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Senator Lindsey Graham said Sunday that lasting stability in the Middle East will not come through negotiations with Tehran, arguing instead that the collapse of Iran’s ruling system is the only path to real peace.

Appearing on Fox News, the South Carolina Republican said the current moment presents a rare opportunity. “The biggest thing you could possibly do to the Middle East is take this regime down, and they’re as weak as they’ve ever been since 1979,” Graham said.

He directly appealed to President Donald Trump to act, adding, “Mr. President, you can do it, I hope you will do it.”

True peace for the Middle East begins when the Iranian regime falls. pic.twitter.com/JFz2yRMKOj

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 1, 2026

Graham’s remarks come as Trump continues to press Iran to reach an agreement with the United States over its nuclear ambitions, while repeatedly making clear that military action remains an option if talks fail.

On Sunday, Trump addressed comments from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had warned that if the United States initiates conflict, “they start a war, this time it will be a regional war.”

Speaking to reporters, Trump pointed to American naval strength in the area. “We have the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there… hopefully, we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right,” he said.

A day earlier, Trump said Iran is “seriously talking” with U.S. officials and expressed hope that any agreement would require Tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

While traveling aboard Air Force One, the president was asked again about the situation and emphasized that the U.S. has moved major military forces into the region.

“I hope they negotiate something that’s acceptable,” Trump told reporters.

On Friday, Trump suggested that Iran may be facing a firm choice between diplomacy and consequences, hinting at an ultimatum.

When asked whether Iran had been given a deadline before possible military action, Trump responded, “Only they know for sure.”

Pressed on whether that message had been delivered directly, he replied, “Yeah, I have.”

Trump also underscored the human cost of the ongoing tensions, saying, “We’ll see how it all works out, it’s a rough situation… a lot of people are being killed. I can say this, Iran wants to make a deal.”

He again highlighted U.S. military strength, adding, “We have a tremendously powerful fleet there. We have the most powerful ships in the world.”

Separately on Sunday, Axios reported that the Trump administration has sent messages to Tehran through multiple intermediaries indicating a willingness to meet and negotiate.

The report cited regional sources who said Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar are working behind the scenes to set up a meeting in Ankara later this week between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Iranian officials.

{Matzav.com}

Candace Owens sparked a wave of reactions on social media after expressing confusion about why ice coating the trees around her home was not melting, despite temperatures hovering at 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Writing on X after what she described as an internet outage, Owens said the icy conditions seemed unusual based on her past experience. “Back online after internet blackout. I grew up in Connecticut and have truly never seen an ice like this ever. The temperature is 30 degrees but the ice on our trees tops is not melting at all,” she wrote. “Never seen anything like this. Anybody else?”

She followed up by describing the ice as unusually stubborn and destructive. “I will take a video to show you guys what I mean but it’s almost like dry ice. And it’s taking out an absurd amount of trees. Again — 30 degrees and none of the ice is dripping from the trees.”

The explanation, however, is straightforward: ice remains frozen until temperatures reach its melting point of 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Several users on X were quick to point this out, with some responding harshly.

“Maybe today Candace will learn that ice melts at 32 degrees, unless that was another Jewish lie too,” one commenter wrote.

“Are you stupid?” another user asked.

“LOL — you do realize 30 degrees is literally below freezing right!? Which is 32f,” another person replied. “I’m Canadian and run in Celsius and this is grade 2 level scientific fact.”

Owens later replied to a user who mentioned the freezing point, saying her original post lacked clarity.

“On my deck it’s always about 10 degrees warmer than the temperature because of the sun,” she wrote. “Will drop a video because we have a temperature gauge on the deck. Standby.”

{Matzav.com}

House Speaker Mike Johnson faces tough days ahead trying to muscle a federal funding package to passage and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown as debate intensifies over the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations. Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure passage. Trump struck a deal with senators to separate funding for the Department of Homeland […]

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A group of thugs vandalized a Chabad elementary school in Paris, the public prosecutor’s office said on Sunday. “On Saturday night, several individuals carried out acts of vandalism at the Lubavitch Jewish elementary school, Beit Chana, located in the city’s 20th arrondissement,” the statement said. “Three windows at the school were smashed, and a CCTV […]

Opposition leader Yair Lapid held a small, closed-door meeting in December 2025 with senior Qatari representatives in Paris, without the presence of the families of hostages—contrary to the version he later presented publicly, Kan News revealed on Monday morning. According to the report, the first meeting took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris […]

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A decades-old home movie that vanished from public view nearly half a century ago could resurface and dramatically reshape the long-running debate over President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, potentially lending support to claims that a second gunman was involved.

The grainy 8mm film was shot by Dallas air-conditioning repairman Orville Nix on Nov. 22, 1963, as shots rang out in Dealey Plaza. The footage has not been seen since 1978, when it was sent to a Los Angeles company for technical analysis and later came under federal control — even though federal officials now maintain that the government no longer possesses it.

Nix passed away in 1972, but his granddaughter continued a legal fight inherited from her late father to reclaim the film. She argues that the footage could be worth more than $900 million, believing it may hold crucial evidence related to what she sees as one of the most consequential coverups in American history.

That effort took a major step forward after a federal judge ruled that the dispute over ownership and custody of the film may proceed, opening the door for the footage to potentially be made public for the first time in decades.

Unlike the widely known Zapruder film, which captured the fatal head shot, Nix’s camera was aimed directly toward the grassy knoll — the area many eyewitnesses believed gunfire originated from. For years, critics of the lone-shooter theory have argued that a second assassin may have been positioned behind a fence on that rise.

Nix’s footage shows first lady Jackie Kennedy climbing onto the back of the presidential limousine moments after her husband was struck, along with a view of the fence atop the knoll. Supporters of further analysis believe advances in optics and artificial intelligence could now extract details previously impossible to detect, potentially challenging the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

“It’s really the only one that is known to have captured the grassy knoll area of Dealey Plaza right as the assassination occurs,” said Scott Watnick, an attorney representing Nix’s granddaughter, Gail Nix Jackson. He noted that the footage could reinforce a 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations finding that Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.” That congressional panel had obtained the Nix film during its investigation and played a role in the complicated legal history surrounding it.

“If we subjected the camera-original film to optics technology of 2026, we can certainly capture details in the film that we never could have captured when . . . the committee had the film in 1978,” Watnick said.

The FBI later disputed aspects of the House committee’s findings, publishing a 1980 analysis that challenged the acoustic evidence used to suggest a second shooter.

Over the past six decades, custody of the Nix film has shifted among multiple entities, including the FBI, United Press International, Congress, and a private Los Angeles firm, Aerospace Corp., which analyzed the footage and said it returned it to the National Archives. In 1988, the National Archives stated that it held only a copy, not the original. A Jan. 15 order by Court of Federal Claims Judge Stephen Schwartz now allows attorneys to pursue discovery aimed at clarifying what happened to the film and who controlled it.

The family’s legal argument relies on the Fifth Amendment, which bars the government from taking private property without providing “just compensation.”

At the same time, the 1992 JFK Records Act granted the government authority over assassination-related materials while establishing a framework for public disclosure.

The family’s valuation, however, could face skepticism. In 1999, an arbitration panel assessed the value of the more famous Zapruder film at $16 million, describing it as “a unique historical item of unprecedented worth.”

Attorneys for Nix Jackson say that valuation provides a baseline for what the Nix film may have been worth decades ago, but they argue that the government’s prolonged possession warrants substantial additional compensation.

“If one were to say this film is worth what that one is worth as of ’92, and you apply 32 years of compound interest at a quarterly compound basis, you start to get numbers in the many many hundred of millions,” Watnick said. One “preliminary estimate” reached by his team was $930 million.

The lawsuit, however, is not solely about money. Nix’s son, Orville Nix Jr., died in July, delaying parts of the case. His granddaughter’s legal team says the proceedings could force new disclosures about how the government has handled assassination-related materials, including fragments of Kennedy’s brain and recordings of internal communications among Dallas police on the day of the shooting.

“This is evidence of a murder, after all, of our nation’s president,” Watnick said. “So it’s even more important that we know where these records are.” The attorneys say they are unwilling to accept official assurances at face value, citing several key items they claim have become “unlocated” over the years, including the original supplementary autopsy report, as many as three autopsy photographs, and Kennedy’s brain.

The National Archives and Records Administration did not respond to a request for comment.

The 1964 Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in firing from the Texas School Book Depository as Kennedy’s motorcade passed below, but its findings have been questioned by critics for decades, keeping the assassination at the center of one of the most enduring controversies in American history.

{Matzav.com}

The Department of Transportation warned Thursday that a prolonged partial government shutdown would result in the furlough of more than 10,000 Federal Aviation Administration employees, while thousands of air traffic controllers would be required to remain on the job without pay.

According to the shutdown contingency plan released by the department, 13,835 air traffic controllers would be deemed essential and ordered to continue working during the funding lapse. The prospect has raised alarms about added stress on an already strained aviation system as the shutdown stretches on.

The funding impasse is expected to last until at least Tuesday, as House Democrats have not yet agreed to supply the votes necessary to expedite passage of a spending package that would reopen the government.

In a notice posted on its website, the Department of Transportation acknowledged the operational impact of the funding gap, stating, “Portions of DOT are affected by a lapse in appropriations.” The agency warned that “Website information may be outdated, transactions may be delayed, and inquiries may not be answered until funding is restored.”

The aviation industry has experienced significant disruption during past shutdowns. During last year’s extended funding lapse, the system saw widespread fallout, including more than 4,500 flight cancellations over a single weekend in mid-November and scaled-back operations at dozens of airports across the country.

Concerns about aviation safety have also remained elevated over the past year following several serious incidents, including a deadly collision in January 2025 between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight.

President Donald Trump weighed in on the situation, urging lawmakers to act swiftly to bring the shutdown to an end. “So hopefully enough people will use their heads,” Trump said, warning that a prolonged lapse in government funding would be “not a good thing for the country.”

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration has conveyed to Iran through several indirect channels that it is willing to hold talks aimed at reaching an agreement, according to a senior U.S. official cited by Axios.

The outreach comes at a moment of heightened tension, as President Trump has ordered a substantial American military buildup in the Persian Gulf. That show of force has raised the stakes, amplifying concerns over whether diplomacy can still prevent a U.S. strike on Iran and stop the situation from spiraling into a broader regional conflict.

At the same time, Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar are working behind the scenes to arrange a meeting later this week in Ankara between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Iranian officials, according to two regional sources familiar with the effort. One official involved in the mediation said the process is advancing, telling Axios, “It is moving. We are doing our best.” A second U.S. official separately confirmed that a meeting between American and Iranian representatives could indeed take place this week in Turkey.

The three countries pushing the talks are the same ones that previously coordinated with the Trump administration on the Gaza ceasefire, and they now see U.S.–Iran negotiations as a way to prevent a wider regional war. White House officials stress that President Trump has not made a final decision on whether to strike Iran and continues to leave the door open to a diplomatic solution. U.S. officials also say that Trump’s recent public comments about negotiations are not a bluff, though they acknowledge there is still uncertainty over whether Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will authorize his diplomats to agree to terms that Washington would accept.

According to sources, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey have been in contact with both Washington and Tehran, coordinating their efforts and attempting to build momentum toward direct engagement. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday in an interview with CNN that “friendly countries” are working to build confidence between Iran and the United States, describing those efforts as “fruitful.” He added, “I see the possibility of another talk if the U.S. negotiations team follows what President Trump said: to come to a fair and equitable deal to ensure there are no nuclear weapons.”

Over the weekend, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani traveled to Tehran, where he met with Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a close confidant of Khamenei. Shortly after that meeting, Larijani wrote on X that a “formation of a framework for negotiations is progressing.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also became directly involved, speaking by phone on Saturday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and urging him to agree to a meeting with Trump administration officials. A day earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted Iran’s foreign minister and discussed possible venues and agenda items for a potential meeting with White House representatives.

President Trump addressed the issue publicly on Saturday night while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, expressing cautious optimism that talks could yield an acceptable outcome. “I hope they negotiate something that is acceptable. … They can negotiate a deal that would be satisfactory, no nuclear weapons. etc. They should do that. I don’t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us,” Trump said.

In contrast, Iran’s supreme leader struck a confrontational tone the following day. Speaking in Tehran on Sunday, Khamenei accused the United States of seeking to dominate Iran and seize its natural resources, claiming Washington wants to “devour” the country and take over its oil, gas, and minerals. “The Americans should know if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,” he warned, making no reference to negotiations.

When asked later about Khamenei’s remarks, Trump pointed to the American military presence already deployed in the region. He said the United States has “the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there,” and added, “Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right.”

As diplomatic maneuvering continues, military coordination between allies is also underway. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir traveled to Washington on Friday and Saturday for meetings with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, where the two discussed the possibility of a U.S. strike against Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials said the low-profile visit focused on briefing one another on defensive measures and potential offensive plans should a war with Iran break out.

{Matzav.com}

TODAY IN HISTORY: On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry after a 16-day mission, killing all seven astronauts •⁠ ⁠Commander Rick Husband •⁠ ⁠Pilot William McCool •⁠ ⁠Payload commander Michael Anderson •⁠ ⁠Mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark •⁠ ⁠Payload specialist Ilan Ramon the first Israeli in space

TRUMP: After a one year review of The Trump Kennedy Center, that has taken place with Contractors, Musical Experts, Art Institutions, and other Advisors and Consultants, deciding between either Construction with Closure and Re-Opening or, Partial Construction while continuing Entertainment Operations through a much longer period of time, working in and around the Performances, I […]

Mountains of garbage crawling with rats have overtaken streets surrounding Gracie Mansion, leaving nearby residents furious as the mayor’s immediate block appears meticulously cleared, according to a report by the New York Post.

In the Upper East Side neighborhood surrounding the mayor’s residence, locals say they are navigating filthy sidewalks lined with trash bags, scurrying rodents, and snowbanks soaked with dog urine more than a week after Winter Storm Fern. Meanwhile, the stretch outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home on East 88th Street has been cleared with what residents described as extraordinary care.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw yesterday — a whole army of sanitation workers plowing and shoveling every bit of snow off of that side of the street,” resident Nick Rivers told The Post on Sunday as he walked his black Labrador past garbage-strewn sidewalks near the mayor’s residence.

“Clean as a whistle for the mayor,” Rivers said. “Look at this side.”

The contrast, he said, could not be sharper. Nearby blocks are dominated by towering piles of trash reaching as high as six feet, which residents say have been sitting for days and drawing rats. The scene unfolded even as Mamdani publicly praised the city’s response late last week, asserting that things were under control despite residents struggling through frigid conditions.

On surrounding streets, some of the debris mounds are even worse, with trash stacks reportedly climbing to nearly eight feet.

“I’m new to the job,” the mayor said Friday. “I know the burdens will get heavier, but right now I struggle to imagine how it could be better.”

Residents say he need only step outside his immediate surroundings to see otherwise.

“Don’t get me started. I think his wife must have complained about the pee in the snow,” said Attel, who lives on West 88th Street. “I don’t even look when I come out of the building.

“It’s gross!” he added. “The rats are inside the recycling bags.”

Another neighbor described similar conditions, saying, “My street is lined with bags, many of them opened with crap all over the street.

“My daughter had to dodge a used sanitary pad.”

The spotless conditions outside Gracie Mansion stand in stark contrast not only to nearby blocks but to other areas of the city, where uncollected trash and rodent-infested snowbanks have become commonplace in the aftermath of the storm.

In a statement issued Sunday, a spokesperson for the city’s Sanitation Department said that clearing snow and ice from sidewalks is the responsibility of property owners, not the city, though garbage collection remains a municipal duty.

The spokesperson added that roughly 2,500 sanitation workers are currently working 12-hour shifts to clear bus stops, crosswalks, and fire hydrants, which has pushed garbage collection a day behind schedule.

“We are prioritizing trash and composting — stuff gets gross — over recyclables,” the statement said. “But we are picking up all streams, all across the city, just on slight delay.

“Most New Yorkers will recall that this is standard practice during and after winter weather events.”

A representative from the city parks department echoed similar remarks, saying crews are focused first on bus stops, crosswalks, wheelchair ramps, and fire hydrants.

“Once that has been addressed we will be able to resume our standard maintenance schedule.”

Those explanations offered little comfort to residents living amid the mess.

“It’s the most vile thing,” said Josh Tepper, a lifelong New Yorker who overlooks Gracie Mansion from his apartment.

“I think it’s the worst in New York history.

“His one strip is nice, but where all the ‘civilians’ live, it’s a complete disaster,” Tepper said of Mamdani. “The socialist king gets to have a clean driveway. It just makes me enraged.”

Others echoed the frustration.

“It’s very dirty,” said Upper East Side resident Frederick Radie. “Actually, we have people visiting, and it’s a little embarrassing.”

Chris Kendal, another local resident, described the situation as “very concerning.”

“They usually pick the recycle up on a Monday … so it’s almost been a week,” Kendal said over the weekend.

“I don’t know why they can’t pick it up. I mean, buses are still running, and the city is still operating. So I’m not sure why they’re not able to reduce some of the garbage on the streets.”

Similar scenes were reported elsewhere in the city. In The Bronx, trash was piled along the Grand Concourse just a block from where Mamdani held a public event yesterday.

“Every time it snows, it gets worse,” a nearby resident said. “Right now, the people in the neighborhood they cleaned up as much as we could, but the city hasn’t really being doing much.

“Like down the block by the courthouse, they clean that up,” the resident added. “The garbage attracts more rats, and it makes the neighborhood look bad.”

{Matzav.com}

Andrew Cuomo is making a return to the public arena, this time behind a radio microphone rather than in elected office.

The former New York governor has secured a weekly Sunday program on 77 WABC, The Post has learned, marking his first sustained media role since leaving office.

The one-hour show, titled “The Pulse of the People,” is scheduled to debut this Sunday at 5 p.m. and will air weekly.

According to a source familiar with the arrangements, Cuomo will not be paid for the role, a decision intended to allow him full freedom of expression while avoiding potential conflicts of interest.

“This is a moment when our country has rarely felt more divided, politics more polarizing and public discourse more toxic,” Cuomo said in a statement to The Post.

“Pulse of the People is about cutting through the noise and the rancor to have real, substantive, fact-based conversations about the issues that actually affect people’s lives. I’ve spent my career focused on making government work and getting results, and that’s the same straight-forward, problem-solving approach I’ll bring to this program.”

The move was welcomed by John Catsimatidis, the owner of WABC, who emphasized the interactive nature of the broadcast.

“The show will focus on listener calls and open discussion about the issues, concerns, and views of New Yorkers. WABC believes in bipartisan conversation and thoughtful discussion of solutions, and we invite listeners to tune in and be part of the discussion,” Catsimatidis said.

Cuomo is expected to begin the program with opening remarks before taking calls from listeners.

The radio show represents Cuomo’s first significant step back into the public spotlight since his unsuccessful attempt to revive his political career last year. He lost the Democratic primary for mayor to Zohran Mamdani and was defeated again in the general election after running on an independent line.

Cuomo served as New York governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned amid allegations of misconduct, which he has denied. Earlier in his career, he held the posts of New York state attorney general and U.S. housing secretary during the Clinton administration.

{Matzav.com}

Iran moved Sunday to tamp down fears of an imminent military flashpoint in the Strait of Hormuz, denying reports that it planned live-fire naval exercises in the strategic waterway. On Friday, the U.S. military publicly warned Tehran against actions that could endanger commercial shipping or trigger escalation. An Iranian official told Reuters there were no […]

A brief but highly charged incident unfolded on Sunday in the Ramot Gimmel neighborhood of Yerushalayim, where a talmid from Yeshivas Ohel Yosef was detained in public and later released following swift legal intervention. After his release, it became clear that a key detail reported at the outset of the incident was incorrect.

The episode began in the early afternoon, when a patrol vehicle identified the yeshiva student standing outside his home after returning from a Shabbos break. Officers approached him and detained him in full view of passersby, sparking confusion and alarm in the neighborhood.

As news of the detention spread, the legal department of Chayei Olam immediately became involved. Attorneys Shlomo Haddad and Itay Cohen acted quickly with the relevant authorities, and within a short time, confirmation was received that the student had been released and returned home.

Following his release, additional details emerged that clarified the circumstances of the incident and corrected earlier reports. Contrary to initial claims that the arrest had been carried out by the Military Police inside the neighborhood, it was determined that the bochur had in fact been detained for questioning during a routine check conducted by officers of the Border Police and was then transferred to military authorities.

The earlier reports, which fueled a wave of concern and anger, were the result of confusion at the scene amid the commotion surrounding the detention.

In a statement issued after tensions had subsided, Chayei Olam clarified the sequence of events, saying that “the report that the detention was carried out by the Military Police stemmed from a case of mistaken identification at the time of the incident, and we apologize for the error.”

The organization noted that despite the clarification, the public detention of a yeshiva bochur in broad daylight in a chareidi neighborhood remains a serious matter. However, they emphasized that the rapid legal response prevented a prolonged detention and brought the episode to a swift conclusion.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s long-simmering debate over military conscription of Chareidim erupted again this week, after a reported internal summary revealed deep friction between civilian law enforcement and the army over how — and whether — draft laws are being enforced in Chareidi neighborhoods. According to Haaretz, a document presented at a high-level meeting convened by Attorney General […]

Israel is warning Washington that Iran is using nuclear diplomacy as a smokescreen, and that President Donald Trump’s negotiations with the regime would leave Tehran emboldened and closer to a nuclear weapon. According to Israeli officials and reporting by N12 News, senior figures in Israel’s defense establishment are increasingly alarmed that the Trump administration could […]

Former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin is urging Israel’s security establishment to plan for the unexpected, warning that Iran may not behave according to conventional strategic logic if tensions with Washington and Jerusalem escalate further. Speaking on Channel 12, Yadlin said that while “Western logic” would suggest Tehran has little incentive to preempt a […]

A federal judge sentenced a Brooklyn man to 15 years in prison this past Wednesday for his role in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Iranian operatives targeting a prominent dissident-journalist on U.S. soil, underscoring Washington’s broader efforts to counter transnational assassination schemes. Carlisle Rivera, 50, a convicted killer with a long criminal history, pleaded guilty […]