Critics, including voting rights groups and Democrats, argue the bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible U.S. citizens who lack ready access to required documents. Studies have estimated that tens of millions of Americans, particularly married women who changed their surnames, young voters, rural residents and people of color, may not have passports or matching birth certificates readily available. Previous state-level experiments with similar requirements, such as in Kansas, were struck down in court after blocking thousands of valid registrations, with noncitizen registrations found to be extremely rare.

Trump’s renewed push comes amid ongoing debates over election integrity, including his March 2025 executive order directing changes to federal registration processes to include citizenship verification, which has faced legal challenges.

The bill’s fate remains uncertain in the Senate, where a filibuster would require 60 votes for advancement under current rules.

Trump’s comments were made during a Republican gathering focused on legislative priorities ahead of the 2026 midterms. He emphasized that the measure includes elements “almost equal to voter ID” and framed support for it as a winning political issue.

“The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” John Furner, Walmart’s incoming president and CEO, said in a joint statement with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichaei.

Google’s new AI shopping feature works this way: if a customer asks what gear to get for a winter ski trip, for example, Gemini will return items from a participating retailers’ inventory.

In the case of Walmart, customers who link their Walmart and Gemini accounts will receive recommendations based on their past purchases, and any products they decide to buy via the chatbot could get combined with their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts, according to the statement.

OpenAI and Walmart announced a similar deal in October, saying the partnership would allow ChatGPT members to use an instant checkout feature to shop for nearly everything available on Walmart’s website except for fresh food.

Google, OpenAI and Amazon all are racing to create tools that would allow for seamless AI-powered shopping by taking chatbot users from browsing to buying within the same program instead of having to go to a retailer’s website to complete a purchase. The race between OpenAI and Google has heated up in recent months.

Before the recent holiday shopping season, OpenAI launched an instant checkout feature within ChatGPT that allows users to buy products from select retailers and Etsy sellers without leaving the app.

San Francisco software company Salesforce estimated that AI influenced $272 billion, or 20%, of all global retail sales, in one way or another during the holiday shopping season.

Google said the AI-assisted shopping features in Gemini only would be available to U.S. users initially but that it planned to expand internationally in the coming months.

Both airlines focus on leisure travel with flexible capacity models that allow quick adjustments to market conditions, charter opportunities and cargo needs. Sun Country also operates a significant narrow-body freighter business, including a multi-year agreement with Amazon Prime Air, as well as charters for casinos, Major League Soccer, collegiate sports and the Department of Defense.

The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the deal. Allegiant will remain the public parent company, with headquarters in Las Vegas and a significant ongoing presence in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Sun Country’s base.

The acquisition comes as U.S. budget airlines continue to grapple with elevated costs in the post-pandemic era, including higher labor expenses from new pilot contracts and other operational pressures, alongside increased domestic capacity that has squeezed margins for leisure-focused carriers.

The transaction is anticipated to close in the second half of 2026, subject to U.S. federal antitrust clearance, approval by shareholders of both companies and other customary conditions.

Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) and Sun Country (NASDAQ: SNCY) will host an investor conference call and webcast on Monday, Jan. 12, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time to discuss the agreement.

Nurses are ready to bargain all day and night to try to avert a strike tomorrow.

However, if @MountSinaiNYC , @nyphospital, and @MontefioreNYC force nurses to go out on strike, join the nearly 15k nurses on the picket line tomorrow and help them win a great contract! pic.twitter.com/JdPGHprOLT

— NYSNA (@nynurses) January 11, 2026

Like the 2023 labor fight, this year’s dispute involves a complicated array of issues, claims, counterclaims and hospital-by-hospital particulars. Once again, staffing levels are a major flashpoint: Nurses say the big-budget medical centers are refusing to commit to — or even backsliding on — provisions for manageable, safe workloads.

Safety concerns at issue
This time, the nurses’ union also wants guardrails on hospitals using artificial intelligence, plus more workplace security measures. A gunman strode into Mount Sinai in November, and a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room this week; both men ultimately were killed by police.

The private, nonprofit hospitals involved in the current negotiations say they’ve made strides in staffing since 2023. Some of them suggest the union’s demands, taken as a whole, are far too expensive.

Scores of nurses rallied Friday in Manhattan, insisting their primary concern was proper caregiving and accusing the medical centers — whose top executives make millions of dollars a year — of greed and intransigence.

“My hospital tries to cut corners on staffing every day, and then they try to fight historic gains we made three years ago,” said Sophie Boland, a pediatric intensive care nurse in the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital system.

The hospitals, meanwhile, have called the union’s strike threat “reckless.” They vowed in a statement Thursday to “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.”

Hagans, the union president, has also stressed that patients should not delay care during a potential strike.

Still, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul expressed concern that a strike could affect patient care, urging both sides on Friday “to stay at the table and get a deal done.”

Hospitals prepare for a walkout
Mount Sinai has hired over 1,000 temporary nurses and held preparatory drills for a strike that could affect its 1,100-bed main hospital and two affiliates — Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West — with about 500 beds each.

NewYork-Presbyterian said it also had arranged for temporary nurses but, if the strike happens, some patients might be moved to new rooms or advised to transfer to another facility. Montefiore posted a message assuring patients that appointments would be kept.

The same union mounted a three-day strike at the Mount Sinai flagship facility and Montefiore in 2023, when nurses emphasized their sacrifices during the exhausting, frightening height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national nurse staffing crisis that followed.

The walkout prompted those hospitals to postpone non-emergency surgeries, tell many ambulances to go elsewhere and transfer some intensive-care infants and other patients. Temporary nurses and even administrators with clinical backgrounds were tapped to fill in, but some patients noticed longer waits and more sparsely staffed wards.

The strike ended with an agreement on raises totaling 19% over three years and staffing improvements, including the possibility of extra pay if nurses had to work short-handed.

Now, the union says, the hospitals are retreating from those guarantees and falling short on other promises.

Montefiore, for example, agreed to “make all reasonable efforts” to stop keeping some emergency room patients in hallways while they wait for space to open up in other wards. Yet three years later, nurses still scramble to treat “hallway patients,” Montefiore intensive care nurse Michelle Gonzalez said Friday.

Montefiore has suggested it’s made some progress: The hospital told elected officials in a letter in October that there has been a 35% reduction in the time it takes from emergency admission to a clinical unit bed.

Overall, the hospitals say they have greatly reduced nursing job vacancy rates in the last three years, and Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Irving University Medical Center say they also have added hundreds of nursing positions.

In recent days, several smaller hospitals — including multiple Northwell Health facilities on Long Island — averted potential walkouts by striking deals or making what the union viewed as adequate progress.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Polymarket did not respond to requests for comment.

The commercial use of prediction markets has skyrocketed in recent years, opening the door for people to wage their money on the likelihood of a growing list of future events. But despite some eye-catching windfalls, traders still lose money everyday. And in terms of government oversight in the U.S., the trades are categorized differently than traditional forms of gambling — raising questions about transparency and risk.

Here’s what we know:

How prediction markets work
The scope of topics involved in prediction markets can range immensely — from escalation in geopolitical conflicts, to pop culture moments and even the fate of conspiracy theories. Recently, there’s been a surge of wages on elections and sports games. But some users have also bet millions on things like a rumored — and ultimately unrealized — “secret finale” for the Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” whether the U.S. government will confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life and how much billionaire Elon Musk might post on social media this month.

In industry-speak, what someone buys or sells in a prediction market is called an “event contract.” They’re typically advertised as “yes” or “no” wagers. And the price of one fluctuates between $0 and $1, reflecting what traders are collectively willing to pay based on a 0% to 100% chance of whether they think an event will occur.

The more likely traders think an event will occur, the more expensive that contract will become. And as those odds change over time, users can cash out early to make incremental profits, or try to avoid higher losses on what they’ve already invested.

Proponents of prediction markets argue putting money on the line leads to better forecasts. Experts like Koleman Strumpf, an economics professor at Wake Forest University, think there’s value in monitoring these platforms for potential news — pointing to prediction markets’ past success with some election outcomes, including the 2024 presidential race.

Still, it’s never a “crystal ball,” he noted, and prediction markets can be wrong, too.

Who is behind all of the trading is also pretty murky. While the companies running the platforms collect personal information of their users in order to verify identities and payments, most people can trade under anonymous pseudonyms online — making it difficult for the public to know who is profiting off many event contracts. In theory, people investing their money may be closely following certain events, but others could just be randomly guessing.

Critics stress that the ease and speed of joining these 24/7 wagers leads to financial losses everyday, particularly harming users who may already struggle with gambling. The space also broadens possibilities for potential insider trading.

The major players
Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world, where its users can fund event contracts through cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards and bank transfers.

Restrictions vary by country, but in the U.S., the reach of these markets has expanded rapidly over recent years, coinciding with shifting policies out of Washington. Former President Joe Biden was aggressive in cracking down on prediction markets and following a 2022 settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Polymarket was barred from operating in the country.

That changed under Trump late last year, when Polymarket announced it would be returning to the U.S. after receiving clearance from the commission. American-based users can now join a platform “waitlist.”

Meanwhile, Polymarket’s top competitor, Kalshi, has been a federally-regulated exchange since 2020. The platform offers similar ways to buy and sell event contracts as Polymarket — and it currently allows event contracts on elections and sports nationwide. Kalshi won court approval just weeks before the 2024 election to let Americans put money on upcoming political races and began to host sports trading about a year ago.

The space is now crowded with other big names. Sports betting giants DraftKings and FanDuel both launched prediction platforms last month. Online broker Robinhood is widening its own offerings. Trump’s social media site Truth Social has also promised to offer an in-platform prediction market through a partnership with Crypto.com — and one of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., holds advisory roles at both Polymarket and Kalshi.

“The train has left the station on these event contracts, they’re not going away,” said Melinda Roth, a visiting associate professor at Washington and Lee University’s School of Law.

Loose regulation
Because they’re positioned as selling event contracts, prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC. That means they can avoid state-level restrictions or bans in place for traditional gambling and sports betting today.

“It’s a huge loophole,” said Karl Lockhart, an assistant professor of law at DePaul University who has studied this space. “You just have to comply with one set of regulations, rather than (rules from) each state around the country.”

Sports betting is taking center stage. There are a handful of big states — like California and Texas, for example — where sports betting is still illegal, but people can now wager on games, athlete trades and more through event contracts.

A growing number of states and tribes are suing to stop this. And lawyers expect litigation to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, as added regulations from the Trump administration seem unlikely.

Federal law bars event contracts related to gaming as well as war, terrorism and assassinations, Roth said, which could put some prediction market trades on shaky ground, at least in the U.S. But users might still find ways to buy certain contracts while traveling abroad or connecting to different VPNs.

Whether the CFTC will take any of that on has yet to be seen. But the agency, which did not respond to request for comment, has already taken steps away from enforcement.

Despite overseeing trillions of dollars for the overall U.S. derivatives market, the CFTC is also much smaller than the Securities and Exchange Commission. And at the same time event contracts are growing rapidly on prediction market platforms, there have been additional cuts to the CFTC’s workforce and a wave of leadership departures under Trump’s second term. Only one of five commissioner slots operating the agency is currently filled.

Still, other lawmakers calling for a stronger crack down on potential insider trading in prediction markets — particularly following suspicion around last week’s Maduro trade on Polymarket. On Friday, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced a bill aimed at curbing government employees involvement in politically-related event contracts.

The bill has already gotten support from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour — who on LinkedIn maintained that insider trading has always been banned on his company’s platform but that more needs to be done to crack down on unregulated prediction markets.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don’t want to become part of the U.S.

This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.

Military action could alter global relations
Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington’s position in the Arctic.

The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.

If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn’t have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.

It’s unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark’s aid.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.

Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it’s not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.

While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.

For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.

Bilateral agreements may assist effort
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn’t for sale.

It’s not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.

Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.

One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.

Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.

That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It’s not clear how much that would improve upon Washington’s current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.

Influence operations expected to fail
Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don’t want to become part of the U.S.

Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.

To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.

Disagreement unlikely to be resolved
Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.

The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.

But he suggested that’s unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.

When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland’ and this starts all over again,” Gad said.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Hours later, Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded on X by saying “those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro’s capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

“Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” Díaz-Canel said in his post. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet” and he railed against the “draconian measures” imposed by the U.S. on Cuba.

The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

“I confirmed with the White House that this is false,” Loomer wrote on social media, denying that Trump personally invited Carlson or that she had any role in facilitating his appearance.

Why is Tucker Carlson embarrassed to say that he was invited to the White House by the Vice President?

Why is Tucker lying and saying Trump invited him? He didn’t. Trump 100% isn’t the person who invited Tucker. The White House just confirmed this to me.

I really hope this… pic.twitter.com/kc85ZMOE5M

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 11, 2026

Administration officials have offered few details about how Carlson came to attend, saying only that he was present as an observer and not in any official capacity. No formal guest list has been released, leaving unanswered questions about who approved his access — and why.

Those questions have grown sharper because of Carlson’s controversial public record.

Over the past several years, civil rights organizations, Jewish advocacy groups and media watchdogs have accused Carlson of amplifying conspiracy theories, legitimizing extremist narratives and providing a platform for figures known for antisemitic rhetoric. The Anti-Defamation League and other groups have repeatedly criticized Carlson for promoting ideas they say echo long-standing tropes about Jewish power, immigration and global control — claims Carlson has denied.

Critics argue that his commentary has helped push fringe ideas into the political mainstream, contributing to a climate in which open antisemitism and anti-Jewish hostility have become more normalized in parts of public discourse.

That history is what made his White House appearance so jarring to many observers.

Carlson, who continues to host his own widely followed podcast after his departure from Fox News, has used the platform to push hard-line views on foreign policy, immigration and global power. Watchdog groups say that in doing so, he has at times amplified conspiracy thinking and rhetoric widely viewed by Jewish organizations and civil-rights advocates as crossing into antisemitic territory.

The episode has also revived a question that has followed Trump for years: why he has never fully severed ties with Carlson, even after the two men have publicly clashed over foreign policy, Ukraine, Israel and U.S. military involvement overseas.

Trump has at times criticized Carlson, but he has also avoided a decisive break — a pattern aides privately describe as strategic. Carlson still commands one of the largest audiences in conservative media, and cutting him off entirely risks alienating a segment of Trump’s political base that remains deeply loyal to the former television host.

Supporters of Trump say that calculation is pragmatic. Critics call it dangerous.

They argue that continuing to leave the door open to a figure accused of fueling conspiracy thinking and antisemitic narratives sends a troubling signal — one that blurs the line between political strategy and moral responsibility.

Loomer, who has sharply criticized Carlson in the past over his choice of guests and rhetoric, seized on the moment to stress that she had no involvement in his appearance and rejects any effort to portray him as aligned with Trump’s inner circle.

Still, the episode underscores a reality of modern politics: influence today is not measured only by titles or offices, but by platforms and reach.

And for all the controversy surrounding Tucker Carlson — from accusations of promoting conspiracies to charges of enabling hate — his presence inside the White House, however informal, suggests that he remains a figure the political world has not fully reckoned with.

Why that door remains ajar may be the most unsettling question of all.

“You have already established your legacy as a man committed to peace and fighting evil forces… you’re the total opposite to Barack Obama or Joe Biden,” Pahlavi said, according to clips shared widely on social media. “Let’s hope we can permanently seal that legacy by liberating Iran so that we, and you, can make Iran great again. Let’s partner on this. I’m prepared to return to Iran at the first possible opportunity.”

The statement comes amid escalating nationwide protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Demonstrations, which have spread to more than 100 cities, have featured chants supporting Pahlavi and calls for the restoration of the monarchy, alongside demands for regime change. Protesters have reportedly renamed streets after Trump in some areas, reflecting gratitude for his warnings against violent crackdowns.

The regime has responded with force, including a nationwide internet blackout and reports of dozens of deaths among demonstrators. Pahlavi has previously urged Iranians to take to the streets and appealed to Trump for intervention to protect protesters, describing the U.S. president’s rhetoric as having a “tremendous positive effect.”

Trump has voiced support for the Iranian people, stating the U.S. is “locked and loaded” to respond if the regime violently targets peaceful demonstrators. However, he has declined to meet with Pahlavi at this time, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that it would not be “appropriate” and that the U.S. should “let everybody go out there and see who emerges.”

Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled his father’s monarchy, has positioned himself as a transitional figure ready to lead toward free elections and a secular democracy. He has emphasized that ultimate authority rests with the Iranian people.

The protests, fueled by economic hardship, inflation and long-standing grievances against the clerical rule, have drawn international attention. While some diaspora groups and supporters rally behind Pahlavi, critics inside Iran, including labor unions, have expressed opposition to restoring monarchical or authoritarian structures and reliance on foreign intervention.

Pahlavi’s outreach echoes earlier messages of thanks to Trump for his stance, including a January post highlighting the president’s readiness to aid the protesters.

The biggest change was to stop blanket recommendations for protection against six diseases and recommend those vaccines only for at-risk children or through something called “shared clinical decision-making” with a health care provider.

The phrase, experts say, is confusing and dangerous: “It sends a message to a parent that actually there’s only a rarefied group of people who really need the vaccine,” O’Shea said. “It’s creating an environment that puts a sense of uncertainty about the value and necessity or importance of the vaccines in that category.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who helped lead the anti-vaccine movement for years, said in announcing the changes that they better align the U.S. with peer nations “while strengthening transparency and informed consent.”

But doctors say they are sowing doubt — the vaccines have been extensively studied and proven to be safe and effective at shielding kids from nasty diseases — at a time when childhood vaccination rates are already falling and some of those infectious diseases are spreading.

On Friday, the American Academy of Pediatrics and more than 200 medical, public health and patient advocacy groups sent a letter to Congress about the new childhood immunization schedule.

“We urge you to investigate why the schedule was changed, why credible scientific evidence was ignored, and why the committee charged with advising the HHS Secretary on immunizations did not discuss the schedule changes as a part of their public meeting process,” they wrote.

Many don’t know what ’shared decision-making’ means
O’Shea said she and other pediatricians discuss vaccines with parents at every visit where they are given. But that’s not necessarily “shared clinical decision-making,” which has a particular definition.

On its website, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices says: “Unlike routine, catch-up, and risk-based recommendations, shared clinical decision-making vaccinations are not recommended for everyone in a particular age group or everyone in an identifiable risk group. Rather, shared clinical decision-making recommendations are individually based and informed by a decision process between the health care provider and the patient or parent/guardian.”

In this context, health care providers include primary care physicians, specialists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and pharmacists.

A pair of surveys conducted last year by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that many people don’t fully understand the concept, which came up last year when the federal government changed recommendations around COVID-19 vaccinations.

Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults knew that one meaning behind shared decision-making is that “taking the vaccine may not be a good idea for everyone but would benefit some.” And only about one-third realized pharmacists count as health care providers to talk with during the process, even though they frequently administer vaccines.

As of this week, vaccines that protect against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, RSV, flu and meningococcal disease are no longer universally recommended for kids. RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningococcal vaccines are recommended for certain high-risk populations; flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningococcal vaccines are recommended through shared decision-making — as is the COVID-19 vaccine, although that change was made last year.

Shortly after the federal announcement Monday, Dr. Steven Abelowitz heard from half a dozen parents. “It’s causing concern for us, but more importantly, concern for parents with kids, especially young kids, and confusion,” said Abelowitz, founder of Ocean Pediatrics in Orange County, California.

Though federal recommendations are not mandates — states have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren — they can affect how easy it is for kids to get shots if doctors choose to follow them.

Under the new guidelines, O’Shea said, parents seeking shots in the shared decision-making category might no longer bring their kids in for a quick, vaccine-only appointment with staff. They’d sit down with a health care provider and discuss the vaccine. And it could be tougher to have a flu clinic, where parents drive up and kids get shots without seeing a doctor.

Staying the course as challenges mount
Still, doctors say they won’t let the changes stop them from helping children get the vaccines they need. Leading medical groups are sticking with prior vaccine recommendations. Many parents are, too.

Megan Landry, whose 4-year-old son Zackary is one of O’Shea’s patients, is among them.

“It’s my responsibility as a parent to protect my child’s health and well-being,” she said. “Vaccines are a really effective and well-studied way to do that.”

She plans to keep having the same conversations she’s always had with O’Shea before getting vaccines for Zackary.

“Relying on evidence and trusted medical guidance really helps me to make those decisions,” she said. “And for me, it’s not just a personal choice for my own son but a way to contribute to the health of everybody.”

But for other families, confidence about vaccines is waning as trust in science erodes. O’Shea lamented that parents are getting the message that they can’t trust medical experts.

“If I take my car to the mechanic, I don’t go do my own research ahead of time,” she said. “I go to a person I trust and I trust them to tell me what’s going on.”

Abelowitz, the California doctor, likened the latest federal move to pouring gasoline on a fire of mistrust that was already burning.

“We’re worried the fire’s out of control,” he said. “Already we’ve seen that with measles and pertussis, there are increased hospitalizations and even increasing deaths. So the way that I look at it — and my colleagues look at it — we’re basically regressing decades.”

Critics say the issue isn’t the use of photo-editing software, which is common on the social media accounts of celebrities and public figures. They say it’s the circulation of the images in official government announcements, which distorts reality, violates ethical codes and risks compromising official archiving and record-keeping efforts.

“All the pictures to this day in the archives in Israel are authentic pictures of reality as it was captured by the lenses of photographers’ cameras since the establishment of the state,” said Shabi Gatenio, the veteran political journalist who broke the story in The Seventh Eye, an Israeli site that covers local media. “These images, if entered into the database, will forever infect it with a virtual reality that never existed.”

Since the manipulation of images was revealed, the government has taken the unprecedented step of crediting Sara Netanyahu in its releases that include manipulated images. And it’s not clear if the official archive will include images of her taken during the second half of last year, when Gatenio said the editing appears to have begun.

Mrs. Netanyahu’s personal spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara sit during a conference in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

Nitzan Chen, director of the Government Press Office, told The Associated Press that images of the prime minister are never manipulated and that his office would not upload any retouched photos to the official archive.

Personal Photoshop habit enters political realm
Sara Netanyahu, 67, has long used photo-editing software on her images. Her social media account is filled with images in which her face appears heavily retouched.

But the topic raised eyebrows since her Photoshop habit entered the public record.

Gatenio said he first noticed this last July, when the couple visited President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., and again in September, as Sara Netanyahu joined her husband on the tarmac ahead of a trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

At the time, the prime minister’s office released a video of the send-off along with a photo, credited to Avi Ohayon, an official government photographer.

Comparing the photo to the raw video, Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said the image had been post-processed, bearing local manipulations to smooth her skin and remove wrinkles.

Since then, photos showing Mrs. Netanyahu meeting with Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, in Washington also appear to have been retouched, Farid said.

“There’s been some Photoshop editing to — let’s call it — ‘beautify,’ lighten, smooth the face,” Farid said.

“Is it nefarious? No. Is it a problem? Yes. This is about something bigger than, ‘she Photoshopped her face to make herself look younger.’ This is about trust. Why should I trust any official photo coming out of that administration?”

Chen, the head of the Government Press Office, said office lawyers are trying to determine how to handle and properly identify photos “processed by people other than GPO photographers.”

He said the Justice Ministry is also examining the “criteria, limitations and possibilities” of the edited images, though he stressed there is nothing illegal about touching up photos. The issue, he said, is being transparent when such changes are made.

For now, the Prime Minister’s Office has decided to add Sara Netanyahu’s name to press releases that include retouched images. Since November, press releases showing photos of her smiling next to Trump and the family of the last hostage in Gaza in Washington, visiting a Miami synagogue and attending a funeral for an Israeli mayor have included this label.

At least one outlet, the Times of Israel, has said it will no longer carry official state photos that appear to have been manipulated. The Associated Press does not publish images that appear to have been retouched or digitally manipulated.

A broader phenomenon
Chen said the prime minister is never edited: “No Photoshop, no corrections, no color. Nothing.”

While his face may not be retouched, the prime minister’s official Instagram account tells another story.

The page has posted a bevy of content that appears to be AI-edited or generated, including a picture of the couple with Trump and first lady Melania Trump celebrating the new year in Washington.

The photo raised suspicions in Israel because it shows Sara Netanyahu wearing a black dress absent from other photos of the event, where she wore a dark red frock. Appearing in the sky above the couples are brightly colored fireworks and American and Israeli flags that Farid said were “almost certainly” generated by AI.

It is now marked with a tag on Instagram indicating that it may have been altered or generated using AI. It is not clear when the tag was added nor by whom.

Netanyahu is not alone. Many world figures, including Trump, frequently use AI-generated image manipulation in their public output.

Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, who runs the “Democracy in the Digital Age Program,” at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, called it “part of the populist playbook” and said there was “no question” that Netanyahu was emulating how Trump uses the technology.

Netanyahu’s official Instagram has posted video of Trump and Netanyahu in a B-2 bomber that appears entirely AI-generated. It is captioned “on our victory lap,” referencing the joint Israel-U.S. attacks on Iran last year.

“This is exactly what Netanyahu and his surrounding circle have tried to do for many years,” she said. “Presenting himself as a superhero, his wife as a supermodel, their family as a super loyal family. Even when it wasn’t the case, even at the expense of actual political work, administrative work and social work.”

She said Israel has reached a critical point in official government record-keeping and communications.

“The question of archiving the truth, archiving history, will be one of the questions of our time.”

He linked those historical patterns to modern conspiracy thinking, referencing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged document from the early 1900s that falsely claimed Jews were plotting world domination. Singer said echoes of those ideas can now be heard in some contemporary political commentary that portrays Jews as wielding outsized control over media, finance and government.

Singer was particularly critical of Candace Owens, describing her embrace of a traditionalist strain of Catholicism that rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council as deeply alarming. He said that version of the faith revives doctrines portraying Jews as rejected by God and permanently stripped of their covenant — ideas he called both theologically dangerous and politically combustible.

Owens converted after her marriage to political activist George Farmer and amid public splits with prominent Jewish conservatives such as Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager, Singer noted.

By contrast, Singer praised the late Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, whom he described as exceptional among evangelical leaders for defending not only Israel but the Jewish people themselves. Singer said Kirk’s influence reshaped the conservative movement and predicted that, had he lived, he could have become a presidential contender within a decade.

Kirk was assassinated in September 2025, and Singer said there is now an internal struggle over his political legacy. He added that President Donald Trump remains firmly pro-Jewish and pro-Israel, describing that stance as consistent with the values of the Trump family.

Singer reserved some of his sharpest criticism for Tucker Carlson, accusing the former Fox News host of hostility toward Israel and contempt for Christian Zionists. He pointed to Carlson’s interview with Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac, who accused Israel of persecuting Christians in Bethlehem.

Singer disputed that claim, noting that Bethlehem is under Palestinian Authority control and that its Christian population has fallen dramatically over the past half-century — from about 80% to roughly 5% — largely because of emigration driven by political and economic conditions, not Israeli policy.

Carlson, who now hosts a widely followed podcast after leaving Fox News, has said he identifies as an Episcopalian but rarely attends church.

Singer ended the interview with pointed irony.

“Tucker Carlson is going to save Israel. Nick Fuentes is going to save Israel. Candace Owens is going to save Israel,” he said. “You’ll see how this will work out.”

Singer said he believes the rhetoric of such figures may ultimately backfire by exposing extremism and galvanizing broader support for Israel and the Jewish people.

The interview, featured in a video titled “Tucker Carlson’s Turn on the Jews — What Happened?”, reflects growing concern among Jewish leaders that antisemitism is no longer confined to political fringes but is increasingly surfacing in mainstream conservative discourse.

Singer urged vigilance, while stressing that the alliance between Jews and supportive Christian communities remains strong — and essential in confronting what he called an old hatred wearing new clothes.

Believing the transactions were complete, sellers handed over goods — including laser hair removal machines and professional photography equipment — to cab drivers who collected the items from their homes. The merchandise was then transferred to another vehicle and delivered across the Green Line, often near the Beit Aryeh settlement in the Binyamin region, before reaching the suspect’s residence in Ramallah, police said.

Victims realized the payments were fake only after the goods were gone and unrecoverable. Authorities said approximately 100 complaints were filed between 2024 and 2025.

Elite Yamam counterterrorism officers conducted the raid around 3 a.m. Wednesday, taking the suspect into custody. Police seized digital evidence during the operation for further examination in the ongoing cybercrime probe.

The man will remain in custody until at least Jan. 14, police said. The investigation is being led jointly by the Judea and Samaria District and Central District police units.

Organizers say the agenda will include opposition to bail reform measures, concerns about proposals to send mental-health professionals instead of police officers to some emergency calls, and efforts to influence future appointments to parole boards and criminal courts.

Several police union leaders said the summit is meant to signal that officers and their families plan to play a more active role in elections and public debate over crime policy.

Mayor Mamdani has faced renewed scrutiny over past remarks in which he sharply criticized police practices. While he later apologized for the language during his mayoral campaign, union leaders say lingering distrust remains, especially following his response to two recent fatal police-involved shootings.

The planned summit comes as the new administration weighs major changes to public safety strategy, including a proposal to create a Department of Community Safety that would expand the role of civilian responders in certain crises — a move critics say could weaken law enforcement and strain already thin resources.

Police leaders said the gathering is intended to ensure that officers’ perspectives are heard as those debates unfold. The meeting was first reported by the New York Post.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown, while 2,600 people have been detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite warnings from Trump he’s willing to strike Iran to protect peaceful demonstrators.

Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous U.S. officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but hadn’t made a final decision.

The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Parliament rallies
Iranian state television broadcast the parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for the presidency in the past, gave a speech applauding police and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for having “stood firm” during the protests.

He went on to directly threaten Israel, “the occupied territory” as he referred to it, and the U.S. military, possibly with a preemptive strike.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”

Lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

It remains unclear just how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defenses destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. military has said in the Mideast it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and U.S. interests.” Iran targeted U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Israel, meanwhile, is “watching closely” the situation between the U.S. and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.

Protests in Tehran and Mashhad
Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran’s Punak neighborhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.

Other footage purportedly showed demonstrators peacefully marching down a street and others honking their car horns on the street.

“The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived, and fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure,” the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. “Reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements by security forces around protest locations, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control.”

In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city some 725 kilometers (450 miles) northeast of Tehran, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Flaming debris and dumpsters could be seen in the street, blocking the road. Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza shrine, the holiest in Shiite Islam.

Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Iranian state television on Sunday morning had their correspondents appear on the streets in several cities to show calm areas with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. They also showed pro-government demonstrations in Qom and Qazvin.

Ali Larijani, a top security official, went on state TV to accuse some demonstrators of “killing people or burning some people, which is very similar to what ISIS does,” referring to the Islamic State group by an acronym.

State TV aired funerals of slain security force members while reporting another six had been killed in Kermanshah. In Fars province, violence killed 13 people, and seven security forces were killed in North Khorasan province, it added. It also showed a pickup truck full of bodies in body bags and later a morgue.

Even Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had been trying to ease anger before the demonstrations exploded in recent days, offered a hardening tone in an interview aired Sunday.

“People have concerns, we should sit with them and if it is our duty, we should resolve their concerns,” Pezeshkian said. “But the higher duty is not to allow a group of rioters to come and destroy the entire society.”

More demonstrations planned Sunday
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Sunday.

Pahlavi’s support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past, particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

The synagogue, the largest in Mississippi, was the site of a Ku Klux Klan bombing in 1967 — a response to the congregation’s role in civil rights activities, according to the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, which also houses its office in the building.

Over 24 hours later, this did not make national news.

Beth Israel Congregation in Mississippi was set on fire on Shabbat. Two Torahs were destroyed. The fire department ruled the fire arson. Police and the FBI are investigating.

This is the same synagogue that was bombed by the… pic.twitter.com/DSnHK4C3iO

— Sheila Katz (@SheilaKatz1) January 11, 2026

“As Jackson’s only synagogue, Beth Israel is a beloved institution, and it is the fellowship of our neighbors and extended community that will see us through,” the institute said in a statement.

The synagogue’s president, Zach Shemper, said the congregation was still assessing the damage and had received outreach from other houses of worship, according to Mississippi Today.

One Torah that survived the Holocaust was not damaged in the fire, the outlet reported.

Both the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting in the investigation, according to Mississippi Today.

Inquiries to Beth Israel and the Jackson Fire Department were not immediately returned.

Meanwhile, the post-ceasefire death toll continued to rise in Gaza, with Israeli gunfire killing three Palestinians, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

The ceasefire began with a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in Gaza.

An Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door information, said Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase.

Future Gaza governance in flux
In comments posted on his Telegram channel Sunday, Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee.

The Egyptian official said Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalize the committee’s formation. The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the official said.

Trump has said the “Board of Peace ” will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and Gaza’s reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts, though the members of the board are expected to be announced this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the board’s director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions.

Also Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Saar said Israel was committed to enforcing Trump’s plan, while Motegi expressed Japan’s willingness to play an active role in the ceasefire.

According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Motegi visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center, where the ceasefire is being monitored. He was also set to meet Netanyahu and Palestinian officials in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

When confronted with the matter by Taft’s parents, Ballin said he had been told to submit his ten best baby pictures to a magazine. He admitted that he knew Hessy was Jewish but submitted her photo anyway as a prank, exposing the absurdity of Nazi theories on race, according to her obituary in The Times.

Taft told Reuters in 2014 that she thanked the photographer for having the courage to challenge his government despite not being Jewish. “It was an irony that needed to be exposed.”

Hessy Levinsons Taft holds picture of herself on German magazine cover

Her parents were horrified by the publicity, fearing repercussions if her true identity were discovered. Consequently, they kept her indoors and rarely took her out for walks, determined to keep the truth of the photograph a secret.

Taft revealed the story publicly in 1987 in the book “Muted Voices: Jewish Survivors of Latvia Remember” by Gertrude Schneider. The episode became a source of pride for her, and she described it as a form of “good revenge.”

She told Tablet magazine in 2022: “I can laugh about it now, but if the Nazis had known who I really was, I wouldn’t be alive.”

While the Levinsons did live in Berlin at the time the photograph was taken due to their opera careers, Nazi-era laws targeting German Jews did not affect them on account of their being Latvian.

Nevertheless, the family decided to leave Germany in 1937 as Nazi power intensified. They moved through Latvia, Paris, Nice and Cuba, eventually settling in New York City in 1949.

Taft would go on to pursue a degree in chemistry, receiving degrees from Barnard and Columbia. She then worked for over 30 years at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, overseeing Advanced Placement chemistry exams for high school students. At age 66, she became an adjunct professor at St. John’s University in Queens, teaching chemistry and researching water sustainability.

In 1959, she married Earl Taft, who died in 2021. She is survived by her sister, Noemi Pollack; two children, Nina and Alex Taft; and four grandchildren.

The Atarot plan is being promoted on the site of the abandoned airport in northeastern Jerusalem, a large area that has been inactive for years. According to the plan, approximately 9,000 housing units are to be built, alongside commercial areas, employment zones, public institutions, and supporting infrastructure. This is one of the largest construction plans discussed in Jerusalem over the past decade.

The site is located south of Ramallah and adjacent to densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem, and is considered strategically significant due to its position along the urban continuum between Jerusalem and the Binyamin region. Over the years, advancement of the plan was halted and frozen multiple times, partly due to political considerations, professional objections, and environmental and infrastructure concerns. It is now being discussed at a more advanced planning stage.

Officials involved in promoting the plan emphasize that it is a civilian-urban project aimed at increasing housing supply in Jerusalem and utilizing vacant, uninhabited land. Opponents, however, argue that its scale and location could significantly affect the future development of the region.

The second plan concerns the “Nahalat Shimon” complex in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. According to the proposal, existing buildings in the  area would be demolished and replaced with a new neighborhood comprising approximately 316 housing units.

This area has a complex history: in the early 20th century, a small Jewish neighborhood was established there, whose residents were evacuated in 1948. Subsequently, Palestinian families were settled in the area by Jordan, some of whom continued to live there for decades of Israeli rule under protected tenancy status. In recent decades, after the land was sold by the original owners to the Nahalat Shimon association, there have been attempts to remove the families, as the protected status of the previous generation has expired. This has led to numerous court cases and evictions which caused friction in the strategic neighborhood.

Under the plan, most existing structures would be demolished and replaced with a newly designed modern neighborhood. Critics warn of resident displacement without regulated alternative housing solutions, while proponents argue that the planning process is being conducted in accordance with the law and the authority of planning institutions.

The left-wing Peace Now organization strongly criticized the advancement of both plans. In a statement, the group described them as “destructive plans” that could, in its view, prevent East Jerusalem from serving in the future as a Palestinian capital, disconnect it from its surroundings, and significantly hinder the possibility of a political settlement.

According to Peace Now, the Atarot plan “creates a wedge in the heart of the Palestinian urban continuum between Jerusalem and Ramallah,” similar to other controversial planning moves in the past, while the Sheikh Jarrah plan is expected to harm the existing social fabric and lead to the eviction of Palestinian residents from their homes. The organization also claimed that advancing the plans during a period of heightened security tension could deepen the conflict and push a political solution further out of reach.

Peace Now emphasized that tomorrow’s discussion is a critical stage and called for halting the plans before they become irreversible facts on the ground.

The threats come amid reports that Israel has raised its level of alert, due to concerns over possible U.S. military action in response to the regime’s violent suppression of mass protests in Iran.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Saturday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, discussing the possibility of direct American involvement in Iran. An American official confirmed that the call took place but declined to provide further details.

In Israel, developments are being closely monitored, in light of the direct threat from Tehran and the possibility of regional escalation.

The Falkland Islands Government (FIG), operating under the authority of the British Crown, issued the drilling licenses to the Israeli company. However, for Buenos Aires, any economic activity in the area without Argentina’s approval is viewed as “the looting of national natural resources” and a violation of sovereignty.

As early as April 2022, the Argentine government (through the Secretariat of Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) issued an official decree declaring Navitas to be operating illegally. This declaration followed Navitas’s signing of an agreement with the British company Harbour Energy to enter the Sea Lion project in the Falkland Islands.

Last month, the company announced a Final Investment Decision (FID) with a commitment of approximately $1.8 billion, along with a clear timeline targeting oil production in 2028.

In light of the dramatic progress toward oil production in the disputed area, Argentina has frozen the embassy relocation to Jerusalem and made clear that this constitutes an even more serious diplomatic crisis. Sources close to President Javier Milei told N12 that the crisis “endangers relations between the two countries.”

They added sharply:
“This is not what friendship looks like. Where is the partnership reflected? Milei felt that this was the moment when he expected the Israeli leadership to show more.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded:
“Argentina, under the leadership of President Milei, is one of Israel’s closest and best friends. Close and ongoing dialogue exists between the leaderships of Israel and Argentina. The issue mentioned has received public attention, and the matters under discussion will continue to be addressed in talks between the two sides.”

Hundreds turn out to support Israeli-owned Breads Bakery on the Upper West Side, after some staff unionized and demanded owners stop “support of genocide” by joining a Jewish food festival pic.twitter.com/YA6LEUvMAL

— Luke Tress (@luketress) January 9, 2026

Bakery management rejected those claims, saying the business does not take political positions and focuses on serving customers and supporting its staff. The owners said their past involvement in Jewish and pro-Israel events reflected community ties, not political advocacy.

Several supporters who came to the bakery said they wanted to counter what they view as attempts to inject Middle East politics into the workplace.

“We support workers’ rights, but not when international politics is forced into a local business,” said Elisha Fine, a Manhattan resident who joined the crowd.

Others said the dispute reflects broader concerns in New York’s Jewish community about rising tensions over Israel and antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the war in Gaza.

The union did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the New York Post reported.

But according to the report, several columns Pinkas published during the same period echoed themes aligned with positions promoted by Qatar’s advocates abroad — raising questions about disclosure, editorial independence and potential conflicts of interest.

Tied to the “Qatargate” affair

The case has now been linked to Israel’s widening “Qatargate” scandal, in which political aides and media figures are suspected of receiving money connected to a pro-Qatar influence effort.

Investigators and Israel’s Kan public broadcaster have identified five core talking points that were promoted through the alleged campaign:
that Egypt enabled the Oct. 7 Hamas attack by allowing smuggling into Gaza;
that Hamas leaders were in Qatar at Israel’s and the U.S.’s request;
that Israel asked Qatar to transfer funds to Hamas in Gaza;
that Qatar is strategically vital to Israel and the United States;
and that Qatar — not Egypt — should mediate hostage and ceasefire talks.

Pinkas is reported to have echoed those themes in seven columns published while he was receiving payments traced to Footlik.

Disclosure and departure

The revelations have also placed Haaretz under scrutiny.

Editor-in-chief Aluf Benn has said he confronted Pinkas after media reports first surfaced about his relationship with Footlik. According to Benn, Pinkas initially denied any financial arrangement. A month later, after it emerged that Pinkas had given testimony to police — a development Benn said had not been disclosed to the paper — editors convened a further meeting.

After what Benn described as “initial denials and evasions,” Pinkas acknowledged that he had received monthly payments routed through a company linked to Birger, saying the work involved policy research unrelated to Qatar, including on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Following that discussion, Pinkas ended his work at the newspaper. Haaretz did not publicly announce his departure at the time, later adding disclosure notices to columns he wrote during the period of the financial arrangement.

Pinkas denies wrongdoing

Pinkas has rejected claims that he was paid to promote Qatar, saying all opinions he expressed were his own. He said Footlik asked him to prepare policy papers for non-Qatari clients and to help connect him with hostage families and journalists.

He said receiving payments through Birger initially raised questions, but he later learned it was a legal arrangement. Pinkas has insisted he never worked for Qatar directly, never visited the country, and never met with Qatari officials.

“In 2024, I wrote two pieces analyzing Qatar as an essential mediator,” Pinkas said in a statement cited in the report. “That position was shared at the time by Israel’s leadership, the security cabinet and the Mossad.”

A broader debate

The affair has ignited a wider debate in Israel over the boundaries between journalism, consulting work and foreign influence campaigns.

Media ethics experts say the central issue is not criminal liability but transparency — whether readers were entitled to know about financial relationships that intersected with public commentary, particularly when foreign governments and lobbying efforts are involved.

Qatar has invested heavily in political advocacy, media outreach and think-tank engagement in Western capitals. It has also faced criticism for hosting Hamas leaders and for its role in regional conflicts, making any financial links to Israeli public figures especially sensitive.

Pinkas, who served as Israel’s consul general in New York, has long been a prominent voice in Israeli political discourse. His criticism of government policy carried particular weight because of his background in state service — a factor that has intensified scrutiny of the payments now under review.

As the controversy continues, calls are growing for clearer ethical standards governing outside consulting work by journalists and commentators — and for stronger disclosure rules to safeguard public trust in Israel’s media and political debate.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump’s second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump’s proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives,” the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers’ hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

“A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry’s impact of Trump’s proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer’s research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long.”

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump’s post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Europe’s leaders condemned the attack as “escalatory and unacceptable,” and the European Union’s top foreign policy envoy said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reply to diplomacy was “more missiles and destruction.”

The attack also coincides with a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington after Russia condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker in the North Atlantic. It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled he is on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow, which has given no public signal it is willing to budge from its maximalist demands on Ukraine.

Kyiv apartment buildings left without heat
Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 25 wounded in Kyiv as apartment buildings were struck overnight.

Those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Four doctors and one police officer were injured while responding to the attacks, authorities said.

About half of snowy Kyiv’s apartment buildings — nearly 6,000 — were left without heat amid daytime temperatures of about minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit), Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Water supplies also were disrupted.

Municipal services restored power and heat to public facilities, including hospitals and maternity wards, using portable boiler units, he said.

The attack damaged the Qatari Embassy in Kyiv, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who noted that Qatar has played a key role in mediating the exchange of prisoners of war.

He called for a “clear response” from the international community, particularly from the U.S., which he said Russia takes seriously.

Moscow says attack was retaliation
Ukraine’s Security Service said it identified debris from the Oreshnik missile in the Lviv region in the country’s west. It was fired from Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range near the Caspian Sea in southwestern Russia and targeted civilian infrastructure, investigators said.

“I heard a loud, shocking explosion, and it’s normal at this time of the war to hear these things here,” said Lviv resident Kristofer Chokhovich, who said he was an American. “I just want everyone in the world to know that Ukraine is strong and we don’t care how many missiles you send.”

Another resident, Ulyana Fedun, described the attack as “very unpleasant” but not scary because “we’ve been living in this state for four years.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow claimed was a Ukrainian drone strike on one of Putin’s residences last month. Both Trump and Ukraine rejected the Russian claim.

Moscow didn’t say where the Oreshnik hit, but Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted an underground natural gas storage facility in the Lviv region. Western military aid flows to Ukraine from a supply hub in Poland just across the border.

Putin has previously said the Oreshnik streaks to its target at Mach 10, “like a meteorite,” and is immune to any missile defense system. Several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack, according to Putin, who has warned the West that Russia could use it against allies of Kyiv that allow it to strike inside Russia with longer-range missiles.

Ukrainian intelligence says the missile has six warheads, each carrying six submunitions.

Russia first used the Oreshnik missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. Analysts say it gives Russia a new element of psychological warfare, unnerving Ukrainians and intimidating Western countries that aid Ukraine.

Ukraine seeks international support
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine would be initiating international action in response to the use of the missile, including an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council and a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council.

The Security Council scheduled a Monday afternoon meeting on Ukraine.

“Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” he said in a post on X.

Ukraine’s request for an emergency meeting of the Security Council has been conveyed to the council, and six of the 15 members have called for a meeting on Monday, but no date has been set yet, a U.N. diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private.

Pope Leo XIV, speaking at the Vatican, urged the international community to keep pushing for peace and end the suffering in Ukraine.

“Faced with this tragic situation, the Holy See strongly reiterates the pressing need for an immediate ceasefire, and for dialogue motivated by a sincere search for ways leading to peace,” the pontiff told ambassadors to the Vatican from around the world.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany said they spoke about the attack and deemed it “escalatory and unacceptable.”

EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the Oreshnik launch was “meant as a warning to Europe and to the U.S.”

“Putin doesn’t want peace, Russia’s reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction,” Kallas wrote on social media.

Attacks hit Kyiv apartment blocks
Several districts in Kyiv were hit in the overnight attack, according to Tkachenko, the city’s military administration chief. In the Desnyanskyi district, a drone crashed onto the roof of a multistory building and the first two floors of another residential building were damaged.

In the Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multistory building and a fire broke out.

Dmytro Karpenko’s windows were shattered in the attack on Kyiv. When he saw that his neighbor’s house was burning, he rushed to help him.

“What Russia is doing, of course, shows that they do not want peace. But people really want peace, people are suffering, people are dying,” the 45-year old said.

Clay County District Attorney Scott Colom, who said he expects to pursue the death penalty, told The Associated Press that Moore would likely be appointed a public defender at that time.

If charges are upgraded to capital murder before then, Moore will be ineligible for bail under state law.

Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said at a Saturday news conference that evidence and witnesses indicate that Moore was the only shooter and no other injuries have been reported.

Investigators were continuing to interview Moore but do not currently know what may have motivated him, he added.

“A situation like this, you’ve got a family member attacking their own family,” Scott said. “Whatever the reason is, we’re hoping that we’ll find out.”

The shootings unfolded in an area of fields, woods and mostly modest homes about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of Jackson.

Investigators believe Moore first killed his father, 67-year-old Glenn Moore, his brother, 33-year-old Quinton Moore and his uncle, 55-year-old Willie Ed Guines, at the family’s mobile home on a dirt road in western Clay County.

The sheriff said Moore then stole his brother’s truck and drove a few miles to a cousin’s house, where he forced his way in and attempted to commit sexual battery. Scott said Moore than put a gun to the head of a 7-year-old girl, whom he declined to identify, and fatally shot her.

“I don’t know what kind of motive you could have to kill a 7-year-old,” he said.

Scott said that according to witnesses, Moore then placed a gun against a younger child’s head, but she was not shot. It was not clear whether he did not pull the trigger or the gun misfired.

“That’s how violent it was,” Scott said.

The mother and a third child were also present, the sheriff said.

Moore then allegedly drove to a small white frame church, the Apostolic Church of The Lord Jesus. There, Scott said, he broke into a residence, killed the pastor and his brother and stole one of their vehicles.

Scott said the last two victims, the Rev. Barry Bradley and Samuel Bradley, lived most of the time in nearby Columbus but spent weekends on church grounds. Some Moore family members attend the church, Scott said.

Moore was caught at a roadblock at 11:24 p.m. near where the second shooting occurred, Scott said, four-and-a-half hours after the first call came in. Colom said Moore had a rifle and a handgun. Scott said officers are investigating where Moore obtained the guns.

The state medical examiner is performing autopsies on the victims.

Scott said Moore’s surviving relatives are overwhelmed with grief.

“It was really hard to have conversations other than prayers with everybody out there,” he said, adding, “this has really shaken our community.”

Colom, a Democrat who is seeking his party’s nomination this year to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, said he is confident that his office has the resources to prosecute Moore and pursuing the death penalty is the right thing to do.

“Six people, one night, several different scenes, it’s about as bad as it gets,” Colom said.

“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday.

A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of IS’s operations in the Levant.

The U.S. military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.

The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.

It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had IS infrastructure and weapons.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the U.S.’s main partner in the fight against IS in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.

Syria recently joined the global coalition against IS.

The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon as a bus carrying third-grade students from Yeshivat Noam in Paramus was returning from a class trip to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. A baseball-sized rock smashed through a window and struck the girl in the head.

The child was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was listed as alert and in stable condition but later underwent surgery. School officials said the procedure was necessary to ensure proper healing.

State police said Morales had been awaiting trial on earlier charges involving similar conduct, including an aggravated assault case in Bogota last summer that kept him in jail for two months. Court records show he was released in September and later charged twice more in October with assaulting law enforcement officers.

Investigators said other recent encounters involving Morales included allegations of criminal mischief and trespassing.

Despite his criminal history, officials said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had not issued a detainer for Morales as of Saturday, indicating that his immigration status is not currently in question.

Morales is being held in the Bergen County jail and is ineligible for release under New Jersey’s bail reform law. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault, child endangerment, resisting arrest and weapons offenses.

State police said the investigation involved cooperation among the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the county sheriff’s office and police departments in Teaneck and Bogota. Morales is expected to make his first court appearance in Hackensack in the coming days.

A protester in Tehran told The Guardian, via messages sent over satellite internet, that snipers were positioned in central areas of the city and that many people were shot in the streets. According to him, scenes of dead bodies have become commonplace, and the atmosphere is one of a ruthless struggle by the regime.

At the same time, Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with security forces, broadcast videos of what appeared to be forced confessions by protesters. Human rights activists warn that such confessions are often used as grounds for executions and constitute a serious violation of human rights.

The HRANA organization reported at least 65 deaths during the days of protest, including 50 protesters. However, medical testimonies depict a far more severe reality. A doctor in Tehran told Time magazine that in just six hospitals in the capital, at least 217 people were killed, most of them by live ammunition. According to him, many of the victims were young, and some were shot near police stations when security forces opened machine-gun fire on the crowd.

Hospitals themselves are operating under emergency conditions. Doctors and paramedics who contacted the BBC via satellite connection reported extreme overcrowding, the suspension of non-urgent surgeries, and a severe shortage of surgeons. A paramedic at a hospital in Shiraz said that many of the wounded arrived with gunshot injuries to the head and eyes, and that the medical staff is struggling to cope with the scale of the events.

Yet despite these horrific casualties, demonstrators have continued to take to the streets of Iran. An internet shutdown imposed by the authorities on Thursday has largely cut the protesters off from the rest of the world, but videos that trickled out of the country showed thousands of people demonstrating in Tehran overnight into Saturday morning. They chanted: “Death to Khamenei,” in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and: “Long live the shah.”

Crowds of protesters marched through the streets of Mashhad as fires burned around them, a show of defiance in the home town of Khamenei, who has condemned the protesters as “vandals” and blamed the US for fanning the flames of dissent.

This is what dissent looks like when the stakes are life and death.

In the West, we’re used to protest as performance.
In Iran, it can be a death sentence.

Do not underestimate the courage it takes for an uncovered woman, on camera, to do this. pic.twitter.com/L9YOyOYVwI

— Gerald Posner (@geraldposner) January 10, 2026

#BREAKING: This is INSANE ‼️

🚨Security forces opened fire on protesters in Tehranpars district, east of the capital, on Saturday night, a video obtained by Iran International shows.#Iran #IranRevolution2026 #IranRevolution #IranProtests
pic.twitter.com/K1r6weuiWS

— U R B A N S E C R E T S 🤫 (@stiwari1510) January 10, 2026

#BREAKING: This is INSANE ‼️

🚨Security forces opened fire on protesters in Tehranpars district, east of the capital, on Saturday night, a video obtained by Iran International shows.#Iran #IranRevolution2026 #IranRevolution #IranProtests
pic.twitter.com/K1r6weuiWS

— U R B A N S E C R E T S 🤫 (@stiwari1510) January 10, 2026

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported this morning that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has placed his country’s security services on the highest level of alert, even more severe than during the recent war with Israel.

According to the report, Iran has activated its underground missile bases in order to confront a potential external threat.

An official Iranian source denied to The Telegraph reports of a possible escape by Khamenei from the Islamic Republic: “He will not leave Tehran even if B-52 bombers fly overhead,” the source said. A senior Iranian official added: “The Leader has instructed the Revolutionary Guards to remain at the highest level of readiness, even higher than during the war in June.”

The same source added: “He is in closer contact with the Revolutionary Guards than with the army or the police. He has entrusted his fate to the Revolutionary Guards.”
The Telegraph noted that more than 2,277 people were arrested last night, including 166 minors and 48 students who apparently took part in the protests.

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iranian authorities kill protesters, earning angry rebukes from Tehran. He said on Friday that the Iranian authorities were “in big trouble”, adding: “You better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting too.”

On Saturday night he said the US is “ready to help” as protesters in Iran faced an intensifying crackdown by authorities of the Islamic republic.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump said in a social post on Truth Social, without elaborating.

Community leaders say the wording risks blurring the line between rare cases of malpractice and widely accepted religious and medical practices. Jewish and Muslim groups have urged the CPS to revise the language, arguing that unsafe procedures should be prosecuted without labeling circumcision itself as inherently harmful.

The draft guidance follows a series of coroner warnings after deaths linked to unsafe circumcisions and renewed calls for stricter oversight of who is allowed to perform the procedure.

The CPS said the document remains under review and has not been finalized.

BREAKING: Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage showing perspective of federal agent at center of ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/p2wks0zew0

— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) January 9, 2026

Questions are also growing over how the investigation is being handled. The FBI has assumed responsibility for the probe, while one of Minnesota’s top investigative agencies says it has been denied access to key evidence. Minneapolis officials renewed their calls Friday for state and local authorities to be involved, arguing that transparency is essential to restoring public trust.

Federal officials have defended the agent’s actions as self-defense, but community leaders and civil rights advocates say the circumstances warrant a full, open review of what happened and whether deadly force was justified.

As the inquiry continues, the shooting has become a flashpoint in the broader national debate over immigration enforcement, police accountability and the role of federal agencies in local communities.

Immigration enforcement in cities across the U.S. has led to dips in school attendance, according to parents and educators. Advocates in other cities facing federal interventions have sought remote learning options, particularly for immigrant families that might feel vulnerable, but Minneapolis appears to be one of the few districts to reintroduce the option of pandemic-style virtual learning.

“This meets a really important need for our students who are not able to come to school right now,” a Minneapolis school administrator wrote in the email to staff.

The virtual learning option will be available through Feb. 12.

The mayor said the officer was not seriously injured, despite claims from federal officials that he was struck by the vehicle.

“The ICE agent walked away with a hip injury that he might as well have gotten from closing a refrigerator door with his hips,” Frey said. “He was not injured. Give me a break. No, he was not ran over. He walked out of there with a hop in his step.”

Frey called the Justice Department’s handling of the case “deeply concerning,” saying officials appeared to reach conclusions before investigators had gathered all the facts.

“This is not the time to bend the rules. This is a time to follow the law,” Frey said. “This is not a time to hide from the facts. This is a time to embrace them.”

He urged federal authorities to allow the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to participate in the investigation, saying local and state experts have the experience and credibility needed to ensure transparency.

“We want a fair investigation,” Frey said. “If you’ve got nothing to hide from, then don’t hide from it.”

The mayor also pushed back against claims that Minneapolis is unsafe, saying federal immigration enforcement has contributed to rising tensions rather than improved public safety.

“Let me give you a statistic,” Frey said. “Fifty percent of the shootings that have happened in Minneapolis this year have been ICE. In other words, we’ve only had two shootings — and one of them has been ICE.”

City Council Member Jason Chavez, whose ward includes the area where the shooting occurred, echoed Frey’s call for an independent probe, accusing ICE of using aggressive tactics that put residents at risk.

“The videos we’ve all seen do not match the false narrative coming from the federal government,” Chavez said. “Renee Good was a mother, a wife and a beloved community member — not a domestic terrorist.”

Several state and county officials also spoke, urging the FBI to cooperate with state investigators and warning that excluding local agencies would only deepen mistrust.

“The only way forward is accountability, transparency and fairness,” said state Rep. Ayesha Gomez. “Anything short of that discredits the process.”

Frey was later asked about criticism of his own language after he used profanity in condemning the shooting. He dismissed the complaints as misplaced.

“This notion of inflammatory comments — c’mon guys,” Frey said. “I dropped an F-bomb. They killed somebody. Which one of those is more inflammatory? I’m going with the killing somebody.”

The mayor said attempts to shift attention to his tone instead of the death of Good distract from the real issue.

“We want justice,” Frey said. “And we want the truth.”

“This situation is already a mess — and it’s going to get messier,” Bratton said. “Instead of trying to de-escalate tensions, these comments only serve to inflame them.”

Vance said earlier this week that Good’s death was “a tragedy of her own making,” and suggested the ICE officer involved may have been acting with heightened sensitivity because he had previously been injured in a separate incident involving a fleeing driver.

Bratton, who spent more than five decades in law enforcement and led police departments in New York City, Los Angeles and Boston, said such conclusions are being drawn far too quickly — and dangerously so.

“We’ve spent the last 50 years in American law enforcement learning how to de-escalate these situations, not accelerate them,” he said. “What’s happening here runs counter to everything we’ve worked toward.”

Concern over investigation

Bratton also questioned the federal government’s decision to have the FBI take sole control of the investigation, warning that it could further erode confidence if the public believes the outcome has already been decided.

“When you already have the president, the vice president and senior Homeland Security officials effectively declaring who’s at fault, that raises serious concerns,” he said. “If the conclusion is already written, then it’s very hard for the public to trust the investigation.”

He argued that major use-of-force cases demand transparency and patience — not political declarations.

“The most important word in any police-involved shooting is ‘preliminary,’” Bratton said. “You tell the public what you know, you acknowledge what you don’t know, and you make clear the facts may change as the investigation continues.”

Bratton said he has reviewed the available video footage repeatedly but believes it raises more questions than answers.

“I’ve watched those videos dozens of times, and I’m still trying to understand exactly what happened,” he said. “Until you talk to the officers, talk to witnesses and analyze the footage frame by frame, you cannot draw conclusions.”

He added that the death of Good makes the search for clarity even harder.

“One of the key people who could explain what happened is no longer alive,” he said. “She can’t tell us what she was feeling, what she feared or why she was there. That leaves enormous uncertainty.”

Tactical questions

Bratton pointed to what he described as troubling tactical issues visible in the footage, including the positioning of agents around Good’s vehicle in the moments before the shooting.

“One agent is aggressively trying to open her door, yelling at her, while another moves in front of the vehicle,” Bratton said. “She may never have even seen that second agent because her focus was on the one at her door. That’s a serious tactical failure.”

He rejected claims that Good had accelerated aggressively toward officers, saying the speed and intent of her movements remain unclear and must be determined through a full investigation.

“This all happened in about a second,” he said. “Describing it now as if it were a high-speed attack is speculation, not fact.”

Broader strain between ICE and local police

Bratton also warned that the incident highlights growing strain between federal immigration enforcement and local law enforcement agencies across the country.

“There is real concern among police chiefs and sheriffs about the tension this is creating,” he said. “When things go wrong, it’s local police who have to clean it up — and who face the anger of the community.”

He said long-standing partnerships between federal and local agencies are being weakened by an enforcement approach that sidelines cooperation and imposes pressure through quotas and aggressive tactics.

“Law enforcement learned decades ago that quotas create bad outcomes,” Bratton said. “They distort priorities and increase the risk of mistakes.”

He added that pulling agents from agencies such as the FBI, DEA and ATF into large-scale immigration operations is also straining other critical missions, including counterterrorism, gun crime and drug trafficking.

“We’re weakening our federal agencies in one area to strengthen them in another,” he said. “At the same time, we’re damaging the relationships between federal and local law enforcement that took decades to build.”

Call for restraint

Bratton concluded by urging leaders to step back and allow investigators to do their work without political pressure.

“This needs to be recalibrated and refocused,” he said. “These are moments when restraint matters — from politicians, from law enforcement, from everyone.”

He added that restoring public trust must be the priority.

“You don’t win trust by rushing to judgment,” Bratton said. “You win it by being careful, transparent and fair — especially when a life has been lost.”

No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it’s dangerous, and it has no place in New York. pic.twitter.com/Uz74y6uHBB

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) January 9, 2026

Mamdani made no public statement about the protest, and his office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The rally, held Thursday evening in the Kew Gardens Hills section of Queens, marked the first major anti-Israel demonstration since Mamdani took office last week.

The protest was organized by the activist group Pal-Awda and targeted an event promoting Israeli real estate that was being held at the Young Israel synagogue. Demonstrators chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here,” along with other slogans including “Death to the IDF” and “Intifada people’s war.”

Hamas is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, though verbal expressions of support are protected under U.S. free speech law.

New York City police deployed heavily to the scene, setting up metal barricades and keeping protesters about half a block from the synagogue entrance. Officers separated demonstrators from Jewish counter-protesters across the street as traffic in the area was shut down. No injuries were reported and police said there were no arrests.

Roughly 200 anti-Israel demonstrators took part, along with a slightly smaller number of counter-protesters from the neighborhood who waved Israeli and American flags and chanted patriotic slogans.

Activists protested outside a synagogue, chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here.”

Whatever the amnesia surrounding 10/7, the truth must never be forgotten: Hamas murdered, maimed, mutilated, raped, and tortured thousands of innocent Israelis. It is—and has… pic.twitter.com/JeGh1XzA2A

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 9, 2026

New York State Assemblymember Sam Berger, who represents the area, said the demonstration forced the early closure of after-school programs at a daycare and two nearby elementary schools because of security concerns.

“This is a residential neighborhood with a lot of young families,” Berger said. “People were genuinely worried about the safety of their children.”

Community leaders said the chants crossed a line from protest into intimidation. Sorolle Idels, founder of the Queens Jewish Alliance, said residents were urged to avoid the area during the demonstration. “We don’t welcome this kind of disturbance in a quiet community,” she said.

Pal-Awda said the rally was aimed at Israeli real estate marketing, not the synagogue itself, which rented out its space for the event. Similar demonstrations have taken place in Jewish neighborhoods in recent years, drawing criticism from community members who say protests are often staged at synagogues even when congregations are not organizing the events.

Hochul’s condemnation came as she prepares to unveil a proposal creating “safety zones” around houses of worship, limiting how close demonstrations can occur to religious sites. Under the plan, protesters would be required to remain at least 25 feet away from entrances.

The episode also comes amid a broader rise in antisemitic incidents across New York City. According to NYPD data released this week, Jews were the targets of 330 hate crimes in 2025 — more than all other groups combined — heightening concern about security for Jewish communities.

While Hochul moved quickly to denounce the rhetoric used at Thursday’s protest, Mamdani’s continued silence on Friday underscored growing pressure on the new mayor to define how he will respond to demonstrations that many Jewish leaders say cross the line into open support for violence.

The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers are taking part in what the Department of Homeland Security has called the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever.

The officers in Minneapolis have been met with demonstrations and anger after an ICE officer fatally shot a woman on Wednesday.

Documents obtained by the AP indicated that federal officers stationed in Louisiana were continuing to depart for Minneapolis late this week.

“For the safety of our law enforcement, we do not disclose operational details while they are underway,” DHS said Friday in response to questions about whether the Louisiana deployment was ending in order to send officers to Minnesota.

In December, DHS deployed more than 200 federal officers to New Orleans to carry out a monthslong sweep in and around the city under Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who was also the face of aggressive operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina. Bovino has been seen in Minneapolis this past week.

“Catahoula Crunch” began with a target of 5,000 arrests, the AP first reported. The operation had resulted in about 370 arrests as of Dec. 18, according to DHS.

The operation heavily targeted the Hispanic enclave of Kenner just outside New Orleans, leading immigrant-run businesses to close down to protect customers and out of a fear of harassment.

Documents previously reviewed by AP showed the majority of people arrested in the Louisiana crackdown’s first days lacked criminal records and that authorities tracked online criticism and protests against the deployment.

Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry welcomed the crackdown. But New Orleans’ Democratic leaders called the 5,000-arrest target unrealistic and criticized videos that showed agents arresting or trying to detain residents, including a clip of a U.S. citizen being chased down the street by masked men near her house.

New Orleans’ Democrat leaders have been more welcoming of a National Guard deployment that President Donald Trump authorized after Landry asked for help fighting crime. The troops arrived just before the New Year’s Day anniversary of a truck attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people.

There is new video tonight in the shooting death of a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother, and it could provide the best look yet at what happened before she was shot and killed by an ICE officer, shortly after dropping her six-year-old off at school. pic.twitter.com/qS30hKxjxq

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 9, 2026

Previous video from the scene showed officers approaching Good’s vehicle from behind as they attempted to remove her from the car. In the newly aired footage, captured from farther away, Good’s maroon Honda Pilot is seen entering the area and stopping across part of the roadway.

About 20 seconds later, a person exits the passenger side of the vehicle and walks away. It remains unclear who that person was or why they left.

Moments later, Good turns her vehicle perpendicular to the street, appearing to block traffic — though the video shows enough space for cars to pass on either side. An ICE agent is then seen approaching as another federal vehicle pulls up nearby.

As one agent briefly returns to his car and then re-approaches, another officer appears to grab at Good’s door. Seconds later, the vehicle begins to move forward. Three shots are fired in rapid succession, killing Good.

ICE officials have said Good used her vehicle as a weapon and that the agent acted in self-defense. That account has been disputed by local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said the available evidence raises serious questions about the use of deadly force.

“For all that this video may reveal,” Cooper said during the broadcast, “it still says nothing about why Renee Good was there or what she was doing — and there’s still much we don’t know.”

The shooting occurred shortly after Good had dropped off her 6-year-old child at school, according to family members. Her death has intensified scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement tactics and the rules governing when agents may use lethal force.

Investigations into the shooting remain ongoing.

In Bnei Brak, a falling tree crushed several cars, including one that was reportedly in motion. Medics examined those inside and reported no injuries.

Police closed Highway 90 between Dragot Junction and the Dead Sea hotel district in both directions because of flooding and warned travelers to avoid the area due to life-threatening conditions.

בעקבות מזג האוויר הסוער והרוחות החזקות, במספר אזורים ברחבי הארץ נפלו עצים וענפים על רשת החשמל וגרמו לקריעת חוטים ולהפרעות באספקת החשמל.

צוותי חברת החשמל פועלים בשטח ומטפלים בנזקים, במטרה להשיב את אספקת החשמל לכלל הלקוחות.

חברת החשמל שבה ומזכירה לציבור כי חוטי חשמל קרועים מהווים… pic.twitter.com/4yCcIVXq6T

— חברת החשמל לישראל (@IecIsrael) January 9, 2026

Weekend storm system intensifies

The damage came as a multi-day winter system swept across the country, bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and a heightened risk of flash floods.

Rain began in northern Israel on Thursday and spread southward through Friday, with forecasters warning that multiple waves of precipitation will continue through the weekend and into Monday.

According to the Israel Meteorological Service, winds along the coast and in the lowlands were expected to reach about 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph), while mountain regions could see gusts of 70 kilometers per hour (43 mph), with peak bursts approaching 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph). Earlier forecasts said gusts could climb even higher in exposed areas.

Authorities warned that desert wadis in the Judean Desert and near the Dead Sea face a serious risk of flash flooding. Officials urged the public to stay away from flood-prone roads, secure loose objects and follow emergency instructions.

Disruptions across the country

An Arkia flight diverted to Larnaca, Cyprus, after the pilot opted not to land at Ben Gurion Airport because of the strong winds. Airport officials later said the diversion was a precautionary decision by the crew and that no formal restrictions were in place for landings.

Emergency services said seas were also dangerously rough, urging swimmers and boaters to stay out of the water.

Forecast ahead

Meteorologists said rain would ease overnight into Saturday before strengthening again late Saturday and into Sunday, particularly in northern and coastal areas. A brief lull is expected Sunday, followed by another storm system on Monday.

Officials stressed that while temperatures will remain seasonable, the combination of wind, rain and flooding risk makes the coming days especially hazardous — and urged residents to remain alert as the storm system continues to move across the country.

U.S. forces, including the Coast Guard and Joint Task Force Southern Spear, have conducted multiple interdictions of sanctioned vessels linked to Venezuela’s “shadow fleet” in recent days, including tankers in the North Atlantic and Caribbean.

The Olina, a 114,809-deadweight-ton vessel owned by a Hong Kong-based company, is part of ongoing pursuits of ships accused of evading sanctions.

No immediate comment was available from Venezuelan authorities.

Asif cited the ICC warrants issued in 2024 against Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, arguing that the international community has a responsibility to enforce them. The warrants have remained a flashpoint in global diplomacy through 2025 and into this year.

His comments came amid strained relations between Israel and Turkey, which have included trade freezes and diplomatic tensions since 2024. Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has long taken a hard line against Israeli policies toward Palestinians.

The remarks drew immediate attention online and during the broadcast, which was cut short shortly after Asif’s comments.

There was no immediate response from Israeli, U.S. or Turkish officials.

As an observation, most Briskers would agree with Professor Soloveitchik on this one.  Many of the Brisk Roshei Yeshiva and their Torah focuses on where the Rambam places halachos. But, we get ahead of ourselves.  Also please note that the above picture is not a real one but was created artificially.

THE QUESTION

At the heart of the debate between the two lies a deceptively simple question:

How much meaning did the Rambam intend us to find in the structure of his code itself?

Was the Mishneh Torah designed as a seamless conceptual architecture, where every halacha’s placement is philosophically loaded? Or is it a monumental halachic achievement whose structure, while brilliant, also reflects development, revision, and practical human decision-making?

Professor Soloveitchik argues forcefully for the first position. The Rambam’s organizational choices are never incidental. When a law appears to sit uneasily in its location, that tension is not a flaw but a clue—the Rambam signaling something deeper. For Professor Soloveitchik, the Rambam is not merely codifying law but shaping meaning through classification itself.

Professor Kaplan, while deeply respectful of Professor Soloveitchik’s questions, challenges all of the assumptions behind them. Drawing on manuscript evidence from the Cairo Genizah, Professor Kaplan shows that the Rambam did not originally conceive his work as fourteen books at all. He first thought in terms of discrete halachic units, each internally coherent, and only later imposed the overarching book structure. Once this historical fact is taken seriously, he argues, many of Professor Soloveitchik’s “problems” look very different.

THE FIRST MYSTERY: WHY IS AVEIDAH IN SEFER NEZIKIN?

Sefer Nezikin contains laws dealing with damages—theft, robbery, murder, injuries. This makes sense; nezikin means damages.

But Professor Soloveitchik asks: “Why are the laws of lost property (avedah) in Sefer Nezikin? Why has the Rambam created a unit ‘Hilchos Gezelah va-Avedah‘?” Finding someone’s lost item and returning it is a mitzvah—there’s no nezek involved!

Professor Soloveitchik Demolishes the Obvious Answers

Answer #1: “Someone who doesn’t return lost property is like a gazlan.” (Boaz Cohen, JQR 1935)

Professor Soloveitchik’s response: Someone who doesn’t pay workers is also like a robber—yet those laws aren’t in Sefer Nezikin! The fact that breaching an obligation resembles robbery doesn’t make those laws part of Torts.

Answer #2: “Both share the obligation of hashavah (returning).”

Professor Soloveitchik’s response: Should we combine nazir with metzora because both prohibit shaving? Sharing one Hebrew word doesn’t create meaningful connection.

Then his knockout punch: “In lost property there is no actual ‘obligation to return.’ The finder publicizes the find, then settles in his easy chair until the owner rings. Not so the robber—he must actively seek the owner, even to ‘the lands of the Medes and Persians.'”

Professor Soloveitchik suggests avedah belongs in Sefer Kinyan—as the Tur and Shulchan Aruch actually place them.

PROFESSOR KAPLAN’S RESPONSE

Profound Halachic Foundations

Professor Kaplan demonstrates that robbery and lost property share profound halachic foundations: in both cases the object belongs to its owner but is not in his possession; in both cases the mitzvah of restoration governs the finder or taker; in both cases concepts such as yeush (despair of recovery) play a central role. Far from being an artificial pairing, the unit reflects genuine legal coherence.

Professor Soloveitchik exaggerates both sides:

On robbers: The Rambam rules (Hilchos Gezelah va-Avedah 7:9) that a robber only must chase down the owner if he denied the robbery under oath. Otherwise, “the money may remain in the robber’s possession until the owner comes.” Just like the finder!

On finders: Professor Kaplan responds with wit: “The finder will have to budge from that easy chair to care for the object so it doesn’t deteriorate.” The Rambam rules (13:11) that the finder must inspect the item regularly. “Consider the lost animals specified by the Torah—the ox, the sheep, the donkey—and try to imagine caring for them from an easy chair…. I would not wish to set foot in his house!”

THE BOMBSHELL: SEFER NEZIKIN DIDN’T ALWAYS EXIST!

Now comes the dramatic revelation.

Professor Kaplan’s crucial critique: Professor Soloveitchik’s objection assumes a finalized structure that did not yet exist when the relevant unit was written. At the time the Rambam joined robbery and lost property into a single halachic unit, there was no independent Sefer Nezikin at all. Both sets of laws belonged to a broader category of obligations between people.

In his Introduction to Sefer HaMitzvos, the Rambam describes his plan: “I would divide the book into groups of laws (Halakhos)—Hilchos Sukkah, Hilchos Tefillin, etc.” No mention of books! (See Herbert Davidson, Moses The Rambam, Oxford 2005, p. 213.)

The Smoking Gun: Genizah Fragment TS 10 K8

A manuscript fragment from Cambridge University Library—in The Rambam’ own handwriting—contains a draft of Sefer Mishpatim‘s first page. (Published by Rabbi Elazar Hurvitz, Hadorom 38, 1973.)

What does it reveal? Sefer Mishpatim was originally the eleventh book with fourteen units—and the first unit was called “Hilchos Nezikin,” which The Rambam crossed out and renamed!

Originally, there was no separate Sefer Nezikin! The current Sefer Nezikin and Sefer Mishpatim were one combined book containing ALL interpersonal laws—whether or not they involved initial damage. Their later placement together, when the work was subdivided, was not conceptual confusion but editorial continuity.

Professor Kaplan’s conclusion: “When The Rambam conjoined the Laws of Lost Property with Robbery, there was no Sefer Nezikin!”

Why Didn’t He Fix It?

Professor Kaplan’s wonderfully human explanation: “When we’re working on a major project, we want perfection. But at a late stage, when one structural change requires massive rewriting—well, that’s another story. And this is an age of word processing!”

“Perhaps the reader will object that we’re speaking of The Rambam, ha-nesher ha-gadol. All I can say is: ‘even so.'”

THE SECOND MYSTERY: GEIRUS IN HILCHOS ISSUREI BIAH

The Problem

The Rambam places geirus (conversion) in Hilchos Issurei Biah (Forbidden Relations) in Sefer Kedushah.

Professor Soloveitchik finds this troubling: Conversion is fundamentally about belief, recognition of Hashem, and spiritual transformation. “Is the purpose of conversion to permit relations?” He proposes relocating it to Sefer HaMadda—after Hilchos Avodah Zarah (completing Avraham Avinu’s distancing himself from idolatry) or concluding Hilchos Teshuvah.

PROFESSOR KAPLAN’S RESPONSE

Professor Kaplan does not deny conversion’s spiritual dimension, but he insists the Rambam understood conversion first and foremost as a change in legal personal status with immediate consequences in marriage, family relations, and illicit prohibitions.

The principle “ger she-nisgayer ke-katan she-nolad” (a convert is like a newborn) means that technically, Biblical arayos no longer apply after conversion—generating complex questions about incest and lineage that the Rambam addresses at length precisely where those topics belong. He devotes ten paragraphs (Issurei Biah 14:10-19) to these issues!

The True Meaning of ‘Kedushah’

In his Introduction, the Rambam explains Sefer Kedushah: “For it is through these two matters—forbidden relations and forbidden foods—that the Omnipresent sanctified us and separated us from the nations.” This is the only instance where The Rambam cites Torah verses to explain a sefer’s name. Kedushah means the kedushah of Klal Yisrael, separated from the nations!

Now geirus makes perfect sense! Conversion is about “entering the bris, taking shelter under the Shechinah, accepting the Torah” (Issurei Biah 13:4)—converts separate from the nations and attain Israel’s kedushah. To relocate conversion to Sefer HaMadda would distort the Rambam’s conception of what conversion actually is: not merely intellectual acknowledgment of God, but entry into covenantal obligation with concrete halachic ramifications.

Why NOT Sefer HaMadda?

Sefer HaMadda contains “fundamental principles that a person must know at the outset”—laws binding on everyone at every moment. Conversion is a one-time procedure for converts only.

Crucial observation: The Rambam deliberately avoids mentioning the bris (covenant) in Sefer HaMadda! But conversion is fundamentally about the bris—mentioned four times in Chapter 13 of Issurei Biah. Avraham in Sefer HaMadda appears as a universal figure—a sage who discovered God through reason—with no mention of his covenant!

The Rambam’s Actual Ending

Professor Soloveitchik composes a beautiful hypothetical ending linking Avraham to converts. But compare what the Rambam actually wrote (Hilchos Teshuvah 10:6):

“According to knowledge will be the love… Therefore a person must devote himself to understand the sciences that make his Maker known—as we explained in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah.”

No bris! No conversion! No Klal Yisrael! Instead: knowledge of Hashem through the sciences, and a reference back to the very beginning of the book. Sefer HaMadda forms a circle—ending pointing to beginning. The entire Mishneh Torah forms a circle too: Hilchos Melachim 12:5 speaks of Messianic times when “the world’s occupation will be only to know Hashem,” echoing Yesodei HaTorah 1:1.

Professor Kaplan concludes: “The Rambam’ ending is a work of art; Professor Soloveitchik’s substitute, while beautiful, is a pastiche.”

THE DEEPER METHODOLOGICAL DIVIDE

Beneath these specific disagreements lies a deeper methodological divide. Professor Soloveitchik reads the Mishneh Torah primarily as a conceptual edifice, where structure itself conveys meaning and invites philosophical interpretation. For him, tensions demand symbolic resolution. Professor Kaplan reads it as a legal masterpiece whose architecture emerged over time and must be understood historically as well as analytically. For him, many tensions dissolve once we understand how the Rambam worked.

One sees the Rambam chiefly as a flawless system-builder; the other sees him as a supreme halachist whose evolving plans left traces of human process—without diminishing the work’s greatness.

CONCLUSION

Mystery #1 Solved: When The Rambam combined Gezelah with Avedah, there was no separate Sefer Nezikin! Both fit naturally in the original combined Sefer Mishpatim. He later split it but didn’t reorganize everything.

Mystery #2 Solved: Sefer Kedushah is about Klal Yisrael’s kedushah, separated from the nations. Geirus fits perfectly—it’s about entering the bris and attaining that kedushah, with deep legal connections to arayos.

Professor Professor Kaplan solved these mysteries by combining traditional lomdus, historical research (Genizah manuscripts), reading the Rambam’s other works, and close attention to his introductions.

Professor Soloveitchik challenged: “The Rambam is in no need of our praise; we are in need of understanding him.” Professor Kaplan accepted—and showed that the Rambam’s seemingly strange choices actually reveal profound thinking.

The debate between Professor Soloveitchik and Professor Kaplan z”l finds a remarkable precedent in a centuries-old clash between two giants of halachic literature: the Sema and the Bach. The same fundamental tension we have traced throughout their disagreement—the clash between the creative world of the beis hamidrash and the practical world of halachic ruling—animated Jewish scholarship four hundred years ago.

Professor Kaplan z”l challenges the assumption that every structural choice in the Mishneh Torah is philosophically loaded. Drawing on manuscript evidence from the Cairo Genizah, he shows that the Rambam did not originally conceive his work as fourteen books at all. He first thought in terms of discrete halachic units and only later imposed the overarching book structure. A manuscript in the Rambam’s own handwriting reveals that Sefer Nezikin and Sefer Mishpatim were originally one combined book!

Once we understand how the Rambam actually worked—through drafts, revisions, and practical editorial decisions—many of Professor Soloveitchik’s “problems” simply dissolve. The placement of aveidah with gezelah wasn’t a philosophical statement; it was a practical decision made before the current structure even existed.

This is exactly the approach of the Bach. The Bach served as the rabbi of Krakow—one of the greatest Jewish communities in Europe. He operated in the world of practical halacha, where real people needed real rulings. From that vantage point, he looked critically at the beis hamidrash innovations of his contemporary, the Sema.

The Bach’s critique was sharp: the Sema’s creative interpretations produced “laws that the early authorities never imagined.” The pilpul of the yeshiva might be wonderful for sharpening students’ minds, but it had no place in printed books that would guide practical halachic decisions. “Permission was given to a yeshiva head to sharpen students,” the Bach wrote, “but such matters were not given to be written in a book, and certainly not to be printed.”

Professor Kaplan echoes this practical sensibility. He offers a wonderfully human explanation for why the Rambam didn’t fix apparent structural problems: “When we’re working on a major project, we want perfection. But at a late stage, when one structural change requires massive rewriting—well, that’s another story.”

“Perhaps the reader will object that we’re speaking of the Rambam, ha-nesher ha-gadol. All I can say is: ‘even so.'”

This is the voice of practical reality cutting through beis hamidrash idealism. Great scholars were human beings working within real constraints. Their works should be understood as the products of human effort and practical decision-making—not as perfect conceptual edifices where every detail carries hidden philosophical meaning.

Professor Soloveitchik argues that the Rambam’s organizational choices are never incidental. When a law appears to sit uneasily in its location, that tension is not a flaw but a clue—the Rambam signaling something deeper. Every structural puzzle is an invitation to creative analysis.

This is pure beis hamidrash thinking—exactly what the Sema championed centuries earlier. The Sema believed the ideal learner was one whose deep engagement with Torah leads them to “derive from their own minds and reasoning many laws.” For the Sema, the yeshiva was a creative laboratory where scholars could innovate, where difficulties in texts were not problems but opportunities.

The Sema deliberately chose not to serve as a community rabbi. He withdrew into his private yeshiva, funded by his father-in-law, because he believed that practical communal responsibilities would interfere with the “clear mind” needed for deep Torah study. His world was the world of pilpul, of intellectual creativity, of scholars gathered together to sharpen one another’s thinking.

Professor Soloveitchik operates in the same spirit. His famous questions about the Mishneh Torah—Why is aveidah in Sefer Nezikin? Why is geirus in Hilchos Issurei Biah?—are the questions of the beis hamidrash. They assume that every apparent anomaly conceals a deeper conceptual truth waiting to be uncovered through creative analysis.

Most Briskers, trained in this tradition of finding meaning in the Rambam’s every placement and formulation, would side with Professor Soloveitchik. This is the legacy of the beis hamidrash approach that the Sema helped pioneer: treating halachic texts as invitations for limitless intellectual exploration.

The Sema’s yeshiva was a place of intellectual freedom, where scholars could pursue ideas wherever they led, where creative interpretations were celebrated, where the goal was to “open the eyes of the reader” to new possibilities. The Bach’s rabbinate was a place of practical responsibility, where rulings affected real lives, where tradition provided guardrails, where innovation was viewed with suspicion.

Professor Soloveitchik operates in the spirit of the beis hamidrash. His questions about the Rambam’s structure are the questions of a scholar seeking conceptual depth, treating every anomaly as a doorway to insight. Professor Kaplan operates in the spirit of practical scholarship. His answers draw on historical evidence, manuscript research, and a recognition that even the greatest works bear the marks of human process.

The Bach warned that beis hamidrash creativity, when put into print, could “cause the masses to stumble.” People without the training to evaluate pilpul would take creative interpretations as established law. Professor Kaplan similarly warns that treating every structural choice as philosophically loaded can lead us to construct elaborate theories that the Rambam never intended.

The remarkable parallel between these debates, separated by four centuries, reveals something fundamental about Torah study. The tension between the creative freedom of the beis hamidrash and the practical constraints of halachic ruling has never been resolved—and perhaps it never should be.

The beis hamidrash needs the freedom to explore, to question, to innovate. Without that creativity, Torah study becomes stale repetition. But practical halacha needs grounding in reality, in tradition, in evidence. Without that restraint, creative interpretation can spin off into fantasy.

The Sema brought the creativity of the yeshiva into printed halachic literature, and his work has enriched Torah study for centuries. The Bach insisted on practical restraint, and his caution has protected the integrity of the halachic tradition. Professor Soloveitchik’s conceptual questions have deepened our appreciation of the Rambam’s genius. Professor Kaplan’s historical research has shown us how that genius actually operated in the real world.

On this 20th of Teves, as we mark the yahrtzeit of the Rambam, may we merit to continue learning his Torah in depth.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs.

The jobs data are being closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they are the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

Still, December’s report caps a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after “liberation day” in April when President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, though many were later delayed or softened. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of 2025. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November.

Subdued hiring underscores a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports.

Last year, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It’s the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020.

Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid, and President Donald Trump’s tax cut legislation is expected to produce large tax refunds this spring. Yet they acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs.

Even the weak 2025 figures are likely to be revised lower in February, when the government completes an annual benchmarking of the jobs figures to an actual count of jobs derived from companies’ unemployment insurance filings. A preliminary estimate of that revision showed it could reduce total jobs as of March 2025 by 911,000.

And last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the government could still be overstating job gains by about 60,000 a month because of shortcomings in how it accounts for new companies as well as those that have gone out of business. The Labor Department is expected to update those methods in its report next month.

With hiring so weak, the Federal Reserve cut its key short-term interest rate three times late last year, in an effort to boost borrowing, spending, and hiring. Yet Powell signaled that the central bank may keep its rate unchanged in the coming months as it evaluates how the economy evolves.

Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last year’s July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year.

At the same time, inflation remains elevated, eroding the value of Americans’ paychecks. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November compared with a year ago, little changed from the beginning of the year and above the Fed’s 2% target.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta said in a statement on Friday that the three deals will support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing clean energy by 2035.

“These projects add reliable and firm power to the grid, reinforce America’s nuclear supply chain, and support new and existing jobs to build and operate American power plants,” the company said.

Meta said its agreement with TerraPower will provide funding that supports the development of two new Natrium units capable of generating up to 690 megawatts of firm power with delivery as early as 2032. The deal also provides Meta with rights for energy from up to six other Natrium units capable of producing 2.1 gigawatts and targeted for delivery by 2035.

Meta will also buy more than 2.1 gigawatts of energy from two operating Vistra nuclear power plants in Ohio, in addition to the energy from expansions at the two Ohio plants and a third Vistra plant in Pennsylvania.

The deal with Oklo, which counts OpenAI’s Sam Altman as one of its largest investors, will help to develop a 1.2 gigawatt power campus in Pike County, Ohio to support Meta’s data centers in the region.

The nuclear power agreements come after Meta announced in June that it reached a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy.

Investigators later determined the gun was a replica handgun resembling a Sig Sauer pistol. Police said the man ignored repeated commands to drop it. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later.

Two officers were transported to local hospitals for evaluation and were later released.

A witness said officers were shouting commands as the driver stepped out of the car, followed by several gunshots moments later. Another bystander said the BMW had been driving the wrong way shortly before the encounter.

The shooting was the second fatal police-involved incident in New York City within about five and a half hours.

Earlier Thursday evening, officers fatally shot a man at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope after police said he barricaded himself in a room with a patient and a security guard while wielding a sharp object. Authorities said the man, who had been admitted to the hospital, ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon and advanced toward officers after attempts to subdue him with a Taser failed.

Both incidents were recorded on police body-worn cameras and remain under investigation by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division.

Protesters are “ruining their own streets … in order to please the president of the United States,” Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. “Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters “will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.”

There was no immediate response from Washington, though Trump has repeated his pledge to strike Iran if protesters are killed, a threat that’s taken on greater significance after the U.S. military raid that seized Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

Internet cut off
Despite Iran’s theocracy cutting off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls, short online videos shared by activists purported to show protesters chanting against Iran’s government around bonfires as debris littered the streets in the capital, Tehran, and other areas into Friday morning.

Iranian state media alleged “terrorist agents” of the U.S. and Israel set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were “casualties,” without elaborating.

The full scope of the demonstrations couldn’t be immediately determined due to the communications blackout, though it represented yet another escalation in protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy and that has morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in several years. The protests have intensified steadily since beginning Dec. 28.

The protests also represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pahlavi, who called for the protests Thursday night, similarly has called for demonstrations at 8 p.m. Friday.

Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fueling the protests that began over Iran’s ailing economy.

So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 50 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

“What turned the tide of the protests was former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s calls for Iranians to take to the streets at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Per social media posts, it became clear that Iranians had delivered and were taking the call seriously to protest in order to oust the Islamic Republic.”

“This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests. Unfortunately, it also likely provided cover for security forces to kill protesters.”

Thursday night protests preceded internet shutdown
When the clock struck 8 p.m. Thursday, neighborhoods across Tehran erupted in chanting, witnesses said. The chants included “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the Islamic Republic!” Others praised the shah, shouting: “This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!” Thousands could be seen on the streets before all communication to Iran cut out.

“Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication,” Pahlavi said. “It has shut down the internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.”

He went on to call for European leaders to join Trump in promising to “hold the regime to account.”

“I call on them to use all technical, financial, and diplomatic resources available to restore communication to the Iranian people so that their voice and their will can be heard and seen,” he added. “Do not let the voices of my courageous compatriots be silenced.”

Pahlavi had said he would offer further plans depending on the response to his call. His support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war Israel waged on Iran in June. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some demonstrations, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The internet cut also appears to have taken Iran’s state-run and semiofficial news agencies offline. The state TV acknowledgment at 8 a.m. Friday represented the first official word about the demonstrations.

State TV claimed the protests were violent and caused casualties, but did not elaborate. It also said the protests saw “people’s private cars, motorcycles, public places such as the metro, fire trucks and buses set on fire.” State TV later reported that violence overnight killed six people in Hamedan, some 280 kilometers (175 miles) southwest of Tehran.

The European Union and Germany condemned the violence targeting demonstrators.

Trump renews threat over protester deaths
Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after the 12-day war, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to $1. Protests began soon after, with demonstrators chanting against Iran’s theocracy.

It remains unclear why Iranian officials have yet to crack down harder on the demonstrators. Trump warned last week that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” America “will come to their rescue.”

In an interview with talk show host Hugh Hewitt aired Thursday, Trump reiterated his pledge.

Iran has “been told very strongly, even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now, that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” Trump said.

He demurred when asked if he’d meet with Pahlavi.

“I’m not sure that it would be appropriate at this point to do that as president,” Trump said. “I think that we should let everybody go out there, and we see who emerges.”

Speaking in an interview with Sean Hannity aired Thursday night on Fox News, Trump went as far as to suggest 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may be looking to leave Iran.

“He’s looking to go someplace,” Trump said. “It’s getting very bad.”

The assistant attorney general will also set national enforcement priorities, propose legislative and regulatory reforms to address vulnerabilities, and advise the attorney general and deputy attorney general on high-impact fraud cases and related policies.

Vice President JD Vance highlighted the initiative during a White House briefing, noting that efforts will initially focus on Minnesota — where federal prosecutors have pursued numerous cases involving alleged abuse of state-administered benefit programs — before expanding nationwide.

The announcement comes amid ongoing federal investigations in Minnesota, including programs such as Feeding Our Future and others tied to child nutrition, Medicaid and housing assistance. The Justice Department has charged dozens in related cases, with many convictions already secured.The White House said the division will build on recent actions, including surges in prosecutorial resources and interagency coordination to combat fraud in federally funded programs.

She added, “Thank you to Hashem for such a sweet gift.”

Hirak, 22, served in the Israel Defense Forces’ 601st Engineering Battalion and was among the first soldiers killed in the latest phase of fighting in Gaza. He and Emunah had been married for only seven months when he died.

Relatives said the birth has brought a rare moment of comfort to a family that has spent months in mourning.

Emunah’s father, Yehuda Eliyahu, a senior official in Israel’s Defense Ministry, said the family is experiencing both pain and renewal at once.

“A grieving eye still weeps, but a hopeful heart finds strength,” he said. “A new light has come into our lives.”

The child is the first for Emunah and the 14th grandchild in the Hirak family.

The birth follows months in which Yosef Yehuda’s mother, Chana Hirak, has spoken publicly about how faith helped her family cope with the loss of her son, who was killed in a friendly-fire incident during operations in Gaza.

At her son’s funeral, Chana Hirak surprised many by choosing to speak words of gratitude rather than anger, saying that every day of life is a gift.

Friends and teachers remember Yosef Yehuda as joyful and determined, someone who faced setbacks but always chose to move forward. Family members say the birth of his son now stands as a living continuation of that spirit.

“In the deepest sorrow,” a relative said, “new life has brought light again.”

The New Jersey State Police is investigating the incident in conjunction with the Teaneck Police Department, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Rabbi Chaim Hagler, head of school at the yeshiva, said the safety and well-being of its students remains is Yeshivat Noam’s highest priority, and that mental health and guidance teams are doing their part to provide support, as needed.

“Our focus remains on supporting the injured student and her family, as well as ensuring the emotional health of our entire student body,” said Rabbi Hagler. “We are working closely with law enforcement to ensure a thorough investigation.”

Katie Katz, executive director of the Teach Coalition’s New Jersey office, which advocates for nonpublic students in the Garden State, said that no parent should ever have to worry about their child’s safety on a class trip.

“Our hearts are with the student and family impacted by this incident, and with the entire school community,” said Katz.

“The affordability crisis is not a ‘hoax,’ it is very real — despite what Donald Trump has had to say,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, invoking the president’s remarks.

“Democrats made clear before the government was shut down that we were in this affordability fight until we win this affordability fight,” he said. “Today we have an opportunity to take a meaningful step forward.”

Ahead of voting, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill, which would provide a three-year extension of the subsidy, would increase the nation’s deficit by about $80.6 billion over the decade. At the same time, it would increase the number of people with health insurance by 100,000 this year, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029, the CBO said.

Growing support for extending ACA subsidies
Johnson, R-La., worked for months to prevent this situation. His office argued Thursday that the federal health care funding from the COVID-19 era is rife with fraud and urged a no vote.

On the floor, Republicans also argued that the lawmakers should be focused on lowering health insurance costs for the broader population, not just those enrolled in ACA plans.

“Only 7% of the population relies on Obamacare marketplace plans. This chamber should be about helping 100% of Americans,” said Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

While the momentum from the vote shows the growing support for the tax breaks that have helped some 22 million Americans have access to health insurance, the Senate would be under no requirement to take up the House bill and has already rejected it once before.

Instead, a small group of senators from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that for any plan to find support in his chamber, it will need to have income limits to ensure that the financial aid is focused on those who most need the help. He and other Republicans also want to ensure that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.

Finally, Thune said there would need to be some expansion of health savings accounts, which allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as the money is spent on qualified medical expenses.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is part of the negotiations on reforms and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, said there is agreement on addressing fraud in health care.

“We recognize that we have millions of people in this country who are going to lose — are losing, have lost — their health insurance because they can’t afford the premiums,” Shaheen said. “And so we’re trying to see if we can’t get to some agreement that’s going to help, and the sooner we can do that, the better.”

Trump has pushed Republicans to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can bypass the federal government and handle insurance on their own. Democrats largely reject this idea as insufficient for covering the high costs of health care.

Republicans go around their leaders
The action by Republicans to force a vote has been an affront to Johnson and his leadership team, who essentially lost control of what comes to the House floor as the Republican lawmakers joined Democrats for the workaround.

After last year’s government shutdown failed to resolve the issue, Johnson had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on another health care bill that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes.

But after days of discussions, Johnson and the GOP leadership sided with the more conservative wing, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up ACA, which they consider a failed government program. He offered a modest proposal of health care reforms that was approved, but has stalled.

It was then that rank-and-file lawmakers took matters into their own hands, as many of their constituents faced soaring health insurance premiums beginning this month.

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York, signed the Democrats’ petition, pushing it to the magic number of 218 needed to force a House vote. All four represent key swing districts whose races will help determine which party takes charge of the House next year.

Jeffries said in a celebratory press conference after the vote that Thune should bring the Democratic bill to the Senate floor for an immediate vote.

“Stop playing procedural games that are jeopardizing the health and safety and well-being of the American people,” Jeffries said.

Trump encourages GOP to take on health care issue
What started as a long shot effort by Democrats to offer a discharge petition has become a political vindication of the Democrats’ government shutdown strategy as they fought to preserve the health care funds.

Democrats are making clear that the higher health insurance costs many Americans are facing will be a political centerpiece of their efforts to retake the majority in the House and Senate in the fall elections.

Trump, during a lengthy speech this week to House GOP lawmakers, encouraged his party to take control of the health care debate — an issue that has stymied Republicans since he tried, and failed, to repeal Obamacare during his first term.

Police Chief Bob Day said authorities are still working to determine what led to the shooting.

“We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis,” Day said. “I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”

The FBI confirmed it is investigating the incident and said more information would be released as it becomes available.

The Portland shooting came a day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, an incident that has intensified scrutiny of federal law enforcement actions across the country.

But Krasner took a sharply different stance.

PHILLY DA Larry Krasner warns ICE agents in wake of the Minneapolis shooting: “If any law enforcement agent, any ICE agent is gonna come to Philly to commit crimes, then you can get the F out of here.”

“I will charge you with those crimes. You will be arrested. You will stand… pic.twitter.com/xYB0yL65GD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 8, 2026

“You will be arrested, you will stand trial, you will be convicted,” Krasner said at a news conference, referring to any law enforcement officer — including federal agents — who commits a crime in Philadelphia.

Standing with local officials, Krasner said he reviewed footage of the Minneapolis shooting and called the killing unlawful. He held up a photo of Good, observed a moment of silence, and accused federal leaders of spreading what he described as false narratives about the incident.

Krasner said that even if Good had blocked officers with her vehicle, that conduct would not justify the use of deadly force.

“There are honest and decent law-enforcement officers by the bushel,” he said. “This message is for anyone who thinks they are above the law.”

The progressive prosecutor added that any similar case in Philadelphia would be handled in state court, where presidential pardons would not apply — a direct warning to ICE agents operating in the city.

Krasner’s remarks are already resonating beyond Philadelphia, particularly in New York, where immigrant advocates and law-enforcement critics say the debate over accountability for federal officers is intensifying.

Police Fire Shots Inside NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Suspect Detained @CitizenApp

506 6th St 5:40:01 PM EST

According to a biography on the attached website, the “rabbi” has “dedicated over 40 years to studying and teaching the intersection of Jewish wisdom and financial prosperity. Based in Brooklyn, he has helped thousands of people from all backgrounds achieve meaningful success through timeless Torah principles.”

In some backdrops of the films, the “rabbi” sits in an apparent sanctuary, with a Torah scroll open and unattended on a desk. Leaving a scroll open and unattended in that manner is taboo for Jews.

Many of the things that the “rabbi” says in the videos are platitudes, delivered in succession with minimal translations. The apparent Haredi rabbi refers to “God” rather than “Hashem,” and does not tend to cite particular biblical verses or rabbinic commentators in any of his messages. He also refers often to “abundance” and “renewal.” He often signs off his videos by directing people to buy his books, and in several, says just “link in bio.”

He notes at one point that the Torah says not to put a stumbling block before “another.” The verse says before a “blind person.”

Rabbi Gil Student, director of Jewish media and publications at the Orthodox Union, is part of the team developing Ohrbit, an artificial intelligence tool that delivers personalized Torah learning experiences.

“AI is a powerful tool to amplify Torah and help people study more Torah,” he told JNS. “AI should not replace human involvement and effort, but can be an incredible tool when used responsibly.”

“AI requires transparency and responsibility,” he added. “Jewish tradition requires that any book, whether written by a human or AI, have a responsible human review and approbation.”

Here are some recommendations for buying sustainable toilet paper or reducing overall toilet paper use.

Toilet paper made from recycled fibers
North American toilet paper has traditionally been made from fibers from trees in Canada and eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. Pulp made from the trees is bleached to create a bright white color, but the chlorine that’s often used can hurt the environment. Large amounts of electricity and heat are used to remove moisture and form square sheets.

Increasingly, manufacturers are making toilet paper from recycled paper products, which avoids material from freshly cut trees, and are using chlorine-free bleaching techniques. Once used, toilet paper itself is flushed and not recycled.

Looking for recycled content is a good place for environmentally conscious consumers to start, said Gary Bull, professor emeritus of forest economics at the University of British Columbia. Preconsumer materials include scrap materials from manufacturing or unsold paper. Postconsumer materials come from paper products that have already been used.

Making toilet paper from postconsumer recycled fibers improves its sustainability because paper is “one of the easiest materials on the planet to recycle,” Bull said.

Evaluating sustainability claims
The best way for a scientist to evaluate the carbon footprint of an item is doing a life cycle assessment, which calculates the environmental impacts from when a tree is a seedling to when its fibers are converted into toilet paper and flushed down the drain, Bull said. But that method isn’t within reach of consumers, so advocates have undertaken third-party assessments.

Some companies add those labels to packaging to show that their processes have been vetted. Bull said labels on bath tissue from the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative indicate the company is making scientifically-proven efforts to be sustainable. Both groups’ standards include conserving water, wildlife, and biodiversity as well as compliance with applicable forestry laws to keep ecosystems healthy.

The nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council also publishes an annual report that grades toilet papers from A+ to F, with the highest-ranked products being unbleached or bleached without chlorine, containing recycled content and avoiding harmful forestry practices. Aria, Green Forest, Natural Value, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods 365 100% Recycled received the highest letter grade in 2025, with all made entirely from recycled materials.

The “The Issue with Tissue” report was launched in 2019, and NRDC corporate campaign advocate Ashley Jordan said she has noticed dozens of sustainable toilet paper brands have emerged over the last six years.

Kory Russel, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental studies at the University of Oregon, said that when people purchase a sustainable product it sends a message to corporations to make more eco-friendly products available.

Sustainable toilet paper brands typically cost more per square foot than conventional products. But Russel said prices will likely drop if consumers continue buying it and manufacturers expand production.

“If more people are buying sustainable toilet paper and demanding it, there should be economies of scale and prices should fall to match that of conventional toilet paper,” he said.

Mark Pitts, executive director of tissue at the American Forest & Paper Association, whose members include large toilet paper manufacturers such as Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Georgia-Pacific, told The Associated Press that sustainability is a core industry focus and members have reported reductions of greenhouse gas emissions along the supply chain. He said that members follow responsible forestry practices and have increased their use of recycled material.

Bamboo, alternative materials and energy
Alternative materials such as fast-growing bamboo are often billed as more sustainable than toilet paper made from trees, but consumers should focus on toilet paper made with recycled materials instead, said Ronalds Gonzalez, an associate professor at North Carolina State University and expert on fibers used in the hygiene industry.

Gonzalez said pollution from manufacturing processes can reduce the benefits of using bamboo. Gonzalez recently co-authored a study that found bamboo toilet paper made in China that is available in the U.S. had a higher environmental impact than toilet paper made in the U.S. with imported forest fibers, largely because Chinese manufacturers use electricity generated by coal. The study found the bamboo toilet paper’s environmental impacts could be reduced when it was produced in regions that use renewable energy.

Bidets can remove the need for toilet paper
Bidets are devices that allow people to rinse after using the bathroom so they can reduce or avoid wiping. They’re another way people can reduce their toilet paper use.

Bidets, which are popular in Europe, can be a separate wash basin or a device added to toilets that generate a stream of water. Some people still use a small amount of toilet paper to dry off. Bidets that can be attached to your toilet and don’t use electricity can cost around $30, while toilet seats with fancy options such as heated water and air dryers can exceed $600. Some bidets require a plumber or contractor to install.

Bidets are a sustainable alternative to conventional toilet paper because “you’re not using any sort of logging, it’s water that’s already coming to your household and it’s very little water,” Russel said.

Vance said at the White House that he wasn’t worried about prejudging the investigation into Good’s killing, saying of the videos he’d seen of the Wednesday incident, “What you see is what you get in this case.”

Vance said he was certain that Good accelerated her car into the officer and hit him. It isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that video of the shooting shows arguments that the officer was acting in self-defense were “garbage.”

The vice president also said part of him felt “very, very sad” for Good. He called her “brainwashed” and “a victim of left-wing ideology.”

“I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement — a lunatic fringe — against our law enforcement officers,” Vance said.

His defense of the officer, at times fiery, came as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump likewise said the officer’s actions were a justified act of self-defense. Trump said Good “viciously ran over” the ICE officer, though video footage of the event contradicts that claim.

Trump has made a wide-ranging crackdown on crime and immigration in Democratic cities a centerpiece of his second term in office. He has deployed federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to support the operations and has floated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to try to stop his opponents from blocking his plans through the courts.

Trump officials made it clear that they were rejecting claims by Democrats and officials in Minnesota that the president’s move to deploy immigration officers in American cities had been inflammatory and needed to end.

“The Trump administration will redouble our efforts to get the worst of the worst criminal, illegal alien killers, rapists and pedophiles off of American streets,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday before Vance spoke.

She called Good’s killing “a result of a large, sinister left-wing movement.”

Vance was selected as Trump’s running mate last year partly for his ability to verbally spar, especially with the media. He opened his remarks by condemning headlines he saw about the shooting, at times raising his voice and decrying the “corporate media.”

“This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people,” Vance said.

He accused journalists of falsely portraying Good as “innocent” and said: “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you.”

“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he added. “And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

When asked what responsibility he and Trump bore to defuse tension in the country over the incident, Vance said their responsibility was to “protect the people who are enforcing law and protect the country writ large.”

“The best way to turn down the temperature is to tell people to take their concerns about immigration policy to the ballot box,” he said.

Vance also announced that the administration was deputizing a new assistant attorney general to prosecute the abuse of government assistance programs in response to growing attention to fraud in childcare programs in Minnesota. The position “will be run out of the White House under the supervision of me and the president,” Vance said. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about the new role.

Vance said the prosecutor will focus primarily on Minnesota, and will be nominated in coming days. Vance added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune told him he’d seek a prompt confirmation.

“These laws must be enforced equally,” Goldfeder wrote. “Public safety cannot depend on politics.”

Protestors are planning to menace the Jewish community tonight. Reminder to @NYCMayor: Penal Law §240.20 squarely prohibits disorderly conduct that causes or recklessly risks public alarm—including masked intimidation. These laws must be enforced equally. pic.twitter.com/6qUXNctC0d

— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) January 8, 2026

Since Mamdani took office, Goldfeder has raised his public profile, becoming a more frequent and outspoken critic of City Hall, regularly pressing the mayor on issues affecting the Jewish community.

The appeal comes as tensions in the city have risen around demonstrations tied to the war in Gaza and broader Middle East politics. Jewish leaders say the line between political expression and intimidation has increasingly blurred, especially in neighborhoods with large Jewish populations.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Goldfeder’s letter.

Police officials have said the NYPD remains committed to protecting the right to protest while enforcing laws against harassment, threats and disorderly conduct. Jewish advocacy groups say consistent enforcement will be critical to maintaining public trust and preventing further escalation.

Just to clarify based on some of the questions I’ve received: the @NYPD107Pct did not issue any directives to close to schools, synagogues, or local institutions. They notified them of the planned protest, and each entity made its own determination based on the recent history of… https://t.co/SMm2Litrua

— Sam Berger (@SamBergerNY) January 8, 2026

The exposure caused visual impairment and made it difficult for the crew to see their instruments, creating what police described as a serious safety hazard. The pilot altered course and made an emergency landing to avoid further risk to the crew.

Investigators with New York State Police, assisted by the Buffalo Police Department, later identified the suspect following an extensive investigation.

The teen was issued a Family Court appearance ticket and referred to Erie County Probation, authorities said.

State police warned that shining a laser at an aircraft can cause temporary blindness and disorientation, increasing the risk of crashes and endangering both flight crews and people on the ground.

Mortgage rates move closely with yields on 10-year Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. When a massive buyer steps in, demand for MBS rises, bond prices increase, yields fall and lenders can offer lower mortgage rates.

That’s the core of Trump’s proposal: use government buying power to force rates down.

This has been done before — at massive scale

During the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve launched its first large-scale bond-buying program. Between 2009 and 2014, the Fed bought about $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $300 billion in Treasuries. As a result, 30-year mortgage rates fell from roughly 6.5 percent to near 3.5 percent, stabilizing the housing market and triggering a surge in refinancing.

The strategy was used again during the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2020 through 2022, the Fed bought hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgage bonds, at one point more than $40 billion per month. Mortgage rates dropped below 3 percent, fueling a housing boom and rapid price increases nationwide.

Would $200B lower rates today?

Yes, but with limits. Economists say a $200 billion purchase would likely shave about a quarter to half a percentage point off mortgage rates in the short term. That could reduce monthly payments and spur refinancing.

But there is a tradeoff. With housing supply still tight, lower rates can push prices higher, help sellers more than buyers and reignite bidding wars. Payments may fall, but overall affordability may not improve much.

Who actually has the power to buy mortgage bonds?

The Federal Reserve is the institution that traditionally buys mortgage bonds. But it is independent, and the president cannot order it to act. Decisions are made by the Fed’s leadership and its policy committee.

There is another path through the Treasury Department and federal housing agencies such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. These agencies already play a major role in the mortgage market. With congressional approval, an administration could authorize large-scale purchases or expand existing housing-finance programs, but that would still require funding authority and budget approval from Congress.

Can Trump do this alone?

No. He can propose the idea, push it politically and pressure financial authorities to consider it. But to execute a $200 billion purchase, he would need cooperation from the Federal Reserve or new authority from Congress to act through Treasury and housing agencies.

Without that, the proposal remains a policy goal, not an action.

Would it increase the national debt?

Potentially. If Treasury financed the purchases, federal borrowing would rise and interest costs would increase, expanding the government’s role in housing finance. During economic crises, Washington accepted that tradeoff. In a normal economic environment, it becomes a tougher political sell.

The political context

Trump is presenting the idea as a way to help middle-class families afford homes and lower borrowing costs. Supporters say it shows decisive action on housing affordability. Critics counter that it risks fueling another housing bubble, benefits property owners more than renters and fails to address the root problems of limited supply, zoning restrictions and construction costs.

What economists broadly agree on

Large-scale purchases of mortgage-backed securities do lower mortgage rates. The policy tool is proven. But it is institutionally complicated and carries long-term risks if overused.

Bottom line

Trump’s proposal is not unprecedented. It mirrors tools used during the financial crisis and the pandemic. It could lower mortgage rates in the short run and ease monthly payments. But it cannot fix housing shortages or rising home prices, and it cannot be implemented by the president alone.

To become reality, it would require cooperation from the Federal Reserve or congressional approval for Treasury-led action. The idea works in theory and has worked before — but turning it into policy would take far more than a presidential announcement.

I’m running for reelection to keep moving our Commonwealth forward – and to keep getting stuff done for all Pennsylvanians.

Let’s do this: https://t.co/K3NI1aQ5lj pic.twitter.com/ZB3lyylrbv

— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) January 8, 2026

Shapiro warned that his opponents promise “darkness and division and extremism,” and — without mentioning President Donald Trump by name — he slammed the “chaos and toxicity” emanating from Washington, D.C., that he said threatened livelihoods, rights and freedoms.

“Every step of the way, I’ve stood up for my fellow Pennsylvanians, sometimes in a court of law and other times simply refusing to back down, refusing to cast certain Pennsylvanians aside and always by speaking truth to power,” Shapiro said.

He added, “I will not let anyone mess with Pennsylvania and I will always have your backs.”

Although Shapiro hasn’t disclosed any ambitions for higher office, his reelection effort will be closely watched as another test of whether he’s White House material.

Ever since he won the governor’s office in a near-landslide victory in 2022, Shapiro has been mentioned alongside Democratic contemporaries like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and others as someone who could lead a national ticket.

Shapiro, 52, has already made rounds outside Pennsylvania. Last year, he campaigned for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and he’s a frequent guest on Sunday talk shows that can shape the country’s political conversation.

He was also considered as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris in 2024. She chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead.

A pivotal first term as governor
Shapiro’s first-term repeatedly put him in the spotlight.

He was governor when Pennsylvania was the site of the first attempted assassination of Trump; the capture of Luigi Mangione for allegedly killing United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson; and the murder of three police officers in the state’s deadliest day for law enforcement since 2009.

Last year, an arsonist tried to kill Shapiro by setting the governor’s official residence on fire in the middle of the night. Shapiro had to flee with his wife, children and members of his extended family, and the attack made him a sought-out voice on the nation’s recent spate of political violence.

As Shapiro settled into the governor’s office, he shed his buttoned-down public demeanor and became more plain-spoken.

He pushed to quickly reopen a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, debuting his new and profane governing slogan — “get s—- done” — at a ceremony for the completed project.

He crossed the partisan divide over school choice to support a Republican-backed voucher program, causing friction with Democratic lawmakers and allies in the state.

Shapiro regularly plays up the need for bipartisanship in a state with a politically divided Legislature, and positions himself as a moderate on energy issues in a state that produces the most natural gas after Texas.

He’s rubbed elbows with corporate executives who are interested in Pennsylvania as a data center destination and thrust Pennsylvania into competition for billions of dollars being spent on energy, manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

A repeat winner in competitive territory
Shapiro has enjoyed robust public approval ratings and carries a reputation as a disciplined messenger and powerhouse fundraiser. For 2026, Pennsylvania’s Republican Party endorsed Stacy Garrity, the twice-elected state treasurer, to challenge Shapiro.

Garrity has campaigned around Pennsylvania and spoken at numerous Trump rallies in the battleground state, but she is untested as a fundraiser and will have to contend with her relatively low profile as compared to Shapiro.

Shapiro, meanwhile, keeps a busy public schedule, and has gone out of his way to appear at high-profile, non-political events like football games, a NASCAR race and onstage at a Roots concert in Philadelphia.

He is a regular on TV political shows, podcasts and local sports radio shows, and became a leading pro-Israel voice among Democrats and Jewish politicians amid the Israel-Hamas war, confronting divisions within the Democratic Party over the war.

He has tempered it with calls for more aid for Gaza’s residents and criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war, but some activists argued against him being the party’s nominee for vice president in 2024.

Harris, in her recent book, wrote that she passed on Shapiro after determining that he wouldn’t be a good fit for the role.

Shapiro, she wrote, “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision,” and she “had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership.” Shapiro disputed the characterization.

An audition on the 2026 campaign trail
In a September appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” the host, Kristen Welker, asked him whether he’d commit to serving a full second term as governor and whether he’d rule out running for president in 2028.

“I’m focused on doing my work here,” he said, sidestepping the questions.

His supposed White House aspirations — which he’s never actually admitted to in public — are also mentioned frequently by Garrity.

“We need somebody that is more interested in Pennsylvania and not on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Garrity said recently on a radio show in Philadelphia. On Thursday, the Republican Governors Association accused Shapiro of being “more focused on his political ambitions” than leading Pennsylvania.

For his part, Shapiro criticizes Garrity as too eager to get Trump’s endorsement to be an effective advocate for Pennsylvania.

In any case, the campaign trail could afford Shapiro an opportunity to audition for a White House run.

For one thing, Shapiro has been unafraid to criticize Trump, even in a swing state won by Trump in 2024. As governor, Shapiro has joined or filed more than a dozen lawsuits against Trump’s administration, primarily for holding up funding to states.

He has lambasted Trump’s tariffs as “reckless” and “dangerous,” Trump’s threats to revoke TV broadcast licenses as an “attempt to stifle dissent” and Trump’s equivocation on political violence as failing the “leadership test” and “making everyone less safe.”

Many of Shapiro’s would-be competitors in a Democratic primary won’t have to run for office before then.

Newsom is term-limited, for instance. Others — like ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — aren’t in public office. A couple of other governors in the 2028 conversation — Moore and Pritzker — are running for reelection this year.

Shouting at a ‘bespoke AI’ fridge that also hawks grocery products
Samsung’s “Bespoke AI Family Hub” refrigerator received the overall “Worst in Show” recognition from the group of consumer and privacy advocates who judged the contest.

Samsung invites users to speak to the refrigerator and command it to open or close the door, but a demonstration at the sprawling Las Vegas technology expo showed it didn’t always detect what people were saying if there was too much ambient noise. That was just part of the complications and reliability concerns Samsung added to an appliance that’s supposed to have one important job: keeping food cold, said Gay Gordon-Byrne of the Digital Right to Repair Coalition in a recorded video ceremony announcing the anti-awards.

Ring doorbells are seen on display at the Amazon booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

“Everything is an order of magnitude more difficult,” she said of the fridge that also tracks when food items are running low and can advertise replacements.

Samsung said in response that “a trade show floor is naturally very different from a consumer’s home environment. Our Bespoke AI experiences are designed to simplify decisions around the home, making life more convenient and enjoyable.”

The South Korean tech giant also said “security and privacy are foundational” to the AI experiences in the fridge..

Who decides what’s ‘Worst in Show’
The judges have no affiliation with CES or the trade group that runs the show.

They say they make the choices based on how uniquely bad a product is, what impact it could have if widely adopted and if it was significantly worse than previous versions of similar technology. The judges represent groups including Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and right-to-repair advocates iFixit.

“We definitely intend some shame,” said iFixit’s director of sustainability, Elizabeth Chamberlain, in an interview. “We do hope that manufacturers see this as a poke, as an impetus to do better next time. But our goal isn’t to really shame any particular manufacturer as such. We’re hoping that they’ll make changes as a result of it. We’re pointing to trends that we see in the industry as a whole. And a lot of the things that we’re calling out, we picked an individual product, but we could have picked a whole category.”

Amazon’s doorbells once again ring privacy alarms
An array of new features for Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera system won the “Worst in Show” for privacy for “doubling down on privacy invasion and supporting the misconception that more surveillance always makes us safer,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Among the new Ring features is an “AI Unusual Event Alert” that is supposed to detect unexpected people or happenings like the arrival of a “pack of coyotes.”

“That includes facial recognition,” Cohn said of the new Ring features. “It includes mobile surveillance towers that can be deployed at parking lots and other places, and it includes an app store that’s going to let people develop even sketchier apps for the doorbell than the ones that Amazon already provides.”

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

People look at a display of the Bosch eBike Flow app at the Bosch booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Deskbound AI ‘soulmate’ companion is always watching your eyes
Winning the “People’s Choice” of worst products was an AI companion called Ami, made by Chinese company Lepro, which mostly sells lamps and lighting technology. Ami appears as a female avatar on a curved screen that is marketed as “your always-on 3D soulmate,” designed for remote workers looking for private and “empathetic” interactions during long days at the home office. It tracks eye movements and other emotional signals, like tone of voice.

The group says it is calling out Lepro “for having the audacity to suggest that an AI video surveillance device on a desk could be anyone’s soulmate.” Advocates acknowledged the device comes with a physical camera shutter but said they were unsettled by its “always-on” marketing.

Lepro didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tech lollipop gets dinged for environmental waste
Lollipop Star attracted attention early at CES as a candy that plays music while you eat it. Its creators say it uses bone induction technology to enable people to hear songs — like tracks from Ice Spice and Akon — through the lollipop as they bite it using their back teeth. But the sticks can’t be recharged or reused after the candy is gone, leaving consumer advocate Nathan Proctor to give it a “Worst in Show” for the environment.

“We need to stop making so many disposable electronics, which are full of toxic chemicals, require critical minerals to produce and can burn down waste facilities,” said Proctor, who directs the Public Interest Research Group’s right-to-repair campaign.

A spokesperson for Lollipop Star maker Lava Brand didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

A treadmill powered by an AI chatbot fitness coach raises security concerns
“Worst in Show” for security went to Merach’s internet-connected treadmill that boasts of having the industry’s first AI coach powered by a large language model that can converse with the user but also proactively adjust the speed and incline based on heart rate changes.

All that collection of biometric data and behavioral inferences raised concerns for security advocates, but so did the fine print of a privacy policy that stated: “We cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.”

China-based Merach didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Talking coffee makers and making e-bikes hard to fix
German tech company Bosch received two “Worst in Show” awards, one for adding voice assistants and subscriptions to coffee-making with a “Personal AI Barista” machine and another for a purported anti-theft feature on an e-bike app.

Cory Doctorow, author of the book “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It” and himself a “Worst in Show” judge, criticized Bosch’s “parts pairing” to digitally connect an e-bike with its parts, like motors and batteries, in a way that flags a part if it appeared on a database of stolen products.

Even if Bosch doesn’t seek to prosecute its own customers for routine repairs, it could always change its deal with them later, in line with Doctorow’s theory of the decay of online platforms as companies exploit the customers they earlier won over.

Bosch said in a statement Thursday “that earning and keeping trust with our consumers, especially in the areas of privacy and cybersecurity, is at the core of our company’s values. Both Bosch Home Appliances and Bosch eBike Systems protect their consumers against unauthorized tampering or control through a comprehensive security concept, using encryption and authentication.”