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Justice Department Charges North Korea in Scheme to Fund Weapons Program Through U.S. Tech Jobs

Yeshiva World News -

The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday in a scheme by North Korea to fund its weapons program through the salaries of remote information technology workers employed unwittingly by U.S. companies. The charges arose from what law enforcement officials described as a nationwide operation that also resulted in the seizure of financial accounts, websites and laptops that were used to carry out the fraud. Separate cases in Georgia and Massachusetts represent the latest Justice Department effort to confront a persistent threat that officials say generates enormous revenue for the North Korean government and in some cases affords workers access to sensitive and proprietary data from the American corporations that hire them. The scheme involved thousands of workers who, armed with stolen or fake identities, were dispatched by the North Korean government to find work as remote IT employees at American companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. The companies were duped into believing that the workers they hired were based in the U.S. when many were actually stationed in North Korea or China, and the wages the victimized companies paid were transferred into accounts controlled by co-conspirators affiliated with North Korea, prosecutors say. “These schemes target and steal from U.S. companies and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons programs,” Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement. In one case exposed on Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, the Justice Department said it had arrested one U.S. national and charged more than a half dozen Chinese and Taiwanese citizens for their alleged roles in an elaborate fraud that prosecutors say produced several millions of dollars in revenue and affected scores of companies. The conspiracy, court papers say, involved the registration of financial accounts to receive the proceeds and the creation of shell companies and fake websites to make it look like the remote workers were associated with legitimate businesses. Enablers inside the United States facilitated the workers’ remote computer access, tricking companies into believing the workers were logging in from U.S. locations. The Justice Department did not identify the companies that were duped, but said that some of the fraudulent workers were able to gain access to and steal information related to sensitive military technology. The case filed in Georgia charges four North Korean IT workers with stealing virtual currency worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from their employers. The defendants remain at large. The Justice Department has filed similar prosecutions in recent years, as well as created an initiative aimed at disrupting the threat. (AP)

“I Was Scared”: Yair Netanyahu Reveals Why He Left Israel, “Not a Real Democracy”

Matzav -

Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, opened up in a new interview about the intense pressure and fear that led him to leave Israel and spend an extended period in Miami. Speaking on the TOV channel’s Standpoint program, hosted by Gabe Groisman, Netanyahu described the turning point that made him realize he needed to step away.

Yair, who returned to Israel ahead of his younger brother Avner’s planned wedding—a wedding that was later postponed due to the launch of Operation KeLavi—said he had no intention of coming back otherwise. “What broke me,” he recounted, “was the night of the Gallant incident. I was home alone, and I was sure the protesters were going to break in.”

He described the chaos and fear of that night: “They were on the fences with torches, trying to climb into the house. That’s a clear fascist symbol, especially as they were shouting that they were going to kill me. And I saw that the police weren’t doing anything, that there were instructions from the top to let the protesters have a free hand. That’s when I understood I was in real danger and couldn’t stay here.”

Asked why he chose to live in Miami, Netanyahu said, “I felt hunted, me and my family. I truly felt that my life was in danger.” Yet even in Miami, he claims, he wasn’t left alone. “They launched a surveillance operation on me with private investigators that cost millions of dollars. They didn’t give me any peace.”

Discussing the broader political atmosphere, Yair launched into a sharp critique of Israel’s governance. “The current system here isn’t a real democracy. The citizens’ votes at the ballot box barely matter,” he said. “It’s important to understand that the deep state in Israel is just a branch of the American deep state. It doesn’t operate independently. What we experienced here was a color revolution—the same kind the U.S. carries out in many third-world countries to topple governments it doesn’t like.”

He also spoke about his father’s decades-long battle against the Iranian nuclear threat. “The Iranian nuclear program has been my father’s life mission for 30 years. He’s been fighting the entire world on this, including eight years against Obama’s nuclear deal, which was designed to keep the ayatollahs happy.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

THE FEUD CONTINUES: Trump Threatens to Deport Elon Musk: “DOGE Might Have to Eat Him!” [VIDEO]

Yeshiva World News -

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled he is willing to consider deporting Elon Musk, escalating an extraordinary public clash with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO over federal spending and government subsidies. Speaking to reporters before departing for Florida, Trump was asked directly whether he would move to deport Musk, a South African native. “We’ll have to take a look,” Trump replied. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon! Wouldn’t that be terrible?” The remarks mark a new peak in the renewed hostilities between Trump and Musk after months of relative calm. The confrontation reignited after Musk sharply criticized the Trump-backed “Big, Beautiful” budget bill on Monday, warning it would add a historic $5 trillion to the national debt and calling for the formation of a new political party to challenge what he labeled the “Porky Pig Party.” “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill… that we live in a one-party country,” Musk wrote on X, adding, “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.” Trump fired back Monday night on Truth Social, blasting Musk for his reliance on federal support and threatening to investigate or cut off future subsidies. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote. “No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production, and our country would save a fortune.” On Tuesday, Trump doubled down, suggesting again that Musk could face further consequences if he continues his public opposition. “He’s upset that he’s losing his EV mandate, and he’s very upset about things,” Trump said. “But you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Hey, Elon can lose a lot more than that!” On Monday, Musk vowed to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which he has criticized because it would increase the country’s deficit by $3.3tn. “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote on his social media platform, X. A few hours later he added that if the “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day”. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Sinaloa Bloodshed: 20 Slain, Decapitated Corpses Displayed in Drug Cartel Turf War

Yeshiva World News -

Four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge in the capital of western Mexico’s Sinaloa state on Monday, part of a surge of cartel violence that killed 20 people in less than a day, authorities said. A bloody war for control between two factions of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel has turned the city of Culiacan into an epicenter of cartel violence since the conflict exploded last year between the two groups: Los Chapitos and La Mayiza. Dead bodies appear scattered across Culiacán on a daily basis, homes are riddled with bullets, businesses shutter and schools regularly close down during waves of violence. Masked young men on motorcycles watch over the main avenues of the city. On Monday, Sinaloa state prosecutors said that four bodies were found dangling from the freeway bridge leading out of the city, their heads in a nearby plastic bag. On the same highway Monday, officials said they found 16 more male victims with gunshot wounds, packed into a white van, one of whom was decapitated. Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions, though the note’s contents were not immediately disclosed. Feliciano Castro, Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the violent killings on Monday and said authorities needed to examine their strategy for tackling organized crime with the “magnitude” of the violence seen. “Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,” Castro said. Most in the western Mexico state, however, say authorities have lost control of the violence levels. A bloody power struggle erupted in September last year between two rival factions, pushing the city to a standstill. The war for territorial control was triggered by the dramatic kidnapping of the leader of one of the groups by a son of notorious capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who then delivered him to U.S. authorities via a private plane. Since then, intense fighting between the heavily armed factions has become the new normal for civilians in Culiacan, a city which for years avoided the worst of Mexico’s violence in large part because the Sinaloa Cartel maintained such complete control. In southeast Mexico on Monday, a priest was shot leaving his home in Villahermosa, Tabasco. The Tabasco Diocese said in a statement that Rev. Héctor Alejandro Pérez had been on his way to visit someone who was ill when he was shot. The diocese said Pérez lost a lot of blood and had internal injuries putting him in “very serious” condition. (AP)

Netanyahu Confirms Meeting with Trump in DC Next Week

Matzav -

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and other senior officials in Washington next week.

The invitation from Trump “followed the great victory we achieved in ‘Operation Rising Lion’” against Iran, Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting. “Capitalizing on success is no less important than achieving it.”

Netanyahu said he is also scheduled to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State and acting White House National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

“We have a few matters to finalize beforehand to reach a trade agreement, in addition to other issues,” Netanyahu said of his planned meeting with Lutnick. “There will also be meetings with congressional and Senate leaders, as well as security meetings, that I will not detail here.”

According to Israel’s Ynet news outlet, Netanyahu is expected to depart for Washington on Sunday, ahead of a meeting with Trump at the White House the next day. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Bnei Brak Posek: “This Is Why A School In Pardes Katz Was Hit By A Missile”

Yeshiva World News -

The Rav of the Divrei Shir shul in Bnei Brak, the esteemed posek Rav Yehuda Aryeh Dinner, addressed the Iranian missile strike on Bnei Brak in a shiur he gave and revealed the reason for the direct hit. “To add to the chessed we experienced last week,” the Rav began, “I heard yesterday that you can see how everything is precise from Hakodash Baruch Hu—every explosion, every bomb, every missile—precise, precise.” “They said that the school in Pardes Katz, on which the missile fell, I heard in the name of the Mashgiach of Tifereta, Harav Noach, HaRav HaTzaddik Rav Noah Palay shlita—that he said that the laying of concrete for that building about 40 years ago was on Shabbos.” “The casting of that building was on Shabbos—that’s it, so that’s the answer. When there is Chillul Shabbos, there is no protection; there is no protection, my friends, everything is precise.” Rav Dinner continued by saying, “My son Rav Ze’ev shlita, told me that he met an American Jew who told him that during the Gulf War, over 30 years ago, his parents really, really wanted him to return to America. “He went to HaRav Shach, who told him, ‘Stay here.’ His parents pressed him a lot, he returned to America. After the war he returned here and went to HaRav Shach and said, ‘Rebbi, I was there, I  learned Torah there the entire time.” “HaRav Shach answered him, ‘I’m not satisfied with that. I knew you would study all the time. Surely you had Torah all the time, but if you had stayed here, you would have had both Torah and kirvas Elokim. You missed out on the kirvas Elokim that we felt.” “We really felt it now, my friends; these days we felt the Kirvas Elokim. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

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