The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, announced on Sunday that Israelis would be banned from entering the country.
Muizzu also announced that his country would appoint a special envoy to aid Palestinians.
Additionally, the Maldives Homeland Security Minister is expected to hold a rally titled: “The Maldives in Solidarity with Palestine.”
Last December, the Israeli Foreign Ministry urged Israelis not to visit the country, after several anti-Israel remarks.
At the time, the Foreign Ministry wrote that “the atmosphere in the Maldives against Israel is intensifying and therefore Israeli citizens are advised to avoid traveling to the Maldives at this time.”
{Matzav.com}
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Friday, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months, officials said. A few hours earlier and at the same location, the two sides also handed over bodies of their fallen soldiers. The Ukrainian POWs, including four civilians, were returned on several buses that drove into the northern Sumy region. As they disembarked, they shouted joyfully and called their families to tell them they were home. Some knelt and kissed the ground while many wrapped themselves in yellow-blue flags and hugged one another, breaking into tears. Many appeared emaciated and poorly dressed. The exchange of the 150 POWs in all was the fourth swap this year and the 52nd since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The United Arab Emirates said it helped negotiate this latest exchange. The two sides have traded blame for what they say is a slowdown in the swaps. Ukraine has in the past urged Russia to swap “all for all” and rallies calling for the release of POWs take place across Ukraine weekly. A Ukrainian official at the headquarters coordinating the exchanges, Vitalii Matviienko said that “Ukraine is always ready.” Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights ombudsperson, said earlier this week that Kyiv was making “new artificial demands,” without elaborating. Among those who were returned home to Ukraine on Friday was Roman Onyschuk, an IT worker who joined Ukrainian forces as a volunteer at the start of the Russian invasion. He was captured in March 2022 in the Kharkiv region. “I just want to hear my wife’s voice, my son’s voice. I missed his three birthdays,” he said. In the more than 800 days he spent in captivity, he never communicated with his family and he doesn’t know what city they are in now, he said. “It’s a little bit overwhelming,” Onyschuk added. With the exchanges, including Friday’s, Ukraine has gotten back a total of 3,210 members of the Ukrainian military and civilians since the outbreak of the war, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Treatment of POWs. Neither Ukraine nor Russia disclose how many POWs there are in all. Dmytro Kantypenko was captured on Snake Island in the Black Sea in the first days of the war. He was among those freed Friday and said he called his mother to tell her he was back in Ukraine. “I’ll be home soon,” he said, wiping away his tears. He learned that his wife had fled to Lithuania with their son. The Russians woke him up in the middle of the night without any explanation, he said, giving him a short time to change his clothes before they were on their way. Kantypenko said they were tortured with electroshock shortly before the exchange, and his fellow POWs standing beside him confirmed that. According to U.N. reports, the majority of Ukrainian POWs are subject to routine medical neglect, severe and systematic mistreatment, and even torture while in detention. There have also been isolated reports of abuse of Russian soldiers, mostly during capture or transit to internment sites. At least one-third of Ukrainians who returned home suffered “injuries, severe illnesses, and disabilities,” according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs. Among those returned Friday were 19 Ukrainian fighters from Snake island, 14 people […]
An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft touched down on the far side of the moon Sunday, China’s space agency said, marking its second mission to a lunar region that no other country has landed on amid a growing international rivalry over space exploration. If successful, it will be the first mission in history to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon.
The China National Space Administration sent the Chang’e 6 lunar probe to collect rock and other material near and around an impact crater called the Apollo basin, which is part of the larger South Pole-Aitken basin of the moon, according to the country’s official Xinhua News Agency.
The Chang’e 6 landed at 6:23 a.m. local time after it was launched into space on May 3 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, located on the southern island of Hainan. In Chinese mythology, Chang’e is the goddess of the moon.
China, the United States, Japan, India and Russia have invested heavily in space exploration in recent years – crowding a field that has throughout history been touted as a symbol of national power and progress.
For China and the United States, in particular, a rivalry is escalating over scientific frontiers in space; both nations are gunning for the accolade of having sent humans to the moon for the second time in history, with the United States planning to do so as soon as 2026 and China planning the same by 2030. (The United States was the first country to land people on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.)
The far side of the moon – also known as the dark side of the moon – is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth. The word “dark” doesn’t refer to a lack of light but rather the fact that scientists know so little about this hemisphere.
Astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission were the first to see the dark side in 1968, and the Chang’e 4 made the first-ever landing there in January 2019. Communications are more difficult on the far side because radio waves are blocked by thick, solid rock, requiring scientists to use a relay satellite to send signals to the space craft and to work under a shorter window for sample collection. Rough terrain also makes for difficult landings.
The Chang’e 6 is expected to take about 15 hours to collect the samples. To adjust to that short time frame, CNSA scientists developed the space craft to make autonomous judgments while executing fewer commands than on previous missions, according to Xinhua.
The mission aims to develop key sampling technology, as well as takeoff and ascent capabilities from the far side of the moon, Xinhua added.
(c) Washington Post
Saudi Arabia and allied oil producing countries on Sunday extended output cuts through next year, a move aimed at supporting slack prices that haven’t risen even amid turmoil in the Middle East and the start of the summer travel season. The OPEC+ alliance, made up of members of the producers cartel and allied countries including Russia, extended three different sets of cuts totaling 5.8 million barrels a day. International benchmark Brent has loitered in the $81-$83 per barrel range for the past month. Even the war in Gaza and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels in Yemen have not pushed prices up toward the $100 per barrel level last seen in September 2022. Reasons include higher interest rates, concerns about demand due to slower than desired economic growth in Europe and China, and rising non-OPEC supply including from U.S. shale producers, Yet the Saudis need higher oil prices to fund ambitious plans by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the country’s economy away from fossil fuel exports. Higher oil prices would also help Russia maintain economic growth and stability as it spends heavily on its war against Ukraine. Analysts say the cuts could push oil prices higher in coming months, but much depends on demand for oil going forward. The summer usually sees a spike in demand through the July-September quarter, but uncertainty about demand grows after that. U.S. motorists have benefitted from weaker oil prices. Gasoline prices have been quiescent recently, averaging $3.56 per gallon last week, a penny less than a year ago. That is down from a record national average high of $5 per gallon in June 2022. U.S. prices can vary by region and Western states have been paying more, with gas hitting an average $5.05 per gallon in California. U.S. gas prices rise along with crude because the price of oil makes up half the cost of a gallon of gasoline. The price swings are much smaller in Europe because there taxes make up a bigger proportion of the price of fuel. The cuts that are being extended break down as follows: 2 billion barrels a day agreed among all 23 OPEC+ members were extended through the end of 2025, according to an OPEC statement. Then, voluntary reductions of 1.65 million barrels a day by a smaller group of members was extended until end 2025 as well, according to a report on the official Saudi Press Agency. And another 2.2 million barrels a day in voluntary cuts, due to expire at the end of this month, were extended until September but would then be gradually reduced month by month until they are eliminated by September 2025. (AP)
Veteran Hollywood actor Michael Douglas met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Wednesday, following a visit to the Gaza border region, where he witnessed the devastating impact of the October 7 attacks. Douglas, whose father Kirk Douglas was Jewish, expressed his solidarity with Israel, saying, “We’re just happy to be here in support of Israel, and to share with you the fact that America is definitely your ally as our president has shared with you.” He also expressed hope for the successful outcome of negotiations and the safe return of hostages. During his visit to Kibbutz Be’er and the Supernova massacre site, Douglas was deeply moved by the atrocities committed by Hamas. He described the experience as “very difficult” and sensed a “deep shock” among the people he met. In his meeting with President Herzog, Douglas was presented with a yellow hostage pin and a dog-tag necklace bearing the message “Our heart is held captive in Gaza.” He also expressed concern over the recent wave of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests on US college campuses, attributing the students’ views to “brainwashing” due to a lack of education and knowledge on the issue. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A raging forest fire that forced the evacuation of the Israel Museum in Yerushalyim’s Givat Ram neighborhood on Sunday was brought under control, the museum stated.
The blaze caused damage to the roof of the youth wing building but did not threaten the art and archaeological institution’s collection, according to the statement.
There were no injuries during the incident.
Fire and rescue teams earlier battled the blaze in an open space near the complex, in the Valley of the Cross. The Israel Museum and the Knesset overlook the valley, which is named after the Monastery of the Cross located in the valley.
There were no reports that the Knesset was threatened, or the monastery.
Four firefighting planes participated in the containment efforts.
The Israel Museum is the country’s largest cultural institution and is home to the Shrine of the Book, which contains the Dead Sea Scrolls.
{Matzav.com}
In a historic election over the weekend, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), once led by Nelson Mandela, lost its absolute majority for the first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago. The blow to the ANC follows its outrageous claims against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it is committing genocide in Gaza and its threats to arrest its citizens who serve in the IDF. In February 2024, MP Kenneth Meshoe attacked the ANC and predicted that the party will be cursed for cursing Israel. “I want to remind the ANC today that Isaiah 54:17 says that no weapon that is formed against Israel shall prosper and every tongue that rises against it in judgment will be condemned,” he said. “ANC, you have gone too far and your judgment is imminent. When the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob said that He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse her, He was not joking but meant every word He said. You have invited the curse on yourself and you’re going to get it!” Last month, a group of 160 lawyers said that South Africa was allegedly bribed by Iran to file the false claims against Israel at the ICJ in exchange for the Islamic Republic covering the party’s debts. The lawyers sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that the ANC experienced a sudden and unexplained financial turnaround after it filed the case against Israel and demanded that an inquiry be launched under the anti-corruption Magnitsky Act. The ANC’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor flew to Tehran shortly after October 7th and according to Pandor, discussed “Israeli apartheid.” Additionally, ANC leaders hosted Hamas leaders on a visit to South Africa in December. The ANC will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament must meet to elect the South African president within 14 days after the election result is declared. “The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said John Steenhuisen, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party. Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party, said that the ANC’s “entitlement of being the sole dominant party” was over. The way forward could be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet. The three main opposition parties and many more smaller ones were in the mix as the bargaining begins. “We can talk to anybody and everybody,” ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe said on national broadcaster SABC. Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance received around 21% of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was fourth with just over 9%. DA has been the most critical opposition party for years and doesn’t share the ANC’s pro-Russia and pro-China foreign policy. South Africa takes over the presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging-market nations next year. An ANC-DA coalition “would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las […]
Ahead of Yom Yerushalayim Tuesday evening and Wednesday, which this year celebrates 57 years since the city was reunified in the Six-Day War, the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research has published its 38th annual report on the city, which provides an in-depth statistical look at the capital.
With a population of 1,005,900 in 2022, Yerushalayim’s population is double that of Tel Aviv’s, according to the latest census figures.
Construction in Jerusalem hit a new high in 2023, with work beginning on 5,800 housing units—the largest number to date. In 2023, the labor force participation rate among Arab women in the city continued rising as well, reaching 29%.
While 7,600 new immigrants chose Yerushalayim as their first destination in Israel in 2022, continuing an upward trend, the city’s overall migration balance remained negative at -7,200 compared to -6,600 the previous year.
The top destinations for those migrating out of Yerushalayim were Beit Shemesh (18%), Bnei Brak (4%), Givat Ze’ev (4%), Tel Aviv-Jaffa (6%), Modi’in (3%), Beitar Illit (3%), Modi’in Illit (2%), Ma’ale Adumim (2%) and Kochav Ya’akov (1%).
On the education and tourism fronts, Yerushalayim led the country with 41,300 students at its institutions of higher learning in the 2022/23 academic year and 2,735,400 foreign visitor overnight stays in 2023.
Public transportation use was up 13% in 2023 compared to the year before, with light rail ridership increasing 20%.
The report additionally detailed the impacts of the Swords of Iron war, including 13,800 evacuees absorbed in Yerushalayim’s hotels and homes.
Moreover, there was a spike in jobseekers to 26,000 in November 2023—double the number before the war—before a recovery in employment, and an 80% drop in tourist overnight stays in the final quarter of the year.
{Matzav.com}
North Korea said it will stop sending trash-carrying balloons into South Korea, claiming Sunday that its campaign left the South Koreans with “enough experience of how much unpleasant they feel.” The North’s announcement came hours after South Korea said it would soon punish North Korea with “unbearable” retaliatory steps over its balloon activities and other recent provocations. Observers say South Korea will likely restart front-line loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea that include criticism of its abysmal human rights situation, world news and K-pop songs. North Korea is extremely sensitive to such broadcasts because most of its 26 million people have no official access to foreign TV and radio programs. It wasn’t immediately unclear if South Korea would move ahead with its punitive measures following North Korea’s suspension of balloon launches. On Sunday night, Kim Kang Il, a North Korean vice defense minister, said that the North will temporarily suspend its balloon activities. He said they were a countermeasure against previous South Korean leafleting campaigns. “We made the ROK (Republic of Korea) clans get enough experience of how much unpleasant they feel and how much effort is needed to remove the scattered wastepaper,” Kim said in a statement carried by state media. He said that if South Korean activists float anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets via balloons again, North Korea will resume flying its own balloons to dump rubbish hundreds times the amount of the South Korean leaflets found in the North. Earlier Sunday, South Korea’s military said that more than 700 balloons flown from North Korea were discovered in various parts of the country, in addition to about 260 balloons found a few days earlier. Tied to the balloons were manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste paper and vinyl, but no dangerous substances, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kim, the North Korean official, said North Korea flew 3,500 balloons carrying 15 tons of wastepaper. South Korea’s national security director Chang Ho-jin said earlier Sunday that the government decided to take “unbearable” measures against North Korea in reaction to its balloon launches, alleged jamming of GPS navigation signals in South Korea and simulation of nuclear strikes against the South in recent days. Chang called the North’s balloon campaign and its alleged GPS signal jamming “absurd, irrational acts of provocation that a normal country can’t imagine.” He accused North Korea of aiming to cause “public anxieties and chaos” in South Korea. North Korea often responds with fury to South Korean civilian leafleting because they contain propaganda messages critical of the North’s authoritarian rule and outside news. In 2020, North Korea exploded an empty, South Korean-built liaison office in the North in anger over the South Korean balloon activities. Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign, reportedly the first of its kind in seven years, is meant to stoke an internal divide in South Korea over its conservative government’s tough policy on the North. They say North Korea is also expected to further ramp up tensions ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Since 2022, North Korea has sharply increased a pace of weapons tests to build a bigger nuclear arsenal. Last week, it fired a barrage of nuclear-capable weapons into the sea in a drill simulating a preemptive attack on South Korea. (AP)
The terrorist who killed two Israel Defense Forces soldiers outside the city of Shechem in the Shomron on Wednesday evening has yet to be handed over by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, local media reported on Sunday.
Abeed Shtayyeh, from the village of Beita just south of Nablus, turned himself in to Palestinian police in Nablus shortly after running over and fatally injuring IDF Staff Sgt. Eliya Hilel, 20, and Staff Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj, 20.
Instead of being transferred to the Israel Defense Forces in accordance with longstanding agreements between Jerusalem and the P.A., the terrorist was released from P.A. custody and moved into hiding, allegedly by operatives of Ramallah’s General Intelligence Service, according to Channel 14.
The governor of Nablus told the terrorist’s family that the P.A. could no longer shelter him due to Israeli threats to launch an arrest raid on the police station, Channel 14 correspondent Baruch Yedid reported.
An inquiry to the IDF about the reports went unanswered, with the military referring JNS to the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, which did not respond by press time.
On Saturday night, hundreds of Israelis from Samaria and the Jordan Valley blocked the entrances to Shechem in protest, Arutz 7 reported.
The demonstration erupted after the parents of Hilel called for a siege on the city until their son’s murderer was handed over to Israeli forces “alive or dead,” the outlet said.
Choosing Life, a forum of terror victims and bereaved families that helped organize the rally, stated, “The Israeli government needs to sober up and quickly order the immediate arrest of the head of the General Intelligence Service, Majed Faraj, who gave an order not to hand over the terrorist.”
Almost 80 members of the U.S.-trained and armed P.A. police forces have been implicated in terrorism against Israeli civilians and military personnel in the past three years alone, according to research published by the Yerushalayim-based Regavim Movement think tank in March.
In addition, the Hamas terrorist group has recruited “dozens” of P.A. operatives, using them as combatants and for intelligence gathering, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported last year.
{Matzav.com}
Two weeks ago, Peleg held a protest against the Chareidi draft law during which protesters blocked Sarei Yisrael. In a video sent to B’Chadrei Chareidim, a police officer picked up an 11-year-old boy and slammed him back on the street. The boy started crying from pain. A while later, he was evacuated to the hospital. The boy’s father told B’Chadrei that the medical staff rushed to release him after performing basic tests because they couldn’t stand the smell of the sunk spray the police had sprayed on them. At home, the boy’s condition deteriorated and he began feeling dizzy with strong pain in his legs, although his legs were uninjured. By Lag B’Omer he couldn’t stand on his feet and had to be transported in a wheelchair. His father took him back to the hospital for more testing and they are waiting for the results. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Iran opened a five-day registration period Thursday for hopefuls wanting to run in the June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others. The election comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of the May 19 crash, as well as heightened tensions between Tehran and the United States, and protests including those over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that have swept the country. While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, maintains final say over all matters of state, presidents in the past have bent the Islamic Republic of Iran toward greater interaction or increased hostility with the West. The five-day period will see those between the ages of 40 to 75 with at least a master’s degree register as potential candidates. All candidates ultimately must be approved by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. That panel has never accepted a woman, for instance, nor anyone calling for radical change within the country’s governance. Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s interior minister, opened the registration period. The Interior Ministry, in charge of the country’s police, run Iranian elections with no substantial international observation. “These elections, like the parliamentary elections, will be held in complete safety and health, with good competition and wide participation of all dear people,” Vahidi said. Raisi, a protege of Khamenei, won Iran’s 2021 presidential election after the Guardian Council disqualified all of the candidates with the best chance to potentially challenge him. That vote saw the lowest turnout in Iran’s history for a presidential election. This year’s parliamentary vote saw an even-lower turnout amid widespread boycott calls. That likely was a sign of voters’ discontent with both a hard-line cleric sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in mass executions in 1988, and Iran’s Shiite theocracy over four decades after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Who will run — and potentially be accepted — remains in question. The country’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, a previously behind-the-scenes bureaucrat, could be a front-runner, because he’s already been seen in meetings with Khamenei. Also discussed as possible aspirants are former hard-line President Mohammad Ahmadinejad and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami — but whether they’d be allowed to run is another question. Among those registering Thursday was Saeed Jalili, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator who ran in 2013 and registered in 2021 before withdrawing to support Raisi. “Today, we are in a historic opportunity,” Jalili told journalists. “If we miss this, we will fall behind the path of progress.” The five-day registration period will close on Tuesday. The Guardian Council is expected to issue its final list of candidates within 10 days afterwards. That will allow for a shortened two-week campaign before the vote in late June. The new president will take office while the country now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a drone and missile attack on Israel amid the war in Gaza. Tehran also has continued arming proxy groups in the Middle East, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Meanwhile, Iran’s economy has faced years of hardship over its collapsing rial currency. Widespread protests have swept the country, […]
A court in Russia on Friday ordered a detained Russian American journalist to be held until at least Aug. 5, pending investigation and trial, a further step in the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent and free speech. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, was taken into custody on Oct. 18 and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent while collecting information about the Russian military. Later, she was also charged with spreading “false information” about the military. A court in Tatarstan on Friday ordered her to remain behind bars at least until Aug. 5, according to OVD-Info, a Russian rights group that tracks political arrests. Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen who lives in Prague with her husband and two daughters, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to RFE/RL. Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown on Kremlin critics and independent journalists after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, using legislation that effectively criminalized any public expression about the conflict that deviates from the Kremlin line. Kurmasheva was the second U.S. journalist detained in Russia last year, after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in March. Gershkovich and his employer have rejected the charges, and U.S. authorities designated him wrongfully detained. He has spent a year in custody. Kurmasheva was initially stopped on June 2 on the way out of Kazan International Airport after traveling to Russia the previous month to visit her ailing mother. Officials confiscated Kurmasheva’s U.S. and Russian passports and fined her for failing to register her U.S. passport. She was waiting for her documents to be returned when she was arrested on other charges in October. RFE/RL has called for her release. RFE/RL was told by Russian authorities in 2017 to register as a foreign agent, but it has challenged Moscow’s use of foreign agent laws in the European Court of Human Rights. The organization has been fined millions of dollars by Russia. (AP)
Thousands are marching in New York City’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade on Sunday, with heightened security measures against the backdrop of the war against Hamas.
The route of the parade, which has been held annually in New York City since 1964, runs north on Fifth Avenue from 57th to 74th streets.
This year’s theme is “Bring the Hostages Home,” a reminder of the 125 hostages that have been held captive in the Gaza Strip for 239 days.
Celebrations kicked off around 11:30 a.m. and are expected to draw more than 40,000 participants, including Israeli diplomats, celebrities and hostages’ families.
New York Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Friday that the New York City Police Department would double its regular presence.
“This is the first major large Jewish event since October 7, and we are extremely conscious of the over 3,000 protests that took place in our city since that day,” Adams said at a press conference.
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said the parade would include “screening checkpoints at points of entry, as well as bike teams, aviation, K-9, transit and our other specialized units.”
The NYPD’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureau personnel will also be deployed, he said, while stressing that there are “no specific or credible threats to the parade or to New York City in general.
“For 60 years, people from around the world have come to New York to celebrate our city’s proud Jewish heritage. Sunday’s parade is the largest celebration of its kind outside of Israel, and the NYPD will be there to make sure everything runs smoothly,” Caban said.
A survey of New York Jews last week showed concern over safety heading into the parade. Only one in five respondents who attended the parade in the last five years plans to do so again this year, with 16% “probably attending” and 5% saying they will “definitely” attend.
{Matzav.com}
Former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen claims he’s worried about Donald Trump’s potential imprisonment, citing the risk of Trump revealing classified information to the wrong people. In an interview with MSNBC’s The Weekend, Cohen stated, “I’m more concerned for you and for all of us, and our families, and for the American people.” Cohen, who played a crucial role in Trump’s recent criminal trial as the prosecution’s star witness, highlighted Trump’s history of loose lips and willingness to divulge sensitive information for personal gain. “He did it with the Australian billionaire at Mar-a-Lago. He sat there in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin talking about national security issues, but nobody was around except for Vladimir Putin’s translator. These are not normal things,” Cohen said. “You now have a Republican leading candidate who’s a felon, who’s going to be debriefed on national security issues, knowing how loose-lipped he is,” Cohen warned. Cohen also referenced a specific incident where Trump revealed sensitive information about nuclear warheads on a military vessel, saying, “We know for a fact that he gave away information on how many nuclear warheads are on a specific nuclear ship. One of our military vessels! I mean, think about how dangerous the information in that guy’s head is. And he doesn’t think, and we saw that from yesterday’s press conference.” Cohen claimed that Trump will willingly classified information in prison in exchange for personal gain or simply for bragging rights. “He will do it because he doesn’t care,” he warned. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday he has switched his registration to independent, raising questions about his political plans since the move could help his chances should he seek elected office again in a state that has turned heavily Republican. Manchin, 76, has often been at odds with the Democratic Party and an obstacle to many of President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities. But he played a central role in helping Biden get a landmark climate change and health care bill over the finish line in 2022. He had already announced in November that he wouldn’t seek re-election to the Senate, giving Republicans a clear path to picking up his West Virginia seat in their bid to retake the majority next year. Manchin has served in the Senate since 2010 and is the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He said in a statement that over the past 15 years he has seen both major political parties leave their constituents behind for “partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy.” “Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground,” Manchin said. “To stay true to myself and remain committed to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s sensible majority.” Manchin will continue to caucus with Democrats and keep his chairmanship, according to a person familiar with his thinking who was granted anonymity to share his plans. The move helps Democrats preserve their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate. Still, facing potential retirement from politics, Manchin appears to be keeping other options open. He has long wanted to switch his party affiliation to become an independent, according to a second person familiar with the situation who was granted anonymity to discuss it. But a looming deadline in West Virginia forced the issue. Candidates must file their political affiliation 60 days prior to a Aug. 1 deadline to run in this year’s election. Now registered as an independent, Manchin still has time to mount another Senate race or a potential run for governor, a position he held from 2005 to 2010. He had gone back and forth for months before announcing he wasn’t running for reelection to the Senate. Many questioned whether he could win against the immensely popular Gov. Jim Justice, the Republican Senate nominee who Manchin helped recruit to run for governor as a Democrat in 2016. Justice switched to Republican at a rally with then-President Donald Trump not long into his first term. Should the Senate candidates stumble, Manchin could be poised to try to keep his seat. But a run for governor could be more favorable. Manchin has defeated the Republican nominee for governor, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, once before, in 2018. That Senate campaign was Manchin’s toughest in his three-plus decades in West Virginia politics. He defeated Morrisey by just over 3 percentage points. Steve Williams, who is the Democratic nominee for governor and the mayor of Huntington, said last week he doesn’t believe Manchin intends to enter the gubernatorial race, adding that they’ve been friends for decades. West Virginia Democratic Party officials said Friday Manchin did not give them a heads up he was switching to independent. In a statement […]
Federal health regulators are questioning the safety and evidence behind the first bid to use MDMA, the mind-altering club drug, as a treatment for PTSD, part of a decadeslong effort by advocates to move psychedelic drugs into the medical mainstream. The Food and Drug Administration posted its initial review of the drug Friday, ahead of a meeting of outside advisers who could help decide whether MDMA — currently illegal under federal law — becomes the first drug of its kind to win U.S. approval as a medication. In their assessment, FDA scientists said that patients who received MDMA and talk therapy showed “rapid, clinically meaningful, durable improvements in their PTSD symptoms.” But they also called the research “challenging to interpret,” and questioned how long the benefits might last. They said it’s difficult to know how much of the improvement came from MDMA versus simply undergoing intensive therapy, and also raised several safety concerns, including MDMA’s heart risks and potential for abuse. The outside experts will take a nonbinding vote on the drug’s overall benefits and risks during Tuesday’s meeting. The FDA will make the final decision, likely in August. Antidepressants are now the only FDA-approved drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder, which is closely linked to depression, anxiety and suicidal thinking and is more prevalent among women and veterans. If approved, MDMA would be reclassified as a prescription medicine and made available to specially certified doctors and therapists. Currently, the drug is in the same ultra-restrictive category as heroin and other substances the federal government deems prone to abuse and devoid of any medical use. MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, is the first in a series of psychedelics that are expected to be reviewed by the FDA in coming years. It’s part of a resurgence of research into the potential of psychedelics for hard-to-treat conditions like depression, addiction and anxiety. MDMA’s main effect is triggering feelings of intimacy, connection and euphoria. Companies are studying MDMA, psilocybin, LSD and other mind-expanding drugs for numerous mental health problems. Until recently, psychedelic research was mainly funded by a handful of nonprofit advocacy groups, including Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS. The company seeking approval for MDMA, Lykos Therapeutics, is essentially a corporate spinoff of MAPS, which conducted all the studies submitted for FDA review. In two studies, patients received MDMA as part of an intensive, four-month course of talk therapy lasting more than a dozen sessions, only three of which involved taking the drug. The drug is thought to help patients come to terms with their trauma and let go of disturbing thoughts and memories. The approach was studied in nearly 195 adults with moderate-to-severe PTSD who were randomly assigned to undergo the therapy with MDMA or with a dummy pill. Following treatment, patients who received MDMA had significantly lower PTSD scores and were more likely to be in remission. But FDA reviewers noted that the vast majority of patients correctly guessed whether they had received MDMA or a dummy pill, making it “nearly impossible” to maintain the so-called “blinded” objectivity considered essential for high-quality drug research. The agency also questioned how long the drug’s benefits might last. The studies tracked some patients for up to two years, but reviewers noted that about a quarter of patients quickly dropped out of […]
Former President Donald Trump may be banned from the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries should his felony conviction hold up, Breitbart reports.
The former president will likely appeal his conviction, which may or may not be overturned before the November election. Should the former president win the election before the conviction could be overturned, certain countries would have to make an exception if he were to visit on official business. Per The Independent:
Nearly 40 nations – inlcuding Canada and the UK – have strict policies when it comes to allowing individuals with criminal records across their borders, and barring a special accommodation, Trump would be held to those same standards. It’s unclear if he would be allowed to visit if he wins the presidental election in November, but remains a felon.
According to the Canadian government’s tourist hub, any “US Citizen or permanent resident that has a felony conviction on their criminal record may be deemed inadmissible to Canada for the purposes of immigrating, or even if they’re merely coming to Canada to visit.”
Under UK law, a felon can visit Ireland and Scotland with some restrictions and requirements in place. However, Britain can bar access to convicted felons.
Various other nations, such as Israel and Australia, have laws on the books regarding felons who visit the country, which may be subject to interpretation should the former president win the election this November.
The big question now will be whether or not the conviction will be enough to shift momentum away from former President Trump in Biden’s favor going into the November 5 election. While it will take at least a week to get accurate polling on the matter, establishment Republican Karl Rove, who has been critical of Trump in the past, said on Fox News last week that a guilty verdict could potentially cost Trump key swing voters in crucial states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
“If he is found guilty, let’s not underestimate that there is a problem,”
said Karl Rove.
“Think about this. Those numbers, like 11% less likely to vote for him, think about Michigan where they’re, in the RealClearPolitics average, Donald Trump is up by one half of 1% — or Pennsylvania, where he’s up by 2%, or Wisconsin, where he’s up by 3/10 of 1%,” Rove continued. “So in a close race, like we’re likely to have, having 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11% of the electorate less likely to vote for you is a problem.”
Regardless, the former president has not lost favor with his enthusiastic base of supporters, raising a whopping $53 million in campaign donations just 24 hours after the conviction.
{Matzav.com}
A Chassidish visitor to Beitar Illit was chased by a pack of dogs in the early hours of Shabbos morning as he was walking from the mikvah to shul. A resident of the city told B’Chadrei Chareidim that the teen had to be hospitalized after the ordeal as the dogs had bitten him. The incident occurred on Rechov Rabbi Akiva at about 6:40 a.m. Another resident said that the frightening phenomenon is nothing new. “I work at night and it’s just scary. Packs of dogs roam the city unhindered.” The Beitar Illit municipality responded: “These are wild dogs that roam around the city. The municipal veterinarian is working to prevent them from entering the city but unfortunately, there are cases where they manage to enter. “Unfortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture creates many difficulties in poisoning wild dogs that pose a threat to residents. These shocking images that we see now are chilling. We will continue to act to put an end to this dangerous phenomenon.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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