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A spectacular nighttime eruption lit up Japan’s Sakurajima volcano in Kagoshima.

Trump on Venezuela: “I sort of have made up my mind… I can’t tell you what it is, but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in. But we have a Mexico problem. We have a Colombia problem.”

Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l needs no introduction. As one of the foremost leaders of German Jewry more than two centuries ago, he guided a nation of Torah-true Jews through an era of profound turmoil and upheaval. Many gedolei Yisroel have credited him with literally saving German Jewry from the jaws of assimilation. His prolific […]

Trump said he had an MRI and the results were “outstanding.” When a reporter asked if it was of his brain, he replied that he wasn’t sure what they examined, but whatever it was, “they analyzed it well.”

A New York woman, Jamie Middleton, is accused of repeatedly disguising herself as a man to take CDL tests for others, allegedly showing up in various outfits—sunglasses, masks, and other disguises—to pose as different applicants between March and September 2023.

A peace deal has been reached in Qatar between the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels, aiming to end the conflict in eastern Congo.

Mayor Eric Adam’s says he is traveling to Israel to meet with governmental officials, tech leaders, and economic development strategists. but also wants to talk about how to come together to end the globalized antisemitism.  

The IDF says it has destroyed a one-kilometer Hamas tunnel in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, which the terror group allegedly used to carry out a deadly attack on Israeli troops nearly a year ago.

“Obamacare is a disaster — far too expensive and lousy health care,” says POTUS. “Instead of giving it to insurance companies — big, fat, bloated insurance companies — we’re giving the money directly to the people to buy their own health care.”

The government shutdown has ended, but the air-traffic-controller shortage remains. Airline leaders are urging lawmakers to guarantee pay for controllers and TSA staff in any future shutdown, warning that the recent record closure made staffing even harder. More than 5 million travelers faced delays and cancellations as conditions deteriorated just hours before the Senate struck […]

US envoy Steve Witkoff is reportedly preparing to meet again with Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, though the timing is still uncertain and could change, the New York Times says. Neither Witkoff’s office, Hamas, nor the White House commented. The two previously met in Sharm el-Sheikh shortly before the ceasefire was signed, alongside Jared Kushner.

Chaos erupted in Yerushalayim on Motzei Shabbos as Shas MK Yoav Ben Tzur was violently attacked by a mob of extremist chareidim while leaving the weekly shiur of Hagaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef. The rioters targeted the lawmaker over his party’s apparent backing of the coalition’s Chareidi conscription bill. According to Galei Tzahal reporter Daniel Grovais, […]

US envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet soon with Hamas leader and the terror group’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, the New York Times reported on Friday. The exact timing of the meeting remains unclear, and two sources told the newspapers that the plan for the meeting could still change. Requests for comment from Witkoff’s […]

Iran confirmed on Saturday that its Revolutionary Guards seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker as it traveled through the narrow Strait of Hormuz after it set sail from the UAE on the way to Singapore. A report by the official IRNA news agency carried a statement by the Revolutionary Guard that said the tanker was […]

IDF spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee embarrassed Hezbollah on Friday by exposing intelligence information showing that the terror organization assassinated a senior Lebanese Christian politician in southern Lebanon. Elias Al-Hasrouni, 70 at the time of his murder, was the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Forces party, Lebanon’s main Christian party, and was known as a fierce […]

A letter of clarification has been issued by Dayan Rav Yisroel Marmarush, following the publication of a recent psak halacha opposing Israel’s proposed draft law. The dayan stressed that anything publicized in his name is subject entirely to the ruling and guidance of the Gedolei Yisroel.

The clarification came hours after a psak signed by several prominent poskimwas published. That psak stated that “even if, by doing so, many yeshiva students who are currently learning will be saved from being drafted, one may not push aside one soul for another.”

Signatories on the ruling included HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, HaRav Nosson Kopshitz, HaRav Yisroel Marmarush, HaRav Avrohom Pozen, and HaRav Moshe Mordechai Karp and HaRav Amram Fried.

In his clarification letter released Thursday evening, Rav Marmarush, who serves as rav of Kehillas Chaneichei HaYeshivos in Bnei Brak’s Shechunas Gimmel, wrote that it is important to state unequivocally that under the current circumstances, “the decision rests solely in the hands of the Gedolei Yisroel shlita.”

Additionally, HaRav Eliezer Cohen, confidant and gabbai of HaRav Amram Fried, also issued a statement Thursday night clarifying that Rav Fried’s signature did not appear on the version of the letter that was circulated publicly, and that the content had been taken out of context.

{Matzav.com}

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani took aim at Eric Adams on Thursday, blasting the outgoing mayor for decisions made during his final months in office. He said it was “no surprise” that Adams was using his remaining time “to cement a legacy of dysfunction and inconsistency.”

Speaking to reporters during a visit with Pre-K students at the Friends of Crown Heights Education Center in Flatbush, Mamdani voiced strong opposition to Adams’ move to designate the Elizabeth Street Garden as official city parkland. The decision effectively halts a long-debated plan to develop affordable senior housing on the site—something Mamdani said symbolized City Hall’s failure to address real needs. “What New Yorkers are looking forward to is a City Hall where they can expect taking on these crises as opposed to creating them themselves,” he remarked.

Reports have also surfaced that Adams intends to appoint several landlord-friendly members to the Rent Guidelines Board before leaving office, potentially jeopardizing Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rent for residents in rent-stabilized apartments. The move is being interpreted as a last-minute challenge to the mayor-elect’s progressive housing agenda.

Despite his sharp criticism, Mamdani acknowledged that the outgoing administration has been cooperative as the transition begins. “I will say that while I vehemently disagree with a number of the decisions that he’s taken, his administration has also been open in the transition work that we are doing,” Mamdani said. He added that he looks forward to meeting with Adams upon the mayor’s return from Israel to discuss the path forward.

{Matzav.com}

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to replace police officers with social workers on certain 911 calls may face serious challenges — especially since the very pilot program it’s based on has already been found deeply flawed.

The initiative, known as the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division, or B-HEARD, has been running since 2021 in select parts of the city. But according to a May report from the city comptroller, more than 60% of the mental health-related calls reviewed were ruled “ineligible” for B-HEARD intervention.

Adding to the concerns, the audit found that 35% of calls that were considered eligible never received any response from the program, with the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health unable to explain why. The office, which oversees B-HEARD, does not currently track the reasons for these lapses.

Mamdani intends to fold B-HEARD into a much larger $1.1 billion agency he’s calling the Department of Community Safety (DCS). His campaign materials describe the new department as one that will “fill the gaps of our programs and services” and operate with the mission to “prevent violence before it happens by taking a public health approach to safety.”

But the comptroller’s detailed findings raise doubts about whether that vision can realistically succeed. “Of the 96,291 mental health calls from within the pilot areas and hours of operation between FY22-24, 59,178 calls (over 60%) were considered ‘ineligible’ for a B-HEARD response because calls were considered potentially dangerous, were ineligible because a mental health professional was already at the scene, or were unable to be triaged because FDNY EMS did not take the call or all necessary information could not be collected about the person in distress,” the report stated.

The release added, “Some calls deemed ineligible for B-HEARD might have been eligible calls.” It went on to say that “of the remaining 37,113 calls assessed as eligible for a B-HEARD response, 24,071 (65%) resulted in 911 dispatching a B-HEARD team, but over 13,000 calls did not result in a dispatched B-HEARD team.”

Currently, the B-HEARD program fields just 18 teams covering parts of the Bronx, Upper Manhattan, central Brooklyn, and northwest Queens. Experts say expanding it citywide — as Mamdani envisions — would require an enormous increase in personnel and funding.

Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, told the New York Post that success will depend entirely on execution. “The devil is in the details, and here the detail is implementation,” he said. “The fact that the program is not reaching people does not tell me it’s unsuccessful; that is a matter of resources.”

Still, Aborn cautioned that the plan raises critical questions about when it’s appropriate to send social workers rather than police. “But there are fundamental questions,” he said, acknowledging that some 911 calls can quickly turn dangerous.

Political strategist Hank Sheinkopf was far more blunt. “Exactly what New York doesn’t need: another government agency with an unmanageable bureaucracy,” he told the paper. “Domestic dispute calls can get violent,” he warned. “That’s the time when you need a social worker? He must be kidding.”

{Matzav.com}

As tens of thousands of visitors prepare to spend Shabbos Parshas Chayei Sarah at the Me’aras HaMachpelah in Chevron, Israeli forces carried out a major counterterrorism operation in the city, arresting dozens of wanted men involved in terror activity and arms trafficking.

According to the IDF, troops from the Yehuda Brigade led the large-scale sweep across several areas of Chevron, part of a wider security operation to ensure safety during the annual influx of visitors to the holy site. The forces conducted extensive searches, seizing a cache of weapons including an M-16 rifle, magazines, and additional firearm components.

Elsewhere, soldiers from the Binyamin Brigade arrested five suspects in the village of Silwad for incitement to terrorism and for supporting Hamas during a march held two weeks ago.

In coordinated actions across the Shomron, Menashe, and Efraim brigades, 21 more wanted individuals were apprehended. Troops also confiscated two improvised Carlo-type submachine guns and a hunting rifle.

The Etzion Brigade reported the arrest of ten additional terrorists, among them two who had thrown stones at IDF troops and another who hurled Molotov cocktails at Israeli civilians. In a separate operation, Binyamin Brigade forces captured two more suspects involved in the manufacture and activation of explosive devices.

All of the detainees and seized weaponry were transferred to the Shin Bet and the Shai District Police for further investigation and prosecution.

The coordinated crackdown comes as security forces tighten control throughout the region in advance of the annual Shabbos Chayei Sarah pilgrimage, which draws thousands of worshipers to the city of Chevron each year.

{Matzav.com}

Four and a half years after the Meron disaster — the deadliest civilian tragedy in Israel’s history — Mrs. Malka Saller, widow of Reb Chaim Ozer Saller z”l, has become engaged to Reb Shlomo Dov Pshevorsky, a yungerman from the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Yerushalayim.

The engagement took place Thursday evening.

Reb Shlomo Dov is a member of Kollel Daas Shmuel, affiliated with Levushi Oz, and is admired in his community for his diligence and refinement.

Mrs. Saller is a daughter of Rabbi Yitzchok Lupoliansky, Rosh Yeshiva of Nachalas Yair in Mitzad, and the granddaughter of Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky, chairman of Yad Sarah.

Her first husband, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Saller z”l, was just 24 years old when he tragically lost his life in the 2021 Meron tragedy. The young couple, residents of Neve Yaakov, had celebrated the birth of their only daughter just two weeks before the calamity. What was meant to be a kiddush celebration on the Shabbos following Lag BaOmer instead turned into heartbreaking mourning.

Those who knew Reb Chaim Ozer remembered him as a rare blend of deep spirituality and warmth, a young man immersed in Torah study and yiras Shamayim, yet beloved by everyone for his gentle nature and kindness.

Now, after several years of unimaginable grief and resilience, Mrs. Saller’s engagement marks a poignant new beginning, a moment of light and hope following years of sorrow.

{Matzav.com}