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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck a tone of defiance as the government shutdown entered its ninth day, asserting that “every day gets better” for Democrats who have continued to reject Republican efforts to reopen the government without addressing healthcare funding.

Despite the impasse showing no progress toward resolution, Schumer and his caucus remain firm in their stance. Speaking to Punchbowl News from his Capitol Hill office, Schumer projected optimism, saying his party had anticipated a showdown over healthcare and was now “gaining political momentum” even as the effects of the shutdown ripple across the country.

“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer said. “We knew healthcare would be the focal point, and we prepared for it. Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.”

After fending off three early defections, Schumer has managed to keep his party unified against the GOP’s clean continuing resolution that would restore government operations. Democrats have refused to budge, continuing to demand an extension of Obamacare subsidies as part of any deal.

According to Schumer, public sentiment is leaning in Democrats’ favor. He argued that voters primarily blame President Donald Trump and Republicans for the ongoing shutdown, with polling data backing that view. “Even the pain that’s caused — when things are actually shut down, they blame Trump. Because he’s in charge,” Schumer said.

Republicans counter that Democrats triggered the crisis by rejecting a bipartisan funding proposal, but Schumer and his allies maintain that Trump’s threats of mass firings and deep agency cuts have only galvanized resistance to GOP pressure.

Although Trump has yet to act on those threats, reports from Punchbowl indicate that his decision to halt infrastructure funds for blue states has further solidified Democratic resolve.

The administration has attempted to minimize the shutdown’s consequences by diverting tariff revenues to sustain the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program. Democrats, however, have taken that as a sign the White House is feeling political heat.

Schumer, who faced backlash from progressives earlier in the year for cooperating with Republicans on a spending measure, has been in frequent contact with key party figures — including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and several Democratic governors — as he works to maintain cohesion within his ranks.

“We knew that this would be a hard fight,” he said. “But every day we’re getting better and better as the message sinks in more deeply.”

Even as he is praised by many on the left for holding firm, Schumer’s leadership remains under scrutiny. Some activists see his toughness as long overdue. “He hasn’t surrendered yet,” said Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin. Yet others remain cautious, warning that any premature deal could trigger calls for his removal as party leader.

Republicans, meanwhile, have accused Schumer of capitulating to his party’s progressive base. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., derided the senator’s approach as “desperate attempts to rehabilitate his own image,” while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., mocked Schumer’s tactics as “throwing a tantrum.”

{Matzav.com}

BREAKING: Hamas’s Gaza chief announces the end of the war and the start of a permanent ceasefire.

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ROCK HILL: Catskills Hatzolah and other emergency personnel are on the scene of a serious MVA involving an overturned vehicle at 187 Glenwild Road. One child is being airlifted by Medevac to Westchester Medical Center with serious injuries but in stable condition, while four additional patients were transported by Catskills Hatzolah to Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown in stable condition.

President Trump on subsequent phases of the Gaza Peace Deal: “The first thing we’re doing is getting our hostages back… After that, we’ll see — but they’ve agreed to things and I think it’s going to move along pretty well.”

POTUS: “They’ve asked me to speak at the Knesset and I’ve agreed to it. If they would like me to, I would do it.”

TRUMP: “Just everything came together, I think the attack was very important on Iran, because if that hadn’t happened, then probably by now there would have been nuclear weapons, therefore even if we signed a deal, there would have been dark clouds on it, but now Iran wants to work on peace, they informed this, they also supported this deal, we appreciate. We’ll work with Iran, there are a lot of sanctions.”

FOX News Media wrapped up the third quarter of 2025 as the top-performing news organization on YouTube, surpassing one billion total video views.

The network outpaced MSNBC by more than 200 million views and exceeded the combined totals of NBC News, ABC News, and CBS News.

Fueled by an especially busy news cycle, FOX News saw a 45% increase in YouTube engagement from the previous year, reaching 1.1 billion video views. MSNBC followed with 848 million, CNN with 627 million, NBC News with 424 million, ABC News with 359 million, and CBS News with 163 million, according to analytics from Emplifi.

This marks the fourth quarter in a row that FOX News has maintained its lead over all competing news outlets on YouTube.

In September alone, FOX News pulled in 408 million views, leaving MSNBC’s 254 million and CNN’s 232 million far behind. NBC News recorded 135 million views that month, ABC News reached 128 million, and CBS News finished with 70 million.

FOX News Media’s strong focus on digital engagement throughout 2025 has fueled its success on YouTube. The FOX News Clips hub, which launched in May to share the latest reports and insights from FOX News Channel, continues to expand its reach. The primary FOX News account now boasts over 14.5 million subscribers, while FOX Business drew 166 million views during the same quarter.

In addition to its dominance on YouTube, FOX News achieved its most successful quarter ever across social media, generating more than 500 million interactions on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, as reported by Emplifi.

The network’s social breakdown included 283 million Facebook interactions, 98 million on Instagram, 19.4 million on X, and 105.4 million on TikTok.

FOX News also continued to outperform its competitors on traditional television, maintaining its position as the most-watched network during weekday primetime throughout 2025.

Across the board, FOX News Channel averaged 3.3 million weekday primetime viewers through September. In comparison, CBS and ABC each averaged 3.1 million, NBC reached 3 million, and ESPN followed with 2.1 million. Among cable news networks, FOX News led MSNBC’s 1.2 million and CNN’s 641,000 by wide margins.

Throughout the third quarter, FOX News averaged 1.6 million viewers across the entire broadcast day, while MSNBC drew 492,000 and CNN had 396,000. During primetime, FOX News averaged 2.5 million total viewers, more than triple MSNBC’s 802,000 and nearly five times CNN’s 538,000.

The latest results extend FOX News’s unprecedented streak, marking its 95th consecutive quarter as the top-rated cable news network in primetime viewership.

{Matzav.com}

Further details of the agreement between Israel and Hamas to permanently halt fighting in Gaza have been revealed. The deal, which Israel’s cabinet is expected to ratify within hours, lays out a precise, staged process meant to bring an end to active fighting while returning Israeli captives home. Under the agreement, Hamas will have 72 hours to release all remaining Israeli hostages once the ceasefire takes effect. Only after that period will Israel begin releasing Palestinian prisoners. If all hostages are not returned alive — and if some are confirmed to have been killed in Gaza — a separate, classified Israeli response plan will be enacted. That contingency, to be presented to the cabinet, addresses scenarios in which Hamas cannot locate the bodies of all deceased hostages. The agreement calls for the release of 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences. In addition, Israel will free roughly 1,700 Gazans who were detained after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks but were not involved in the assault. Those individuals will either be repatriated to Gaza or deported abroad. A further 22 minors, none of whom took part in the October 7 attacks, will also be released under the deal. Israel will additionally return the bodies of about 360 Palestinian terrorists killed in the fighting to Hamas custody. The hostage release will begin once the IDF withdraws to newly designated lines within Gaza — a process expected to occur within 24 hours of the cabinet’s approval of the deal. The hostages are to be freed in batches over the 72-hour period, with international monitors expected to oversee compliance. While the agreement represents the most comprehensive framework reached since the start of the war, Israeli officials caution that the plan’s success depends on Hamas’s ability to produce all hostages, living and deceased. Should the group fail to meet its obligations, Israel’s security cabinet will consider activating the classified contingency plan. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The BBC has issued an apology after an internal staff email marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks referred to the massacre as an “escalation,” The Telegraph reports.

The controversial message was circulated to employees in acknowledgment of the anniversary of the Hamas atrocities. It was later retracted and addressed internally after staff expressed outrage over the wording.

The email had been sent by the BBC Audiences division, which regularly provides updates on viewer research and offers staff guidance on audience feedback and media engagement.

The message stated, “As we reach the two-year anniversary of the escalations in the Israel-Gaza conflict, we asked UK audiences what they want and need from news coverage moving forward.” Instead of including photos of Israeli victims of the Hamas assault, the email featured an image of Palestinian women and children standing amid the ruins of destroyed buildings in Gaza.

According to The Telegraph, a senior BBC news presenter explained that the email was written by a junior employee. He remarked, “I don’t think the people who wrote that are evil; I think they just don’t understand anything about the modern world.”

He added, “To use a picture of Palestinian suffering when you are marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks: how does that get signed off? It just epitomises everything the BBC is having to grapple with internally.”

Danny Cohen, who previously served as BBC television’s director, sharply criticized the incident. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said, “This is shocking but not surprising. It is another example of the everyday institutional bias at the BBC.”

“To call the 7 October terrorist massacre an ‘escalation’ is deeply offensive. It is the kind of language Hamas might use,” he continued.

“One might also assume that on this day, the picture used by the BBC would focus on Jewish victims of the October 7 pogrom. But the BBC’s instinctive bias meant that this was not the case, even on this day of mourning.”

A BBC representative defended the image selection when speaking with The Telegraph, explaining that the photo of Gaza was chosen because the internal update discussed public attitudes toward the broader Israel-Gaza conflict.

The email also linked to a longer internal article recounting the events of October 7 and the ongoing war. It read: “On October 7, 2023, the conflict between Palestine and Israel reached a new escalation when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking over 200 hostages.

“In response, Israel launched a prolonged military campaign in Gaza, resulting in widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis. Over the following months, ceasefire efforts stalled, global pressure intensified, and civilian casualties continued to rise, sparking worldwide protests and diplomatic tensions.”

The note went on to say, “In September 2025, the UK government announced its formal recognition of the State of Palestine, shortly before the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack.”

“This moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity for BBC journalists in how they cover the conflict for our audiences.”

After the message circulated, numerous employees voiced frustration over its phrasing and the choice of imagery. A BBC insider told The Telegraph: “It is shocking that such a description of a one-sided atrocity is used in, of all things, a briefing about audience expectations from the BBC. It demonstrates – again – unconscious bias and terrible insensitivity towards Jewish staff.”

Following the internal backlash, the broadcaster issued an apology. A BBC spokesperson said: “This internal staff email should have been worded differently and we’re sorry for any offence caused. We are editing it and will replace the text on our intranet.”

The incident adds to a growing series of controversies surrounding allegations of anti-Israel bias within the BBC.

Earlier this year, in February 2025, the network apologized after anchor Nicky Schiller mistakenly described three Israeli hostages who had been freed as “prisoners” on live television.

In July, the BBC again came under fire for airing the documentary Gaza: How to Survive A War Zone, after it emerged that the narrator had close personal ties to Hamas — a breach of the network’s editorial standards on impartiality and accuracy.

{Matzav.com}

Four IDF soldiers were injured — one seriously and three lightly — in a military-related vehicle accident along the Gaza border earlier Monday, the IDF said in a statement. The soldiers, all from the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, were evacuated to nearby hospitals for treatment, and their families have been notified. According to the army, the troops were traveling in a Humvee that collided with an M-109 self-propelled howitzer on a road near the border. An initial IDF investigation indicates that the crash was likely caused by poor visibility from heavy dust in the area. The circumstances of the incident remain under investigation. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Sec. Rubio: “Very soon, we’re going to see 20 living human beings emerge from the darkness into the light for the first time in 2 yrs.”

The Knesset is illuminated in red, white, and blue ahead of Trump’s expected visit on Sunday. It will be the first time the Knesset is open during Sukkot since 1973, when Golda Meir briefed lawmakers on the Yom Kippur War.

A senior official from Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu’s office told Reuters that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will take effect once the Israeli government formally ratifies the deal later this evening.

Following the cabinet’s endorsement of the plan, a 24-hour window will open during which the decision may be contested in Israel’s High Court of Justice. After that period expires, Hamas will have 72 hours to meet its obligations under the agreement, which include releasing all hostages — both those alive and those who were killed in captivity.

As a result, Hamas is now expected to complete the release of the hostages by Monday instead of Sunday, as had been initially anticipated.

Originally, the truce was scheduled to start at noon, though that timeline has shifted slightly. The arrangement is based on an informal understanding between the parties rather than a signed, binding document.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt will form a joint task force dedicated to locating and recovering the bodies of hostages whose whereabouts remain unknown.

According to information obtained by The Jerusalem Post, the task force will have access to heavy machinery and equipment to carry out complex operations such as excavation or demolition when necessary to retrieve remains.

The initiative’s ultimate objective is to bring back to Israel as many of the kidnapped individuals’ bodies as possible — alongside the living captives — within the 72-hour window set by the agreement.

{Matzav.com Israel}

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Hamas has lost “70,000 people” since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, apparently rounding up the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s death toll, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. “From the Hamas standpoint, they probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution,” Trump said near the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House. Israel says it has killed some 22,000 combatants in the war as of August. “But at some point that whole, that whole thing has to stop, and we’re going to see to it,” Trump said. “Gaza is going to be slowly redone,” he continued, highlighting the various Arab and Muslim countries that have committed to assisting in the rebuilding effort. The president asserted that his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June was “very important” in helping bring about this morning’s Gaza deal. “Let’s say that didn’t happen, [Iran] probably by now would have… numerous nuclear weapons, and therefore, even if we signed a deal, there’d be a big dark cloud over it,” Trump said. “We have major sanctions on Iran… \[but] we’d like to see them be able to rebuild their country too,” he said. Trump thanked the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia for their help in securing the Gaza deal. Turning to the ongoing hostage situation, the president said the captives will be freed within the next few days. “They should be released on Monday or Tuesday. Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them,” Trump said at the beginning of the cabinet meeting. “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East,” he said. “We ended the war in Gaza, and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace… hopefully an everlasting peace in the Middle East.” Trump said he is planning to travel to the Middle East next week, though the exact timing has not yet been finalized. He said he will go to Egypt to participate in a signing ceremony. He did not mention a stop in Israel, even though Israeli officials have said they are planning for such a visit on Sunday. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Four IDF soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion were injured—one seriously and three lightly—in a military-related car crash on the Gaza border earlier today; they were taken to hospitals and their families notified, the army said.

TRUMP: “Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East — something that people said was never going to be done. We ended the war in Gaza… We secured the released of all of the remaining hostages, and they should be released on Monday or Tuesday.”

President Trump names Monday, October 13, 2025, as Columbus Day.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s Israel-Hamas peace deal, the return of hostages and broader realignment in the Middle East.

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