

US TARGETS IRAN’S $7.7 BILLION CRYPTO NETWORK TIED TO REGIME OPERATIONS

“Core inflation is already just a smidge above target… top line inflation is going to go down as soon as we get the straits open,” Hassett said. 

“And it’s going to go down a lot.”

HIGH ENERGY PRICES RISK KEEPING INFLATION ABOVE 2% TARGET, CONCERNING FED POLICYMAKERS

His comments come as investors continue watching energy markets and Federal Reserve policy closely following volatility tied to tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices and inflation concerns have remained central issues for consumers ahead of the 2026 midterm election cycle, particularly as Americans continue to face elevated costs for groceries, housing and insurance.

Hassett reiterated that the administration remains focused on affordability and argued that investments tied to artificial intelligence, manufacturing and domestic energy production are helping strengthen the broader economy.

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The public is being asked to offer tefillos for the full recovery of the Gerer Rebbe, who is scheduled to undergo a planned medical procedure today.

According to sources, the procedure is connected to a medical complication from which the Rebbe has recently been suffering involving the sinus and eye areas, after doctors determined that the condition was affecting his vision.

Initially, physicians explored the possibility that the issue stemmed from another medical problem, but following additional examinations, doctors decided to move forward with the planned procedure.

Sources within Ger stressed that the procedure was scheduled in advance and, according to current medical assessments, is considered relatively limited and is not expected to last long.

The procedure is expected to take place at a medical center in Herzliya.

Following the treatment, the Rebbe is expected to spend approximately a week resting and recuperating in Kfar Shmaryahu together with close aides and attendants.

The public is being urged to continue davening for the complete and speedy recovery of Rav Yaakov Aryeh ben Yuta Henya.

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK — Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups plan to hold a demonstration Tuesday evening outside the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The protest is being organized by EndJewHatred and is expected to include support from the Israeli-American Council, the Catholic League and the Zionist Organization of America. Organizers said the rally is intended to protest what they describe as rising hostility toward Jewish and pro-Israel communities in the city.

The planned demonstration comes amid growing disagreements between Mamdani and several mainstream Jewish organizations over his positions on Israel-related issues. Recent criticism focused on a video released for Nakba Day and his support for proposed legislation involving charities connected to Israeli settlement-related activities.

Some Jewish leaders argue similar proposals could negatively impact nonprofit and humanitarian organizations with ties to Jewish communities in disputed territories.

Mamdani also chose not to participate in this weekend’s Israel Day on Fifth parade, an annual pro-Israel event in New York City.

JERUSALEM — A photo of a Ger Hasidic rabbi serving as an Israeli combat soldier carrying a Torah scroll and military gear has gone viral on social media, with many online calling it a symbol of unity within Israeli society.

The image showed Capt. Yehuda Weitzman, 34, leaving home after Shabbat dressed in traditional Hasidic clothing while carrying a suitcase, combat vest and Torah scroll before returning to reserve military duty.

צאת חג מתן תורה בירושלים. נשק, ספר תורה וקרמי בדרך לעוד סבב מילואים בלבנון pic.twitter.com/f71bkY2PsC

— חיים גולדברג (@haim_goldberg) May 24, 2026

Weitzman, a father of three from Jerusalem, serves in the Israeli military’s Hasmonean Brigade, a framework aimed at integrating ultra-Orthodox soldiers into combat service. He said he enlisted for full military service in 2018 after years of studying in yeshivas and kollel programs.

“I felt I needed to be part of what I call ‘the Temple of our time,’” Weitzman told Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, referring to the military. “The Temple once brought all parts of the Jewish people together, and today the army does that.”

Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Weitzman said he was deployed near Gaza border communities and later assisted at a military base handling the dead. Though he previously served in rabbinic and professional military roles, he later chose to retrain as a combat soldier.

Weitzman also said he helped organize donations and support for soldiers from ultra-Orthodox communities, including operational equipment donated by anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidim in the United States.

He said Torah scrolls brought to combat areas often unite soldiers from different religious and political backgrounds.

Not in history books.
Not 80 years ago.
Right NOW!

Two Yidden from Eretz Yisrael are trapped in brutal prison conditions in Poland. Separated from their families, broken emotionally, and desperate for help.

One can finally get out on bail.
But only if we raise $55,000 immediately.

Without it, he may remain in prison for years awaiting trial.

The second Yid is facing years behind bars as well. His wife in Eretz Yisrael is hospitalized and struggling psychologically while he sits alone in a foreign prison. A qualified lawyer can help reduce his sentence, but the legal fees are enormous.

For months, Rabbi Sholom Ber Stambler, the Rebbe’s Shliach in Warsaw for over 21 years, has personally visited them, brought them kosher food, supported them, and fought for them.

Now he’s asking Klal Yisrael to step in.

The Rambam calls Pidyon Shvuyim the greatest mitzvah.

How can we stand by while fellow Yidden sit imprisoned, alone, and forgotten?

Help bring a Yid home.
Help save a family.
Help fulfill one of the greatest mitzvos in the Torah.

DONATE HERE TODAY

“It’s absurd for a medical union to ignore other issues and just demonize Israel and Zionists,” American Jewish Dr. Jacob Agronin, a Philadelphia-based cardiology fellow, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

He testified at the recent subcommittee of the US Committee on Education and Workforce that his union, the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), publicly supports terror sympathizers and formally endorses the exclusion of Israeli colleagues based on national origin. He also said the union has declared the State of Israel guilty of apartheid and genocide as a matter of official organizational doctrine.

CIR is the largest house staff union in the United States, currently representing approximately 37,000 resident and fellow physicians.

Resident physicians and fellows represented by a CIR chapter typically pay union dues (around 1.5% of base pay), which go directly toward supporting collective bargaining, legal representation, and contract negotiation costs. Whether employees have to pay dues or agency fees depends on the state and the hospital.

While Agronin told the Post he has had “essentially zero contact,” a lawyer for the American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA) drafted a letter over the summer and sent it to Agronin’s hospital, saying CIR is “antisemitic” and that the hospital should not force its Jewish residents to pay dues if they don’t want any connection to the union.

Jewish residents and fellows request option to dissociate from union

“Basically requesting the hospital leave out the forced dues clause from the contract,” he explained. Agronin said he thinks they’re getting closer to a final contract, but that there’s still some negotiation meetings that are happening in June.

“We’re sending another letter on behalf of the AJMA, reiterating a request to exclude a forced dues clause. My hope would be that this would set a precedent that we could take to other programs and other hospitals that are either, you know, like starting initial negotiations with CIR, or whether contracts are up for renewal.”

The main purpose of the CIR union is to negotiate fair contracts on behalf of residents and fellows. This protects residents and fellows from predatory practices from their individual hospitals.

Should any members need legal representation or someone on their behalf to support them against some hospital or disciplinary actions, the union would be there to do that.

“However, in their own documents and their own postings, they’ve said that they will provide support to those who are facing disciplinary action for speaking in support of Palestine or against Israel. Basically, their focus is on resident wellness – as it should be – and Israel.”

In May 2024, it passed a formal resolution, titled “Housestaff Against Apartheid.” The resolution formally declares, as a matter of CIR organizational doctrine, that Israel maintains “an apartheid occupation against the Palestinian people” and that Israeli actions constitute genocide under the UN definition. The resolution also formally endorses the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and directs CIR to pursue it through a specific set of actions.

A contact of Agronin, who was formerly very pro-CIR and pro-union, left CIR because of its antisemitism. This contact said that Israel was the dominant topic of the entire convention, during which the resolution was passed.

“They had to cancel discussions on actual resident focus issues because there was such lively debate and discussion about this one resolution. I cannot say enough that it’s a total distraction. And it’s a distraction from patient care, distraction from the physician’s mission as doctors. It’s just a blatant violation of medical ethics, and actually fundamentally incompatible with medical ethics,” he told the Post.

“They would immediately cancel this union, but because it’s the Jews, it’s treated so differently. It would be unequivocally condemned if it was any other group. It’s just a crazy double standard and has no place in medicine and no place in any other institution.”

“And it’s just absurd for a medical union to be devoting any effort at all, but especially this much effort, where they actually ignore other issues, to just demonize Israel and Zionists.”

Israel has become a central issue of union’s priorities

This fanatical obsession with Israel is not confined to CIR, but a “totally ubiquitous issue,” Agronin said.

“It’s everywhere. I’ve gotten blocked by colleagues for my pro-Israel postings [on social media], including one person that was in charge of making my schedule.

“I mean, it’s a rising sentiment in every institution of America. It started in the universities, and it’s just absolutely out of control there. It’s absolutely in healthcare. It’s really in any space of higher education, that you’re seeing a really pervasive, ‘anti-Zionist’ perspective, which is, I think, very clearly, antisemitism.”

He said Jewish doctors and Israeli doctors across America are experiencing a similar problem.

“Some doctors go beyond the simple sharing of Hamas propaganda. Some doctors will just really go into unhinged, full Jew-hatred, which raises extreme concern for their ability to care for Jewish patients, [and] Israeli patients.”

“As I mentioned in my hearing, should patients and families have to be worried about speaking Hebrew in the hospital? One of my colleagues is Israeli, and she has to worry that she’ll get different treatment from her peers.”

“It’s definitely becoming a big problem that I’m noticing more, year after year in the medical space,” he concluded.

This post was originally published on here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices hover near record levels.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The measure hasn’t fallen as much this year as other gauges of consumer attitudes, but it has been stuck at a low level since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, it regularly reached 130.

A separate gauge of consumer sentiment released last week by the University of Michigan fell to a record low this month. Soaring gas and food costs have worsened inflation that is outpacing the average growth in paychecks, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power. Americans have soured on President Trump’s economic policies, polls show, potentially creating problems for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

Consumer sentiment is mostly gloomy even as the economy is still growing and the unemployment rate has stayed low. Some economists argue that the gap reflects inequality in a “K-shaped” economy, with higher-income Americans benefitting from rising stock prices and still spending while lower-income households struggle.

Tuesday’s consumer confidence survey showed that confidence grew among households with incomes at or above $100,000, while it fell for most others.

“The prospect of higher prices and faster inflation continues to loom over confidence readings with many households taking a more cautious approach to purchases this year,” Ben Ayers, Nationwide senior economist, said.

There were some positive signs, Ayers noted: Americans’ expectations for growth six months in the future improved, potentially a sign they expect the Iran war to be over by then.

Still, Americans’ outlook on the job market worsened slightly. The proportion of respondents who said jobs are “plentiful” dropped to 25.5%, the lowest in three years. At the same time, just 18.6% said jobs were “hard to get,” the smallest percentage since October. The findings reflect the “low-hire, low-fire” job market that has made it harder for those out of work to obtain new jobs.

Gas prices have soared to a nationwide average of $4.49 a gallon from $2.98 just before the war began at the end of February, and have been at or above $4.50 a gallon for nearly all of May.

This month, the Conference Board added special questions to its survey, which found rising prices have caused most Americans to change their spending habits. Two-thirds of respondents said they are cutting back spending in response to the increases, with most of those reducing overall purchases and delaying more expensive acquisitions.

Many consumers are also planning to economize on clothes, shoes, hobby items, and toys and games, the survey found.

Inflation jumped to 3.8% in April, the highest in three years and far above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In addition to more expensive gas, grocery prices have also started rising more quickly, likely driven by higher shipping costs. Beef prices have also risen sharply, as drought and other factors have reduced cattle herds.

The higher prices are reducing Americans’ average inflation-adjusted incomes. Average hourly earnings, adjusted for price changes, shrank in April from a year earlier for the first time in three years.

Other data also suggests consumers have grown more cautious amid rising prices. Adjusted for inflation, retail sales actually declined in April, after a solid increase in March.

And the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to a record-low 44.8 in May, its third straight decline, as a majority of respondents said rising prices were hurting their personal finances.

BP abruptly removed Chairman Albert Manifold on Tuesday, citing “serious concerns” tied to governance, oversight and conduct issues, sending shares lower and deepening uncertainty at the oil giant.

The company said Manifold, who had served as chairman for just eight months, was removed effective immediately after the board unanimously concluded he should no longer remain in the role.

“This follows serious concerns raised to the board related to important governance standards, oversight and conduct,” BP said in a statement, without providing additional details.

The surprise ouster rattled investors. BP shares plunged nearly 10% in London trading and were briefly halted before recovering some losses. The broader European energy sector was down less than 1%.

HIGH ENERGY PRICES RISK KEEPING INFLATION ABOVE 2% TARGET, CONCERNING FED POLICYMAKERS

The shakeup lands at a critical moment for BP, which has struggled with investor confidence, lagging stock performance and questions about its long-term strategy.

Manifold was brought in last October to help oversee BP’s pivot back toward oil and gas production after years of aggressive climate-focused messaging and renewable energy investments that frustrated some shareholders.

The former CRH chief executive, who had no prior energy industry experience, had support from activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which has built a roughly 5% stake in BP and pushed for stronger financial performance.

Manifold also helped install current CEO Meg O’Neill, the former Woodside Energy chief, as BP’s fifth CEO since 2020.

BP has been plagued by executive instability in recent years. Former CEO Bernard Looney was fired in 2023 after admitting he misled the board about relationships with colleagues. His successor, Murray Auchincloss, exited abruptly in December.

The repeated management upheaval has fueled persistent speculation that BP could eventually become a takeover target or face pressure to break itself apart.

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The latest boardroom drama also comes as major oil companies increasingly prioritize shareholder returns and fossil fuel production over costly green-energy expansion plans amid pressure from investors demanding higher profits and stronger stock performance.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Congressional Black Caucus is pressuring major corporations across the country to publicly oppose Republican-led congressional redistricting efforts that critics say could weaken Black political representation following a recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act.

According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the caucus urged more than 250 companies to condemn ongoing redistricting efforts in several GOP-led states and disclose political donations tied to lawmakers backing the efforts.

The broader redistricting battle intensified after President Donald Trump encouraged Republican-led states to revisit congressional maps in hopes of expanding the GOP’s narrow House majority. 

BERNIE SANDERS WARNS OF ‘THE MOST TRANSFORMATIVE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY’

Some Republicans have argued the effort could help create additional GOP-leaning districts and strengthen the party’s position heading into the midterms, though other GOP strategists have warned aggressive map redrawing could also make some previously safe Republican districts more competitive.

The CBC’s push comes amid an escalating mid-decade redistricting fight after a recent Supreme Court ruling weakened key Voting Rights Act protections governing congressional maps. Republican-led legislatures in several states have since moved to redraw district boundaries, arguing the maps should reflect updated legal standards and population shifts.

Democrats and voting-rights advocates, however, argue the new maps could dilute Black voting power and reshape the political battlefield ahead of the midterm elections.

“Corporations that have profited from Black consumers, relied on Black workers, and amassed wealth in part from Black communities cannot look away while Black political power is dismantled in plain sight,” Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

The outreach campaign places renewed pressure on corporate America to weigh in on politically divisive voting-rights battles after many major companies scaled back public engagement on racial justice and diversity issues in recent years.

Among the companies contacted were firms that previously supported federal voting-rights legislation following the 2020 racial justice protests and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, including major technology, retail and financial firms.

The caucus is asking companies to publicly oppose the redistricting efforts, meet with CBC members to discuss voting-rights concerns and disclose political contributions connected to state-level redistricting campaigns.

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The effort also reflects growing frustration among some Black lawmakers toward corporations that made public commitments to racial equity following the murder of George Floyd but have since retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid political backlash and legal scrutiny.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

By BoroPark24 Staff

After months of roadwork, flooding mitigation projects, lane closures, and construction disruptions tied to new green infrastructure installations across parts of Boro Park, residents got another major test as heavy rainstorms moved through the area.

The storm brought intense rainfall, large puddles, and difficult driving conditions across many streets, raising new questions among residents about whether the city’s green infrastructure investments are making a noticeable difference.

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Reb Gedaliah Kook shared an emotional update this week on the condition of his father, the renowned mekubal and tzaddik Rav Dov Kook, describing moving moments at his bedside, ongoing tefillos, and what the family views as repeated medical miracles surrounding the revered rav’s condition.

Speaking on the “Hafuch Al Hafuch” program with Reb Moshe Ben Lulu, Reb Gedaliah said his father remains hospitalized in intensive care, partially sedated and on a ventilator, though some improvement has been seen in recent days.

“The Rav partially opened his eyes during Yom Tov,” he said, while stressing that the situation remains serious and that Rav Dov still desperately needs the tefillos of Klal Yisroel.

Reb Gedaliah recounted a particularly emotional moment that occurred beside his father’s hospital bed.

According to him, family members played some of Rav Dov’s favorite niggunim, prompting a visible emotional response from the weakened mekubal, who also grasped his son’s hand.

“That was the greatest thing that happened,” Reb Gedaliah said emotionally.

At the same time, he clarified that the rav has not yet fully regained consciousness.

“He is not really in a state of full awareness — it’s more like flickering,” he explained.

He added that family members and talmidim remain constantly at the bedside, surrounding the rav with uninterrupted Torah learning and tefillah.

Reb Gedaliah also revealed difficult details about his father’s longstanding health struggles, particularly the condition of his legs after years of prolonged standing during heartfelt tefillos on behalf of Klal Yisroel.

“His legs are almost black,” he said painfully.

He described how doctors in the past repeatedly warned that Rav Dov’s condition was severe, yet the rav continued recovering against all expectations.

“The Rav is accustomed to miracles,” he said, recalling instances in which physicians feared amputation would be necessary, only for the situation to dramatically improve.

One especially striking story involved a serious infection Rav Dov suffered several years ago.

According to Reb Gedaliah, doctors instructed the rav to undergo a full course of antibiotics, but Rav Dov took only a single pill, relying on his deep emunah.

“We had absolutely no reason to think it would disappear on its own, and the doctors were shocked,” he recounted.

Several months later, the infection reportedly vanished entirely, and Rav Dov returned to standing for long hours in davening.

“We are only people of little faith,” Reb Gedaliah added.

Toward the conclusion of the interview, he urged the public to continue davening fervently for his father’s recovery and not lose hope.

“It is the tefillos of Klal Yisroel that are sustaining the Rav,” he said.

He asked the public to continue mentioning the rav’s full name in tefillah: “Harav Dov ben Shoshana,” emphasizing that the tremendous outpouring of prayers is deeply felt around the rav’s bedside.

{Matzav.com}

In an effort to protect its soldiers from Hezbollah’s drone attacks, the IDF has penetrated deeper into Lebanon, beyond the April 17 ceasefire’s so-called Yellow Line.

It remains unclear if the IDF is taking this action to reduce the threat or to reassure the Israeli public that it’s taking the Hezbollah threat seriously after the death toll of IDF soldiers had increased as a result of Hezbollah’s FPV drones, guided by fiber-optic cables, evading IDF defenses.

While the IDF did not specify how deeply and where it would penetrate, officials cited positions beyond the Yellow Line they believe will be helpful in countering the drone threat. However, if Hezbollah retreats further north, it may still be able to strike IDF soldiers with its drones.

Video footage purports to show IDF strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon. (From a post on X)

The new operations come as the United States and Iran are negotiating a ceasefire deal that Iran has insisted must include a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, raising concerns that this will impede the Lebanese government’s ability to dismantle Hezbollah and restore its sovereignty over Lebanon while hampering Israel’s ability to defend itself from threats.

To that end, analysts believe Israel is ramping up operations in order to inflict as much damage on Hezbollah as possible before it’s too late.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday that Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah will intensify.

“We are at war with Hezbollah,” he said. “But we are not taking our foot off the gas. On the contrary, I said to step on the gas even more.”

The prime minister vowed to neutralize the FPV drone danger from Hezbollah that has been increasingly claiming the lives of IDF soldiers, saying a special team has been assembled to address this threat directly.

“We will strike them … and we will solve this as well,” he said.

A heated debate broke out Monday in the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee over a Transportation Ministry proposal to reduce the frequency of annual vehicle inspections for private cars, with lawmakers and industry representatives clashing over whether the reform would improve convenience or endanger public safety.

Under the proposal being advanced by the Transportation Ministry, privately owned vehicles up to seven or nine years old would undergo licensing inspections once every two years instead of annually.

Committee chairman David Bitan immediately challenged the economic justification behind the move.

“The fact that a person saves 100 shekels a year has no impact whatsoever on the cost of living,” Bitan said. “On the other hand, there is the issue of vehicle safety.”

Bitan proposed an alternative model under which inspection frequency would be based primarily on mileage, while still requiring at least one inspection every two years.

“There is a complete imbalance in determining this according to years alone,” he argued. “Leased vehicles travel tens of thousands of kilometers each year, while others travel only a few thousand. It makes no sense to apply the same rule to everyone.”

MK Sasson Guetta backed the proposal and argued that if the Transportation Ministry truly wanted to ease the financial burden on citizens, it should reduce vehicle licensing fees rather than weaken safety standards.

Deputy Director-General of the Regulatory Authority Guy Mor defended the reform, insisting that the primary savings would come not from the inspection fee itself, but from the time citizens spend dealing with the process.

“When someone dedicates half a day to a vehicle inspection, that’s worth a lot of money. This represents a national savings of about one billion shekels per year,” Mor said.

He also stated that only five percent of road accidents stem from mechanical failures, comments that triggered sharp backlash from representatives of the automotive repair industry.

Ronen Levy, chairman of the Garage Owners Association, argued that European countries are actually increasing inspection frequency because of declining safety standards and odometer fraud.

Attorney Raz Nizri, representing the vehicle inspection institutes, presented opposing data based on research by Professor Moshe Becker, claiming the proposed reduction in inspections would increase accidents and cause economic damages estimated at 4.3 billion shekels annually.

According to Nizri, the Transportation Ministry is ignoring the real financial consequences of traffic accidents.

Representatives of the inspection institutes added that the average vehicle inspection lasts only 26 minutes and argued that “all the Transportation Ministry is saving citizens is the cost of a falafel portion and a bottle of grape juice.”

On the other side of the debate, Neta Lee Graiver, CEO of the advocacy group “Our Interest,” supported the reform and dismissed the warnings as exaggerated.

“As a citizen, I wait two and a half hours outside the inspection institute,” she said. “It’s troubling to hear professionals claim that this inspection ‘is worthless anyway.’”

Yosef Naim, chairman of the tire industry association, warned that poor road infrastructure is causing accelerated tire deterioration and claimed that more than half of the vehicles inspected by Transportation Ministry mobile enforcement units are found with severe defects.

Jonathan Ilan, a representative of the National Road Safety Authority, noted that 168 people have been killed in traffic accidents since the beginning of the year.

He clarified that the authority does not oppose reducing inspection frequency for newer private vehicles, where no proven link has been found between mechanical failure and accidents. However, he said older and heavier vehicles show a direct correlation between wear, mileage, and safety risks.

A police representative similarly voiced support for applying the reform only to newer vehicles.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Bitan demanded that the Transportation Ministry halt advancement of the reform until a comprehensive professional review is completed.

He again urged officials to examine a mileage-based model and instructed the ministry to return to the committee within a week with detailed answers.

“We managed until now with the existing system,” Bitan said. “We can wait a little longer to receive a reliable safety report — and not endanger human lives in the name of reducing regulation.”

{Matzav.com}

A narcotics investigation in Lakewood led to an arrest after a K-9 unit alerted officers to the presence of drugs inside a vehicle during a motor vehicle stop, TLS has learned.

Capt. LeRoy Marshall said officers conducting proactive patrol in the area of John Street on Monday observed suspicious activity involving a vehicle and several individuals. A short time later, officers conducted a traffic stop after allegedly observing multiple motor vehicle violations.

During the stop, a K-9 unit was called to the scene and alerted officers to the presence of narcotics inside the vehicle. Following the alert, officers searched the vehicle and allegedly recovered crack cocaine along with items commonly associated with narcotics distribution.

The driver, identified as 40-year-old Santo Davila of Lakewood, was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and transported to the Ocean County Jail pending court proceedings. He was also issued several motor vehicle summonses.

Chief Gregory H. Meyer praised the officers involved in the investigation, saying the department’s proactive enforcement efforts continue to target narcotics activity and quality-of-life concerns throughout the township.

“Our officers continue to do an outstanding job proactively addressing narcotics activity and quality of life concerns throughout the township,” Meyer said. “Their vigilance and teamwork are helping keep our community safe every day.”

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is down over 5% over the past month, as diminishing liquidity and bearish sentiment weigh on price action.

XRP’s Falling Liquidity To Lowest Level

In a detailed X post, CryptoQuant data showed that the 30-day XRP liquidity index on Binance dropped to around 0.043, a steep decline from the elevated readings above 3 and 4 seen during the high-volatility trading periods between 2022 and 2024.

With less market depth available, even relatively large orders can move price aggressively in either direction. Thinner liquidity can amplify volatility.

At the same time, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

(JNS) – The Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command on Tuesday started rolling out an advance warnings system for incoming rocket and missile fire from Lebanon.
“An advance warning from Lebanon will be issued in cases where conditions allow it. The principle is simple: whenever possible, we will give you more time,” a spokesman for the military body said in a statement.

The amount of warning time ranges from several seconds in border communities to up to one minute in northern Israel and around two minutes elsewhere in the country.

Warnings messages will be delivered through the Home Front Command application, the National Emergency Portal and push notifications to mobile devices.

“We remind you that an advance warning will not always be issued. Therefore, in any case, when an alert is received, you must enter a protected space,” the IDF spokesman stressed, urging citizens to “continue to follow the Home Front Command’s instructions—they save lives.”

Iranian-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel on March 2, following the targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the opening stages of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28.

In response to repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement, Israel launched a broad aerial campaign against Hezbollah targets and expanded military operations in Southern Lebanon aimed at preventing cross-border attacks on northern Israeli communities.

By JBizNews Desk

NEW YORK — May 24, 2026

Anthropic is in early discussions with Microsoft Corp. to run its Claude artificial intelligence models on Microsoft’s proprietary Maia 200 AI chips, a move that would transform a financial partnership into a direct infrastructure alliance and give Microsoft its first major external customer for its in-house silicon platform.

The talks, first reported Thursday by The Information and later confirmed by CNBC through a person familiar with the matter, remain preliminary and no agreement has been finalized. Anthropic declined to comment publicly, while Microsoft did not issue a statement. Microsoft shares traded little changed Thursday.

The negotiations arrive just six months after Microsoft committed up to $5 billion to Anthropic in a strategic funding arrangement that also included a separate $10 billion investment commitment from Nvidia Corp., valuing the AI startup near $350 billion.

As part of that deal, Anthropic agreed to spend approximately $30 billion on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure over time, while continuing to maintain major compute relationships with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

At the center of the discussions is Microsoft’s Maia 200, the company’s newest custom AI processor unveiled earlier this year. Built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s advanced 3-nanometer process, Maia 200 is optimized primarily for AI inference — the process of generating responses from already-trained models — rather than for large-scale training.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella told investors during the company’s April earnings call that Maia 200 delivers more than 30% better tokens-per-dollar economics compared with leading chips currently deployed inside Microsoft’s infrastructure fleet. The company has already confirmed the chip powers portions of its Copilot ecosystem and will support OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 deployments.

Until now, however, Maia 200 has largely remained an internal Microsoft product.

A deal with Anthropic would mark the first significant use of Microsoft’s custom silicon by an outside frontier AI lab, placing Azure more directly into competition with Amazon’s Trainium platform and Google’s Tensor Processing Units, both of which already serve external AI developers.

For Anthropic, the motivation is straightforward: compute demand.

Usage of Claude and Anthropic’s fast-growing Claude Code developer tools has surged throughout 2026, forcing the company into a global race for processing capacity across multiple cloud and hardware providers.

In April, Anthropic signed a massive 10-year infrastructure arrangement with AWS reportedly worth more than $100 billion centered around Amazon’s Trainium chips. The company also expanded TPU commitments with Google last year, while continuing to rely heavily on Nvidia GPUs for both training and deployment workloads.

Earlier this week, SpaceX disclosed that Anthropic will pay approximately $1.25 billion per month through 2029 for compute infrastructure tied to Elon Musk’s expanding AI data-center network.

Against that backdrop, Maia 200 would likely serve as a dedicated inference engine rather than a training system.

That distinction matters financially.

Training frontier AI models remains dominated by Nvidia’s Hopper and Blackwell architectures along with Google’s TPU systems. But inference — the actual day-to-day generation of responses for users — increasingly represents the largest operating expense for AI labs at scale.

Every Claude API call, enterprise integration, coding request and chatbot response consumes inference capacity.

Reducing the cost of those workloads by even modest percentages could materially improve Anthropic’s gross margins as usage accelerates globally.

For Microsoft, the strategic importance is potentially even greater.

Azure has spent years trying to close the gap with AWS and Google in proprietary AI silicon, while simultaneously attempting to reduce dependence on Nvidia’s expensive GPU supply chain.

If Anthropic adopts Maia 200 meaningfully, Microsoft would gain a marquee external validation of its chip economics and demonstrate that Azure can compete not just as a cloud reseller of Nvidia hardware, but as a vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform.

The talks also deepen the increasingly complicated relationships among Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Microsoft remains OpenAI’s largest strategic partner and investor, with roughly $13 billion committed to the ChatGPT creator. Yet over the past year Microsoft has simultaneously expanded ties with Anthropic, integrating Claude models into portions of its enterprise software stack, including Office and Copilot workflows.

A Maia 200 compute partnership would further solidify that relationship.

Industry executives also believe Anthropic could seek influence over future Maia chip designs if an agreement progresses — similar to the collaborative design relationships Anthropic already maintains with Amazon on Trainium and Nvidia on next-generation AI systems.

That type of long-term co-design arrangement would make Anthropic not merely a Microsoft customer, but a strategic infrastructure partner.

The broader significance extends beyond the two companies themselves.

The AI infrastructure landscape is increasingly evolving into a tightly interconnected system where hyperscalers, chipmakers and frontier AI labs simultaneously act as investors, suppliers, customers and competitors.

Anthropic now buys infrastructure from nearly every major player in the ecosystem: AWS, Google Cloud, Nvidia, CoreWeave, SpaceX and potentially Microsoft’s Maia platform.

OpenAI has followed a similar path across Microsoft, Oracle, Nvidia and AWS.

For investors, Thursday’s market reaction remained relatively muted because negotiations remain early-stage and no commercial agreement has yet been signed.

But the underlying signal is larger than one deal.

Microsoft is moving its custom AI silicon strategy from internal experimentation toward commercialization, while Anthropic’s willingness to test Maia 200 suggests growing confidence that alternative chips can meaningfully compete with Nvidia in high-volume inference workloads.

If the partnership materializes, the AI infrastructure race shifts another step away from Nvidia’s near-monopoly dominance and toward a more fragmented, full-stack competition among the world’s largest cloud providers.

Whether the talks ultimately result in a finalized agreement remains uncertain.

But six months after Microsoft wrote a $5 billion check into Anthropic, the relationship is clearly evolving beyond capital — and increasingly into the hardware foundation powering the next generation of artificial intelligence itself.

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

Iran’s judiciary suspended the presidential body responsible for ordering the restoration of civilian internet access in Iran Tuesday.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, organized a presidential body called the Special Headquarters for Organizing and Governing the Country’s Cyberspace on May 12. The body, under the direction of Pezeshkian, decided to restore internet access Monday, but it was too good to last: The judiciary reversed the decision only a day later.

The presidential body appears to have sidelined the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security agency, which holds ultimate authority on internet access.

A man in Frankfurt, Germany, holds a cardboard with the inscription “The Islamic Republic has cut off the Internet for the Iranian people: this is a war crime.” (Photo by Boris Roessler/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

Mizan Online, the judiciary’s website, said the suspension followed a “filing of complaints,” without specifying who filed the complaints or what the complaints pertained to.

Iran had imposed an internet shutdown as part of a brutal crackdown on the January protests that saw the murder of tens of thousands of protesters, plunging the country into a digital blackout that it then reimposed when the United States and Israel commenced their joint military campaign against the authoritarian regime on Feb. 28.

The near-total internet blackout constituted “the longest nation-scale internet shutdown on record in any country,” according to internet monitor NetBlocks.

Legendary singer Avraham Fried revealed this week that a remarkable moment of hashgachah pratis during a recent visit to the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York inspired him to launch an unexpected new musical project — recording Jewish lullabies for children.

Fried shared the story during an in-depth interview with journalist Binyamin Lipkin on the debut episode of the “L’Binyamin Amar” podcast on the COL website, where he discussed personal moments from throughout his celebrated musical career.

The singer recounted that during a recent visit to the Rebbe’s kever, he davened for continued success in his music and performances.

“I asked for brachah and hatzlachah in singing, to continue performing and singing, etc.,” Fried recalled.

After leaving the Ohel, Fried entered an adjoining room where videos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe are continuously shown.

To his astonishment, the particular video playing at that exact moment featured the Rebbe speaking publicly about music during a farbrengen decades earlier.

“How many clips are there of the Rebbe speaking publicly about singing at farbrengens?” Fried asked rhetorically. “There aren’t many.”

Fried described the timing as extraordinary and deeply personal.

“Tell me this isn’t hashgachah,” he said. “I’m looking at the video, and the Rebbe says: ‘Before babies begin to speak, it was customary to lull them to sleep, according to the custom of elderly Jewish women, with a lullaby, Torah di beste sechora [the best merchandise]. And it is known what the Rashba writes regarding the customs of elderly Jewish women in Israel, how carefully they must be preserved.’”

Fried said he felt at that moment as though the Rebbe was speaking directly to him.

Inspired by the experience, he immediately decided to move forward with a completely new type of project.

“On the spot I decided: I’m going to make lullaby albums now,” Fried announced.

Iran has already resumed limited production of ballistic missiles, launchers and air-defense weapons, according to a new Mako report citing updated Israeli and U.S. intelligence assessments. The key warning is not that Tehran has fully restored its arsenal. It is that the Iranian regime is rebuilding faster than early post-strike estimates suggested, using surviving components, restored production lines and improvised facilities while the ceasefire holds.

Mako reports that the renewed production goes beyond recovering missiles and launchers trapped in tunnels during the war. Israeli officials now assess that Iran has begun producing new ballistic missiles, new launchers and anti-aircraft missiles, while also working to rebuild its UAV attack force. The IDF believes the pace of recovery is “significantly” ahead of earlier intelligence expectations.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – APRIL 06: A rocket intercepting an Iranian ballistic missile explodes near other smoke clouds that formed following interceptions on April 06, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel. This was the fourth salvo of missile fire today. Iran has continued firing waves of drones and missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early on February 28th. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The report points to a more complicated picture than the one publicly described during the war. At the height of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, IDF and American officials said Iran’s missile industry, launchers and weapons-production infrastructure had suffered massive damage. The IDF said it struck missile-production sites across Tehran, launchers and storage facilities in western Iran, and additional sites tied to ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and warhead components.

But the new assessment suggests Iran preserved more of its launch capability than initially understood. Mako reports that while early estimates said roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers had been destroyed, updated intelligence now indicates that about two-thirds remained usable, with many removed from tunnels whose entrances had been blocked during the fighting. U.S. intelligence also reportedly shows that Iran has begun producing new launchers.

A United States Air Force B2 Spirit, currently deployed to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, flies above the English countryside near Dover.

For the first time, UK F-35 Lightning jets have been conducting integration flying training with the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers of the United States Air Force as part of their deployment to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK.

The USAF deployment of the B-2’s from the Bomber Task Force Europe is long-planned. Whilst deployed to the UK the aircraft will conduct a series of training activities in Europe. During this deployment, RAF F-35B Lightning fighters are conducting sorties with the USAF B-2 bombers. Both are 5th generation aircraft and this is the first time that USAF B-2’s have trained with non-US F-35’s.

RAF Fairford routinely hosts deployments and exercises by US strategic aircraft. These regular deployments reinforce the US Air Force Europe and the Royal Air Force’s unique and complementary partnership and our collective contribution to NATO.

Imagery captured by a USAF Exchange Pilot.

That matters because launchers are the bridge between Iran’s stockpile and an actual attack. A missile sitting underground is a threat. A working launcher turns it into incoming fire on Israel, U.S. forces and regional allies. Israeli intelligence previously assessed Iran still held around 2,500 ballistic missiles and had been trying to sharply expand production before the war.

Iran’s rebuild is also being helped from abroad. Mako says Russia and China are providing key components for missile production, while the scale of smuggling is being constrained by the U.S. naval blockade. Separate reporting has pointed to deeper Chinese and Russian involvement, including alleged Chinese dual-use material support and reported weapons talks involving air-defense systems, anti-ship missiles and other advanced platforms. China has denied supplying arms to Iran.

The dispute now is over time. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper recently told U.S. lawmakers that the operation had destroyed the vast majority of Iran’s defense-industrial base and would delay Tehran’s recovery for years. But U.S. intelligence assessments reported by CNN and cited by Ynet suggest Iran is restoring parts of its drone and missile capabilities much faster than expected, with one assessment saying its attack-drone capability could be rebuilt within months.

An Iran-made ballistic missile, Martyr Qassem, is displayed during a rally commemorating the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution’s victory in Azadi (Freedom) Square in western Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

For Israel, the lesson is blunt: the strikes badly damaged Iran’s war machine, but they did not erase it. Tehran is treating the ceasefire as a race to regenerate the weapons most useful for the next round: ballistic missiles, drones, launchers and air-defense systems that can complicate future Israeli or American action. The Iranian regime is wounded, but it is not standing still.

Yisroel R.

A piece of Boro Park history came down as a more than 120-year-old home at the corner of 57th Street and 14th Avenue was demolished to make way for a new multi-story development.

According to property records, the house was originally built in 1904, making it one of the older surviving residential structures in the neighborhood before demolition crews moved in this week.

Public records also show the property was purchased in 2025 for approximately $5.1 million ahead of the planned redevelopment.

The site is now expected to be replaced with a six-story building featuring ten residential units along with a daycare facility planned for the first floor and cellar level.

The demolition marks another major transformation in Boro Park, where many older standalone homes have gradually been replaced by larger residential developments as Boro Park continues to grow and transform.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two planes carrying 19 Australian women and children linked to the Islamic State group in Syria landed in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday, despite Australia’s government warning that the returnees could face charges.

The government earlier confirmed seven women and 12 children were heading home on Qatar Airways flights, less than three weeks after a group of 13 people in similar situations returned to Australia’s two largest cities.

WATCH | Nineteen Australian women and children linked to Islamic State have returned home in a covert operation that sparked violent confrontations at Melbourne Airport.

Read more: https://t.co/jKjimAfySQ pic.twitter.com/l3m9hvYYRr

— The Australian (@australian) May 26, 2026

Two women with seven children flew to Melbourne. Four women with six children landed about an hour later in Sydney, a joint police and intelligence agency statement said.

No one had been charged on arrival, but investigations into their activities in Syria were continuing, the statement said. Three of four women who returned home earlier were charged with slavery and terrorism offenses and remain behind bars.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said anyone among the 19 on their way to Australia who has committed crimes “can expect to face the full force of the law.”

“The government has not and will not provide any assistance to this group,” Burke said in a statement.

“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” he added.

Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been preparing for their return since 2014 and have long-standing plans in place to manage and monitor them, Burke said.

“The priority of the government, as always, is the safety of the Australian community,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had earlier told Parliament: “I have nothing but contempt for anyone who has any sympathy for ISIS,” referring to IS by an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The bid by general practice doctor Jamal Rifi, a community leader in Sydney’s Lebanese Muslim diaspora, to return 34 Australian women and children from Syria failed in February. Syrian authorities blocked their convoy’s route to Damascus and turned them back to Roj camp, a location in northeast Syria near the Iraq border where people linked to IS have been held since IS forces in the Middle East were defeated in 2019.

Riji told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday that Syrian authorities had since been persuaded that the majority of Australians in Roj were children who had a legal right to grow up in Australia.

“These women are caring mothers,” he said of the 19 women who just landed in Australia.

“Definitely joining willingly the death cult of the un-Islamic caliphate, it’s a terrible decision. Some of these women, I believe they were tricked to go there. Some of them are victims of the death cult and others are not,” Riji said.

After the departure of the latest group, at least two Australians remain in Roj camp, including a mother who was prevented from returning to Australia in February by a temporary exclusion order.

Exclusion orders were created by laws introduced in 2019 to prevent defeated IS fighters from returning to Australia for up to two years.

The woman, aged around 29, had remained at Roj with her daughter, who had been disabled by shrapnel wounds, The Australian newspaper reported. She left her Sydney home at the age of 18 in 2015 to marry an IS fighter in Syria, the newspaper reported.

Her family has engaged a Sydney lawyer to challenge the order, which bars the mother from Australia until February 2028.

The last Australian cohort returned from Syria on May 7, similarly without government help.

Kawsar Ahmed, also known Kawsar Abbas, 53, and her daughter Zeinab Ahmed, 31, were arrested when they landed in Melbourne over allegations that their family had bought a female Yazidi slave.

Janai Safar, 32, was arrested at Sydney Airport when she arrived with her 9-year-old son on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization and of entering or remaining in a region controlled by a terrorist organization.

Australian governments have repatriated Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have returned quietly without government assistance.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is preparing to announce a major exemption to his proposed rent-freeze plan, allowing owners of certain distressed affordable-housing buildings to raise rents on vacant apartments even if a citywide rent freeze takes effect later this year.

The announcement, expected Tuesday, marks the first significant modification to Mamdani’s signature housing pledge and highlights growing financial pressure inside New York City’s rent-stabilized housing market.

According to comments made by Dina Levy, commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the exemption would apply only to certain city-financed affordable-housing properties and only when apartments become vacant.

“The reality is, they will all remain affordable,” Levy said in remarks reported Tuesday.

The move represents the clearest sign yet that City Hall is responding to mounting warnings from landlords, lenders, and housing analysts that a blanket rent freeze could push already-fragile buildings deeper into financial distress.

Under the proposal, roughly 300,000 apartments tied to city housing-finance programs could become eligible for one-time rent increases upon tenant turnover. Any increases would remain capped under existing affordable-housing income guidelines and would be reviewed individually on a building-by-building basis.

The apartments represent roughly one-third of the city’s overall rent-stabilized housing stock and include properties owned by large affordable-housing operators including Related Companies and other major developers participating in city subsidy programs.

City officials say only a limited number of apartments are expected to receive immediate increases under the carve-out.

The exemption is part of a broader housing stabilization package the administration is preparing to roll out, including expanded repair financing, tax relief, assistance resolving housing-code violations, and a new $5 million loan program aimed at helping landlords recover unpaid rent and avoid foreclosure or eviction-related distress.

The policy shift reflects growing pressure from owners of older rent-stabilized buildings, particularly in parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn, where rising insurance costs, utilities, labor expenses, taxes, and debt payments have increasingly outpaced rental income growth.

Kenny Burgos, chief executive of the New York Apartment Association, warned regulators earlier this month that many fully stabilized buildings are already operating under severe financial strain and could face growing mortgage-default risks if rents remain frozen.

A recent report from New York University’s Furman Center also concluded that a large share of the city’s regulated housing stock is trending toward financial distress under current conditions.

The political balancing act for Mamdani is becoming increasingly complicated.

The mayor campaigned heavily on a promise to freeze rents for approximately one million rent-stabilized apartments throughout his four-year term and appointed a new majority to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board earlier this year.

In May, the board voted preliminarily to keep a full rent freeze under consideration for one-year leases ahead of a final decision expected next month.

Tenant advocates continue pushing for a complete freeze without exemptions, arguing that affordability pressures on renters remain severe across the city.

Landlord groups, meanwhile, say the new carve-out only addresses a small portion of the broader financial problems facing the rent-stabilized housing system.

Some real-estate organizations have also publicly explored potential legal challenges against a full rent freeze.

Real-estate attorney Scott Mollen, a former Rent Guidelines Board chair, has argued that aggressive political involvement by City Hall could expose the board’s decisions to legal scrutiny if judges conclude the process became politically predetermined.

By creating a limited exemption tied specifically to distressed affordable-housing properties, the administration may also be attempting to strengthen its legal position ahead of the final Rent Guidelines Board vote.

For tenants currently living in affected buildings, the immediate impact remains limited.

The exemption would apply only when units become vacant. Existing tenants would not face immediate increases under the carve-out, though new tenants moving into qualifying apartments could face higher rents within city affordability caps.

The broader housing plan expected later this week is also anticipated to include additional measures tied to affordable-housing construction, tenant protections, and code enforcement initiatives.

With the final Rent Guidelines Board vote approaching in June, the debate over affordability, landlord solvency, and the future of New York’s rent-stabilized housing system is likely to intensify sharply in the weeks ahead.

JBizNews Desk — New York

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

In her reaction to Spain’s brutal detention of returning flotilla activists, U.N. rapporteur Francesca Albanese continued her long-running downward spiral into Israel hatred, which appears to have no bottom.

“We must resist the Israelisation of our societies,” she wrote on X after condemning the arrests.

“Shame on the Basque police for brutalizing Flotilla members returning home after being abducted, unlawfully detained, and ill-treated by Israel,” she said.

She retweeted a post from Thiago Avila, a flotilla activist who had been detained by Israel for alleged ties to a Hamas-linked group and subsequently released.

“OUTRAGEOUS! In front of their families and the entire Basque press, our Flotilla volunteers were attacked by the airport police in Bilbao, Basque Country-Spain, upon returning to their home country,” he wrote.

In this video, flotilla activist Thiago Avila chants, “Allahu Akbar! Death to America! Death to Israel! Victory to Islam!” (Credit: Eyal Yakoby)

Albanese’s mouthful of an official title, “United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” means she occupies the role of advising the United Nations on the Arab-Israeli conflict. She has faced criticism from multiple countries over her pattern of extreme anti-Israel bias, calling into question her ability to discharge her duty fairly.

After a video address to an Al-Jazeera forum in Qatar last February in which she called Israel the common enemy of humanity, France, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic called for her resignation.

Her descent into irrational Jew hatred was on full display in a bizarre Facebook post in which she urged Germany to move on from Holocaust guilt.

“We may want to stop calling what affects Germany ‘historical guilt.’ It is just historical superiority syndrome, never properly diagnosed, never treated, never cured,” she wrote.

“It is mostly a convenient mask to be accepted among their peers,” she added, accusing Germany of needing to prove they could tolerate Jews so they would be accepted by “the western club,” but she claimed they only accepted Jewish Zionists.

“No longer a fragile minority,” she sneered. “No longer diasporic people. No longer the People of the Book. But the Chosen People. ‘Chosen to dominate?’ One may wonder looking at what Israel has become.”

She also said that by shunning anti-Zionist Jews, Germany does not respect all Jews. “Israel does not represent all the Jews,” she wrote. “See how Germany treats anti-Zionist Jews and you will understand what is going on.”

She called Germany “socially deranged” and concluded by saying that “I know Germans can do better. I have seen them. But they are called upon emancipating themselves. This is their chance.”

A new Channel 13 poll published Monday night shows former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s new political party losing momentum, while Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu’s bloc continues edging closer to a governing majority.

According to the survey, Bennett’s “Together” party dropped three seats compared to the previous Channel 13 poll, while the Netanyahu-led bloc together with the chareidi parties now stands at 56 seats, compared to 54 seats for the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

If elections were held today, Netanyahu’s Likud party would emerge as the largest faction in the Knesset with 25 seats, the poll found.

Bennett’s “Together” party fell sharply to 23 seats, down from 26 mandates in the previous survey.

Meanwhile, the “Yashar” party headed by Gadi Eisenkot continued gaining strength and is now projected to become the third-largest party in the Knesset with 14 seats — an increase of two seats from the network’s earlier poll.

Among the chareidi parties, the numbers remained unchanged. Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, held steady at 10 seats, while United Torah Judaism remained stable with 7 mandates.

Religious Zionism, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, narrowly crossed the electoral threshold with 4 seats, while Otzma Yehudit under Itamar Ben Gvir received 10 seats.

The Democrats party, led by Yair Golan, was projected to win 9 seats, while Yisrael Beiteinu under Avigdor Lieberman gained one additional seat and rose to 8 mandates.

Among the Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al was projected to receive 6 seats, while Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, dropped to just 4 seats.

According to the poll, the Netanyahu bloc together with the chareidi factions now stands only two seats short of the 61-seat majority needed to form a government.

The anti-Netanyahu bloc was projected to receive 54 seats, while the Arab parties collectively accounted for 10 mandates.

{Matzav.com}

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has finally officially decided to dismiss the disgraced Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi from military service over her involvement in the explosive Sde Teiman leak crime, the military announced.

According to the IDF, Zamir had already suspended Tomer-Yerushalmi immediately after the allegations against her surfaced. The military said the decision to formally dismiss her was made due to the “severity of the alleged acts and suspicions” while criminal proceedings remain ongoing.

As part of the dismissal, Tomer-Yerushalmi will lose eligibility for financial benefits typically granted to senior IDF officers upon retirement.

This means that until now, seven months after she confessed to the crime, the person who placed IDF soldiers in danger and caused irreparable damage to Israel, IDF soldiers, and the hostages in Gaza by spreading blood libels, lied to the Supreme Court, and threw her phone in the sea to hide the evidence was still receiving a generous salary.

Defense Minister Yisrael Katz was updated on the Chief of Staff’s decisions.

At the same time, Katz sent a sharply worded letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara demanding that proceedings in the former Military Advocate General’s case be advanced quickly. In his letter, Katz wrote that the delay in advancing the proceedings raises “serious public and legal concerns.”

Apparently, Baharav-Miara is too busy initiating criminal proceedings against right-wing MKs and persecuting Lomdei Torah to involve herself in the criminal proceedings against the disgraced MAG.

Katz wrote that this is an especially serious case involving someone who headed the military law enforcement system and who was involved in extremely serious violations of the law, including providing false information to state authorities and acts that led to severe harm to IDF soldiers, public trust, and the military justice system itself.

Katz stressed in his letter that when IDF soldiers are sent to fight the enemy on all fronts, they must know that the State of Israel and its institutions stand behind them, protect their good name, and fully prosecute those who harm them from within.

Katz wrote that although steps are being taken to remove the former Military Advocate General from the IDF and revoke her additional benefits, including special Chief of Staff-related pension increases, the criminal process is an essential and necessary component for achieving full justice, including examining the revocation of rank and imposing severe punishment commensurate with the gravity of the acts.

At the conclusion of his letter, Katz asked the attorney general to instruct that decisions be made and the legal proceedings in the case be advanced as soon as possible, given the public and institutional urgency.

The stunning downfall of former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi stems from the explosive Sde Teiman affair — a scandal that rocked Israel’s military, legal establishment, and political system.

The original case began in July 2024 at the Sde Teiman detention facility, where several IDF reservists were accused of severely abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza during the early months of the war.

The allegations were investigated by Israel’s Police Investigation Department and eventually led to indictments against several soldiers.

Public outrage intensified roughly one month later after surveillance footage allegedly documenting the abuse was leaked to the media and broadcast on Israeli television despite an active criminal investigation and ongoing legal proceedings.

The leak triggered a second criminal investigation in late 2024 focused on how the footage reached the media and whether senior officials violated confidentiality laws or abused their authority.

In February 2025, military prosecutors under Tomer-Yerushalmi formally indicted five reservists on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated injury.

But the case dramatically unraveled shortly afterward.

Her successor, Gen. Itay Ofir, canceled the indictment in March 2025, citing severe evidentiary problems and the massive fallout surrounding the leaked footage scandal. Offir stated that the very prosecutorial team responsible for pursuing the soldiers had itself become the subject of criminal scrutiny, making continuation of the case nearly impossible.

By late 2025, Tomer-Yerushalmi herself had become the central suspect in the leak she had originally overseen. She later resigned and admitted to leaking the footage.

In February 2026, Israeli police formally concluded their investigation into the leak. Police Commissioner Daniel Levi reportedly recommended appointing an external senior legal authority to further review the case amid concerns surrounding conflicts of interest.

The scandal then took an even darker turn.

Just two days after resigning in November 2025, Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing and was eventually found hours later on a beach in northern Tel Aviv following what investigators suspected was an attempt to destroy her cellphone — and possibly commit suicide.

One week later, after a brief stay in Neve Tirtza Women’s Prison, she was released to house arrest. Days afterward, she was hospitalized again at Ichilov Hospital following a second reported suicide attempt.

The affair has become one of the most explosive scandals in recent IDF history, fueling fierce debate over military justice, wartime accountability, political interference, media leaks, and the handling of investigations during Israel’s war against Hamas.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

To help keep our community’s children safe and to show our appreciation for your wonderful support, Aqua Safe Swim School is delighted to once again, offer a free crash life-saving course (Part A) on June 29th.

For those interested in continuing, we are offering an optional Part B session on July 1st. This covers advanced techniques and stroke refinement for just $49 (a 50% discount!).

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How to Register: Visit aquasafeswimschool.org, click “Register NOW”. SKIP THE TOP QUESTION, and search for one of the four locations in the lower search bar, Albert, Vine, 14 St or Ridge. We offer classes for 3 months thru adults.

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BUGGENHOUT, Belgium (AP) — A crash between a bus and a train traveling at high speed in northern Belgium killed four people, including two children ages 12 and 15, and injured five other children, officials said Tuesday.

The injured children were hospitalized in serious condition, said Lisa De Wilde, spokeswoman for the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office. The collision happened at a level crossing during the morning rush hour near the town of Buggenhout, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Brussels.

The minibus driver and an escort were killed along with two children, De Wilde said at a news conference. She said that the cause of the crash hadn’t been established. Investigators were questioning witnesses and checking security camera footage.

“What we do know is that the barrier was closed and the red light was on,” she said.

Police and rescue personal work around a level crossing where a train collided with a van in Buggenhout, Belgium, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said that the badly damaged bus lay toppled on its side, its front section crushed flat. Forensic experts in protective white suits and wearing gloves were taking photos of the scene. A forensics tent was erected nearby. The train was relatively unscathed.

The train was estimated to be traveling at about 120 kph (75 mph) as it approached the crossing and had “no time to brake,” said Frédéric Sacré, a spokesman for Belgian rail operator Infrabel.

“The impact was extremely violent,” Sacré told RTBF public broadcaster.

Federal Police spokesperson An Berger said that the bus driver appeared to have ploughed through the train barrier. Infrabel said that the crossing was working correctly. A security camera there showed that the bus, which had a total of nine people aboard, was still moving when the train hit it.

Police and residents gather around a level crossing where a train collided with a van in Buggenhout, Belgium, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

It’s believed that about 100 passengers were aboard the train and that none of them were hurt. Rail traffic in the area was halted and bus services provided for travelers. Local officials stood for a minute’s silence after the news conference.

Children played basketball and rode bicycles at a school not far from the scene in this bucolic town.

In a social media post, Interior Minister Bernard Quintin expressed “great sadness” over “the tragic accident in Buggenhout, where a school bus was struck by a train. My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones.”

Police tape cordons off a level crossing where a train collided with a van in Buggenhout, Belgium, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

Delta Air Lines is hiring more pilots and rebuilding the teams that schedule its flight crews after internal staffing-system breakdowns pushed cancellations sharply above much of the U.S. airline industry, according to company memos and comments from senior executives this month.

The operational strain comes at a critical moment for the carrier as the summer travel season begins ramping up.

“Our challenges, while not systemic, highlight where we must sharpen our operational edge,” Dan Janki, Delta’s chief operating officer, wrote in an internal employee memo addressing the situation.

At the center of the problem is Delta’s ability to quickly locate replacement pilots when original crew assignments become unavailable.

In an April 24 memo first reported by USA Today, Ryan Gumm, Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations, told employees that cancellations tied directly to pilot availability are running more than ten times historical norms and now account for approximately 35% of Delta mainline cancellations, up sharply from roughly 7% in 2024.

For certain aircraft types, Gumm said, it can now take Delta as long as 12 hours to secure a pilot replacement for a single flight.

A major factor behind the breakdown is that pilots are increasingly refusing additional trip assignments.

According to Gumm’s memo, pilot acceptance rates for uncovered flights have collapsed to roughly 2% this year, compared with approximately 37% a year ago. With fewer pilots volunteering to cover open trips, Delta has increasingly relied on an emergency contract mechanism known internally as “23.M.7” to fill last-minute scheduling gaps.

The system was originally designed for isolated operational emergencies — not daily usage across a large airline network.

Gumm acknowledged in the memo that Delta is now using the emergency scheduling tool between 10 and 15 times more frequently than last year, often creating cascading disruptions as reassigned pilots leave later flights short-staffed.

The operational weakness became highly visible during the first weekend of May when Delta canceled hundreds of flights despite relatively modest weather disruptions across parts of the country.

Competing airlines including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines largely maintained stable operations during the same period.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, Delta’s domestic cancellation rate has remained above the overall U.S. airline average for much of 2026, with notable spikes in January and March before modest improvement during April and May.

The problems represent a rare stumble for an airline long viewed as the operational benchmark of the U.S. industry.

Delta’s reputation for reliability has supported premium pricing, strong customer loyalty, and some of the strongest profit margins in the airline sector for years.

Chief Executive Ed Bastian acknowledged during Delta’s recent first-quarter earnings call that changes to pilot-routing and scheduling systems under the current labor agreement contributed to recent operational stress.

Bastian said the company is devoting significant attention to restoring consistency and admitted recovery performance following weather disruptions had not always met Delta’s internal standards.

Pilot representatives have sharply criticized management’s handling of the situation.

The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents Delta pilots, told USA Today that the disruptions reflect “mismanagement of resources, lack of proper tools and training for crew schedulers, and numerous misguided attempts to pinch pennies.”

Pilots have also argued the company bypassed portions of the contractual trip-assignment process, contributing to frustration among senior pilots and reducing willingness to voluntarily pick up additional flights.

The labor tension arrives ahead of upcoming contract negotiations, with Delta’s current pilot agreement becoming amendable at the end of this year.

Delta says it is now accelerating hiring, expanding reserve-pilot pools, and adding additional staffing to crew scheduling and tracking departments in an effort to stabilize operations before peak summer demand.

According to Gumm, Delta currently employs approximately 20% more pilots than it did before the pandemic in 2019, and pilot hiring has outpaced overall flight-hour growth.

The airline also accelerated application reviews for pilots formerly employed by Spirit Airlines, which ceased operations earlier this month, while offering free standby travel to displaced Spirit employees.

Despite the recent turbulence, Delta’s broader financial position remains strong.

The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance during its first-quarter earnings call, citing resilient premium-cabin demand and continued growth in its lucrative SkyMiles partnership with American Express.

Wall Street analysts continue monitoring operational metrics closely as summer travel volumes rise and thunderstorm season approaches.

This is also not Delta’s first major operational technology setback in recent years.

The carrier faced heavy criticism during the 2024 CrowdStrike outage, when faulty cybersecurity software disrupted millions of Microsoft Windows systems globally. Delta’s recovery lagged behind several competitors, sparking public disagreements between Delta, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft over responsibility for the prolonged disruptions.

Industry-wide pressures remain significant as airlines continue navigating strained air-traffic-control staffing, weather volatility, and elevated operating costs.

But analysts note that Delta’s current problems appear driven primarily by internal scheduling systems and labor-management issues rather than broader external disruptions.

For investors and travelers alike, the key question now is whether Delta can stabilize operations before the busiest travel stretch of the year intensifies pressure across the network.

With peak summer travel approaching rapidly, Delta’s performance will likely be judged less by internal memos and more by what passengers ultimately see on airport departure boards.

JBizNews Desk — Atlanta

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

Shefa Living: From Ideal Life to Real Life

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the air feels different.

The pace slows. The quiet stretches. And for many families discovering Shefa Living, something else becomes possible too: space to live, to grow, and to build a community with intention.

What began as a bold idea is now steadily taking shape. Homes are under construction, infrastructure is complete, and the first families are preparing to move in.

When Yehuda (Yudi) Gross first began thinking about what eventually became Shefa Living, it wasn’t about building a new community. It was about understanding why so many frum families were struggling.

As a wealth manager who also volunteered as a financial coach with Mesila, Gross worked with families across the financial spectrum. What he saw surprised him.

“People making $10,000 a month and people making $30,000 a month were both under enormous pressure,” he explains. “Not because they were irresponsible. Because the structure of frum life has become extremely expensive.”

Housing, tuition, food, and communal costs are often discussed as separate challenges. But Gross came to see them as parts of a single system.

“We don’t really have five different crises,” he says. “We have one; the cost of living.”

That realization became the starting point for what would eventually become Shefa Living.
But as the idea developed, the vision quickly expanded beyond simply lowering costs.

The goal became something larger: rethinking how a frum community could be built from the ground up, in a way that gives families more space, stronger connection, and a healthier structure for Jewish life.

Today, the project has moved far beyond the conceptual stage. Infrastructure is in place, homes are under construction, leadership has been hired, and the first families are preparing to move in.

Turning Vision Into Reality

One of the first questions people ask when they hear about Shefa Living is simple: Is this actually happening?

According to Gross, the answer is an emphatic yes.

All major infrastructure has already been installed, including roads, electricity, wells, septic systems, and fiber-optic internet. Engineering work and soil testing across the property have been completed, allowing construction to begin.

The first phase of homes is currently underway. Foundations have been poured, and framing is nearing completion keeping the project on schedule to have the first 30 families to move in around Elul, with additional homes following in the months after.

“These aren’t theoretical plans anymore,” Gross says. “Homes are being built, and families are getting ready to move.”

One family is already living on the property in an existing house that came with the land purchase while their permanent home is being constructed.

Space to Live

From the outset, the homes were designed specifically with frum life in mind.

Instead of adapting houses built for different lifestyles, Shefa Living designed beautiful, modern homes around how Jewish families actually live, with large dining rooms that can host Shabbos meals and guests, spacious bedrooms for children, and layouts that support the rhythms of Yom Tov and family life.

“These homes are designed for the way frum families actually use their space,” Gross says.

The homes are being sold at prices below typical frum community markets, something Gross attributes to the structure of the project itself.

“Because we’re building the infrastructure ourselves, we’re able to avoid the ‘Jewish premium’ that often comes with housing in established communities,” he explains.

The Community’s Yeshiva

For many families considering a move, the most important question is education.

Shefa Living’s yeshiva, the Yeshiva of Glade Valley,  will open together with the first group of families moving into the community.

The school will be led by Rabbi Dovid Kossowsky and his wife, who are relocating to lead the program.

Gross says many of the families exploring Shefa Living share a similar motivation. “A lot of parents feel that one of their children isn’t thriving in the environment they’re in,” he explains. “They’re looking for a place where their kids can grow at their own pace and feel successful.”

The educational vision reflects the broader philosophy of Shefa Living. Rather than focusing only on academics, the yeshiva aims to nurture each child’s unique strengths and sense of purpose. Small, multi-age classrooms, close relationships with rebbeim and moros, and hands-on learning experiences will allow students to grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

In its first year, the school will operate in temporary classroom structures while permanent facilities are built. Plans for the campus include classrooms, playgrounds, outdoor learning spaces, and sports areas.

Recognizing that relocating to a new community is a major transition, the first weeks will focus on helping children and families acclimate.

Instead of beginning immediately with full academics, the early weeks will include activities, trips, and opportunities for families to get to know the area and each other. Formal classes are expected to begin after Sukkos.

Building a Community from the Ground Up

Beyond housing and education, Shefa Living is building the communal infrastructure necessary for a fully functioning frum community.

A central shul will serve as the heart of the neighborhood, bringing families together for davening, learning, and community gatherings.

A men’s and women’s mikvah is expected to open together with the first wave of residents. Plans are also underway for a unique  mikvah tahara that will be integrated into Nesheema a one of its kind community’s women’s center.

Nesheema will include a spa, gym, daycare, a cafe, and shared workspaces and spaces where women can gather and connect. Architectural plans for the center have already been completed, with construction expected to begin later this year.

Kosher food is also already available locally. After Gross approached a nearby supermarket, the store added multiple aisles of kosher products, including dairy, frozen foods, and pantry staples, even before the first families arrived.

A Community Built Around Shared Values

Shefa Living is guided by a broad Torah hashkafa under the leadership of Rabbi Twersky, emphasizing pnimiyus, avodas Hashem, and shared values over external uniformity.

Families relocating to Shefa come from a wide range of mainstream frum backgrounds. What unites them is not dress or labels, but a desire for a more intentional, grounded way of life.

“This isn’t for people running away from their communities,” Gross notes. “It’s for people running toward something they believe in. It is for mevakshim”

Life in the Mountains

The surrounding town has also played a role in shaping the project.

Small and welcoming, the area has responded warmly to the new Jewish community. Local businesses have already begun accommodating kosher needs, and many residents have expressed enthusiasm about the project.

Gross says the warmth of the local community has been striking. “People stop me on the street just to say they’re happy we’re coming,” he notes.

Set in the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the area offers open skies, quiet roads, and sweeping views of forests and farmland. For families seeking space, natural beauty, and a slower pace of life, the setting is part of the attraction.

Looking Ahead

With infrastructure complete, homes under construction, educational leadership in place, and families preparing to move in, Shefa Living is entering its next stage.

For families watching the project unfold, the question is no longer simply what is Shefa Living?

It’s whether this might be where their next chapter begins.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Tuesday denounced U.S. strikes a day earlier as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations continue toward a possible deal to end the war.

The U.S. military has characterized Monday’s strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and boats placing mines, and said the U.S. acted with “restraint” in light of the weekslong ceasefire.

Iran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences,” without details.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday said it had shot down and deterred drones and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency, which did not specify when the incident occurred.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations. The strikes came after Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf went to Qatar as part of the talks, which U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday were “proceeding nicely.”

The strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.

Negotiations center in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes in February. Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships and shocking the global economy.

The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center said an explosion was reported Tuesday morning aboard a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which lies near the strait. No one was injured in the blast; there was no immediate information on the cause.

Besides disrupting energy markets, the strait’s closure is also squeezing fertilizer supplies worldwide. The full impact might not become clear until harvests that are months away. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu, warned at an event in Rome Tuesday that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond.”

The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran’s nuclear program and highly enriched uranium. Iran, in turn, wants the U.S. to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.

“What we are witnessing today is not only a geopolitical crisis, it is a systemic shock to the global agrifood system,” Qu said Tuesday.

Trump has introduced a new angle in negotiations for a deal on the war, saying any agreement to end the war should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, a series of U.S.-brokered diplomatic, economic and security agreements aimed at normalizing relations with Israel.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to join in 2020; Sudan, Morocco and Kazakhstan have followed. Egypt and Jordan already formally recognize Israel and have long-standing peace treaties. Turkey first recognized Israel in 1949.

Israel’s conduct against Palestinians, including in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has alienated Gulf Arab states and the wider Muslim world, but Trump has been keen to build on the Abraham Accords, forged during his first term. He has even suggested that Iran eventually could sign on.

Qatar has reportedly provided Iran with massive financial assistance in recent weeks, according to sources cited Tuesday, as Tehran struggles under mounting economic pressure and the lingering effects of the American naval blockade.

The report, published by Yisroel Hayom, claims the Qatari government transferred significant sums of money to the Iranian regime following a series of contacts between Doha and Tehran over the past several weeks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Monday with Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati in a meeting that, according to the report, highlighted Qatar’s increasingly deep involvement in supporting Iran economically — far beyond its previously known role as a mediator in negotiations.

According to the report, Iran’s financial situation has deteriorated sharply due to the U.S. maritime blockade. The country is reportedly facing severe difficulties paying public-sector salaries, financing food and goods imports, and maintaining financial support for members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Sources quoted in the report said Qatar transferred substantial financial aid to Iran after diplomatic contacts intensified in recent weeks.

According to those sources, relations between Doha and Tehran expanded significantly following the ceasefire reached more than a month ago.

The report claimed one of Qatar’s main motivations was to prevent another Iranian strike against its territory after Qatar came under attack during the war.

Israel Hayom noted that following the ceasefire, both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were reportedly targeted in separate incidents, while Qatar remained untouched.

One source cited in the report said the two countries are also engaged in secret discussions aimed at reaching a broader arrangement that could include Qatari assistance in developing the enormous shared natural gas field jointly controlled by Iran and Qatar.

{Matzav.com}

Ferrari, the iconic Italian sports car brand, has unveiled its first fully electric vehicle, but the car is going to be out of most people’s price range.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the starting price would be 550,000 euros in Italy, which amounts to around $640,000.

Fox News Digital reached out to the auto company on Tuesday.

FERRARI BRINGS BACK LEGENDARY TESTAROSSA NAME WITH 1,050-HORSEPOWER PLUG-IN HYBRID BEAST

“The Ferrari Luce is the first electric Ferrari from the Maranello marque,” a press release declares.

The vehicle can go from 0-100 kilometers per hour, which is about 62 miles per hour, in just 2.5 seconds, and from 0-200 kilometers per hour, which is about 124 miles per hour, in 6.8 seconds, according to the car company.

AMERICANS DITCH EVS FOR BIGGER VEHICLES AS AUTO TRENDS REVERSE

Ferrari places the estimated range at 530 kilometers, with the release saying “in excess of 530 km,” which equates to around 329 miles.

“The electric power source enables a radically new architecture that generously accommodates four doors and five seats. This is the second four-door Ferrari, and the first with five seats,” the company noted.

HYUNDAI RECALLS OVER 421,000 VEHICLES TO FIX SOFTWARE BUG CAUSING UNEXPECTED BRAKING

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“With Ferrari Luce, we are once again redefining the limits of what is possible. Today, we are not simply unveiling a new car, we are inaugurating a chapter that turns our vision into reality, strengthening Ferrari’s tradition of anticipating and shaping the future,” Ferrari President John Elkann said, according to the May 25 release.

Shas MK Yinon Azoulay launched a fierce attack in the Knesset plenum against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Knesset members from the coalition who opposed the conscription law following Baharav-Miara’s decision that it is “illegal” for Lomdei Torah who did not enlist to participate in discounted apartment lotteries.

“Today, the terrorists’ families are very thankful to the Attorney General and Knesset members Yuli Edelstein, Dan Illouz, Ofir Sofer and Sharren Haskel,” Azoulay said. “Why? Because today, the Dira B’Hanacha lottery opened, and thanks to the dismissed Attorney General, Lomdei Torah aren’t eligible and the families of terrorists sitting in jail now have a greater chance to win.”

“Those Knesset members who call themselves ‘right-wing’, joined forces with the dismissed Attorney General, and with their own hands are increasing the chances of terrorists winning a an ‘Apartment at a Discount’ by excluding Lomdei Torah students from participating in the lotteries.”

Azoulay is referring to the fact that Arab-Israelis (who don’t serve in the IDF) are eligible to participate in the lottery, including families of convicted terrorists serving prison sentences.

“Unbelievable! In the Jewish state, instead of strengthening those who dedicate their lives to Limmud Torah and the Jewish identity of the state, they strengthen terrorists,” he stressed.

“It won’t help you,” Azoulay declared. “We won’t surrender. ‘The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out.’ Lomdei Torah will continue to sit and learn.”

His remarks come after a unprecedented decision by the Israel Land Authority Council, which determined – at the demand of Baharav-Miara – that regulating military status with the IDF will become a threshold condition for participation in “discounted apartment” lotteries.

The 11th lottery of the “Dira B’Hanacha” program opened on Monday, and for the first time, thanks to Baharav-Miara, Chareidi couples were not eligible to participate.

The step is a particularly severe economic blow to thousands of young Chareidi couples, with the Dira B’Hanacha program the main and almost only way to purchase an apartment in Israel at a lower price.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A yeshiva student, considered one of the prominent students at Yeshivat Darchei Ish in Moshav Tirosh was arrested Tuesday night in what was described as a planned police ambush.

The student, Meir Sabag, encountered a surprise checkpoint around 2 a.m. that had been set up by the civilian police on the road between Beit Shemesh and Moshav Tirosh.

Sabag, who was returning to the yeshiva after visiting his parents to help them, reportedly that he had no suspicion that the routine trip would turn into what the article describes as a nightmare. The vehicle he was traveling in was stopped for a document check, and when police entered Sabag’s details into their system, officers discovered that he was listed as a draft evader. His travel companion, whose information was also checked, was released after the system showed his status was  legally arranged.

According to testimonies from the scene, the forces allegedly used deliberate deception to prevent escalation or calls for assistance. Police reportedly calmed the students and claimed that the military police who had been summoned to the scene did not intend to make an arrest, but only to deliver an official summons to the military recruitment office. Because of this alleged misleading information, the students did not rush to contact emergency support networks.

Within about fifteen minutes, an unmarked vehicle reportedly arrived, from which three plainclothes detectives and a soldier emerged. They handcuffed the student, placed him in the vehicle, and quickly drove away.

Sources connected to the yeshiva issued an urgent warning to yeshiva students and avreichim: “Do not be naïve, the system is operating in every possible way.”

The incident comes amid reports that the Israel Police refused to allocate thousands of police officers and Border Police personnel for a broad arrest operation targeting yeshiva students in charedi cities. According to the report, the military police requested major manpower assistance from the Israel Police for a proactive operation, but the request was denied.

At the same time, the Ministry of Construction and Housing has reportedly begun implementing automatic computerized synchronization with the IDF Human Resources Directorate databases. Under the system, any citizen defined by the military system as obligated for enlistment who has not arranged his legal status will immediately lose eligibility to participate in government housing programs.

May 26, 2026 — Bond strategists at ING Bank NV, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG warned Sunday that the sharp rise in long-term Treasury yields triggered during the U.S.-Iran conflict is unlikely to meaningfully reverse even if the war ends, signaling what many on Wall Street increasingly view as a structural reset in global borrowing costs rather than a temporary oil-shock distortion.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded near 4.67% late last week — its highest level since January 2025 — after beginning the year below 4%. The 30-year Treasury bond yield climbed above 5.17%, approaching levels last seen before the 2008 financial crisis, while sovereign yields across Europe and Japan have moved sharply higher in parallel.

The message emerging from strategists is increasingly clear: the bond market’s problem is no longer just inflation. It is confidence.

In a Bloomberg analysis published Sunday, strategists argued that “real yields” — Treasury yields adjusted for inflation expectations — are now driving most of the selloff, suggesting investors are demanding materially higher compensation to finance swelling government deficits, escalating defense spending, heavy AI-related debt issuance and the growing possibility that the Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh could still raise rates later this year rather than cut them.

“The argument that duration is selling off globally due to inflation fears is hard to square with market pricing of medium- and long-term inflation risk,” wrote Jonathan Pingle in commentary cited by Bloomberg, framing the move as a deeper repricing of fiscal and policy risk rather than a short-term energy spike.

At Goldman Sachs, Phillip Lee, head of real-money rate sales, said on a firm podcast that persistent deficits, expanding Treasury issuance and rising concerns over debt sustainability are increasingly forcing investors to demand higher compensation for holding long-dated government bonds.

“I think rates are going higher,” Lee said bluntly.

The shift marks a major change in how Wall Street is interpreting the bond market. Earlier in the Iran conflict, many investors viewed rising yields primarily as a response to surging crude prices and inflation fears tied to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Increasingly, strategists believe the war merely accelerated pressures that were already building beneath the surface.

Ajay Rajadhyaksha, global chairman of research at Barclays, warned that the forces now driving the bond selloff are not temporary.

“Fiscal deterioration, defense spending, sticky inflation and central bank paralysis are not resolving next week,” Rajadhyaksha wrote. “They are getting worse.”

That view directly clashes with the more optimistic outlook being advanced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Reuters during last week’s G7 finance meetings in Paris that elevated inflation and bond yields remain “transient” and should ease once the conflict subsides.

Bessent argued oil markets themselves are signaling expectations for eventual stabilization, pointing to Brent crude trading near $105 for near-term delivery but closer to $88 for December contracts.

“I think headline will be high as long as the conflict’s going,” Bessent said. “I don’t think that will leak into core through three or four months out.”

Markets increasingly appear unconvinced.

Traders who entered 2026 expecting multiple Federal Reserve rate cuts have rapidly reversed course. Interest-rate futures now imply rising odds of at least one Fed hike before year-end despite slowing portions of the economy and leadership changes at the central bank.

Jim Reid, research strategist at Deutsche Bank, described the recent bond-market move as “aggressive,” while separate Deutsche Bank analysis warned yields could climb even higher if the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran triggers further economic disruption or prolonged fiscal spending increases.

A second major driver now compounding the selloff is the artificial-intelligence investment boom reshaping corporate capital markets.

While AI is widely expected to improve long-term productivity, strategists increasingly believe its near-term economic impact is inflationary. Technology giants including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle are collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure, data centers and semiconductor capacity — much of it financed through bond markets already absorbing historically large Treasury issuance.

The result is an extraordinary simultaneous demand for capital from both governments and corporations.

Stronger AI-driven economic growth could also reinforce higher yields by encouraging investors to favor equities over fixed income, forcing bond markets to offer increasingly attractive returns to remain competitive.

At the same time, sovereign debt burdens continue worsening across much of the developed world.

The U.S. federal deficit remains near record peacetime levels even before accounting for war-related military spending and higher interest costs. Treasury issuance is projected to continue climbing into 2027, while major economies including the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and France face similar financing pressures.

Strategists increasingly believe the traditional buyer base — foreign central banks, commercial banks and institutional asset managers — is no longer willing to absorb that volume of debt at prior yield levels.

That repricing is beginning to ripple far beyond Wall Street trading desks.

Long-term Treasury yields directly influence mortgage rates, auto loans, corporate borrowing costs, credit-card refinancing and small-business lending across the U.S. economy. Mortgage rates have already resumed climbing alongside the 10-year yield, worsening affordability pressures throughout the housing market and placing additional strain on consumers already contending with elevated insurance, transportation and food costs.

For the Trump administration, the bond market is increasingly becoming the central economic constraint.

The White House’s hope that a diplomatic resolution with Iran could rapidly cool inflation and stabilize markets now collides with a growing strategist consensus that long-term borrowing costs are rising for deeper structural reasons that no ceasefire alone can solve.

If that view proves correct, the American economy may remain trapped in a world of elevated financing costs well into 2027 — regardless of what happens next in the Strait of Hormuz.

JBizNews Desk

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

Last night, TLS received this letter from a resident who moved from Eretz Yisroel to Lakewood. Following an internal discussion this morning among TLS staff, we decided to act on it and make an offer to local storeowners.

First, here’s the letter:

I recently moved from Israel to Lakewood. I have been shopping in many local stores especially often at the groceries.

What I’ve noticed was that our community is suffering tremendously and no one will admit it or speak up about it. As a father of 6 and I consider myself to be very frum, there is a major issue regarding the female cashiers in all the stores especially the groceries.

They are hiring females who just simply aren’t coming dressed enough to the job, especially in the summer. We have pure neshomos that unfortunately need to see this. (Edited). This is a real sakana for our future generations and of course the current, but we are oiver a major aveira every time we are going to buy simple peppers.

I would like to hear what your opinions are but I think a simple eitza is that we before hiring these employees they should be told that in our place we have a uniform that must be worn during work.

Thank you!

After discussing this issue, TLS has decided to make the following offer – available to all local shops: If you introduce a mandatory Tznius uniform for all employees (see pictured sample), we will offer you a free shoutout on our platforms, plus a free ad. This will ensure thousands of local residents know your place took a stand to enhance the Kedusha of our town.

UPDATE: CHECK IT OUT: Moments after publishing, TLS received this from a local eatery. They do not want us announcing their name yet until the uniforms are in. Once they’re in, TLS will be publishing a picture of them.

Screenshot

Who is next?!

UPDATE: Any uniform companies reading this who would like to offer a significant discount for TLS reader shop-owners, will be given free ads as well! Reach out to [email protected] to take us up on the offer.

UPDATE: Several shop-owners already reached out to TLS that they’d like to implement this, but they need a manufacturer who can offer this – both for men and women. If anyone has ideas, please share!

UPDATE: Some store-owners reached out to TLS that they’d like to make the change, but are concerned that perhaps it’s a legal issue if men and women need to wear different types of Tznius clothing.

However, TLS spoke with an attorney today who stated that case law shows that a company may implement a uniform – and that there can be variations of the design for the men and women. There is no issue of discrimination in this instance.

Additionally, multiple companies have reached out to TLS to offer their apparel products at a discounted rate (one even offering to sponsor!) to all stores who would like to make the change. We are working on obtaining pictures or concept design concepts to share with our readers once we receive them.

All involved will IY”H be receiving FREE advertising on our platforms!

Thank you to all who reached out to offer their help with bringing up the level of Kedusha in our local towns!

A video circulating on social media Monday showed a protest in Montreal, Canada, in which an effigy of a Jew appeared to be hanged.

A subsequent video showed that the effigy represented National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, along with effigies of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also hanging from nooses.

Political leaders and Jewish activists reacted harshly and swiftly.

In the words of Canadian MP Anthony Housefather, the display was “disgusting, antisemitic and clear incitement,” while city councilor Leslie Roberts called it “unacceptable.” Both politicians called for a police investigation of the incident.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) posted a statement on X pointing out that this protest crosses the line from debate over the Middle East into rank antisemitism.

“Let us be clear: this is not a debate about the Middle East,” CIJA wrote. “Hanging effigies of Jews in the streets of Montreal evokes some of the darkest antisemitic imagery in history and is completely unacceptable.”

“This is not ‘peaceful activism,'” it added. “It is the promotion of hatred and the incitement of violence that fuels the radicalization of our social climate. What will it take for authorities to treat these acts as the serious threat they are?”

The incident marks the latest in a long string of antisemitic attacks against Jews, highlighting the soaring antisemitism that has plagued Jewish communities across Canada since Oct. 7.

B’nai Brith Canada warned that just a few months into 2026, more violent hate crimes against Jews have been committed than in all of 2025.

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced Monday that he had raised the issue of antisemitism with his Canadian counterpart, urging Canada to take action against the rising scourge.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 100 drones and two ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, as the country’s foreign ministry noted that Moscow’s recent threat to hit Kyiv especially hard from the air brought nothing new.

Russia on Monday urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic missions, to leave the Ukrainian capital as quickly as possible and told residents to steer clear of military and government facilities. It said that “systemic strikes” on Kyiv were being prepared.

Russia has regularly bombarded Kyiv, often causing dozens of civilian casualties with every attack, since it launched an all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio by phone Monday that the U.S. should evacuate its diplomatic staff from Kyiv, a foreign ministry statement said. Rubio didn’t say whether the U.S. State Department would take that step, but expressed concern during a trip to India that the “terrible” war in Ukraine could escalate further.

The Trump administration has tried for more than a year to stop the war. But its efforts yielded no significant breakthrough and are now on ice as Washington focuses on the Iran war.

No diplomats say they are leaving Kyiv
There were no announcements of diplomatic departures from Kyiv. The European Union, French and Polish delegations publicly said that they would not leave.

The European Union summoned Russia’s representative in Brussels to convey its concerns Tuesday, with European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper accusing Russia of “trying to sow panic.”

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux called the Russian threat “new intimidation from Moscow.”

The level of security threats posed by Russia to Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities “remains the same as in previous years and months,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement late Monday.

Russia has continuously launched missile and drone attacks on the capital, it pointed out, adding that Ukraine was prepared to assist diplomatic missions seeking additional security measures.

Russia could target bunkers, official says
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the defense affairs committee in Russia’s State Duma, said that the Ukrainian parliament and presidential office aren’t among potential targets.

Kartapolov said that possible attacks could aim at underground bunkers used by various branches of Ukraine’s armed forces, security agencies and other government structures.

“Those are well-concealed and fortified facilities, and our task is to spot and target them with the weapons we have,” Kartapolov said in remarks carried by Parlamentskaya Gazeta, the official publication of the Russian parliament.

Russia said its biggest missile attack of the year last weekend was in response to Friday’s deadly Ukrainian drone strike on what Moscow said was a college dormitory in Starobilsk, a city in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region.

But the Ukrainian General Staff said that its strike in Starobilsk hit the local headquarters of the Russian military’s special drone unit.

Ukraine remains short of air defense missiles
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that sophisticated American-made air defense systems that Ukraine needs in order to stop Russian ballistic missiles are in short supply because of the Iran war.

“Unfortunately, there has been no progress for a long time with America on expanding the production of anti-ballistic capabilities,” Zelenskyy said on social media late Monday, adding that Kyiv is working with Europe to improve its own anti-ballistic capabilities in sufficient quantities.

He said that Ukrainian battlefield gains in recent months have enabled it to “stabilize” the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, suggesting that Kyiv’s forces are holding their own against Russia’s bigger army.

Russia’s spring offensive is floundering as Ukraine’s midrange drone strikes disrupt its rear supply lines, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Moscow’s warning of major strikes aims to distract public attention from its “poor battlefield performance” and an economic pinch caused by war costs and international sanctions, the Washington-based think tank said late Monday.

By JBizNews Desk

JERUSALEM — The Bank of Israel’s Monetary Committee, led by Governor Prof. Amir Yaron, voted Monday, May 25, 2026, to lower the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75% from 4.00%, citing easing inflation, a sharply stronger shekel, and resilient economic data that gave policymakers room to resume monetary easing despite ongoing regional instability.

The decision marks the central bank’s third cut since November 2025 and matched expectations from most economists and financial markets. The Bank of Israel had paused at its previous two meetings amid uncertainty surrounding the war with Iran, after delivering consecutive 0.25-point cuts in November and January.

In its policy statement, the Monetary Committee acknowledged that inflation has stabilized near the midpoint of the government’s official 1%–3% target range but warned that geopolitical and global inflationary pressures remain elevated. The committee said geopolitical uncertainty remains significant both domestically and globally, adding that while Israeli inflation has moderated, there has been a sharp increase in the global inflation environment since the previous rate decision.

Officials cautioned that risks remain for renewed inflation acceleration, citing energy prices, supply constraints, fiscal pressures, and regional developments tied to ongoing security concerns. At the same time, policymakers emphasized that the shekel’s rapid appreciation is helping offset inflationary pressures by lowering import costs and easing pressure on consumer prices.

The currency move has been dramatic. Since the previous interest-rate decision, the shekel strengthened 8.3% against the U.S. dollar, 7.2% against the euro, and 7.4% on a nominal effective exchange-rate basis, according to Bank of Israel data. The stronger currency has become one of the central bank’s most important disinflationary forces and a major factor allowing policymakers to continue cutting rates without triggering renewed price instability.

The central bank also addressed the economic impact of Operation Roaring Lion, Israel’s recent military campaign against Iran and Iranian-linked targets. According to the Bank of Israel, first-quarter 2026 GDP contracted at an annualized rate of 3.3%, reflecting disruptions tied to the operation and wartime economic conditions.

Still, officials emphasized that the downturn was milder than many economists had feared and less severe than the contraction experienced during Operation Rising Lion in June 2025. The committee said current indicators of economic activity point to recovery following Operation Roaring Lion. Officials noted that credit-card spending data, which declined during the military operation, has since rebounded and now sits slightly above the long-term trend line, signaling improving domestic demand and consumer activity.

The 0.25-point rate cut comes as central banks globally face increasingly difficult tradeoffs between slowing economic growth and persistent inflation concerns tied to energy markets and geopolitical disruptions. Israel’s situation has become particularly complex because the country is simultaneously managing wartime fiscal pressures, strong capital inflows, and a rapidly appreciating currency.

Markets reacted positively to the decision, with Israeli government bonds rising modestly and traders increasing expectations for at least one additional rate cut later this year if inflation continues cooling and geopolitical conditions stabilize.

Analysts say the Bank of Israel is attempting to engineer a delicate balancing act: supporting economic recovery after months of military disruptions while avoiding renewed inflation pressure from energy costs and wartime spending.

Governor Amir Yaron has repeatedly emphasized that future policy decisions will remain highly data dependent and closely tied to developments in both the security environment and global inflation trends.

For now, the central bank appears increasingly confident that the shekel’s strength and moderating domestic inflation are giving policymakers room to cautiously support growth — even as the broader Middle East remains on edge.

JBizNews Desk

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

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Sima Shine, head of the Iran and Shiite Axis Program at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), addressed the security tensions and negotiations over a possible agreement with Iran in an interview with the radio program “Seven to Nine”, hosted by Gideon Oko and Amichai Atali.

During the conversation, Shine, a former Mossad section director and Deputy Head of Strategic Affairs in Israel’s National Security Council, sharply criticized the handling of the northern front and warned about the dramatic implications of a potential nuclear agreement led by U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to Shine, the situation that has developed in northern Israel is incomprehensible. “The situation in which we are told there is a ceasefire in the north, yet every day there are casualties, is simply extraordinary,” she said. “The fact that Iran decides whether there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon is an event of exceptional magnitude, both for Israel and for the Lebanese government.”

Regarding American involvement, Shine added: “We reached a point where the Americans agreed to link the arenas together. Clearly the Iranians demanded this. The Iranians do not want to return to war, so they are not going to completely break with the Americans over something in Lebanon, and this should have been understood from the start. Once a ceasefire was decided upon, it should have been complete. It is unacceptable that Hezbollah continues to strike while we are prevented from acting.”

When asked about the emerging framework for an agreement with Iran, Shine emphasized that one issue above all worries her: “What concerns me is only the nuclear issue. Everything else is less important. As Israelis, we need to focus only on the nuclear issue. When I hear Trump speaking, I ask myself whether he fully understands the significance, and whether he understands that twenty percent enrichment is effectively like sixty percent, because within two weeks it can become sixty and then ninety.”

The hosts challenged Shine on whether Iran’s regime can be trusted at all. She replied: “Under the 2015 agreement, for the two and a half years until Trump withdrew from it, the Iranians complied with all the terms of the deal. They did so because it was in their interest to receive money and investments. They are not good people — they are very bad people — but they acted out of self-interest. Today there has been a dramatic erosion in their trust in the United States and Israel.”

Shine also warned about gaps in the management of negotiations with the Americans. “The Iranians are far more experienced in negotiations than Trump’s people,” she stated. “These are the same people who conducted negotiations in the past, and they have years of experience. Still, it would not be difficult for the United States to assemble a knowledgeable team if it chose to do so.”

When asked whether Israel could strike Iran after Trump signs an agreement with Tehran, Shine was unequivocal: “The answer is no. Israel will not be able to attack, because one of the first clauses already made public is that there will be mutual guarantees. The United States and its allies will not attack Iran, and Iran will not attack them. There are still many obstacles ahead, even though both sides want an agreement and do not want to return to war, but it is difficult to say the path is clear.”

Regarding the military option to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear-capable, she concluded: “There is an option, but whether I see it as realistic, that is another question.”

ISTANBUL (AP) — Riot police in Turkey used water cannons on Tuesday to prevent people from gathering to hear a speech by the deposed leader of the country’s main opposition party.

Ozgur Ozel and the core leadership of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, were removed from their posts on Thursday by a court order that many people consider to be politically motivated.

Ozel had intended to address supporters on Tuesday in the western Turkish city of Izmir, but those heading to the city’s Cumhuriyet Square found their way blocked by steel barriers and riot police.

Pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV showed many of the largely middle-aged crowd being soaked by water cannon as they tried to reach the square. Local media also reported that police deployed pepper spray.

The political crisis was sparked last week when an appeals court in Ankara overturned a 2023 party congress vote that appointed Ozel as CHP leader. The court decision replaced him with his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, sparking outrage among party supporters.

Ozel, 51, who succeeded the 77-year-old Kilicdaroglu after 13 years of mostly ineffective opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday called on Kilicdaroglu to hold another party leadership vote. “Don’t divide the party, don’t stop our march to power,” he said. “Let’s ask the 2 million members (and) whoever they choose, let’s hold the congress immediately.”

The court case, which centered on irregularities in the congress vote, is seen by the president’s critics as the latest legal attack on the CHP, during which waves of elected officials and party members have been imprisoned.

Following the court ruling, Ozel and his supporters barricaded themselves inside the CHP headquarters in Ankara. Police stormed the building on Sunday, firing plastic pellets and pepper spray in a violent end to the standoff.

Ozel, who has vowed to take the struggle to the streets, said on arriving in Izmir that he would “go wherever the people are waiting.” He later arrived at Cumhuriyet Square before walking to another nearby square where he delivered a speech to thousands of cheering supporters.

The confrontation in Izmir — Turkey’s third-largest city and traditionally a CHP stronghold — came a day ahead of the official Eid al-Adha holiday, although many people had also taken Monday and Tuesday off work.

In a televised Eid message, Erdogan said he hoped the vacation would be “an occasion for hearts to soften, for those who are estranged to reconcile, for grievances to be resolved.”

The CHP is level with the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, in most recent opinion polls and although the next election is not due until 2028, many expect Erdogan to push for early elections.

Ozel delivered a serious blow to the AKP in the 2024 municipal elections, strengthening the opposition’s grip on key cities it had won five years earlier, including Istanbul and Ankara.

The CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, emerged as the likeliest challenger to Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, in the next presidential poll. But he has been imprisoned since March last year as he faces several criminal cases that could see him sentenced to decades behind bars.

Many observers have said the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are aimed at neutralizing the party. The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

Shin Bet chief David Zini met in the United Arab Emirates with former senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, according to a report Tuesday by Kan News citing Israeli and regional sources.

The meeting has drawn attention because Dahlan has repeatedly been mentioned in international discussions as a leading candidate to play a major role in governing Gaza after the war.

Responding to the report, the Shin Bet issued a brief statement saying: “We do not comment on the schedule of the head of the service.”

Dahlan, once one of the most powerful figures in Fatah, previously headed the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security apparatus in Gaza. For years, he has lived in exile in Abu Dhabi.

In July 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that American, Israeli, and Arab officials had identified Dahlan as the leading candidate to oversee Gaza in the postwar era.

At the time, Dahlan rejected the idea publicly. Speaking to Sky News Arabia, he said: “I have stated more than once my refusal to accept any security, ministerial or executive role, and I call for the formulation of a realistic and practical international work plan that will lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Earlier this year, it was also reported that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Dahlan in Abu Dhabi.

The revelation comes weeks after reports surfaced that Shin Bet director David Zini made a rare and highly unusual visit to the UAE amid the ceasefire and rising tensions involving Iran, signaling increasingly close security coordination between Jerusalem and Gulf states.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Mossad chief Dedi Barnea also traveled to the UAE during the war with Iran.

According to the newspaper, Barnea visited the country at least twice during the 40-day conflict in order to coordinate security matters related to the fighting.

Arab officials and another informed source told the Journal that the secret visits took place during March and April.

{Matzav.com}

photos: Shulem Schwartz, Itzy M.

Australia welcomed its Gaza flotilla activists Tuesday in much the same way that Spain and Australia welcomed theirs: by armed security forces hauling them away.

About 50 anti-Israel demonstrators, including flotilla activists, blocked the marble foyer of the Parliament House in Canberra by kneeling with their heads down and hands behind their backs, mimicking the detention of the flotilla activists in Israel.

Israel’s navy had intercepted the latest attempt by activists to breach the joint Israel-Egypt blockade of Gaza, stopping the vessels in international waters some 150 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza and bringing them to Israel for deportation. The activists numbered about 430 people and hailed from 45 different countries.

Armed security haul away activists blocking the foyer of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. (Credit: Israel Foreign Ministry)

Israel’s Foreign Ministry was quick to post its scorn, alongside a video.

“The flotilla anarchists sow chaos wherever they go,” the ministry tweeted. “Now in Australia. Before that in Spain, Austria, and Greece. The flotilla = provocations and riots.”

The Foreign Ministry, pointing out that even the Gaza Board of Peace called the flotilla movement a PR stunt, had ordered the flotilla “to change course and turn back immediately” shortly before intercepting it when it refused to comply.

“The purpose of this provocation is to serve Hamas, to divert attention from Hamas’s refusal to disarm, and to obstruct progress on President Trump’s peace plan,” the ministry said.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) posted Monday on X that “over 1.6 million tons of food have entered Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire” in October 2025, adding to the approximately 2 million tons of aid that had entered the Strip from the beginning of the war until that point.

Israel has also maintained that the blockade on Gaza, which was implemented to prevent shipments of arms to the Hamas-controlled territory, complies with international law.

The head of an inquiry into antisemitism in Australia said on Tuesday that Jewish witnesses who had appeared before it are now facing online harassment and bigotry, according to a Ynet report.

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was created in response to the murderous attack in which two terrorists allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group massacred 15 people at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December. Royal commissions are Australia’s highest form of public inquiry.

The commission’s head, former High Court judge Virginia Bell, said that Jewish witnesses who testified about their experiences of antisemitism since public hearings began on May 4 have been subjected to online “harassment and intimidation.”

“We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages after they have given evidence,” Bell said.

“Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me,” she added.

The commission was recording the “offensive social media posts,” Bell said, and in one case the harassment has been referred to police. “The commission has, as one of its principal objects, understanding and assessing the lived experience of antisemitism by members of the Jewish community and it is being informed by conduct of this character,” she added.

The first two weeks of hearings scrutinized the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in Australia’s institutions and society. During the first week of hearings, a 68-year-old man was charged with wearing a shirt emblazoned with a “prohibited Nazi symbol” outside the commission in Sydney. The design appeared to incorporate a Star of David superimposed over a swastika with the slogan: “Antisemitism. Proud to be accused. Speak up!”

The commission said in a statement at the time it was “appalled” that an “antisemitic shirt” had been worn in its vicinity. The commission assured witnesses that safety protocols were in place around the building. “The royal commission is determined to investigate antisemitism in Australia without fear or intimidation,” the statement said.

Kevin Warsh, sworn in by President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, May 22, 2026, as the new chair of the Federal Reserve, has openly vowed to bring “regime change” to the central bank. In speeches and interviews leading up to his confirmation, Warsh has called for shrinking the Fed’s $6.7 trillion balance sheet, removing forward guidance from Fed communications, encouraging more open dissent at policy meetings — what he has called “a good family fight” — and changing the data the Fed bases its decisions on. He blames “policy errors” by the Fed in 2021 and 2022 for the high inflation that followed.

The ambition is enormous. The catch, according to former Fed officials, ex-staffers, and central bank watchers interviewed over the weekend, is that Warsh cannot deliver any of this on his own. The Federal Reserve is a consensus-driven institution. On every major decision — interest rates, balance sheet policy, regulatory rules, communications frameworks — Warsh will need the backing of the Federal Open Market Committee, the 12-member body that includes the seven Fed governors and five voting reserve bank presidents.

“One of his primary things he’s going to be doing is presumably trying to build a consensus, when appropriate, to lower interest rates,” said Jon Faust, who previously worked as an adviser to former chairs Jerome Powell, Janet Yellen, and Ben Bernanke. The challenge for Warsh is that the rest of the FOMC does not necessarily share his views on either the magnitude or the urgency of the changes he wants.

Randall Kroszner, who served alongside Warsh as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2009 and now teaches at the University of Chicago, said the new chair’s power lies in persuasion rather than direct authority. “The chair has the power to persuade. And they’re in a very strong position to be able to persuade. But they still need to persuade.” Kroszner described Warsh as a “long-run strategic thinker” who “wants to bring people along” and added that he “understands that to get things done, you need to build a consensus around things.”

The most pivotal decisions — interest rates and the balance sheet — require FOMC votes. Warsh can chair the meetings, set the agenda, and shape the discussion, but he gets one vote like every other member. Jerome Powell, notably, is planning to remain on the Fed board even after his term as chair expired May 15. The Justice Department launched a controversial criminal probe into Powell earlier this year, then withdrew it. Powell’s decision to stay on the board means Warsh will sit across the table from his predecessor at every meeting — a dynamic with little precedent in modern Fed history.

The FOMC has historically functioned as a deliberative body where political considerations are explicitly left at the door. “I was going to FOMC meetings when Alan Greenspan was chair, so that’s a long time. Politics never enters that room,” said Loretta Mester, the former Cleveland Fed president. That tradition will be tested as Warsh navigates between Trump’s demands for lower rates and the committee’s independent assessment of an economy facing both elevated inflation from the U.S.-Iran war and slowing growth from tighter credit conditions.

There are areas where Warsh has clear unilateral authority. As Fed chair, he can choose how frequently he holds press conferences, how often he speaks publicly, and what he says. He sets the tone for Fed communications strategy. He chairs FOMC meetings and can change how they are structured. He represents the Fed publicly with Congress, foreign central banks, and global markets. None of those areas require committee approval.

But on bigger structural questions — like whether to eliminate or scale back the quarterly Summary of Economic Projections, the Fed communications tool that publishes policymakers’ forecasts for growth, unemployment, and inflation, or the “dot plot” showing officials’ projections for the federal funds rate — even an aggressive chair traditionally seeks broad input first. David Wilcox, former head of the Fed’s Division of Research and Statistics and now at Bloomberg Economics, recalled that when Ben Bernanke introduced the SEPs in 2007, “there was absolutely nobody on the committee who could say their views hadn’t been heard and carefully considered.”

If Warsh chooses to push through major changes without broad support, former Fed staffers warn he could find himself isolated when he most needs allies. Claudia Sahm, the former Fed economist behind the widely watched Sahm Rule recession indicator, said Warsh “should know better” than to push too hard against consensus. “When I disagree with him on a lot of things, I don’t think he is an agent of chaos,” Sahm said. “I think he wants the Fed to innovate and improve and do policy well. That should lead him to meet the committee where they are, and try to shift things gradually.”

The political pressure on Warsh is substantial. Trump repeatedly attacked Powell during his second term, publicly nicknaming him “Too Late” and threatening to fire him over the Fed’s reluctance to cut rates. At Friday’s swearing-in ceremony, Trump said directly: “I want Kevin to be totally independent. Don’t look at me, don’t look at anybody.” The fact that the ceremony was held at the White House at all — the first time a Fed chair has been sworn in there since Greenspan in 1987 — has raised bipartisan concerns about executive influence over the historically independent central bank.

Warsh’s real “regime change” may ultimately happen in less visible parts of the Fed. Loretta Mester noted that the central bank has struggled for years to clearly explain when it uses asset purchases to support markets versus when it uses them for broader monetary policy purposes. “The Fed hasn’t done a very good job, I think, over time of distinguishing and explaining when it’s using asset purchases for a monetary policy reason,” she said. Warsh could reshape expectations that the Fed will always step in whenever markets wobble — a belief that has defined Wall Street behavior since the financial crisis.

He has also expressed support for deregulatory efforts led by Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, including revisions to bank reserve rules and liquidity treatment during periods of stress. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan recently praised those efforts publicly, suggesting Warsh may have more room to move on regulatory “plumbing” than on headline interest-rate decisions.

For markets, the immediate signal is patience. Most analysts expect the Fed to keep rates steady over the next several months while Warsh builds support within the committee. The federal funds rate currently sits between 3.5% and 3.75%, where it has remained since the Fed’s late-2025 rate cut. Trump’s push for aggressive reductions collides with the reality that inflation expectations are still climbing — the University of Michigan’s May survey showed year-ahead inflation expectations rising to 4.8%, with long-run expectations at 3.9% — while energy prices remain elevated because of the Iran conflict.

Cutting rates aggressively into that environment risks reigniting the same inflation cycle Warsh has spent years criticizing.

For consumers and businesses, the practical message is straightforward. Mortgage rates, auto loans, credit cards, small business lending costs, and savings account yields are unlikely to change dramatically through the summer. Any economic relief tied to lower Fed rates will almost certainly arrive slower than the White House hopes.

The early signs suggest Warsh understands this institutional reality. David Wessel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Warsh has “outlined a wide-ranging agenda” but cautioned that observers should “watch what he does, not what he has said.” Wessel added that Warsh “will not simply be able to impose his will on the central bank, and will have to work with his fellow policymakers.”

For investors, banks, businesses, and homeowners, the takeaway is important but measured. Warsh brings a different philosophy, communication style, and set of priorities than Powell. But the institution he now leads is designed to move slowly and deliberately.

Real “regime change” at the Federal Reserve does not happen in a quarter. It happens over years.

If Warsh builds credibility gradually, persuades colleagues carefully, and saves political capital for the moments that matter most, he could leave the Fed meaningfully changed by the end of his term. If he moves too quickly, he risks becoming isolated inside the very institution he wants to reform.

The next 90 days will tell Wall Street which path he chooses.

— JBizNews Desk

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

LONDON (AP) — Temperature records have toppled as a spring heatwave continued to scorch parts of Western Europe on Tuesday, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down.

London recorded a rare “tropical night,” defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), and Britain’s Met Office weather service said the temperature in southern England could reach 35 C (95 F) on Tuesday.

Monday was the U.K.’s hottest May day on record, with the temperature hitting 34.8 C (94.6 F) at Kew Gardens in London, smashing the previous record of 32.8 C (91.4 F) set in 1922 and 1944. Records also fell in France, where temperatures reached 36 C (97 F) on Monday and widely remained above 20 C (68 F) at night.

The national weather service, Météo-France, said a “heat dome,” with heat held in place by a high-pressure weather front, was producing temperatures more than 10 degrees Celsius above what used to be usual for this time of year.

Unpredictable and extreme weather are becoming more frequent as Earth’s warming builds. Experts say unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger.

After a U.K. long weekend that sent people flocking to beaches, pools and shady parks, London commuters sweltered on Tuesday in subway carriages without air conditioning. Trains to and from the busy Waterloo station were disrupted by a report of smoke on the tracks.

In Scotland, firefighters worked through the night to douse a grass fire that sent smoke billowing from Arthur’s Seat, the rocky hill that looms over Edinburgh.

The U.K. Health Security Agency issued an amber health alert for large parts of the country through Thursday, warning of a potential health risk, particularly among older people, at the hottest times of the day. The U.K. is used to moderate temperatures, and many homes, schools and businesses do not have air conditioning.

A 13-year-old boy died in the water of a reservoir in Halifax, northern England, on Monday, police said.

French government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said there have been reports of at least seven deaths potentially related to high temperatures, including five drownings and two deaths in sports competitions.

The early heatwave has struck before the annual summer window when lifeguards watch over bathers at popular beaches, increasing risks.

On France’s Atlantic seaboard, where magnificent beaches have powerful riptides, officials reported a rash of emergencies in the surf with two drowning deaths on Sunday at popular resorts in the Gironde region in the southwest.

The top regional administrator, Sophie Brocas, urged beachgoers “to exercise the utmost caution.”

The unseasonable heat extended to Spain, where weather service spokesperson Rubén del Campo said “we find ourselves with temperatures we normally see in the middle of the summer now in the month of May.”

He said Seville hit 38 C (100 F) over the weekend, while large parts of the peninsula saw temperatures 5 to 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal.

And in Rome, temperatures were expected to reach 32 degrees C (89.6 F) on Tuesday.

[Video below.] Former National Security Adviser John Bolton sharply criticized the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran on Monday, arguing that any pause in military pressure gives Tehran valuable time to regroup and rebuild after weeks of Israeli attacks.

Appearing on CNN’s “The Lead,” Bolton said he believes the ongoing diplomatic effort should collapse rather than produce a ceasefire agreement.

“I hope the negotiations break down, because every day that goes by is a gift to Iran. It gives them 24 more hours to recover from the pummeling they took during the six weeks of Israeli attack. It gives them time to try and reconstitute their government, which increasingly looks dysfunctional and decision-making capability. And it postpones the day of reckoning. Ultimately, when the threat that they posed to control over the Strait of Hormuz is resolved in a way that they never come back and do it again, I think the ceasefire was a mistake.”

Bolton warned that the Trump administration risks squandering strategic gains achieved through military action against the Islamic Republic.

“I think these negotiations are a mistake. I think we’re on the verge of something that ultimately history will decide was a catastrophic loss for the United States. We have we have done significant damage to the Islamic Republic of Iran. And right now, we’re letting them undo the damage. And that that is a real tragedy, not just for us, but for the people in the region.”

CNN host Pamela Brown pressed Bolton on whether he would still oppose a deal even if Iran agreed to major American demands involving its nuclear program.

“So you think even if a deal is reached and, Iran commits to some of the sticking points that the U.S. wants, like moving all the enriched uranium out, that that would still be a failure.”

Bolton responded skeptically, saying the details of the negotiations appear to shift constantly and accusing Iran of deliberately dragging out the process.

“Well, the it’s very hard to know what the terms they’re discussing are since they change day by day. But but it seems a constant that the uranium issues kicked down the road for at least 60 days. This is what Iran wants. They want more time. 60 days turns into six months and then it turns into more than that. I don’t think Donald Trump is analyzing what America’s strategic interests are here. I think he’s looking at the price of gas at the pump, and he’s doing whatever he can to bring it down.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

Q: Should a person buy life insurance for the sake of his family?

A: Should a person buy life insurance? Absolutely. Yes. It’s not a chisaron in bitachon; life insurance is just like buying a house for your family. Someday you’ll live in that house. Someday your children will live in that house. Suppose you buy a house for your children but you won’t live in it but your children will live in it. It’s also worthwhile. And therefore, life insurance is also worthwhile. Life insurance is worthwhile, absolutely.

(Toras Avigdor, June 22, 2000)

In the ongoing US-Iran ceasefire negotiations, Iran may consider transferring its 60% enriched uranium, which currently lies beneath the rubble of bombed nuclear facilities, but could potentially be quickly weaponized, to China.

Multiple media reports have carried the same indications and China has not denied the reports, and a response from its Foreign Ministry seems to leave the possibility open.

In response to a question at a press conference on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded that, “Since the outbreak of the war between the US, Israel, and Iran, China has maintained close communication with all relevant parties, including Iran, and has been working tirelessly to stop the fighting and promote peace.”

“We will continue to uphold the spirit of President Xi Jinping‘s four-point proposal and play a positive role in restoring peace and tranquility to the Middle East and the Gulf region as soon as possible,” the ministry continued.

Next, the ministry stated, “Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, we have consistently supported the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation, and hope that all relevant parties can seize the opportunity to reach a solution that takes into account the legitimate concerns of all parties through negotiations.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry agrees to play role in Iran nuclear issue

Most critically, the ministry said,  “We are also willing to continue to play a constructive role in the political and diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue, safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and promote peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.”

It is unclear whether Iran’s latest raising of the China option for transferring its 60% enriched uranium is its true desired position in light of the overall negotiations context, or is an attempt to probe and press the US on the issue.

Under the 2015 Obama nuclear deal, almost all of Iran’s medium and low enriched uranium at 20%, 5%, and 3.67%, enough potentially for around 10 nuclear weapons if weaponized, was transferred to Russia.

However, since then the level of trust between the US on one side and Russia and China on the other side, has dropped significantly.

US, Russia nuclear agreements lapse

In 2015, the US and Russia has a substantial series of bilateral nuclear arms agreements in place which mandated several foreign teams being present in each other’s nuclear facilities to ensure the parties’ joint obligations were being kept.

During the first Trump administration of 2017-2021, some of these deals lapsed, and the rest lapsed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to the cratering of American-Russian relations.

Washington and Beijing have never had the same kind of mutual nuclear inspections of each other’s facilities and both parties are at their most suspicious of the other stealing technology or spying on each other as they have entered an extended period of great power competition.

Accordingly, it is unclear whether the US would accept such a transfer without guarantees of the US or the IAEA UN nuclear inspectors having ongoing and indefinite access to and supervision of the nuclear material in China.

The removal or permanent dilution of the 60% enriched uranium is one of the main goals of the current US-Iran negotiations and Tehran’s refusal or slow move to agree to resolve the issue was one of the primary reasons leading to Israel’s attacks on Iran in June 2025 (with a smaller US contribution toward the end of that war) and the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran in 2026.

This post was originally published on here.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Rabbi Dov Landau, the president of the Council of Torah Sages of Degel HaTorah, announced two weeks ago that there was “no longer any talk about blocs,” hinting that the charedim will not automatically join the right-wing parties. Rabbi Landau has now decided to put that into practical action. After informing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the charedim no longer intend to support a draft law, the party’s Knesset members were instructed to examine the possibility of cooperating with Gadi Eisenkot.

The goal is to explore with him the possibility of presenting an agreed-upon military draft framework in the next Knesset in exchange for political cooperation with a government headed by him, or one in which he would have significant influence over the issue of charedi enlistment. According to their assessment, such cooperation may be possible because the enlistment framework proposed by Eisenkot is considered more moderate than those of the other opposition parties and not far from the current draft law.

This represents an attempt to examine cooperation between a charedi party and one of the opposition bloc parties for the first time since 2015, when the right-wing bloc was formed and functioned without fractures or defections, including during periods when no government could be formed, leading to repeated elections, and even when the parties jointly sat in opposition during the Bennett-led government in 2021. Throughout that time, the charedi parties remained loyal to Netanyahu and did not negotiate joining any alternative coalition.

Now, however, the most stable political alignment established in Israel in recent years is facing a significant test. Even within the charedi parties, it is believed that if election results allow for the recreation of a right-wing/Haredi coalition, that would remain their first preference, provided they receive guarantees that a draft law would pass early in the next term, perhaps even before the government is sworn in as a condition for forming it.

However, if there is no decisive result or if the center-left bloc has enough seats to form a government, the charedi parties may consider abandoning the right-wing bloc and joining the new coalition in exchange for passage of a draft law.

Sources within the charedi factions explained that Netanyahu failed to recognize in time the importance of the draft law issue to the ultra-Orthodox public. Beyond all other considerations, including traditionally important issues for the Haredi community such as preserving Jewish tradition, Shabbat, and marriage according to halacha, the draft issue has become the most urgent matter on the agenda.

Contributing to this sense of urgency, they say, has been the conduct of the Attorney General and the High Court of Justice, whose actions have increasingly restricted the world of yeshiva students, creating real distress and upheaval within the charedi public. Therefore, their primary mission will be to resolve the crisis before any other political consideration.

In Degel HaTorah, they emphasize that Eisenkot, while, like the rest of the opposition, advocating for a significant increase in charedi enlistment, speaks in a more moderate tone and is far less confrontational toward the sector than others in his political camp.

Recently, Eisenkot clarified that, from his perspective, the charedi factions could be partners in a government led by him, and that he does not boycott them. This contrasts with statements made by leaders of parties such as B’Yachad (Bennett and Lapid), Yisrael Beiteinu and The Democrats, who have expressed the opposite position.

Shares of Delivery Hero SE surged Tuesday after reports emerged that Uber Technologies Inc. is exploring a potential takeover of the German food-delivery giant, a move that could reshape the global online delivery industry and trigger one of the largest consolidation deals the sector has seen since the pandemic-era boom.

Delivery Hero shares jumped sharply in Frankfurt trading following the reports, adding billions of dollars in market value as investors reacted to speculation that Uber may be positioning itself to expand deeper into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia through a large-scale acquisition.

The reports come at a pivotal moment for the global delivery sector, where slowing growth, rising labor costs, and investor pressure for profitability have intensified consolidation expectations across the industry.

Delivery Hero operates food-delivery platforms in more than 70 countries and maintains particularly strong positions across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and parts of Asia. The company also holds stakes in several regional delivery businesses and quick-commerce operations.

Uber, meanwhile, has spent years aggressively expanding beyond ride-sharing into food delivery, grocery delivery, freight logistics, and broader local commerce services through its Uber Eats platform.

Industry analysts say a combination between Uber and Delivery Hero would dramatically expand Uber’s international delivery footprint while strengthening its position against competitors including DoorDash, Just Eat Takeaway, Meituan, Deliveroo, and Prosus-backed food delivery businesses.

The strategic logic behind such a transaction is increasingly clear.

Global food-delivery growth has slowed materially from the explosive levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing companies to focus more heavily on scale, logistics efficiency, and profitability rather than pure customer acquisition. Investors have increasingly pushed management teams to reduce subsidies, cut marketing costs, and improve margins after years of aggressive expansion spending.

For Uber, acquiring Delivery Hero could provide instant scale in markets where Uber Eats remains weaker or fragmented, particularly across continental Europe and emerging international markets.

The potential deal would also likely attract heavy regulatory scrutiny.

Competition authorities in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and multiple international jurisdictions have already taken a far more aggressive stance toward technology mergers and platform consolidation over the past two years. Any large-scale Uber acquisition involving major delivery-market overlaps would likely face lengthy antitrust review processes.

Investors nevertheless reacted positively to the reports, viewing consolidation as one of the clearest paths toward stronger profitability in a sector that continues struggling with thin margins and intense promotional competition.

Delivery Hero has faced mounting pressure in recent years to improve financial performance after aggressive expansion into rapid grocery delivery and quick-commerce operations weighed heavily on earnings. The company has since pulled back from several markets and shifted more aggressively toward cash-flow improvement.

Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi has repeatedly emphasized that the company is prioritizing profitable growth and operational scale following years of investor concern over cash burn and subsidy-heavy expansion strategies.

The broader market backdrop is also fueling takeover speculation.

Technology and platform companies globally are increasingly exploring acquisitions as lower interest-rate expectations, stabilizing capital markets, and pressure to accelerate growth encourage renewed merger activity.

For Europe specifically, a potential Uber-Delivery Hero transaction would represent one of the largest technology consolidation efforts in years and could significantly reshape the competitive balance across digital commerce, logistics, and local delivery infrastructure.

Neither Uber nor Delivery Hero publicly confirmed takeover discussions Tuesday.

Still, the sharp market reaction highlights how strongly investors believe further consolidation across the global food-delivery sector has become almost inevitable.

After years of expansion fueled by cheap capital and rapid pandemic growth, the industry is increasingly entering a new phase defined by scale, efficiency, and survival.

JBizNews Desk — Europe

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

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sharply criticized Israel during a phone conversation Monday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog over Israel’s interception of a pro-Gaza flotilla last week, intensifying growing diplomatic friction between Ottawa and Israel.

According to AFP, Carney condemned Israel’s handling of activists aboard the vessel and accused Israeli authorities of mistreating those involved in the maritime confrontation.

An official statement released by the Canadian government said Carney denounced what he called the “appalling treatment” of activists on the ship and described the actions taken by Israeli forces as “unacceptable.”

The discussion came amid mounting international backlash over National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s filmed confrontation with participants aboard the anti-Israel flotilla headed toward Gaza. Among those aboard were 12 Canadian citizens.

During the call with Herzog, Carney pushed for an independent probe into the naval operation and also “strongly condemned” comments made by Ben Gvir, according to the government statement.

The diplomatic dispute marks the latest step in Canada’s increasingly confrontational response to the incident. Ottawa announced last week that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to formally seek answers regarding the treatment of Canadian nationals involved in the flotilla.

The controversy has also spread into Europe. France has barred Ben Gvir from entering the country, while French officials are reportedly working alongside Italy and Spain to encourage the European Union to impose sanctions on the Israeli minister.

Carney, who succeeded Justin Trudeau as both Liberal Party leader and Canadian prime minister, has previously drawn criticism for remarks viewed as hostile toward Israel.

During a campaign appearance in Calgary last year, Carney responded after a protester shouted, “Mr. Carney, there is a genocide happening in Palestine,” pausing to reply, “Thank you…I’m aware. Which is why we have an arms embargo.”

Afterward, Carney attempted to clarify the exchange, telling reporters he had not actually heard the word “genocide” and had instead been referring generally to Canada’s existing restrictions on arms exports.

“I didn’t hear that word,” Carney said. “It’s noisy. If you’re up there you hear snippets of what people say and I heard Gaza, and my point was I’m aware of the situation in Gaza.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forcefully responded at the time, criticizing Carney’s rhetoric and defending Israel’s war effort.

“Canada has always sided with civilization. So should Mr. Carney. But instead of supporting Israel, a democracy that is fighting a just war with just means against the barbarians of Hamas, he attacks the one and only Jewish state. Mr. Carney, backtrack your irresponsible statement!”

Last summer, Carney also announced plans for Canada to recognize a Palestinian state, a move that sparked concern among several Jewish and multicultural organizations.

B’nai Brith Canada and a coalition of community leaders later sent Carney a letter warning against the decision. The letter stated that such recognition “could embarrass Canada, compound the crisis in the Middle East, and further push Israelis and Palestinians away from establishing a two-state solution.”

{Matzav.com}

New York (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman)  The murder, or killing, happened in 2022.  The verdict was concluded in June of 2025. Almost a year ago. Was it the girlfriend?  Or was it the police officer’s friends? The controversy is still in the air – even one year later.

A jury in Dedham, Massachusetts cleared Karen Read of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe back on that snowy night in January in 2022.

The prosecution said it was murder on her part. Karen Read had struck Officer O’Keefe with her car during a blizzard and left him there to die in the snow.

The defense answered with doubt piled upon doubt.

Maybe the car never hit him at all. Maybe his injuries came from a dog and a beating that took place inside a house, not from a vehicle. Maybe the police investigation itself could not be trusted.

The lead investigator, State Trooper Michael Proctor, had texted friends that Read was a “whack job,” that he hoped she would harm herself, and that “all the powers that be want answers ASAP” — words that would later get him fired and permanently barred from law enforcement in Massachusetts.

Evidence was collected in red Solo cups and Stop & Shop grocery bags rather than proper containers, and the defense pointed to the close ties between Proctor and the very household where O’Keefe’s body was found, arguing those relationships had quietly shaped the entire investigation. No single one of these doubts had to be proven. Together they made it impossible for the jury to draw one clean, unbroken line to a verdict of guilty, and so Read walked free on the most serious charges.

The American courtroom rests on a quiet assumption that everyone takes for granted: doubt protects the accused. A single reasonable doubt is enough to acquit. Stack a second doubt on top of it and the case for conviction only weakens further.

My Roshei Yeshiva always emphasized to look at everything, even events that happen in the secular world, from Torah eyes. What does the Gemorah say about a similar case? What do the Gedolei HaRishonim and Acharonim say about the topic in general?  And so, let us explore the idea of doubts and how they function. What is their underlying method of functioning? What do they do?

The Torah’s system of doubt runs differently. Where there is a single doubt about a Torah prohibition, the rule is to be strict, not lenient. It is only when a second doubt is added — a sfek sfeika, a doubt of a doubt — that the result turns to leniency.

Why should one doubt bind us while two doubts set us free? The secular courtroom offers a hook and a contrast, but not an answer.

For the answer, in Torah law, as it pertains to, say, Kashrus, four distinct explanations have been offered across the centuries.  They reveal four very different ways of understanding what a double doubt – a sfek sfeikah – actually is.

Presented here in the order in which their authors lived, they open four ways of understanding the concept.

The First Approach — The Rashba (1235–1310): It Works Like a Majority

The earliest of the four explanations belongs to the Rashba, Rabbeinu Shlomo ben Aderet of Barcelona. He taught that a double doubt is even more powerful than a rov – simple majority. The reasoning is a matter of counting. When there is a double doubt, two reasons point toward permitting the item and only one reason points toward forbidding it. Two against one is a majority leaning toward leniency, and just as we ordinarily follow the majority, here too we follow the two permitting sides.

The Rashba explained that this is why every kind of prohibition can be permitted through a double doubt — even prohibitions that come directly from the Torah — because in the end the matter follows the majority of all the possibilities. Rabbeinu Peretz taught the very same idea: the entire reason a double doubt is lenient is that the permitting sides form a majority.

The Second Approach — The Shach (1621–1662): Two Independent Doubts

The next authority in order of lifetime is Rav Shabsai Kohen – the Shach. The Shach establishes a foundational requirement that a true double doubt only counts when the two doubts are genuinely independent — when one doubt concerns one matter and the second doubt concerns a completely separate matter, what he calls “one subject and one object” (inyan echad v’guf echad). Where the two supposed doubts are really about the same matter and the same object, they collapse into a single doubt, and the leniency of a sfek sfeika does not apply.

To declare an item forbidden, one would need a clean chain in which the first link is forbidden and the second link is also forbidden. But in a genuine double doubt, every path that begins on a forbidden footing meets a permitted footing before it reaches the end, and every path that remains forbidden at the end began as permitted. There is no route through both doubts that stays prohibited the whole way. On this way of understanding it, the leniency flows not from counting sides, and not from downgrading the question to a Rabbinic one, but from the very structure of two independent doubts: a prohibition needs an unbroken chain in order to stand, and two genuinely separate doubts ensure that no such chain can be built. This also explains precisely why the Shach insists the two doubts be in two different matters — two doubts about the same matter leave a single continuous question intact, while two doubts about two different matters block one another.

The Third Approach — The Pnei Yehoshua (1680–1756): The Second Doubt Is Only Rabbinic

The third explanation comes from Rabbeinu Yaakov Yehoshua Falk, the Pnei Yehoshua, building on the view of the Rambam, the Ramban, and the Ran. These authorities hold that the rule “when in doubt about a Torah law, be strict” is not itself a Torah law at all — it is only a Rabbinic safeguard. That changes everything.

The first doubt is a doubt about a Torah prohibition, so the Sages instruct us to be strict. But once a second doubt is added on top of it, the question is no longer a Torah-level question — it has become a doubt about a Rabbinic rule. And the established rule for a doubt about a Rabbinic matter is that we may be lenient. The double doubt is therefore permitted because the second layer of doubt converts the entire question into something only Rabbinic, where leniency is the norm.

The Fourth Approach — The Sha’arei Yosher (1860–1939): A Doubt About Whether There Is Even a Doubt

The most recent of the four explanations comes from Rav Shimon Shkop in his Sha’arei Yosher, and he arrived at it by examining the exact words the Sages chose. They did not say “a case with two doubts.” They specifically said “a doubt of a doubt.” That precise wording is the key.

According to Rav Shimon, the leniency does not come from piling up doubts until the permitting sides outnumber the forbidding side. The real point is that a double doubt means we are not even certain that a doubt of prohibition exists in the first place. The Sages told us to be strict only when a genuine, definite prohibition stands before us. They never told us to be strict when we are unsure whether any prohibition exists at all. In a single doubt, there is at least a real doubt about a real prohibition, so strictness can take hold. But in a double doubt we lack even that — we have only a doubt about whether a doubt exists — and so there is no foothold for strictness to begin with.

Four Lenses on One Principle

Seen side by side, the four approaches are strikingly different. The Rashba counts sides and follows the majority. The Shach locates the leniency in the requirement that the two doubts be genuinely independent, so that no unbroken chain of prohibition can form. The Pnei Yehoshua shows the question shrinking down to a Rabbinic matter, where leniency rules. And the Sha’arei Yosher argues that the strictness of “when in doubt, be strict” never applied here at all, because we cannot even be sure a doubt exists. One halachic outcome; four explanations.

A word of caution. The secular courtroom and the Beis Midrash are not the same at all. It was just used to introduce to the readers how the idea of double doubts work in Halacha. And how, according to Rav Shimon Shkop – that word is a mistranslation. It should be a Doubt in Doubt rather than a double doubt.

In the secular system a single reasonable doubt is enough to acquit of a murder; in halacha, witnesses are required to establish guilt in a murder or killing, while a sfek sfeika regarding Kashrus two doubts are specifically required.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The quiet wave of emigration by British Jews threatens to turn into a real flood due to persecution and terror threats, warns journalist and columnist Charles Moore in a sharply worded opinion piece published in The Daily Telegraph.

Against the backdrop of recent anti-antisemitism rallies held near the Prime Minister’s residence on Downing Street, Moore argues that the United Kingdom, which prides itself on being a successful multiracial society, is facing the danger of failing to guarantee basic freedoms for its Jewish citizens.

In his article, Moore argues that, without diminishing the contributions of other immigrant groups, it can confidently be said that the Jewish community is the most successful immigrant group in British history. He recalls two major historical waves of immigration: those fleeing Tsarist persecution at the end of the 19th century, and those escaping Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. In both cases, he emphasizes, the immigrants arrived with nothing yet succeeded in rebuilding their lives and advancing socially and economically, while achieving the rare dual success of maintaining loyalty to their traditions alongside deep loyalty to their host country.

According to The Telegraph, it is impossible to imagine the success of modern Britain and its character as a free, educated, entrepreneurial, culturally and artistically flourishing nation, without the presence of Jews. However, the outlook ahead is troubling: Moore states that if Jews now leave the country, the main reason will be the open hostility directed at them by groups of immigrants who arrived in later periods, most of them Muslim.

Moore’s concluding point is both cynical and painful for British society, which long cultivated an enlightened image of itself. Britain, which prided itself on tolerance and openness, now finds that it has effectively provided “a safe home” for intolerance, one that threatens to drive out some of its most educated and entrepreneurial citizens.

By JBizNews Desk

America’s biggest banks are about to get significantly more powerful — and consumers, businesses, and investors are likely to feel the effects quickly.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined the administration’s direction in a February 19 speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and in congressional testimony the following week: Washington is rolling back a series of post-2008 banking rules that have constrained lending capacity for more than a decade.

According to consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, the changes could ultimately unlock roughly $2.6 trillion in additional lending capacity across the U.S. banking system — capital that has largely remained trapped on bank balance sheets since the global financial crisis.

The figure is enormous. It exceeds the annual economic output of many developed nations and represents one of the largest structural shifts in American banking policy since the aftermath of 2008.

The core of the deregulation effort centers around changes to the supplementary leverage ratio, one of the key post-crisis rules requiring large banks to maintain sizable capital cushions against potential losses. The Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation finalized a looser version of the framework late last year.

Alvarez & Marsal estimates the immediate impact alone could free approximately $140 billion in deployable capital at the eight largest U.S. banks. Additional revisions targeting stress-testing procedures, mortgage regulations, and portions of the broader Basel III banking framework are expected to follow.

The banking industry has openly welcomed the shift.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, whose bank now holds roughly $4.42 trillion in assets, has argued for years that U.S. regulators overcorrected after the financial crisis and placed American lenders at a competitive disadvantage versus European and Asian rivals.

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon publicly praised Bowman’s appointment last year, while Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan described the regulatory pivot as a meaningful boost for bank profitability and lending flexibility.

The question now is where the money goes.

A significant portion is expected to flow directly into artificial intelligence infrastructure. Until now, large banks have largely watched from the sidelines as private credit firms financed the rapid buildout of AI data centers, semiconductor facilities, cloud infrastructure, and energy projects tied to companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia-linked suppliers.

With more balance-sheet flexibility, major banks are now positioning themselves to finance billions of dollars in new AI-related infrastructure projects.

Mortgage lending is another major target.

Speaking at the American Bankers Association community banking conference in Orlando earlier this year, Bowman previewed regulatory adjustments designed to make mortgage origination and servicing less expensive for traditional banks.

For years, many banks gradually retreated from the mortgage business as compliance burdens increased, allowing nonbank lenders to capture significant market share. Regulators now appear eager to reverse that trend in hopes of increasing credit availability for homebuyers.

The broader small-business economy could also benefit. Mid-sized manufacturers, regional businesses, and acquisition financing markets are expected to see expanded access to traditional bank credit after years in which private credit funds increasingly filled the gap.

The rise of private credit itself became one of the clearest signs that post-crisis banking rules had fundamentally reshaped corporate finance.

Critics, however, warn that the rollback carries real risks.

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, who previously held Bowman’s role, has argued that weaker capital standards could leave the banking system more vulnerable during future periods of stress. Critics point to the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank in 2023 as evidence that banking instability remains a genuine threat even after years of reform.

Bowman has rejected that argument, contending that U.S. banks remain substantially better capitalized than they were before the 2008 crisis and that excessive regulation has become a greater threat to growth than bank fragility itself.

The Trump administration has aligned closely with that view.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has framed the banking-rule rollback as part of a broader strategy to stimulate economic growth without relying entirely on Federal Reserve rate cuts. The logic is straightforward: if banks lend more aggressively, economic activity accelerates without requiring monetary policy alone to support growth.

Wall Street is already responding.

Bank stocks have broadly outperformed the wider market since Bowman assumed the Fed supervision role last June. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund and the SPDR S&P Bank ETF have both gained faster than the S&P 500 over the past year as investors anticipate larger dividends, expanded share buybacks, and stronger lending growth.

International regulators are now watching closely as well. European and Asian policymakers face increasing pressure to determine whether they should follow Washington’s lead or risk placing their own financial institutions at a competitive disadvantage globally.

For everyday Americans, the implications are increasingly direct.

The nation’s largest banks are about to have significantly more money available for mortgages, business loans, infrastructure financing, and corporate expansion. That could support economic growth, improve credit availability, and accelerate investment across sectors ranging from housing to artificial intelligence.

It could also mean operating with thinner safety margins than the system maintained during much of the post-2008 era.

Whether that trade-off ultimately strengthens the economy or creates new long-term financial vulnerabilities may define the next chapter of American banking.

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

As high-stakes negotiations over Iran’s nuclear material continue behind closed doors, President Donald Trump used Truth Social once again to underscore what he portrays as a dramatically tougher approach toward Tehran compared to previous administrations.

On Monday, Trump shared a viral-style image contrasting his handling of Iran with that of President Barack Obama, reinforcing his administration’s message that military pressure and uncompromising demands — not financial incentives — define current U.S. policy.

The image, formatted as a side-by-side “split-panel” meme, juxtaposed “Obama’s Iran Policy” against “Trump’s Iran Policy,” highlighting what Trump allies describe as a complete break from earlier diplomatic approaches toward the Islamic Republic.

One side of the graphic displayed massive bundles of money stacked on pallets and labeled “Pallets of Cash,” an apparent reference to the controversial cash payments delivered to Iran during implementation of the Obama-era nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA.

In sharp contrast, the second panel showed the U.S. Navy destroyer DDG 50 launching missiles during an intense naval confrontation, symbolizing overwhelming American military strength and Trump’s preference for forceful deterrence rather than economic concessions.

The post appeared shortly after Trump publicly declared that no final nuclear agreement with Iran would move forward unless international inspectors directly observe the destruction of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

In a Truth Social message, Trump outlined the conditions he expects for eliminating Tehran’s nuclear materials.

“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.

Trump said Saturday that details surrounding a possible agreement with Iran would be made public “shortly.”

Soon afterward, The New York Times reported that negotiations between Washington and Tehran are centered around one major condition involving Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

According to two American officials cited by the newspaper, the tentative framework being discussed would require Iran to surrender its highly enriched uranium reserves entirely — a condition the report said Iranian officials had tentatively agreed to.

Still, American officials acknowledged Sunday that the completion of the memorandum of understanding between the two sides may not happen immediately.

A senior U.S. official quoted by CNN said bureaucratic delays inside Iran’s government are slowing the process as Tehran works through internal approval procedures tied to the precise wording of the agreement.

{Matzav.com}

A request by a Charedi family in Argentina to make Aliyah because they could not find proper support for their child with disabilities has led to an unusual Israeli outreach mission. Israeli nonprofit Alei Siach sent a delegation of five Charedi women specializing in disability care and inclusion to Argentina to help train local institutions and support families in the community.

The delegation departed this week for Buenos Aires, where it is working with schools, educators, rabbis, welfare officials and Jewish community leaders in cooperation with AMIA, Argentina’s central Jewish organization. The mission aims to help Charedi institutions build long-term local frameworks for children and adults with disabilities rather than forcing families to seek solutions abroad.

The workshops focus on independent living, employment, social integration, autonomy and practical community support systems. Delegation leader Gita Mundari, Alei Siach’s director of development and housing systems, said the effort is about creating lasting inclusion inside the community itself.

“We are not talking only about care, but about creating a reality of independence, dignity and real integration into the community,” Mundari said.

The delegation also includes Israeli journalist Josh Aronson, who is on the autism spectrum and described the trip as “a mission of hope.” Argentina’s Chief Rabbi Eliahu Hamra called the project “extremely important” and said the goal is to allow people with disabilities “to live in a safe and calm environment, under a professional framework.”

The Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon has adopted a new strategy, tracking the movements of IDF commanders in southern Lebanon and along the border in order to target them with lethal strikes, according to a report by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Hezbollah’s goal is to eliminate senior IDF officers via explosive drones, UAVs, and artillery fire.

Kan News reported that as part of the new strategy, Hezbollah recently attempted to hit Iron Dome launchers as well as the official vehicle of the commander of the 300th Brigade. The group also carried out coordinated attacks via rockets, artillery, and drones aimed at multiple sites simultaneously in an attempt to overwhelm the IDF’s air defense systems.

Hezbollah also recently began deploying multi-directional “suicide drone swarms,” launching multiple drones from different directions at the same time.

Over the past week alone, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 136 attacks on  IDF forces in southern Lebanon and targets in northern Israel, most involving explosive drones and unmanned aircraft.

Hezbollah continues to develop electronic warfare and air defense capabilities as part of a broader effort to increase operational pressure on the IDF along the northern border.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Taiwan has officially overtaken India to become the fifth-largest stock market in the world, a remarkable shift driven almost entirely by the global artificial intelligence boom and the explosive rise of semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Bloomberg market data published Monday showed Taiwan’s total stock-market capitalization reached approximately $4.95 trillion, narrowly surpassing India’s $4.92 trillion. Taiwan’s benchmark TAIEX index climbed to a record 44,097 points Tuesday morning, cementing the island’s new position behind only the United States, China, Japan, and Hong Kong in global equity-market rankings.

The reversal is extraordinary given the scale difference between the two economies.

Taiwan has a population of roughly 23 million people and an economy worth under $1 trillion. India has approximately 1.4 billion people and an economy more than four times larger. Yet Taiwan’s market has surged ahead because of one company dominating the center of the AI economy.

TSMC alone now represents roughly 42% of Taiwan’s total stock market value.

The company’s shares have surged nearly 50% this year as investors continue pouring money into businesses tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. TSMC manufactures the advanced semiconductors powering AI systems used by companies including Nvidia, Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms.

The company is widely estimated to produce roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced chips — semiconductors essential for AI data centers, cloud computing, smartphones, autonomous systems, and advanced defense technologies.

As global AI spending accelerates, demand for TSMC’s manufacturing capacity has exploded alongside it.

TSMC Chief Executive C.C. Wei has repeatedly said the company remains effectively sold out at the high end of production, with customer demand continuing to exceed available supply despite aggressive expansion efforts.

The company is currently building or expanding manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Japan, and Germany, backed by billions of dollars in incentives and industrial-support programs from governments eager to secure domestic semiconductor production.

Even so, the most advanced chips in the world continue to be produced overwhelmingly inside Taiwan itself.

Taiwan’s government has also actively supported the rally.

Last month, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission relaxed concentration rules for domestic mutual funds, allowing investment funds focused on Taiwanese equities to allocate up to 25% of assets into a single stock if that company represents more than 10% of the broader market.

At present, TSMC is the only company qualifying under the revised rules.

Analysts at JPMorgan Chase estimated the regulatory change alone could attract more than $6 billion in additional inflows into Taiwanese equities over the coming months, further strengthening demand for TSMC shares.

India, meanwhile, has moved in the opposite direction.

According to Bloomberg data, foreign investors have withdrawn roughly $24 billion from Indian equities so far this year amid slowing corporate earnings growth, weakness in the rupee, and the global rotation toward AI-linked investments concentrated in semiconductor-heavy markets like Taiwan and South Korea.

The reversal has been rapid. Just two years ago, India’s stock market was nearly three times the size of Taiwan’s.

TSMC itself is now valued at more than $1 trillion, placing it among the most valuable companies in the world and reinforcing how deeply the AI boom has concentrated market gains into a relatively small number of semiconductor leaders.

But Taiwan’s success also exposes its greatest vulnerability.

Because such a large share of the country’s stock market depends on one company and one industry, any slowdown in AI spending, production disruption, or geopolitical instability could trigger severe market volatility.

The geopolitical risk remains especially significant given tensions between Taiwan and China.

Beijing continues to claim Taiwan as part of its territory and has never ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification. Semiconductor security and U.S. support for Taiwan remained a major topic during recent meetings between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month in Beijing.

Taiwanese officials have publicly welcomed the market milestone while also acknowledging the risks of excessive dependence on semiconductors.

Premier Cho Jung-tai has urged policymakers to accelerate investment in industries including electric vehicles, biotechnology, and green energy in an effort to broaden Taiwan’s economic base beyond chips.

Those diversification efforts, however, remain in relatively early stages.

For India, the loss of fifth place arrives at a politically difficult moment.