Southwest Airlines plans to drop its tradition of more than 50 years and start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom. The airline said Thursday that it has been studying seating options and is making the changes because passenger preferences have shifted. The moves could also generate revenue and boost financial performance. Southwest made the announcement on the same day that both it and American Airlines reported a steep drop in second-quarter profit despite higher revenue. Airlines are struggling with higher costs and reduced pricing power, especially on flights within the United States, as the industry adds flights faster than the growth in travel demand. Southwest, based in Dallas, said its second-quarter profit fell 46% from a year earlier, to $367 million, as higher costs for labor, fuel and other expenses outstripped an increase in revenue. The results met Wall Street expectations. American Airlines also reported a 46% drop in profit, to $717 million, and said it would break even in the third quarter — well below Wall Street expectations of 48 cents per share profit in the July-through-September period. American “did not perform to our initial expectations” because of a since-abandoned sales strategy and an oversupply of domestic flights, CEO Robert Isom said. He said the airline was responding with a strategy that boosts profits and “makes it easy for customers to do business with American.” Southwest’s unusual boarding process started decades ago as a way for the airline to save money by reducing the amount of time it took for a plane to land, load new passengers, and take off again — turn time, as it is called in the business. Most airlines assign each passenger to a seat when they buy a ticket. Southwest requires customers to check in exactly 24 hours before departure unless they pay extra to guarantee a better place in the boarding line. Those who hate it call it a “cattle call” but many Southwest loyalists love it. However, as flights have become more full it has gotten harder to score a window or aisle seat without paying extra. Also, some passengers appear to game the system: They use a wheelchair to get to the gate, where they are given priority in boarding, then miraculously walk off the plane without assistance after the flight. The airline said in surveys 80% of its customers — and 86% of “potential” customers — want an assigned seat. It said open seating is the top reason that travelers stop flying Southwest and choose another airline. Southwest also said it will offer redeye flights for the first time. Southwest said that its first overnight, redeye flights will land on Feb. 14, 2025, on nonstop routes including Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando; Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville; and Phoenix to Baltimore. It plans to add more redeyes over time. The changes in seating policy and redeye flights come as Southwest is under pressure from Elliott Investment Management. The hedge fund argues that the airline lags rivals in financial performance and has failed to change with the times. It wants to replace CEO Robert Jordan and Chairman Gary Kelly. The airline said it will provide more details about its upcoming changes at an investor day in September. Shares of all major airlines dipped […]
The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — picked up in the April-June quarter after growing at a 1.4% pace in the January-March period. Growth last quarter also picked up because businesses increased their inventories. Economists had expected a weaker 1.9% annual pace of growth. Despite last quarter’s uptick, the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, has cooled in the face of the highest borrowing rates in decades, engineered by the Federal Reserve to fight high inflation. From mid-2022 through 2023, annualized GDP growth had topped 2% for six straight quarters. In last year’s final two quarters, GDP expanded by robust rates of 4.9% and 3.4%. The state of the economy has seized Americans’ attention as the presidential campaign has intensified. Although inflation has slowed sharply, to 3% from 9.1% in 2022, prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels. This year’s slowdown reflects, in large part, the much higher borrowing rates for home and auto loans, credit cards and many business loans resulting from the Fed’s aggressive series of interest rate hikes. The Fed’s rate hikes — 11 of them in 2022 and 2023 — were a response to the flare-up in inflation that began in the spring of 2021 as the economy rebounded with unexpected speed from the COVID-19 recession, causing severe supply shortages. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made things worse by inflating prices for the energy and grains the world depends on. Prices spiked across the country and the world. Economists had long predicted that the higher borrowing costs would tip the United States into recession. Yet the economy kept chugging along. Consumers, whose spending accounts for roughly 70% of GDP, kept buying things, emboldened by a strong job market and savings they had built up during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The slowdown at the start of this year was caused largely by two factors, each of which can vary sharply from quarter to quarter: A surge in imports and a drop in business inventories. Neither trend revealed much about the economy’s underlying health. Consumer spending did slow as well, though. Fed officials have made clear that with inflation slowing toward their 2% target level, they’re prepared to start cutting rates soon, something they’re widely expected to do in September. (AP)
A Philippine oil tanker sank in Manila Bay early Thursday after encountering huge waves, leaving a crewman dead and 16 others rescued in a late-night operation by the coast guard. The force was also assessing whether the vessel was leaking oil — in what could be a major spill — that could reach the bustling capital. The tanker Terra Nova left Bataan province en route to the central province of Iloilo with about 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil stored in watertight tanks when it got lashed by huge waves and took on water. The crew struggled to steer the tanker back to port but it eventually sank shortly after midnight, coast guard spokesperson Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said, citing statements from surviving crew members. The sinking followed days of monsoon rains, exacerbated by a passing offshore typhoon, that set off landslides and flooding across the archipelago, leaving at least 22 people dead and displacing more than half a million people. An aerial survey spotted an oil slick about 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) long near the rough seawaters where the tanker sank but that may have come from the fuel that powered the tanker’s engine, not the oil cargo the Terra Nova was carrying, Balilo said. A coast guard ship, the BRP Melchora Aquino, was in the waters where the tanker sank, more than 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) from Bataan province’s coast, to search for the last missing crewman, whose body was later retrieved from the waters, and to carry out an initial assessment of the tanker’s fuel oil cargo, Balilo told an online news conference. He added that the coast guard was bracing to contain a possible major oil spill. “There’s a big danger that Manila would be affected, its shorelines, if the fuel leaks because this happened within Manila Bay. It’s part of the contingency we’re preparing for,” Balilo said. “We are racing against time and we will try to do our best to contain the fuel so it will no longer leak out.” Balilo later said the oil tanker sank at a relatively shallow depth of 34 meters (111 feet), based on an initial assessment, and raised the possibility that its fuel oil cargo could be siphoned off by special ships in a delicate operation that could take about a week. “Siphoning will not be very technical and can be done quickly to protect the vicinity waters of Bataan and Manila Bay against environmental, social, economic, financial and political impacts,” Balilo said. He did not say if the 65-meter (213-foot) tanker has been located on the seafloor and did not specify the status of its fuel oil cargo. Balilo compared the magnitude of the possible oil spill to one caused by the sinking of another Philippine oil tanker, which was carrying much less fuel oil cargo, in February last year off Oriental Mindoro province north of Manila. That spill took about three months to contain, caused massive damage to coral reefs and mangroves in a region known for its rich biodiversity, and affected tens of thousands of fishermen and beach resorts in at least six provinces. Manila’s shoreline is a major tourism and business hub, where the main seaport, a historic public park, the U.S. Embassy, upscale hotels and restaurants and huge shopping […]
The rescue and evacuation of five bodies of hostages from Khan Younis that was carried out by Shin Bet forces and IDF commandos on Wednesday was based on precise intelligence. The Shin Bet managed the intelligence effort for the operation in coordination with information gleaned in interrogations of Hamas terrorists captured in Gaza and intelligence from the hostage headquarters at the IDF Intelligence Directorate. The intelligence information directed the forces to the exact location where the bodies were held – in a tunnel in Khan Younis. The Israeli forces risked their lives to enter the tunnel and extract the bodies. B’Chasdei Hashem, they did not encounter terrorists in the tunnel and no forces were injured during the operation. However, in the area surrounding the tunnel, fierce battles were taking place between IDF forces and terrorists. In that area alone, 30 terrorists were killed. B’Chasdei Hashem, there were no casualties among Israeli forces. The bodies, which were found in black bags, were transferred to Israel in an APC and brought to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where they were identified after several hours. In the APC on the way to Israel, a reservist filmed himself with the bodies and posted it on TikTok in real-time. On Thursday, he was sentenced to ten days in military prison and was permanently dismissed from IDF service. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Germany’s busiest airport canceled more than 100 flights Thursday as environmental activists launched a coordinated effort to disrupt air travel across Europe at the height of the summer holiday season to highlight the threat posed by climate change. Frankfurt Airport said flights were halted for safety reasons after climate activists breached security fences, triggering a response from police, firefighters and airport security officers. All runways were back in operation by 7:50 a.m. local time, it said. About 140 flights have been cancelled so far, but further disruptions are expected throughout the day, the airport said. Environmental groups said they planned to target airports around Europe this summer to remind people about the link between fossil fuels, such as those used by airliners, and climate change. The groups are calling for governments around the world to end the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030. “We sharply condemn these unauthorized demonstrations, and we reserve the right to take legal action against the participants,” Frankfurt Airport said. “Their activities pose severe danger to flight operations – possibly putting human life at risk.” Climate data showed that Monday was the hottest day ever recorded as human-caused climate change continues to drive unprecedented heat and growing weather extremes. Global investments in planet-warming oil and gas are expected to increase by 7% this year, according to the International Energy Agency, despite global promises to slash fossil fuel use. Flying is considered one of the most carbon-intensive activities, but the aviation industry is expected to grow steadily over the coming decades despite efforts to contain the climate crisis. The Last Generation group, which organized the Frankfurt demonstration, said six protesters cut holes in the perimeter fence and headed toward the runways on foot, bicycles and skateboards. It was the second time in as many days that a protest by Last Generation caused disruption at a German airport. On Wednesday, five protesters glued themselves to a taxiway at Cologne-Bonn Airport, forcing a roughly three-hour halt to flights. That protest resulted in 31 flights being canceled. There were other protests or attempted protests in other European countries. Climate activists staged similar actions in Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Spain on Wednesday. At Helsinki Airport, a handful of protesters blocked the main check-in area for about 30 minutes, but police said the demonstration caused no delays to flights or other disruption. At Oslo’s main Gardermoen airport, three activists managed to enter the runway area early Wednesday, waving banners and disrupting air traffic for about half an hour. Police said there were no major flight delays. Police in London said Wednesday that they prevented a planned protest at Heathrow Airport that could have had a significant impact on Europe’s largest airport. Seven members of the group known as Just Stop Oil were arrested at Heathrow and three others were taken into custody at other locations as part of an “intelligence-led” operation, the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. One of those arrested in London was Sean Callaghan, 29, who described himself as an environmental educator. “I’m taking action at airports this summer because it is impossible for me to see a way in which we can inspire and enthuse students about the future of our planet,″ Callaghan said in a video posted on social media. Last week, the German […]
Hamas launched rockets on Wednesday from a humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip, hitting a United Nations-run school in Khan Younis and resulting in casualties, according to the IDF. The IDF reported receiving information from international aid groups that two civilians were killed and several others injured when the rockets struck UNRWA’s Al-Qarara school. The rockets, fired by Hamas from the designated humanitarian area, failed to reach Israel and instead fell short, hitting the school in Khan Younis. In coordination with COGAT and the World Health Organization, the wounded were transported to a field hospital operated by the International Medical Corps in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, the IDF added. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A reserve soldier was sentenced to 10 days in military jail and permanently dismissed from army service for publishing a video of the evacuation of the hostages’ bodies rescued from Khan Younis on Wednesday. The soldier filmed himself with the bodies in the APC in which the bodies were transferred from Gaza to Israel and posted it on TikTok, hours before the bodies were identified and families were notified. Meanwhile, the video circulated on social media, leading to wild speculation and rumors. The army stated that “the IDF views such incidents with severity and condemns behavior that endangers the security of our forces and harms the families of the hostages.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out this fall, “Melania,” billed by her office as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” It’s the first memoir by Trump, who has been mostly absent as her husband, former President Donald Trump, seeks to return to the White House. “Melania” will be released by Skyhorse Publishing, which has published such Donald Trump supporters as former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and attorney Alan Dershowitz. Skyhorse also has worked with third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Trump insider Michael Cohen, who later became one of his harshest critics. Some Skyhorse books include forewords by Trump ally Steve Bannon. Melania Trump’s memoir was announced Thursday by her office, which neither provided a specific release date nor mentioned whether it would come out before Election Day in November. Trump has been the subject of other books, including one by former adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, but she has never told her own story at length before. The former first lady “invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life,” the announcement reads in part. “‘Melania’ includes personal stories and family photos she has never before shared with the public.” A spokesperson said no information was available beyond what was included in the release, which made no reference to financial terms, promotional plans or if she worked with a co-author. Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s third wife, has been an enigmatic figure since her husband announced he was running in the 2016 election. She has sought to maintain her privacy even as she served as first lady, focusing on raising their son, Barron, and promoting her “Be Best” initiative to support the “social, emotional, and physical health of children.” While she appeared at her husband’s campaign launch event for 2024 and attended the closing night of last week’s Republican National Convention, she has otherwise stayed off the campaign trail. Her decision not to deliver a speech at this year’s convention marked a departure from tradition for candidates’ wives, and from the 2016 and 2020 Republican gatherings. According to her office, the memoir will come in two versions: a $150 “Collector’s Edition,” 256 pages, “in full color throughout, with each copy signed by the author,” and a “Memoir Edition,” 304 pages, including 48 pages of never-before-seen photographs. The book is listed at $40, with signed editions going for $75. Both editions are available for pre-order exclusively through the first lady’s web site, MelaniaTrump.com. A spokesperson did not have any immediate comment on when or whether it could be ordered elsewhere. Unlike other former presidents and first ladies, Donald and Melania Trump have not released any post-White House books through mainstream New York publishers. Donald Trump published numerous books before his presidency, working with Random House and Simon & Schuster among others, but many shunned him after the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He has released two books since leaving Washington, a picture book commemorating his time at the White House and a compilation of letters from world leaders and celebrities. Both came out through Winning Team Publishing, co-founded in 2021 by Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump […]
The IDF announced early Thursday morning that Cpt. Ariel Topaz, H’yd, who ws seriously injured in a terror attack on July 14, died of his injuries. Topaz, z’l, 24, who was off-duty at the time, was injured in a ramming attack near the IDF base in Tzifrin in central Israel. The terrorist rammed his car into passersby at a bus stop and then turned his car around and crashed into another bus stop before being neutralized by Border Police officers stationed nearby. The terrorist was later identified as an Israeli-Arab from east Jerusalem. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, revealing new details about a suspect he said had taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive. The July 6 online search, recovered from a laptop the FBI says is tied to 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper’s perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. “That’s a search obviously that is significant in terms of his state of mind. That is the same day that it appears that he registered” for the Trump rally scheduled for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, Wray told the House Judiciary Committee. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism. The investigation has thrust the bureau into a political maelstrom months before the presidential election, with lawmakers and the public pressing for details about what may have motivated Crooks in the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. The agency has built out a detailed timeline of Crooks’ movements and online activity, but the precise motive — or why Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was singled out — remains elusive, Wray said. The FBI’s assessment continues to be that Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper, acted alone. “We do not know the motive. That is obviously one of the central questions in our investigation, and it’s been very frustrating to us that a lot of the usual kind of low-hanging-fruit places that we would find that have not yielded significant clues about his motive,” Wray said. But, he added, the bureau has seen indications that he was interested in public figures — officials said at a private briefing last week that besides Trump, Crooks also had photos on his phone of Democratic President Joe Biden and other prominent people — and in the days before the shooting had appeared particularly consumed by Trump and the Butler rally Crooks is believed to have visited the rally site a week before the event, staying for about 20 minutes, and then returned on the morning of July 13. More than two hours before the shooting, Wray said, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the rally stage for about 11 minutes, using the device to livestream and watch footage. The use of the drone, which along with a controller were recovered from Crooks’ car, so close to the rally site just hours before Trump took the stage add to the questions about the security lapses that preceded the shooting. On the afternoon of the rally, Crooks attracted law enforcement scrutiny because of odd behavior around the edges of the event, including shouldering a backpack and peering into the lens of a range finder toward the rooftops behind the stage where Trump would stand within the hour. Using what Wray said was mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical piping, Crooks was able to hoist […]
Three people were injured in a shooting on Route 55 near the Palestinian village of Nabi Ilyas in the Shomron on Thursday morning. Two victims, a 34-year-old man and a 25-year-old man with gunshot wounds, were evacuated to the hospital in light to moderate condition. The third victim, who was very lightly injured, was treated at the scene. The terrorists, who opened fire from their vehicle, escaped the scene. A large number of IDF forces arrived at the scene and launched a manhunt after the terrorists. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Chaotic scenes played out in Washington, DC, on Wednesday as anti-Israel demonstrators disrupted the city during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress. The protest quickly turned violent, with demonstrators carrying symbols of terrorist organizations, vandalizing property, and clashing with law enforcement officers. Chanting “Allahu Akbar,” and some demonstrators decked out in Hamas attire, the agitators made their presence known across the city. At Union Station, protestors escalated their actions by burning an American flag and defacing a statue with the ominous message “Hamas is coming.” They also replaced American flags with Palestinian flags. The United States Park Police (USPP) issued a call for information to identify those responsible for assaulting officers and damaging property during the unrest. According to the USPP, the demonstrators set fires and burned flags at Columbus Circle, near Union Station. A total of 23 pro-Hamas agitators were arrested by various law enforcement agencies. The USPP confirmed at least eight arrests, while the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the United States Capitol Police (USCP) reported nine and six arrests, respectively. The charges included Assault on a Police Officer and Crossing a Police Line, with the ages of those arrested ranging from 15 to 32. The protestors at Columbus Circle caused significant damage, including vandalizing statues and fountains, tearing down and burning flags, and starting multiple small fires. Due to the crowd’s refusal to comply with law enforcement instructions, the permit for the event was revoked, and everyone was ordered to leave the area. In response to the vandalism, National Park Service conservators will begin the arduous task of removing red paint from the statues and fountains at Columbus Circle, a process expected to take several days. The White House condemned the actions of the anti-Israel protestors, with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stating, “Antisemitism and violence are never acceptable. Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Jewish-American comedian Zach Sage Fox traveled to Ramallah to speak with Palestinians on the streets and find out their views on Hamas. It should be noted that it is extremely dangerous and a violation of Israeli law for Israeli citizens or identifiably religious Jews to enter Ramallah. In fact, Fox wrote on his Instagram account that he was lucky he made it out of Ramallah alive [and that was without anyone knowing he was Jewish]. “Free Palestine?” he wrote. “I went to see ‘Palestine’… and almost didn’t make it out alive.” “After asking questions on the streets of Ramallah for less than an hour, a group of Palestinian men threatened to kill us if we didn’t delete our footage. This is what we were able to recover…Welcome to the WILD WEST BANK.” All the Palestinians he spoke to without exception said that they support Hamas. When he asked one “innocent” Palestinian civilian whether she saw the videos of the atrocities Hamas carried out on October 7th, she enthusiastically answered that she saw everything and “was okay with everything they did.” Conversely, some denied that Hamas committed any atrocities on October 7th and at least one denied the existence of Israel altogether. Another one said that the Jews should go back “to Poland or Iraq.” Others may not have denied that Israel exists but expressed their desire for a “one-state solution” – for Israel to be wiped off the map. And of course, every single one of them displayed complete ignorance about basic historical and political facts, just like their supporters on US campuses. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post following his publication of the video, Fox said that “all of them hated Jews with every bone of their body.” “Ramallah was a well-built-up city. Northface, designer clothes. Some of it didn’t look that different to Israel. And I thought to myself, peace could be so easy.” “But their love and admiration for Hamas is so strong and, in the best case scenario, the most moderate people I spoke to still had tons of sympathy for Hamas. That was the range – sympathy to deep admiration. I never heard a negative thing about Hamas.” “It was an eye-opening experience, a shock to the system to see such an ingrained level of hatred, particularly towards Jews.” Fox added that the main difference between Palestinians in Ramallah and campus protesters in the US was the Palestinians’ “openness to say bad things about Jews specifically, not under the guise of Zionists.'” “I couldn’t get one person out of a random sample to condemn Hamas.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
A man dressed as a Palestinian terrorist released a video earlier this week threatening the people of France and French President Macron. “You supported the Zionist regime in its criminal war against the people of Palestine,” he said. “You provided Zionists with weapons, you helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children. ” “You invited the Zionists to the Olympic games. You will pay for what you have done! Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris. The day is approaching,” he concluded, holding up a dummy’s severed head. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
In a recent operation, the IDF’s 401st Brigade uncovered a tunnel shaft, an arsenal of weapons, and night vision equipment hidden inside a children’s bedroom in a civilian building in the Rafah area. The discovery was part of a series of precise, intelligence-driven operations targeting terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the Tel al-Sultan and Shabura regions. These operations have been ongoing for several weeks. In a separate engagement, soldiers from the 52nd Battalion confronted and eliminated armed terrorists in close-quarters combat within a building in the Tel al-Sultan area. The operations underscore the continued efforts of the IDF to dismantle terrorist networks and ensure security in the region. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
In a first since the October 7th massacre, a male survivor revealed that he was raped by Hamas terrorists, Channel 12 reported on Tuesday evening Although there have been many reports of Hamas terrorists assaulting men during the massacre, there has never been any firsthand accounts until now, mainly because most of the victims were murdered. All accounts of such assaults were told by survivors who witnessed the harrowing scenes. The victim, who was only identified as D. recounted his brutal humiliation by a group of Nukba terrorists who surrounded him and assaulted him with great brutality, laughing at him and spitting at him as they did so. D. said that the terrorists were “wildly intoxicated, celebrating, laughing with their guns, with their knives. You kind of dissociate from the situation but on the other hand, experience it very strongly.” He miraculously survived because “other terrorists arrived and called them so they had to stop.” He later escaped with the help of IDF soldiers. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
President Joe Biden will deliver an Oval Office address on Wednesday night on his decision not to seek reelection and how he plans to finish his tenure as commander in chief. What time is President Biden’s address from the Oval Office? Biden said he will speak “on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people” at 8 p.m. ET. How to watch or livestream Biden’s address ABC News will provide special live coverage of President Biden’s remarks with a special report on ABC, ABC News Live and Hulu. It will be Biden’s first extensive, on-camera comments on his decision to step away from the 2024 campaign trail and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
In an overnight operation, the IDF demolished the home of Muhammad Manasra, the Palestinian terrorist who carried out a fatal shooting attack at a gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli in February. Manasra’s attack on February 29 resulted in the deaths of two Israelis, Rabbi Yitzhak Zeiger, 57, and Uria Hartum, 16. He was subsequently killed by the owner of a nearby hummus restaurant. The IDF operation took place in the West Bank village of Qalandiya, where troops encountered rioters and responded with riot dispersal measures and live fire. Several suspects were arrested during the operation. The demolition of Manasra’s home is part of Israel’s policy to demolish the residences of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks. This policy aims to deter future attacks. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Tech mogul Elon Musk announced Tuesday that his Starlink satellite-based internet service is now operational at a hospital in Gaza, with the support of Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although Musk did not specify the exact location, it is believed to be the UAE-funded field hospital in the Gaza Strip, which received approval from Israel in February to use Starlink services. This move marks a notable exception to Israel’s initial hesitation to allow Starlink in Gaza, citing concerns that it could be exploited by Hamas. Starlink, a network of low-Earth orbit satellites operated by SpaceX, provides internet access to remote or areas with damaged communication infrastructure. Initially, the service will be limited, with plans for broader use in the future. The development comes after Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi threatened to cut ties with Starlink in October, following Musk’s offer to provide services to the Gaza Strip. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
