Investors spent Monday selling the companies that make the fiber, lasers and light-based components wiring together AI data centers — not because any of them reported bad news, but because two of the biggest names report earnings this week and traders decided to take profits before the numbers land.

Coherent fell 12% at midday Monday to $333.83, and Lumentum Holdings dropped 7% to $830.05. Corning fell more than 3%, and the Global X Data Center and Digital Infrastructure ETF, which tracks the broader data center supply chain, lost 1%.

Nothing in the selling came from the companies themselves. Lumentum reports its fiscal fourth-quarter results after Tuesday’s close, and Coherent follows after the close Wednesday. Both stocks had risen more than 100% this year going into Monday. When a stock has doubled and its earnings report is 24 hours away, some holders would rather bank the gain than find out.

The evidence that this was a positioning move rather than a verdict on the industry sits in what did not fall. Applied Optoelectronics, another major supplier in the same corner of the market, slipped only 1% to $133.63 — because it already reported on August 6 and has no earnings event ahead of it. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, a broad measure of the chip sector, dropped just 1%. The wider chip complex held up considerably better than the optics names, which points to a selloff confined to this group rather than a retreat from semiconductors generally.

What these companies actually sell

The optics business is the least understood piece of the AI buildout, and it is worth being plain about what it does. Training and running large AI models requires thousands of chips inside a data center to talk to each other constantly and at enormous speed. Copper wire cannot move that much data over those distances without choking. So the connections are made with light — laser transmitters, receivers and fiber running between racks, servers and storage.

Coherent and Lumentum build those parts. Corning makes the specialty glass and optical fiber underneath them. Every new data center announced by Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Google or OpenAI translates into orders for this equipment, which is why the group has been among the strongest performers of 2026 and why it is now among the most crowded.

Crowded is the operative word. When a large number of investors own the same names for the same reason, they also tend to head for the exit at the same moment. The options market showed that defensive tilt on Monday: put-to-call ratios of 1.54 for Lumentum and 1.19 for Coherent, meaning traders were buying more contracts that pay off if the stocks fall than contracts that pay off if they rise, with the two reports arriving back to back.

The argument underneath it

This is the second time in roughly two weeks that the same group has been hit. The unresolved question is whether the hyperscale technology companies can keep spending at their current pace, and whether suppliers priced for that spending can keep climbing.

The spending numbers themselves have not weakened. Taiwan Semiconductor reported July revenue of about $14.5 billion on Monday, up roughly 45% from a year earlier, and has already raised its 2026 growth outlook above 40%. Celestica, which assembles AI infrastructure hardware, recently posted revenue growth above 62% and lifted its full-year forecast, with management pointing to faster growth still in 2027.

That is the tension traders are working through. The order books keep filling, while the stocks that depend on those order books keep getting sold on doubts about how long the cycle runs. Alphabet sharpened the question when it reported quarterly capital spending of $44.92 billion, double the year-earlier figure, and swung to negative free cash flow of $5.86 billion. Spending that heavy is good news for suppliers only as long as the companies doing the spending are willing to keep it up.

What to watch

Tuesday and Wednesday evening settle the immediate argument. If Lumentum and Coherent deliver strong results and confident guidance, Monday’s decline will read as a reset before good news. If either signals that orders are flattening, the doubts move from sentiment to fact.

For business readers outside the sector, the practical takeaway is narrower and more useful: the AI infrastructure trade is no longer a single trade. Chipmakers, optics suppliers, power providers and hardware assemblers are now being priced separately, on their own numbers, rather than moving together on the strength of the theme. Monday was a day when the market drew that distinction sharply — and drew it against the group that had run the furthest.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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A Syrian court sentenced in absentia ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad along with his younger brother to death on Tuesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria’s 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.

Also sentenced to death in the same case was Assad’s maternal cousin Atef Najib for leading the crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and later the civil war.

Amid tight security, Najib stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform as the judge read the sentence.

Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after insurgents marched into Damascus in December 2014.

Najib was later detained and became one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial.

Najib is a former Syrian army brigadier general who was head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province under Assad in 2011.

(AP)

Medical teams at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa are fighting to save the life of Dolev, a 26-year-old IDF soldier from Karmiel who was seriously wounded during a deadly battle in southern Lebanon, Channel 14 reported Monday.

According to the report, the soldier is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit, sedated and on a ventilator. His family, who have remained at his bedside since he was wounded, issued an emotional appeal to the public to daven for the refuah sheleimah of Dolev ben Atara.

Dolev was injured last week during an operation in the village of Majdal Zoun in Lebanon, approximately six to eight kilometers from Israel’s northern border. The force entered a building to search it as part of clearing and security operations, but the building turned out to be booby-trapped. A powerful explosive device exploded, and the blast led to part of the building collapsing on the soldiers.

The company commander, Maj. (res.) Harel Birenstock Hy”d, and combat medic Master Sgt. (res.) Tamir Vaknin Hy”d, were killed in the explosion. Four other soldiers from the same force were seriously wounded, including Dolev.

Immediately following the incident, rescue and medical forces from the Northern Command and the Israeli Air Force were dispatched to the scene. Operating under difficult conditions and under fire, they worked to evacuate the soldiers and casualties as quickly as possible by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.

Upon Dolev’s arrival at Rambam Medical Center, he immediately underwent a series of lifesaving treatments. His condition is currently serious and stable, but critical.

The family is asking the public to continue davening for the refuah sheleimah of Dolev ben Atara b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people and injuring hundreds. Rescue teams and volunteers worked throughout the night in a race against time to locate survivors.

One of the cities rattled by the quake was Cali, southwest of Bogotá, where Meir Partush runs “Bayit Yehudi,” which provides a range of services for the local Jewish kehilla.

Partush told B’Chadrei Chareidim that the Jewish kehilla suffered extensive damage. “In our kehilla, there are families who, Hashem Yeracheim, lost their homes. Baruch Hashem, there were no injuries or loss of life, but there is tremendous property damage. The kehilla itself was also damaged. A wall collapsed onto the roof of the shul and caused damage, and ceilings came down in some of the rooms.”

Throughout the night, the Bayit Yehudi staff treated numerous Jews, some of whom had been left homeless. “It’s not easy,” Partush said. “Homes collapsed and there is immense damage. The people here are not wealthy. The kehilla is not a rich, well-established community, so we rely on donations and help from Jews abroad. ”

Partush said that one of the first things he did Tuesday morning was contact hostels where Israelis and other travelers were staying to make sure they were safe.

“I also called the Israelis themselves to make sure no one had been hurt,” he said. “As of this moment, we have no information about any Jew who was injured or killed, chas v’shalom. We have suffered tremendous property damage throughout the city, but it seems that is the extent of it.”

“What’s happening right now is that non-Jews are also approaching us, asking for assistance, whether it’s with food, or water, or help repairing their homes,” he said. “We provide help to anyone who approaches us.”

Partush explained that Bayit Yehudi serves as an address for any Jew who comes to Cali. “We have a shul here, and we provide kosher food. If, chas v’shalom, something happens to an Israeli traveler or a Jew who needs help, we accompany him to the hospital or police station if necessary. The concept is similar to Chabad’s activities, but we established Bayit Yehudi to provide these services because there is no Chabad House here. We operate the center with donations.

“We also have a local kehilla with three tefillos a day, shiurim and educational activities for the children in the city.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Major clothing retailers are expanding repair, resale and sewing services as more consumers look for ways to keep clothes longer rather than continuously replacing them.

Uniqlo, Zara and Levi Strauss are among the brands pushing clothing repair further into the mainstream, with programs ranging from low-cost in-store fixes to mail-in repairs and sewing workshops aimed especially at younger shoppers.

The shift is partly about sustainability, but it is also increasingly about household economics.

For consumers, the appeal is simple: repairing a shirt, jacket or pair of jeans can cost far less than replacing it.

Uniqlo’s U.S. RE.UNIQLO Studios offer stitching, patching, taping and button replacement on eligible Uniqlo clothing for $5 per repair. The company has been expanding the concept as part of a broader push to keep garments in use longer.

Zara offers repairs through its U.S. Pre-Owned platform. Customers can select an item and the repair needed online, then send it for servicing. Zara says repairs can take as long as 14 days and charges $9.99 for shipping in addition to the cost of the repair itself.

Levi Strauss is taking a somewhat different approach.

The denim company launched its Wear Longer Project this year, targeting high-school students with workshops that teach basic sewing and clothing-repair skills. Levi’s also operates Tailor Shops in selected stores where customers can repair, customize and alter denim.

Other major retailers including H&M and Primark have been experimenting with repair workshops, resale and clothing-care programs as well.

The trend reflects a change in how retailers are trying to reach younger consumers. For decades, much of the apparel business depended on convincing customers to replace clothing frequently. Repair services essentially encourage the opposite behavior — but they can also keep shoppers connected to a brand for longer.

Retailers are betting that a customer who repairs a favorite pair of jeans or jacket may become more loyal to the company that helped extend its life.

There is also a growing resale business behind the strategy. Zara’s Pre-Owned operation includes repair, resale and donation, while other fashion companies are building their own secondhand marketplaces instead of leaving that business entirely to platforms such as eBay, Depop and Poshmark.

The economics are not easy. Clothing repair requires skilled labor, and repairing a cheap garment can sometimes cost nearly as much as manufacturing another one. That is one reason repair services historically remained concentrated among expensive outdoor, denim and luxury brands.

But retailers now see another benefit: shoppers are increasingly sensitive to price.

If consumers begin viewing a $5 repair as an alternative to another $40 or $60 purchase, clothing companies have an opportunity to remain part of the transaction even when customers are spending less on new merchandise.

For shoppers, that means something relatively unusual is returning to mainstream retail: instead of being told to throw worn clothing away and buy another one, some of the world’s biggest fashion companies are now offering to fix it.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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Families are spending less per child on back-to-school shopping this year once inflation is accounted for, and the largest retailers have responded by cutting prices on the items every classroom list requires. The reason parents are squeezing that budget shows up elsewhere on the receipt: the grocery bill is still climbing.

Walmart is offering its lowest prices since 2019 on 14 of the most common school supplies found on classroom lists nationwide, with some items starting at 25 cents. The retailer is also running 1,300 more price rollbacks than it did during last year’s back-to-school season.

It has the traffic to match. Seventy-seven percent of parents named Walmart as a back-to-school destination, well ahead of Target at just over 40% and Amazon at nearly 39%.

Deloitte’s annual survey of more than 1,200 parents puts expected spending at $557 per child for K-12 students, down $13 from a year ago and roughly 6% lower after adjusting for inflation. The total back-to-school market is estimated at $30.4 billion.

Parents shopping primarily in stores expect to spend $521 per child, compared with $614 for online shoppers. Mass merchants are expected to capture 80% of planned spending, with value for the money emerging as the deciding factor across channels.

Different surveys produce different dollar estimates. Jones Lang LaSalle put spending at $489 per child and rising, while PwC found parents expecting to spend an average of $922 across a broader basket of purchases. But the surveys agree on the larger behavior: households are watching prices closely.

Inflation remains a concern for 64% of parents in JLL’s survey, while nearly 69% say saving money is a top priority.

The most revealing number may be elsewhere in Deloitte’s findings. Fifty-seven percent of consumers said they expect the economy to get worse in the coming months, the highest share since 2020.

Parents are also delaying purchases, with spending expected to peak in late July and early August. For retailers, that means families who know they must eventually buy school supplies are increasingly waiting to see whether another promotion appears before the deadline arrives.

The pressure is easier to understand when the school-supply budget is viewed alongside the grocery bill.

Grocery prices have risen about 3.4% since January 2025, but some staples families buy every week have increased far more. Coffee is up roughly 35%, ground beef 23%, steak 21%, sugar and sweets 9%, chicken breast 5.3%, and fruits and vegetables 5.2%.

Bread, bacon and eggs have become cheaper over the same period, with egg prices retreating sharply as the bird-flu-driven shortage eased.

But falling egg prices do relatively little for the overall household budget. Eggs represent only about 0.8% of the typical grocery basket, compared with roughly 4.7% for beef and 10% for fruits and vegetables. A large decline in one highly visible item can therefore coexist with a grocery bill that remains considerably higher overall.

The Agriculture Department’s July forecast calls for grocery prices to rise approximately 2.7% during 2026 and restaurant prices around 3.5%. Prices in eight of the 15 food categories it tracks are expected to increase faster than their 20-year averages.

Beef remains one of the largest pressure points. Beef and veal prices were 11.8% above year-earlier levels in June and are forecast to finish 2026 about 10.7% higher. Fresh vegetables were 9.9% more expensive.

For a family spending $1,000 to $1,400 a month at the supermarket, even a modest increase means roughly another $40 a month for essentially the same basket.

That is close to the entire year-over-year reduction in back-to-school spending for one child.

The money did not disappear. It moved to the supermarket.

For retailers, the competitive lesson is becoming clearer. Price leadership is doing much of the work this season, and it is concentrating traffic rather than distributing it evenly.

Four out of every five back-to-school dollars are expected to go to mass merchants, while Walmart alone is attracting roughly three-quarters of surveyed shoppers.

For independent retailers and specialty stores, competing directly with a 25-cent notebook is unlikely to work.

The opportunity is in what the big-box price war does not easily provide: fitting and sizing for shoes and uniforms, school-specific supply bundles, extended hours immediately before classes begin, specialized merchandise and delivery for parents who waited until the last minute.

The spending difference between channels is also important. Online shoppers expect to spend $614 per child compared with $521 for in-store shoppers. The higher-value customer is increasingly the one buying from a screen, giving smaller retailers a channel where convenience and specialization can compete with sheer purchasing power.

Back-to-school spending will continue into September through replacements, dorm purchases and classroom replenishment.

But the character of this year’s shopper is already clear: parents still have money to spend, but they know exactly what it buys — and increasingly will drive past one store to save a few dollars at another.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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Israel has taken delivery of the INS Drakon, the sixth and most advanced submarine built for the Israeli Navy.

The submarine was handed over in recent days at the TKMS shipyard in Kiel, Germany, in a small ceremony held without media presence and without an official announcement from either Israel or the German company.

According to Germany’s MarineForum naval publication, the INS Drakon departed the shipyard several days ago and sailed through the Bay of Kiel, flying the Israeli flag for the first time.

It is expected to arrive in Israel later this summer, after which it will undergo an induction process and complete preparations for operational service in the Israeli Navy.

The INS Drakon is the sixth and final submarine in Israel’s Dolphin program and the third of the upgraded Dolphin 2 class, following the INS Tanin and INS Rahav. Its cost is estimated at approximately €550 million, or about $634 million, making it the most expensive submarine ever acquired by the Israeli Navy.

Construction began in 2012, but Israel subsequently decided to make substantial design modifications and incorporate additional capabilities. The changes required alterations to the hull, internal systems and sail, significantly extending the construction process. Delivery was initially planned for 2025 but was ultimately completed this year.

At approximately 73 meters long, the INS Drakon is significantly larger than the 68.6-meter INS Tanin and INS Rahav. Its submerged displacement is estimated at approximately 2,400 tons, making it the largest submarine built in Germany since World War II.

The submarine is equipped with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system based on fuel-cell technology, allowing it to operate without relying on an external air supply. The system enables the submarine to remain submerged for extended periods, reducing its risk of detection and allowing it to operate at greater distances.

At the submarine’s naming ceremony in November 2024, the IDF said the Drakon incorporates “unique systems and groundbreaking technologies that expand the IDF’s range of capabilities in various arenas.” Details of its systems, weapons and operational range remain classified.

IDF spokesperson

“The INS Drakon will be a cornerstone in ensuring the security of the State of Israel,” Israeli Navy Commander Maj. Gen. David Saar Salama said at the ceremony. “Seen and unseen, it will operate in distant and unknown waters for extended periods. It is a submarine that provides an additional force multiplier to the capabilities and strength of the Israeli Navy, the IDF and the State of Israel in confronting complex challenges at the most important strategic level for the State of Israel.”

The submarine’s enlarged structure — particularly its unusually large sail — has fueled speculation in foreign defense media that it incorporates additional launch systems and capabilities for special operations. Neither Israel nor Germany has confirmed those assessments or disclosed details of the weapons carried aboard the submarine.

IDF spokesperson)

Beyond strike missions, Israel’s Dolphin-class submarines are used for intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and covert operations in distant theaters. Security experts also attribute a key role to the submarine fleet in maintaining Israel’s strategic deterrence, particularly in the face of the Iranian threat.

The INS Drakon also serves as a bridge between Israel’s existing Dolphin-class fleet and the Navy’s next generation of submarines. In 2022, Israel signed an agreement with TKMS for three new Dakar-class submarines at an estimated total cost of approximately €3 billion, with the German government expected to finance roughly one-fifth of the deal.

The three Dakar-class submarines are expected to begin arriving in Israel in 2031 and will gradually replace the INS Dolphin, INS Leviathan and INS Tekuma, which entered service in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The delivery of the INS Drakon therefore completes a submarine procurement program that began more than three decades ago, while also marking the beginning of Israel’s transition to the next generation of its undersea fleet.

Dr. Ehud Eilam, a national security expert and former Defense Ministry researcher, told Fox News that maintaining a continuous Israeli submarine presence at sea is a critical component of the country’s deterrence and ensures that Israel retains the ability to retaliate even if its home front and military infrastructure suffer severe damage.

According to Eilam, if an Iranian attack were to damage the IDF’s strategic capabilities, submarines already deployed at sea and on alert would remain capable of operating. Submarines docked at the Haifa naval base could potentially be struck and rendered inoperable, making a continuous submarine presence at sea particularly important.

Israel’s Dolphin-class fleet is used for intelligence and reconnaissance missions throughout the Mediterranean. According to foreign reports, the submarines are also believed to provide Israel with a “second-strike” capability — the ability to retaliate following a devastating attack on the country and thereby preserve its strategic deterrence.

Eilam assessed that the INS Drakon’s larger dimensions may reflect Israel’s desire to broaden its operational capabilities, potentially including longer-range missiles capable of reaching targets in Iran while the submarine remains in the Mediterranean.

Such a capability could reduce the need for Israeli submarines to approach Iran’s coastline, which would require passage through the Suez Canal and could be dangerous or impossible under certain scenarios. The alternative route around the African continent would be considerably longer.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

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Anthropic confirmed Wednesday that it is assembling an internal team to design custom silicon for its Claude models, joining the growing list of artificial intelligence companies attempting to reduce their dependence on chips they buy from someone else.

The company said it is hiring engineers with experience spanning the hardware and software stack to co-design custom chips and AI models that can run Claude faster and more efficiently at the scale customers require, responding to a shortage of the chips needed to build and operate more advanced systems.

Anthropic described custom silicon as the latest step in a multi-chip strategy and said it will continue relying on a diversified hardware stack that includes technology from Amazon Web Services, Google, Nvidia and AMD. The company gave no timeline and did not say whether it intends to manufacture the chips itself.

The Job Listing Tells the Story

The posting behind the announcement is unusually specific about what the company is looking for.

A recent listing refers to a “custom silicon team” and seeks engineers with broad expertise in chip design and verification, offering annual compensation between $320,000 and $485,000. Candidates must have a demonstrated record of completing and delivering semiconductor designs. The posting describes the role as one for someone who has shipped silicon, holds a realistic relationship with schedules, and is comfortable making consequential decisions without a large organization behind them.

That last line describes a small team building from zero rather than a division absorbing an existing program.

Why Every Lab Is Doing This

The economics are punishing but the alternative may be worse.

Industry figures cited by Reuters put the cost of developing an advanced AI chip at close to half a billion dollars, driven largely by the specialized engineering required. Committing that kind of capital to a project with no guaranteed payoff only makes sense if the alternative — buying compute on the open market at whatever price and availability the vendors set — represents a larger strategic risk.

For AI labs, it does. Access to advanced chips has become the binding constraint on how fast a model company can grow, and that access currently runs through a small number of suppliers.

Anthropic is not first. OpenAI unveiled its Broadcom-built Jalapeño chip in June, designed for inference workloads. Alphabet’s TPU chips underpin Google DeepMind’s systems, and Meta has been working to deploy its own MTIA accelerators. Designing in-house lets AI labs tailor computing capacity to their specific models while reducing reliance on Nvidia.

What Anthropic Already Has

The chip team is one piece of a much larger infrastructure buildout.

Anthropic has signed deals with AWS, Google, Nvidia and AMD to secure computing hardware, but meeting demand at scale has evidently made outside supply alone insufficient. Through a long-term agreement with Google and Broadcom, the company will have access to roughly 3.5 gigawatts of custom TPU capacity beginning in 2027.

The Information reported last month that Anthropic was evaluating Samsung as a potential manufacturing partner for such chips. Reuters had reported in April that the company was considering designing its own.

The Broader Signal

For investors watching the AI infrastructure trade, the pattern across the sector matters more than any single announcement.

Every major model developer has now concluded that outside chip supply is a strategic vulnerability serious enough to justify a half-billion-dollar internal engineering program. That is a statement about how tight the market is expected to remain and about how much of the value in AI is captured at the hardware layer rather than the model layer.

It is also a long game. Full independence from established suppliers remains distant, and Anthropic has been explicit that its existing hardware relationships continue unchanged in the near term.

The immediate question for the chip vendors is whether these programs eventually displace purchases or simply supplement them. Google’s TPUs never eliminated its Nvidia buying. Amazon’s Trainium has not either. Custom silicon has generally functioned as leverage in supplier negotiations rather than a replacement for the suppliers themselves.

Whether that holds as the AI labs mature is the question underneath a hiring announcement that, on its surface, is just a job posting for a team that does not yet exist.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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JPMorgan raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 8,000 from 7,800, arguing that stronger corporate profits and accelerating artificial-intelligence investment are giving the market more room to run.

The new target implies roughly 3% upside from Friday’s record close of 7,757.64.

The bank also raised its earnings forecasts for the companies in the index, now expecting $365 a share in 2026 and $420 in 2027, up from previous estimates of $350 and $390.

The reason is increasingly clear: the enormous sums being spent on AI are beginning to show up in actual revenue and profits.

JPMorgan pointed to stronger cloud growth and larger backlogs at companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Google as evidence that AI spending is moving beyond promises and into measurable business results.

Corporate earnings broadly have also come in stronger than expected. More than 85% of S&P 500 companies that had reported through Friday beat analysts’ profit estimates, well above the long-term average.

JPMorgan is not assuming investors will simply pay ever-higher valuations. The bank kept its forward valuation target near 20 times earnings, meaning most of the expected market upside would have to come from companies generating more profit rather than investors paying substantially more for each dollar of earnings.

That distinction matters because several risks remain.

Interest rates are still elevated, oil prices remain vulnerable to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and companies are issuing large amounts of both debt and equity to finance AI infrastructure.

Still, JPMorgan’s call shows how powerful the earnings cycle has become.

The S&P 500 is already up more than 13% this year, yet Wall Street’s biggest banks continue raising targets because profit growth is outpacing earlier forecasts.

The next challenge is whether companies can keep converting massive AI spending into enough revenue to justify both the investment and today’s elevated stock prices.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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In a statement issued at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, the Likud party announced that its Secretariat will be asked to approve reserved spots on the party’s Knesset slate for Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, and Likud Central Committee Chairman Chaim Katz, in addition to the spots allocated for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s own selections.

The announcement, which caught senior party members by surprise, sparked an uproar within Likud Tuesday morning, with ministers and MKs sharply criticizing the move and accusing party leaders of circumventing primary voters and pushing incumbent lawmakers further down the slate.

One Likud minister told Walla: “It’s an absolute disgrace on the highest level — a hostile takeover of the movement by party operatives, insane corruption.” Another Likud MK called the move “a disgrace and a power grab.”

Likud said in its statement that “the party court ruled last week that the defense minister, who in any event was expected to secure a place near the top of the slate, should receive a reserved spot in order to allow him to focus on the country’s security needs rather than engage in politics at this time.”

The party added that “Sa’ar will receive a reserved slot as part of the merger agreement between his party and Likud, while Chaim Katz will receive a spot by virtue of his position as chairman of the Likud Central Committee.”

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman defended the move Tuesday morning, telling Kan Reshet Bet: “Gideon Sa’ar is part of an agreement that has to be honored, and Yisrael Katz is serving as defense minister and I believe he would have finished high on the slate anyway. As for Chaim Katz, I’m not getting into other people and why they are receiving spots.”

Behind the scenes, however, senior Likud officials said Netanyahu has a clear political objective behind the move: to “lock down the top of the slate.”

Despite the announcement, Likud sources said Tuesday morning that the chances of the reserved spots for the “two Katzes” ultimately winning approval from the party Secretariat are very low.

The move requires the approval of the Likud Secretariat, which includes incumbent MKs who stand to be directly harmed by the decision and are expected to fight to block it. The Secretariat also includes dozens of members close to MK David Bitan, who opposes the move.

A fierce internal political battle is expected within Likud in the coming days, with the party’s August 17 primaries just days away. Approximately 142,000 Likud members are eligible to vote.

Tensions within the party intensified after the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday overturned a Likud Central Committee decision that would have allowed incumbent ministers and MKs to compete for district slots. The ruling means that they will all have to compete on the national slate, raising the possibility that as many as half of Likud’s current Knesset faction could fail to secure realistic spots for the next Knesset.

Likud officials said Tuesday morning that Yisrael Katz is expected to receive a spot between Nos. 6 and 10 on the slate, while Chaim Katz would be guaranteed a spot no lower than No. 18.

These placements would be in addition to the eight reserved spots Netanyahu has been granted among the top 30 places on the slate—Nos. 3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 18, 26 and 29.

The late-night announcement came just hours after Likud revealed Netanyahu’s first personal selection: businessman Oren Dobronsky, who will receive the No. 11 spot. Dobronsky, the founder of a chain of hummus restaurants in Silicon Valley and known for his appearance on the Israeli version of “Shark Tank,” is expected to focus on advancing artificial intelligence in the Israeli economy.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Following Monday’s report by the Washington Post on President Trump’s secret three plane switch in Turkey amid an Iranian assassination threat, video has surfaced that appears to show the Turkish catering truck described in the report, which was used to transfer Trump from the older Air Force One to a smaller military aircraft in Turkey last month.

Video Credit: John Hudson/WaPo

According to the Post’s reporting, Trump was publicly seen boarding the older Air Force One jumbo jet in full view of television cameras before leaving Turkey, instead of hsing the new Qatari gifted plane. Minutes later, he and several aides reportedly exited through a door on the opposite side of the aircraft and were driven by an airport catering truck normally used to load food and supplies, to a nearby Air Force C-32A, a much smaller modified Boeing 757, and transferred onto that aircraft instead.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the C-32A separately via external stairs in an effort to make the flight appear routine. Meanwhile, per the report, members of the White House press corps and some staff boarded the “decoy” Air Force One believing Trump was traveling with them, and were instructed to close their window shades before takeoff.

The Washington Post credited this great plane tracker account with an import detail in our exclusive tonight. Sharing credit where it's due: https://t.co/A5J6ltf8qZ

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) August 11, 2026

The two aircraft landed minutes apart at RAF Mildenhall in Britain. Trump was then transferred back onto the original Air Force One before appearing on camera descending its external stairs, maintaining the public appearance that he’d been aboard that plane the entire flight.

The elaborate operation reportedly stemmed from a credible threat from Iran and allied groups to fire a missile at the presidential aircraft.

Scoop: Trump flew secretly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft unbeknownst to journalists and some White House staff members who believed they were on the same plane as the president, The Post has learned. w/ @DanLamothe @abtran & @joyceslee https://t.co/CZqvHnfi44

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) August 10, 2026

The fire at the Aramco refinery in Jizan started Sunday morning. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said his forces had hit it with a drone, precisely, in retaliation for Saudi drones over Saada and Hajjah. The Saudi energy ministry confirmed the fire and said it was extinguished.

Forty-eight hours earlier, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had stood together in Mecca and signed an agreement stating that an armed attack on any one of their countries would be regarded as an attack on all three.

Turkey said nothing. Pakistan said nothing. There was never any reason to think otherwise.

Israeli commentary reached for the largest available frames: an Islamic NATO, a Sunni axis, a Pakistani nuclear umbrella over the kingdom. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment at all. The pact deserves neither response.

The joint statement says the agreement strengthens collective deterrence against aggression. The text has not been published, so everything written about the pact rests on what officials choose to describe.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has described it the most. He told Anadolu the collective-defense clause is technically comparable to NATO’s Article 5, and named the institutions: a ministerial committee and a permanent secretariat in Saudi Arabia. Then he added the part almost nobody covered. If one member is attacked, the others consult to determine the nature and scale of any assistance. Consultation is what NATO members do too. It is also what they did in February 2003, when three of them blocked planning for Turkey’s own defense before the Iraq war.

Experiment was done once already

Riyadh has run this experiment once already. Its defense agreement with Pakistan was signed in September 2025, days after the Israeli strike on Hamas figures in Doha, and both capitals say it obliges each to defend the other. When the United States and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, Riyadh called it in.

Reuters reported in May, citing five Pakistani and Saudi sources, that Pakistan sent roughly 8,000 troops, some 16 aircraft, mostly JF-17s, two squadrons of drones, and a Chinese-built HQ-9 battery. Pakistanis operate the equipment. Saudi Arabia pays for it. Two of those sources said the role was mainly advisory and training.

Iran spent the months that followed hitting Saudi refineries and American aircraft parked at Prince Sultan Air Base. Two Saudi civilians were killed. The Pakistani squadron stayed where it was, and Islamabad carried on hosting talks between Washington and Tehran.

Mecca turns that arrangement into an institution: foreign hardware on Saudi soil, Saudi money paying for it, foreign crews operating it, and no obligation on anyone to fire. A senior Israeli official, asked privately about the Pakistani element, described it in narrow terms. He is right about the military content. The reason to watch this is political.

Fidan also let a date slip. Preparations, he said, ran nearly two years and eight months, putting the start around December 2023. They began building this while Israeli forces were in Khan Yunis, long before the first Iranian missile landed on Saudi soil.

The claim that Egypt is joining deserves less confidence than it has received. Fidan says Cairo will come in once technical issues are settled and calls it a natural partner. Mada Masr, citing Egyptian and regional sources, reported that Egypt was invited and refused, unwilling to enter a bloc drafted in Riyadh. In May, Egyptian fighter jets flew to Abu Dhabi, not to Jeddah.

None of which makes the pact benign.

The day after the signing, Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, called Israel a threat to the entire Muslim world and urged a united military front against it. He said his position would hold regardless of who wins on October 27. Asif has previously implied that Pakistan’s nuclear guarantee covers Saudi Arabia, a claim no published text supports. He does not speak for Riyadh. He does sit inside the arrangement, and within a day he had handed it the enemy its drafters were careful not to name.

The question of Israeli normalization

For a decade, Israeli planning assumed a chain: Iran frightens the Arabs, fear sends them to Washington, Washington routes them through Jerusalem, normalization follows. Israel’s place in it rested on being the only address for what Riyadh wanted.

The crown prince now has a second address. It cannot defend him, as Sunday showed. It can be photographed and pointed at, and unlike normalization, it costs him nothing at home.

Yoel Guzansky, head of the Gulf Research Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told this paper the agreement “doesn’t shut the door completely” on normalization. He is right, and the July civil nuclear agreement with Washington, which President Donald Trump says is conditioned on Saudi accession to the Abraham Accords, is the door.

A refinery fire in Jizan was never going to move Turkish or Pakistani forces. The question the pact has not yet been asked is what happens when something larger is hit, and whether Riyadh would want the clause invoked even then, or would prefer to keep it exactly where it is now, useful and untested.

This post was originally published on here.

Turkey‘s parliament passed a law on Monday establishing a legal framework for the disbandment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a major step toward ending a decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

The legislation provides legal protections for many former militants who have not committed specific crimes and facilitates the suspension of prison sentences for some people convicted of PKK membership, paving the way for their reintegration into society.

The law was approved by 468 votes in the 600-seat parliament after securing support from President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, its nationalist MHP allies and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.

Measure a concrete step

The measure is the most concrete step taken by Ankara in the process since jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called on the group in February 2025 to disarm and disband. The PKK announced in May 2025 that it would end its armed struggle and break up, and a group of militants symbolically burned their weapons at a ceremony in northern Iraq two months later.

The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched its insurgency in 1984. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, imposed a heavy economic burden on mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey and fueled decades of political and social division.

The legislation is intended to address one of the central questions hanging over the peace process: what will happen to thousands of PKK members as the group dismantles its military and organizational structures.

Process began in 2024

The process began publicly in October 2024 when MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, long known for his hardline stance against Kurdish militancy, unexpectedly suggested Ocalan could address parliament and announce the PKK’s dissolution.

A parliamentary commission established in August 2025 subsequently heard politicians, officials, civil society groups and others before recommending legislation to manage the disarmament and reintegration process.

The law does not by itself resolve broader Kurdish demands for expanded political and cultural rights, changes to anti-terrorism legislation or the status of Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on Imrali island since 1999.

The government has described the initiative as part of its goal of creating a “terror-free Turkey,” while Kurdish politicians have said lasting peace will require broader democratic and legal reforms.

This post was originally published on here.

Chrysler is recalling nearly 50,000 vehicles over a seat belt defect that could increase the risk of injury in a crash, according to federal regulators.

The recall affects certain 2023-2025 Dodge Hornet and 2023-2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

A total of 48,777 vehicles are covered by the recall, the NHTSA said in its announcement, noting that an estimated 1.6% have the defect.

The recall was issued because the rear outboard seat belts may become twisted and fail to retract properly.

A seat belt that does not retract may fail to properly restrain an occupant, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

The NHTSA said that drivers can take their cars to a dealer, so the seat belt retractors can be replaced, free of charge.

Notification letters will be sent to owners starting on September 24.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. Navy has cleared mines from the Strait of Hormuz and now maintains “100%” control of the critical waterway, while also escalating his demands that Iran pay reparations. The latest comments add another layer of tension to an already dangerous standoff between Washington and Tehran.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump asserted that American forces now exercise complete control over the strait. “It’s open now,” he said, while emphasizing that the United States was “the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now.”

Trump characterized the American military presence as a “steel wall,” arguing that occasional Iranian efforts to lay mines have not undermined U.S. control. “They will, on occasion, drop a mine, and we find the mine,” he said. The United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports since mid-April.

Iranian officials, however, have maintained that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless Washington meets a series of Iranian demands, including ending its naval blockade. Tehran has also said that its discussions with Oman regarding shipping arrangements would not necessarily result in a complete reopening of the waterway.

Trump escalated the dispute over compensation in a Truth Social post early Tuesday, saying Iran’s demand for reimbursement for war-related damage had given him “an interesting idea.” He argued that Tehran should instead compensate the United States for Americans killed or wounded in roadside bombings and other attacks allegedly connected to Iran, as well as for Iranian protesters whom he said had been killed by the Iranian regime over the past five decades.

The president’s reparations demand has created another obstacle after Iran announced its own requirements Saturday for reopening the strategic waterway. Before the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz carried approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies, making continued disruption a major concern for global energy markets.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Saturday that the strait would remain closed until Washington lifts its naval blockade and sanctions, removes American forces from the region, provides war reparations and unfreezes Iranian assets. The council also demanded an end to U.S. attacks against Iran’s regional allies.

Trump has indicated that he may allow Iran’s worsening economic conditions to increase pressure on Tehran rather than immediately pursue additional military action.

Iranian officials pushed back Tuesday against Washington’s economic pressure campaign. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei responded to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s characterization of U.S. sanctions as “suffocating” Iran.

Baqaei argued that Washington turns to sanctions when diplomatic efforts fail and intensifies them when they do not produce the desired results. He described the approach as having become less a “policy” than a “compulsive addiction.”

The continuing deadlock reflects two sharply different positions. Washington views its naval deployment as a lasting guarantee of access through the waterway, while Tehran regards the American military presence as the principal barrier to restoring normal shipping. Iran has repeatedly said it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the United States continues its blockade of Iranian ports.

The disruption to energy supplies remains a major concern for financial markets. Tanker traffic through the strait continues to operate at reduced levels, according to Lloyd Chan, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank in Singapore, who also noted that Brent crude prices remain well above levels seen before the conflict.

Chan said further flare-ups remain possible but added that a wider regional war is still not considered the most likely outcome.

Oil prices surged Monday as tensions and rhetoric intensified, reversing a short-lived decline from the previous week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose about 5% to settle near $82.13 per barrel, while Brent crude gained roughly the same amount to reach about $87.72. Oil prices were modestly higher in Asian trading Tuesday.

With Washington and Tehran continuing to disagree over control of the Strait of Hormuz, military deployments, sanctions and financial compensation, the strategic waterway remains at the center of an increasingly tense confrontation that could continue to weigh on global energy markets.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to remove nuclear material from a clandestine Syrian site following an agreement made by the US, Syria, and Israel, Axios reported on Monday, citing Israeli and US officials. 

The Trump administration and IAEA scrambled to reach the agreement that would secure the material and prevent a potential escalation between Israel, Syria, and Turkey, said Axios, adding that the site in question is sensitive. 

The agreement validates US President Donald Trump’s approach towards Syria and shows that his administration is utilizing close relations with Syria to neutralize a possible crisis, according to the report. 

Effort was kept secret

An exchange of threats and diplomatic correspondence occured throughout months until a resolution was reached a few weeks ago, said Axios. The efforts had since been kept secret and unreported. 

According to Axios, the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had developed the secret nuclear program around the Al-Kibar reactor, a plutonium production facility built with the help of North Korea in the Dayr Az Zawr region of northeastern Syria. 

Following Assad’s fall, the IAEA signed an agreement with the country’s newly installed government to visit the reactor and several other nuclear sites, the report said. 

Axios said Israel has been closely monitoring Syria’s nuclear facilities, particularly a site called “Site 99,” which US officials claim held residue from al-Kibar. 

Discussions underway for over a year

The US and Israel have been discussing for more than a year the best way to deal with the site, Axios cited a US official as saying. An Israeli official said that Jerusalem made it clear it wouldn’t allow nuclear material to remain at the site, with Israel even threatening to bomb the facility again if the material was not removed or if Syria showed signs it was trying to access it.

The US and Israel eventually agreed that the best approach would be to “buy in” from the Syrian government to remove the material, said Axios. However, Syrian officials denied having knowledge of nuclear material at the site, sources said. 

A US official said that “very few people in the US, Israel, and Syria were aware of this” and added that the new Syrian government was a “good partner” in the newly established relationship, the report said. 

This post was originally published on here.

Nvidia is teaming up with some of Wall Street’s largest investment firms to assemble as much as $500 billion for artificial-intelligence infrastructure, a financing push that would help fund the data centers, power systems and computing campuses needed to keep the AI buildout moving.

Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR are among the firms expected to participate. The capital would be deployed through multiple investment vehicles rather than a single $500 billion fund, with financing aimed at developers and customers building large-scale AI infrastructure.

The structure matters because Nvidia is moving beyond simply selling chips. It is increasingly helping create the financial ecosystem that allows customers to afford the massive projects those chips require.

AI data centers can cost tens of billions of dollars once land, power generation, transmission, cooling, networking and processors are included. That is pushing the industry toward private credit, infrastructure funds, project finance and bond markets on a scale normally associated with energy and transportation megaprojects.

For Nvidia, the logic is straightforward. If customers cannot finance new data centers, they cannot buy more Nvidia systems. Helping Wall Street provide that capital effectively supports future demand for Nvidia’s own products without requiring the company to fund every project from its balance sheet.

The arrangement also deepens the connection between the AI boom and the financial system. Private-equity firms, infrastructure funds and lenders are increasingly financing projects whose economics depend on continued growth in demand for AI computing.

That creates opportunity for Wall Street, which can earn management fees, interest income and investment returns from what is rapidly becoming a new infrastructure asset class.

It also increases the risk of concentration. Nvidia is investing in AI companies, those companies are raising money to build data centers, and many of those facilities are buying Nvidia hardware. The more interconnected those transactions become, the more investors will scrutinize whether underlying AI revenue is growing fast enough to support the financing behind it.

The reported $500 billion target follows a series of increasingly large AI financing arrangements. Nvidia has separately discussed backing major data-center projects and recently moved deeper into power infrastructure through a planned investment in Texas developer Lancium.

Nvidia shares fell nearly 3% Monday even as shares of several participating alternative-asset managers rose, suggesting investors viewed the announcement as particularly favorable for firms that will earn fees and returns from supplying the capital.

The larger shift is becoming difficult to miss. Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a technology spending cycle. It is becoming one of the largest infrastructure-financing campaigns in the world — and Nvidia increasingly sits at the center of both the computing and the capital behind it.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

A fire, accompanied by heavy smoke, broke out on Monday in a diesel tank oil depot at Libya‘s Zawiya refinery after the tank was struck, Brega Petroleum Marketing Company said in a statement.

The facility was attacked by a drone, Libya’s National Oil Corporation said in a statement early Tuesday morning, adding that the plant suffered no damage or casualties.

This was the third drone attack targeting oil assets in Zawiya over Sunday and Monday, the company said. Moreover, the company announced that it will be forced to completely halt operations at the refinery should attacks continue.

Brega is owned by state oil firm NOC and is in charge of fuel supplies.

Zawiya refinery, the largest in the country as Ras Lanuf is out of operation, around 40 km (25 miles) west of Tripoli, has a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day. It is connected to the country’s 300,000 ⁠bpd Sharara oilfield.

Firefighter brigades are working on containing the blaze, the company said.

Tank ‘was directly targeted,’ NOC said

The tank, with an estimated 4.5 million liters of gasoline, “was directly targeted,” NOC said in a statement, declaring the extreme state of emergency in the area.

It demanded that competent authorities “immediately intervene” and launch investigations into the incident.

Unverified footage posted on the internet showed huge blazes and thick black smoke billowing in the sky in Zawiya city.

The refinery is still functioning without any suspension, two engineers working at the refinery said.

The incident came two days after a drone crashed into an untreated naphtha tank at the Zawiya refinery early on Saturday, causing a leak that staff managed to control.

This post was originally published on here.

A group of New York rabbis met privately with Mayor Zohran Mamdani at City Hall today, urging him to temper his rhetoric about Israel, speak more carefully about the conflict, consistently condemn Hamas, and devote greater attention to combating antisemitism and protecting the city’s shuls and Jewish institutions.

The hour-long meeting, organized Monday by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, brought together 10 Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative rabbis for what participants described as an open and respectful conversation about the concerns of New York’s Jewish community.

According to The New York Times, the participants did not present a unified position on Israel. While some encouraged the mayor to moderate his criticism of the Jewish state, others said they would rather see him stop commenting on Israel altogether and instead focus on issues that fall within his responsibilities as mayor.

Several rabbis told Mamdani they do not object to criticism of Israel or Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but urged him to express those views with greater nuance. They also encouraged him to condemn Hamas more consistently and to make clear that American Jews should not be blamed for decisions made by Israel’s government.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he told Mamdani that the mayor has the ability to significantly improve the current atmosphere.

“I’m happy to work in partnership with your administration, but Mr. Mayor, you are 90 percent of what could be different here,” Jacobs recalled telling him.

“If instead of vilifying Israel, you spoke constructively, in measured tones, that would move the needle more than anything else, and I’m hopeful you’ll use that power.”

Despite representing different religious movements and political viewpoints, those present agreed that Mamdani’s relationship with the city’s Jewish community requires meaningful improvement, one participant told The New York Times on condition of anonymity because the discussion was held behind closed doors.

Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor and a longtime critic of Israel, has faced continued tension with many segments of the city’s Jewish population since taking office.

“There was no tiptoeing around the elephant in the room,” said Rabbi Jonathan Leener, who leads Prospect Heights Shul, a liberal Modern Orthodox congregation in Brooklyn.

“The mayor’s comments have ramifications and he needs to be aware of how in the current climate, that just adds to the temperature and creates an environment that I think a lot of Jews feel vulnerable in,” Leener said.

Two additional rabbis who attended the meeting said concerns about rising antisemitism and the safety of Jewish New Yorkers were echoed by many participants.

The discussion followed Mamdani’s widely publicized speech last month in which he described Netanyahu as a “war criminal.” He later acknowledged that New York law would prevent him from fulfilling a campaign promise to arrest the Israeli prime minister.

Even among Jewish New Yorkers who oppose Netanyahu’s government, some expressed concern that increasingly harsh rhetoric directed at Israel could contribute to greater hostility toward Jews living in the city.

Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn said Mamdani should do more to distinguish criticism of Israel from attitudes toward American Jews.

“If he is going to criticize Israel or speak for Palestinian freedom, which I do regularly, then it really matters that there is complexity in his message,” she said.

“We can’t vote there, we don’t have any ability to change what’s happening, yet people are profiling us and spewing hate at us because they’re angry at the Israeli government.”

Timoner said she also encouraged the mayor to speak about antisemitism with the same force and clarity that he has previously used when discussing Islamophobia following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Several attendees said Mamdani listened attentively throughout the meeting and thanked the participants for speaking candidly.

Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, described the meeting as “open, positive and constructive.”

“Mayor Mamdani has and will continue to engage with Jewish life in New York City in order to meet the needs of our communities and reaffirm his commitment to the thriving of Jewish communities across the five boroughs,” she said in a statement.

Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, built much of his political career through pro-Palestinian activism. While attending Bowdoin College, he founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and led an unsuccessful effort to persuade the school to join an academic boycott of Israel.

Although the mayor has moderated some of his positions on other political issues since taking office, he has largely maintained his longstanding views regarding Israel.

Leener, who identifies as a Zionist and has family living in Israel, said he never expected the meeting to change Mamdani’s opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Instead, he said his priority was urging the mayor to focus on protecting Jewish New Yorkers by increasing police security around synagogues and other Jewish institutions.

“That should be his focus and not making comments unnecessarily about the conflict,” Leener said. “Or having a bit more nuance around it. That it’s not just good versus evil.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on Democrats on Monday, declaring that “jihadists” are being elected across the country as Republicans continue to portray the Democratic Party as moving sharply to the left ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump argued that Americans are seeing the rise of extremist ideologies in politics, though he did not identify any specific candidates. “Well, the one thing is, we have jihadists being elected all over the place,” Trump told reporters, according to CNN.

Expanding on his criticism, Trump added, “We have this whether it’s communism, jihadism.”

Throughout the election cycle, Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats and Democratic Socialists of embracing communist ideas. More recently, he has also begun using the term “jihadists” when attacking members of the Democratic Party.

The president said the phrase was suggested to him by a friend.

“A friend of mine called up,” Trump said, recounting that the person told him, “You know, really, you should use the word jihadist because that’s what’s happening.”

Asked to elaborate, Trump pointed to candidates from countries including Somalia as examples of those he was referencing.

Trump has long been a vocal critic of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who was born in Somalia. In the past, he has called on Omar and another Muslim member of Congress to go “back from where they came.”

The president has also focused his criticism on Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim.

During a campaign rally in Las Vegas last week, Trump described El-Sayed as a “hater of Jews and hater of Israel.”

El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and its policies.

Over the weekend, Trump posted an image on social media comparing a photograph of himself and First Lady Melania Trump with one of El-Sayed and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, who wears a hijab. The accompanying caption read, “Two very different Americas.”

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, El-Sayed responded by agreeing that the two images reflected different visions of the country, while offering his own interpretation.

“Yeah, he’s right. One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other but join in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you. Or, two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together, want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family and know that that family is going to have the good thing,” El-Sayed said. “So, yes, you got two different visions of America.”

Since El-Sayed secured the Democratic Senate nomination last week, national Republicans have stepped up their attacks against him, with some choosing to refer to him by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

Trump has repeatedly argued that the Democratic Party has been overtaken by “godless Communists” and has warned that communist ideology poses a growing danger to the United States. Democratic Socialists, while advocating policies well to the left of mainstream Democrats, maintain that their political beliefs are distinct from communism.

{Matzav.com}

Fresh off his Democratic primary victory in Michigan’s Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed reaffirmed his belief that Hamas committed war crimes while also accusing Israel of carrying out war crimes and genocide in Gaza. The remarks, made during a recent interview, come as President Donald Trump intensifies his attacks on the progressive nominee ahead of the general election.

Speaking on The Jim Acosta Show, El-Sayed was asked to clarify his position on the Israel-Hamas war. He began by reiterating that he has consistently denounced Hamas, saying, “I condemned Hamas on day one, right? I think they’re wrong. I think they committed war crimes. That’s not hard to say.”

Abdul El-Sayed on Hamas:

I condemned Hamas on day one, right? I think they’re wrong.

I think they committed war crimes. That’s not hard to say.

I just don’t know why it’s also not hard to say that, in response, the Israeli government also committed war crimes, including… pic.twitter.com/LPMtQpS64f

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 10, 2026

He then shifted his focus to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, arguing that the same standard should apply to Israel’s conduct. “I just don’t know why it’s also not hard to say that in response, the Israeli government also committed war crimes, including genocide.”

El-Sayed framed the debate as one centered on how American taxpayer dollars should be spent, arguing that Washington should prioritize domestic needs instead of funding overseas conflicts.

“The question for us is ultimately about where we use our tax dollars. That is the political question,” he argued, continuing, “I think people like to get involved in this big, long question of what’s good for Israel or how we ought to be engaged in a conflict. My point is that our job is not to give money to make the conflict worse. Our job is to use our money here. And I believe that it is up to a free Palestinian people and free Jewish Israeli people to decide what the ultimate peace ought to look like.”

Continuing that argument, El-Sayed said he believes federal spending should be directed toward improving life in the United States rather than supporting military operations abroad.

“I just know that right now, our tax dollars are making it far worse. And I don’t want our money that could be used to make education and opportunity better for our people to be used to make life worse for other people.”

El-Sayed captured the Democratic nomination for the Michigan Senate seat last week after narrowly defeating moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, a closely watched contest viewed by many as a test of the Democratic Party’s ideological direction.

Throughout the primary campaign, El-Sayed faced criticism over his positions on Israel. That scrutiny intensified after a terrorist attempted to bomb and open fire on a Jewish preschool located at a Michigan synagogue earlier this year, when El-Sayed responded by saying that “hurt people hurt people.”

His campaign prominently featured opposition to continued US military aid to Israel and harsh criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. He has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide, called for ending unconditional American assistance, and previously said in an interview that the Israeli government is “as evil as Hamas.”

Following El-Sayed’s primary victory, President Donald Trump launched a series of blistering attacks against the Democratic nominee during an appearance in Nevada.

“When I watch Abdul, he’s full of [garbage],” Trump stated during a Wednesday event in Nevada, describing El-Sayed as a “man of hate” and alleging that he harbors hostility toward Jewish people.

“He’s a communist. And the polls were wrong again last night when they thought it would be a landslide victory for a hater of Jews and a hater of Israel,” Trump declared.

Trump continued his criticism by expanding on those accusations, saying, “This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, ‘Oh, that’s a little strong’. No, he hates Jews and he hates Israel…He’s a man of hate. And now he’s going around saying, ‘No, I love everybody.’ He doesn’t love everybody. Put him in office. You’re going to find out what he loves.”

The president also claimed that El-Sayed’s views toward Israel and the Jewish community were deeply rooted.

Trump further asserted that the primary victor “doesn’t love Israel. He doesn’t love Jewish people. He hates them. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart.”

Looking ahead to November, Trump predicted that Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers would prevail in the general election, expressing confidence that Rogers would emerge victorious.

“Actually, we do better against the communists, according to every poll. The poll says we do better against the communists. So he won. And so I think I’m happy. I put out a statement: Congratulations to the Republican Party.”

{Matzav.com}

(AP) – Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Monday said he’ll sue to force the Trump administration to restore his security clearance, which it revoked Friday after claiming he had disclosed sensitive information about the Qatari-gifted jet now serving as Air Force One.

Kendall, a West Point graduate who served as President Joe Biden’s head of the Air Force, said on CNN Monday that he’ll sue the administration, noting it has a history of retaliating against critics by stripping their clearances. “As my mother taught me years ago, you stand up to bullies,” said Kendall, who has denied disclosing classified information.

Mark Zaid, a prominent national security attorney who sued the administration after his own clearance was revoked by the Trump administration, confirmed in a post on X that Kendall had hired him. “More to come,”” Zaid wrote.

Zaid specializes in helping a variety of military and civilian clients maintain security clearances in the face of investigations.

Last year he became a target of the Trump administration’s efforts to strip security clearances from people they perceived to be enemies when he was named among 14 other people in an executive order signed by Trump. In a March 2025 executive order, Trump named former President Joe Biden and members of his family, Biden-era Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and New York state Attorney General Letitia James as being unsuitable to retain their clearances because it was “no longer in the national interest.”

In August 2025, Trump revoked the security clearances of 37 more current and former national security officials, some of whom worked on matters that have long infuriated Trump, like the intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf.

Trump has tried to squelch reports of problems with the jet that Qatar gifted him last year, which he intends to use as Air Force One for the remainder of his term. His Justice Department last month subpoenaed New York Times reporters who wrote about security concerns with the jet, which lacks the advanced anti-missile technology of its predecessor. After being criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government grudgingly withdrew the subpoenas.

(AP) – Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a vision Monday of what he said artificial intelligence can do for the world, imagining a future where everyone has their own, all-knowing AI agent that strives to improve all aspects of their lives.

Zuckerberg detailed his ambitions for the technology in a 6,500-word essay published online where he also outlined why he favors open-source AI technology, in which developers make key components accessible for anyone to examine, modify and build upon.

In a document derided by critics as fantastical, Zuckerberg said his company is working toward an era where everyone will have the tools to create new businesses, receive Ph.D.-level tutoring and provide personalized lifestyle tips. His 8-year-old daughter, he wrote, can already code her ideas and quickly produce videos.

“Everyone will soon have invention superpowers,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg warned of risks if control of advanced AI is concentrated with a select few companies, institutions or governments. On Monday, Meta also announced the release a new open-source AI model, Muse Glimmer, which can run on a personal computer, and Zuckerberg said the company would also would provide a way for developers to access a more powerful AI model, Muse Spark 1.2.

Meta makes AI models, like several other tech companies, and uses them to power platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. The Menlo Park, California, company also makes them available to developers who can create their own apps and features.

Skeptics urge a slower pace of AI development
Critics said Zuckerberg was not reckoning fully with the risks inherent in AI’s rapid development.

Noting recent incidents where AI models, including Meta’s own, hacked other companies on at least three separate occasions, Anthony Aguirre, president and CEO of the AI safety nonprofit Future of Life Institute, asked “what on Earth makes Meta think they — or anyone — could control something exponentially smarter, faster, and more capable?”

“Meta’s chosen path is ultimately one of human replacement and disempowerment, but there is an alternate, pro-human path — one that brings about individual flourishing and scientific breakthroughs with controllable AI tools. What’s urgently needed now is for governments to facilitate a pause on advanced AI development and steer us onto the pro-human path — before it’s too late,” Aguirre said.

Meta chief says AI should be broadly distributed
In his essay, Zuckerberg outlined why he thought open source is a better path for fair development of AI. He warned that if control of AI “superintelligence” is too concentrated, it will lead to less favorable outcomes for everyone else. The key, he wrote, is finding a balance that ensures advanced AI is “broadly distributed” to empower billions of people equitably.

Meta has long been a proponent of open-sourcing its AI models, but has struggled to keep up with rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google that have not taken the same approach.

Zuckerberg made what could be a veiled reference to Meta’s rivals without naming specific companies.

“Most other labs are focused on building AI for companies, governments, or other institutions, so if those labs lead, then the balance of power will favor larger institutions over individuals,” he wrote.

Zuckerberg also included policy recommendations for keeping the U.S. ahead of rivals, including China. The United States and its allies need to speed up building energy capacity and infrastructure to stay competitive, he said.

Zuckerberg called for authorities to reconsider their position on “ distillation,” which involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one. The Trump administration has vowed to crack down on Chinese AI companies using distillation to extract technical features from U.S. AI models. Anthropic earlier this year accused China’s DeepSeek of using distillation.

“Some have tried to frame distillation as harmful, but I think it is important to protect the principle that you can learn from anything you can observe,” Zuckerberg said. “This is how the world works, and the U.S. will not be able to lead if we restrict ourselves on this front.”

Critics see a self-serving message from Meta
Matt Lane, senior policy counsel at the nonprofit digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future, called Zuckerberg “annoyingly out of touch on his best day,” but said the CEO is right about the importance of open-source AI.

Shared access to open-source AI systems is important for protection in a world where AI can be used to hack into electronic systems, like voting systems and benefits infrastructure, he said.

But he said only Meta will benefit if everyone were to use Meta-designed AI systems, even if they are fully open-source. “Open source AI needs to be supported beyond these corporate interests. We, unlike Zuckerberg, hope for as much competition as possible,” he said.

Rav Dov Landau declared that the Torah world is facing an unprecedented campaign against Torah learning, calling on bnei yeshiva to respond not with despair but with even greater hasmadah and dedication to Torah. Speaking at a gathering celebrating the expansion of the chareidi community in Rechasim, Rav Landau said every ben Torah is feeling the weight of new gezeiros directed at the Torah world.

The rosh yeshiva delivered the remarks while addressing a special event marking the continued growth of chareidi education and the expanding Rechasim community in northern Eretz Yisroel. Hundreds of residents, rabbonim, and bnei Torah participated in the gathering, which was held in a large tent erected especially for the occasion.

“We are now standing at the threshold of the Days of Mercy and Forgiveness,” Rav Landau said as he reflected on the difficult challenges confronting the chareidi community.

“All of us, all those devoted to Torah, feel the persecution of Torah and the schemes of the wicked among Israel to undermine the honor of the Torah and those who study it,” he said. “We are all experiencing the hardships that continue to multiply as new decrees are imposed. We see the humiliation of Torah and the persecution of its students, and we are powerless.”

Rav Landau also spoke about the remarkable growth taking place in Rechasim, where hundreds of new homes and institutions are being developed to accommodate expanding yeshiva families.

At the same time, he emphasized that despite the physical growth of the community, the spiritual and communal challenges now confronting the chareidi world are more serious than ever.

Rav Landau said the proper response to the current crisis and what he described as the persecution of the Torah world cannot rest solely on ordinary public efforts. Instead, he stressed that the primary answer is a renewed commitment to Torah learning and tefillah.

“Your role, your privilege, and your obligation is to increase more and more in Torah study, in its depth and in the effort you invest in it,” he told the bnei yeshiva and lomdim gathered at the event.

“Be strengthened and courageous in immersing yourselves completely in Torah study. Raise the banner of Torah, elevate the honor of Torah against those plotting to cast it into the dust, and grow ever stronger in the struggle for Torah, because the Torah is truth and the Torah is eternal,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

The Gulf’s biggest oil and gas exporters are confronting an arrangement they spent months trying to avoid: reopening the Strait of Hormuz under a system that would give Iran control over ships entering the Persian Gulf — while Tehran separately moves to prohibit U.S.- and Israeli-linked vessels from passing through.

That distinction is critical. Gulf governments have not publicly endorsed an Iranian ban on American or Israeli shipping. But they are increasingly willing to negotiate around a framework that gives Tehran a formal role in managing traffic because the alternative — continued closure, attacks on energy infrastructure and potentially another round of war — could cost them considerably more.

The framework taking shape between Iran and Oman would establish a temporary traffic system for 60 days, with the possibility of an extension. Under the proposal reported by Reuters, inbound vessels would enter the Persian Gulf through a northern lane in Iranian territorial waters, while outbound vessels would use a southern lane in Omani waters. Iran and Oman would oversee traffic through their respective sides. 

That changes the practical balance in Hormuz.

Before the war, commercial shipping moved through an internationally recognized transit system in one of the world’s most important energy corridors. Under the emerging arrangement, vessels entering the Gulf would be routed through Iranian waters, placing Tehran in a powerful position over inbound traffic.

And Iran is making clear how it wants to use that leverage.

Iranian lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit vessels belonging to the United States, Israel and other countries Tehran considers hostile from transiting the strait. The proposed restrictions would also cover Israeli-linked cargo and could impose substantial financial penalties for violations. 

That does not mean the Oman-Iran agreement itself automatically gives Iran internationally recognized authority to exclude American or Israeli ships. The parliamentary proposal and the Oman negotiations are separate tracks.

But put together, they reveal what Tehran wants the postwar order in Hormuz to look like: commercial traffic resumes, Iran gains a formal role in managing passage, and Tehran retains the ability to discriminate against countries it considers enemies.

That is precisely why the emerging arrangement is so consequential.

Iran has already demonstrated during the conflict that it can discriminate between ships in practice. Some vessels associated with countries Tehran considers non-hostile have been permitted through, while vessels perceived as linked to the United States or Israel have faced the greatest restrictions and security risks. 

The Gulf states therefore face an uncomfortable choice.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain depend heavily on secure access through Hormuz for energy exports, imports and basic commercial traffic. They would prefer the old system of unrestricted navigation. But months of military pressure have not removed Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through missiles, drones, mines and other weapons.

The result is a compromise Gulf governments may dislike but increasingly have reason to tolerate: get commercial traffic moving again even if the mechanism leaves Iran with substantially more influence over the strait.

The toll issue adds another layer.

Iran has pushed proposals under which commercial vessels could eventually be charged for passage. The temporary Oman framework reportedly would not impose tolls, but that only postpones the larger dispute. If Tehran’s role over the northern lane survives into a permanent arrangement, Iran would already possess the enforcement mechanism necessary to impose future conditions on traffic.

For Washington, that is a very different outcome from restoring freedom of navigation.

For Israel, the implications are even more direct. If Iran succeeds in turning its proposed restrictions into an enforceable part of the postwar reality, Israeli-linked vessels could find themselves formally excluded from a waterway through which a major share of global energy trade passes.

And for the Gulf states, accepting the broader framework would create an awkward contradiction: countries that rely heavily on American security guarantees would be conducting their commerce through a system in which Iran seeks the right to decide that American vessels cannot enter.

The Gulf governments have not said they accept that condition.

But their willingness to continue negotiating around an Iranian-controlled inbound lane shows how dramatically their calculations have shifted.

The alternative remains expensive. Gulf energy infrastructure has been exposed to Iranian retaliation, shipping insurance costs have surged, crude exports have been disrupted and alternative routes cannot fully replace Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia can push additional crude west through its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, while the UAE can move barrels through its pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Those routes reduce dependence on Hormuz but cannot eliminate it.

So the Gulf’s calculation is increasingly pragmatic: reopening under imperfect terms may be preferable to keeping the strait closed while waiting for Iran to surrender control it has demonstrated it can enforce militarily.

That does not make the Gulf states comfortable with Iranian control. It means they may be learning to live with it.

And that is the real new reality in Hormuz: Iran is no longer simply threatening to close the strait. It is trying to establish the rules for who gets to use it — including potentially saying no to American and Israeli ships.

Whether Washington will accept a reopening on those terms remains the biggest unresolved question.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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Zillow no longer has a chief operating officer. It has a chief financial officer who also runs operations.

The company announced on Aug. 5 that it expanded Jeremy Hofmann’s role, appointing him chief operating officer in addition to his existing job as chief financial officer, with responsibility for both financial strategy and day-to-day operational execution. The change is already in effect.

The reason the seat opened up is the part that matters. Jun Choo, who had been chief operating officer since November 2024, is stepping down from the role to focus on his health and will stay on in an advisory capacity through the end of 2026. The executive reshuffle followed layoffs affecting roughly 7% of Zillow’s staff.

So the sequence is: a workforce cut, an operations chief departing on health grounds, and a company that chose not to hire a replacement. Instead of running a search, Zillow folded the job into the one executive who already had a full view of the numbers.

The board pointed to Hofmann’s nine-year tenure, his command of company strategy and financial architecture, his understanding of how the business’s operating pieces depend on one another, and the strength of the finance team he built. “Jeremy is an exceptional financial and operational leader and a critical strategic partner to the entire executive team and me,” Zillow Group Chief Executive Jeremy Wacksman said.

For a company that just cut headcount, consolidating two executive seats into one is also a cost decision, and a fast one.

Hofmann came to the finance job from Wall Street. Before joining Zillow he spent nearly a decade in financial services, most of it at Goldman Sachs, where he was a vice president in investment banking. He was named chief financial officer in 2023.

Zillow, which trades on the Nasdaq, was not the only company to merge the two roles last week.

Zoetis, the Parsippany, N.J., animal-health company, announced on Aug. 6 that it had appointed James “Jay” Saccaro as executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, effective Aug. 17. The role is newly created. Saccaro will lead global finance — capital allocation, financial strategy, reporting and controls, and investor engagement — and will also oversee Global Manufacturing and Supply.

That second piece is narrower than it sounds. Zoetis did not put all of operations under the finance chief. It put the factories and the supply chain there.

Saccaro joins from GE HealthCare, where he was chief financial officer since 2023. Before that he was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Baxter International from 2015 to 2023, where he worked on the company’s post-spin transformation, margin improvement and capital structure. “Jay brings a unique combination of skills to this newly created leadership position,” Zoetis Chief Executive Kristin Peck said. “He is a seasoned finance executive with 12 years of CFO experience at some of the world’s leading healthcare companies.”

Wetteny Joseph, the current finance chief, moves to an advisory role on the same date and will remain with the company as a special advisor to the chief executive on financial matters until early 2027.

Zoetis is paying for the combined job. Saccaro’s offer letter, dated July 31, sets a $1 million base salary, a target annual bonus equal to 100% of base, and an annual long-term incentive opportunity of $5 million in performance stock units, restricted stock units and options. He also receives a one-time make-whole stock award of $6.25 million vesting over three years and a one-time make-whole cash award of $1.25 million, repayable if he leaves under certain circumstances.

Two companies in unrelated industries reaching the same structure in two days is not proof of a trend, and the two cases are not the same. Zillow consolidated a role after an unplanned departure and a downsizing. Zoetis built a role from scratch and recruited an outside executive to fill it, at a price that signals the job is meant to be permanent.

What they share is the logic of the reporting line. When the person setting the budget is also the person accountable for hitting the operating targets that budget funds, the argument between finance and operations happens inside one head instead of across a conference table. Decisions on hiring, capital spending, procurement and technology move faster.

The risk sits on the other side of the same fact. The finance chief’s own job has expanded over the past decade to include investor communication, internal controls, cybersecurity spending and regulatory compliance. Adding an operating platform on top requires deep benches in accounting, treasury and the business units — because there is no longer a peer executive whose full-time job is to push back.

For shareholders, the measures are ordinary and will take several quarters to read: operating margin, expense growth and free cash flow. At Zillow specifically, whether combining the roles helped or simply concentrated authority will show up in how efficiently the company converts its traffic into transaction revenue with a smaller workforce.

JBizNews Desk | Seattle

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

MK Chili Tropper, chairman of the newly formed Bayit Tzioni party, says his party will refuse to join any future coalition that does not enact mandatory national service for every Israeli citizen. In a wide-ranging interview with Kikar HaShabbat‘s Yishai Cohen, Tropper declared that the era of discussing enlistment quotas for the chareidi community is over, rejected proposals to strip voting rights from those who do not serve, advocated economic sanctions instead, and said he would neither help Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu form a government nor support any coalition dependent on chareidi or Arab parties.

Below is the full interview.

Yishai Cohen: Let’s start with the most basic question: Who is your target audience in this election?

MK Chili Tropper: “There is a very large ציבור, according to every poll, somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 Israelis, who look at the current political map and don’t feel comfortable with any of the existing parties. Many of them voted for the current coalition and became disappointed, but they also find it difficult to move to what they identify as the parties of the other bloc. We are their political home.”

Yishai Cohen: What’s the difference between your party and Benny Gantz’s party?

MK Chili Tropper: “First of all, I deeply appreciate, like, and respect Benny, so I’m not going to speak about him. I can speak about us. We’ve defined our mission: first, to establish a government that depends only on Zionist votes. Second, to make that government as broad as possible. I heard Benny say it’s either a unity government or elections, but… you know, I respect Benny מאוד. There really aren’t huge differences between us. In the end we’re operating in the same general political space, although there are certain differences.”

Yishai Cohen: When you say you want the broadest possible government, who from Netanyahu’s current bloc would you bring in?

MK Chili Tropper: “Among the existing parties, I see Religious Zionism. I don’t know what Ofer Winter will do. I don’t know whether Erdan will join forces with anyone. If I had 70 seats of my own, everything would obviously be much easier. Whatever party you mention, I could explain where I disagree with them, but ultimately there is a Zionist foundation—a partnership of people who serve, who love this country—the state, not only the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. That’s why I want to create as many partnerships as possible.”

Yishai Cohen: Some people say you’re really a satellite party for Gadi Eisenkot. Others claim you’re actually a satellite of Netanyahu.

MK Chili Tropper: “I’ll answer very directly: I am not a satellite party of Netanyahu, and I am not a satellite party of Eisenkot. I’ve heard both accusations. Sometimes what you see is exactly what it is: we’re a party made up of good Israelis who want a Zionist government. Many of our supporters come from what today would be described as the center-right of the political map.”

Yishai Cohen: But you say you’ll provide the 61st seat for Gadi Eisenkot, while at the same time saying you won’t provide the 61st seat for Netanyahu.

MK Chili Tropper: “I will provide the votes needed for a Zionist government. We know Netanyahu’s bloc—it depends on parties that are not Zionist.”

Yishai Cohen: What does the term “Zionist” mean to you?

MK Chili Tropper: “Zionism means establishing a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel according to international law. I used to teach history, so that’s the basic definition. It means loving the state. It means serving the state, okay? The state—not only the people and the land, but the state itself, our homeland. Military service is perhaps the clearest expression of that, but it’s also about how I relate to the state in general. Even saying a prayer for the state.”

Yishai Cohen: Let’s move to the draft law. Would you support legislation stating that someone who is genuinely learning Torah may continue learning, while someone who is not learning must enlist—with much stricter oversight of the yeshivos?

MK Chili Tropper: “I’ll tell you honestly. I come into this discussion carrying a great deal of pain. Maybe at another time I would have answered differently. But I’m coming after two years and ten months of the ultimate real-life test. There has never been a greater test than this—the longest war we’ve ever experienced, even longer than the War of Independence. The price has been unimaginable. And the chareidi leadership chose to stand on the sidelines. Because of that, I don’t think even the conversation about quotas—which years ago was still something people debated, arguing about what the quota should be—is relevant anymore.”

Yishai Cohen: So what kind of draft law would be your condition—and Yoaz Hendel’s condition—for joining the next government?

MK Chili Tropper: “Every Israeli—Jew or Arab, religious, secular, or chareidi—should serve the country through military service, national service, or civilian service.”

Yishai Cohen: Like Bennett and Lieberman? No exemptions at all?

MK Chili Tropper: “At this point, that’s my starting position.”

Yishai Cohen: So the day after the election you’ll say: “A universal draft law—for everyone, whether they’re learning or not. Without that, we’re not joining any coalition,” even if Gadi Eisenkot is leading it?

MK Chili Tropper: “Correct.”

At that point in the interview, Tropper emphasized that his views are not motivated by hostility toward the chareidi community.

MK Chili Tropper: “I have absolutely no hatred. I truly oppose all incitement, and I also see enormous value in the chareidi ציבור.”

Yishai Cohen: So what do you say to your political partner, Yoaz Hendel, who argues that anyone who doesn’t serve in the IDF shouldn’t have the right to vote?

MK Chili Tropper: “I oppose that proposal. In fact, I voted against it in the Knesset. He ultimately agreed that there are enough other sanctions available. I support sanctions because I believe all chareidim should serve. Sadly, I think the most effective tool is removing economic benefits, and he agreed with me on that point. As for the right to vote and be elected—we put that issue aside.”

Yishai Cohen: Returning to politics—you are saying that your party will not sit in the same government with the chareidi parties?

MK Chili Tropper: “When the government is first formed—definitely not. Again, it’s not because they’re chareidim. I believe in establishing a Zionist government that does not depend on non-Zionist votes. That’s the political principle. If Goldknopf or Deri were to come tomorrow and say, ‘It took us time, but we’ve realized the magnitude of this moment, and from now on we are calling on everyone who is not learning to enlist,’ then great—we can talk. The principle is about positions, not about individuals.”

Yishai Cohen: Let’s talk about the Arab parties, Ra’am and the others. Are you saying today that you will not agree to join any government—even a transitional one—and will not support one if it depends, either through votes or abstentions, on an Arab party?

MK Chili Tropper: “I’m not going to get into every possible political scenario. I’ve already stated the principle, and it applies equally to the chareidi parties and the Arab parties: the next government should be established through the votes of Zionist parties.”

Yishai Cohen: Are you staying in this race until the end? Yesterday, a Kan 11 poll had your party below the electoral threshold.

MK Chili Tropper: “In most polls we’re above the threshold. I have tremendous faith in our path. I see that after just one month—we only launched a month ago—we’ve already become a much stronger and more prominent force within what people call the third bloc. In most surveys we’re already above the threshold. Now I have another two months to work hard so that we’ll achieve a much better result on election day. Am I a responsible person who will try to act responsibly? Absolutely.”

For many businesses, the next major cost increase won’t come from wages, tariffs or interest rates. It will arrive when insurance policies come up for renewal.

Commercial insurance premiums have risen steadily across multiple lines of coverage as insurers respond to larger catastrophe losses, rising litigation costs, cyber threats and higher rebuilding expenses. What was once viewed as a routine operating expense is increasingly becoming a strategic issue influencing investment decisions, expansion plans and even where companies choose to operate.

The shift is extending well beyond property insurance.

Manufacturers, retailers, healthcare providers, transportation companies, real estate owners and professional service firms are all facing higher premiums for property, liability, directors and officers (D&O), cyber insurance and umbrella coverage. Businesses with clean claims histories are discovering that broader industry risks—not just their own performance—are driving renewal prices.

Climate risk is changing the economics of insurance.

Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, severe storms and other natural disasters have generated record insured losses in recent years, forcing carriers to reassess pricing models and reduce exposure in some regions. In several states, insurers have limited new policies, increased deductibles or withdrawn from high-risk markets altogether, leaving businesses with fewer options and higher costs.

Cybersecurity has become another major driver.

Ransomware attacks, data breaches and business interruption claims continue pushing cyber insurance premiums higher, while insurers increasingly require stronger security controls before issuing or renewing policies. Multifactor authentication, endpoint monitoring, employee training and incident-response planning are rapidly becoming underwriting requirements rather than optional best practices.

The impact is changing boardroom decisions.

Companies planning new facilities, acquisitions or geographic expansion are increasingly evaluating insurance availability alongside labor, taxes and financing. In some industries, higher insurance costs are beginning to influence where projects are built and how much capital businesses are willing to commit.

The consequences extend into lending as well.

Banks and private lenders frequently require borrowers to maintain specified insurance coverage. As premiums increase, debt-service costs effectively rise even when interest rates remain unchanged, placing additional pressure on cash flow for property owners and operating businesses alike.

For insurers, the environment presents both opportunity and risk.

Higher premiums can improve profitability, but only if pricing keeps pace with increasingly expensive claims. Companies that accurately measure emerging risks may strengthen earnings, while those that underestimate catastrophe exposure or cyber losses could face renewed pressure on underwriting results.

The broader business story is that insurance is no longer simply protecting assets after something goes wrong. It is becoming a larger factor in corporate capital allocation, site selection and enterprise risk management. Businesses that actively reduce operational risk, strengthen cybersecurity and improve resilience may increasingly find those investments paying for themselves through lower insurance costs and greater access to coverage.

In the years ahead, insurance may no longer be viewed as just another overhead expense. It is becoming a competitive advantage for companies that can demonstrate they are better risks than everyone else.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

NEW YORK (VINnews) – New York City first lady Rama Duwaji is expected to travel to Syria and Lebanon next month with members of the NYPD security detail assigned to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his family, according to the New York Post and a source familiar with the plans.

The trip is expected to begin Sept. 20 and is described by the mayor’s office as a family visit. Both countries face significant security concerns, with the State Department warning Americans against travel to Syria and advising heightened caution in Lebanon.

A spokesperson for Mamdani confirmed that an NYPD detail will accompany Duwaji, saying the department strongly recommended the protection.

The mayor’s office did not disclose the expected cost of the security operation. A source cited by the Post said the trip is not official city business.

Duwaji, 29, is a Syrian-American artist whose parents are from Damascus. She has previously lived and worked in Lebanon and has been active in pro-Palestinian political and cultural initiatives.

The decision to provide NYPD protection overseas has drawn criticism from former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who questioned whether officers should be deployed to areas he described as dangerous.

Duwaji has also faced scrutiny over past social media activity and her criticism of Israel. She has apologized for some previous posts while continuing to participate in pro-Palestinian activism.

Nearly 30,000 pounds of imported raw beef from South America have been recalled in two states over the failure to reinspect the product after arriving in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Florida-based Corte Argentino USA LLC is recalling about 29,628 pounds of raw beef products that were imported from Argentina “without the benefit of import reinspection into the United States,” which checks documentation, labeling, packaging, the product’s general condition and sometimes samples for contaminants, FSIS announced on Friday.

After incoming shipments meet U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service requirements, they must be reinspected by FSIS.

The products were distributed to distributors and retailers in Florida and Texas.

The affected products were produced between May 15 and May 20. They have use or freeze-by dates between September 15 and September 20.

The recall includes various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Top Sirloin Butt” (“Cuadril Sin Tapa”), “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Eye Round” (“Peceto”), “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Topside Cap Off” (“Nalga AD S/Tapa”), “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Flat” (“Carnaza Cuadrada”) and “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Knuckle” (“Bola de Lomo”).

The affected products feature Argentinian establishment number “EST. N° OF. 2025” and shipping mark “26644-AA.”

The issue was discovered during routine FSIS inspection activities.

There have been no confirmed reports of illness or injury in connection with the consumption of the recalled products, FSIS said. Anyone concerned about an illness or injury is urged to contact a healthcare provider.

FSIS said it is concerned that some affected products may be in consumers’ refrigerators and freezers.

Consumers who have purchased these products are instructed not to consume them and to either throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.

NEW YORK (VINnews) – Former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind criticized Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg, after the Hasidic leader defended New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani against accusations of antisemitism.

In a video, Hikind compared the defense of Mamdani to Jews marching alongside Hamas supporters and expressed dismay over the position.

Hearing the Satmar Rebbe defend Mamdani is like seeing fellow Jews march with Hamas supporters.

With despair I say:
God, please forgive our people. pic.twitter.com/qF7Ygn69l3

— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) August 10, 2026

Hikind also invoked the history of Satmar founder Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, noting that he was among the Jews rescued aboard the Kastner train during the Holocaust. The rescue effort was organized by a Jewish committee that included Zionist activists, although it also involved Orthodox Jewish leaders and others.

The comments followed Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum’s remarks at a gathering marking the 47th yahrzeit of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum. The Williamsburg Rebbe criticized attacks on Mamdani and warned that labeling him an antisemite could amount to what he called “provocation against the nations.”

He urged religious Jews in the United States to follow Torah principles and recognize their responsibilities while living in exile.

Both major Satmar factions — the Williamsburg-based Zalunim and the Kiryas Joel-based Aronim — have developed close relationships with Mamdani, a strategy that has drawn criticism and questions from other Jewish New Yorkers.

Mamdani, a Muslim progressive and outspoken critic of Israel, has faced criticism from Jewish organizations over his positions on Israel, the Gaza war and antisemitism.

The Satmar leadership has emphasized maintaining a working relationship with city officials and protecting the interests of its religious communities, even as critics argue that engagement with Mamdani risks legitimizing positions they consider hostile to Israel.

NEW YORK (AP) — The president’s media company posted a massive loss in the second quarter and announced plans to ditch new business lines and refocus as a forum for users to post their views.

Trump Media & Technology, the company behind the Truth Social platform, said Monday that it lost $238 million in the three months through June as it branched into businesses unrelated to media, including crypto. That was more than 10 times the loss from a year earlier. The per share loss widened to 86 cents from 8 cents.

In a conference call after the earnings release, the new chief executive, Kevin McGurn, said a yearlong effort to expand by branching into several new industries including online betting and crypto would now be largely abandoned as he refocuses the business on its social media mission.

“We made the disciplined choice to pivot in order to invest more time and resources in our most important initiatives,” McGurn said. “We will say no to things or change course as warranted.”

Trump Media stock fell slightly in after-hours trading following the earnings report. The stock had fallen 8% in regular trading.

Key to McGurn’s plan is a service called Truth API that offers early access to Wall Street trading firms to top posters on the Truth Social platform. That includes the user with most followers, President Donald Trump, who often moves markets by breaking major U.S policy shifts on the site.

Trump Media has been attacked by good government watchdogs from the start of Trump’s second term as a vehicle for him to profit off the presidency. The new service has only heightened those concerns, with Democrats vowing to investigate the paid service if they get control of Congress in the midterms.

McGurn has dismissed such concerns, noting that other companies sell special, fast access to traders.

“Providing licensed real-time public data through commercial APIs is a well-established business practice across the technology, financial information and media industries,” he said. “This is no different.”

One previously announced new venture, nuclear fusion, will continue. McGurn said Trump Media hopes to close a previously announced merger with energy company TAE Technologies by the end of the year.

“We continue to believe it’s the single most important driver of long-term value for this company,” McGurn said of the fusion business.

Much of the damage last quarter was due to unrealized paper losses from the falling values of Trump Media’s holdings of bitcoin and a crypto token called Cronos.

Excluding those paper losses as well as taxes, interest and other items, so-called operating losses still increased, but much less than the unadjusted results — a $164 million loss from a $44 million loss a year earlier.

The new Truth API service is charging $60,000 to $100,000 a month, McGurn said, adding that Trump Media has already signed up 10 customers, mostly so-called high frequency trading firms that buy and sell in milliseconds

“We’re in the early innings,” said McGurn, noting that the potential market was much bigger than traders, including data center companies, news organizations and developers of large language models.

Ten customers translates into a big new revenue source for Trump Media, possibly bringing in between $7 million to $12 million a year, or roughly two to three times the company’s entire revenue last year.

In the second quarter, Trump Media posted $1.7 billion in revenue, more than double from a year earlier.

The company has $1 billion in debt from special convertible notes that doesn’t come due until 2028, but the lenders have an option to demand they be cashed out in November, a possible hit to finances though the company appeared to have ample cash.

At the end of the quarter, Trump Media had more than $400 million in cash and short term investments. It also had $1.2 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin-related assets.

TALLAHASSEE (VINnews) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Monday demanded that The New York Times Co. open its corporate books and records, citing dozens of corrections the newspaper issued for what he described as incorrect and biased pro-Hamas coverage following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

In a 28-page letter sent on behalf of the State Board of Administration of Florida, which oversees the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund, Uthmeier asserted the state’s rights as a shareholder. The pension fund holds approximately 148,000 to 160,000 shares of New York Times stock, valued at more than $12 million.

“After 10/7/23, the @nytimes issued dozens of corrections for incorrect and biased pro-Hamas coverage. As a trustee over FL’s retirement fund—a NYT stockholder—we are demanding their corporate board open the books,” Uthmeier posted on X. “The First Amendment protects speech—not ignoring shareholders!”

The letter, grounded in New York Business Corporation Law Section 624, seeks internal board documents, meeting minutes, reports and materials related to the company’s oversight of editorial standards. Uthmeier argued that repeated failures in applying those standards expose the company to reputational harm, potential defamation litigation and financial risk that could hurt shareholders, including Florida retirees.

Uthmeier’s letter specifically referenced a study documenting 72 corrections the Times issued for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war between October 2023 and June 2024, stating that many of those errors favored Hamas. It also highlighted other instances of alleged editorial shortcomings, including a May 2026 opinion column by Nicholas Kristof that drew a defamation threat from Israeli officials.

The New York Times was given 14 days to permit inspection of the records or commit to a production schedule. Failure to comply could lead to a special proceeding in New York Supreme Court.

In a statement, Danielle Rhoades Ha, senior vice president for communications at The New York Times, said the company was aware of the demand letter. “While positioned as a request under corporate law, [it] is a clear attempt to chill First Amendment-protected journalism,” she said. “We will respond more fully in due course.”

Uthmeier, who serves as legal counsel and a trustee for the State Board of Administration, emphasized that the action is about corporate governance and protecting the value of the state’s investment rather than dictating editorial content.

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans agreed that autonomous vehicles should be regulated as the Amazon subsidiary’s fleet of autonomous vehicles launched its first paid service in the United States in Las Vegas Monday. 

In June, one of Zoox’s robotaxis drove into heavy smoke at an active emergency scene in Las Vegas. Zoox issued a software recall following the incident and has since updated the technology to better detect and respond to fire and smoke.

Evans told FOX Business host Liz Claman the company believes in transparency and taking responsibility.

“These are rare edge cases,” Evans told “The Claman Countdown” on Monday. “We learn and we continue to improve our processes along the way to make them better and better.”

“Sometimes it’s software, sometimes it is firmware, sometimes it is just using simulation,” she added. “We throw the best at it, we root cause, we learn, we improve and we deploy.”

Evans’ remarks come as federal officials press autonomous vehicle (AV) developers to improve interactions with first responders and emergency personnel, warning that failures to do so could pose a serious risk to public safety.

“To state it bluntly: an AV that cannot safely interact with first responders is a danger to the general public,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jonathan Morrison wrote in July.

Evans, who thanked Morrison for his partnership in advancing American innovation, said she believes autonomous vehicle regulation is necessary.

“I want to unequivocally say we agree with the administrator and the administration and the regulatory agency. We need to be regulated,” she said. “And EV scenes are extremely important, because it’s about saving lives all around.”

After providing free Zoox rides in Las Vegas since 2023 under a three-year pilot program, the Amazon robotaxi brand officially began charging customers for rides on Monday.

“We have essentially, so far, the same number as people who are taking free rides,” Evans told FOX Business.

Unlike competitors such as Waymo, which retrofits regular cars for driverless operations, Zoox’s vehicles are pedal-free, steering-wheel free and passenger-focused. The robotaxis feature face-to-face campfire-style seating for up to four passengers.

Roughly 65 Zoox are currently deployed in Las Vegas and Evans said production is “ramping up,” with the company’s California factory is doubling output to five to six vehicles per day.

The CEO also told FOX Business where the company could expand next, beyond Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin and Miami, where Zoox currently operates pilot programs.

“We will be entering Atlanta and LA and… we have big ambitions,” Evans said. “We want to be everywhere where we are welcome and show and deliver these wonderful and lovable experiences to customers around the U.S.”

The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday rejected a petition challenging a Likud party court ruling that bars sitting Likud lawmakers from competing for district-reserved slots in the party primaries.

Last week, the Likud court accepted petitions against a proposal that had narrowly passed at the party convention about a week earlier. That proposal would have allowed current MKs, ministers and deputy ministers to compete in the district races.

The ruling is a setback for incumbent Likud lawmakers who supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reserved-slot proposal and had hoped to advance alongside it a mechanism that would give them an easier path through the district contests.

The district representatives in the Likud primaries will be eligible for spots 27, 28, 30 and 31 on the party list. Following the ruling, those positions will now be filled only by new faces.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A Staten Island judge halted New York City’s new tax on luxury second homes on Monday, ordering the city to take down a public list naming roughly 900,000 property owners and barring officials from acting on the 17,000 tax notices already in the mail until at least the end of the month.

The ruling from Richmond County Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi does not strike down the surcharge itself. It stops the city from running it. Until a hearing on Aug. 31, the Department of Finance cannot grant exemptions, cannot rule that any owner owes the tax, and cannot issue new notices. The supplemental market value roll posted on the agency’s website has to come off.

The tax was enacted as part of the state budget and signed into law in May, aimed at closing roughly $500 million of the city’s deficit. It applies to one- to three-family homes assessed at $5 million or more, and to condominiums and co-ops valued at $1 million or more, in each case only where the property is not the owner’s primary residence.

The trouble started with how the city identified who owed it. Rather than determine property by property which homes were actually second residences, the Department of Finance published a roll listing names, addresses and property values for about 900,000 residential properties, then mailed notices to some 17,000 owners telling them they would be assessed unless they applied for an exemption by Sept. 18. Owners who had lived in their homes for decades found themselves on a public list and holding a letter demanding they prove a negative.

Ozzi found that approach unlawful. He ruled the mailed notices did not amount to proper notice under tax law and wrote that no statute permitted or required the city to publish a list of that scale, or to release it through an off-cycle mid-year publication. The city, he said, owed each owner an individualized determination before shifting the burden onto the homeowner.

Three homeowners brought the suit last Friday: Simon Hedley of Chelsea, along with Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano, the wife and father of Staten Island City Councilman Frank Morano. All three said their properties are primary residences. They are represented by Randy Mastro, first deputy mayor under Eric Adams, who called the ruling a vindication for hundreds of thousands of owners swept into a process they should never have been in.

The complaint does not attack the surcharge’s legality. It argues the city ignored state records made available under the law precisely so officials could identify eligible properties in advance, and instead ran a dragnet.

City Hall said it will appeal immediately, and expects the appeal to stay the order. A spokesman for the mayor, Matt Rauschenbach, said the administration remains confident in the surcharge and in the city’s ability to administer it fairly, describing it as asking owners of $5 million second homes to pay their share.

In court, the city warned that a freeze would strand homeowners already in the queue. It told the judge the finance department had received 3,801 challenges to its primary residence determinations, and argued that pausing the Sept. 18 deadline could leave appeals unprocessed before bills go out on Nov. 15. Filings also showed that Hedley’s own exemption was approved on Saturday, a day after he sued, once he uploaded a tax return.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who announced the proposal alongside Mamdani in April and signed it into law, put distance between Albany and the rollout hours before the ruling. Speaking in the Bronx, she said the state is not responsible for the implementation, that the city was consulted in advance, and that City Hall should streamline the process. It was a shift from her earlier framing of the measure as a way to make wealthy foreign owners of empty apartments contribute.

The pause carries real weight for the residential market. Brokers had reported second-home buyers pulling back while the tax picture stayed unsettled, and co-op and condo boards had begun fielding questions from shareholders who appeared on the published roll. The list coming down removes an immediate exposure for owners whose names, addresses and property values were searchable by anyone.

For the city’s finances, the timing matters more than the legal question. The surcharge was written into the budget as a revenue line for the current fiscal year, and the collection calendar runs through the November billing cycle. Every week the rollout stays frozen compresses the window to process exemptions and issue accurate bills.

Both sides return to court on Aug. 31. Until then, the tax exists on the books and cannot be collected.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed controversial legislation that would require Amazon and other major delivery companies to hire last-mile delivery workers directly, a proposal supporters say would strengthen worker protections but critics warn could eliminate thousands of jobs, increase delivery costs, and push Amazon to move operations outside the city.

On Monday, Mamdani announced his support for the Delivery Protection Act, a measure backed by the Teamsters union that would prohibit companies from subcontracting key warehouse and last-mile delivery operations. Instead, workers would have to be employed directly by the operators of the delivery facilities.

“Corporations like Amazon build billion-dollar business models by insulating themselves from accountability through a system of exploitative subcontracting,” the mayor said in a statement.

Mamdani described the proposal as “common-sense regulation that protects delivery workers, safeguards the communities where these facilities operate and ensures that the corporations benefiting from workers’ labor are responsible for the consequences of their business practices.”

Opponents argue the legislation would come with significant costs. A study conducted by consulting firm AKRF estimated that the measure would add an average of $664 annually to household delivery expenses for New York City residents.

“This law is just going to raise prices for consumers,” Business Council of New York State spokesperson Steve Smith told The Post on Monday.

Amazon, which partners with more than 40 locally owned Delivery Service Partners employing over 5,000 workers across New York City, has warned that the legislation could force the company to shift its delivery network beyond the five boroughs.

AKRF has previously concluded that relocating those operations would likely result in deliveries that are slower and more expensive for city residents.

“We’re committed to creating good jobs, supporting our thousands of employees and local small business partners in New York City and providing fast, reliable delivery for New Yorkers,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly A. Nantel told The Post.

“But as written, this legislation would directly undermine that commitment — threatening the small businesses that deliver to customers, putting the jobs of more than 5,000 of their employees at risk and forcing us to consider relocating delivery operations outside of the city.”

Opposition to the proposal continued Monday as delivery workers and small-business owners planned a rally in East Harlem urging city officials to reject the legislation.

The New York Delivers coalition said it organized the event at Thomas Jefferson Park to argue that Intro 518 threatens both delivery jobs and small businesses while driving up costs for consumers.

According to the coalition, as many as 10,000 delivery jobs across the city could ultimately be affected if the legislation becomes law, including roughly 3,500 last-mile delivery positions in Harlem and four neighboring City Council districts.

The coalition also noted that 82% of last-mile delivery workers do not hold college degrees and that 84% of the workforce consists of non-white employees. Organizers planned to feature drivers and business owners who contend the legislation would jeopardize their livelihoods.

The demonstration coincided with renewed lobbying by supporters of the Delivery Protection Act, underscoring the increasingly heated debate over whether New York should dismantle the subcontracting model widely used in the city’s delivery industry.

Among the measure’s critics is Rudy Cazares, a New York City resident who operates both an Amazon Delivery Service Partner business and a FedEx contracting company. He said the legislation would effectively destroy his business.

“I would be shutting my business down. I have no business,” Cazares told The Post.

Cazares said his company currently employs approximately 130 workers, with additional hiring during busy periods such as the holiday season. Drivers begin at $23.75 per hour, while experienced employees can earn approximately $27 per hour.

“All my employees are W2, either full time or part time with benefits, paying payroll taxes,” Cazares said.

He disputed claims that Delivery Service Partners merely serve as intermediaries shielding Amazon from responsibility, explaining that his company independently hires its workforce and manages its own fleet.

“They control the sorting of the packages. They stage them for us. We pick them up and we go deliver them,” Cazares said of Amazon.

While acknowledging that Amazon encourages its delivery partners to improve efficiency through technology and other measures, Cazares argued that policymakers should address any concerns without eliminating locally owned delivery companies.

“There’s been no dialogue that includes the small businesses that are the ones making this happen,” Cazares said.

“This direct hire mandate will eliminate every small business out there that delivers packages for any business,” he added.

Some city officials have also expressed reservations about the proposal.

“We want to make sure we don’t have unintended consequences,” Carlos Ortiz, deputy commissioner of external affairs for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, said during an April City Council hearing.

A spokesperson for City Council Speaker Julie Menin previously said the Manhattan Democrat intends to allow the legislation to continue through the normal legislative process while gathering additional feedback from affected stakeholders.

The Teamsters union strongly rejected Amazon’s arguments.

“Amazon will say or do whatever it takes to deny workers stronger rights and wages and abdicate its responsibilities for its own employees, which is why journalists are obliged to expose these greedy corporate tactics and not serve as stenographers for the company’s anti-worker propaganda,” Matt McQuaid, a spokesperson for the Teamsters union, told The Post.

FedEx also acknowledged the ongoing debate while referring questions about the legislation to the New York Delivers coalition.

“With the rise of e-commerce, last-mile delivery facilities for shipping and logistics businesses have become an increasingly essential part of the infrastructure that keeps New York City running,” a FedEx spokesperson told The Post.

“FedEx is aware of the proposed bill and is working with the New York Delivers coalition. Any questions on the legislation can be directed to them.”

{Matzav.com}

I have been a camp owner in this town for the past 25 years. Over those 25 years, I have had the privilege of seeing generations of children come through our camp and of working with countless incredible staff members, including counselors and JCs.

As a camp owner, I do everything I can to pay my staff a fair and competitive salary while still trying to make a livable wage myself after years of hard work, responsibility, and investment. I’ve also had the unique opportunity to interact with parents from every socioeconomic background imaginable.

And yet, every summer I see something that is becoming increasingly difficult to understand.

When it comes time to tip the people who spend an entire month caring for our children, some parents suddenly become the biggest penny-pinchers.

I understand that everyone has expenses. I understand that times can be difficult, and I understand that there are legitimate reasons why some families may not be able to give as much as others. But let’s be honest: can we really not afford to tip the price of a schnitzel sandwich to the counselor or JC who spent an entire month taking care of our child?

What message are we sending when a bunk of 20 kids has only one or two families who tip their counselor or JC?

Our kids notice.

We teach our children all summer about hakaras hatov. We tell them to appreciate the people who help them. We teach them to say thank you. So let’s show them what that looks like in practice.

A $10 or $20 tip may not seem like much to many of us. But to a 17-, 18-, or 19-year-old counselor or JC who just spent a month working incredibly hard with our children, it can mean the world.

This isn’t about making anyone feel guilty or demanding that every family give the same amount. It’s about recognizing hard work and showing appreciation.

If we want our children to grow up understanding gratitude, let’s give them a real-life example.

Let’s appreciate the people who take care of our kids. Let’s show our counselors and JCs that we value what they do. And let’s teach our children that saying thank you isn’t just something we talk about — it’s something we do.

Even $10-$20 can go a long way.

TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to us via  Whatsapp  or via email  [email protected]

Dear Matzav Inbox, 

When rabbanim decided that unrestricted internet posed a serious spiritual danger to our children, they did not shrug their shoulders.

They demanded action.

They held massive asifos. They created standards. They pushed schools to implement rules. Parents were required to sign forms. TAG was created. Filters became expected. Rabbanim spoke about it constantly. Schools educated students and parents. Entire systems were built around confronting the danger head-on.

Nobody said, “What can we do? Technology is here.”

Nobody said, “The kids are going to use it anyway.”

Nobody said, “Parents can’t control everything.”

The message was simple: Our children are in danger, so we are going to do something about it.

Fine.

Now explain the response to electric scooters and e-bikes.

Children are flying through our streets on powerful electric vehicles, weaving through traffic, shooting through intersections, riding against traffic, appearing suddenly between parked cars, and operating machines capable of serious speed without the maturity or judgment to appreciate what can happen in a split second.

Every driver sees it.

Every parent knows about it.

We constantly hear about accidents and near misses.

And now the response is suddenly:

“What do you want us to do?”

“Everyone has one.”

“The parents can’t control them.”

“The schools can’t get involved.”

Really?

When the concern was that a child might be exposed to something spiritually harmful, an entire community mobilized.

But when the concern is that a child might actually get killed, suddenly nobody knows what to do?

I’m sorry. I don’t buy it.

If rabbanim could demand internet policies from every school and every family, they can demand basic standards for children operating electric vehicles.

If schools could tell parents what technology was acceptable in their homes, they can certainly address students recklessly riding high-speed scooters through the streets on their way to and from school.

If an entire infrastructure could be created to protect children from spiritual danger, surely some infrastructure can be created to protect them from getting run over by a car.

This is not about banning every scooter or e-bike. There are responsible ways to use them.

It is about recognizing that what is happening right now is dangerous and that the collective shrug is unacceptable.

Where are the rabbinic statements?

Where are the school policies?

Where are the parent meetings?

Where are the age restrictions, safety standards and consequences?

Where is the urgency?

Because there is something deeply backwards about demonstrating that we will move heaven and earth when we fear for a child’s neshama, but suddenly becoming powerless when we fear for the child’s actual life.

We already proved that when communal leadership believes something is dangerous enough, it knows exactly how to get everyone’s attention.

So let’s stop pretending nobody knows what to do.

God forbid, we should not need a funeral before this issue finally becomes important enough for everyone to act!

Avi Goldstein

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

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AVENTURA, FLORIDA (VINnews) — Condo associations representing hundreds of unit owners at Turnberry Isle have sued developer Jeffrey Soffer and the city of Aventura, alleging officials improperly approved plans for two new condominium towers without required resident consent.

The associations for the North and South towers filed the federal lawsuit in Miami on Friday. They accuse the city and YCM Acquisition, an entity managed by Soffer, of bypassing legal requirements for neighboring owners’ approval. The suit claims Soffer exerted “unrelenting pressure” on the city to advance the project.

Soffer, who leads Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development, seeks to build towers with 264 units, parking and amenities on the site of Turnberry Isle’s tennis courts and spa, according to the complaint. The associations represent 565 unit owners in the existing pair of 29-story buildings.

The lawsuit alleges the city approved a 2023 ordinance and the project itself last year “for an improper motive and by pretextual means.” It says the ordinance was designed to work around rules requiring unanimous consent from Turnberry Isle parcel owners for new construction or material changes to the site plan. Those requirements stem from earlier legal settlements finalized in agreements around 2012.

“Through the favor-laden actions of city government,” the owners’ rights “have been cast aside,” the complaint states. It further contends the ordinance and project approval occurred without public hearings and that the project is the only one treated this way due to Soffer’s influence and the city’s “lack of fortitude.”

The suit also alleges zoning violations, including shortfalls in setbacks, open space and parking, and questions whether a standalone marina is allowed under the site’s zoning.

The associations seek a court declaration that the project cannot proceed without their consent, an injunction barring the city from issuing permits, damages and attorneys’ fees. Claims include alleged due process violations under the 14th Amendment and breaches of community agreements.

Fontainebleau Development declined to comment. The city of Aventura and attorneys for the associations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Soffer’s family has deep ties to Aventura. His late father, Don Soffer, developed much of the area and is widely regarded as a key figure in the city’s growth. The family still holds significant local assets, including the Turnberry Isle Country Club and golf course.

In a response that sparked outrage, Haifa Deputy Mayor Fakher Biadsy responded Monday to the public uproar about accounts from the families of soldiers wounded in combat of alleged mistreatment and neglect by Arab medical staff at Rambam Hospital.

Without conducting an investigation into the veracity of the claims, Biadsy chose to characterize the allegations against the medical staff as “racism.”

“I condemn every expression of racism and incitement against medical staff and support the responsible and sensible position of hospital administrations and the medical teams themselves,” Biadsy wrote. “We must strengthen the voices seeking to preserve coexistence and the delicate fabric of trust and relations between Jewish and Arab staff members, and between them and the patients — Jews and Arabs alike.”

“We must not allow short-term political interests to harm a system on which we all depend. The Arabic language is not a threat.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

A new VIP lounge opened Monday morning at Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 3, in the duty-free area beside the synagogue — arriving roughly a month before the heaviest inbound travel weeks of the Jewish year.

The lounge runs about 250 square meters and is the first of two that Jetex, the Emirati aviation services group, will operate at Ben Gurion in partnership with LAYAM, part of Teddy Sagi’s group. The second, at roughly 370 square meters, is expected to open in the coming months, giving the two facilities a combined 620 square meters. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The menu is led by chef Eitan Mizrahi, formerly of the Royal Beach hotel in Tel Aviv, built around an interpretation of Israeli cooking, with desserts from pastry chef Dudu Otmezgine, Nespresso coffee and a bar stocked with international brands. The facility includes a cold buffet of cheeses and salads, a hot buffet with pizzas and burekas, and dedicated work and rest areas.

Who gets in

Premium-cabin passengers and eligible club members enter at no charge. Holders of American Express premium cards also enter free — but the physical card must be presented at the desk, and a card stored in a digital wallet will not be accepted. Guest entry follows the terms published by American Express. The arrangement falls under an exclusive credit-card agreement between American Express and Jetex.

Business-class passengers on foreign carriers operating at Ben Gurion, including Etihad, British Airways and Air France, also enter free, as do members of the Israeli Medical Association and other institutional partners of the group. Travelers without an entitlement can buy a single entry for $100 per person.

The question American travelers need to ask first

This is where readers flying in from New York should slow down. The American Express relationship in Israel runs through the local licensee, and Israeli reporting on Monday’s opening describes eligibility by card tier without specifying the country of issue.

When Jetex opened its earlier Ben Gurion lounge in partnership with American Express Israel, access was limited to Israeli-issued Platinum and Centurion cards. A U.S.-issued Platinum or Centurion card did not qualify, and neither did Priority Pass membership attached to it — a repeat of the situation at the former Dan Lounge, where American cardholders were routinely turned away at the desk. Priority Pass has not been accepted at Ben Gurion since January 2026.

Anyone counting on a U.S. Platinum card to cover a family’s pre-flight stop should confirm eligibility with American Express before arriving, rather than at the entrance with luggage and a boarding time. At $100 a head for walk-in entry, a family of four discovering the answer at the door is looking at $400.

The timing is the business story

Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on Friday, September 11, Yom Kippur falls on September 21, and Sukkot begins the evening of September 25 and runs through October 2. That sequence produces the densest concentration of inbound and outbound traffic Ben Gurion sees all year — three separate travel peaks inside three weeks, against a fixed number of seats on a route network that has still not fully recovered its pre-war carrier mix.

The consequence for travelers is familiar: fares to Tel Aviv climb steeply into that window, and the flights that remain available fill early. The consequence for the airport is congestion — long queues, packed terminals, and a premium on any space where a family can sit down. Opening a lounge in August rather than October is a commercial decision aimed squarely at that.

It also tells you something about who Jetex thinks the customer is. A Dubai-based operator of private terminals across more than 40 destinations does not enter Ben Gurion for the off-season. It enters for the weeks when demand outruns capacity and a $100 walk-in fee looks reasonable to a traveler facing a four-hour wait.

One practical note for the holiday itself: Ben Gurion effectively shuts down for Yom Kippur, and lounge service goes with it. Anyone booking around September 20 and 21 should plan on that.

The second lounge lands sometime in the coming months. Whether either one solves anything for the American traveler depends entirely on a detail that Monday’s announcements did not spell out — and that is worth a phone call before you rely on it.

JBizNews Desk | Tel Aviv

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

Israeli officials are increasingly concerned that a new defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan could develop into an alliance directed against Israel, with fears that Egypt could eventually join the emerging bloc, Ynet reports.

“This agreement troubles us. This is an alliance aimed against Israel,” a senior Israeli official said of the defense agreement signed over the weekend in Mecca. Reports following the signing have suggested Egypt could become the next country to join the bloc.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the agreement is effectively modeled on NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. Fidan said the alliance would also include a ministerial committee and a general secretariat headquartered in Saudi Arabia.

The senior Israeli official said the agreement reflects a broader regional shift following the weakening of the Shiite axis. “The Shiite axis has weakened, and for a long time we have seen the Sunni axis getting stronger,” the official said, pointing to Israel’s need to strengthen relationships with Greece and Cyprus, together with India and the United Arab Emirates. “Israel needs a massive force-building program,” the official added.

Turkey and Egypt were singled out as particular concerns. “The story of Turkey and Erdogan is dangerous,” the official said. “We would not be surprised if the Egyptians join the ‘Mecca Alliance.’ This alliance is aimed against Israel. Who do you think they are doing this against? Allow me to be skeptical when they say it is really aimed at Iran.”

The agreement was signed Friday during a meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Dubbed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, the pact follows nearly a year of negotiations among the three countries.

Following the agreement, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif directly invoked Israel, calling on the Muslim world to “unite to confront the common threat posed by Israel.”

“Israel poses a threat to all of us,” Asif said. “Islamic countries must adopt a coordinated approach to confront this threat.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

SpaceX shares climbed back above their $135 initial-public-offering price Monday for the first time in nearly a month, extending a sharp rebound from the selloff that followed the company’s first earnings report as a public company.

The stock closed at $138.74, up about 4%, marking its highest close since mid-July and putting it back above the $135 price at which SpaceX sold shares in its record June IPO.

The recovery has been fast. SpaceX shares fell as low as roughly $104.83 on August 3, meaning the stock has rebounded more than 30% from that low in just over a week.

The biggest change has been investor concern over insider selling. Hundreds of millions of early-investor and employee shares recently became eligible for sale as lockup restrictions expired, raising fears that a flood of new supply would pressure the stock.

That selling wave has not materialized at the scale investors feared.

The stock also gained 15.8% Friday, its second-best session since going public, helping erase much of the damage from the company’s first quarterly report. Investors had initially punished SpaceX over the amount of cash being directed toward artificial intelligence and other capital-intensive projects even as Starlink and launch revenue continued growing.

Retail investors are showing a different behavior now. They became net sellers of SpaceX shares Friday for the first time since the IPO, selling roughly $4.5 million, after spending weeks buying through the decline.

That shift looks more like profit-taking than abandonment. Retail investors bought roughly 30% of the IPO allocation and are estimated to have paid an average price around $147, leaving many still below their cost basis even after Monday’s rebound.

The $135 level matters because IPO prices often become psychological markers for recently listed companies. Falling below the offering price raised questions about whether investors had overpaid for SpaceX’s $1.77 trillion IPO valuation. Recovering above it reduces some of that pressure.

SpaceX is still far below its post-IPO high above $225, meaning the stock remains one of the market’s most volatile large-cap names.

The next important level is around $150, the price where SpaceX shares opened on their first day of public trading. A sustained move above that level would put a much larger portion of early public investors back into profit.

For now, Monday’s close marked an important reversal: the market absorbed the first major wave of post-IPO selling eligibility without the collapse many investors feared.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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

[Video below.] Hunter Biden sharply criticized President Donald Trump during a lengthy conversation with Tucker Carlson, calling him an “existential threat” to the United States in the latest appearance on a media tour that has increasingly included interviews with prominent conservative personalities.

The interview, released Monday on Carlson’s podcast, marked another notable stop for Biden, who has recently sought out conversations with conservative hosts despite years of political conflict. Biden and Carlson have known each other for roughly three decades, even though Carlson was one of his most vocal critics during the 2020 presidential campaign and throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.

Biden said his outreach to conservative media has been intentional. Earlier this year, he appeared on Candace Owens’ podcast and spoke favorably about that experience during his discussion with Carlson.

“I love Candace,” he said.

Both Carlson and Owens have recently become outspoken critics of several Trump administration policies, including the war with Iran.

During the interview, Biden argued that Trump represents a unique danger to the nation, describing him as far more than merely a product of broader political problems.

“The one existential threat that I think we all face as a country,” Biden said, adding that Trump is more than “the symptom of a disease” but is “central to why this disease has gone from a local epidemic to a pandemic in the United States of America.”

Carlson also reflected on his own relationship with Trump, discussing his unsuccessful efforts to persuade the president against entering the conflict with Iran.

“I overstated my own influence, like, dramatically, in a very embarrassing way — and my importance,” Carlson said, adding that he was “humiliated, correctly.”

Despite that disappointment, Carlson said he ultimately viewed the experience as valuable.

He said he was “grateful” for that experience, however.

In recent months, Carlson has increasingly hinted at the possibility of launching a new political movement or even a third party. He recently convened a meeting of disaffected MAGA figures—including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie—and has outlined what he described as a 10-point platform during a recent episode of his show.

WATCH:

One of the most common questions patients asked me was this:

Is drinking diet soda safe?

For years, we’ve been told that diet soda is a smart compromise. No calories. No sugar. Just sweetness without consequences.

But the real question isn’t whether artificial sweeteners cause immediate harm.

The real question is: What happens when you regularly consume chemicals that interact with your brain, pancreas, and gut—every single day?

The Insulin Trick

When something sweet touches your tongue, your brain assumes sugar is coming. Signals go to the pancreas, and insulin is released in preparation.

But when you consume artificial sweeteners, the sugar never arrives.

Now you have insulin circulating with no glucose to manage. That mismatch may increase hunger and drive cravings. Instead of helping with weight control, it may subtly push you to eat more.

Zero calories does not necessarily mean zero metabolic effect.

How Sweeteners Work

Artificial sweeteners fall into two categories:

Nutritive sweeteners (xylitol, sorbitol) contain some calories and may prevent cavities—but often cause digestive upset.

Non-nutritive sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharin) contain no calories but still trigger sweet receptors intensely.

Plant-derived options like stevia and monk fruit are plant-based in origin, but they’re still concentrated extracts that condition your palate toward intense sweetness.

If you choose to use a sweetener occasionally, small amounts of raw honey, maple syrup, or blackstrap molasses are less disruptive. But they’re still added sugars—best used sparingly within a whole-food dietary pattern.

Gut Health and Inflammation

In previous articles, I’ve discussed the importance of whole foods to promote digestive health.

Artificial sweeteners contain no fiber and do not nourish the gut microbiome. Research suggests they may negatively alter gut bacteria. When the microbiome becomes imbalanced, intestinal permeability—often called “leaky gut”—may increase.

This allows inflammatory compounds into the bloodstream, which may promote fat storage, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome.

So if we care about long-term health, we can’t ignore the gut.

Cancer and Long-Term Concerns

A large French study following over 100,000 people found that higher intake of artificial sweeteners—particularly aspartame and acesulfame-K—was associated with a 13% increased cancer risk.

Does that prove causation? No. Observational studies show correlation, not cause.

But here’s what we know: the evidence on long-term safety is incomplete. We’re still learning how these chemicals interact with human biology over decades.

So the question becomes: Why expose yourself daily to something with uncertain risks when water, black/green tea, or herbal teas will quench your thirst?

The Brain and Sweetness Conditioning

Artificial sweeteners can be hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. That intensity strongly stimulates dopamine pathways in the brain.

The result? Greater cravings for sweetness.

Instead of training your palate to appreciate the natural sweetness of fruit, you reinforce a preference for hyper-sweet flavors.

This is not freedom from sugar. It is dependency in a different form.

What About Sugar?

Here is where nuance matters.

Sugar is not automatically the enemy. The problem is context.

In a diet high in fat and processed foods, excess sugar contributes to weight gain and metabolic dysfunction. But when people eat a whole-food, plant-based diet centered on starches, legumes, vegetables, and fruit, the body handles natural sugars differently.

Why? Because whole fruit comes with fiber, water, and phytonutrients. That fiber slows sugar absorption and prevents blood sugar spikes.

A banana is not a can of Coke.

Artificial sweeteners offer none of those protective elements. They deliver intense sweetness without nutrition—training your palate to crave what whole foods cannot provide.

The Honest Bottom Line

Artificial sweeteners may be less harmful than drinking sugary soda all day—especially within a high-fat, highly processed diet.

But they are not better than drinking safe beverages like water or tea.

They may influence insulin signaling, alter the gut microbiome, increase cravings, and carry long-term risks we do not yet fully understand.

Health is not about clever substitutions or shortcuts.

It is about returning to what is natural and simple.

Until next time—stay thoughtful about your health and choose what truly nourishes you.

Israel’s defense establishment has detected an acceleration in Syria’s efforts to rebuild its air force, including the recruitment of new pilots, renewed flight training and the first exercise involving Syrian fighter jets since the fall of the Assad regime, Kan News reported Monday evening.

The developments come one year and eight months after the collapse of the Assad regime and the IDF’s declaration that it had destroyed the Syrian Air Force. Israeli officials have recently identified Syrian efforts to recruit new pilots and conduct training using trainer aircraft and helicopters. During the past 24 hours, Syria also carried out its first exercise involving Sukhoi fighter jets in the north of the country.

Under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria is receiving support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia, France and other countries in the region. Despite ongoing discussions over a potential future security agreement with Israel, the Israeli defense establishment is closely monitoring developments that could threaten Israel’s freedom of action in Syrian airspace.

Israel’s primary concern is the possibility of Turkey establishing a significant presence in neighboring Syria, including the deployment of air-defense systems.

“We are monitoring developments in Syria and sharing our concerns with the United States,” an Israeli security official said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing a major revision of the nation’s recommended childhood vaccination schedule, calling for the number of diseases covered by universal immunization recommendations to be reduced from 18 to 11 while expanding parental choice in consultation with physicians.

The executive order reinforces the broad vaccine policy changes announced earlier this year by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., although those earlier revisions remain tied up in federal court.

Under the new directive, only vaccines covering 11 diseases would remain universally recommended for children. Vaccinations removed from the universal schedule would instead be recommended for high-risk individuals or administered through what officials describe as shared clinical decision-making between parents and their children’s doctors.

Administration officials emphasized that the order does not eliminate access to any vaccines. Kennedy said Monday that the goal is to provide families with greater flexibility in making medical decisions. While the federal childhood immunization schedule serves as guidance rather than a legal mandate, many schools and childcare providers rely on it when setting their own vaccination requirements.

During the announcement, Trump connected the revised recommendations to concerns over increasing autism diagnoses in the United States, despite decades of scientific research finding no causal relationship between vaccines and autism.

“While we do not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism, it is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world, so we’re reducing them,” Trump said.

The executive order recommends that vaccines for COVID-19, rotavirus, influenza, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and bacterial meningitis be administered through shared clinical decision-making rather than as routine universal immunizations.

At the same time, the administration continues to recommend universal childhood vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, HPV, and chickenpox.

The order also specifies that certain vaccines—including those for RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, and two forms of bacterial meningitis—should continue to be recommended for children considered at elevated risk.

Heidi Overton, deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, said the executive order is intended to move forward with Kennedy’s vaccine reforms while the earlier policy changes remain blocked by the courts.

According to the order, childhood vaccines should be administered during separate medical appointments rather than combined into fewer visits. Health experts have noted that such a change could significantly increase the number of doctor appointments required during childhood and may also increase out-of-pocket costs for some families.

The directive also calls for the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be replaced with three separate injections. Because no individual FDA-approved vaccines currently exist for those diseases, the order instructs Kennedy to explore ways to make separate vaccines available.

Throughout his second term, Trump has repeatedly argued that children receive too many vaccines and has questioned the safety of the combined MMR vaccine compared with separate injections. During Monday’s announcement, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also asserted, without presenting evidence, that giving children “shot after shot after shot” contributes to vaccine injuries.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has said its recommended immunization schedule—consistent with CDC guidance issued before Kennedy became health secretary—is designed around the ages at which vaccines provide the strongest immune response and the periods when children are most vulnerable to serious disease.

The combined MMR vaccine has been in use since 1971 and is currently administered in two doses, typically between 12 and 15 months of age and again between 4 and 6 years old. Administering separate vaccines instead would increase the total number of injections from two to six.

The policy shift comes as the United States has already recorded more measles cases this year than in any full year over the past 35 years.

Trump’s executive order also authorizes the attorney general to pursue legal action against states that do not provide religious and medical exemptions to vaccination requirements.

The directive builds upon an earlier executive order seeking to align America’s childhood vaccination recommendations more closely with those of other developed nations.

Some current and former Trump administration officials have pointed to Denmark as a model, noting that its universal childhood vaccination schedule does not routinely include immunizations for influenza, COVID-19, RSV, chickenpox, and several other diseases. Many public health experts, however, argue that comparisons are limited because the United States faces different infectious disease patterns due to its larger and more diverse population, and because Denmark operates under a universal healthcare system while the United States does not.

{Matzav.com}

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, appearing on an ABC Sunday talk show interviewed by Jonathan Karl, had a word salad answer to a simple question that is every bit as bad or even worse than anything Vice President Harris has ever produced. 

Here’s the setup by Mr. Karl, who should have been much tougher in this interview: “So you have Wisconsin coming up next, Francesca Hong, who is the Democratic Socialist of America supported candidate for governor.” Mr. Karl added: “What do you make of those controversial statements I’m sure you’ve seen?” adding, “How do you, how do you get around that? AOC replied: “My understanding is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances.” Mr. Karl: “Yeah, she’s moved away from a lot of that.” AOC: “Right, she’s moved away from it and I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘woke one was crazy.”

This is beyond goofiness. AOC is trying to back out of a lot of issues and values that she herself has stood for. And there’s no such thing as blaming something called “woke one.”  You can’t laugh off defunding the police, or 20 million illegal immigrants from open borders, or closing down schools and colleges and businesses — which created unbelievable physical and mental hardship and torment and loneliness and alcohol and drug addictions. And suicides and family breakups. And just about everything else that these crazy left-wingers believed in.

Framing white supremacy as an embedded/systemic American problem, “Defund the Police” as a racial-justice project, immigration rhetoric centered on racialization and systemic cruelty, the Green New Deal’s combination of climate policy with sweeping system injustices, abolish ICE, men in women’s sports.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez cannot laugh this stuff off. She said it and one way or another she continues to say it because she believes it. By the way, because she believes it, a recent poll shows her growing unpopularity in her own congressional district in New York City’s outer boroughs.

People are onto her. Now the same holds true for the front-runner in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, Francesca Hong. She has a whole litany of far-left socialist or communist policy ideas. And she’s trying to sluff them off as some old internet posts. But they are not. She said them and she believes them.

No more Thanksgiving because it’s a “colonizer holiday.” Abolish the police department that “exists to uphold white supremacy.” She wants a state public option for healthcare, a state public bank, publicly owned grocery stores, to repeal Governor Scott Walker’s right to work laws, illegal migrant state IDs, sanctuary policies, a $20 minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, and a 17 percent tax on millionaires and corporations.

We don’t need any of this for Wisconsin or Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan, or for that matter Zohran Mamdani’s New York. Or anywhere in America. American free enterprise and free market capitalism is working very well, thank you very much.

The Atlanta Fed is looking for 6 percent growth in the current quarter. The unemployment rate is historically low 4.1 percent. Private jobs are rising and government jobs are declining. Manufacturing and construction output and jobs are running at the fastest pace in decades. Inflation is modest. And President Trump has changed the culture towards traditional and religious values. Tell the comrades to stay home.

POMPANO BEACH (VINnews)- A 79-year-old Pompano Beach man living with Alzheimer’s disease has had the amyloid plaques cleared from his brain after a year and a half of treatment with a new anti-amyloid medication, according to his doctors.

Scott Milinsky was the second person in Florida to enroll in treatment with Kisunla, a drug developed by Eli Lilly that targets amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. He received 18 infusions over 18 months at Broward Health North’s Memory Disorder & Alzheimer’s Center under the care of Dr. Hazel Wiley.

A final PET scan confirmed the plaques were gone.

“I was shocked,” Milinsky said. “I just sat there and said, ‘Oh my God.’ I didn’t know what to think. I felt so grateful. So, so grateful. I felt so happy. It was overwhelming.”

Milinsky, a grandfather, said the diagnosis brought back painful memories of his father, who died with the same disease.

“Suddenly all of that came back. I’m gonna be like my father,” he recalled. “What a mess. It’s terrifying to die that way, not knowing who you are.”

Kisunla is designed to slow the progression of early symptomatic Alzheimer’s by breaking up and removing amyloid plaques.

“It makes its way to the brain where it essentially breaks up and removes the amyloid plaque,” Wiley said. “By removing the plaque is where we see the benefit of the slowed cognitive and functional decline.”

Wiley cautioned that the treatment is not considered a cure because it does not address tau tangles, another feature of the disease. Still, she called the results significant.

“It’s exciting. It’s emotional at the same time,” she said. “It’s exciting to see some benefit, to see something that is really making a difference, because for many, many years, we haven’t really had much of anything.”

Milinsky described the outcome as a turning point.

“This is a game changer, and there’s going to be more game changers in this field,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

The Memory Disorder & Alzheimer’s Center at Broward Health North is currently providing the treatment to more than 60 patients.

The federal government moved today to write the trucking industry’s English requirement directly into the rulebook, so that a driver who cannot read a road sign or answer an inspector’s questions must be pulled off the road — and so that no future administration can quietly reverse it.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed rule was published in the Federal Register this morning under Docket No. FMCSA-2026-0826, with a 60-day comment window. Comments are due by October 9, 2026.

Here is the mechanic of it in plain terms. The English requirement itself already exists and has since the 1930s. What has been missing is a regulation saying what an inspector must do when a driver fails. That instruction has lived in a separate handbook — the out-of-service criteria maintained by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, an inspectors’ group — which is guidance, not law, and can be rewritten at any time. The proposal moves the consequence into the regulations themselves, adding a new paragraph to the driver-qualification rule stating that a driver in violation must be placed out of service immediately.

That distinction is the whole point of the rulemaking. States that take federal motor carrier safety grant money must keep their own laws compatible with the federal regulations — so once the requirement is codified, states have to adopt it regardless of how the inspectors’ handbook is amended later. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy framed it as insurance against reversal, saying the codified version would prevent future administrations from weakening the standard the way the Obama administration did.

The enforcement history explains the urgency. A 2016 policy memo told federal personnel to cite drivers for English violations but not to park them, mirroring the inspectors’ group having dropped the violation from its criteria the year before. That reversed after an April 28, 2025 executive order directing the agency to rescind the memo and get the violation restored to the out-of-service list, which the safety alliance voted to do effective June 25, 2025. The alliance then petitioned the agency in October 2025 to put the requirement into regulation — the petition this proposal grants.

The numbers show what changed at roadside. In the first half of 2025, before the switch, 7,812 English violations were written nationally and only 33 produced out-of-service orders. From June 25, 2025 through March 19, 2026, inspectors wrote 60,399 violations and issued 19,045 out-of-service orders. The Transportation Department now puts the total pulled off American roads at more than 26,000.

The one carve-out involves the Mexican border. Drivers working strictly inside the designated commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border are cited but not parked. The proposal narrows that exception: if paperwork — bills of lading, dispatch records, interchange receipts — shows the trip continues past the zone, the driver goes out of service. Of roughly 41,563 violations written inside those zones during the enforcement period, the agency estimates about 16 percent would have drawn an out-of-service order under the tighter test.

For carriers, that is the cost line. The agency projects roughly 9,000 additional out-of-service orders a year in the border zones, and prices the disruption at about $800 per truck per day for an average two days to find a replacement driver and get the freight moving — $14.4 million annually across the industry. The agency is explicitly asking shippers and carriers to comment on whether that estimate is right and what the knock-on effect is on shipping costs and delivery times.

Worth noting for anyone reading it as a new burden: the agency’s position is that it is not adding a requirement at all. The English standard has been on the books since the Interstate Commerce Commission wrote it in December 1936, effective July 1, 1937, and the proposal codifies enforcement practice already in effect rather than creating a new obligation. The agency also says the rule sits comfortably inside the USMCA framework, since the standard applies to every driver operating in the United States regardless of nationality.

What comes next is the comment docket, then a final rule. The agency has said it will retrain federal and state inspectors on the border-zone test once a final rule publishes — roughly 100 federal border inspectors and 1,900 state enforcement personnel. Until then, the roadside practice stays as it has been since last summer: fail the interview or the road-sign check, and the truck stops.

JBizNews Desk | Washington

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The next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon is being delayed amid growing tensions between the two countries, Kan News reported Monday evening.

Lebanon is refusing to hold another round of talks in the near future in protest over the failure to expand the withdrawal zones. Israel, meanwhile, has complained to the United States about the activity of the Lebanese army, alleging that it is operating in coordination with Hezbollah.

On Friday, Hezbollah launched an explosive drone toward IDF forces in the Ali Taher Ridge area, north of Beaufort. No injuries or damage were reported. Despite the incident constituting a violation of the ceasefire, the IDF Spokesperson chose not to inform the public about it.

According to IDF assessments, the drone launch was part of an effort by Hezbollah to help terrorists escape from the area. Hezbollah operatives are attempting to extract terrorists who are staying in an underground route in the Ali Taher Ridge area.

The latest round of talks between Israel and Lebanon began earlier that same week. Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji was completely excluded from the talks because of his hardline positions against Hezbollah.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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As Americans looking to travel to the South Pacific, rich Americans are making an investment in New Zealand’s “golden visas.”

After the government relaxed the approval requirements, over 700 rich foreigners applied for the country’s beautiful visa in the last 14 months, an increase from 115 in the previous three years.

According to the report, over one-third of the software received since April 2025 have been from Americans. Additionally, it was noted that Americans made up 277 of the software, with some Californians showing interest in the formally-named Active Investor Plus Visa.

Applications for the golden visa program must make a minimum investment of$ 5 million New Zealand dollars over the course of three years, with the exception of making philanthropic commitments of 20 % of the total investment.

A separate plan, which requires investing$ 10 million in passive property like bonds over a five-year time, has also been applied for by 127 additional applicants for a golden visa.

The country’s population of more than 5 million people has the right to work in New Zealand for an indefinite period of time thanks to foreigners who have a beautiful visa.

The state of New Zealand recently relaxed some of the other regulations governing the gold visa programs, including reducing the number of days that applicants can spend in the country and reducing the requirement for English-language applicants.

The range of acceptable investments was also broadened for the balanced category, which included bonds and property investments, and it was reduced from the original 2022 requirement of$ 15 million to$ 5 million for the growth category and$ 10 million for the “balanced” category.

After the government relaxed the restrictions on the length of time spent in New Zealand, applicants for gold permits in the development category are required to spend at least 21 times there over the course of three years.

Golden card holders may spend at least 105 days in New Zealand over the course of five years under the balanced purchase category.

LUTNICK SAYS TRUMP WANTS” THE TOP OF THE TOP” WITH THE NEW GOLD CARD VISA PROGRAM, WHICH Then ACCEPTES APPLICATIONS.

However, for every$ 1 million in New Zealand invested in development categories, the time-in-country condition may be reduced by 14 days, with the exception of 42 days, at which point the card holder must spent 63 days in the country over the course of five times.

Before the card application is submitted in theory, any purchases made to reduce the time requirement must be made.

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Ashley J. DiMella, a contributor to Fox News Digital, wrote this article.

As families across Israel enjoy the annual Bein Hazmanim vacation period, Rabbi Shlomo Spiegel—who lost his two sons, Yissachar Dov and Avraham Yeshayah Spiegel, in a drowning accident off the coast of Netanya last year—is issuing an emotional appeal for vigilance, faith, and responsibility.

Speaking publicly nearly a year after the tragedy, Rabbi Spiegel stressed that belief in Divine providence never absolves a person from taking every possible precaution to protect life.

“In Novardok they used to say that two things are considered heresy,” Rabbi Spiegel explained. “One is, ‘What can I do?’ and the other is, ‘What could I have done?’ Before something happens, there is always something a person can do. But after it happens, a person must not say, ‘What could I have done?’ Everything comes from Heaven.”

Rabbi Spiegel said that safety had always been a central value in his home, long before the tragedy occurred.

“As parents, we almost never allowed our children to go to the beach without supervision,” he recalled.

He shared that on the night before the fatal accident, one of his sons had gone to the beach with friends but refused to enter the water because his parents were not present.

“As their friends later told us, they went into the water, but he did not. He said, ‘I’m not going in without parental supervision.’”

Rabbi Spiegel emphasized that the Torah’s command of venishmartem me’od lenafshoseichem obligates every person to do everything possible to avoid danger, even though the ultimate outcome remains in Hashem’s hands.

He also described what happened on the day of the drowning, explaining that the family initially hesitated to enter the beach because they had heard it was closed.

“We didn’t want to go down because they said the beach was closed,” he said. “But we saw that the beach was full of people and that people were coming and going. So we asked what had happened. They told us, ‘No, only a few steps are broken, but there’s no problem at the beach.’”

Only much later, he said, did the family discover that there had been no lifeguard stationed at that section of the beach.

“The lifeguards told us that if there had been a lifeguard at that beach, he might have noticed what was happening one minute earlier. And that minute is critical.”

He therefore urged the public to take safety seriously.

“Every person truly needs to be as watchful and as careful as possible.”

Alongside the obligation to exercise caution, Rabbi Spiegel spoke about the family’s continuing effort to accept the tragedy with faith.

He said that accepting Hashem’s judgment does not begin only after a devastating loss but is something that must be cultivated throughout daily life.

“A person has to justify Hashem’s judgment in everything that happens to him,” he said. “Whenever someone upsets him, whenever someone hurts him, he has to justify Hashem’s judgment. Then, when something truly difficult happens, he can genuinely accept Hashem’s judgment.”

Rabbi Spiegel added that every Jew is taught that everything comes from Heaven, but during times of personal trial that belief must become a lived reality.

“A person has to live everything that he learned throughout his life.”

As the remainder of Bein Hazmanim continues, Rabbi Spiegel encouraged families to combine physical safety with spiritual growth.

“My request is that whoever can, before going on a trip, should learn two Mishnayos in memory of our precious children,” he said. “The learning will be a merit for them, and it will also remind the person to be careful.”

He asked that people remember his sons, Yissachar Dov and Avraham Yeshayah ben Shlomo, and dedicate Torah study and spiritual strengthening in their memory, as well as in memory of all those who have lost their lives in other recent tragedies.

Rabbi Spiegel concluded with a heartfelt message for vacationers, urging them not to leave their Jewish identity behind when they travel.

“Be a Jew even when you go out,” he said, recalling that his sons always wore their tzitzis proudly even while on outings.

“Vacation is a time to relax, but it is not a time to let go,” he said. “It is a time to rest, but not a time to abandon who we are.”

He expressed confidence that those who travel with that sense of responsibility will be more careful both spiritually and physically.

“If a person goes with that attitude,” he said, “I believe he will be careful, both in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus.”

{Matzav.com}

Joint Base Charleston was formally renamed Joint Base Lindsey Graham Monday in honor of the late South Carolina senator and longtime Air Force veteran, giving one of the state’s most important military installations the name of a lawmaker who spent decades advocating for U.S. defense and the base itself. 

The Charleston-area installation is home to more than 50 military commands and operates the largest fleet of C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft in the United States. The renaming follows a directive signed in late July by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, who cited Graham’s service in Congress and the military. 

Graham served more than 30 years across the Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, retiring as a colonel in 2015. He also spent more than three decades in Congress and became one of Washington’s most prominent advocates for defense spending and military readiness. 

The decision also reflects Graham’s direct ties to South Carolina’s defense economy. Over the years, he supported federal investment in military infrastructure and programs tied to the Charleston region, including funding benefiting the base and nearby aerospace operations.

The installation plays an outsized role in the state’s economy. Beyond military personnel, it supports contractors, logistics companies, housing demand and the broader aerospace supply chain around Charleston.

The renaming is therefore more than symbolic. It permanently links Graham’s name to one of South Carolina’s largest defense and transportation hubs and to a sector that has become central to the state’s economic growth.

JBizNews Desk | Charleston

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Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

SEATTLE (JNS) – The Seattle Police Department will work with local Jewish communities to ensure their safety during the High Holidays amid surging anti-Jewish violence nationwide, Katie Wilson, mayor of Seattle, told JNS.
“Seattle has no place for antisemitism or hatred of any kind,” the mayor, who identifies as socialist, told JNS.

“I know Seattle’s Jewish community is acutely aware of a rise in antisemitism and is feeling anxiety and concern,” Wilson said. “I believe every Seattle resident needs to be able to participate fully in civic life without fear, and my office welcomes dialogue with the Jewish community for sharing what they need to improve safety.”

Wilson’s comment to JNS appears to be the first time she has addressed Jew-hatred in the city publicly since she became mayor in January.

Rosh Hashanah begins this year on Sept. 11 at night and lasts two days. Yom Kippur, which lasts a day, begins on Sept. 20.

Wilson, who has said that Israel is guilty of “genocide,” asked for Shon Barnes to resign as Seattle police chief in July after a shooting at Seattle Center, a campus with five museums, the Space Needle and a professional hockey arena. At the time, the mayor said that she will engage community stakeholders as she searches for a new police chief.

“As they do each year around the High Holidays, the Seattle Police Department will work closely with Jewish institutions and community leaders to help ensure people can gather safely,” the mayor told JNS.

The department “has two Jewish community liaisons and a dedicated hate crime detective who maintain strong relationships with the community throughout the year, and the department typically increases patrols around synagogues and other Jewish institutions during the High Holidays,” Wilson told JNS.

In December, video footage circulated of the mayor apparently saying at an American Muslim Advancement Council event that she would talk with her team about ending the police department’s relationship with Israeli law enforcement partners.

There are no active or scheduled plans to train with Israeli law enforcement listed on the Seattle Police Department website.

“Folks may have misconstrued an international visit 10 or 12 years ago with some sort of ongoing training, which, to my knowledge, does not exist,” Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, a spokesman for the mayor, told JNS.

Wilson told JNS that “as our local Jewish community prepares to welcome Rosh Hashanah and begin the High Holidays, I want to extend my warmest wishes to everyone celebrating in Seattle.”

“Shanah tovah,” she said. “May the coming year bring peace and health to you and your loved ones.”

“Seattle’s Jewish community is deeply woven into the fabric of our city’s history, fighting against housing, job and social discrimination,” Wilson told JNS. “It’s a diverse community with a long history of civic leadership, community building and public service.”

“The community’s strong tradition of engagement has made it an enduring part of Seattle’s story,” she added.

Israeli authorities demolished a record 536 illegally constructed Palestinian structures in Yehuda and Shomron during the first half of 2026, according to new data released Monday by the Civil Administration’s Inspection Unit.

The figures show a significant increase in enforcement against unauthorized Palestinian construction, particularly in Area C, over the past several years.

According to the report, 250 illegal structures were demolished during the first six months of 2022. That number declined to 201 during the same period in 2023 before climbing to 310 in 2024.

Demolitions increased sharply again in 2025, reaching 443 during the first six months of the year.

During the first half of 2026, authorities carried out 536 demolitions — the highest number recorded for the six-month period.

The Settlement Administration says the stepped-up enforcement has also prompted another development: an increasing number of Palestinians are reportedly demolishing unauthorized structures themselves rather than waiting for Israeli enforcement teams to arrive.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry with responsibility for the Settlement Administration, said the numbers demonstrate a deliberate change in Israeli government policy.

“For years, the State of Israel stood idly by in the face of the ‘Salam Fayyad Plan,’ whose goal was to create facts on the ground and force the establishment of a Palestinian state through the takeover of state lands and the systematic mass construction of buildings in Area C,” Smotrich said.

Smotrich said the current government has undertaken what he described as a “revolution” in Yehuda and Shomron, combining the expansion of Jewish communities with increased enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction.

“Since the beginning of this government’s term, we have led a revolution in Judea and Samaria — both by establishing 104 new communities and 160 farms that safeguard more than one million dunams of state land, and by simultaneously declaring an uncompromising war against the illegal Arab takeover,” he said.

Smotrich credited personnel from the Civil Administration’s Inspection Unit for the increased enforcement, saying that for the first time the number of demolitions has surpassed the number of newly constructed illegal Palestinian structures.

“The hard work by the Inspection Unit personnel is bearing fruit, and for the first time there are more demolitions than new illegal Arab construction,” Smotrich said.

“And this is only the beginning — every illegal structure will be removed.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Ford has shown its dealers a working prototype of a Mustang with four doors, and told them it intends to sell it for less than $40,000 — the first time in the nameplate’s 62-year history that a Mustang sedan has moved from sketch to metal.

The car was rolled onto the stage at a private dealer meeting in Las Vegas earlier this week. Ford executives told the room the four-door Mustang would carry a starting price below $40,000, reach 60 miles per hour in under four seconds, and offer more rear-seat legroom than a Porsche Panamera. Dealers who saw it compared its size and proportions to the Panamera itself, and it marked the first time Ford put a physical prototype in front of them, after showing only a rendering in 2024.

Executive Chair Bill Ford and Chief Executive Jim Farley were both in the room. Dealers were told the car will not go on sale until the end of the decade, with 2028 and 2029 both still in play, and Ford did not specify the engine. The version shown was gas-powered with the potential for a hybrid, but not a full electric. Ford spokesman Mark Truby said the company does not comment on future product.

The business logic is plain. One dealer who attended said the goal is to “broaden the appeal and make it a vehicle that a young family can use.” That is a direct answer to the Mustang’s core problem: a two-door coupe can only sell to people willing to live with two doors. The Mustang is still the world’s bestselling sports car, but it sold just over 45,000 units in the United States last year, against more than 122,000 in 2015 and an all-time peak near 607,500 in 1966. Sales have rebounded this year, with 32,131 sold through July, up nearly 16%.

Ford is also walking back one of its own decisions. The company cleared its North American lineup of passenger cars years ago, leaving the Mustang as its only vehicle that is neither a truck nor an SUV. That left an open lane in the affordable performance-sedan market — and a rival has already driven into it. Dodge killed the Charger and Challenger in 2023, then brought the Charger back with a gasoline engine in 2025, and the 2026 lineup now offers both two-door and four-door versions. A Mustang sedan would land directly on top of it.

The price target is the most aggressive number in the pitch. A sub-$40,000 sticker would put the car far below the premium fastbacks it was visually compared to, and within reach of shoppers cross-shopping ordinary performance sedans rather than luxury cars. For context, Ford’s existing electric Mustang Mach-E starts at $37,795 for the 2026 model year.

Hitting that price requires Ford to avoid an expensive clean-sheet program. Reporting ahead of the dealer meeting indicated the car will likely ride on a stretched version of the S650 architecture that underpins today’s Mustang, and reworking an existing rear-wheel-drive platform costs far less than developing a new one. That is how a car that looks like a Panamera can be priced like a Camry.

The name is not settled publicly, but the paperwork points one direction. Ford used the Mach 4 name internally to identify the Mustang sedan when it showed the 2024 rendering, and has since trademarked it, covering both gas and electric applications.

The Mustang sedan was not the only product on display. Dealers also saw the Ford Fathom, the all-electric midsize pickup launching next year at a starting price under $30,000. The meeting placed unusually heavy emphasis on the service side of the business — performance parts, accessories and aftermarket offerings, a reminder that fixed operations, not new-vehicle margin, is where dealer profit increasingly sits.

For dealers, a four-door Mustang solves a showroom problem as much as a product one. A customer who walks in wanting a Mustang and walks out because there is nowhere to put a car seat is a lost sale that currently goes to Dodge, or to nobody. Adding a body style to a nameplate that already carries enormous brand recognition costs far less in marketing than launching a new name from scratch — the same arithmetic that made the Mach-E work in 2021 despite the objections of purists.

The caution is that this is a product plan, not a production commitment. Automakers regularly shelve vehicles between the dealer preview and the assembly line when the market moves, and nothing shown in Las Vegas has been publicly confirmed. But a physical prototype, a price target, a performance target and a trademark filing represent considerably more progress than a rendering on a screen.

JBizNews Desk | Detroit

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Recently disclosed text messages show that Dr. Anthony Fauci privately discussed the possibility that COVID-19 vaccination could “theoretically” be associated with miscarriages during early pregnancy, even as he publicly maintained that there were “no red flags” for pregnant women receiving the vaccine.

In a Jan. 25, 2021, text conversation with then-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Fauci said additional discussions had raised an issue he believed deserved attention.

“I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of,” wrote Fauci.

“Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” added the then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director.

The exchange took place as Fauci, Walensky, and Murthy were evaluating whether the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen might present different risks depending on the stage of pregnancy.

Walensky responded by agreeing that the concern Fauci raised warranted consideration.

She replied that the first trimester issues he mentioned were “definitely a good point, [especially] after dose two.”

Just over a week later, on Feb. 3, Fauci addressed the issue publicly during a question-and-answer livestream hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association, saying the Food and Drug Administration had not identified evidence suggesting a danger for pregnant women.

During the event, Fauci said the FDA “found thus far, and we have to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women.”

Several months afterward, while serving as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Fauci again publicly encouraged vaccination during pregnancy, citing federal monitoring data.

He stated that “tens and tens and tens of thousands of women who have been followed by the CDC, who have been vaccinated when they were pregnant, there’s no indication whatsoever that there’s any increase of any adverse issues in a pregnant woman who was vaccinated compared to a pregnant woman who wasn’t vaccinated … it’s pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.”

Additional communications among Fauci, Murthy, and Walensky also show the officials weighing the potential risks of vaccination against the dangers posed by SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.

In one exchange, Murthy expressed concern after the World Health Organization issued guidance regarding the Moderna vaccine and pregnancy.

Murthy wrote that he was “surprised to see WHO [World Health Organization] put out a strong like saying they do not recommend moderna [sic] in pregnant women.”

He added, “That’s a strong statement to make and potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women,” in a Jan. 26, 2021, text sent to Fauci and Walensky.

The messages were released by Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin after the Senate Homeland Security Committee obtained more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemail recordings from Fauci’s government-issued cellphone last week.

According to the two Republican senators, only three contacts were listed on the phone, although they cautioned that it is “too early to determine whether any data has been deleted.”

{Matzav.com}

Iranian authorities announced a broad series of senior military appointments on Monday, including a new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reshuffled leadership across the country’s armed forces, IRGC and Basij.

Khamenei announced six senior appointments. Ali Abdollahi was named commander of the armed forces, with Kioumars Heydari appointed as his deputy. Ahmad Vahidi was formally appointed commander of the IRGC, while Mostafa Izadi was named his deputy.

Ali Azmaei was also appointed commander of the IRGC Navy, while the leadership of the Basij was placed under Ayatollah Hossein Taeb.

Taeb previously served as commander of IRGC intelligence and was removed from that position in 2022 after a series of failures. The Kan News update notes that he failed to prevent Israeli operations inside Iran and was unsuccessful in carrying out retaliatory attacks against Israelis in Turkey and other locations.

The appointments represent a significant reshuffling of senior command positions across several of Iran’s most important military and security bodies, with new leadership installed in the armed forces, IRGC, IRGC Navy and Basij.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, was sworn in Monday as attorney general after a bruising confirmation fight that exposed bipartisan concerns about the Justice Department’s direction under the Republican president.

Another former Trump attorney — Emil Bove, now a federal appeals court judge — administered the oath of office to Blanche at the White House following early Saturday’s Senate confirmation vote by the narrowest of margins. Shortly after, the newly sworn-in attorney general arrived at Justice Department headquarters to cheers from employees lined up along the entrance.

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is officially taking command of a Justice Department he has been leading in an acting capacity since Pam Bondi’s firing in April.

Staff at the Department of Justice held a “clap in” for Todd Blanche at the department’s headquarters on Monday after Blanche was sworn in as attorney general at the White House. The Senate narrowly voted to confirm the president's former defense lawyer to helm the Justice… pic.twitter.com/C7BnsHtiK2

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 10, 2026

With the confirmation battle behind him, Blanche now faces the challenge of having to navigate the demands of a president who has made no secret his desire to use the law enforcement agency to target his political foes. Blanche will do so with an agency that has been hollowed out by resignations, firings and voluntary departures while also confronting mounting pushback from the courts.

Blanche was confirmed in a 50-49 vote, opposed by two Republicans who cited concerns about what they described as increased politicization of the department under Trump.

Under deputy attorney general and later as acting attorney general, Blanche has overseen the investigations of numerous Trump foes, including former FBI Director James Comey, whom the Justice Department indicted in April for a second time since Trump returned to the White House last year.

Blanche has strongly defended the Trump administration against accusations that it has weaponized the Justice Department. Blanche has said he feels no pressure to placate Trump and insists he sees no problem with the president’s interest in Justice Department matters, calling it the president’s “right” and “his duty.”

Blanche entered the president’s orbit when he left his law firm in 2023 to represent Trump against multiple criminal cases, including two brought by the Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden. Blanche has said that experience afforded him a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

Blanche’s defenders say the close relationship he developed with Trump as his defense lawyer can make him more successful than Bondi was at pushing back on the president’s demands.

Blanche’s nomination was almost scuttled over bipartisan concerns about Trump’s controversial settlement of his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. His nomination only moved forward after he confirmed in writing, under pressure from Republicans, that the administration was rescinding plans to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they were wronged by the department.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced a sweeping proposal to overhaul a decades-old food policy that has allowed manufacturers to introduce certain new ingredients without direct federal oversight. The Trump administration has also submitted what officials describe as the federal government’s first proposed definition of ultra-processed foods for final review, Kennedy said.

“Parents should not need a chemistry degree to understand what their kids are eating,” Kennedy said during an event in Washington, where he again emphasized his longstanding criticism of the typical American diet and its connection to obesity and chronic disease.

“Nearly 60% of the American diet is made up of ultra-processed foods for our kids … and more than 70% of American adults are obese or overweight,” he said. “We cannot spend our way out of a chronic disease epidemic while ignoring the things that are making Americans sick. Food is the most powerful weapon that we have in our arsenal.”

Kennedy said the Food and Drug Administration lacks a precise count of the ingredients currently used throughout the nation’s food supply, estimating the total could range from 4,000 to 12,000. He pointed to a 1958 law enacted by Congress that permits manufacturers to use substances considered “generally recognized as safe,” commonly known as GRAS.

Under the GRAS system, companies historically have not been required to conduct extensive safety studies on familiar substances such as salt, vinegar and flour. Kennedy said the policy was intended to provide a limited exemption but gradually evolved into a loophole that allowed companies to independently determine whether newer substances were safe.

“Industry hijacked the loophole and drove a convoy of chemical trucks through it straight into the American food supply,” Kennedy said. “The FDA was left with a major blind spot, and administration after administration allowed that system to persist. And Congress has not fixed it either.”

Under the proposed regulation, food manufacturers would be required to notify the FDA when they determine that substances qualify for GRAS status. The agency would also broaden its publicly accessible database of GRAS notifications. For ingredients already being used in food products, manufacturers would receive a timeline for providing the FDA with information about their existing applications.

FDA officials and public-health advocates also highlighted the administration’s proposed definition of ultra-processed foods during Monday’s events, describing it as a potentially significant development. The Department of Health and Human Services has not yet released the definition publicly, but said Monday that the proposal incorporates input from thousands of stakeholders, including consumer advocates, researchers and representatives of the food industry.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health describes ultra-processed foods as products containing at least one ingredient that would not ordinarily be found in a household kitchen, including certain chemical preservatives, hydrogenated oils or artificial colors. Such products undergo processing “that leave the final products bearing almost no resemblance to the original ingredients.”

“The agency continues to operate with a lack of comprehensive knowledge of the substances present in the food supply,” acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said Monday.

Diamantas “strongly” urged “all stakeholders” to participate in the public-comment process for the proposal, which was released Monday morning. The FDA will accept public comments for 120 days.

The Consumer Brands Association, a trade organization representing the U.S. consumer packaged-goods industry, said Monday that it has significant concerns about the federal government’s effort to establish a definition for ultra-processed foods. The group warned that the policy could raise costs for consumers and create additional confusion.

“America’s packaged food supply is safe and has been a staple in American households for decades,” Consumer Brands Association Executive Vice President Rhonda Bentz said in a statement. “That’s something that a guidance document crafted without credible experts cannot change. Any so-called definition that captures 80% of the nation’s food supply while picking winners and losers is fundamentally flawed, not based on sound science and politically motivated.”

Consumer Brands is also part of Americans for Ingredient Transparency, a coalition advocating for federal legislation that would create nationwide standards governing ingredient-safety regulations, including rules concerning substances classified as generally recognized as safe.

During Monday’s event, Kennedy urged Congress “to give FDA the additional tools it needs to keep pace with the changing food supply” and called for expanded federal oversight of food ingredients.

“AFIT supports meaningful, science-based modernization of the GRAS program and efforts to strengthen consumer confidence in the safety and transparency of our food supply,” AFIT senior adviser Patrice Onwuka said in a statement. “The most durable way to achieve those goals is through bipartisan Congressional action that establishes a transparent, nationally uniform framework for food ingredient oversight.”

AFIT cited a recent analysis from the Policy Navigation Group estimating that grocery prices could rise by 12% if states continue developing separate ingredient regulations rather than adopting a national standard. The coalition also said federal legislation aimed at increasing food transparency has bipartisan backing.

“In attendance today we have left-wing groups who are in bitter disagreement with us on other issues but are joining arms on these initiatives today,” HHS senior adviser Calley Means said Monday. “All of us agree there is a unique political and cultural moment where we can change the incentives of our food system and improve transparency.”

The IRS has answered one of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding the new Trump accounts—and the decision removes what could have become a paperwork headache for millions of families. By creating a gift-tax safe harbor, the Treasury Department has effectively confirmed that most grandparents can contribute to a grandchild’s account without filing a federal gift tax return, provided they stay within several important limits.

The guidance, issued June 29 as Revenue Procedure 2026-25, eliminates uncertainty that had surrounded one of the centerpiece savings provisions created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Rather than creating an entirely new reporting system, the IRS folded qualifying Trump account contributions into the same annual gift-tax framework families already use, allowing most contributions to proceed without additional filings.

Why the Question Mattered

Trump accounts, created under Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code, allow children under 18 to build long-term savings through tax-advantaged accounts that function similarly to traditional IRAs. Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, also qualify for a one-time $1,000 federal contribution, while annual contributions from parents, grandparents and others are generally capped at $5,000, with that limit indexed for inflation after 2027.

The uncertainty centered on one technical issue.

Because the money generally cannot be accessed until the child reaches age 18, tax professionals questioned whether contributions represented a future-interest gift—a category that normally does not qualify for the annual federal gift-tax exclusion. Without IRS guidance, even relatively small contributions could have required families to file Form 709, creating a compliance burden far larger than any potential tax liability.

That prospect carried enormous administrative implications. Millions of Trump account elections had already been filed, while only a fraction of that number of federal gift-tax returns are normally submitted each year. Treasury concluded the reporting burden would overwhelmingly fall on families who would never owe gift tax because of the federal lifetime exemption.

What the Safe Harbor Requires

The new guidance treats qualifying Trump account contributions as completed gifts eligible for the annual exclusion, eliminating the need to file a federal gift-tax return in most situations.

To qualify, all of the following conditions must be satisfied during the calendar year:

• The donor must be an individual rather than a trust, corporation or other entity.
• Contributions must be made in cash, including checks or electronic transfers.
• Contributions must occur before the child reaches age 18.
• Total gifts from the donor to that child—including Trump account deposits, cash gifts, 529 plan contributions and other transfers—must remain below the 2026 annual exclusion of $19,000.
• The donor cannot otherwise be required to file a federal gift-tax return that year.

Although no return is required under the safe harbor, the IRS expects families to retain records documenting their contributions and eligibility.

The Hidden Catch

The relief is not automatic if a donor exceeds the annual exclusion.

A grandparent who contributes $5,000 to several grandchildren’s Trump accounts may not need to file any paperwork. But if that same grandparent later gives one grandchild enough additional gifts during the year to exceed the annual exclusion, the donor must file a federal gift-tax return—and the Trump account contributions made during that year are reported along with the other gifts.

The safe harbor also applies to generation-skipping transfer tax treatment, an important consideration for grandparents. However, married couples planning to elect gift-splitting should seek professional advice because filing a return to split gifts removes them from the safe harbor.

Opening an Account Is Different From Funding One

The IRS guidance addresses contributions—not the initial creation of the account.

Opening a Trump account requires a separate election filed through the tax system by the individual claiming the child as a dependent, which in most cases is a parent. Grandparents generally contribute only after the account has already been established.

Coordination is essential because the annual contribution limit applies collectively across all contributors. A grandparent who contributes the full amount early in the year could unintentionally prevent parents or an employer from making additional qualifying contributions.

What It Means for Families and Advisors

The new guidance does more than simplify tax reporting. It removes one of the largest compliance uncertainties surrounding Trump accounts and allows financial advisors, accountants and estate planners to incorporate them into long-term wealth transfer strategies with far greater confidence.

The conversation now shifts away from whether grandparents must file gift-tax returns and toward coordinating contributions efficiently within the annual limits. For families building multigenerational financial plans, that certainty may prove just as valuable as the tax benefits the accounts themselves provide.

JBizNews Desk | Washington

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Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

Mosquito control officials will conduct an early-morning spraying operation in a section of Howell on Friday after West Nile virus was detected in mosquitoes collected in the area, township officials announced.

The mosquito spraying is scheduled for August 14 from 4 to 6 a.m. in portions of the Township as a precautionary measure after West Nile virus was found in mosquitoes that bite humans.

The treatment area includes residential and municipal streets around Old Tavern Road between the Manasquan Reservoir and the railroad tracks, Manassa Road, Norse Drive and Preventorium Road north of Interstate 195. (see map below)

The County Office of Mosquito Control will apply Zenivex 4E, an adult mosquito-control pesticide containing etofenprox, using ultra-low-volume (ULV) sprayers mounted in the beds of pickup trucks.

According to information provided by the Monmouth County Mosquito Control Division, ULV truck spraying releases very small amounts of insecticide into the air to kill adult mosquitoes. The droplets are designed to come into direct contact with flying mosquitoes.

Residents in the treatment area are advised to:

• Remain indoors during spraying when possible, with windows closed.
• Turn off window air conditioners and window fans that bring outside air indoors.
• Bring pets, pet food and water dishes indoors during the application.
• Bring children’s toys and other outdoor items inside.
• Avoid direct contact with surfaces that are still wet from spraying.
• Keep children away from treated areas until they have completely dried.
• If remaining outdoors during spraying, avoid eye and skin contact with the spray.

West Nile virus is primarily spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Most people infected with the virus do not develop symptoms, while some can experience fever, headache, body aches, vomiting or a rash. In rare cases, the infection can lead to serious neurological illness.

Residents who experience possible symptoms following pesticide exposure are advised to contact their physician or other medical provider.

NEW YORK (AP) — The driver of a speedboat that capsized in New York Harbor over the weekend, killing a 27-year-old woman and her infant daughter, was charged Monday with causing their deaths through misconduct or neglect.

Manuel Hernandez, 46, wiped his eyes with his hand as he arrived for his initial appearance in Manhattan federal court. He was not required to enter a plea and was released on bail.

Sara Sanchez and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, died after the 22-foot Yamaha speedboat overturned late Saturday near the Statue of Liberty. Twelve others were rescued and are in stable condition, authorities said.

MANHATTAN — Manuel Hernandez, the captain of a boat that capsized and killed a mother and her 5-month-old daughter on Saturday, leaves court after getting federally charged for the incident.

More soon @CourthouseNews pic.twitter.com/KCvo4Js4Qq

— Erik Uebelacker (@Uebey) August 10, 2026

The vessel was pulled from the water and taken to the New York Police Department’s harbor unit facility on Randall’s Island.

After state charges were lodged against Hernandez over the weekend, prosecutors said Monday that he will be tried in federal court, not state court.

Capt. Doreen McCarthy, the Coast Guard Sector New York commander, credited the rescue of survivors to “heroic, swift actions” by those who responded from various agencies, along with a good Samaritan vessel.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign that began Sunday to help Andres Garcia pay for the funeral and other expenses for his partner, Sanchez, and their daughter had topped $25,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

Antonio Russo, general manager at Il Punto Ristorante, said Garcia is an “amazing guy” who has been working long hours each week as a waiter, driver and food-runner, to provide for his family here and in Colombia.

Diego Naranjo, a neighbor of Sanchez in Queens, said he first met her last spring when her son threw a ball into their backyard. After recovering the ball, Naranjo invited her son to play on a trampoline with his children.

“They were really nice people. You can see when a person is noble,” Naranjo said.

He said he last saw Sanchez last Tuesday as she brought groceries into her home. He said he was shocked by the deaths.

At least 111 people were dead and scores of buildings collapsed after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, authorities said.

The temblor, which struck near San José del Palmar on Colombia’s Pacific coast shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time, was the strongest to hit the country in a decade, according to the Colombian Geological Service. It was felt in Bogotá, some 150 miles away, and in neighboring Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, where twin earthquakes in June killed thousands.

Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble of fallen buildings in several cities. At midday, 111 people were reported dead, 61 buildings collapsed, and 52 schools, 18 health centers, 17 community centers and six airports affected, President Abelardo de la Espriella told reporters.

The dead included at least 40 people in the Risaralda department and 27 in Valle del Cauca, their governors told local news outlets.

The Risaralda deaths included three at Matecaña International Airport in Pereira, where a section of the passenger terminal roof collapsed. Videos showed plumes of gray dust rising above the city of about 470,000 people, the commercial center of Colombia’s coffee region.

Chocó Gov. Nubia Carolina Córdoba-Curi reported nine deaths in Quibdó, the capital. The department, home to a large Afro-Colombian community, is one of the country’s poorest. Videos on social media showed buildings in several areas partially or fully collapsed.

Jorge Eduardo Rojas, mayor of Manizales in Caldas department, reported three deaths, 12 buildings damaged or collapsed and many gas leaks. Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said at least 30 buildings in Colombia’s third-largest city had collapsed, with people trapped inside. Antioquia’s governor said one person had been killed in that department.

The quake reached a depth of nearly 70 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. There was no tsunami threat, Colombia’s General Maritime Directorate said.

The disaster is an early challenge for de la Espriella, who was inaugurated Friday. De la Espriella said Monday that he would establish a unified command post to respond and would travel to the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration “stands ready to support the people of Colombia” and the de la Espriella administration. The right-wing president is expected to be a key partner to President Donald Trump, who endorsed him before the second round of Colombia’s election, held in June.

Trump sent a delegation on Friday, led by then-acting attorney general Todd Blanche, to attend de la Espriella’s inauguration in Cali. The city was the largest to report significant earthquake damage on Monday.

Colombia’s Pacific coast lies along the Ring of Fire, a belt of frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Videos from Manizales, a university city built along steep, landslide-prone Andean ridges, showed serious damage to the city’s Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica, the tallest cathedral in Colombia.

The country’s civil aviation authority suspended operations at airports in Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura.

In Bogotá, thousands of people evacuated buildings. Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said buildings suffered superficial cracks but no structural damage. The city was ready to help the hardest-hit communities, he said; 100 rescuers prepared to deploy to areas prioritized by the national government.

The earthquake struck a region with a searing memory of seismic catastrophe. In 1999, a 6.1-magnitude quake devastated Armenia, a city of about 300,000 in the heart of the UNESCO-listed Coffee Cultural Landscape, killing an estimated 1,100 to 1,200 people. About 60 percent of Armenia’s poorly engineered structures collapsed.

The event reshaped Colombian disaster policy, spurring a national reconstruction fund and stricter enforcement of the country’s seismic building code.

The twin earthquakes, of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes, that struck Venezuela 39 seconds apart on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people.