For Israelis planning summer vacations abroad, one of the biggest travel expenses isn’t the hotel or airfare — it’s the exchange rate. After months as one of the world’s strongest currencies, the Israeli shekel began weakening against the U.S. dollar in June, raising concerns that overseas trips could become more expensive by the day.

In response, Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank, has launched a new program designed to protect customers from further currency swings. The bank announced it will cap the exchange rate at NIS 2.89 per dollar for eligible card purchases made abroad this summer, giving travelers certainty at a time when the currency market remains volatile.

The offer, announced by Pazit Garfinkel, Head of Retail Banking at Bank Hapoalim, applies to purchases made with the bank’s credit and debit cards overseas, on foreign websites, and for cash withdrawals from foreign ATMs between June 15 and August 31.

“Our customers are planning their summer vacations abroad and deserve peace of mind without worrying about volatile foreign exchange markets,” Garfinkel said.

The protection works in the customer’s favor regardless of market direction. If the dollar rises above NIS 2.89, the bank will reimburse the difference. If the dollar falls below that level, customers automatically receive the lower market rate.

The program covers up to $5,000 per month in spending, allowing travelers to protect as much as $15,000 over the three-month summer period.

The potential savings can add up quickly. With the dollar trading near NIS 2.95 this week, customers are already saving approximately NIS 0.06 per dollar compared with the market rate. That translates to roughly NIS 300 per month on the maximum covered spending amount, or about NIS 900 over the summer.

If the dollar were to climb to NIS 3.00, the savings would increase to approximately NIS 550 per month, or about NIS 1,650 across the full summer period.

The benefit is available to private customers and small non-corporate business clients who hold active Bank Hapoalim credit or debit cards. Customers must register in advance through the bank’s online platform before purchases become eligible for reimbursement.

The timing may prove favorable. The dollar recently strengthened after comments from Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron suggested interest rates could be reduced faster than previously expected. Lower interest rates generally weaken a country’s currency, increasing the likelihood that the dollar remains above the bank’s guaranteed rate.

Still, the opposite scenario remains possible. Earlier this year, the shekel reached its strongest level against the dollar in roughly three decades, helped by renewed investor confidence following the regional ceasefire and improving trade conditions. Should the shekel strengthen again, the dollar could fall below the NIS 2.89 threshold. In that case, customers simply pay the lower market rate and lose nothing.

Beyond helping travelers, the initiative is also a competitive move by Bank Hapoalim. Israeli banks have increasingly competed for retail customers through rewards programs, trading-fee rebates, savings incentives, and other benefits. By offering protection against foreign-exchange volatility during peak travel season, the bank is giving customers a reason to keep spending on Hapoalim cards throughout the summer.

For now, with the dollar trading above the guaranteed rate, travelers are already benefiting. In a world where exchange rates can change daily, Bank Hapoalim is offering something unusual: predictability.

JBizNews Desk

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health advisers are debating a new kind of flu vaccine Thursday, the first made with the same mRNA technology that was key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval of its new shot, dubbed mFlusiva, as an option for people 50 and older. The FDA advisory committee meeting is a step toward a final decision ahead of the winter flu season.

Tens of thousands of Americans die from influenza every year, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. There are various types of flu vaccines already available in the U.S., including three specifically recommended for people 65 and older. But vaccines made with the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology are faster to manufacture than other types — something experts say might help if the shape-shifting flu virus mutates in a way that requires suddenly brewing new doses to match.

In a study of 40,000 people age 50 and older, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine reduced flu cases by about 27% compared to those given another routinely used vaccine brand. Ahead of the meeting, FDA published a favorable review of that data and reported no safety concerns.

Moderna is seeking full approval for the vaccine’s use in the 50- to 64-year-old population — along with authorization for use in those 65 and older while it conducts additional testing.

Earlier this year, Moderna’s data was at the center of a highly unusual public dispute as a then-top FDA official blocked the company’s application for its first-of-its-kind shot.

The embattled vaccine chief at the time, Dr. Vinay Prasad, said the company should have compared its shot to a high-dose flu vaccine recommended for seniors rather than a standard-dose brand. It was a sign of FDA’s heightened vaccine scrutiny under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Moderna challenged that decision, noting that FDA staff had approved that main study’s design and citing a separate, smaller study comparing the mRNA shot with a high-dose vaccine for seniors. Days after the spat, the FDA accepted Moderna’s application.

The expert panel also will assess that smaller study, which found Moderna’s shot generated flu-fighting antibodies similarly to a high-dose senior shot. The FDA’s initial review noted the new vaccine lacks data on very frail older adults and those with weak immune systems.

Iran and the United States are heading back to the negotiating table over Tehran’s nuclear program under a fragile new framework that halted direct fighting, reopened the Strait of Hormuz, lifted the American naval blockade, and established a 60-day ceasefire window for negotiations, with a formal signing expected in Geneva.

What makes this round of diplomacy different is the mindset on the Iranian side. After roughly four months of conflict that began in late February, Iran’s government remains in power despite extensive military strikes, economic pressure, and the loss of senior military leaders. While the war inflicted significant damage, Tehran emerged convinced that it can withstand far more pressure than many Western leaders previously believed. That perception is likely to shape every aspect of the negotiations.

At the center of the talks is Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran possesses approximately 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity, placing it only a short technical step away from weapons-grade material. Determining the future of that stockpile is expected to be the most contentious issue facing negotiators.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that sanctions relief will not be granted merely in exchange for surrendering enriched uranium. He has also expressed opposition to proposals that would place Iranian nuclear material under the control of countries such as China or Russia, arguing that such arrangements fail to provide sufficient safeguards.

Vice President JD Vance has described the military campaign as having significantly delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions rather than permanently ending them. His comments reflect a growing recognition within Washington that military action alone did not eliminate the underlying dispute surrounding Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Another major obstacle involves international inspections. Following strikes on key nuclear facilities, Iran suspended portions of its cooperation with the IAEA, limiting access to sites that inspectors had previously monitored. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has urged Tehran to restore full cooperation, warning that uncertainty surrounding the location and condition of nuclear materials increases risks for all parties involved.

Despite its more confident political posture, Iran remains under severe economic strain. Sanctions continue to restrict access to global financial markets, foreign investment remains scarce, and energy exports have faced repeated disruptions. Oil revenue remains the backbone of the Iranian economy, making sanctions relief a critical objective for Tehran.

That reality explains why Iranian officials continue to signal interest in a negotiated settlement. Senior Iranian figures have publicly discussed the release of frozen assets and broader sanctions relief as essential components of any agreement. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has indicated that Iran remains willing to discuss enhanced oversight and limitations on parts of its nuclear program if meaningful economic benefits are delivered in return.

The current negotiations build upon previous diplomatic efforts that produced temporary ceasefires and competing proposals from both sides. While substantial differences remain, the talks are now focused on two core questions: whether Iran will retain any domestic uranium enrichment capability and how quickly sanctions would be removed if an agreement is reached.

For businesses, investors, and consumers around the world, the outcome extends far beyond nuclear policy. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of global energy supplies pass, has already eased pressure on oil markets. Any lasting agreement that restores Iranian exports could further increase global energy supplies and influence fuel prices worldwide.

Markets are therefore watching the negotiations closely. Energy traders, shipping companies, manufacturers, and governments all have a stake in whether the ceasefire evolves into a lasting agreement or collapses into another round of confrontation.

The reality facing both sides is complicated. Iran enters the talks politically emboldened by its survival but economically weakened by years of sanctions and months of conflict. The United States enters seeking stronger nuclear safeguards while attempting to avoid another prolonged regional crisis.

That combination of confidence and economic vulnerability may ultimately define the negotiations. Iran may believe it has gained leverage, but it still needs access to global markets, oil revenues, and financial relief. Whether those competing pressures produce a breakthrough or another stalemate will determine not only the future of Iran’s nuclear program, but also the stability of one of the world’s most important energy-producing regions.

JBizNews Desk
Geneva / Washington

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

WASHINGTON — A public disagreement emerged Thursday between U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Israeli ministers over Washington’s agreement with Iran, with Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pushing back against American calls for a diplomatic approach.

In an interview with The New York Times, Vance defended the agreement and questioned criticism from Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Vance said military force alone cannot resolve every security challenge and urged critics to present alternative solutions.

This is the proposal, @JDVance:

​To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century. pic.twitter.com/kv0wbRa9gi

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) June 18, 2026

Ben-Gvir responded by comparing Iran to Nazi Germany, arguing that the international community must confront what he called “the Nazis of the 21st century” in the same way the Allies confronted Nazi Germany during World War II.

Vance also suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be less critical of the agreement because he is more familiar with its details than some of his ministers.

The vice president said President Donald Trump believes the agreement serves U.S. interests while maintaining America’s commitment to Israel’s security. He noted continued U.S. support through missile defense cooperation and other military assistance.

Vance rejected concerns that the agreement would allow Iran to continue funding regional proxy groups, saying sanctions relief would not be provided if Tehran continued supporting terrorist organizations.

He acknowledged concerns within Israel but said he believes some criticism stems from misunderstandings about the terms of the agreement. Vance expressed confidence that the deal would improve security and stability across the Middle East, including for Israel.

American consumers continued spending at a surprisingly strong pace in May despite elevated fuel costs and lingering concerns about inflation, according to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Retail and food service sales rose 0.9% during the month, significantly exceeding many economists’ expectations and highlighting the resilience of consumer spending, which remains the primary engine of the U.S. economy.

The increase marked another solid month for retailers and suggested that households continued opening their wallets even as higher gasoline prices and broader economic uncertainty weighed on consumer sentiment.

Part of the gain came from rising fuel costs.

Gas station sales increased sharply during the month as energy prices climbed amid tensions in the Middle East and concerns about global oil supplies. Higher prices at the pump boosted overall retail sales totals even when adjusted spending patterns varied across sectors.

Yet the strength was not limited to gasoline.

Excluding fuel sales, retail spending still posted healthy gains across several major categories. Auto dealerships recorded stronger sales, furniture stores advanced, building material suppliers reported increases, and clothing retailers also experienced growth.

Online shopping remained one of the strongest-performing segments of the economy.

Nonstore retailers, which include e-commerce companies, posted another robust monthly increase and continued significantly outperforming traditional brick-and-mortar growth rates. The trend reinforces a shift that has steadily accelerated over the past decade as consumers move more purchases online.

Not every sector benefited equally.

Department stores and electronics retailers reported modest declines, while restaurant spending softened slightly. Economists often watch restaurant activity closely because discretionary dining expenses are among the first categories households trim when budgets become strained.

Despite those pockets of weakness, the broader picture remained positive.

Consumer spending has been supported in recent months by strong employment levels, wage growth, and tax refunds that provided many households with additional cash during the spring.

However, economists caution that some of those supports may begin to fade during the summer months.

Several analysts have noted that tax-refund-related spending likely contributed to the strong May numbers. As those funds are exhausted, consumer spending growth could moderate later in the year.

Beneath the headline figures, surveys continue to show that many Americans remain financially cautious.

Consumers are increasingly prioritizing necessities and searching for discounts while reducing spending on certain discretionary purchases. At the same time, many households continue allocating money toward experiences, entertainment, travel, and dining.

The report also carries implications for monetary policy.

Stronger-than-expected consumer spending, combined with ongoing labor market strength and persistent inflation concerns, could influence future decisions by the Federal Reserve. Policymakers continue balancing the risk of inflation against the possibility of slowing economic growth.

For now, the latest data suggest that consumers remain willing to spend despite economic headwinds.

The coming months will help determine whether May’s performance reflected temporary factors such as tax refunds and gasoline prices or whether households possess enough financial strength to continue supporting economic growth through the second half of the year.

The American consumer has repeatedly surprised economists by remaining resilient in the face of inflation, higher borrowing costs, and global uncertainty. May’s retail sales report provided another reminder that, at least for now, spending remains remarkably durable.

JBizNews Desk
Washington

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

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Thursday he is severing all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas over remarks attributed to her comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.

In a post on X, Sa’ar charged that Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel.” He pointed to reports that she made the apartheid comparison during high-level talks in Mexico and said she had let the accusation stand without explanation.

“To date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement,” Sa’ar wrote. He said that left him no choice but to cut off all contact until Kallas retracts what he called a blood libel directed at the world’s only Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East. He also thanked European elected officials who had condemned the reported remarks.

The comparison was first reported June 12 by the European news outlet Euractiv. Citing unnamed officials and diplomats, the outlet said Kallas compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to the apartheid system that ended in South Africa in the early 1990s. The remarks were reportedly made during closed-door meetings with senior Mexican officials in Mexico City during a working visit Kallas conducted between May 20 and 22. An EU foreign affairs spokesman declined to confirm or deny the account, saying he would not respond to allegations from anonymous sources and that the high representative’s position on the conflict is publicly documented.

Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, responded on X without addressing the reported comparison. “Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us,” she wrote, saying she valued dialogue and engagement and was open to continuing in that spirit. She stressed that the EU remains “committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.”

Apparently rejecting Sa’ar’s characterization of her conduct, Kallas reiterated the bloc’s position that a two-state solution is the only viable path to peace in the region, and said the EU had therefore condemned what it considers illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Sa’ar, despite announcing the freeze, replied in a Hebrew-language post. He told Kallas that “even in your statement here, you avoid denying or condemning” the reported remarks, adding that her silence speaks for itself. He said the matter was straightforward: if she made the comments, she should stand behind them, and if she did not, she should deny them. “As long as this cloud remains unresolved, my decision will stand,” he wrote.

It was not immediately clear what cutting contact would entail in practice, or whether it applies only to Kallas personally or extends to her office and bodies under her supervision. Given the scope of her role, the freeze most likely applies to Kallas herself.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

MOMENTS AGO: Overturn and possible ejection in multi-vehicle accident on the northbound GSP in the area of mile marker 69.

Expect heavy delays.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – More than two and a half years after losing both of his parents in the Oct. 7 Nova music festival massacre, Eliav Abdush celebrated his bar mitzvah on Thursday surrounded by family, friends and supporters.

Eliav is the eldest son of Gal and Naji Abdush, who were murdered during the Hamas-led attack after attending the Nova festival. The couple left their children with grandparents before heading to the event and never returned home.

The celebration was organized with the support of the OneFamily organization, which assists bereaved families and victims of terror in Israel. Since the attack, Eliav and his younger brother have been raised by their grandparents.

Family members described the occasion as a day of both joy and remembrance, marking an important milestone in Eliav’s life while honoring the memory of his parents.

Earlier this year, Eliav spoke at a ceremony honoring OneFamily founder Chantal Belzberg, sharing his experience of coping with loss and rebuilding his life after the tragedy.

OneFamily has provided ongoing emotional and practical support to families affected by terror attacks and has expanded its services significantly since Oct. 7.

Oppenheimer raised its price target on SpaceX to $250 from $190 on Thursday, even as the newly public company’s shares continued to fall. The upgrade came just two days after the stock hit an all-time high, highlighting the growing divide on Wall Street between analysts who see SpaceX becoming a dominant artificial intelligence platform and skeptics who argue the company remains significantly overvalued.

Timothy Horan, an analyst at Oppenheimer, maintained his Outperform rating and pointed to SpaceX’s pending acquisition of AI coding company Cursor as a major catalyst for future growth. He argued that SpaceX now controls nearly every layer of the artificial intelligence ecosystem — from rocket launches and Starlink satellite connectivity to data centers, AI models, and end-user software.

The higher target is largely driven by expectations surrounding Cursor, whose parent company, Anysphere, agreed to be acquired by SpaceX in a $60 billion stock deal expected to close during the third quarter. Oppenheimer increased its fourth-quarter AI revenue forecast for SpaceX to $8.75 billion, up from $4.75 billion, citing rapid growth at Cursor, which the firm estimates is already generating approximately $4 billion in annual revenue.

Despite the bullish outlook, investors continued selling the stock. Shares fell as much as 7% Thursday, trading between $180 and $190, after reaching an all-time high of $225.64 earlier in the week. The decline followed a roughly 5% drop Wednesday, marking the first back-to-back losses since the company’s June 12 public debut.

Part of the selling pressure may be tied to the launch of options trading, which began Tuesday and gave investors their first practical opportunity to bet against the stock. Until then, limited public shares and strong demand had fueled a near-uninterrupted rally.

Wall Street remains sharply divided. On Thursday, Arete Research analyst Andrew Beale initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $401 price target — the highest currently on the Street. Beale believes Starlink’s next-generation V3 satellites could unlock a massive suburban broadband market by delivering faster and more reliable internet service to underserved areas.

Earlier this week, Wolfe Research analyst Myles Walton also launched coverage with a Buy rating and a $175 target, citing growth opportunities tied to Starship, expanding Starlink adoption, and artificial intelligence initiatives connected to xAI.

Not everyone is convinced. Morningstar values the company at just $63 per share, while CFRA maintains a sell rating. The spread between the most bullish and bearish estimates now ranges from approximately $62 to $401, an unusually wide gap for a major public company.

Critics argue investors are paying for a vision rather than current financial performance. SpaceX reported a $4.9 billion loss in 2025 and another $4.28 billion loss in the first quarter of 2026, despite generating roughly $18.7 billion in revenue last year. Supporters counter that the company’s long-term earnings potential justifies today’s valuation.

Adding to the uncertainty, the major investment banks that led the IPO — including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan — remain in their post-offering quiet period and have not yet issued official ratings.

With only about 4% of shares available to the public, trading has been highly volatile. As the stock begins entering more mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, increasing numbers of everyday investors are gaining exposure.

For now, the only thing Wall Street appears to agree on is that SpaceX is likely to remain one of the market’s most closely watched — and most volatile — stocks.

JBizNews Desk | Wall Street

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

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday published an updated map of its security zone in southern Lebanon, showing positions extending up to 10 kilometers deep into Lebanese territory along an east-west line from the border.

The military said it will continue to maintain control of the area “in accordance with operational needs” to neutralize threats to Israeli troops and communities in northern Israel, even as direct negotiations with Lebanon on a potential withdrawal continue.

Israeli and Lebanese teams are expected to reconvene for further discussions next week, according to the IDF.

In a statement, the military urged the Lebanese army to coordinate any activities with the IDF and to avoid approaching the security zone while operations in the area are ongoing.

The security zone was established following intense fighting with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israeli officials have repeatedly stressed that any withdrawal would be conditional on ensuring the border area is free of terrorist threats and that relevant United Nations resolutions are implemented.

In one of the most shocking antisemitic incidents to occur at a school, an eighth-grader at a Colorado public school was strangled with a laptop cord and called a “stupid k—,” among many other repeated assaults throughout seventh and eighth grade, while the school did nothing.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) filed on behalf of the family a Title VI complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in which it alleged that “Jewish Student A” endured physical assaults, bullying and antisemitic slurs perpetrated by several students over the course of the past two academic school years at Southern Hills Middle School (SHMS).

The complaint alleges that during a physical education class, students played a game called “Jew touch tag,” while calling Jews “dirty” and “contaminated.” It also charges that students made a lasso out of a Chromebook charging cord, threw it over the student’s head, and yanked him backward off his chair by the neck. School authorities called the Boulder Police Department, which opened a Juvenile Court Referral for third-degree assault.

For illustrative purposes only: Pictured here are Chromebooks, the type of laptop whose charger was used to assault a Jewish student in Colorado. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The student removed his Star of David necklace and kept his identity secret as a result, but ultimately his family removed him from the school due to the cumulative effect on his mental health and education, as well as concern for his safety. The family also feels it is being forced to move from the district and is making plans to do so.

The ADL and the student’s family said the school barely lifted a finger to help Student A despite repeated letters to school authorities pleading for intervention. Instead, the school placed the burden entirely on the student to take responsibility for his own protection, advising him to leave early to avoid crowded hallways, telling him to miss a school trip for his own safety, and reassigning him to a different study hall class instead of the classmate who initiated the laptop assault.

What’s more, the school failed to enforce a no-contact order between the victim and the assailant.

“The record here is overwhelming: written pleas from the student’s parents, formal school reports, and a police investigation all point to the conclusion that antisemitic harassment at Southern Hills Middle School was pervasive, escalating, and severe,” said James Pasch, ADL Vice President of Litigation.

For illustrative purposes only: The student felt he could no longer wear his Star of David necklace for his own safety. (Photo by George Chan/Getty Images)

“Despite the family’s pleas for help to stop the harassment, the school district failed to effectively address it, a clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” he added. “No family should have to fight this hard to ensure a Jewish child’s safety at school, and certainly no Jewish student should face the threat of assault or harassment because of their Jewish identity.”

According to Susan Rona, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, Colorado recorded 167 cases of antisemitic incidents last year.

This record is a “stark reminder that antisemitism is not something abstract,” she said. “It is showing up in our communities, in our neighborhoods and even in our schools.”

The ADL has demanded that the DOE require the school district to take steps to ensure its schools are in compliance with Title VI to protect the safety of all students.

Boulder Valley School District issued a statement saying it can’t comment on an ongoing lawsuit, but “we take all allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously.”

“We continue to focus on improvements to our policies, reporting systems, practices, and education efforts — all with the goal of ensuring every BVSD student feels safe, welcomed, and a strong sense of belonging,” it said.

Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi revealed that after reaching out to every member state of the United Nations seeking recognition for his country’s independence, only one nation responded: Israel. He now says ties between the two countries are rapidly expanding and has left open the possibility of future Israeli military cooperation on Somaliland territory.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Abdullahi said that on May 17, 2025, he sent letters to the leaders of all 193 UN member states requesting formal recognition of Somaliland as an independent nation.

“Only one of them answered,” Abdullahi said. “It was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After that, we reached the conclusion that Israel would recognize Somaliland.”

Somaliland, a self-governing territory of approximately six million people located in the Horn of Africa, declared independence from Somalia in 1991 following the collapse of Somalia’s central government. Despite functioning independently for decades, it has remained largely unrecognized by the international community.

That changed on December 26, 2025, when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Israel would formally recognize Somaliland, making Israel the first UN member state to do so.

This week, Abdullahi arrived in Israel for an official visit, the first by a Somaliland president since recognition was granted. He disclosed, however, that he had previously traveled to Israel in secret.

“I came discreetly in October 2025. At that time, we were exploring ways and means to secure recognition for Somaliland,” he said.

During his visit, Abdullahi held meetings with Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, both of whom played central roles in advancing contacts between the two governments.

The Somaliland leader said he hopes to broaden cooperation with Israel across a wide range of fields, including economic development, natural resources, agriculture, water management, healthcare, education, energy, and security.

Since Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, foreign media outlets have repeatedly speculated that Israel could eventually establish a military presence there due to the territory’s strategic location along the Gulf of Aden, directly across from Yemen and near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial maritime route for vessels traveling to Eilat.

“We have not discussed that,” Abdullahi told The Jerusalem Post. Nevertheless, he did not dismiss the possibility.

“I cannot rule out the possibility that it could happen in the future. If our cooperation continues to deepen, our relationship may evolve far beyond where it stands today.”

Israeli officials say practical cooperation is already underway, particularly in the field of water management.

“We identified many areas where they need support, but we identified water management as the most important because it is a field where significant change can be achieved relatively quickly,” Einat Shlein, a senior official at Israel’s international development agency within the Foreign Ministry, told The Jerusalem Post.

Even before the war with Iran, 25 water engineers from Somaliland traveled to Israel for advanced training in water-resource management. Shlein noted that Somaliland has also requested Israeli assistance in healthcare.

“We funded the arrival of children suffering from heart disease through the Save a Child’s Heart organization. There will be cooperation in many sectors — whether agriculture, energy or education — to reflect the importance of the connection between our two countries.”

As part of his visit, Abdullahi also met with a large group of Israeli business leaders and investors, describing overwhelming interest in Somaliland’s economic potential.

“There was so much interest that many businesspeople who wanted to attend could not be accommodated, and we had to limit participation to only 200 companies,” he said.

The president highlighted Somaliland’s natural resources and investment opportunities.

“We have many opportunities to offer — mineral resources, natural gas, oil, fishing and livestock. There is much that we can bring to the table.”

While acknowledging criticism from some countries, particularly in the Arab world, following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, Abdullahi expressed confidence that additional nations would eventually follow suit.

“We hope that our relationship with Israel will continue to strengthen, and I believe that more Arab countries will eventually recognize us.”

He said the visit generated tremendous international attention.

“The entire world followed my visit to Israel; millions of people watched,” Abdullahi said. “The very exposure Somaliland received is a major achievement. Israel and Somaliland are close partners, and the relationship between us will continue and grow even stronger.”

Asked whether Netanyahu would one day visit Somaliland, Abdullahi expressed confidence that such a trip would occur.

“Netanyahu will come to Somaliland at the right time. In the meantime, the relationship between us will continue to flourish.”

One of the most notable examples of humanitarian cooperation between Israel and Somaliland dates back to 2004, when Somaliland’s representative in Ethiopia approached the Israeli Embassy seeking help for his son, who suffered from a serious heart condition. The request led the Israeli Foreign Ministry to connect the family with the Save a Child’s Heart organization, which provided life-saving treatment in Israel.

Since then, the Foreign Ministry has continued supporting the initiative, helping bring 58 children from Somaliland to Israel for critical cardiac treatment.

The humanitarian partnership began more than two decades before formal diplomatic ties were established. The political breakthrough that eventually led to recognition was accelerated by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s historic visit to Somaliland in January 2026, which paved the way for the opening of Somaliland’s embassy in Jerusalem earlier this week.

The latest group of children, ranging in age from three months to 18 years old, arrived in Israel following a medical mission to Somaliland organized and funded by Israel’s national aid agency in cooperation with Save a Child’s Heart.

During his visit, Abdullahi met with the children, their families, and the medical teams caring for them, hearing firsthand about the organization’s work and the ongoing partnership between Israel and Somaliland in pediatric cardiac care.

(VINnews) – The Israeli government has launched a civil lawsuit against several convicted terrorists involved in the 1984 abduction and killing of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam, seeking to recover funds paid by the state to his family over the past four decades.

Filed by the Defense Ministry through the State Attorney’s Office, the suit seeks approximately 2 million shekels from three living members of the terrorist cell and the estate of its deceased leader.

According to court filings, Tamam was kidnapped while traveling near central Israel in August 1984. He was held captive and later murdered by members of a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) cell.

Israeli authorities argue that those responsible for the attack should be financially liable for the costs incurred by the state in supporting the soldier’s family, rather than placing that burden on taxpayers.

The lawsuit seeks repayment of benefits already provided to Tamam’s parents, along with compensation for future obligations related to the case. Officials described the killing as a deliberate terrorist act targeting Tamam because of his military service.

As anxiety mounts across Eretz Yisrael and the broader Jewish world over the agreements between the Trump administration and the Iranian regime, many are recalling a shiur delivered two years ago by one of the most prominent poskim of our time, HaGaon Harav Moshe Shternbuch, shlita, Raavad of the Edah HaChareidis.

The remarks, shared by a grandson of Harav Shternbuch, were delivered to a distinguished gathering of prominent businessmen and wealthy individuals who had come from abroad to meet with the Gadol. The occasion was the period immediately following Donald Trump’s election to his second term — a moment when, as the grandson described it, most of the Klal, including much of the frum political establishment, was celebrating, viewing the incoming president as a steadfast friend and reliable protector of Jewish interests.

It was precisely into that atmosphere of euphoria that Harav Shternbuch chose to deliver a sharply worded rebuke.

Making a point of speaking in English — so that his words would penetrate directly into the hearts of his listeners — the Posek began:

“Today there are many people who rely on the new President of the United States, completely confident in their hearts that he’s the one who’s going to help us. But we have to know and internalize — these people, who are placing their trust in humans, are delaying the arrival of Moshiach! Only when we truly and sincerely understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the only Power that can help us, and that there is nothing else besides Him — only then will we merit the yeshuah.”

He then pressed further, cautioning against the seductive illusion of worldly power:

“No one can help us — only Hashem alone. The President of the United States won’t bring our yeshua. The future Geulah will happen only when we recognize that any direction of thought about a big army, a powerful air force, or boasting that ‘we are very strong’ — has no substance to it whatsoever, and nothing good can come of it. The only thing we have in this world is the Ribono Shel Olam, and when Klal Yisroel recognizes that there’s no other way except the way of Hashem, we will merit the final geulah.”

Words that at the time struck some listeners as removed from political reality have since taken on a chilling resonance. “Ruach HaKodesh spoke from his throat,” people across the Torah world are now saying, as the very scenario the Rav warned against — reliance on an American president as savior — appears to be playing out.

The pasuk the Rav invoked captures the eternal lesson: Al tivtechu bindivim, uv’ven adam she’ein lo teshuah — “Do not rely on nobles, nor on a human being who holds no salvation” (Tehillim 146:3).

The grandson who shared the account noted that the words were not delivered as political commentary, but as a call to emunah — a reminder, in the Rav’s own words, that ein lanu al mi lehisha’en ela al Avinu shebashamayim.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell this week, tracking Treasury yields that have retreated since a deal to end the war with Iran was announced.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.47% from 6.52% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.81%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also came down this week. That average rate fell to 5.81% from 5.84% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.96%, Freddie Mac said.

Screenshot

https://x.com/lakewoodscoop/status/2067620117253353547?s=46

JERUSALEM (AP) – For months, and sometimes longer, parents of kids with disabilities say they have waited for the Education Department to make progress on their complaints of bullying or other discrimination.

Now that the department is offloading civil rights enforcement and special education, some parents and advocates warn a process that has largely been stalled since President Donald Trump took office will see only more chaos and roadblocks.

“It’s to the point I don’t even check in anymore with the attorney,” said Nicole May, an Ohio mother. May filed a complaint in spring 2024 with the department’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging her teenage daughter was bullied over her hearing aids and was getting in trouble in class because she couldn’t hear her teachers. More than two years later, the case lacks a resolution.

Under the changes announced Tuesday, the Department of Justice will take over civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. The moves help fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Education Department. Linda McMahon, the education secretary, pitched the changes as a way to get more help to families of kids with disabilities.

Advocates said special education doesn’t belong in a health department, which usually treats disabilities as conditions to manage, instead of differences in how children learn. The top Republican on the Senate education committee agreed, saying he’d pursue legislation to keep special education out of Health and Human Services.

Some families already are taking discrimination cases elsewhere
For many, though, the response to the announcement was a sigh of resignation.

The Education Department’s civil rights office had long been the last resort for parents who believe their child is facing discrimination at school, with a mandate to review all complaints. Under Trump, the backlog of cases has ballooned, and resolutions have dwindled. Increasingly, attorneys say they are turning elsewhere to try to obtain justice for children.

The reaction is a marked change from a year ago, when parents and attorneys were in a panic as Education Department staff and attorneys were slashed.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has shrunk by roughly a third since 2024, and the Office for Civil Rights is roughly 40% smaller. Meanwhile, in the Department of Justice, the Education Opportunities Section has shrunk by half, according to estimates provided by Justice Connection, a network of department alumni.

“I think a lot of people are mad, but they are like, ‘What are we going to do?’” said Emily Harvey, the co-legal director at Disability Justice, formerly Disability Law Colorado, who has watched her cases languish.

When Trump took office, she had a federal complaint pending, alleging some Colorado schools were illegally rejecting enrollment from kids outside their neighborhood boundaries because they had disabilities. Harvey also has a case pending at the Department of Justice, alleging a district south of Denver restrained and secluded disabled students hundreds of times, even though the practice is supposed to be reserved for emergencies.

“I feel like they’re probably collecting dust on a virtual shelf somewhere,” Harvey said.

In response to the federal backlog, she helped to push for a new state law that expands the types of civil rights cases Colorado education officials can pursue.

States across the U.S. already investigate various special education complaints, including when parents allege schools aren’t following a child’s individualized education program. But the Colorado legislation, signed into law in May, allows the state to pursue the types of cases typically handled at the federal level, such as those involving allegations of discrimination and harassment.

Harvey said she didn’t think the federal civil rights office was ever perfect. “But I think it’s become even less help for people who are trying to resolve issues,” said Harvey, who worked as an Education Department civil rights attorney in 2020 and 2021.

Boston-area special education advocate Craig Haller said he’s heard nothing on a complaint he filed early last year with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Ever since the Trump administration started dismantling the department, he has leaned more on Massachusetts’s state system for resolving special education matters.

He recently used that system to help a student whose high school didn’t take into account his special education plan when it suspended him.

“I got it fixed for my client,” Haller said. But without the federal Office for Civil Rights, “I can’t get it fixed systematically.”

Department workers say the dismantling has made their jobs harder
While only Congress can close the Education Department, McMahon, a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has signed 10 additional agreements to give department functions to other federal agencies.

So far, those agreements have not reduced the number of employees working on specific programs. But the union that represents department workers says staff have run into issues with equipment and access at their new postings.

“It’s hard to describe how inefficient the implementation of the (agreements) has been,” said Rachel Gittleman, the union’s president.

The Education Department said Wednesday the latest agreements will help the Office for Civil Rights run “more effectively and efficiently.”

“Compliance and enforcement of federal civil rights laws will remain a priority,” the department said in a written statement.

Taken together, the fracturing of programs, enforcement and oversight for disabled students across multiple agencies raised questions of what would fall through the cracks, special education advocates said.

Robyn Linscott, who directs education and family policy at The Arc of the United States, a major disability rights group, recalled attending a three-hour listening session the Education Department hosted in January. Families, educators and advocates described barriers to accessing proper support and services. Although they acknowledged breaks in the system, not a single parent advocated for moving oversight of special education to Health and Human Services.

Still, she isn’t surprised the Trump administration moved the program anyway.

“It has only been 24 hours, but I think we anticipated this move for over a year,” she said on Wednesday.

In Congress, senators from both sides of the aisle said they would try to stop the move to put special education in Health and Human Services.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he would “publicly commit” to working with his Democratic colleague, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, on legislative action that would push the administration to change course. Cassidy, who lost a primary election this spring and has less than six months left in his Senate term, has personal knowledge of the education challenges faced by kids with disabilities: His wife co-founded a network of charter schools for students with dyslexia.

If special education is moved, he said Wednesday, it should go to the Labor Department. That agency, he said, is better positioned to support people with disabilities as they learn and work.

Ultimately, what matters to parents is whether they can get the services their children need, said Rob Harris, an IEP advocate in Colorado. Families spend an inordinate amount of time navigating systems that should be working together to serve children, but often aren’t. Harris has navigated those systems himself: His 19-year-old daughter is blind.

“Families don’t experience the government through organizational charts,” Harris said. “We experience it through the services our children receive.”

General Motors and Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that they have signed a partnership aimed at using the automaker’s manufacturing expertise to help increase production of missiles, munitions, and other defense systems as growing global conflicts place pressure on U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The companies unveiled the agreement at the Reindustrialize Summit in Detroit, describing it as a step toward accelerating weapons production while strengthening America’s industrial base.

Lockheed executives argued that the manufacturing principles behind building advanced military hardware are not all that different from those used to build automobiles.

“What does a THAAD air defense interceptor have in common with a Corvette?” asked Frank St. John, Lockheed Martin’s chief operating officer. The answer, he said, is precision engineering, complex supply chains, advanced manufacturing processes, and the ability to produce at scale.

The goal is not to merge the products themselves but to apply the manufacturing strengths of one industry to another.

The timing reflects growing Pentagon concerns about production capacity.

America’s weapons inventories have been strained by military operations involving Iran and by years of weapons shipments supporting Ukraine. Defense officials have repeatedly urged contractors to increase production rates to replenish stockpiles and prepare for future conflicts.

According to company executives, the memorandum of understanding was developed following discussions with the Pentagon, which has been encouraging industry partners to find ways to expand output more rapidly.

That is where GM enters the picture.

Through GM Defense, established in 2017, the automaker already supplies military vehicles and specialized transportation systems to government agencies. The division currently holds contracts with the U.S. Army, the Department of State, and other federal entities.

But Lockheed is interested in something beyond GM Defense’s existing products.

General Motors possesses one of the world’s most sophisticated manufacturing networks, capable of producing complex systems at high volume while managing thousands of suppliers and logistics partners. Defense leaders increasingly view those capabilities as essential to rebuilding America’s defense-industrial capacity.

Bruce Brown, vice president of strategy at GM Defense, said technological innovation alone is not enough. The ability to manufacture, scale, and deliver consistently is equally important.

The partnership also represents a return to history.

During World War II, General Motors produced tanks, aircraft engines, military trucks, and other equipment for the U.S. war effort. In the decades that followed, the company focused primarily on civilian vehicles. The new partnership signals a renewed push into defense manufacturing at a time when government demand is rising.

For General Motors, defense work offers access to a market supported by long-term government contracts and potentially higher margins than traditional automotive manufacturing.

For Lockheed Martin, the agreement supports a broader expansion already underway.

The defense giant has committed more than $9 billion through 2030 to modernize and expand production facilities. That investment includes a new munitions manufacturing center in Troy, Alabama, where construction began last month and is expected to create a significant number of jobs.

Lockheed produces some of America’s most important military systems, including the F-35 fighter jet, THAAD missile-defense system, PAC-3 interceptors, and the Black Hawk helicopter. The company has faced increasing pressure from the Pentagon to expand output of missile-defense systems and precision-guided weapons.

Executives emphasized that the partnership remains in its early stages.

No specific factories, products, or contracts have been announced. St. John said it is too early to determine which Lockheed programs will benefit most from the collaboration.

Steve duMont, president of GM Defense, said both companies will spend the coming weeks identifying projects where GM’s manufacturing capabilities can provide the greatest value.

Beyond the immediate defense implications, the announcement reflects a broader trend reshaping American industry.

The push toward reindustrialization has gained momentum as policymakers seek to strengthen domestic manufacturing, reduce dependence on foreign supply chains, and expand production of strategically important goods. Increasingly, the line between commercial manufacturing and defense production is becoming less distinct.

If successful, the partnership could channel additional defense work into factories, supplier networks, and manufacturing communities across the United States, supporting skilled jobs and industrial investment.

Questions remain.

Defense manufacturing involves strict security requirements, specialized certifications, and procurement rules that differ significantly from automotive production. Transforming commercial manufacturing capacity into military output is not as simple as repurposing an assembly line.

Ultimately, both companies will be judged not by the announcement itself but by whether the partnership results in more weapons reaching U.S. stockpiles.

The first major test will come when Lockheed Martin and General Motors identify the specific defense programs they intend to pursue together.

For now, the message from Detroit is clear: the companies that helped build America’s automotive industry are being asked to help rebuild its arsenal.

Detroit – JBizNews Desk

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

Elon Musk has announced plans to take legal action against Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF after one of its programs alleged that the X owner helped incite anti-migrant violence in Belfast following a shocking attack allegedly carried out by a Sudanese asylum seeker.

The dispute centers on remarks aired by Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, one of Germany’s taxpayer-funded television networks, which now finds itself facing a potential lawsuit from the billionaire entrepreneur.

During an episode of its flagship news program, Today Live, which examined the role of social media in recent unrest in Northern Ireland, presenter Christina v. Ungern-Sternberg made a controversial claim connecting Musk to the violence.

“A brutal attempted murder on a public street in Belfast. Someone films it; the video goes viral. A racist mob subsequently hunts down migrants. Calls for this had come from a British right-wing extremist (Tommy Robinson) and tech billionaire Elon Musk.”

The report, however, did not offer evidence that either Musk or Robinson had encouraged violence. In fact, the segment included a post from Robinson on X in which he explicitly urged demonstrators to remain “peaceful” and “respectful”.

Although violence erupted in parts of Belfast and surrounding areas, and police reported that some agitators circulated what appeared to be a list of migrant residences, authorities have not publicly connected the unrest to statements made by Musk or Robinson.

Musk responded forcefully to the allegations on Monday, using his social media platform to announce legal proceedings against the broadcaster.

“Legal action is being taken against ZDF for their outrageous lies.”

He followed that statement with another sharp criticism of the network.

“During the lawsuit against them, we will find out exactly which cretin wrote this terrible lie,” he added.

In the aftermath of the controversy, ZDF removed the disputed portion of the broadcast from its online platforms and acknowledged the change with a brief explanation.

“The introduction has been shortened for legal reasons.”

The broadcaster has also come under fire from members of Germany’s own media establishment. Sebastian Eberle, an editor with fellow public broadcaster NDR, condemned the handling of the report.

“We cannot and must not work like this. This is completely unacceptable.”

Anna Schneider, chief reporter for the German newspaper Die Welt, similarly criticized ZDF, arguing that the network had focused attention on social media figures instead of addressing the event that sparked the unrest.

According to Schneider, the real issue was the attempted beheading in Belfast and the broader concerns surrounding migration policy.

“The core of the debate, which has almost been forgotten, is the obviously massively misguided migration policy decisions of recent years, which have put moral self-righteousness above control and brought the population into uncertainty. Just as if the citizens were somehow absorbing all the risks that obviously come across the border. That would be worth a fresh ZDF magazine,” she said.

The latest controversy is not the first time ZDF has been accused of serious journalistic errors.

Earlier this year, the network was forced to apologize after broadcasting an AI-generated video that falsely portrayed a migrant family being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The broadcaster also issued a retraction last year after Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen wrongly claimed that slain American activist Charlie Kirk had advocated stoning homosexuals to death. Following Kirk’s murder, fellow ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali accused him of espousing views that were “too radical, too racist, too misanthropic, misogynistic, and dehumanising.”

{Matzav.com}

Thousands of Sephardic bnei Torah are expected to travel Thursday evening to Military Prison 10 in Beit Lid for a major protest following the arrest of Reb Aviel Cohen, a 22-year-old yungerman from Netivot and a graduate of Yeshivas Be’er HaTalmud.

According to organizers, thousands of current and former talmidim of the yeshiva will arrive on organized buses to participate in the gathering and protest Cohen’s continued detention.

Cohen was reportedly arrested by police and military police while sitting in his vehicle at a gas station near the Gilat Junction, close to the entrance to Ofakim. The arrest, which reportedly took place in front of his young wife, sparked an immediate response, and after word spread through community networks, dozens of demonstrators arrived at the scene and blocked Routes 25 and 241 for several hours.

Yeshivas Be’er HaTalmud announced that all talmidim and alumni are being encouraged to attend Thursday evening’s protest outside the prison.

In a recorded message distributed by mashgiach Rav Eliyahu Aharon, participants were informed that the gathering will begin at 7:00 p.m. outside Military Prison 10. The protest is expected to be led by Council of Torah Sages member HaGaon HaRav Yehuda Cohen, rosh yeshiva of Be’er HaTalmud, together with his son, HaGaon HaRav Chanoch Cohen, rosh yeshiva of the institution.

The gathering comes one day after thousands of Gur chassidim arrived at the prison on dozens of buses and held a large protest led by the Gerrer Rebbe.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday pledged to keep Israeli forces in a southern Lebanon security zone for as long as necessary and reiterated his longstanding vow that Iran will never obtain nuclear weapons, speaking at the inauguration of a major roadway dubbed “The Bible Way.”

Addressing additional challenges facing Israel, Netanyahu called for composure and a firm defense of the country’s security interests while maintaining close ties with the United States.

“The struggle is not over yet, and more challenges lie ahead. We will continue to navigate our path with wisdom and judgment,” Netanyahu said.

He drew parallels to Israel’s efforts in the Gaza envelope, promising to restore security and prosperity to northern settlements.

“This requires maintaining the ‘security zone’ in southern Lebanon. This requires that we do not leave there as long as Israel’s security needs require it,” Netanyahu said. “Because this zone separates Hezbollah from our citizens and our settlements.”

Netanyahu described preventing a nuclear Iran as a supreme goal that has guided him for most of his adult life.

“Iran will not have nuclear weapons. And as long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel, it will not happen,” he declared.

The inauguration of Route 60, referred to as “The Bible Way,” highlights its historical and biblical significance connecting key areas in Israel.

The man Anthropic pays to break its own artificial intelligence spent the spring warning anyone who would listen that the technology had become a dangerous hacking tool. This week, he finds himself on the other side of the argument, helping the company persuade Washington that its most powerful models are safe enough to put back into users’ hands.

Nicholas Carlini, a security researcher at Anthropic and one of the AI industry’s best-known skeptics, has joined the company’s effort to defend the release of the same models the federal government moved to shut down on June 12. That day, the Trump administration barred foreign governments, companies, and individuals from accessing two new releases — a model known as Mythos 5 and a safety-limited version called Fable 5. To comply, Anthropic cut off access to all customers, not just those overseas.

The reversal is striking because Carlini had been one of the loudest internal voices urging caution.

After testing an early version of the model in February, Carlini reportedly told colleagues he did not believe the company should release it. Weeks later, speaking before a gathering of cybersecurity experts in San Francisco, he described what he had found. According to his account, the AI helped identify and exploit a serious vulnerability in web-publishing software and another in Linux, the operating system that powers billions of devices worldwide.

Carlini said he had never previously discovered a major flaw in either system. With the assistance of the model, however, he was suddenly finding multiple vulnerabilities.

His conclusion was blunt. The long-standing balance between attackers and defenders appeared to be shifting, he warned, and the AI had become so capable that it was outperforming him at tasks he had spent years mastering. Two days after delivering that talk, he reportedly sent an internal note urging Anthropic not to release the model.

What changed was not the threat itself but Anthropic’s judgment about how best to manage it.

The company has increasingly argued that controlled release is safer than indefinite restriction. Anthropic contends that the same tools capable of helping attackers discover weaknesses can also help defenders identify and patch them faster. In the company’s view, preventing responsible organizations from using the technology does little to stop determined adversaries from developing similar capabilities elsewhere.

That is where Carlini’s role becomes particularly important. His credibility stems from the fact that he was never an AI cheerleader. As a longtime skeptic, he brings a voice that policymakers may find more persuasive than executives whose businesses depend on the technology’s success.

The dispute also carries major business implications.

Anthropic is widely expected to pursue a public offering in the future, and a government action that can effectively remove a flagship product from the market overnight is precisely the type of uncertainty investors scrutinize closely. The timing was particularly notable. On the same day the restrictions were announced, SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, becoming one of the market’s most closely watched new public companies. Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to evaluate its own potential path to public markets.

For investors assessing the AI sector, the message is clear: regulatory risk has become as important as technological capability.

The controversy extends beyond a single company. AI policy experts warned this week that using export-control authority to restrict access to advanced models without extensive public explanation could establish a precedent that creates uncertainty throughout the industry. Developers may become more cautious about releasing new systems if they believe products can be restricted with little warning.

Anthropic has challenged the government’s reasoning, arguing that the security concern cited by regulators involved a narrow workaround rather than a broad failure of safeguards. The company has also noted that similar capabilities exist in other advanced AI systems already available to researchers and businesses.

For the cybersecurity industry, the debate cuts both ways.

Security firms could potentially use systems like Mythos 5 to test networks, identify vulnerabilities, and strengthen defenses before attackers discover weaknesses. At the same time, officials worry that equally powerful tools could be used to conduct large-scale attacks against government agencies, corporations, and critical infrastructure.

That concern explains why Anthropic had previously limited access to its most capable systems, making them available only to a small group of vetted organizations rather than offering them broadly.

The dispute also reflects a broader tension between Anthropic and the Trump administration. The two have disagreed over AI regulation, military applications, and semiconductor policy for more than a year. Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei has previously argued that governments should have the authority to block AI systems that fail rigorous safety testing, a position that distinguishes the company from several competitors.

Now the government has intervened using a different mechanism, and Anthropic — with one of its most prominent skeptics helping lead the discussion — is arguing that the restrictions go too far.

The outcome could shape more than the future of one product. It may help determine how governments around the world balance AI innovation against AI risk as increasingly powerful systems move from research labs into the hands of businesses, governments, and consumers.

Washington – JBizNews Desk

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

Editor’s Note: This article was prepared with assistance from an AI system developed by Anthropic. Anthropic is a subject of this report.

President Donald Trump lashed out at critics of his Iran agreement early Thursday, dismissing them as “jealous, bad people, or stupid” in a Truth Social post made hours after he returned to Washington from the Group of Seven summit in France.

“These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are ‘tumbling’ down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid,” Trump wrote shortly after 4:30 a.m. ET, ending the post with “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” He posted after arriving at Joint Base Andrews around 3:30 a.m. following his trip to the summit and a reception at the Palace of Versailles.

The post came amid mounting bipartisan criticism of the 14-point memorandum of understanding that Trump signed with Iran at Versailles on Wednesday, ending nearly four months of war that began Feb. 28. Under the framework, the United States agreed to terminate sanctions, unfreeze Iranian funds and assets, lift its naval blockade and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran reaffirmed that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons,” with the disposition of its enriched uranium stockpile left to talks set to run at least 60 days. The agreement also commits the U.S. to work with regional partners on a plan to direct at least $300 billion toward Iranian reconstruction and economic development, with the funding mechanism to be determined later.

Trump has insisted the deal is superior to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated under President Barack Obama, which he abandoned during his first term. “His deal was really dangerous, what he did, he gave them everything including a lot of money,” Trump said Wednesday, adding that frozen Iranian funds would be released “only if they’re doing things right.” The administration has framed Iran’s commitment to address its enriched stockpile as a “major win,” and the MOU, unlike the JCPOA, contains no sunset clauses.

Observers and outside analysts have reached the opposite conclusion. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the war “will be regarded as one of the biggest American disasters,” arguing that “it looks like Iran has won on just about every one” of the 14 points. Within Trump’s own party, Sen. Bill Cassidy called the conflict “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades” and warned that Iran “learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Trump had received “very poor advice,” estimating that between $10 billion and $30 billion could flow to Tehran before any nuclear concession. Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America called the memorandum a “disaster” that “stabs Israel in the back.” Berenberg chief economist Holger Schmieding wrote that Iran “seems to have largely prevailed on many counts.”

At his G7 news conference Wednesday, Trump defended the framework at length and warned against any third party arming Tehran. “It’s very dangerous for somebody to sell, because whoever sells them a nuclear weapon will get nuked themselves,” he said, adding that such a seller “would be nuked.” He also threatened renewed strikes if Iran fails to honor the agreement.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

In a major boost for travelers ahead of the busy summer season, the Israel Airports Authority announced Wednesday that Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion Airport will soon reopen, a move expected to ease congestion and significantly improve passenger flow.

The decision comes as international airlines continue resuming service to Israel and passenger traffic steadily increases following months of reduced operations during Operation Roaring Lion.

According to the Airports Authority, the reopening will take place in stages. Domestic flights will resume operating from Terminal 1 on June 28, 2026, while international flights will return to the terminal beginning July 1, 2026.

Airport officials said the move is intended to accommodate the growing demand expected during the summer travel season and provide a more efficient and comfortable experience for travelers.

In recent months, Terminal 1 operated on a limited basis, with many flights redirected to Terminal 3 as the airport adjusted to wartime conditions and reduced aviation activity.

The reopening marks another step toward a full return to normal operations at Israel’s main international gateway.

During Operation Roaring Lion, outbound flights from Israel were operated exclusively by Israeli carriers, including El Al, Israir, Arkia, and Air Haifa, as many foreign airlines suspended service.

In recent weeks, however, international air traffic has rebounded significantly. Several foreign carriers have resumed flights to Israel, including U.S.-based Delta Air Lines and Latvia’s airBaltic, signaling renewed confidence in the Israeli market.

The Airports Authority is urging passengers to verify in advance which terminal their flight will depart from in order to avoid confusion and ensure timely arrival at the airport. Travelers are encouraged to check directly with their airlines and monitor official airport updates.

Airport officials noted that flight locations have changed frequently in recent months. For example, domestic flights to Eilat were temporarily transferred from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 last October while upgrade work was carried out at the smaller terminal.

The reopening of Terminal 1 coincides with a series of major expansion and modernization projects underway at Ben Gurion Airport.

The Airports Authority is investing hundreds of millions of shekels in upgrades to Terminal 3, including the addition of approximately 7,000 square meters of new space, improvements to passport control and security screening areas, and an expansion of the airport’s duty-free shopping complex.

Officials say the projects are designed to prepare Ben Gurion Airport for continued growth in passenger traffic over the coming years while enhancing service quality and the overall travel experience.

{Matzav.com}

Shmuel, who took part in the protest near Bnei Brak on Wednesday morning, spoke to Kol Chai about his confrontation with police, the injuries he suffered during the event, and the humiliation he experienced.

Shmuel said that a disproportionate amount of force was used against the protesters from the very beginning. “Suddenly they ran toward me, throwing I don’t know how many stun grenades,” he said. “I curled up into myself and protected my head and my eyes. I said that at least I should keep my eyes and ears.”

“They came running out of the smoke and simply tore through us. My entire shirt was covered in blood, both my arms were red, and everything was full of blood. These weren’t light blows—they were blows that left marks. I’m still suffering from pain in my arms and legs.”

He painfully added that despite the injuries, what hurt him the most was the deliberate public humiliation.

“That was the moment that broke me completely,” he said. “Two police officers picked me up like a sack of potatoes. I was completely curled up inside myself.”

“The commander at the scene then arrived. He told the officers, ‘Watch how this is done.’ He put his hand into the pocket of my pants and simply pulled. I was left almost without pants in the middle of the street in front of the cameras. I said to myself, this isn’t a minor incident—this is terrible humiliation.”

Shmuel added: “You can get over the blows, but being humiliated like that in the middle of the street in front of everyone—that’s what broke me.”

Despite the difficult experience, Shmuel clarified that he will continue to protest. “Despite humiliation and the injuries, I was filled with joy,” he said. “I believe that serving Hashem comes with hardships. If this is part of our struggle, then so be it.”

At the end of the interview, he said he hopes a formal lawsuit will be filed over the event. “This isn’t only my story,” he said. “It’s a broader story that needs a response.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

New York (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman) On the 3rd of Tammuz, 5742 — June 24, 1982 — Rav Shneur Kotler suffered a sudden heart attack and was niftar. He was sixty-four years old. In the twenty years he had led Bais Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, the yeshiva had grown from roughly 120 talmidim to more than a thousand. Today it counts well over ten thousand.

But to remember Rav Shneur zt”l only through those numbers is to miss the hidden man. The numbers are the result, but the Rosh yeshiva was something else entirely: a gaon who could deliver a shiur on almost any sugya in Shas with little preparation, and a Rosh Yeshiva of whom thousands of talmidim would later say, each one believing it of himself, that he had felt the Rosh Yeshiva was his best friend.

And then, of course, there is the Torah community that he had built – Lakewood.  It is a city where Torah and its endless depth is veritably palpable in the air itself.  It is a city that will likely go down in history like Sura, Pumpedisa, and Vilna. And this city has hidden jewels in every corner.  What jewels the reader may ask?  The Seforim that emerge monthly from this Yerushalayim of America. 

Just to name a few – there is a series of eight volumes so far – Aizer laShulchan -written by Rav Shlomo Dickman.  The latest is on Amira L’Akum. The volumes are clarity and emes incarnate.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Another series is one entitled Pshuto K’Mashma’o – ha’aros and chidushim by Rav Avrohom Zev Bieber. It is on Mesechta after Mesechta and is like a brilliant chavrusa in learning.  

Everywhere one turns in that city there is another Talmid Chochom and mechaber sefer whose brilliance and deep commitment to Torah learning was on account of the city that Reb Schneur zt”l had built.  It is a city that personifies the maariv tefillah of “Ki Heim Chayeinu.”

This is the story of the person who built that city. It is about the man, the malach whose — brilliance joined to warmth, and who exemplified the  highest standards of Torah and mussar joined to a home whose door was never locked.

But first – some of his thoughts and sayings: 

Rav Shneur zt”l would often quote a Yerushalmi (Shkalim 2:5) that states: Whoever says over a shmuah (saying) from his Rebbe should concentrate and envision that his Rebbe is standing right there before him.  He would continue:

“We see from here that it is not sufficient just to say it over in his name.  Rather, it is demanded of us that we see him right in front of us as if he is hearing it now from him.  The explanation of this is that words are not some separate item or matter.  They are part and parcel of his life and his very essence!

The saying and the person who said it are one and the same. 

Understanding his saying and truly receiving it can only be accomplished through seeing the person who said it.

Without the sayer – there are no sayings. 

And from the sayings, one can learn about the sayer himself, and through them – we can appreciate the personage of the baal hashmuah and the lofty spiritual nature upon which he stood.  Studying the sayings lead a person to unprecedented growth – approaching that of his Rebbe from the perspective of, “When will my actions reach those of my father’s.”  Other thoughts and sayings are:

1. We can learn a lot from the sons of Korach. In the shir shel yom of Monday, we see that the Bnei Korach thought that if they could be in a leadership position – they could then achieve unparalleled closeness to Hashem. The truth is, they learned, that every person, wherever he is – has a potential for unparalleled dveikus.
2. The purpose of our life is to take from potential into action – the Divine Image and the light of Torah that are hidden within us.
3. Constantly working on improving one’s ruchnius thoughout one’s life – is tantamount to Maaseh Bereishis itself.
4. The Shechinah only dwells in Klal Yisroel when we are k’ish echad.
5. The true acquisition of our chailek in Torah can only be obtained after the perfection of our character traits.
6. Working hard with ameilus in Torah during yissurim – creates a sea-change within the individual.
7. A person is obligated to constantly grow and to emulate the malachim themselves.
8. The Avodah of the Psil tcheiles, the blue fringe on the tzitzis, is that it reminds a person of the ocean, then it reminds the person of the firmaments, the rakiah. Then it reminds the person of the kisei hakavod. The question is, why this entire process?  Why shouldn’t the person just carry a sign reminding him to think of the Kisei HaKavod? The answer is that it is not so simple.  He would become used to the sign right away, and eventually, it will have zero impact.  If, however, it was an Avodah, a step by step thought process – then it will have a lasting impact.  This is the nature of a person – of which the Torah was well aware.
9. The value and importance of an action is dependent upon the nature of the intent that one had when the action was first performed.
10. The influence of any action is three-fold – it is immediate; it is upon the future; and it is upon countless generations of one’s own descendants.
11. Acts of chessed (lovingkindness) have within them the ability to change the very laws that Hashem set forth in Creation itself.

And now on to where this remarkable gadol and builder of 

A Son of Two Dynasties

Rav Shneur was born into Torah royalty, though the word “royalty” would have embarrassed him. His father was Rav Aharon Kotler, the orphan from Svisloch who rose to become a leading Rosh Yeshiva of Lithuania and later the builder of the American Torah world. His grandfather, on his mother’s side, was Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, the great Rosh Yeshiva of Slutzk and author of the Even HaEzel, who later led Yeshivas Eitz Chaim in Yerushalayim. Two of the towering figures of the previous generation stood at either side of his cradle.

Yet his early life was anything but secure. He grew up in Kletzk, where his father had rebuilt the Slutzk yeshiva on Polish soil and was raising a generation of talmidim. The world of the great Lithuanian yeshivos — Kletzk, Baranovitch, Kamenetz, Mir — was the air he breathed as a boy. He learned in Baranovitch under Rav Elchonon Wasserman and in Kamenetz under Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz, two of the sharpest minds the yeshiva world produced. The mesorah was being handed to him directly, from the hands of those who had received it from Rav Chaim Brisker and the Alter of Slabodka.

Then the world he knew was destroyed.

Escape, Engagement, and Eight Years Apart

In 1940 and 1941, as the Nazis advanced and the Soviets occupied Lithuania, the young Reb Shneur became engaged. His kallah was Rischel, the daughter of Reb Aryeh Malkiel Friedman of Kovno, a family renowned for both yichus and chesed. The shidduch had been suggested by Rav Elchonon Wasserman himself. But the engagement was made in a world coming apart. Reb Shneur escaped the Soviet Union by the narrowest of margins, traveling by boat from Odessa to Turkey — on the same journey, by remarkable providence, as a young scholar named Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach, who would remain bound to his life for decades.

On January 7, 1941, Reb Shneur reached Yerushalayim. He was twenty-two, recently engaged, separated from his kallah by oceans and war. His father was making his own dangerous way to America. His kallah was trapped in Shanghai, where she would endure typhus and tuberculosis. They would not stand under the chuppah together for nearly eight years.

These were not idle years. In Yerushalayim he lived in the home of his grandfather, Rav Isser Zalman zt”l, learning with him daily and absorbing not only his vast breadth in Torah but his middos — his humility, his readiness to admit when he did not know something. He learned as well from the Brisker Rav, Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, drinking the Brisker method directly from the son of Rav Chaim. He kept a chavrusa for six years with Rav Nota Frank, son of the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim. He heard shiurim at Chevron from Rav Yechezkel Sarna and learned under Rav Yitzchak Isaac Sher. From the breadth of his grandfather and the depth of Brisk, a Torah personality was forming that drew on both.

And he built. When his uncle Rav Tzvi Yehuda Meltzer established a branch of Yeshivas Kletzk in Eretz Yisrael in 1941 — even as the original Kletzk in Lithuania was being annihilated — Reb Shneur was among the first thirty bochurim. But he did not come merely to learn. While still an engaged bachur, he gave shiurim in the yeshiva, served on its hanhallah, and saw his name printed on its letterhead. At twenty-three, he was already a builder of institutions and a teacher of others. It was a foreshadowing no one yet had recognized.

“Ich Vill Nisht Tcheperen Mit a Yesoma”

Reb Shneur arrived in America aboard the Marine Carp on May 23, 1947, and joined the kollel his father had founded in Lakewood. But before the long-delayed wedding could take place, there was a crisis to confront.

Rischel’s health was precarious. Typhus and tuberculosis had ravaged her in Shanghai. One lung had failed; the other was seriously compromised. The doctors were blunt: she would not live long, and she would never bear children. One physician, learning that Rav Aharon intended to proceed, objected directly — the great Rosh Yeshiva had only one son to carry his name, and it was reckless to marry him to a girl who could never have children.

Rav Aharon’s answer became one of the defining lines of his life: “Ich vell nisht tcheperen mit a yesoma… m’vet vaiter gein mitt der shidduch.” “I will not bargain with an orphaned girl. Let us proceed with the shidduch.” The Yiddish word tcheperen carries the sense of haggling, of treating a person as a commodity to be appraised and found wanting. Rischel had lost her parents to the Nazis, survived Shanghai, and kept faith with the engagement for eight years. She would not be set aside because a doctor’s chart said she was sick.

The wedding took place in the yeshiva building in Lakewood on January 19, 1949. Reb Shneur was thirty; Rebbitzen Rischel was twenty-five. Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, the Rav of Shanghai who had cared for her like a daughter, walked her to the chuppah in place of the father she had lost.

The doctors were wrong on every count. Rebbetzin Rischel bore eight children. She lived to ninety-two, outliving the physicians who had pronounced her doomed and leaving behind, at her petirah in 2015, generations of descendants living lives of Torah. The moral stand Rav Aharon took — that you do not abandon an orphan because the odds are against her — was vindicated a thousandfold. It was a lesson Reb Shneur would carry into everything he built: that doing what is right matters more than calculating what is prudent.

The Quiet Years

For fifteen years, from 1947 to 1962, Reb Shneur lived as a regular avreich in the Lakewood kollel. He demanded no special treatment as the Rosh Yeshiva’s son. He sat with the other yungeleit, learned with his chavrusos, and attended his father’s shiurim. The family lived simply; money was always tight. Rebbetzin Rischel stretched every dollar, sewed clothes, cooked from scratch, and eventually raised nine children while never pressing her husband to leave learning.

But these were not merely years of personal growth. Reb Shneur was watching. He saw how his father prepared shiurim — the notebooks of chiddushim, constantly revised. He saw how his father refused to lower admission standards for a donation, how he balanced the yeshiva’s needs against the demands of Chinuch Atzmai and the broader klal. He was absorbing not only Torah but the craft of leadership, the kind that can only be learned by living close to a gadol as he navigates real decisions. No one knew it yet, but these were preparation years.

On Friday, the second of Kislev 5723 — November 30, 1962 — Rav Aharon Kotler was niftar after a heart attack. He was seventy-one. The gadol who had built Lakewood from fourteen talmidim, who had saved lives through Vaad Hatzalah and built Chinuch Atzmai, was gone, and the yeshiva had no designated successor.    

“Yechi Hamelech”

At the levaya on December 2nd, as the aron was carried, a cry rose from among the bochurim: “Yechi Hamelech! Yechi Hamelech!” Long live the king. It was not a eulogy but a declaration. The melech had died, but the malchus — the kingdom of Torah Rav Aharon had built — would continue, and its new king was standing among them. The talmidim were not waiting for a board to decide. They had chosen their Rosh Yeshiva.

The weight on Reb Shneur in those days is hard to imagine: grief for a father who was also his rebbe and mentor, the shock of a sudden loss, and the crushing question of whether anyone could follow Rav Aharon Kotler. He had never officially given a shiur in Lakewood. He had nine children, the youngest still very young. Yet the gedolim were unanimous. Rav Moshe Feinstein, who had been close with Rav Aharon for decades, put it plainly: “You must take the yeshiva. There is no one else.” Rebbetzin Rischel — who had survived the Nazis, Shanghai, and a death sentence from doctors — told her husband he could do it, and that it was what his father would have wanted.

In January 1963, about six weeks after his father’s petirah, Reb Shneur delivered his first shiur as Rosh Yeshiva. The beis medrash was packed with everyone wondering whether he could fill the role. Within minutes, the question was answered. The depth was there, the breadth across Shas, the ability to penetrate to the core of a difficult sugya. But the style was his own. Where Rav Aharon had been fire, Reb Shneur was light. Where his father challenged through intensity, the son challenged through clarity. He understood early that he did not need to imitate his father; he needed to be himself, and that was enough.

Maintaining the Standard, Adding His Own Voice

Reb Shneur made a foundational decision: the standards his father had set would not soften. Lakewood would not become easier because a new, gentler Rosh Yeshiva had arrived. The learning would remain intense, the expectations high, the commitment to emes — to truth in learning and honesty in character — non-negotiable. When some bochurim tested the boundaries in the early weeks, his answer was clear: the standards would hold.

But his manner was distinct. He kept his door open even more than his father had. He corrected with kindness and challenged with love. He continued the practice of meeting talmidim individually, wanting to know each one’s strengths and struggles. A Rosh Yeshiva, he understood, is not only a lecturer but a builder of people.

He did not lead alone. From the start he worked in close partnership with Rav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel zt”l, the mashgiach ruchani whom Rav Aharon had appointed in 1943. Rav Nosson had been shaped by the mussar masters of Kelm and Mir; he embodied the Lithuanian tradition of relentless work on the self. A new leader might have seen the veteran mashgiach as a rival or a relic of the previous era. Reb Shneur saw a partner in the sacred work of building bnei Torah. He took the learning; Rav Nosson took the middos and the avodah of the heart; and they consulted constantly, each bringing the other into the life of every struggling talmid. Their partnership — lasting until Reb Shneur’s own petirah in 1982 — became a model the talmidim absorbed: that brilliance in learning means little without refined character, and that the two are meant to grow together.

The Vision He Inherited

To understand what Reb Shneur was building upon, it helps to recall the moment his father had defined the mission. In early 1942, less than a year after reaching America, Rav Aharon had gathered some 150 bnei Torah at the Clymer Street Shul in Brooklyn. The yeshiva world of Europe was being systematically destroyed, and most observers assumed serious Torah learning could not be transplanted to America — that American boys could not learn at European levels, that the kollel idea would never take hold. Rav Aharon told them that the earlier generations had been like diamonds, gold, and silver, while theirs was merely iron. But iron, he said, is what the links of a chain are made of. Their task was to keep the chain unbroken.

That image — a generation of iron holding the chain together — was the inheritance Reb Shneur received. The yeshiva his father then built in Lakewood in 1943, beginning with fourteen talmidim, was the proof that the chain could hold. By the time Reb Shneur assumed leadership it numbered around 200. What he would do over the next two decades is take a chain his father had forged from iron and watch it, link by link, become gold again — producing gedolim, talmidei chachamim, and Torah leaders in numbers no one in 1942 would have dared predict.

The Kotler family carried this building-vision across generations and continents. Rav Aharon, together with the philanthropist Zev Wolfson and figures like Rabbi Binyamin Paler, had helped establish yeshivos in Argentina, France, and elsewhere — schools for young children and yeshivos for older ones, bringing Torah education to Jews wherever they lived. Reb Shneur had absorbed this outlook from his earliest years, and it would shape the kollel network and the kiruv work that defined his own leadership. A Torah leader’s responsibility, he understood, extended far beyond the walls of his own beis medrash.

The Children

Reb Shneur and his Rebbitzen raised nine children: Sarah Yehudis who would marry Reb Dovid Schustal shlita; Reb Aryeh Malkiel Shlita who would eventually marry Chana Leah Tikotzky;  Reb Meir Z”L who would eventually marry Libby Affen; but was tragically niftar; Batsheva who would eventually marry Rav Shea Krupenia; Reb Isser Zalman who would eventually marry Chanie Weinreb; Liba Esther who would eventually marry Reb Uren Reich; Reb Yitzchok Shraga who would eventually marry Miriam Cohenl Baila Hinda who would eventually marry Reb Gershon Ribner shlita and Reb Aaron who would eventually marry Hencha Dina Eisenberger.  Raised in a remarkable home of Torah and Mussar, all of them have inherited the watmyj, love and sensitivity of their illustrious father.

The Small Town That Was Lakewood

It is easy now, when Lakewood is a Torah city of tens of thousands, to forget how small it once was. When Reb Shneur took the helm, the local Jewish day school had so few students they could nearly be counted on one hand. There were only a handful of Shomer Shabbos families in the entire town. The yeshiva stood barely a block from the Kotler home. Money was desperately scarce. This was not Boro Park or Williamsburg, with kosher stores on every corner and a minyan in every shul. It was a resort town in central New Jersey, an island of Torah in a much larger sea.

The smallness exacted a real price from the family. Because Lakewood had so few Torah educational options in those years, the Kotler children were sent away to yeshiva at remarkably young ages — six, seven, eight years old. For Rebbetzin Rischel, who had already lost her parents in the Holocaust and endured years of suffering in Shanghai, sending her young children away and seeing them only on occasional visits could not have been easy. But it was what commitment to Torah required in those early years, and the children understood it even then. What transformed this struggling outpost into a movement was not its size or its facilities, but the warmth that Reb Shneur and Rebbetzin Rischel poured into it.

The Chaburos Revolution

Reb Shneur’s most significant structural innovation was not about size but about scope. The traditional yeshiva model had the entire yeshiva learning a single mesechta together — thorough, unified, but narrow. Over several years a bochur might master six or seven mesechtos at depth. Reb Shneur envisioned something different: that most of the subjects of Shas should be learned in the yeshiva at the same time.

He established a system of chaburos — groups — each studying a different area of Torah under its own rosh chaburah. Some chaburos eventually held as many as a hundred members; others were small and intimate. Together they covered the full spectrum: Nashim, Nezikin, the vast expanse of Kodshim, Moed, Taharos, Zeraim. The yeshiva became, in effect, many yeshivos within one — a world of opportunity for the industrious talmid. A bochur was not locked into one chaburah; he could move from seder to seder, building expertise across Shas, developing breadth as well as depth.

The genius of the system extended beyond coverage. Leading a chaburah — preparing shiurim, guiding discussion, fielding questions — was itself training. The yungeleit who led chaburos were learning to become roshei yeshiva. The system trained the very leaders who would later carry the Lakewood derech to communities across the world. To put this learning in permanent form, Reb Shneur organized a Torah journal, Nhorai, in which bochurim and yungeleit published their chiddushim — because writing forces a clarity that thinking and even speaking do not.

Growth Without Compromise

One of the first questions Reb Shneur faced was whether to grow the Yeshiva at all. His father had deliberately kept the yeshiva small, turning away applicants to preserve its standards. Some urged Reb Shneur to do exactly the same. But he saw something his father had not lived to see: the American Torah world was expanding. The day-school movement Rav Aharon had helped build through Torah Umesorah was now producing more boys who wanted to learn seriously, and there were few places for them to go. He felt a responsibility to serve them.

So he chose to grow it — but carefully, deliberately, never at the cost of quality. He expanded admissions gradually, adding rebbeim and mashgichim to keep pace, watching the beis medrash closely for any sign that the intensity of learning was slipping or that standards were being lowered to accommodate new talmidim. The answer, year after year, satisfied him: the new bochurim rose to Lakewood’s level rather than dragging it down. From roughly 200 talmidim in 1962, the yeshiva reached perhaps 300 by 1970, then 600 by the mid-1970s, and over 800 by 1980 — a trajectory without precedent in American Jewish history, achieved while preserving both the seriousness and the personal warmth that defined the place.

Choosing a Son-in-Law

Reb Shneur would encourage Torah depth and the relentless pursuit of emes in learning.  Once while walking into the Beis HaMedrash he noticed an open notebook of one of the bochurim in yeshiva.  He perused the Torah written in it and he realized that this was no mere BMG bochur.  Its author was a future gadol B’Yisroel.  He made inquiries as to who he was and determined that not only were his written Chaburos sheer brilliance, but the bochur’s yiras shamayim, midos, and sense of Achrayos for Klal Yisroel were stellar. Reb Shneur zt”l had discovered his future son-in-law, Rav Uren Reich, shlita

A Mind of Extraordinary Range

Those who heard Reb Shneur’s shiurim describe a rare gift: he could deliver a substantive, brilliant shiur on virtually any topic with minimal preparation. This was not carelessness about preparation. It was the fruit of decades of serious learning — of constantly writing chiddushim, of training a mind to see principles and patterns rather than isolated facts. He had so comprehensive a command of Shas, and so well-developed a framework for approaching any sugya, that he could make connections on short notice that others would have needed weeks to research.

His shiurim followed a clear architecture: he would lay out the sugya so all could follow the shakla v’tarya, identify the core difficulty, weigh competing approaches with their strengths and weaknesses, and then build his own resolution — anticipating objections, showing how it illuminated not just the local question but the entire sugya. And afterward his office was open, sometimes for hours, so that even bochurim who had found the shiur difficult could come and master the material. The accessibility was not incidental to his greatness; it was part of it.

His Torah did not vanish with him. After his petirah, Machon Mishnas Rav Aharon published his work in two series. Noam Siach gathered his maamarim and mussar sichos — his pre-tekios addresses and his vision of Torah, avodah, and gemilus chasadim, each laden with references to Tanach, Chazal, and the Rishonim. Siach Arev preserved his chiddushim across many mesechtos — Pesachim, Shabbos, Eruvin, Sukkah, Kiddushin, Sanhedrin, Seder Kodshim, and more — eventually filling more than a dozen volumes. Those who knew him said his ability to express himself in writing was second to none.

“Every Bachur Felt He Was His Best Friend”

If one phrase captures what set Reb Shneur apart, it is this: every talmid, throughout the entire time he learned in the yeshiva, felt that the Rosh Yeshiva was his closest friend. It was not a technique. When you spoke with him, you had his full attention — he was not glancing past you to see who else needed him. He asked about your family, your background, your struggles, and he remembered the answers weeks and months later.

He had a particular gift for seeing potential that others, including the talmid himself, could not yet see. Bochurim who had struggled or failed elsewhere came to Lakewood and discovered that Reb Shneur believed in them — and that belief changed them.

A Man of Klal Yisroel

Reb Shneur was never content to be only the Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood. He inherited from his father a sense of responsibility to the entire Jewish people, and he lived it. He served on the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, where his voice carried weight on the major questions facing American Orthodoxy. He sat on the boards of Torah Umesorah, which built day schools across America, and Chinuch Atzmai, the Torah school network in Israel that his father had helped found — traveling to Israel to raise funds for it as Rav Aharon had done.

Perhaps most strikingly for his time, he was an early and vocal champion of kiruv. In the 1970s the mainstream yeshiva world largely regarded outreach to secular Jews as someone else’s work. Reb Shneur saw it as central. He supported Aish HaTorah at its inception when others were skeptical of its methods. He pushed Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld of Sh’or Yoshuv toward kiruv, helping turn that yeshiva into one of America’s premier institutions for baalei teshuvah. He backed Shalom Torah Centers, one of the first kiruv schools built not within an established Orthodox community but out among the Jews who needed it. His insistence that kiruv was as worthy as any other Torah work — deserving of the best minds and the most dedicated hearts — was decades ahead of its time, helping to seed the baal teshuvah movement that would later flourish.

He understood, too, that Lakewood’s influence would be measured not only by what happened within its walls but by how far its Torah spread. He sent groups of his finest yungeleit — carefully chosen for learning, middos, and the willingness to sacrifice comfort — to establish kollelim in city after city: New York, Chicago, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and smaller communities that had little Torah infrastructure, and even to Canada and Australia. Each kollel learned with Lakewood intensity and engaged its community with Lakewood warmth, giving shiurim to baalei batim, teaching in day schools, becoming an address for every question. By the early 1980s these kollelim numbered in the dozens. They proved that serious Torah could take root anywhere.

Saving Lives, Even in Mourning

After the Iranian revolution of 1979, the position of Persian Jewry grew precarious, and Reb Shneur threw himself into helping Iranian Jews reach America — securing what help he could, opening Lakewood to Iranian talmidim, connecting families to communities that could absorb them. Hundreds of families built new lives with his direct or indirect help.

One detail reveals the man more than any speech could. In 1982 his eldest son, Rav Meir — a distinguished talmid chacham widely seen as his eventual successor — became ill and was niftar. During the shiva for his own child, Reb Shneur continued working on behalf of Iranian youth who needed rescue. When someone questioned whether this was appropriate in his hour of grief, his understanding was firm: these were matters of pikuach nefesh, and saving Jewish lives could not wait, even for a father’s mourning. His responsibility to Klal Yisroel was not a role he could set down; it was who he was, even when his heart was breaking.

The Third of Tammuz

Reb Shneur never fully recovered from the loss of his son. The grief weighed on him, and those close to him could see it. Yet he continued — the yeshiva needed him, the kollelim needed him, Klal Yisroel needed him — teaching, guiding, and building until the end. Months after Rav Meir’s petirah, on the 3rd of Tammuz 5742, his own heart gave out. He was sixty-three.

The levaya was vast. Talmidim across the decades came, kollel families from cities around the country, gedolim who had served with him on the Moetzes, baalei batim whose lives he had touched, Iranian Jews he had helped rescue, and countless people who had once called the Kotler home in the middle of the night and been received with warmth. The hespedim spoke of his brilliance and the institutions he had built. But mostly they spoke of his love for every Jew — his open home, his endless patience, his willingness to sacrifice his own learning time and even his own grief for others.

This time there was no single successor to cry Yechi Hamelech for. Rav Meir was gone. Under the guidance of Rav Shach — his companion on that boat from Odessa four decades earlier — the leadership passed not to one but to four: his son Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, his son-in-law Rav Dovid Tzvi Schustal, his talmid Rav Yerucham Olshin, and Rav Yisroel Neuman, connected to the founding family by marriage. The arrangement seemed bold, even risky, but Rav Shach’s judgment held. The four led together, and the yeshiva continued to grow.

What He Built, and What It Became

When Reb Shneur became Rosh Yeshiva in 1962, Bais Medrash Govoha had roughly 200 talmidim. When he was niftar twenty years later, it had more than a thousand — a nearly tenfold growth achieved, remarkably, without lowering the standards or losing the warmth. The yeshiva still accepted only advanced postgraduate students; it still had no remedial track; it still maintained that no eligible talmid would be turned away for inability to pay. Growth had come without compromise.

And the growth did not stop. Today Beth Medrash Govoha has over ten thousand talmidim — the largest yeshiva in the world outside Israel — and the chaburos system Reb Shneur designed operates on a scale he could never have imagined, with hundreds of chaburos covering every corner of Shas at once. The kollel network he pioneered now reaches dozens of cities across North America and beyond. The kiruv organizations he defended when they were small have brought tens of thousands of Jews back to Torah. The town of Lakewood, once a resort with a handful of Shomer Shabbos families, has become one of the largest Orthodox communities in the world.

Rebbetzin Rischel lived another thirty-three years after her husband, her door still unlocked, still Tante Rischel to all who came, until her petirah in 2015 at ninety-three. She saw the dream they had built together grow beyond anything they had imagined.  

But Reb Shneur did not measure success by numbers, and neither should those who remember him. He measured it in people — the bochur who came doubting himself and left believing he could accomplish great things; the family that crossed the country to plant a kollel where there had been none; the Jew who found his way back to Torah; the refugee who found a warm welcome. His deepest legacy was not the buildings, impressive as they are, but a vision of what Torah leadership looks like when brilliance and warmth are joined — when the highest standards and genuine love for every person are understood not as opposites but as partners in the work of building the Jewish future.

Every morning, ten thousand talmidim walk into the batei midrash of Beth Medrash Govoha, open their Gemaras, and begin to learn. In that sound of kol Torah filling the halls, Reb Shneur Kotler’s life’s work is alive. On the 3rd of Tammuz, his yahrtzeit, it is worth pausing to remember the man behind it — the gaon who could illuminate any sugya, the Baal Mussar who could plumet the Mussar depths of any inyan, the Rosh Yeshiva whose door was never locked, the melech who never forgot that behind every talmid stood a neshamah with infinite potential. Yehi zichro baruch.

The author can be reached at [email protected]. The author apologizes for any errors and welcomes corrections.

A new bill would ban lawmakers in Congress from placing bets on prediction markets related to public policy issues and elections that they could be in a position to profit from by using insider information.

The Stop Lawmakers From Predicting Act was introduced Thursday by House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., which would ban members of Congress as well as their spouses and dependent children from placing a wager on a prediction market on topics that the lawmaker may have inside information on.

The ban would cover wagers on the occurrence, nonoccurence or the extent of the occurrence of specific government policies and actions, a political outcome or any other event which came to the attention of a covered individual as a direct or indirect result of the lawmaker’s service in Congress.

“The American people deserve to know their Member of Congress is not profiting off insider information,” Steil said. “This legislation is critical to restoring the public’s trust in their elected officials. Lawmakers should be writing policy, not wagering on its outcome.”

SENATE QUIETLY BANS LAWMAKERS FROM BETTING ON PREDICTION MARKETS

Steil’s bill would punish violators of the law precluding lawmakers from placing political and policy wagers on prediction markets with a fee equal to $2,000 or 10% of the value of the prohibited transaction, whichever is greater, and the net gain from the transaction.

The bill would also prohibit lawmakers from using their Members’ Representational Allowance, Senate personnel and office expense account, or political contributions or donations to pay the fine.

Lawmakers who resign from office or retire without paying the fine could be referred to the Justice Department for civil enforcement if the bill were to become law.

BLOCKCHAIN ANALYSTS SAY TRADERS MAY HAVE USED INSIDER INFORMATION TO PROFIT ON IRAN CONFLICT BETS

Steil’s introduction of the prediction market ban for lawmakers comes after his panel, the Committee on House Administration, advanced the Stop Insider Trading Act to the House floor in January, which focused on insider trading in the stock market.

It also follows an incident in March in which blockchain analysts identified suspected insiders who placed suspiciously timed bets on prediction markets related to the Iran conflict, including markets related to the U.S. striking Iran as well as the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

The bets generated significant profits and may have been placed using insider information.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS USING ONLINE PREDICTION MARKETS? DON’T BET ON IT

The Senate in April passed a resolution brought forward by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, that changed the upper chamber’s internal rules to ban lawmakers and their staff members from placing bets in prediction markets. Leading prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket expressed support for the effort at the time.

A broader bipartisan bill aimed at regulating prediction markets has also been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. Their Prediction Market Act would also crack down on insider trading in prediction markets while also establishing regulatory frameworks to protect customers and retail investors.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The House bill introduced by Steil that focuses on keeping lawmakers and their families from placing political and policy-related bets on prediction markets may be considered by the House Administration Committee. It would need to pass the House and Senate, then be signed by President Donald Trump to become law.

(AP) – Ukraine struck a major Moscow oil refinery Thursday for a second time in a week, sending huge plumes of black smoke over the capital and disrupting flights at its airports in one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion over four years ago, officials said.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.

The attack by dozens of drones came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France and had won key pledges of further support from this week’s G7 summit.

Zelenskyy was expected to hold talks in Brussels later Thursday with NATO and European Union leaders, including about the possibility of a continental system to defend against ballistic missiles. Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defenses struggle to counter.

The Moscow attack was the latest embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a Ukrainian drone attack on his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month as he welcomed foreign VIPs to his showcase economic forum in the city.

Fires rage at Moscow refinery
Thick, black smoke and occasional flames spewed from the Moscow Oil Refinery amid its red-and-white smokestacks on the southeastern edge of the city, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Sooty, black rain fell on cars, according to local video.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. “I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its official website, and produces more than a third of the Moscow region’s fuel. It was last attacked by Ukrainian drones on Tuesday, catching fire, but officials said the blaze was swiftly put out.

Flights from four Moscow airports were temporarily halted, transport and aviation authorities said.

In the greater Moscow region, a drone hit a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. Buildings elsewhere were damaged by drone debris, injuring 17 people, including two children, he added.

Ukrainian drone attack embarrasses Putin again
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they were approaching Moscow. That was roughly double the number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the nations of the regional bloc.

Zelenskyy said the Moscow attack was part of Ukraine’s efforts to force Putin to the negotiating table. The Ukrainian president has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump but Putin has refused, and U.S.-led peace efforts have petered out.

“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” he added in a voice message to a group chat with journalists.

“We do not want this war and never did,” he said. “But if Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too. … It is time to end the aggression, time to end this war.”

Ukraine disrupts Russian supply lines with drones
As well as pledges of more diplomatic and military help at the G7 summit, Ukraine recently has gained momentum on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army thanks to its high-tech drones, Western officials and analysts say.

Longer-range drone strikes are choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, in addition to disrupting Russian oil production.

Macron said the G7 summit was “very important for Ukraine” because its supporters — crucially including the United States — vowed to help it, although the French president provided no details. The U.S. under Trump has cut back assistance to Ukraine, leaving the Europeans as the biggest suppliers of military and financial aid. Trump and Zelenskyy have had an at times strained relationship.

“America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important,” Macron told reporters as he and Trump left the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

In other developments Thursday, Russia struck the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine with two powerful glide bombs that killed a 64-year-old man who was fishing in a river, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration.

Another Russian strike on the central city of Dnipro killed one man and wounded nine other people, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.

The widely circulated claim that it could take 90 days to clear the Strait of Hormuz does not appear to come from any official mine-clearing estimate. Industry analysts and government officials have offered timelines ranging from several weeks to several months, but no major source has projected a 90-day mine-clearing operation.

Instead, the figure appears to stem from the length of time the strait has already been disrupted. The waterway has been largely closed since February 28, meaning it has been affected for more than 100 days, with many reports previously referring to the closure as lasting “90-plus days.” Somewhere along the way, that closure-duration figure appears to have been mistakenly interpreted as a forecast for reopening.

The actual reopening timeline is considerably more complex.

President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed an agreement this week to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the date that matters most for consumers is not the signing date — it is how long it takes to safely restore oil flows and bring energy markets back to normal.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration describes the strait as the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, carrying roughly 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies under normal conditions.

Phase One: Opening Safe Shipping Lanes

The first step is establishing secure passage through the strait.

Greg Brew of Eurasia Group estimates it could take two to three weeks to identify and certify safe shipping corridors for large tankers. According to maritime intelligence firm Kpler, roughly 500 commercial vessels remain in the Gulf region, including more than 100 loaded tankers waiting to move.

Some of those ships could begin departing within days, allowing oil already produced and sitting offshore to reach markets. This phase provides the first wave of supply relief.

Crude prices have already begun responding. Brent crude has eased from recent highs, and gasoline prices typically follow oil lower after a short delay.

Phase Two: Mine-Clearing Operations

The more difficult challenge is clearing mines and restoring full confidence among shipping companies and insurers.

A Pentagon briefing to Congress estimated that completely clearing the waterway could take up to six months. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran had mined portions of the strait.

Some maritime-security specialists have suggested shorter timelines, but insurers are expected to remain cautious until waterways are formally certified as safe. European allies, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, are preparing or supporting mine-clearing operations.

Until that work is completed, transportation costs are likely to remain elevated, limiting how quickly gasoline, diesel, and shipping expenses can decline.

Phase Three: Restoring Full Oil Production

Even after shipping lanes reopen, oil production does not instantly return to normal.

Amena Bakr of Kpler estimates it could take two to three months for tankers to complete export cycles and return for new cargoes. Additional time will be needed for Gulf producers to fully restart production that was disrupted during the conflict.

ADNOC CEO Sultan Al Jaber has warned that reaching 80% of pre-war oil flows could take at least four months, while full normalization may not occur until 2027. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser has issued similar assessments.

What It Means for American Consumers

For U.S. households, the key takeaway is that relief is likely to come gradually.

Gasoline prices may begin easing in the coming weeks as trapped oil reaches global markets, but broader reductions in fuel, transportation, and consumer-goods costs are expected to unfold over many months.

The biggest variable remains the durability of the agreement itself. The deal provides a framework for reopening the strait, but major issues remain unresolved, including future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and long-term security arrangements in the Gulf.

If the agreement holds, energy prices should continue trending lower. If tensions return, markets could quickly reverse course.

Early indicators suggest movement is already beginning. TankerTrackers.com reports that Iranian crude shipments have resumed, while Iranian officials say vessels are once again moving through the country’s ports. The International Energy Agency, led by Fatih Birol, has said the market could eventually swing into surplus once Gulf production and exports fully recover.

For now, however, consumers expecting an immediate drop at the pump may need patience. Based on current industry estimates, the path to significantly cheaper gasoline appears measured in months, not days.

JBizNews Desk

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

At a protest in San Sebastián, Spain, earlier this week, demonstrators carried a banner that displayed a swastika followed by an equal sign and the Star of David, signifying that the swastika equals the Star of David.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement called out the moral inversion of the protesters on social media.

“The swastika represents the regime that murdered six million Jews,” the group wrote. “The Star of David represents the Jewish people. Sickening.”

Viewed this way, the protesters can be seen as once again calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.

The Star of David is an ancient Jewish symbol whose use originated in 14th-century Prague and spread to other Jewish communities over the course of the following centuries before its universal adoption as the symbol of Judaism in the 19th century. Critics point out that equating the swastika with the Star of David is no different in its moral repugnance than equating it with the cross, the symbol of Christianity; or the red crescent, the symbol of Islam.

Spanish protesters equate the swastika with Judaism. (Credit: Combat Antisemitism Movement)

Two similar cases in the past year have also ignited backlash.

During graduation week at New York University last month, a banner displaying the Star of David flanked on each side by a swastika was spotted by students celebrating the end of their studies. The offending flag was swiftly removed, and N.Y.U. released a statement denouncing the act.

“We are shocked and deeply troubled that this hateful symbol expressing antisemitism was raised on a flagpole overlooking Washington Square Park,” N.Y.U. spokesperson Wiley Norvell said in a statement. “Campus safety responded immediately to remove it, and we are working closely with the N.Y.P.D. to identify whoever is responsible.”

On Holocaust Remembrance Day last April, a Polish MP held up an Israeli flag whose Star of David had been replaced by a swastika in a floor speech in which he denounced Israel for committing “genocide” and compared it to the Third Reich.

“Israel is the new Third Reich, and its flag should look exactly like this,” Konrad Berkowicz said as he held up the flag.

The antisemite was immediately repudiated by the house speaker in real time, and Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a blistering condemnation.

U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday, clawing back much of the prior day’s losses, after the Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh held interest rates steady on Wednesday but signaled it could raise them later this year. In its first meeting with Warsh in charge, the central bank issued an unusually short statement and a “dot plot” showing nine of 18 policymakers expect at least one rate hike in 2026 — a hawkish turn that handed the S&P 500 its worst Fed-day drop under a new chair since 1994, even after the Dow had touched a fresh intraday record earlier in the session. Adding to Thursday’s calmer mood, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 226,000 for the week ended June 13, near forecasts, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.3% for a third straight month.

The rebound was broad. In early trading the S&P 500 rose about 1.15%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.80% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed roughly 1.5%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 lagged. That followed Wednesday’s slide, when the S&P 500 closed at 7,420.10, down 1.21%; the Dow fell 507.12 points, or 0.98%, to 51,492.55; and the Nasdaq dropped 1.34% to 26,021.66.

Market movers. Intel led the gainers, rising about 9% to $131.96 after President Donald Trump said in a social-media post that the chipmaker had agreed to design and build chips in the United States with Apple. Fortrea Holdings added about 7% and Marvell Technology rose roughly 6%. On the downside, Accenture tumbled about 15% and Kroger fell 6.9% to rank among the morning’s worst performers, while medical-device maker NovoCure dropped nearly 19% and Cognizant Technology Solutions slipped around 5%.

Analysts were active. Deutsche Bank kept a buy on Micron Technology and lifted its price target to $1,500 from $1,000, citing a memory-chip shortage tied to the artificial-intelligence boom. UBS upgraded software firm Dynatrace to buy from neutral and raised its target to $60 from $36. TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar kept a buy on chip-equipment maker Cohu and raised his target to $80 from $60. Wolfe Research lifted Palantir Technologies to peer perform from underperform. The day’s loudest downgrade was Roku: Wedbush cut it to neutral with a $155 target and pulled it from its best-ideas list after Fox said it would buy the streaming-device maker, and Susquehanna, Piper Sandler, JPMorgan and Evercore ISI moved to the sidelines as well. Wells Fargo, meanwhile, was unimpressed by Snap’s new $2,195 “Specs” glasses, calling 100,000 first-generation units a stretch goal.

Commodities and volatility. Oil eased as the U.S.-Iran peace deal calmed supply fears. West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $74 a barrel and Brent sat around $83. Gold slipped about 2% to roughly $4,270 an ounce as buyers stepped back from safe havens. The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, which jumped more than 12% to 18.44 on Wednesday after the Fed surprise, eased back toward 17. Bitcoin fell about 1.3% to around $64,300.

The backdrop remains the Federal Reserve and the Middle East. Warsh said the Fed had dropped its forward guidance, leaving little steer on the next move, while this week’s U.S.-Iran memorandum — which calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz over a 60-day negotiating window — has pulled energy prices down from their wartime highs.

Looking ahead, U.S. markets are closed Friday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday, so trading resumes Monday. Next week brings earnings from Micron Technology and FedEx, and the end of the month delivers fresh readings on first-quarter economic growth and the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the May personal consumption expenditures index — numbers that will test how seriously markets take Warsh’s hint at a rate hike.

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

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is throwing his support behind President Donald Trump’s agreement with Iran, calling it a significant diplomatic breakthrough that avoids both appeasement and another costly American military intervention in the Middle East.

Writing on his website, Gingrich argued that Trump successfully brought together a broad coalition of international partners while applying economic and military leverage that forced Tehran into a far weaker negotiating position than it previously held. He also brushed aside criticism from opponents across the political spectrum, saying many detractors rushed to condemn the agreement without first examining its contents.

“Negotiating with Iran, monitoring its commitments and occasionally having to pressure the dictatorship militarily or economically is simply reality. (Remember Ronald Reagan’s advice to ‘Trust but verify’ and Connie Mack’s ‘You get what you inspect, not what you expect.’) There will be no end to the requirement to police, monitor, and occasionally penalize the religious dictatorship,” Gingrich wrote. “The leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will try to push for as much influence and flexibility as they can get away with. It’s simply their nature.”

Gingrich went on to defend the agreement itself, arguing that many of its critics have failed to propose a workable alternative.

“A lot of people on the right and left have already criticized the upcoming agreement — even when they have never seen it,” Gingrich wrote. “It is hard to understand what they thought the alternative should be.”

According to Gingrich, Trump charted a middle course between what he characterized as the Obama-Biden strategy toward Iran and the prospect of a major ground war, while simultaneously preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“President Trump steered a course between the Barack Obama-Joe Biden appeasement model and strategy which would have required a huge ground invasion,” Gingrich wrote. “He used our technological strengths in airpower and intelligence capabilities to bludgeon the religious dictatorship into positions far distant from where they were under Obama and Biden.”

The former speaker also credited Trump with building international support for a more stable regional order, saying numerous countries have aligned with Washington’s efforts to counter Iranian aggression and reduce tensions in the Middle East.

“President Trump has been managing a broad coalition which is committed to a more stable Middle East and is prepared to work together despite Iranian attacks,” Gingrich wrote.

Since Gingrich published his remarks, reports have indicated that Trump formally signed an agreement with Iran intended to end the conflict and create a pathway toward a broader peace arrangement. Under the framework, Iran pledged not to pursue nuclear weapons, while the United States agreed to seek sanctions relief and support economic development initiatives during the next phase of negotiations.

{Matzav.com}

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish authorities have arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting in broad daylight a Russian activist critical of President Vladimir Putin and believe there is a likely link to a foreign intelligence service, top officials said Thursday.

The killing is the latest act which Polish authorities believe could be part of a campaign of Russian sabotage in NATO nations aimed at sowing fear and demoralizing Ukraine’s closest allies.

The suspect in Monday’s killing in Poland is a 36-year-old man who carried a passport belonging to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said at a news conference in Warsaw.

Kierwiński said the man is suspected of links to organized crime and is being linked by police to other crimes committed in Poland, including those dating to 2022.

Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska, a city near the border with Belarus. Polish police say the victim was 44 years old.

Prosecutors said the perpetrator fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing. Kuzovkov died at the scene of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back.

“We consider it possible that foreign intelligence services may have been involved,” said Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s security services minister, who spoke at the press conference alongside the interior minister.

“Foreign services sometimes hire criminals to carry out operations. We have seen this in previous years. While those cases did not involve murder, criminals were hired to conduct assaults in other countries. We are therefore taking this possibility very seriously,” Siemoniak said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that the killing has the hallmarks of a political assassination.

“Everything points to this being a political murder,” Tusk said, adding: “if that was the case — if it was ordered by Russia — then it is an extremely serious matter internationally. It would constitute state terrorism.”

Polish investigators initially detained two Belarusian citizens but released them later, saying they had no evidence that they were directly involved in the killing.

Polish prosecutors said the Russian activist used his art to express criticism of Russian authorities.

He painted unflattering portraits of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other high-ranking Russian officials. One depicts Putin being cradled in the arms of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

On Sunday, he posted a video on his YouTube channel showing him in Berlin putting a Russian flag in a trash can on June 12, the holiday marking Russia’s sovereignty.

Since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania.

Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.

Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives as the prime suspects.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced more than $700 million for addiction treatment, mental health services, and homelessness programs during a visit Wednesday to an Easterseals behavioral health clinic in Clinton Township, Michigan, calling the effort part of the administration’s push to expand recovery services nationwide.

Kennedy said the investment would help move people struggling with addiction and mental illness off the streets and into treatment, strengthen families, and improve public safety.

But behavioral health advocates and policy experts quickly noted that most of the money is not newly appropriated funding. Instead, they said, the majority represents grants and programs that had already been approved by Congress and were expected to be distributed through existing federal channels.

The distinction is important because new appropriations expand federal spending, while previously approved grants simply continue programs already operating throughout the country.

The only major newly launched initiative announced Wednesday was a $96 million program known as STREETS — short for Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-Based Treatment and Support. The program will fund eight communities, each eligible for up to $3 million annually for four years, to coordinate treatment, housing, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and local governments in addressing homelessness, addiction, and serious mental illness.

The remaining $612 million will be distributed through existing federal behavioral health programs.

The largest allocation, nearly $239 million, supports the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the national crisis hotline that provides phone, text, and online support around the clock. Another $223 million will go to community behavioral health clinics that provide mental health and substance-use treatment regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Additional grants support mobile crisis teams, childhood trauma programs, tribal suicide prevention initiatives, and services for at-risk infants.

The funding announcement is tied to President Donald Trump’s Great American Recovery Initiative, created by executive order earlier this year. Kennedy co-chairs the effort alongside Kathryn Burgum, the White House senior adviser for addiction recovery.

Drawing on his own history of addiction recovery, Kennedy emphasized the role of faith and spirituality in treatment. He praised 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and said faith-based recovery organizations would receive equal consideration for federal funding opportunities. He stressed that secular providers would continue to receive support as well.

The announcement comes after several months of controversy surrounding federal behavioral health funding. Earlier this year, HHS briefly canceled approximately $2 billion in mental health and substance-abuse grants before reversing course following criticism from lawmakers and treatment providers.

The administration also faced legal challenges after attempting to terminate billions of dollars in public-health grants tied to pandemic-era programs. A federal court later blocked those efforts.

Because of that history, providers say they are paying close attention to whether announced funding is truly additional money or simply part of existing grant cycles.

HHS has not disputed that much of Wednesday’s funding will flow through established programs. Instead, department officials have emphasized that the administration intends to direct resources toward recovery-focused approaches, accountability measures, and faith-based partnerships.

For treatment providers, the ultimate measure of success will not be the size of the announcement but whether funding reaches clinics, crisis lines, and local recovery organizations quickly and consistently.

The new STREETS initiative will likely serve as the administration’s first major test. If the program successfully connects vulnerable individuals with treatment, housing, and support services, officials will point to it as evidence that the recovery strategy is working. If implementation stalls, critics may argue that the announcement represented more symbolism than substance.

JBizNews Desk
Washington, D.C.

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

To the Editor,

Last year, a close friend of ours experienced every parent’s worst nightmare. His young son was forgotten in a vehicle on the way to daycare — while our friend’s office sat literally next door.

Like many in our community, we followed the story with shock and heartbreak. We told ourselves it was an unimaginable tragedy. Something that could never happen to us.

But over the months that followed, one thought kept coming back to us.

The tragedy wasn’t that nobody cared.

The tragedy was that nobody knew.

His son was expected at daycare that morning. Yet nobody ever had to confirm he actually made it inside.

Everyone assumed. But nobody knew.

And there is a big difference between the two.

We assume the child was dropped off. The daycare assumes the child isn’t coming. The driver assumes the child was brought inside.

Good people doing their best can all make the same assumption at the same time.

Our friend once shared a thought with us that we haven’t been able to forget:

“If someone had known my son wasn’t in daycare that morning, my son would still be here today.”

Not if someone cared more. Not if someone tried harder. Simply if someone knew.

In his memory, and in the hope that another family never has to experience the pain that his family lives with every day, we have decided to partner with Kido and provide their check-in terminals to Lakewood daycares — for free.

We know cost can be a reason daycares hold back. So we wanted to take that off the table.

If it helps prevent even one tragedy, it will be worth it. To date, this system has already helped save five lives.

May his precious Neshama continue to be a source of protection and inspiration for our community, and may we only share besuros tovos.

Sincerely,
Elazar and Rachel Brody

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

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is celebrating the recent U.S.-Iran agreement as a major triumph for Tehran, claiming that Iran used threats and ultimatums to force President Donald Trump to accept its demands and pressure Israel to halt military operations in Beirut’s Dahieh district.

In a rare interview with Iranian state television overnight, Ghalibaf offered an unusually detailed account of the negotiations, portraying the agreement as evidence that Tehran successfully dictated terms to Washington.

“Lebanon is part of the resistance front, so it is natural that when a ceasefire is established, it must apply to all fronts—especially Lebanon,” Ghalibaf said. He added that Iran entered the talks with clear demands, including an end to fighting across all theaters and the lifting of sanctions.

According to Ghalibaf, Tehran relied on direct threats to compel the United States to comply.

“When Israel attacked Dahieh, we threatened the United States and issued an ultimatum: Our demands must be accepted, otherwise we will respond,” he said. “Trump was forced to publish a tweet and tell Netanyahu that he had to stop the fire and not attack Dahieh.”

He further claimed that when Dahieh was targeted again, Iran launched what he called Operation “Nesr” to demonstrate its resolve.

“That is when the enemy understood that when we speak about negotiations, our sword is also ready at the same time,” he said.

Ghalibaf also recounted what he described as a pivotal moment in the negotiations that occurred while Iran was engaged in talks with international mediators this past Sunday.

“Then the Dahieh incident occurred. In the middle of the negotiations, I immediately tweeted that we would certainly respond to the attack in Dahieh,” he said. “After that, the atmosphere of the negotiations changed completely.”

The Iranian official said Tehran made it clear that retaliation was non-negotiable.

“They said: Do not respond. But we said: We will certainly respond, and if you respond, we will expand the scope of our response. This is exactly the culture of negotiation as struggle,” he explained.

Celebrating the outcome of the talks, Ghalibaf argued that Iran achieved far more through diplomacy than it could have through military action.

“Everything we wanted to achieve through military action, we achieved many times over through negotiations,” he claimed. “I am a fighter, not a diplomat, but I manage diplomacy with the spirit of a fighter.”

Turning to the agreement itself, Ghalibaf described the deal as “a certificate of America’s failure.” He noted that under the original understandings, the lifting of the blockade was expected to occur within 30 days, but Trump announced it would be removed immediately.

“And in practice, that is exactly what happened,” Ghalibaf said.

He concluded by warning that Iran remains prepared to abandon the agreement and escalate tensions if Washington fails to uphold its commitments.

“If the enemy does not understand the language of logic, we will deal with it in the language of force—the finger is on the trigger,” Ghalibaf warned. “If the United States does not fulfill its obligation, Iran will not fulfill its obligation either.”

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. gas prices fell below $4 a gallon on average Thursday, but just barely.

It is the first time since March that the average cost for a regular gallon has been that low. Prices fell overnight after President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Iran that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country.

Gas prices are at $3.999 on average in the U.S., according to motor club AAA. The drop below $4 follows a 15% decline in the price of U.S. crude this month.

But fluctuations in gas prices remain across the country. In California, gas prices are averaging $5.64 per gallon, while in South Carolina it’s $3.58 per gallon.

The agreement between the U.S. and Iran calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks. It appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

Oil prices fell Monday to about $80 for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude. That compares to $67 per barrel before the war and the price of over $120 a barrel reached earlier in the conflict.

Even as gas prices start to decline, it is anticipated to take weeks or months for oil to start flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again.

Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. Now, it will take time for hundreds of ships trapped in the Persian Gulf to exit through the narrow strait. And Gulf oil producers that throttled back production will need time to get the oil moving again. Analysts also say ship captains may take their time to decide if passage is safe and that the threat of attack from Iran has truly receded.

In addition, refineries typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products.

Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz disrupted not only supplies of crude and refined fuel but also the supply chains for fertilizer, food and even footwear. Businesses expect higher costs to linger, which means their customers might need to prepare for that too.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York is celebrating the Knicks in classic style Thursday, throwing a ticker-tape parade for the team that brought home the NBA championship longed for by generations of fans.

The Knicks’ victory — after a 53-year drought — has electrified New Yorkers. City police said all the viewing pens along the route were full less than three hours before the procession, packed by thousands of fans who flooded into lower Manhattan.

Still, they kept streaming into the area on crammed subways, looking to get as close as they could or find any elevated spot from which to catch a glimpse.

Terrell Emerson, a chef who grew up in Queens before leaving New York, said he’d driven from Maryland with his daughter Madison – named in honor of the Knicks home arena, Madison Square Garden.

Madison, beaming, held a handwritten sign announcing she’d skipped her fifth-grade graduation to be in attendance.

“It’s been 53 years — come on. That was a no-brainer,” Emerson said.

Fans line up along the route before the New York Knicks’ NBA championship parade Thursday, June 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

The parade is set to start at 10 a.m. Thursday near Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan and head up Broadway on the skyscraper-flanked route dubbed the “Canyon of Heroes.” The procession is to end at City Hall, where the players are to get another traditional tribute: keys to the city.

Knicks legends Walt “Clyde” Frazier — a member of the ’70s champion teams — and Patrick Ewing are expected to participate in the parade, according to a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details before they were publicly announced. The person said Mike Breen, the Knicks’ play-by-play announcer on MSG Network, was set to emcee the City Hall ceremony.

Alicia Keys, the singer who collaborated with Jay-Z on the New York-loving 2009 hit “Empire State of Mind,” has been tapped to perform.

“How could I not?” Keys said Wednesday in a social media video that featured her on the phone with Knicks forward OG Anunoby.

The mere fact that the parade is happening is historic in itself. Although the Knicks won the championship twice in the 1970s, the city didn’t host a parade for them either time. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had cut down on ticker-tape extravaganzas for financial and other reasons, and he instead honored the Knicks at a 1970 reception at the mayoral mansion and a jam-packed 1973 ceremony outside City Hall.

This time, the city is going all out.

“There will be performances, there will be New Yorkers, there will be the team and there will be history,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday.

Police plan to deploy 10,000 officers to secure the event, which follows ebullient but sometimes chaotic street celebrations and some violence during the Knicks’ run to victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

“We want people to enjoy this moment,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a planning meeting Wednesday, “but public safety comes first.”

A street sign reading “Champions Way” is posted along Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes”, ahead of the New York Knicks’ ticker-tape parade, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Some 650 sanitation workers have been assigned to clean up what could be tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of debris, if recent history is any guide.

Ticker-tape parades derive their name from the narrow strips of paper used by telegraph-era “stock ticker” machines. New York brokerage firm workers took to tossing the paper out their office windows during parades in the late 19th century, adding a swirling aerial spectacle to the festivities.

Over the years, especially up to the mid-1960s, the city rolled out ticker-tape parades to honor visiting foreign leaders, mark historic anniversaries and hail feats in aviation, war, sports, music, space travel and more.

The Knicks’ parade will be the 210th, and it comes after a ticker-tape bash for the WNBA’s New York Liberty in 2024.

Fans line up along the route before the New York Knicks’ NBA championship parade Thursday, June 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

The price of getting a foot on the property ladder has never been higher.

A record 242 cities across the United States now have starter homes worth $1 million or more, according to an analysis from Zillow released Monday, a sign of how far the cost of entry-level housing has climbed.

A starter home, as Zillow defines it, is one in the lowest third of home values in a given area, the kind of modest, lower-priced house a first-time buyer typically targets.

Nationwide, the typical starter home is worth $198,649, up 1.7% from a year earlier, which means seven-figure starter homes are still the exception.

But the number of places where they are the norm keeps growing.

The count rose from 226 cities a year ago and has nearly tripled since before the pandemic, when just 80 cities had million-dollar starter homes in February 2020.

Those homes are now spread across 26 states, up from only nine before 2020.

For years, million-dollar entry-level houses were almost entirely a coastal phenomenon.

Today they have reached interior states including Colorado, Texas, Wyoming and Illinois.

California remains the epicenter, with 105 cities where the typical starter home costs at least $1 million.

New York has climbed to 41 cities, up from just 12 before the pandemic, and New Jersey now has 26 cities, up from a single city.

New York and New Jersey are the fastest-growing on the list, adding 15 cities between them in the past year alone.

The cause traces back to the pandemic housing boom.

A housing shortage that had been building for a decade collided with a surge of demand at a time when mortgage rates were at historic lows, sending prices soaring at a record pace.

Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow, said the pandemic effectively reset the cost of buying a home, pushing million-dollar starter homes out from a handful of coastal markets to more than two dozen states.

Those effects, she noted, have proven durable even as the market has cooled.

Here is why it matters for ordinary families.

The starter home has long been the traditional first rung of homeownership, the place where young couples and first-time buyers begin building equity.

When that first rung costs a million dollars, it moves out of reach for all but the wealthiest newcomers, and it pushes more would-be buyers into renting for longer or leaving expensive regions entirely.

It is the human face of the same housing shortage that has kept new construction from keeping up with demand.

There is, however, a more hopeful side to the report.

Conditions are slowly turning friendlier for buyers who are financially prepared.

The typical buyer now breaks even compared with renting after about six years, down from more than eight years in late 2023.

Inventory is rising, price growth has slowed, and in many markets sellers now outnumber buyers, giving those still in the hunt more leverage than they have had in years.

The broader market has been stuck in a slump since 2022, with sales of existing homes hovering near a three-decade low.

Still, the headline number captures the strain on a generation of aspiring owners.

A million-dollar starter home would have sounded absurd in most of the country a decade ago.

Today it describes the entry point in 242 cities and counting, a reminder that even as the market softens, the bar set during the boom has barely come down.

Housing Market — JBizNews Desk

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

Tel Aviv has again secured its place among the world’s most powerful startup cities, ranking fourth globally in Startup Genome’s latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report with an ecosystem value of roughly $250 billion.

The Israeli city now sits behind only Silicon Valley, New York and London, putting it ahead of many larger global centers and reinforcing Israel’s position as a tech power far beyond its physical size. The report was unveiled at the VivaTech conference in Paris and draws on one of the world’s largest startup databases, covering millions of companies and hundreds of innovation ecosystems.

TOPSHOT – Israeli air defence systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv early on June 18, 2025. Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on June 17, the fifth day of strikes in their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP via Getty Images)

The ranking is not just a public-relations win for Tel Aviv. It reflects the depth of Israel’s startup economy at a time when the country is operating under enormous wartime, diplomatic and economic pressure. Startup Genome highlighted Tel Aviv’s strength in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, life sciences and deep tech, sectors where Israel has built a global reputation through elite research, military-linked innovation, multinational investment and a dense network of founders, engineers and venture capital.

Recent deals show why global investors are still watching Israel closely. Apple’s reported near-$2 billion acquisition of Tel Aviv-based Q.ai put Israeli AI back in the center of the global race for next-generation devices. Israeli cyber remains one of the country’s strongest engines, with 130 cybersecurity startups raising $4.4 billion, while the government has moved to strengthen AI infrastructure with a national supercomputer initiative worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Scenic Tel Aviv coastline seashore promenade with hotels and beaches near Old Jaffa port.

According to the Israel Innovation Authority, Israeli high-tech output grew 8.2% in real terms, reached NIS 352 billion, and drove roughly half of Israel’s total economic growth. High-tech exports hit about $85 billion, accounting for 58% of total Israeli exports, while exits reached about $84 billion and fundraising approached $15 billion.

The Innovation Authority says Israel is seeing the first decline in more than a decade in the number of R&D employees inside the country, while more Israeli companies are expanding management, sales and development activity abroad. The share of employees at private Israeli tech companies based in Israel has fallen from 69% in 2019 to 62%, raising long-term concerns about whether enough of the value created by Israeli innovation will remain inside the country.

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility for their own security.

The threat of a review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally. U.S. officials and senior military officers had promised to coordinate closely with the Europeans as America draws down.

Just weeks ago, the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide as much military support should any NATO member come under attack, leaving them scrambling to find equipment to plug any gaps.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have sent conflicting signals about whether America is reducing or increasing its military footprint in Europe, as well as threatening to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told his NATO counterparts. “It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.”

A public dressing down over base use, gender and migration
In a fiery speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth also lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. The review would also assess whether the U.S. has full access and overflight “when we need it.”

While defense ministers and military officers sat in silence, Hegseth railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.

“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth’s comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.

It does not augur well for a summit of NATO leaders in Turkey on July 7-8.

A rare and short visit to NATO
It was a rare visit to NATO by Hegseth, his first this year after skipping a meeting in February. The Pentagon chief did not stay long on Thursday either, leaving well before this gathering was over and hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for more weapons for his country.

Speaking to reporters at Brussels airport before flying home, Hegseth said, “It was great to hear country after country say, ‘We’re going to meet our target. We’re going to meet our target.’ There are still a few outliers, and we will be clear with them as we do this review.”

NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should it clash with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Under NATO’s collective security guarantee – Article 5 of its founding treaty – the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5.

US nuclear weapons will stay
The U.S. has by far NATO’s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO’s deterrence. To underscore that point, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after Thursday’s meeting.

In the statement, it “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO’s extended deterrence architecture.”

The ministers “agreed to continue enhancing NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO’s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.”

Rutte played down the impact of the U.S. decision, saying that the NATO Force Model – the system for organizing what forces member countries will provide commanders in times of peace, crisis or conflict – is just “a planning tool,” and not a reflection of what would actually happen.

“If war breaks out, we will all max out what we need to do to make sure we can fight the war,” Rutte told reporters. “In the planning phase, it is important to know what we can count on. What is in theory there.”

He said that some European countries “are already backfilling a lot of those resources, in other cases, we are nearly there, and there is still areas where we need more work to do. So we are in a good place.”

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Helene Plotkin, 88, bought a painting in 1966 from a secondhand store in New York for just 100 dollars. For six decades it hung in her living room until her son photographed it and uploaded the image to Gemini. It quickly emerged that the work was an original by Scottish Colourist FCB Cadell in White Plans. Earlier this month, the painting was sold at auction for a substantial sum.

Plotkin, who holds a degree in art, fell in love with the painting, which depicts a woman dressed in black, and displayed it in her home until December 2025. A simple search using artificial intelligence then revealed that the work was in fact a valuable piece of European art, according to a New York Times report.

The painting was later authenticated by art appraisers as an original work by Cadell, a member of the Scottish Colourists. Earlier this month, it was sold to a private buyer at auction for £189,200 (254,000 dollars).

The work, titled Interior: The Lady in Black, became the latest example of how artificial intelligence can help identify objects that once required the eye of a trained expert. Stories of family heirlooms turning out to be worth fortunes have long been a staple of American television, but Plotkin’s case highlights a new use for AI technology.

Plotkin said that although the painting immediately caught her attention, she never suspected its true value. “I never, never thought about it at all, other than I loved the painting.

Her son, Barry Plotkin, 60, recalled that over the years family members speculated about the painting’s origins, but no one ever sought a professional evaluation from an auction house.

Several months ago, during a visit to his mother’s home in Florida, Barry had an idea: why not ask Gemini about the painting? He photographed it, uploaded the image and asked the chatbot what it could tell him.“It was amazing how much information came out of that,” he said.

Gemini identified the painting’s orange brushstrokes, Art Deco aesthetic and distinctive background as hallmarks of Cadell’s work. It also noted the artist’s membership in the Scottish Colourists, a group of four artists — Cadell, John Duncan Fergusson, George Leslie Hunter and Samuel Peploe — who brought influences from Fauvism and French Impressionism into modern British art.

“Your mother didn’t just find a ‘Cadell,’” Gemini wrote, “she found a large-scale, 1920s studio portrait of his primary muse, painted in his most famous Edinburgh studio.”

Gemini also advised Barry to inspect the back of the painting. There, they found an auction marking, a canvas stamp and a processing date. They then contacted an auction house and a professional art appraiser. The chatbot suggested specialists Nick Curnow and Alice Strang of Lyon & Turnbull.

“As the story unraveled, we just got more and more excited,” Strang said in an interview, “because this is the stuff of auctioneers’ dreams.”

Strang and Curnow confirmed much of what the AI had concluded, with one significant difference. Gemini identified the subject as Bethia Hamilton Don Wauchope, one of Cadell’s regular models whose name appears on the back of the work. However, Lyon & Turnbull determined that the sitter was actually May Easter, another of the artist’s models. The turban Easter wears in Plotkin’s painting also appears in Cadell’s painting Pink and Gold. Further research and technical analysis, including examinations under three different types of light, supported most of Gemini’s findings.

Strang said she has no explanation for how the painting ended up in New York in 1966, only months after it had been sold by Christie’s in London for £21, roughly 600 dollars in today’s money. Strang and Curnow ultimately gave the work the title Interior: The Lady in Black.

A rare reunion of American political leaders is expected to take place this week as Presidents Biden, Clinton, and Bush are reportedly planning to attend the opening celebration of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

According to a report published Wednesday by the Chicago Sun-Times, all three presidents are expected to join President Barack Obama for the landmark event. The newspaper cited a source familiar with the plans for the ceremony.

The gathering is also expected to include several former first ladies. The report said Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Jill Biden will be among those attending the festivities.

The Obama Presidential Center is scheduled to officially open on Thursday. Organizers have planned a major celebration featuring performances by a number of acclaimed entertainers and artists.

Valerie Jarrett, chief executive of the Obama Foundation, said the opening ceremony is being designed as a unique and uplifting experience that goes beyond a traditional ribbon-cutting event.

“will be unlike any other — filled with music, performances, and hope.”

Jarrett said the program is intended to celebrate the center’s mission while encouraging people to believe they can make a difference in their own communities.

“The Grand Opening Ceremony will reflect a spirit of inspiration and joy, with a big boost from the performers who are sharing their talent with us. We hope to inspire people everywhere to believe in their power to bring change home.”

The tech trade has handed investors both big gains and big worries. On Wednesday, Aisa Ogoshi, a managing director and Asia Pacific equities portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Bloomberg Television that the rally still has room left, even after a long stretch that has packed an unusual share of the market’s value into a small handful of companies.

Ogoshi did not downplay the danger. The biggest risk in the market right now, she said, sits inside the tech trade itself, because so much money is riding on so few names. When a small group of stocks carries the whole market higher, a stumble by any one of them can pull everyone down with it. That kind of concentration is exactly what makes experienced investors nervous.

Even so, she sees more room to climb. The next stretch of gains, in her view, runs through what she called the AI data center supply chain — the businesses that build, power, and connect the massive computing hubs that artificial intelligence depends on.

Here is what that means in plain terms. Every time a company rolls out a new AI tool, that tool has to run somewhere. It runs inside data centers, which are warehouse-sized buildings packed with specialized computers. Those buildings need chips to do the thinking, electricity to keep the machines running, cooling systems to stop them from overheating, and networking gear to tie everything together. Each of those pieces is a business, and many of them are publicly traded.

The spending behind all this is enormous. The group of giant technology companies often called the Magnificent Seven — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — is on track to spend roughly $527 billion on AI and data center projects in fiscal 2026, well above earlier estimates. Looking further out, total spending on data center infrastructure worldwide is expected to approach $1 trillion annually by 2030.

That wave of money is the heart of Ogoshi’s argument. The household-name tech stocks have already climbed a long way, and many now trade at rich valuations. But the suppliers further down the chain — the firms selling power equipment, cooling systems, network switches, and chips — stand to keep collecting orders as long as the building boom continues.

Nvidia, the chip designer at the center of the AI boom, remains the most direct way to bet on that demand, with a market value north of $4.5 trillion. Beyond it sit less famous names that still play essential roles. Vertiv makes the power and liquid-cooling systems that keep dense racks of computers from overheating. Arista Networks sells the high-speed switches that move data inside AI clusters, with customers that include Meta and Microsoft. Neither company is a household name, but both benefit whenever a new AI data center comes online.

The reason Ogoshi points beyond the obvious winners is straightforward. Betting everything on a single famous stock concentrates risk in one company, one product line, and one valuation. Spreading investments across the broader supply chain gives investors a way to participate in the AI buildout without relying entirely on the most crowded trade in the market.

Ogoshi also weighed in on Japan, where she spends much of her time as an Asia-focused portfolio manager. The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 1% from 0.75% at its June 15–16 meeting, continuing its gradual move away from years of near-zero borrowing costs. The central bank has been tightening policy as inflation remains above its 2% target, supported by a weaker yen and elevated energy prices.

Rising rates in Japan matter far beyond Tokyo. For years, Japan’s ultra-low rates made it a popular place for global investors to borrow money cheaply and invest elsewhere. As Japanese rates rise, that equation changes, potentially affecting capital flows and investment decisions worldwide.

For everyday investors, the takeaway from Ogoshi’s comments is less about chasing the latest hot stock and more about understanding where AI spending is actually going. The software gets the headlines, but the money is increasingly flowing into physical infrastructure — buildings, power systems, networking equipment, cooling technology, and advanced chips.

That does not eliminate the risk she highlighted. A market leaning heavily on a handful of technology giants can reverse quickly if AI investment slows or if one major player disappoints investors. But for now, Ogoshi’s message is that the trend remains intact, and that some of the best opportunities may lie one step behind the biggest names grabbing the spotlight.

As AI adoption continues to accelerate, the companies supplying the infrastructure that powers it may become some of the most important — and potentially most profitable — businesses in the market.

Wall Street – JBizNews Desk

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

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In the trauma room of the Pediatric Emergency Department at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, a one-year-old toddler was recently admitted in critical condition, with his life in immediate danger.

The child was diagnosed with epiglottitis,an inflammation of the epiglottis, a rare but life-threatening medical emergency in children. The toddler, who had not received his routine vaccinations, contracted Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), the bacterium most commonly associated with epiglottitis.

Thanks to rapid treatment and an accurate diagnosis by a multidisciplinary medical team, including pediatricians, ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, anesthesiologists, and an expanded nursing staff, the child’s life was saved. He was initially admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit under the direction of Dr. Jacques Brown and, after his condition stabilized, was transferred to the pediatric ward headed by Prof. Orly Magid.

Initial reports received by Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA), suggested that the child had swallowed a foreign object, based on information provided by his father. As a result, medical teams first conducted an examination using a special endoscopic camera designed for the rapid removal of foreign bodies. However, no evidence of a swallowed object was found.

The team then conducted further questioning of the father and learned that the toddler had not received his routine vaccinations. Combined with the identification of severe swelling and extensive edema that threatened to block the child’s airway, doctors began to suspect epiglottitis. Laboratory tests later confirmed that he had been infected with Haemophilus influenzae type B.

The massive swelling that obstructed the airway forced the anesthesiology team to use an exceptionally small and narrow breathing tube (endotracheal tube), typically reserved for ventilating premature infants immediately after birth.

Thanks to careful preparation and a high level of expertise, the team successfully inserted the tube and prevented the child from suffocating. Alongside the physicians, nurses from the pediatric department also played a key role in the treatment.

Dr. Efrat Blankenstein, a pediatric resident who participated in the treatment, said:

“The baby was only minutes away from death. This is an extremely rare case that, according to our senior physicians, has not occurred at Shaare Zedek for decades. Until now, it was mainly an emergency condition we studied in theory.

Had the child been vaccinated, the entire incident would have been prevented. If we had not been prepared in the trauma room with the specialized equipment and reinforced medical teams, the story could have ended very differently. I urge parents: vaccinate your children. No child should die or suffer severe illness from a preventable disease.”

Dr. Shani Messner-Peiraisen, another pediatric resident who treated the child, added:

“The incidence of epiglottitis has declined dramatically over the years due to the inclusion of the Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine in the routine immunization schedule. This condition causes an infection of the cartilage tissue that prevents food from entering the windpipe. As a result, the tissue becomes swollen and can block the airways. Symptoms appear suddenly and worsen rapidly.”

Dr. Moriah Peiser-Rosenberg, an ENT resident, concluded:”The initial report was that the baby was choking after swallowing seeds. However, we realized that this was an entirely different event after performing a fiber-optic examination of the upper airway to determine whether a foreign body was causing the obstruction.

I am grateful that we were able to save the baby’s life through multidisciplinary cooperation and the immediate provision of life-saving medical treatment upon his arrival.”

Julia Parker – JBizNews Desk
The college major, long treated as a personal credential and a cultural marker, now looks more like an early career trade tied to artificial intelligence exposure, according to Goldman Sachs, which described student choices as a signal that young workers already price the technology into lifetime earnings decisions.

The scale of the shift shows up in enrollment data: National Center for Education Statistics figures show U.S. bachelor’s degrees in computer and information sciences more than doubled from roughly 48,000 in 2012 to more than 108,000 in 2022, while Goldman Sachs has linked that migration to a broader repricing of skills around generative AI.

That comparison matters because students increasingly treat majors as an investment decision rather than a fixed identity, according to Goldman Sachs, whose economists have said generative AI could lift global gross domestic product by 7% and expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation.

The original undergraduate bargain looked simpler: choose a field, obtain a credential and enter a labor market that rewarded degree completion broadly, according to National Center for Education Statistics, which tracks degree production across disciplines and shows how technology programs gained share during the past decade.

That realization changed the economics of campus choice, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, which projects software-developer employment growth of 17% from 2023 to 2033 and data-scientist employment growth of 36%, far above the agency’s projection for total employment growth.

The inflection point arrived when artificial intelligence moved from research labs into consumer and corporate tools, according to Stanford University, whose AI Index has said industry now dominates advanced AI model development and private capital continues to cluster around machine learning infrastructure and applications.

Large technology companies reinforced that message, according to Microsoft, which has described AI copilots as a core layer across enterprise software, and OpenAI, whose public releases accelerated student awareness that coding, statistics and domain knowledge could combine into a new premium skill set.

Employers then supplied the market confirmation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose occupational data show computer and mathematical roles carrying median pay well above national averages, giving students a clearer numerical basis for shifting from lower-return majors into AI-adjacent programs.

Universities have responded by expanding data-science, analytics and computational social-science offerings, according to National Center for Education Statistics, whose degree classifications show a broad increase in computer-related awards rather than a narrow boom limited to traditional computer science.

The demand surge also reflects corporate capital spending, according to Goldman Sachs, which has said AI investment could approach a scale large enough to influence productivity, cloud demand and semiconductor supply chains, making undergraduate talent pipelines relevant to investors tracking long-cycle technology adoption.

That investor connection runs through Nvidia, which has said demand for accelerated computing and AI infrastructure has driven record data-center revenue, turning what students see in classrooms into the human-capital side of one of the equity market’s dominant growth themes.

Still, the path upward contains risk, according to Goldman Sachs, which has cautioned that AI can automate tasks inside high-skill occupations even as it creates new demand for workers capable of deploying, supervising and integrating the technology.

That tension has fed skepticism among students and parents, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose projections imply strong demand for technical roles but do not eliminate cyclical hiring risk in technology, where graduate timing can collide with layoffs, start-up funding pullbacks and changing corporate budgets.

The middle of the market looks especially vulnerable, according to Goldman Sachs, whose research has emphasized that generative AI affects cognitive work rather than only routine physical labor, challenging the old assumption that any white-collar degree provides durable insulation from automation.

For that reason, the emerging campus trade favors hybrid majors, according to Stanford University, whose AI Index highlights demand for AI literacy across industries, suggesting that economics, biology, engineering, finance and law programs may gain value when paired with statistics and computation.

Financial firms see the same pattern inside their own workforces, according to Goldman Sachs, which has described AI as a productivity tool for knowledge workers, implying that future analysts, bankers and portfolio managers may need technical fluency even when their formal degree sits outside computer science.

The practical question for students now concerns option value, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose wage and growth data suggest majors tied to software, data architecture, cybersecurity and applied analytics offer wider career paths than programs with weaker links to expanding digital capital budgets.

But a narrow coding-only strategy carries its own limitation, according to Goldman Sachs, which has said productivity gains depend on organizational adoption, meaning students who combine technical training with business judgment, regulation, health care or industrial expertise may command a more durable premium.

The current market position of AI education resembles an early-cycle infrastructure buildout, according to Stanford University, whose AI Index frames the technology as a general-purpose platform with investment, talent and model development feeding one another across corporate and academic systems.

That creates a feedback loop for universities, according to National Center for Education Statistics, whose degree data imply that student demand can pressure schools to redirect faculty hiring, course capacity and capital budgets toward computing-heavy programs.

For investors, the enrollment shift offers a human-capital indicator, according to Goldman Sachs, which has connected AI adoption to productivity and growth potential, making student major selection a modest but telling signal for labor supply in technology-intensive sectors.

The broader lesson reaches beyond campus, according to Goldman Sachs: AI has turned education into a forward-looking allocation of risk, time and earning power, and students now move accordingly before labor markets fully settle the final price of the new technology cycle.
JBizNews Desk

SURFSIDE (VINnews)-Bryan Leib told Newsmax TV that Israel has faced relentless attacks from the Arab world since its founding in 1948, with terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon posing direct threats on its borders for the past two decades.

“Ever since the State of Israel was founded in 1948, it has faced relentless attacks from across the Arab world,” Leib said. “For the past two decades, those threats have been right on its borders, from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon. This isn’t just a theoretical threat; it’s actual terrorism that has claimed the lives of thousands of Israelis.”

Leib highlighted the human cost of the violence, noting that Hamas and Hezbollah operatives have infiltrated Israel and carried out attacks that “slaughter entire families at the Shabbat dinner table.”

“Most people will never understand what it’s like to live with terrorist organizations on your doorstep but I’ve visited Israel enough to have a rough idea of this feeling,” he added.

Leib, who has advocated strongly for Israel, emphasized the principle of national self-interest. “I’ve always believed Israel must put Israel First, just as we put America First and any sovereign nation should put the interests of their people first,” he said.

Regarding Hezbollah in Lebanon, Leib called for continued efforts to neutralize the threat. “As for Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel should continue working with the new Lebanese government to dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure and ensure it can never again threaten” Israel, he said.

For months, Donald Trump spoke about Iran and Hamas in the language of force, deadlines and destruction. Iran’s nuclear facilities were “obliterated.” Hamas would face “hell to pay.” The hostages would be freed, Hamas terrorists would be crushed, and America’s enemies would learn quickly that Trump was back.

Now Israel is facing a much less dramatic reality. The Iran deal has not closed the Iranian nuclear file, but pushed key questions into another round of negotiations. Hamas has not been wiped out by American pressure, or even disarmed. Hezbollah remains a central threat in Lebanon. And instead of Washington giving Israel a blank check to finish the job, Israel may now find itself under pressure from the same president whose threats once sounded like a promise of full backing.

This is the growing gap between Trump’s words and Trump’s policy. Israel heard obliteration, while Iran got a deal. Israel heard pressure on Hamas, while Hamas survived the deadlines. Israel heard that Iran’s nuclear program had been finished, but now the world is back to discussing oversight, uranium and how to remove it.

Trump threatens first, escalates loudly, creates fear, then cuts a deal. His threats are often not meant as literal promises, but as leverage. Maybe Trump is bluffing Iran now. Maybe he is trying to draw Tehran into a trap. Maybe he wants the uranium issue exposed before he acts again. But Israel cannot build national security policy on maybe.

The Hamas example should have been a warning. Trump repeatedly issued harsh threats over the hostages and spoke as if Hamas could be forced quickly into submission. But the war did not end in 24 hours. The hostages were not all released by his threats alone, even as he took credit for progress. Hamas terrorists were not destroyed by a deadline from Washington. Israel remained the country fighting on the ground, managing international pressure and carrying the burden of a war America could not resolve.

Iran is an even bigger test. Trump’s “obliterated” language suggested the nuclear threat had been decisively handled. But if Iran’s program was truly destroyed, why does the new deal still require negotiations over nuclear material, inspections and compliance? If missiles were part of the threat, why are they now treated as negotiable? And if Hezbollah and Lebanon are folded into a broader framework, Israel may be asked to restrain itself against the same Iranian-backed threats Trump once vowed to crush.

This is where Trump’s broader style becomes relevant. Greenland would be acquired. Canada could become the 51st state. Some of it may be joking or negotiation, but the pattern is clear: Trump often speaks in maximalist outcomes long before the reality exists.

For most countries, that kind of speech can be dismissed as antics. For Israel, it is different. When an American president threatens Iran, Israel listens. When he says Hamas will pay, Israeli families of hostages listen. When he says nuclear sites were obliterated, Israeli officials, soldiers and citizens weigh that statement against the risk of the next war.

That does not mean Trump is anti-Israel or that every threat was meaningless. His willingness to use force, impose pressure and break diplomatic taboos has often helped Israel. But the Iran deal is exposing a harder truth: Trump’s strongest words are not always a policy commitment. Sometimes they are a negotiating position or a headline. Sometimes they are a way to project strength while preparing to compromise.

That is the danger now. Israel may discover that the same words that once reassured it can later be used to restrain it. Trump can praise Israel one day and pressure Netanyahu the next. Maybe this is a genius plan. Maybe he is setting a trap. But a country facing Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran across the region cannot afford to confuse dramatic language with strategic certainty.

Trump’s big threats are catching up with Israel because they created expectations that reality is not meeting. The lesson is not that Israel should ignore him. It is that Israel must read him carefully.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for jobless aid fell modestly last week as layoffs remained in the same historically low range of recent years.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 13 dropped by 4,000 to 226,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s in line with the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,000 to 223,250.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending June 6 rose by 24,000 to 1.81 million, slightly more than analysts predicted.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who had previously voiced concerns about the Trump administration’s agreement with Iran, announced Wednesday that he now supports the memorandum of understanding, citing a lengthy conversation with President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Graham said his position changed after what he described as an extensive and constructive discussion regarding the goals and potential benefits of the agreement.

“After this discussion, it is my opinion that signing the MOU will be beneficial to the United States, in as much as the Strait of Hormuz will begin to open, and the hostilities with Iran will stop,” Graham, who had previously expressed skepticism about the agreement, wrote on social media.

While acknowledging that major questions remain regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions and future negotiations, Graham argued that pursuing diplomacy carries little risk.

“Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying,” he continued.

The South Carolina senator also emphasized the broader economic and geopolitical benefits that could result from easing tensions in the region.

“The economic stability that comes from opening up the Strait and the cessation of hostilities could create a pathway to peace well beyond the Iranian conflict.”

Graham said that a larger objective remains expanding regional normalization efforts between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia.

“The expansion of the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel is President Trump’s and my ultimate goal. I think that is best achieved by creating economic stability for the United States, the region and the world, as well as the cessation of hostilities. The signing of the MOU is an essential step to make that happen and thus it is worthwhile,” concluded Graham.

His endorsement came as the United States and Iran formally put the agreement into effect. According to Axios, both governments electronically signed the memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, making it officially operational.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei confirmed that the signing process was underway and nearing completion.

“Right now, as I’m speaking with you, the text of the Islamabad memorandum has probably reached the presidents of Iran and the United States for signature.”

Baghaei said both sides agreed to execute the accord electronically and suggested that doing so would strengthen compliance with the agreement.

“It has been agreed that the Iran-US memorandum will be signed digitally. Once the memorandum reaches the presidents of both countries for signature, any violation of it will carry a higher cost.”

He also revealed that earlier plans for a formal signing ceremony in Europe had been scrapped because of the decision to finalize the document electronically.

According to Baghaei, negotiators had considered holding an in-person ceremony in either Geneva or Brussels, but the digital signing process eliminated the need for a public event in Switzerland.

{Matzav.com}

Lakewood residents are reminded that New Jersey American Water’s authorized contractor, CDM Smith, is currently conducting door-to-door canvassing and service pipe material assessments at New Jersey American Water customer properties throughout the township – as part of its statewide Lead Service Line Replacement Program. The Township appreciates the community’s cooperation and the many residents who have already engaged with these efforts.

Residents are encouraged to schedule an inspection at a time that works best for them, rather than waiting for a canvasser. During these appointments, CDM Smith will complete all necessary assessments on behalf of New Jersey American Water.

Residents may also take advantage of the self-reporting tool. This free and simple process allows customers to answer a few questions and upload a photo of their service pipe. In many cases, this can help determine pipe material and avoid the need for any in-person visit.

Homes and buildings built prior to 1987 are more likely to have lead or lead components; and those customers are especially encouraged to take action. However, New Jersey American Water is working to update its records for all customer properties. Because utilities were not historically required to track the customer-owned portion of service pipes, records may be incomplete regardless of a property’s age. Hence, self-reporting or scheduling an inspection is encouraged for newly built properties as well.

All outreach and inspections are conducted at no cost to residents by CDM Smith on behalf of New Jersey American Water; and are not affiliated with any governmental agency. Team members will carry official photo identification and wear branded, high-visibility vests. They will never request payment; any personal identification documents; or financial information.

Following the shocking police brutality toward Chareidi protesters on Wednesday morning, Kikar H’Shabbat published an investigation that revealed that even before yesterday’s protest, a letter was sent to Police Chief Danny Levy regarding footage in recent weeks that reveals that the police are throwing stun grenades directly at protesters—but only when the protesters are Chareidi.

According to the report, the violence on Wednesday was only the tip of the iceberg. Footage obtained by Kikar HaShabbat shows systematic use of stun grenades in violation of regulations, direct throws at protesters, and severe injuries to protesters’ faces and heads.

Police regulations explicitly prohibit throwing stun grenades directly at protesters. The regulations require that the grenades be thrown into the air or onto the ground so that they explode at a safe distance from protestors.

One video shows a Chareidi man being struck by a stun grenade at a protest at the entrance to Jerusalem. He required medical treatment and was evacuated to the hospital. Witnesses said that the grenade was thrown directly at the protesters.

In another video, an officer is seen turning off his body camera before throwing a stun grenade directly at a group of protesters. One struck a Chareidi man directly on his head, seriously injuring him.

A third video shows a stun grenade thrown directly at a group of protesters, injuring a number of them.

Even before the protest on Wednesday, Attorney Menachem Stauber sent a letter to Levy regarding the excessive violence against Chareidi protesters. To date, he has received no response.

The Association for the Protection of Chareidim said that it received confirmation that the letter was received by his office.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Robinhood Markets disclosed Tuesday that it will cut about 10% of its workforce, eliminating roughly 290 jobs, in a move chief executive Vlad Tenev described not as a retreat but as a deliberate effort to keep the company lean and fast-moving.

The cuts were announced in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and laid out in a memo Tenev sent to employees, which the company later posted on X. In it, Tenev struck an unusual tone for a layoff announcement.

“Robinhood’s business has never been stronger,” he wrote, before arguing that the company “cannot default to operating as a heavily-layered organization” and must instead be a “lean, hyper-focused team.”

The numbers back up the claim of strength, which is what makes the move notable. Robinhood, which employs about 2,900 full-time workers, said its trading volumes hit record levels in June across stocks, options and the fast-growing market for prediction-market contracts. The company recently reported a 15% jump in revenue, though its stock slipped at the time because the figure came in below what analysts had hoped.

Robinhood expects the cuts to cost about $28 million, including roughly $20 million in cash for severance and benefits and about $8 million in stock-based compensation, all to be recorded in the second quarter.

These are the company’s first layoffs in three years; the last came in 2022, when a cooling market and a crypto crash forced two painful rounds of reductions.

One detail stands out for what it leaves out.

A growing number of banks, fintech firms and payment companies cutting staff this year have pointed to artificial intelligence, saying software can now do work that once required people. Robinhood did not.

Tenev framed the decision purely as a matter of structure and speed, not automation, casting the smaller headcount as a way to push more responsibility onto fewer, higher-performing employees.

The backdrop is a broader wave of belt-tightening across financial technology and crypto.

Last month, Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges, said it was cutting about 14% of its staff. Earlier in the year, Crypto.com and Algorand announced their own reductions.

The price of Bitcoin and other digital currencies has slumped, and trading has cooled from the frenzy of 2024, squeezing companies whose fortunes rise and fall with market activity.

What separates Robinhood is the framing: most of its peers are cutting because business slowed, while Robinhood says it is cutting from a position of strength.

Here is why it matters beyond Wall Street.

Robinhood is the app that pulled millions of ordinary Americans into investing for the first time, powering the meme-stock craze and turning phone-based trading into a mainstream habit.

When a profitable company posting record activity still decides to shed one in ten workers, it signals something about the moment: even healthy businesses are trimming management layers in the name of speed.

For employees across the technology sector, it is one more sign that the era of aggressive hiring has given way to a focus on doing more with less.

Investors gave the news a mixed reception.

Robinhood shares rose more than 2% early Tuesday before giving back the gains and turning lower later in the day, a sign that Wall Street is still weighing whether a leaner Robinhood means a stronger one.

For the roughly 290 people losing their jobs, the company said it would offer support through the transition.

For everyone else watching, the bigger question is whether “lean and disciplined,” the phrase Tenev keeps returning to, becomes the standard other strong companies adopt, even when business is good.

Wall Street — JBizNews Desk

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

During an interview on the 103FM radio program , retired Major General Eliezer Marom (“Chiney”), the former commander of the Israeli Navy, warned that Israel is facing a prolonged security reality vis-à-vis Iran and must prepare for recurring rounds of conflict. According to him, the Middle East has entered a new phase in which diplomatic agreements do not necessarily create stability and may instead lead to escalation.

Marom began by directly addressing the Iranian threat and the implications of the emerging agreements: “We are in a long war against Iran, and Israel needs to prepare every few months for an operation or war against Iran that will last several days or weeks. If the agreement is signed, we need to understand that and prepare for it.”

In the interview, he analyzed the proposed ceasefire agreement and its regional significance for Israel. Marom sharply criticized the political leadership, stating that “The advisory circle around the prime minister does not exist. One person is making the decisions, and even Ron Dermer, who understands America and did good things with this administration, has simply left and gone.”

Referring to Ron Dermer, he added:”They need to call him back up for reserve duty.”

Marom also discussed diplomatic developments concerning Lebanon and argued that Israel must act quickly on that front.

According to him: “President Trump, through what he signed tonight, is approving Iran’s takeover of Lebanon. Do you understand that? He is signing an agreement with the Iranians about Lebanon. Lebanon’s president should be insulted by this. All the leaders in the Middle East who are listening to this, Sisi, Erdoğan, and bin Salman, should understand that this is a bad agreement.”

He suggested what he sees as a preferable diplomatic alternative: “The IDF recommended this beforehand: Let’s move quickly toward a Lebanon agreement, and in the process prevent Iran from becoming Lebanon’s patron. The only diplomatic step that can be taken right now is to reach an understanding with the Lebanese and say that once the Lebanese Army is strong enough, we will return them to southern Lebanon. President Aoun accepts this idea, and we should move in that direction.”

Referring to diplomatic representation in the Lebanon talks, he added: “It cannot be  that we arrive at talks in Washington with two brigadier generals. [and no higher-ranking diplomats]”

When asked what would happen if Iran responded to every Israeli action in Lebanon, Marom, a member of the right-wing Bitchonistim action group, replied bluntly:”Then there will be missiles—so be it. This agreement is bad for us in any case. If they want to return to fighting? I don’t like saying it, but from Israel’s perspective that is a preferable alternative.”

Marom also addressed Iran’s nuclear program and expressed deep skepticism about international arrangements: “There is no reason to believe the Iranians. They still have enriched uranium in Iran, and the inspection mechanism is completely unclear, and that is the cornerstone of any nuclear agreement. How did they suddenly end up with uranium enriched to 60 percent? Isn’t that a violation? It is an absolute violation.”

He continued: “They are highly motivated to obtain nuclear weapons because, despite all their rhetoric, they understand that Israel made a mockery of their air defenses.”

Marom concluded by urging Israel to maintain freedom of action even without American backing: “Israel is not helpless. We do not need the Americans. We managed very well during the Twelve-Day War.”

He said he is not concerned that independent Israeli actions would damage relations with the United States: “Beyond shared values, there are interests. The American interest is for Israel to remain here in the Middle East. There is no country like Israel, and they know that very well.”

“Despite all the unfavorable polls, when you ask an American, he will tell you that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and that he will not allow it to fall. There may be some brakes or restraints, but that’s okay.”

Marom, a decorated former general, is known as “Chiney” due to his Chinese looks, stemming from his Chinese mother Lu Che (Leah), who married his father after he fled Germany in 1935 to the only country where he could get a visa – China. The family immigrated to Israel and Eliezer, the youngest of seven, was born there in 1955.

A unique and educational Torah event will take place this evening, Thursday, June 18, when the Agudath Israel of America Torah Projects Commission presents a special shiur featuring Rav Amitai Ben-David, acclaimed author of Sichas Chulin and a renowned expert in the practical and halachic aspects of shechitah.

The program will begin at 8:45 p.m. at Bais Medrash Lutzk (Simcha Hall), located at 520 New Egypt Road in Lakewood, New Jersey, and is expected to attract Daf Yomi participants, bnei Torah, rabbanim, and members of the broader community seeking a deeper understanding of one of the most fascinating and practical areas of halachah.

What makes this event especially noteworthy is that the shiur will feature a live shechitah and treifos demonstration, offering attendees a rare opportunity to witness firsthand many of the concepts discussed in Maseches Chulin and related areas of Torah study. Through practical examples and real-life illustrations, participants will gain a clearer appreciation of the intricate halachos governing kosher slaughter and the examination of animals.

Organizers explain that the program is designed not only for Daf Yomi learners studying or reviewing the sugyos of Chulin, but also for anyone interested in understanding the halachic foundations behind the kosher food that appears on Jewish tables every day.

Rav Amitai Ben-David has earned widespread recognition for his ability to present complex halachic subjects in a clear, engaging, and accessible manner. His sefer, Sichas Chulin, has become a highly regarded resource for those seeking a deeper understanding of shechitah and treifos.

The shiur, as mentioned, will take place this evening at Bais Medrash Lutzk (Simcha Hall), 520 New Egypt Road in Lakewood, beginning at 8:45 p.m.

{Matzav.com}

Rav Nir Ben Artzi delivered a sharp critique of recent chareidi demonstrations that have involved blocking major roads, arguing that such tactics are inappropriate and undermine the honor of Torah and Judaism.

Addressing the protests, Rav Ben Artzi, a mekubal, head of the Tlamim community in southern Israel, and the head of the Tair Neri organization, said that chareidim should not engage in demonstrations that disrupt traffic and inconvenience the public.

“It is forbidden for chareidim to hold protests like these and block roads. This is not honoring Hashem,” he said.

According to Rav Ben Artzi, road closures and disruptions harm innocent people and run contrary to the values of derech eretz and consideration for others.

“There is a proper way to act,” he said. “Stopping traffic and holding people up is already hatred and wrongdoing. It is not derech eretz. It is not honorable. It is not kavod Hashem.”

He pointed to the hardships caused by lengthy traffic disruptions, noting that motorists may be delayed for hours while trying to get to work, care for family members, or attend to urgent personal needs.

“You cannot hold demonstrations, close roads, and leave people waiting on the highway for 10 hours,” he said. “A woman may need a restroom. There are pregnancies. There is work. There are children waiting at home. There is livelihood. What are you doing?”

Rav Ben Artzi further argued that many participants are simply following instructions without fully understanding the consequences of their actions.

“Ninety percent of the protesters are demonstrating only because they were told to demonstrate,” he claimed. “That is forbidden. It is a very serious sin. Derech eretz kadmah laTorah, and ‘Ve’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha’—that is the entire Torah.”

Instead of street protests, he urged opponents of government policies to channel their efforts into prayer.

“Want to hold a demonstration? Don’t close roads. Go to the desert. Go and daven,” he said.

Rav Ben Artzi emphasized that the true strength of the Jewish people lies not in physical confrontation but in prayer, Torah study, and the recitation of Tehillim.

“The power of the Jewish people is in the mouth—prayer, Torah, and Tehillim,” he said. “That is an infinite power.”

He suggested organizing massive tefillah gatherings at locations throughout Israel, including the Negev and the Galilee, where tens or even hundreds of thousands of chareidim could beseech Hashem for help.

“‘Ribbono Shel Olam, save us, help us.’ That is worth 100 billion demonstrations,” he said. “It would shake Heaven and earth.”

Rav Ben Artzi also expressed frustration with what he described as a reliance on physical activism rather than spiritual means, saying that unity and prayer are the proper response to challenges facing the community.

“The power of Am Yisroel is prayer, not physical force,” he said. “Unity and peace.”

In addition, he claimed that many leading rabbanim and admorim are not receiving accurate information about events unfolding in Israel, asserting that aides and advisors often present them with distorted accounts.

“All your admorim are being lied to,” he said. “The people around them tell them stories that are not true, and they believe them.”

Rav Ben Artzi concluded by encouraging the public to listen directly to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and members of the right-wing government rather than relying on intermediaries.

“Believe only the right-wing government and Binyamin Netanyahu,” he said. “Listen to him directly. He will tell you the truth.”

A San Diego man has been arrested in a federal terrorism case accusing him of using Gaza “humanitarian aid” campaigns as a cover to raise money for Hamas terrorists, while also diverting some of the funds for personal use.

Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, was charged in a five-count criminal complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to Hamas, sanctions evasion, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. He was arrested in San Diego and appeared before a federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of California, while the case is being prosecuted by the Southern District of New York.

Palestinian Hamas militants gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages on February 20, including those of the Bibas family, who have become symbols of the hostage crisis that has gripped Israel since the Gaza war broke out. The transfer of the bodies is the first such handover of remains by Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war. (Photo by Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by ABOOD ABUSALAMA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors say Sabassi used social media accounts, crowdfunding platforms and a purported charity called Ikram — The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. to solicit donations from around the world. The public pitch was aid for Gaza. The alleged destination, according to the Justice Department, was Hamas.

Prosecutors say Sabassi raised roughly $600,000 through online campaigns, including “Gaza Relief” and “Gaza Relief Urgent Appeal.” The complaint alleges he sent about $116,000 to a Hamas member in Turkey and tried to convert about $382,000 into cryptocurrency, including USDT, to send through Gaza Now, a Hamas-linked fundraising network later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.

KHAN YUNIS, GAZA – OCTOBER 11: Thousands of Palestinians continue to return to Khan Yunis, from which Israeli forces have withdrawn, on the second day of the ceasefire in the Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 11, 2025. Palestinians met with scenes of widespread destruction and devastation after their return. (Photo by Abdallah F.s. Alattar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Authorities also accuse Sabassi of openly promoting Hamas online. Investigators say he posted an hour-long propaganda video of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, sourced from the official channel of the Qassam Brigades, and later reposted it. The complaint also cites posts glorifying Hamas figures and calling for Israel’s destruction.

Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said Sabassi allegedly “exploited the barbaric acts of terror” on October 7 to draw donors into fraudulent humanitarian causes.

The Treasury Department had already sanctioned Gaza Now and its founder as part of a Hamas-aligned fundraising network, saying the online operation raised funds in support of Hamas after the massacre. That matters because the Sabassi case shows how the same network allegedly intersected with U.S.-based crowdfunding, donors and financial infrastructure.

NEW YORK (VINnews)  — Researcher and analyst Amjad Taha, an expert on strategic and political affairs from the United Arab Emirates, sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump over the memorandum of understanding with Iran. He argued that:“Telling Israel not to strike Hezbollah for the sake of an agreement with Iran is like telling the United States not to target al-Qaeda because you are negotiating with Hamas.”

In a post on X, Taha wrote:“Hello President Trump, perhaps you achieved a temporary agreement, but you have undermined the trust of almost everyone around you, perhaps with the exception of J.D. Vance and Iran’s Supreme Leader. Attacking friends who stood with you during war while protecting an enemy that attacked both of you is how countries stop trusting you, even if they continue smiling for the cameras.”

Greetings, President Trump,
You may have secured a temporary deal, but you’ve shaken the trust of almost everyone around you except perhaps JD Vance and Iran’s Supreme Leader. Attacking friends who stood with you in wartime while defending an enemy that attacked both of you is…

— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) June 18, 2026

He added that “As many of us, including myself, see it, Israel is America’s greatest ally in the Middle East. Telling Israel not to attack Hezbollah for the sake of an agreement with Iran is like telling America not to strike al-Qaeda because you are negotiating with Hamas. And a deal that lasts only 60 days? That’s not diplomacy—it’s a ceasefire with a shorter expiration date than a carton of milk.”

It should be noted that President Trump said on Wednesday that the 60-day timeline to negotiate with Iran once the memorandum of understanding is formally signed is not a hard deadline to reach a final agreement with Tehran.

“No, I don’t. [It] could take longer,” Trump said in Paris when asked if 60 days marked a final deadline.

“I don’t view it as hard,” he continued. “Just as long as they’re behaving, I really don’t care that much.”

Qantas plans to launch what it says will be the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight in October 2027, connecting Sydney and London with a journey expected to last up to 22 hours.

The Australian airline announced Wednesday that nonstop flights between the two cities will begin operating as part of its long-awaited Project Sunrise initiative, which aims to connect Australia’s east coast directly with major global destinations.

Qantas unveiled the first of its specially configured Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft at Airbus’ manufacturing facility in Toulouse, France. The aircraft has been modified for ultra-long-haul travel and includes an additional 20,000-liter fuel tank that allows it to travel more than 16,000 kilometers, or nearly 10,000 miles, nonstop.

The Sydney-London route will become the first nonstop service between Australia’s east coast and the United Kingdom. According to Qantas, the flights will reduce travel time by as much as four hours compared with existing one-stop itineraries.

GSA SELLS OLD POST OFFICE BUILDING IN WASHINGTON, ONCE HOME TO TRUMP HOTEL

“Since we first flew the Kangaroo Route in 1947, where we stopped seven times on the way to London, every generation of aircraft has taken a stop out of the journey,” Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said in a statement. “Today, we’re taking out the last one.”

The launch marks a significant milestone for Project Sunrise, an initiative first announced by Qantas in 2017 to push the limits of commercial long-haul travel.

Qantas said the A350-1000ULR aircraft were designed specifically for the project and will carry 238 passengers across four cabin classes. The airline plans to take delivery of 12 of the aircraft.

The carrier said nonstop Sydney-London flights will go on sale in February 2027 ahead of the service launch later that year.

The route is expected to surpass Singapore Airlines’ nonstop service between Singapore and New York, currently regarded as one of the world’s longest regularly scheduled commercial flights.

‘THAT GUY’S INSANE’: FAA INVESTIGATES AIRSPACE INCIDENT INVOLVING JETBLUE FLIGHT, OTHER AIRCRAFT

Qantas cited recent research showing growing demand for ultra-long-haul travel, with 70% of surveyed Australians indicating they would consider booking a nonstop flight of that length. Among premium travelers, interest rose to 80%, according to the airline.

The company said more than 1.7 million passengers have flown on its existing nonstop long-haul routes since 2018, including services linking Perth with London, Rome and Paris.

Qantas plans to expand Project Sunrise beyond London. The airline confirmed that Sydney-to-New York will be the next route added to the network, with additional details expected next year.

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

The airline said pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel are already undergoing training ahead of the aircraft’s arrival and entry into service.

A leading Israeli news outlet is sharply attacking President Donald Trump’s developing agreement with Iran, warning that the proposed arrangement could undermine the goals of the recent military campaign against Tehran and leave much of the regime’s nuclear infrastructure untouched.

In a strongly worded opinion article published Wednesday, Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz argued that the emerging deal amounts to a “catastrophic capitulation to” Iran’s aggressors and could leave Israel exposed to future threats while limiting its ability to respond.

Horovitz contended that the draft memorandum of understanding currently under discussion would grant Tehran substantial economic benefits while delaying decisive action on the central issue of Iran’s nuclear program.

The criticism comes as the Trump administration moves toward completing a framework agreement following months of warfare, diplomatic maneuvering, and negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

According to Horovitz, the proposed framework falls well short of the objectives previously articulated by Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Earlier this year, Witkoff stated that any acceptable agreement would require Iran to end its nuclear activities, dismantle its ballistic missile program, and cease support for regional proxy organizations.

Horovitz highlighted comments Witkoff made in March concerning Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. At the time, Witkoff referenced Iranian claims that the regime possessed roughly 460 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, material that experts say could potentially be further refined for weapons purposes.

The opinion piece argues that permitting Iran to maintain its current nuclear posture during a proposed 60-day negotiating period could provide the regime with additional opportunities to move closer to nuclear weapons capability.

Horovitz also pointed to reports indicating that American intelligence officials remain skeptical about Iran’s willingness to make meaningful compromises in any final agreement.

In addition, he criticized portions of the framework that he believes would significantly restrict Israel’s ability to launch future military operations against Iran, while raising doubts about whether the deal would permanently block Tehran from eventually acquiring nuclear weapons.

The article also scrutinized Trump’s recent remarks regarding Israel and Hezbollah. The president has repeatedly called for restraint in Israeli military actions and has suggested that regional actors, including Syria, could help contain Hezbollah’s influence and activities.

Trump, however, has vigorously defended his approach, maintaining that American military action combined with diplomacy successfully prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and strengthened Israel’s overall security position.

Speaking during the G7 summit, Trump asserted that Israel had benefited enormously from U.S. intervention and argued that Iran was nearing nuclear weapons capability before American forces acted.

Horovitz disputed that conclusion, insisting that the proposed agreement effectively rewards Tehran and risks leaving Israel to confront ongoing dangers from both the Iranian regime and its network of regional proxies.

{Matzav.com}

Just hours after the Iran agreement was signed, Iranian Parliament Speaker and key MOU negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — sarcastically dubbed by some as Iran’s “new rational leader” appeared on state television and reaffirmed the regime’s commitment to the “liberation of Jerusalem.”

“If we seek justice, and God willing we do, and if all these people seek justice for our Imam, then justice for our Imam lies in the liberation of Jerusalem (Quds),” Ghalibaf declared.

“We must uphold that honor, remain committed to that vision, and carry out that mission. A hundred Netanyahus are not even worth the shoelace of our martyred Imam,” he said.

The remarks are likely to intensify criticism of the deal, with opponents arguing that while Tehran presents a more moderate face to the West, its senior leaders continue to publicly champion goals centered on Jerusalem and confrontation with Israel.

UFC is all in on America 250. 

UFC announced the launch of exclusive limited-edition apparel collections with four brands that have integrated themselves into streetwear culture: Anti Social Social Club, Warren Lotas, ID Supply Co., and Culture Kings. 

The limited-edition apparel collections made their debut on the White House South Lawn on Sunday during the UFC Freedom 250 spectacle and have flown off the shelves.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXBUSINESS.COM

The collaborations were a massive hit, as they set an all-time UFC merchandise record for a single event. They also doubled the company’s previous revenue record.

Within the collection there are T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, and more that combine America 250 and UFC into one. 

Anti Social Social Club is a Los Angeles-based brand whose deliberately limited released helped grow a massive and dedicated following in streetwear. For the UFC Freedom 250 collection, the Anti Social Social Club brought its signature aesthetic to the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization. 

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

Warren Lotas is also a Los Angeles-based artist and designer whose dark aesthetic, unapologetic style and hand-drawn imagery have become iconic, making him one of the most recognizable and sought-after names in streetwear. He released a fighter-themed T-shirt collection in the UFC Freedom 250 drop. 

ID Supply Co. the premium merchandise house and brand licensing group, created a graphic T-shirt line that showcases the historic UFC Freedom 250 card.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Culture Kings offered UFC Freedom 250 fighter-themed T-shirts as the final part of the campaign. The collections are available on the UFC Store’s website but are quickly selling out. 

The UFC Freedom Spectacle saw 14 fighters compete in the cage, with an estimated 4,300 people in attendance. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Even if the war in Iran ends, the price increases it set off are not going to disappear with it. That is the message coming from senior officials at the European Central Bank (ECB), who raised interest rates last week and warned that the energy shock has already worked its way too deeply into the economy for a peace deal to reverse on its own.

On June 11, the ECB lifted its key deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.25%, marking its first rate increase since 2023 and the first move by a major central bank in response to the surge in oil and natural-gas prices triggered by the conflict. ECB President Christine Lagarde said the decision was unanimous and reflected concerns that inflation pressures created by the war were becoming more persistent.

The bank’s chief economist, Philip Lane, explained the concern in simple terms: inflation can outlive the event that caused it.

Once higher energy costs begin spreading through wages, transportation, food, manufacturing, and everyday services, they develop momentum of their own. A manufacturer facing higher electricity costs raises prices. Workers facing higher living expenses seek larger wage increases. Businesses then raise prices again to offset higher labor costs. Economists call this process “second-round effects,” and it is the part of inflation that does not disappear simply because a ceasefire is signed.

That concern helps explain why policymakers remain cautious despite signs that the fighting may be winding down.

The numbers remain troubling. Inflation across the 20 nations that use the euro climbed to 3.2% in May, significantly above the ECB’s 2% target. The central bank now expects inflation to average roughly 3% this year, up from the 2.6% forecast it issued in March, before gradually returning toward target by 2028.

At the same time, economic growth remains weak. The ECB now expects the euro-area economy to expand just 0.8% in 2026, after posting only 0.1% growth during the first quarter. That combination of slowing growth and elevated inflation presents one of the most difficult challenges central bankers face.

A peace agreement may help, but not as quickly as many consumers hope.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil shipments, disrupted global energy markets for months. In addition, attacks on energy facilities across the Gulf region damaged infrastructure and restricted supplies.

Even as shipping resumes and tensions ease, energy markets cannot immediately return to normal. Facilities must be repaired, inventories replenished, and transportation networks stabilized. Much of the economic damage has already been built into business contracts, household budgets, and corporate expectations.

Not everyone believes the ECB will continue raising rates aggressively.

Mark Wall, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank, described the latest increase as a significant milestone but cautioned that interest-rate hikes can only do so much when inflation originates from a supply shock rather than excessive demand.

Higher rates may cool spending, but they do not produce more oil, natural gas, or electricity.

That reality creates a difficult balancing act for policymakers. Raise rates too aggressively and they risk pushing an already fragile economy closer to recession. Move too slowly and inflation could become entrenched.

For households and businesses, the consequences are becoming increasingly visible.

Borrowing costs are rising just as economic growth weakens. Businesses face higher financing expenses while still coping with elevated energy and transportation costs. Families carrying mortgages, auto loans, or credit-card debt may find monthly payments becoming more burdensome even if fuel prices eventually begin to decline.

The divide among major central banks adds another layer of uncertainty.

While the ECB has chosen to tighten policy, the Federal Reserve in the United States and the Bank of England have so far held rates steady, reflecting a belief that much of the energy shock may eventually fade on its own. The ECB has taken a different view, concluding that inflation risks are too serious to ignore.

Those differing approaches can influence currency values, trade flows, investment decisions, and the cost of doing business across global markets.

What happens next depends largely on whether the energy shock leaves lasting scars.

ECB officials have signaled that another rate increase could come as soon as July if inflation remains elevated, though they have emphasized that future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.

For now, Europe’s central bankers are sending a clear message: even if peace arrives, the economic consequences of the conflict may linger far longer than the fighting itself.

Frankfurt – JBizNews Desk

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

WATCH:

Chareidi police volunteers and members of Chareidi reserve security units in Yerushalayim have begun turning in their weapons at police stations in protest of the force used by police against demonstrators during Wednesday’s anti-draft protest in Bnei Brak.

According to sources familiar with the move, the volunteers decided to take the step after what they described as the lack of a clear disciplinary response or public condemnation from senior police officials following the widely circulated videos of officers using force against protesters.

The volunteers said they were acting in protest over what they view as a lack of accountability and insufficient handling of the incident, expressing deep shock over the conduct of some officers during the demonstration.

They noted that for years they have worked closely with Israel Police to help protect the public and maintain security, but said they now felt compelled to send a clear message.

As of Wednesday afternoon, volunteers continued arriving at police stations to return their weapons.

Israel Police has not yet issued an official response to the protest.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday, but its latest projections delivered a surprise: more policymakers now expect the next move to be a rate increase rather than a rate cut.

In its first policy decision under new Chair Kevin Warsh, the Fed voted 12-0 to keep the federal funds rate in a range of 3.50% to 3.75%, where it has remained since December.

The bigger story was not the decision itself, but what came next.

The Fed’s updated economic projections showed officials abandoning their earlier expectation of a rate cut this year. Instead, the median forecast now points to a benchmark rate of 3.8% by the end of 2026, compared with 3.4% in the Fed’s March outlook.

Of the 18 officials submitting forecasts, nine now expect at least one rate hike before year-end, while six foresee two quarter-point increases.

Just three months ago, most policymakers were still expecting lower rates.

Inflation Changes the Conversation

The shift reflects growing concern over inflation.

Fed officials now expect their preferred inflation gauge to finish the year at 3.6%, significantly above the central bank’s 2% target and well above the 2.7% forecast issued in March.

Higher energy prices have been a major factor behind the inflation outlook, forcing policymakers to reconsider the path of monetary policy.

The Fed’s latest projections also show:

• Economic growth: 2.2%
• Unemployment: 4.3%
• Inflation: 3.6%

The new forecasts suggest the central bank is becoming increasingly concerned that inflation could remain elevated longer than previously expected.

What It Means for Consumers

For households, the message is straightforward: borrowing costs are likely to remain high.

Mortgage rates, auto loans, business financing, and credit card interest rates are all influenced by the Fed’s policy stance. If the central bank ultimately raises rates again, those costs could increase further.

The upside for consumers is that savings accounts, money-market funds, and certificates of deposit may continue offering relatively attractive yields.

For Americans waiting for cheaper financing to purchase a home, vehicle, or expand a business, relief may be further away than expected.

Warsh’s First Meeting as Chair

Wednesday’s decision marked the first policy meeting led by Kevin Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump.

Warsh introduced a shorter and simplified policy statement and announced plans to review several aspects of how the Fed communicates with markets and the public.

In an unusual move, Warsh declined to submit his own interest-rate projection to the Fed’s closely watched “dot plot,” saying he did not believe it was helpful to the policymaking process.

He indicated the Fed would review its broader communications strategy, including projections, press conferences, meeting minutes, and transcripts.

Markets React

Investors reacted negatively to the Fed’s more hawkish tone.

By Wednesday afternoon:

• The S&P 500 fell about 0.6%
• The Nasdaq declined roughly 0.7%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost approximately 160 points
• The 2-year Treasury yield jumped nearly 11 basis points

The market reaction reflected disappointment among investors who had hoped a new Fed chair might signal a path toward lower interest rates.

Instead, policymakers delivered a clear message: inflation remains the priority.

Looking Ahead

The Federal Reserve is still officially in a wait-and-see mode, but the debate inside the central bank appears to be changing.

For much of the past year, the question was when rates would be cut.

Now, for the first time in this cycle, the discussion has shifted toward whether the next move may need to be a hike.

JBizNews Desk
Washington, D.C.

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

A new Channel 13 poll has delivered a significant setback to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, showing former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot overtaking him and emerging as the largest party in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

According to the poll, the Likud remains the largest party overall with 22 seats. Eisenkot’s new “Yashar” party comes in second with 20 seats, surpassing the joint Bennett-Yair Lapid list, “B’Yachad,” which receives 17 seats.

Further down the poll, The Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu each receive 11 seats. Shas wins 9 seats, while Otzma Yehudit and United Torah Judaism each receive 8. Hadash-Ta’al receives 6 seats, while Religious Zionism and Ra’am each receive 4 seats. Blue and White, Balad, and Yoaz Hendel’s HaMiluimnikim party all fail to cross the electoral threshold.

The survey also tested a potential joint run between Bennett and Eisenkot. In that scenario, a united list led by Bennett would receive 31 seats. However, if Eisenkot were placed at the top of the ticket, the same alliance would rise to 35 seats, underscoring his stronger standing with voters in the poll.

By bloc, the opposition reaches 59 seats, Netanyahu’s coalition parties receive 51 seats, and the Arab parties hold 10 seats.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WATCH:

The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal court in Mississippi on Monday to dismiss a pollution lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI, arguing that the natural-gas turbines powering one of its largest data centers are too important to national security to shut down.

The filing, which was joined by the state of Mississippi, marks an unusual intervention by the federal government on behalf of a private company facing environmental claims brought by local residents and advocacy groups.

The dispute began in April when the NAACP filed suit under the federal Clean Air Act, alleging that xAI installed dozens of portable natural-gas turbines to power its massive Colossus 2 supercomputer facility without obtaining the permits required under federal law.

The turbines are located in Southaven, Mississippi, near the Tennessee border and within proximity of residential neighborhoods, schools, and churches. In May, the NAACP sought an emergency court order to halt operations, arguing that emissions from the turbines could increase health risks including asthma attacks, respiratory illnesses, and heart disease among nearby residents.

The Justice Department responded with a dramatically different argument.

In its filing, government attorneys said shutting down the turbines would threaten “American national, economic, and energy security.”

The department relied heavily on a declaration from Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, who stated that the military version of xAI’s chatbot, Grok, has become an important tool for classified government operations.

According to the filing, the Defense Department used Grok Gov, a government-specific version of the AI platform, during recent military operations involving Iran. The declaration states that the technology helped support operations in which U.S. forces struck approximately 2,000 targets using more than 2,000 munitions over a 96-hour period.

Adam Gustafson, head of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, argued that the federal government cannot allow private litigation to interfere with infrastructure it considers important to national defense.

The department further argued that only a small number of artificial-intelligence systems are authorized to operate on highly classified government networks and that Grok is among those approved systems.

The filing arrives at a notable moment for Musk’s business empire.

Just days earlier, SpaceX, which now owns xAI following a corporate restructuring earlier this year, completed what reports described as the largest stock offering in history. SpaceX now carries a valuation exceeding $2 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world and placing it ahead of many of America’s largest public corporations.

The ownership connection means the Southaven facility at the center of the lawsuit is now part of a company that also maintains extensive relationships with the federal government through defense, aerospace, communications, and technology contracts.

The legal challenge has drawn fierce criticism from environmental advocates.

Earthjustice, the law firm representing the NAACP, accused the administration of attempting to weaken one of the Clean Air Act’s most important enforcement mechanisms. The organization argues that citizen lawsuits have served for decades as a way for residents and community groups to enforce environmental laws when regulators fail to act.

If courts allow the government to halt such cases simply by citing national-security concerns, Earthjustice argues, similar protections could eventually be extended to other large industrial projects and corporate operators.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which typically oversees air-permit enforcement, is not participating directly in the litigation and referred questions regarding the filing to the Justice Department.

The result is a high-profile legal battle that places environmental law, artificial intelligence, national security, and executive authority on a collision course.

For businesses, the outcome could have implications far beyond one Mississippi data center.

The Clean Air Act’s citizen-suit provision has long been a factor companies consider when planning major industrial facilities, energy projects, and manufacturing operations. A ruling that allows national-security concerns to override those actions could reshape how companies evaluate legal and regulatory risks, particularly as AI firms race to build energy-intensive data centers across the country.

For residents living near the Southaven facility, however, the issue remains more immediate.

The central question is whether the turbines continue operating while the legal fight unfolds.

The court has not yet ruled on the NAACP’s request for an emergency shutdown order, and no hearing date has been announced. Until a judge issues a decision, the turbines remain online — and so does the broader debate over who ultimately gets to decide when environmental concerns give way to national-security priorities.

Washington – JBizNews Desk

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