A Michigan judge ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must remain on the November presidential ballot, dealing a blow to his crusade to strategically remove his ticket from the battleground state. Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump in August. Since then, he has sought to withdraw his name in states — like Michigan — where the race could be close. At the same time, he is trying to remain on the ballot in states where he is unlikely to make a difference between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Kennedy filed a lawsuit Friday in Michigan’s Court of Claims against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, in an effort to withdraw his name. Michigan’s election officials had previously rejected Kennedy’s notice of withdrawal. The Associated Press asked the secretary’s office for comment on the Court of Claims order that came down Tuesday. In a post on X earlier in the day, Benson said under Michigan law, candidates who are nominated and accept a minor party’s nomination “shall not be permitted to withdraw.” Kennedy argued in the lawsuit that his notice of withdrawal was timely and the electorate’s votes could be “diminished and rendered invalid” if he remains on the ballot. He filed a similar lawsuit in North Carolina on Friday, where he is trying to withdraw his name from the ballot. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher P. Yates concluded that the secretary of state rightly rejected Kennedy’s request to be removed from the ballot. “Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State (SOS) is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office,” Yates said in his opinion and order. Aaron Siri, an attorney for Kennedy in the Michigan lawsuit, said that keeping Kennedy’s name “upends ballot integrity.” “We agree with the judge that elections are not games, and that is precisely why the court should have let Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. withdraw from the ballot,” Siri said in a written statement. Speaking on Fox News Channel’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Tuesday, Kennedy said, “We’re trying to get off the ballot in all the states where I might be a spoiler and cause harm to President Trump.” Wisconsin election officials said last week that Kennedy must remain on the ballot there, rejecting his request to withdraw. Last week, a different Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled that liberal independent candidate for president Cornel West must remain on the ballot, an opinion welcomed by West’s campaign. Kennedy and West, prominent third-party candidates, are at the center of multiple legal and political battles across the country as Democrats and Republicans seek to use the impacts of third-party candidates who could take support from their opponents. Republican allies in multiple battleground states such as Arizona and Michigan have sought to keep West on the ballot amid Democratic fears he could siphon votes from Vice President Kamala Harris. (AP)
Cam Ferguson gets to his spot on the street adjacent to Chase Field — home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks — about four hours before first pitch to set up his usual display of cold water, sports drinks, peanuts and candy. By game time, it’s about 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) on this Labor Day afternoon in downtown Phoenix. Business is brisk. “Two for five, but it’s eight inside!” shouts another vendor, hawking water bottles. “Plus, they’re having some problems with the air conditioning in there.” It’s always hot this time of year in central Arizona, but 2024 is proving to be an endless summer with especially high temperatures in Phoenix. On Tuesday, the city hit its 100th straight day with at least 100 degree temperatures. That’s long since shattered the record of 76 days in a row set back in 1993, according to data from the National Weather Service. “That is definitely an eye-catching number,” NWS meteorologist Sean Benedict said. Scientists say climate change caused by human activities is dialing up the thermostat around the world and increasing the odds of dangerous temperatures. That is because the driver of global warming — the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fuels like oil, gas and coal — continues all but unabated. Extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, intense storms, and prolonged droughts will continue, according to researchers. The temperature hit 102 F (38.9 C) in Phoenix on May 27 and has made it to triple digits every day since. Benedict said that long streaks of desert heat usually are broken up by rain, but the monsoon hasn’t delivered much. The persistent heat also got an early start, with the triple-digit days already piling up in May. It doesn’t look like a break is coming any time soon. Unseasonably high temperatures are expected this week across the western U.S., with an excessive heat warning forecast for Wednesday through Friday in Arizona cities including Phoenix and Lake Havasu City, as well as Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada, including Laughlin and Pahrump. The California desert communities of Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms, Needles and Barstow will also heat up, with highs of up to 118 F (47.7 C) in Death Valley’s Furnace Creek expected at week’s end. Public health officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County — where Phoenix is located, the hottest metro area in the U.S. — say that as of Aug. 24 there had been 150 heat-related deaths confirmed so far this year, with another 443 under investigation. There were 645 heat-related deaths last year in the county of some 4.5 million people. Pretty much any way the data is parsed, 2024 marks another record-breaking summer of heat in Phoenix. It’s been the hottest meteorological summer, which includes the months June, July and August. And it’s the same story throughout the western U.S. with several locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico setting records or coming close. In Nevada’s Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, there have been 181 confirmed heat-related deaths so far this year. But the death toll is likely far greater, officials said, because it takes the Clark County coroner’s office up to three months to investigate the cause of death in about 90% of its cases. In 2023, there were […]
A man arrested last week at a Pennsylvania rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had hoped to hang a banner to protest Trump’s policies, Johnstown’s police chief said Tuesday. Authorities announced that misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest were filed against Stephen A. Weiss, 36, of Pittsburgh, who was taken into custody at Friday’s Trump rally. Johnstown Police Chief Richard Pritchard said investigators do not know what the banner said because arena staff apparently discarded it. He said it was made from a bed sheet and that Weiss told a detective that he does not believe in Trump’s policies. Pritchard said Weiss faked a foot injury and concealed a tube of glue in a metal crutch. Weiss declined comment when reached by phone Tuesday, saying he was seeking legal advice. The arrest affidavit by a Johnstown police detective said Weiss “ran onto the arena floor, jumped onto the media stage (and) began to yell towards the main stage where President Trump was speaking.” Weiss allegedly would not release himself from steel barricade fencing “and force had to be used,” police said in the charging document. A man who accompanied Weiss to the rally told police he was unaware of Weiss’ plan, Pritchard said. The second man was not charged, the chief said. Weiss also was charged with disrupting a public meeting, a misdemeanor. The Secret Service questioned Weiss on Friday and he was released later that night. He has a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 9. A Trump campaign spokesman offered no immediate comment Tuesday. The disruption occurred shortly after Trump criticized major media outlets for what he said was unfavorable coverage. As Weiss was led away, the former president told the crowd: “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?” There has been heightened scrutiny of security at Trump rallies since a gunman fired at him, grazing his ear, during an outdoor rally in July in Butler, Pennsylvania. Security at political events has been noticeably tighter since then. (AP)
According to a New York Post exclusive report, 75% of arrests made in Midtown Manhattan involve illegal migrants as sanctuary laws are making the metro migrant crisis difficult to control.
It’s putting a tremendous strain on the justice system.
22From The New York Post:
Jefferson Maldenado, a 31-year-old migrant from Ecuador, has been arrested in New York City five times since arriving in the US earlier this year.
His latest bust was for stealing a pair of pants and a beer from the Target near Herald Square.
Asked why he committed the crime, the migrant thief said, “I wanted to change my clothes and think.
“I wanted to sit down and think about my life, about what to do. Because this is not a normal world.”
He was just one of five migrants in a Manhattan courtroom for arraignment one night last week.
Across New York, recently arrived migrants are flooding the criminal justice system — at far higher rates than public officials have acknowledged.
Police sources shared with The Post a staggering estimate that as many as 75% of the people they’ve been arresting in Midtown Manhattan in recent months for crimes like assault, robbery and domestic violence are migrants. In parts of Queens, the figure is more than 60%, sources there estimate.
On any given day, Big Apple criminal court dockets are packed with asylum seekers who have run afoul of the law.
Full report over at The New York Post:
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• SpaceX satellite internet service Starlink said it will comply with court orders to block social network X in Brazil. Elon Musk owns both businesses. • Brazil’s supreme court ordered a suspension of X because it defied federal regulations concerning content moderation and the appointment of a legal representative in the country. • Musk has been publicly berating Brazil’s administration for months, threatening “reciprocal seizure of government assets,” in response to its court orders against his businesses.
In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans were a lifeline for small businesses. But now some small businesses are having trouble paying them off. And a Small Business Credit Survey report from the 12 Federal Reserve banks shows that small businesses that haven’t paid off COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans are in worse shape than other small businesses. Dwayne Thomas, owner of events lighting company Greenlight Creative in Portland, Oregon, got a roughly $500,000 EIDL loan in 2020, when all events shut down, crippling his businesses. EIDL loans were designed to help small businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of these loans have a 30-year term with a 3.5% interest rate. With lower interest rates than typical loans, the loans were provided for working capital and other normal operating expenses. Thomas says his business would not have survived without the loan. But, at 64, his plan to sell his business in a few years and retire has been scuttled, since the 30-year loan has left his business saddled with debt, even though otherwise it’s a healthy business that turns a profit. “We’re as successful as we’ve ever been,” Thomas said. “It’s just that we have this huge thing hanging over us at all times. It is not going away on its own.” The SBA awarded about 4 million loans worth $380 billion through the program. More than $300 billion was outstanding as of late 2023. Unlike some other pandemic aid, these loans are not forgivable and must be repaid. The survey by the Federal Reserve Banks found firms with outstanding EIDL loans had higher debt levels, were more likely to report challenges making payments on debt and were less likely to be profitable as of fall 2023, when the survey was conducted. Firms with outstanding EIDL debt are also more likely to be denied when applying for additional credit. Half said they were denied for having too much debt. Still, the survey stopped short of saying the disaster loans were a negative for companies. Some companies said they would have gone out of business altogether if it weren’t from the loans. And it’s impossible to measure whether the companies that haven’t paid off these loans weren’t in worse shape from the start. Colby Janisch, a brewer at 902 Brewing Company in Jersey City, New Jersey, received a loan from the EIDL program of about $400,000. But unlike a loan for an asset that you can pay off, the loan just went to rent and other overhead costs. And Janisch said the outstanding debt stops them from taking on other loans for assets that could help the business. “It’s hindered us because we don’t want to take out any loans to invest in the company now because we have such outstanding (debt),” he said. “So it’s definitely like a weighing on us, of like what we do going forward.” (AP)
Efforts to protect Kamala Harris from the press continue…
According to a New York Post report, Kamala Harris has now resorted to faking a phone call in order to duck reporters who want to ask her about her numerous policy flip-flops.
From The New York Post:
Vice President Kamala Harris brushed past reporters and boarded Air Force Two on Monday with her cell phone out and headphones firmly planted in both ears, a time-honored trick in Washington to avoid pesky questions from the press.
The Democratic presidential candidate offered an awkward salute before shaking hands with a US service member and striding up the steps of her official jet, one hand pressed carefully to her ear as if listening intently to what she was being told.
Harris, 59, glanced back and waved at the scrum of reporters near the plane’s steps, pausing again at the top of the ramp to adjust her headphone while at the same time holding her phone held up to her left ear.
“She may not have been a senator long, but mastered the ‘Can’t talk, on a call’ play,” noted NBC News White House correspondent Mike Memoli on X.
More over at The New York Post:
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Even for Joe, this is strange…
While speaking at IBEW Local Union #5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over the holiday weekend, President Biden told a long story about how his grandfather was accused of being a “Molly Maguire” while running for office in 1906. It was a weird, rambling story and the audience didn’t know exactly what to make of it.
“I remember when my great-grandfather was only the second Catholic elected statewide in the state Senate here in Pennsylvania,” Biden told the audience. “And I remember they talked about – when they’d run against him in 1906 – they said, ‘Guess what? He’s a Molly Maguire.’”
“A lot of the English owned the coal mines and what they did was they really beat the hell out of the mostly Catholic population in the mines. Not a joke,” Biden continued. “But there was a group they called the Molly Maguires. And Molly Maguires, if they found out the foreman was taking advantage of an individual, they would literally kill him. Not a joke. And they would bring his body up and put him on the doorstep of his family.”
A visibly uncomfortable Kamala Harris nodded along.
“Kind of crude, but I gotta admit they accused my great-grandfather of being a Molly Maguire – he wasn’t, but we were so … disappointed,” Biden told the audience before assuring them, “That was a joke. That was a joke.”
Watch the moment above or below:
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Another death has been linked to dangerous Takata air bag inflators by U.S. regulators, the 28th in the United States. The driver was killed in 2018 in Alabama in a Honda vehicle, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, but gave no further details. It says the death underscores the need for people to replace recalled air bag inflators. Takata used ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate air bags in a crash. But the chemical can deteriorate over time due to high heat and humidity and explode with too much force. That can blow apart a metal canister and send shrapnel into the passenger compartment. More than 400 people in the U.S. have been hurt. Worldwide at least 36 people have been killed by Takata inflators in Malaysia, Australia and the U.S. Honda said in a statement that the Alabama death occurred in Etowah County and involved a 2004 Honda Civic. It involved a high speed crash which complicated efforts to definitively determine the cause of death. Honda, the company that used more Takata air bags in its cars than any other automaker, said it has replaced or accounted for 95% of the recalled inflators in its vehicles. “Honda continues to urge owners of Honda and Acura vehicles affected by the Takata air bag inflator recalls to get their vehicles repaired at an authorized dealership as soon as possible,” the company statement said. Honda and Acura owners can check their for recalls at www.recalls.honda.com and www.recalls.acura.com. Owners also can go to nhtsa.com/recalls and key in their vehicle identification or license plate numbers. Potential for a dangerous malfunction led to the largest series of auto recalls in U.S. history, with at least 67 million Takata inflators involved. The U.S. government says many have not been repaired. About 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide. The exploding air bags sent Takata into bankruptcy. (AP)
Good news for Donald Trump in the battlegrounds…
According to a pair of polls from Trafalgar Group and Insider Advantage, former President Donald Trump is up on Kamala Harris in nearly every swing state, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona.
The race is still tight, but the Democratic Party’s shiny new candidate may already be losing her luster.
From The New York Post:
In the Wolverine State, Trafalgar has the former president scoring a narrow victory, 47% to 46.6%.
Pennsylvania shows a wider Trump lead: 47% to 45%.
While winning by 2% wouldn’t constitute a landslide, it would be a bigger win than Trump’s modest 0.72% victory in the state eight years ago.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin splits the two extremes, with Trump over Harris 47% to 46%. Though that margin seems narrow, Trump won the state by 0.77% in 2016 and lost it by 0.63% in 2020.
It’s worth noting that the RealClearPolitics polling average currently shows all three of these states going toward Harris, with Michigan having shifted on Aug. 29.
In Arizona, Trump leads 49% to 48% in the race for 11 electoral votes, a smaller margin than the 0.3% Biden win four years ago, and one that would trigger an automatic recount in the state. Trump leads by more than 12 points with independents.
A 9.5% lead with independents buoys Trump in Nevada to a 48%-47% lead, where six electoral votes are at stake. Trump lost the state in both 2016 and 2020.
Meanwhile, Trump leads Harris 49% to 48% in North Carolina, less than the 1.34% margin of victory he secured in 2020, and despite Harris leading with independents 50% to 46%.
More over at The New York Post:
Thousands of Satmar Chassidim gathered last Friday to mark the 45th Yahrtzeit of Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l, during which the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, HaRav Aharon Teitelbaum, used the occasion to address a pressing issue facing the kehilla: the skyrocketing housing prices in Kiryas Yoel. In his address, the Rebbe highlighted the severe housing crisis, noting that over the past five years, the cost of housing in Kiryas Yoel has surged dramatically, with the price per square foot shooting up by a staggering increase of 400%. This surge has placed a heavy burden on the kehilla, where large families are struggling to find affordable housing. To combat this crisis, the Rebbe took decisive action by forming a special committee in collaboration with local askanim. Their efforts bore fruit two months ago when a new municipal law was passed, capping the price of apartments in new projects. However, recognizing that the law’s benefits would not be immediate, the Rebbe reached out to Chasidic businessman and Satmar Philanthropist Akiva Hersh Klein, who is currently developing a new neighborhood with 2,000 apartments in Kiryas Yoel. The Rebbe announced that Klein had agreed to his request to substantially lower prices. Klein committed to selling 1,000 apartments at half the prevailing market price ($300 per square foot), a gesture estimated to potentially cost him around $250 million. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
An opinion article by the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board excoriated US President Joe Biden and his administration for placing the blame on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s execution of six hostages. The article also stressed how Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris put immense pressure on Israel, even threatening it with an arms embargo, not to enter Rafah – delaying the operation for months. And of course, that’s exactly where the hostages were found. Hamas probably can’t believe its luck—or the lack of moral seriousness by its enemies. The terrorists murder six Israeli hostages, including one dual-citizen American, and Israel is suddenly under pressure to make concessions—to Hamas. That’s the way it looked Monday, a day after Israel said it recovered the bodies of six hostages. They were executed in a Gaza tunnel only a day or two before Israel reached them, shot multiple times at close range. The hostages are Eden Yerushalmi, age 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lobanov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the U.S. citizen, 23. We have met Hersh’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, and were struck by their strength and good courage, willing to do anything and go anywhere to help their son. The crime here is all on Hamas, which took the innocent hostages on Oct. 7 and has refused to release them through multiple rounds of U.S.-brokered negotiations. Yet the reaction from the White House, the British government, the Western press and some parts of Israel is to blame the Israeli government. On Monday, in a one-word answer to a press scrum, Mr. Biden accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to secure a hostage deal. Britain’s new Labour government chose Monday to announce that, after a review, it is suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel. The titular explanation is that there is a “risk” the arms might be used in violation of humanitarian laws against Palestinians. Does the Keir Starmer government mean violations like Hamas shooting innocents in the head? Or does it fear that Jeremy Corbyn, the anti-Israel MP, is forming a group of independent “pro-Gaza” Members? The timing here compounds the bad policy. Like Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi, the Muslim hostage Israel rescued last week, the murdered six were found in Rafah, the city the world worked so hard to prevent Israel from entering. President Biden’s opposition kept Israel out of Rafah for three months. Vice President Kamala Harris claimed a Rafah invasion would doom its civilians. “I have studied the maps. There’s nowhere for those folks to go,” she said. Israel proved her wrong, evacuating a million Gazans in two weeks. Israel has dismantled Hamas’s Rafah brigade with notably low civilian casualties. Aid groups hyped worst-case scenarios for a Rafah invasion. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris withheld weapons to stop Israel from fighting there. Ms. Harris wouldn’t rule out “consequences” if Israel went ahead. Egypt threatened to abrogate its peace treaty with Israel over it. Israel has since found over a dozen tunnels from Rafah into Egypt, which insists that Israel leave the border to let Hamas’s arms smuggling resume. It should be clear now why Israel couldn’t let Hamas rule Rafah. Mr. Biden said Sunday that “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.” But his next sentence pushed […]
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a press conference on Monday evening and stressed the vital importance of maintaining an Israeli military presence on the Philadelphi Corridor. Netanyahu began by asking forgiveness from the families of the six hostages that “we weren’t able to bring them back alive. We were close but didn’t make it.” Netanyahu continued by saying that the murder of the hostages didn’t happen because Israel decided to maintain a military presence on the Philadelphi Corridor but because “Hamas doesn’t want a deal.” The prime minister, who is known for favoring the use of props during major press conferences, then turned to a map of the Philadelphi Corridor area and explained that “the road to achieving the goals of the war passes through the Philadelphi Corridor. That is Hamas’s pipeline.” “Only when we entered Philadelphia did we feel a change in the war,” he said. “For months after the November deal, Hamas refused to budge in negotiations for a deal. The first crack came after we entered Rafah and took control of Philadelphi and the Rafah crossing. Then suddenly they began talking differently.” He added that following the Disengagement in 2005, Israel left the area, relying on Egypt’s promises that it would prevent smuggling. “It was a strategic error that could not be corrected afterward to international opposition,” he said, adding that at the time, he pushed for Israel to maintain control over the Corridor and reiterated the demand to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon when he resigned from the government. “What happened when we left, was that there was no obstacle for the flow of arms, weapon-producing materials, and equipment to dig tunnels, all under the auspices of Iran,” he said. “Gaza became an enormous threat to Israel because there was no barrier.” “The Axis of Evil [led by Iran] needs the Philadelphi Axis, ” Netanyahu stressed and “that’s exactly why Israel must permanently control it.” He rapped the claim that Israel could temporarily leave the area as part of a deal and then return, pointing out how the same statements were made when Israel left Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. Former Israeli prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak promised Israelis that IDF forces would immediately return if any attacks were made from the territories. That proved impossible due to international diplomatic factors. “If we leave, we won’t return,” Netanyahu emphasized. “We won’t return,” he repeated, explaining that unrelenting diplomatic pressure on Israel will make it impossible to return. “This corridor is different from all the other places — it is central, it determines all of our future,” he said, adding that if the IDF leaves the area even temporarily, Hamas could smuggle hostages into the Sinai and from there to Iran and Yemen. “We are not leaving. This is a strategic, existential issue for Israel. If we leave now, we won’t return—not in 42 days, not in 42 years. This is Hamas’s lifeline. Are we going to let them rearm and slaughter us again? Anyone who wants us to leave the Philadelphi Corridor undermines the war’s objectives. Did our soldiers fall in vain, only for us to let Hamas rebuild?” Netanyahu questioned the message Israel would convey to Hamas by leaving the Corridor. “After they killed six of our hostages in cold blood? What […]
According to a report from The New York Post, a former aide to both Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul has been arrested for acting as a foreign agent for the CCP.
From
The New York Post:
The 64-page indictment accuses Linda Sun, 41, who was arrested that morning along with her husband, Christopher Hu, 40, of blocking representatives from Taiwan’s governor from visiting the New York governor’s office.
She also skewed public statements by unnamed “executive” officials, who appear to be Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, toward Chinese-friendly positions.
Sun and Hu also laundered kickbacks she received from the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party to buy a $4.1 million Long Island home that FBI agents later raided, the indictment contends.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” said US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”
The husband and wife are scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn.
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The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Tuesday described the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as “very fragile” following fresh attacks near the site in central Ukraine, and vowed to expand the agency’s inspections to include critical electricity supplies. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was making his 10th visit to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. He was headed to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top energy officials. “I think the situation – I have very often characterized it – as very fragile,” Grossi told reporters in the Ukrainian capital. “The station is again on the verge of being on a blackout. We’ve had eight of those in the past. A blackout (means) no power: no power, no cooling. No cooling, then maybe you have a disaster.” Earlier, Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhia to “help prevent a nuclear accident.” The Zaporizhzhia plant, which came under Russian control in the wake of its full-scale invasion, saw artillery shelling in the area on Monday that damaged the facility’s power access, according to its operator Energoatom, which blamed Russia for the attacks. “Russian shelling damaged one of the two external overhead lines through which … the Zaporizhzhya NPP receives power from the Ukrainian power system,” the operator said in a post on Telegram. “In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will arise,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that technicians couldn’t access the site of the damage because of the “real threat of repeated shelling.” Analysts say an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia plant would produce radiation and likely trigger panic, but the radiation risk beyond the immediate blast area would be relatively low and nothing like the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Also, if the wind is in an easterly direction, radiation could be pushed toward Russia. The Zaporizhzhia region is one of four — along with Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk — in southern and eastern Ukraine that Russia partly, and illegally, annexed in September 2022, seven months after it invaded its neighbor. The Vienna-based IAEA says ongoing attacks in the Zaporizhzhia area, as well as damage to Ukraine’s grid, pose threats to the power supply that’s vital to the country’s nuclear power stations. The watchdog said its staff at Zaporizhzhia recently had to shelter indoors because of reported drone threats in the area. Other than Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine has three active nuclear plants. Grossi, who is traveling with a team of IAEA experts and officials, began a round of meetings in Kyiv with a stop at the Ministry of Energy and talks with the minister, Herman Halushchenko. Grossi said he had accepted a Ukrainian request to expand inspections to include electricity substations providing power to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. He did not give further details but told reporters: “This is a new dimension, an important dimension I hope, of our support here, which we discussed and agreed with President Zelenskyy just now.” (AP)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said higher war spending would be financed through budget cutbacks and increased revenues rather than a wider deficit, the outline of a long-delayed fiscal plan.
The target fiscal gap for 2025 will be reduced to 4% of gross domestic product, requiring budgetary adjustments of at least 35 billion shekels ($9.5 billion), Smotrich said at a press conference in Yerushalayim Tuesday. He declined to elaborate, saying he still needs to present his plans to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and other ministers.
The 2025 budget will be approved in Israel’s parliament by the end of the year, Smotrich said, a deadline technocrats have warned is unrealistic given the structural work still necessary and the lengthy legislation process. Delays have unnerved credit-rating firms and business leaders, who have warned a hiatus will cloud Israel’s economic prospects and elevate the already-high risk premium on its assets.
Smotrich said the fiscal deficit for this year should be 6.6% as planned – unless there are unexpected expenses from the ongoing war with Hamas. The conflict, coming to the end of its 11 month, has put a strain on the economy due to higher defense spending and a hit to GDP growth, mainly in the form of a decline in exports and investments.
“The finance ministry’s annual growth projection for 2024 will likely be lowered soon,” said Smotrich. The estimate is currently 1.9%, though independent institutions see that as too optimistic. Citigroup Inc. analysts are forecasting 1.4%.
Asked whether the government would continue allocating controversial political budgets to be spent at the discretion of coalition party leaders, Smotrich said they should be as low as possible. Those funds, which amounted to some 6 billion shekels this year, have stirred public rage as large portions are spent on Yeshivos and Yishuvim.
Israel’s fiscal policy next year will focus on supporting the hi-tech industry, Smotrich said, alongside streamlining the public sector and battling unreported income. He did not elaborate on how these would be achieved.
“The announcement on a 4% target deficit next year is important on a declarative level and may eventually allow the Bank of Israel to consider lowering interest rates earlier than expected,” said Ronen Menachem, chief markets economist at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. “The announcement constitutes an alignment with the Bank of Israel and credit rating agencies, that were critical of the lack of budget discussions so far.”
The Tel Aviv 35 benchmark stock index reacted mutedly to Smotrich’s statement, extending losses to 0.6% as of 3:19 pm Tel Aviv. The shekel fell a second day, weakening 0.9% to 3.68 per dollar.
(c) Washington Post
As the fall semester commenced at Columbia University on Tuesday, dozens of anti-Israel protesters disrupted the first day of classes, reigniting tensions that plagued the campus during the previous semester. The demonstrators, many carrying signs with slogans like “Resist until victory,” formed a picket line and chanted as they blocked access to the Ivy League school in Morningside Heights, forcing students to wait in long lines to pass through security at the university’s main entrance at Broadway and West 116th Street. The protesters could be heard chanting slogans such as “Over 100,000 dead, Columbia, your hands are red” and “Don’t cross the picket line, we must honor Palestine,” as they banged drums and created a scene reminiscent of the chaotic demonstrations that paralyzed the campus last spring. The protests last semester led to outright antisemitism and prompted Columbia’s then-president, Minouche Shafik, to twice call in the NYPD to dismantle tent encampments set up by protesters. Shafik abruptly resigned shortly after the semester ended, citing the “period of turmoil” on campus. In the wake of Shafik’s departure, interim president Katrina Armstrong pledged to uphold students’ rights to free expression while ensuring a safe learning environment. The university introduced new protest guidelines aimed at minimizing disruptions, and just days ago, a faculty-led task force on antisemitism released a comprehensive 91-page report. The report underscored the “urgent” need for changes to combat rising hate on campus, revealing that the university had done little to address the ostracization, humiliation, and verbal abuse experienced by Jewish and Israeli students following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th. It also criticized some faculty members for downplaying students’ concerns; some of those faculty members recently resigned. Despite these efforts, anti-Israel student organizers remain undeterred and have vowed to escalate their actions, including future encampments. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and protest organizer, said, “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist. Not only protests and encampments, the limit is the sky.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Recent events have reportedly triggered a major policy shift in Israel’s approach to Yehuda and Shomron. Designated a “secondary arena” since the onset of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, onset, the recent increase in terror attacks in the area have convinced top officials that this stance is no longer tenable. The Israel Defense Forces now considers Yehuda and Shomron as the country’s most critical front after the Gaza Strip.
While this directive is still in its initial stages, with substantial changes on the ground expected to take time, a series of operations across Yehuda and Shomron are imminent. “The Jenin operation is just the beginning,” security officials emphasize.
In late August, the IDF launched “Operation Summer Camps” in northern Shomron, the military’s most extensive operation in the region since “Defensive Shield” in 2002. Two brigade combat teams are currently deployed in the Jenin refugee camp and Tulkarem, with the operation set to continue for the foreseeable future.
The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Yehuda and Shomron underscores the need for comprehensive action across the entire sector. The security establishment faces a particular dilemma in the Chevron area, the origin of two recent attacks. While there’s unanimous agreement on the need to dismantle Hamas in Yehuda and Shomron, officials are wary of unintended consequences.
Palestinian security mechanisms in Chevron, driven by self-interest rather than goodwill toward Israel, have so far been cooperating with Israeli forces, but a heavy-handed operation risks triggering a broader escalation, which Israel seeks to avoid. However, there’s a growing consensus that aggressive action is necessary. As a result, we may see large-scale, intelligence-driven operations, coupled with encirclements of areas of Hebron, a strategy already in play elsewhere in Yehuda and Shomron.
Meanwhile, local authorities are calling for more decisive action, a sentiment echoed by Minister of Settlement Affairs Orit Strock. She has urged the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet to implement emergency measures, including declaring a state of war in Yehuda and Shomron. Strock pointed to a recent incident:
“Two weeks ago, five Hamas leaders in Chevron were released from detention. These individuals were arrested at the war’s outset as part of efforts to prevent an outbreak in Yehuda and Shomron. Merely two weeks after their release, a double bomb attack was carried out in Gush Etzion, with the perpetrators originating from Chevron. We narrowly averted a catastrophe.
“The war’s outbreak triggered a wave of arrests targeting key terrorist operatives in the sector. Their release is part of a series of releases that have occurred or are slated to occur soon, due to legal hurdles and a shortage of detention facilities. Neither of these reasons can justify the looming bloodshed.”
While a full-scale war across extensive areas of Yehuda and Shomron is unlikely, “Operation Summer Camps” is expected to expand in the coming days. The security establishment also advocates for the arrest of inciting elements throughout Yehuda and Shomron, a measure also demanded by Strock.
Meanwhile, the shift in approach is palpable on the ground. A year ago, discussions centered on maintaining the fabric of daily life in JYehuda and Shomron; now, the focus has shifted to the level of aggressive action required. Security officials recommend launching extensive operations, emphasizing the confiscation of terror funds throughout the area, not just in northern Shomron, and dismantling Hamas as a primary objective. One security source described it as “not just mowing the lawn, but uprooting the problem at its source.”
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, is reportedly attempting to inflame the situation, presumably under the assumption that ceasefire talks are on the verge of collapse. His strategy appears to be escalating tensions in Yehuda and Shomron to divert attention from Gaza. Iran is also implicated, allegedly funneling millions of shekels into the area. With Palestinian workers unable to enter Israel for employment, terror funding has become a significant source of income in the Palestinian Authority, further fueling unrest.
The prevailing assumption in Israel’s security establishment is that a major attack could be imminent. While last week’s incident occurred in Gush Etzion, security officials warn that future attacks could target Yerushalayim, Beersheva or Tel Aviv.
(JNS)
As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the accuracy of the Islamic Republic’s long-vaunted missile program has been called into question. A new report by experts shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests one of the advanced missiles Tehran would use in any future attack against Israel is far less accurate than previously thought. The finding comes months after a U.S.-led coalition shot down many drones and missiles launched by Iran in an April attack on Israel. Other projectiles apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight. Here are some takeaways about Iran’s ballistic missile threat: Iranian missile had poor accuracy Analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies examined the Iranian strike on the Nevatim Air Base some 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Jerusalem in the Negev Desert. They believe Iran used its Emad missile, a variant of the country’s Shahab-3 missile built from a North Korean design. Assuming Iran targeted Israeli F-35I fighter jet hangars, the James Martin analysts measured the distance between the hangars and the impact zones of the missiles. That gave an average of about 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) for the “circular error probable” — a measurement used by experts to determine a weapon’s accuracy based on the radius of a circle that encompasses 50% of where the missiles landed. That’s far worse than a 500-meter (1,640-foot) error circle first estimated by experts for the Emad. Iran separately advertised the Emad to potential international buyers as having a 50-meter (164-foot) circle. Many projectiles were shot down in attack The U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Jordan all shot down incoming fire. The Americans claimed to have downed 80 bomb-carrying drones and at least six ballistic missiles. Israeli missile defenses were also activated, though their initial claim of intercepting 99% of the projectiles appeared to be an exaggeration. U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told the AP they assessed that 50% of the Iranian missiles failed at launch or crashed before reaching their target. That raises further doubts about the abilities of Iran’s missile arsenal. Questions about any future strike by Iran Iran shares no border with Israel, and the two countries are some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) apart at the shortest distance. That makes Iran’s missile program vital in any direct military attack. The longer the distances, the greater any slight errors in the missile’s guidance system become, along with the effects of wind and other weather. Iran could also enlist help from allied militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to overwhelm Israel’s defenses. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire on Aug. 25. However, Iran’s poor performance in April and yearslong sabotage campaigns targeting its ballistic missile program raise questions about whether Tehran would be able to accurately strike targets at that distance. Meanwhile, Iran continues to make threats about its ability to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Pressure over its inability to deter Israel could see it weaponize a program it has long insisted is peaceful. (AP)
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