Yeshiva World News

The IDF on Wednesday morning announced the death of an IDF reserve soldier in Gaza. He was identified as Sgt. First Class (res.) Roi Sasson, H’yd, 21, from Mevaseret Tzion, a town outside Jerusalem. He served in the Nachshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade in Gaza and was killed in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. In the same incident, the commander of the Nachshon Battalion, Lt. Col. Yoel Glickman, was seriously injured. Sasson’s death increases the death toll of IDF soldiers since October 7, 2023, to 800. Hashem Yikom Damam. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

It was the perfect workspace. But what made it truly perfect – better than a cabin in the woods with perfect Wi-Fi and no mosquitoes? While the aroma of fresh coffee, elegant surroundings and an artsy collection of vintage Sheitel boxes might catch your attention, and a soundproof booth for screaming into the void between deadlines would be a nice bonus, Yehuda Biala knew these were just the beginning. He made sure OfficeOurs had all that – the restaurant-grade coffee machine, the energy-filled rooms with wall-to-wall windows, the posh café-style kitchen and a designated “lost sheitel-pin rescue squad” – but then he went further. Much further. Biala recognized a challenge unique to frum working mothers, one that no amount of premium coffee or emergency safety-pin stations could solve. “Women do have babies and they want to work,” he explains, while discreetly untangling his tzitzis from an office chair. When he opened OfficeOurs in Har Chotzvim, Yerushalayim, mothers couldn’t believe their eyes – or their productivity levels. Shiffy, an email copywriter fresh from maternity leave, went from practically typing one-handed while balancing a baby to actually finishing full paragraphs without pausing to decode mysterious baby sounds. “I was able to work with real focus for the first time since getting back from maternity leave,” she marveled, probably while enjoying an uninterrupted, still-hot cup of coffee. The space quickly became legendary among working mothers, who whispered about it in grocery aisles and email groups like it was a secret Gan Eden where emails wrote themselves and coffee cups never went cold. Even Microsoft content developer Abby Weisberg traded her high-tech office for OfficeOurs, though she still hasn’t figured out how to explain to her Silicon Valley colleagues what a Mechitzah is. But just when everything seemed perfect – the babysitting room fully equipped from changing tables to a detailed spreadsheet tracking which child borrowed whose sippy cup – – reality crashed the party harder than a toddler during a Zoom meeting… The beloved babysitting department, despite being more organized than a Pesach-cleaning spreadsheet, had to close its doors. But like any good Balebuste who finds her cholent burnt minutes before Shabbos, Biala pivoted. OfficeOurs doubled down on what working mothers needed most: a place where “I’ll just finish this email” actually meant one email, not a three-hour battle with home distractions. A sanctuary where the only dishes you’ll see are the ones holding your third cup of premium coffee – which, by the way, is included in your membership (emergency chocolate stashes for those deadline days, anyone?). Where “professional environment” means more than switching from snood to Sheitel for Zoom. Everyone needs office hours in OfficeOurs..  Work from home? Balancing your laptop between feeding schedules and trying to maintain a professional demeanor? Imagine instead: a pristine desk (not an ironing board), a conference room for important meetings, and unlimited premium coffee (that actually stays hot). Plus the kind of focus you haven’t experienced since before your first child was born. >>> From dedicated desks, through private offices, to conference space, OfficeOurs has you covered. >>> And  —  we’re also opening a room for men, fostering collaboration like never before. Ready to ditch home-work? Contact us at team@ofo.co.il or call 0533465496—unless you’re genuinely enjoying those symphony concerts of baby sounds from your current home […]

It can be minimal, it can be tremendous. It can be positive, it can be negative. It can disappear after mere moments, it can last for millennia. It can be felt across the world, it can create ripples that radiate outwards ad infinitum. What is this phenomenon? It’s IMPACT. The mark something leaves is a measure of its importance and its success; as we view the impact, we can begin to appreciate the reality of what created it. Enter Yeshiva Toras Chaim of Denver. Within the walls of the Yeshiva, young men study Torah, engage in prayer, build their character and lay the foundations for a productive life as committed and knowledgeable Jews. At first glance, not something one would regard as earth-shattering. Not an institution impacting the world. Take a second look. Those young men studying Torah are learning with a purpose, harnessing the Torah’s transformative power to fill themselves with passion and excitement that will spill over to their families and communities, that will radiate to their colleagues at work, to their friends in the neighborhood, to their students in the classroom – to anyone and everyone they will have the opportunity to impact. Yeshiva Toras Chaim has been impacting for decades, its graduates moving well beyond the physical confines of the Yeshiva while still maintaining a connection that transcends space and time. Wherever life’s journey leads them, the Torah they studied and the world they discovered is still fresh in their minds and their daily lives as they positively impact countless individuals. The impact of Yeshiva Toras Chaim does not end with its students and alumni. This is an institution that has had an inestimable impact upon the Denver Jewish community, playing a major role in the spread of Torah and Judaism throughout the Jewish communities of Colorado. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Jewish landscape of Denver has been forever changed and impacted by the efforts of Yeshiva Toras Chaim. Yeshiva Toras Chaim’s Dinner Campaign Yeshiva Toras Chaim’s annual Dinner Campaign will focus on the enormous positive IMPACT the Yeshiva has made, both in Denver and across the globe. The Yeshiva will honor Rabbi Yaakov and Mrs. Chaya Meyer and Rabbi Ahron Yisroel and Mrs. Hadassah Wasserman, two couples whose impact has been tremendous, lasting and continues to create ripples across Colorado.. The Meyers joined the Yeshiva more than 40 years ago as members of the Yeshiva’s Kollel. After a stint as a rebbi (teacher) in the Yeshiva, the Meyers began reaching out to Jews in Denver, educating them and drawing them closer to their roots, with phenomenal results. Rabbi and Mrs. Meyer’s impact grew, attracting many Jews to grow with them, and eventually evolved into a Shul and coalesced into a community that is today Aish of the Rockies and the thriving Southeast Denver/Greenwood Village Jewish community. Rabbi and Mrs. Meyer have two sons who attended the Yeshiva, Moshe and Yehuda (who is still studying in the post-high school Bais Medrash division). “The Yeshiva’s reach goes far beyond the walls of the school,” says Rabbi Meyer. “Their impact is seen throughout the entire region and beyond. The bonds that are made never sever; they stay in touch and feel like they are family for life.” Rabbi Ahron Yisroel Wasserman is the son of Yeshiva […]

The backlash about the frum Jewish magazine’s publishing of an article discussing Botox is understandable. The person who wrote into YWN on Monday labeled the topic as unbecoming of a Torah-true publication, arguing that it promoted superficiality and vanity. I get it. But as someone who teaches a class of Bais Yaakov-type girls, I feel compelled to address this reaction and offer a different perspective. The article wasn’t a frivolous endorsement of cosmetic procedures—it was a reflection of the pressures and realities faced by our daughters today, particularly in the shidduch world. For many young women in the shidduch system, their future feels like a high-stakes competition. They know the numbers: in a typical class of 30, perhaps 10 girls will remain single well into their adulthood. That statistic alone is enough to cause sleepless nights for girls and their parents alike. While we would like to believe that shidduchim are determined solely by middos tovos, Torah values, and shared goals, the truth is that appearances matter. A lot. In this context, it’s no surprise that girls feel immense pressure to enhance their physical presentation. This isn’t about vanity—it’s about survival in a system that places such weight on first impressions. Whether it’s Ozempic to maintain a slender figure, top-of-the-line designer clothing, professional hair styling, or even cosmetic procedures like Botox, these efforts are often driven by a genuine desire to improve their chances of finding a suitable match. For these young women, it’s all l’sheim shamayim, done for the sake of building a Torah home – and avoiding being another forgotten “older girl.” Jewish magazines don’t create these pressures; they reflect them. The presence of Botox ads or articles in these publications isn’t an endorsement of superficiality—it’s an acknowledgment of what is already happening in our community. By addressing topics like Botox, magazines provide a space to discuss them openly and thoughtfully, within the framework of Torah values. Pretending these realities don’t exist does a disservice to the very girls and families navigating these challenges. It’s worth noting that the same magazines that feature Botox ads also emphasize the importance of middos, Torah learning, and yiras shamayim in shidduchim. But they recognize that these ideals exist alongside a world where physical appearance plays a major role. Addressing these issues head-on allows us to confront them in a healthy, grounded way, rather than relegating them to whispered conversations or unregulated decisions. As a community, we must find a balance between spiritual ideals and practical realities. We should absolutely continue to emphasize that true beauty lies in one’s middos and connection to Hashem. At the same time, we must acknowledge the reality that physical appearance is a factor in shidduchim and give our daughters the tools to navigate this reality responsibly and with dignity. Critics of the article may feel that discussing Botox diminishes the sanctity of a Torah-true publication. But I would argue the opposite: ignoring these realities does far more harm. By addressing these issues openly, we can guide our daughters to make thoughtful, informed decisions that align with their values. And perhaps, through these discussions, we can also work toward creating a shidduch culture that places greater emphasis on the things that truly matter—character, values, and compatibility—while still respecting the pressures that exist today. At its core, the […]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is opening a company conference in Chicago with remarks that could set the stage for where it’s taking its artificial intelligence business. AI developers are increasingly pitching the next wave of generative AI chatbots as AI “agents” that can do more useful things on people’s behalf. But the cost of building and running AI tools is so high that more investors are questioning whether the technology’s promise is overblown. Microsoft said last month that it’s preparing for a world where “every organization will have a constellation of agents — ranging from simple prompt-and-response to fully autonomous.” Microsoft elaborated in a blog post Tuesday that such autonomous agents “can operate around the clock to review and approve customer returns or go over shipping invoices to help businesses avoid costly supply-chain errors.” Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference caters to its big business customers. The pivot toward so-called “agentic AI” comes as some users are seeing limits to the large language models behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s own Copilot. Those systems work by predicting the most plausible next word in a sentence and are good at certain writing-based work tasks. But tech companies have been working to build AI tools that are better at longer-range planning and reasoning so they can access the web or control computers and perform tasks on their own on a user’s behalf. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has criticized Microsoft’s pivot. Salesforce also has its “Agentforce” service that uses AI in sales, marketing and other tasks. “Microsoft rebranding Copilot as ‘agents’? That’s panic mode,” Benioff said in a social media post last month. He went on to claim that Microsoft’s flagship AI assistant, called Copilot, is “a flop” that is inaccurate and spills corporate data. (AP)

HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch occasionally recites Avinu Malkeinu on random days apart from Yamim Noraim and fast days. According to those close to him, since the start of the war, HaRav Shternbuch recites Avinu Malkeinu when there are reports of many people injured and/or killed. On Tuesday, HaRav Shternbuch decided to say Avinu Malkeinu in the small Shacharis minyan held in his home in Har Nof, Kikar H’Shabbat reported. “The Rav is mamash broken from the situation in which Jewish blood is spilling like water,” one person close to the Rav told Kikar. “Although it’s not a new thing for the Rav to recite the tefillah passuk by passuk, this time it’s a rare case and we apparently need a lot of Rachamei Shamayim.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, according to a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen Tuesday by The Associated Press . The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of Oct. 26, Iran has 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since the last report in August. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The IAEA also estimated in its quarterly report that as of Oct. 26, Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium stands at 6,604.4 kilograms (14,560 pounds), which represents an increase of 852.6 kilograms (1,879.6 pounds) since the last report in August. Under the IAEA’s definition, around 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible — if the material is enriched further, to 90%. Iran has maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, but the IAEA chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has previously warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the U.N. agency cannot guarantee that none of Iran’s centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment. The IAEA also reported that Iran has failed to take concrete steps as of now to improve cooperation, despite pleas by Grossi, who visited Iran last week for talks with Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian. However, the IAEA said in its report that during the meetings, “the possibility of Iran not further expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 was discussed, including technical verification measures necessary for the Agency to confirm this, if implemented.” The report said that one day after director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Mariano Grossi left Iran, on Nov 16, IAEA inspectors verified that “Iran had begun implementation of preparatory measures aimed at stopping the increase of its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 % U-235” at its underground nuclear sites in Fordow and Natanz. Tuesday’s confidential report also said that during Grossi’s visit to Iran on Nov. 14, “Iran agreed to respond to the Agency’s concerns related to Iran’s withdrawal of the designation of several experienced Agency inspectors by considering the acceptance of the designation of four additional experienced inspectors.” In September 2023, Iran barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. The report also said there was no progress thus far in reinstalling more monitoring equipment, including cameras, removed in June 2022, which also has “detrimental implications for the Agency’s ability to provide assurances of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.” Since then, the only recorded data is that of IAEA cameras installed at a centrifuge workshop in Isfahan in May 2023 — although Iran has not provided the IAEA with access to this data and inspectors have not been able to service the cameras. The reports come ahead of this week’s regular IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna. Western countries have been considering a resolution censuring Iran for […]

The Jerusalem District Court has ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) must pay tens of millions of shekels in compensation to victims of the 2001 terrorist bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in central Jerusalem, according to a Channel 12 report. The August 9, 2001, suicide bombing, one of the deadliest attacks of the Second Intifada, claimed the lives of 16 civilians, including seven children, and injured 130 others. The court’s decision is based on evidence of the PA’s longstanding policy of financially compensating terrorists and their families. This precedent-setting ruling could potentially pave the way for victims of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre to also seek financial restitution from the PA. The court’s ruling came in response to two lawsuits filed by victims of the 2001 attack, marking the culmination of a two-decade legal battle. The decision relied on an April 2022 Supreme Court ruling, which established the PA’s liability for terrorist acts due to its practice of paying stipends to security prisoners and the families of attackers. Justice Isaac Amit, in the 2022 ruling, wrote that the PA’s payments to convicted terrorists and those killed during attacks constituted an acknowledgment of responsibility for their actions. “[The PA] expresses its consent to their actions, in a manner that takes responsibility for the acts. This justifies that [the PA] will be assigned personal and direct responsibility,” Amit stated. Channel 12 reported that the compensation could be drawn from funds Israel has been withholding since 2018 from monthly tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Building the current crop of artificial intelligence chatbots has relied on specialized computer chips pioneered by Nvidia, which cornered the market and made itself the poster child of the AI boom. But the same qualities that make those graphics processor chips, or GPUs, so effective at creating powerful AI systems from scratch make them less efficient at putting AI products to work. That’s opened up the AI chip industry to rivals who think they can compete with Nvidia in selling so-called AI inference chips that are more attuned to the day-to-day running of AI tools and designed to reduce some of the huge computing costs of generative AI. “These companies are seeing opportunity for that kind of specialized hardware,” said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “The broader the adoption of these models, the more compute will be needed for inference and the more demand there will be for inference chips.” What is AI inference? It takes a lot of computing power to make an AI chatbot. It starts with a process called training or pretraining — the “P” in ChatGPT — that involves AI systems “learning” from the patterns of huge troves of data. GPUs are good at doing that work because they can run many calculations at a time on a network of devices in communication with each other. However, once trained, a generative AI tool still needs chips to do the work — such as when you ask a chatbot to compose a document or generate an image. That’s where inferencing comes in. A trained AI model must take in new information and make inferences from what it already knows to produce a response. GPUs can do that work, too. But it can be a bit like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. “With training, you’re doing a lot heavier, a lot more work. With inferencing, that’s a lighter weight,” said Forrester analyst Alvin Nguyen. That’s led startups like Cerebras, Groq and d-Matrix as well as Nvidia’s traditional chipmaking rivals — such as AMD and Intel — to pitch more inference-friendly chips as Nvidia focuses on meeting the huge demand from bigger tech companies for its higher-end hardware. Inside an AI inference chip lab D-Matrix, which is launching its first product this week, was founded in 2019 — a bit late to the AI chip game, as CEO Sid Sheth explained during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, the same Silicon Valley city that’s also home to AMD, Intel and Nvidia. “There were already 100-plus companies. So when we went out there, the first reaction we got was ‘you’re too late,’” he said. The pandemic’s arrival six months later didn’t help as the tech industry pivoted to a focus on software to serve remote work. Now, however, Sheth sees a big market in AI inferencing, comparing that later stage of machine learning to how human beings apply the knowledge they acquired in school. “We spent the first 20 years of our lives going to school, educating ourselves. That’s training, right?” he said. “And then the next 40 years of your life, you kind of go out there and apply that knowledge — and then you get rewarded for being efficient.” The product, called Corsair, consists […]

SpaceX on Tuesday launched another Starship rocket, but passed up catching the booster with giant mechanical arms. Unlike last month’s success, the booster was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The catch was called off just four minutes into the test flight from Texas for unspecified reasons, and the booster hit the water three minutes later. Not all of the criteria for a booster catch was met and so the flight director did not command the booster to return to the launch site, said SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot. He did not specify what went wrong. At the same time, the empty spacecraft launched from Texas atop Starship soared across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to October’s test flight. Skimming space, the shiny retro-looking craft descended into the Indian Ocean for a controlled but destructive end to the hourlong demo. It was the sixth test for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket that SpaceX and NASA hope to use to get astronauts back on the moon and eventually Mars. SpaceX kept the same flight path as last time, but changed some steps along the way as well as the time of day. Starship blasted off in late afternoon instead of early morning to ensure daylight to see the spacecraft’s descent. Among the new objectives that were achieved: igniting one of the spacecraft’s engines in space, which would be necessary when returning from orbit. There were also thermal protection experiments aboard the spacecraft, with some areas stripped of heat tiles to see whether catch mechanisms might work there on future flights. And the spacecraft descended nose-first during the last part of entry, before flipping and splashing down upright into the Indian Ocean. Even more upgrades are planned for the next test flight. Donald Trump flew in for the launch in the latest sign of a deepening bond between the president-elect and Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO. SpaceX wants to eventually return and reuse the entire 400-foot (121-meter) Starship. Full-scale recycling would drive down the cost of hauling cargo and people to the moon and Mars, while speeding things up. The recycling of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets flying out of Florida and California has already saved the company time and money. NASA is paying SpaceX more than $4 billion to land astronauts on the moon via Starship on back-to-back missions later this decade. Musk envisions launching a fleet of Starships to build a city one day on Mars. This was the sixth launch of a fully assembled Starship since 2023. The first three ended up exploding. (AP)

Rabbinical representatives who inspected the Shabbos eruv after police and security officials left the impact site of a missile that fell on the border between Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan on Tuesday evening couldn’t believe their eyes. To their astonishment, the eruv that passes through the area wasn’t torn or damaged at all, remaining intact amid extensive destruction from shattered windows and glass due to the heat of the fire and debris. The missile shrapnel that fell [from an Iranian Fateh-110 surface-to-surface ballistic missile and not an interceptor missile as was initially reported], injured five people, knocked down a high-voltage power line, caused a fire, and damaged several buildings and an empty bus. On Tuesday morning, several Rabbanim from Bnei Brak toured the area to see the extent of the neis. Watch the video below, filmed by photographer Shuki Lehrer: The elderly Rav with the cane in the video is HaRav Shevach Tzvi Rosenblatt, one of Bnei Brak’s Chief Rabbanim. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, and it’s shaping up much differently than his first. He’s prioritizing loyalists for top jobs. Trump was bruised and hampered by internal squabbles during his initial term in office. Now he appears focused on remaking the federal government in his own image. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation battles even with Republicans in control of the U.S. Senate. Here’s a look at whom he has selected so far. Cabinet nominees: SECRETARY OF STATE: Marco Rubio Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making the critic-turned-ally his choice for top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man” during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump’s plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Matt Gaetz Trump said Wednesday he will nominate Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general, naming a loyalist in the role of the nation’s top prosecutor. In selecting Gaetz, 42, Trump passed over some of the more established lawyers whose names had been mentioned as being contenders for the job. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and Restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement. Gaetz resigned from Congress Wednesday night. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old, though that probe effectively ended when he resigned. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Tulsi Gabbard Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, another example of Trump prizing loyalty over experience. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall, and she’s been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Pete Hegseth Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s […]

Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi underwent a complex surgery in Iran that saw part of a bone in her right leg removed over cancer fears but was immediately returned to prison, raising the risks to her life, rights groups warned. A letter signed by over 40 activist groups, sent to the United Nations Human Rights Council, urged that Mohammadi be immediately released on a medical furlough from a prison sentence on charges long criticized internationally. It is part of a wider pressure campaign on Iran over Mohammadi’s detention since the Nobel committee honored her last year. Meanwhile, a group says another activist set himself on fire in prison this past weekend to protest against his incarceration as Iran continues to face internal dissent after years of protests against its theocracy. “We urge that Iranian authorities stop the criminalization of human rights, and refrain from summoning human rights defenders, journalists and writers to serve their prison sentences while their health situation is precarious,” said the letter, dated Monday. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Iranian state media, which broadly ignored previous campaigns seeking to free Mohammadi, did not immediately report on the letter. Mohammadi, 52, is serving sentences totaling 13 years and nine months in prison on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran’s government. She has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. That includes backing the nationwide, women-led protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. She suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, the letter says. In November of this year, her lawyer announced that doctors found a bone lesion that they feared could be cancerous, sparking the surgery she underwent on Thursday. “She was transferred back to prison after only two days, against her doctor’s advice and another request from her legal team that she be granted a medical furlough and sentence suspension,” the letter said. “Years of imprisonment and months of solitary confinement have severely compromised Mohammadi’s health, leaving her with multiple serious conditions that cannot be addressed through a short, incomplete hospital visit.” Iran’s economy has been in tatters for years because of sanctions imposed by the West. Its people are angry over the devaluation of their money and government corruption. That’s fueled protests, as well as a government crackdown on dissent in the country. The return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House this January has stoked concerns for some that he may resume his “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic. Concerns are rising for other imprisoned activists in Iran as well. On Saturday, Saeid Gharibi set himself on fire to protest his 15-year sentence and conditions at Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison, the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said. The center quoted his lawyer as saying Gharibi suffered severe burns to his back and hands and has been denied medical care. Iran has not acknowledged the incident. Last week, a former journalist with the Voice of America’s Farsi service jumped to his death from a building in Tehran in protest of the country’s supreme leader and an ongoing crackdown on dissent. (AP)

Germany’s defense minister said Tuesday officials have to assume damage to two data cables under the Baltic Sea, one of which ends in Germany, was caused by sabotage — though he said they have no proof at present. Damage was detected Monday to the C-Lion1 cable that runs nearly 1.200 kilometers (750 miles) from the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to the German port city of Rostock. Another cable between Lithuania and Sweden was also damaged. Speaking in Brussels, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Russia poses not just a military but also a hybrid threat, and that Europe needs to take a broad approach to defense. He said the damage to the two cables was “a very clear sign that something is afoot.” “No one believes these cables were severed by mistake, and I also don’t want to believe versions that it was anchors that by chance caused damage to these cables,” he said at a regular meeting of European Union defense ministers. “So we have to state — without knowing in concrete terms who it came from — that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume — without already knowing it, obviously — that this is sabotage.” The foreign ministries of Finland and Germany had already said Monday evening that the damage raised suspicion of sabotage. They said in a joint statement that the damage comes at a time that “our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors.” The statement said the countries were investigating the incident, and that it was crucial that such “critical infrastructure” be safeguarded. (AP)

I am begging you, please help save my daughter My name is Yitzchak, and I am writing to you as a broken and worried father. Our dear Avigayil, less than a year old now, was born with a small, heartwarming smile, but now she’s fighting a severe illness—cutaneous lymphoma. The word “cancer” is still too heavy for us to assimilate, and the fear is unrelenting. A few years ago, my wife Tehillah and I went through a terrible time when our eldest daughter was fighting for her life after a severe accident. Somehow, we managed to get through it, but now we’re facing another painful battle, and we lose entire nights to worry. For our baby Avigayil to overcome this illness, she urgently needs costly biological treatment. We need your help. I am reaching out from the heart, asking you to help us save our daughter. That’s it. That’s everything. Please, help us keep Avigayil bas Tehillah alive. Donate now 

Over a New Mexico training range named the Hornet, two Osprey aircraft speed 100 feet off the ground, banking hard over valleys and hills as they close in on a dusty landing zone. A flight engineer in the back braces a .50-caliber machine gun over the edge of the Osprey’s open ramp as desert shrubbery blurs past. The aircraft’s joints shift and rattle, and there is little steady to hold on to until the Osprey touches down with a bump, flooding seats with rust-colored dust. After being grounded for months following a crash last November that killed eight U.S. service members in Japan, the V-22 Osprey is back in the air. But there are still questions as to whether it should be. The Pentagon bought the V-22 Osprey more than 30 years ago as a lethal hybrid, with the speed of an airplane and the maneuverability of a helicopter. Since then, 64 personnel have been killed and 93 injured in more than 21 major accidents. Japan’s military briefly grounded its fleet again late last month after an Osprey tilted violently during takeoff and struck the ground. And four recent fatal crashes brought the program the closest it’s come to being shut down by Congress. To assess its safety, The Associated Press reviewed thousands of pages of accident reports and flight data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, interviewed more than 50 current and former program officials, crew members and experts, and flew both simulator and real training flights. The AP found that the top three most serious types of incidents rose 46% between 2019 and 2023, while overall safety issues jumped 18% in the same period before the fleet was grounded. Yet current and former Osprey pilots — even those who have lost friends in accidents or been in crashes themselves — are some of the aircraft’s greatest defenders. Ospreys have been deployed worldwide — landing in deserts and on ship decks, rescuing U.S. service members from ballistic missiles in Iraq, evacuating civilians in Niger and even standing by ready to protect the president during a surprise trip to Ukraine last year. “There’s no other platform out there that can do what the V-22 can do,” said former Osprey pilot Brian Luce, who has survived two crashes. “When everything is going well, it is amazing. But when it’s not, it’s unforgiving.” Unlike other aircraft, the Osprey’s problems have not leveled off as the years passed, instead they spiked — even as the number of hours flown have dropped. Many of those incidents can be directly tied to the aircraft’s design, experts said. Parts are wearing out faster than planned, and it’s so complex that a minor mistake by a pilot can turn deadly. While some aspects of the Osprey are now getting modified to make it more reliable, it’s unlikely the Osprey’s core design will change. With about 400 aircraft that cost between $75 million and $90 million apiece, a major upgrade to the fleet could cost billions. One pilot survives two crashes In 2010, Luce was the co-pilot in an Osprey crash in Afghanistan that killed his aircraft commander, flight engineer, an Army Ranger and a translator. There was no enemy fire. In the final seconds of flight, as the Osprey converted to land like a helicopter, it dropped at a rate of more than 1,800 feet per minute. The crash investigation was […]

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke at the start of an Otzma Yehudit party meeting on Monday and revealed that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara tried to fabricate a criminal case against him. “This story,” Ben-Gvir began, “should shake the foundations. It also shows the working methods of the attorney-general. Unfortunately, the picture I get is that she does what she wants, with no limits or checks, and what I’m about to tell you illustrates this.” “A few months ago, one of the attorney-general’s deputies visited the police’s Lahav 443 crime unit. I am aware of this story, not from the police, but from a source in the prosecution who came to me and said, ‘Listen, Minister, my conscience is bothering me, and I want to tell you what happened there.'” “The deputy had requested to launch a criminal investigation against me regarding the distribution of weapons, which by the way, is a reform I’m proud of and which has proven time and again – on the streets, in results, in preventing attacks, and in thwarting massacres – how right I was.” [Following October 7, Ben-Gvir led an initiative to loosen the strict criteria required for civilians to receive gun licenses. In some cases, civilians who received guns under the new criteria used them to neutralize terrorists.] “The Lahav staff responded to the prosecutor, saying, ‘There is nothing, there is nothing at all, everything is clean, we have nothing to base an investigation on.'” “The deputy returned to the attorney-general, told her these things and was berated for being too lenient. The attorney-general then sent another deputy of hers, someone who’s stubborn. This time the attorney-general didn’t ask, she gave an order, ‘Investigate, find me something against the minister.'” Ben Gvir continued: “I don’t know what happened since that investigation, several months have passed. I assume it was closed, and if it wasn’t closed, it will be closed. After all, I say this again, I am proud of the weapons distribution reform. But that is not what is important. What is important here is the behavior of the attorney general, who simply…seeks to open investigations against politicians and engage in targeted actions against them.” “I decided to expose this story because we are currently in the midst of very, very difficult events. The attorney-general, it should be said, wants to carry out a coup against democracy, to oust a sitting prime minister, to oust a minister, without even having any… foundational legal basis for this. And her people are operating in an extraordinarily egregious manner, unlike anything seen since the founding of the state.” “The investigation of the prime minister’s advisor, the leaks, the story of the people surrounding the prime minister, reveal her work methods. She has refrained from investigating dozens, if not hundreds of leaks, against me, against the prime minister, and within the cabinet, but she chooses to investigate what she wants, how she wants, and where she wants.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons, a move that follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russian territory with American-supplied longer-range missiles. The new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles early Tuesday at a military facility in Russia’s Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, adding that air defenses shot down five of them and damaged one more. While the doctrine envisions a possible nuclear response by Russia to such a conventional strike, it is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Putin’s options open. The approval of the document demonstrates Putin’s readiness to tap his nuclear arsenal to force the West to back down as Moscow presses a slow-moving offensive in Ukraine as the war reached its 1,000th day. Asked Tuesday if a Ukrainian attack with longer-range U.S. missiles could potentially trigger a nuclear response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered affirmatively, pointing to the doctrine’s provision that holds the door open for it after a conventional strike that raises critical threats for the “sovereignty and territorial integrity: of Russia and its ally, Belarus. Commenting on whether the updated doctrine was deliberately issued to follow Biden’s decision, Peskov said the document was published “in a timely manner” and that Putin instructed the government to update it earlier this year so that it is “in line with the current situation.” Putin first announced changes in the nuclear doctrine in September, when he chaired a meeting discussing the proposed revisions. He has previously warned the U.S. and other NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied longer-range weapons to hit Russian territory would mean that Russia and NATO are at war. Washington has permitted Ukraine to use the longer-range weapons on targets inside Russia after declaring that thousands of North Korean troops were deployed in the Russian region of Kursk to fight an incursion by Kyiv’s forces. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the revised nuclear doctrine as the “latest example of irresponsibility” from “the depraved Russian government,” according to spokesperson Camilla Marshall. “Russia’s the one that continues to escalate this war, and the use of North Korean troops is just one example of that,” Marshall said. “He could remove his troops, roll back his tanks and end the onslaught and needless bloodshed in both Ukraine and Russia. … We would urge him to do so.” The updated doctrine says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.” It says any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response but avoids any firm commitment and mentions the “uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent” among the key principles of the nuclear deterrence. The document also notes that aggression against Russia by a member of a military bloc or coalition is viewed as “an aggression by the entire bloc,” a clear reference to NATO. At the same time, it spells out conditions for using nuclear weapons in […]

Sweden has issued five million pamphlets urging its citizens to stockpile food, water, and other essential supplies, citing a “worsening security situation” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The updated “If Crisis or War Comes” document, last revised six years ago, highlights growing concerns over nuclear risks and the potential for broader conflict in Europe. The release of the pamphlets coincided with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stark warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a video address, Zelensky referenced U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, stating, “Missiles will speak for themselves,” in response to reports that the U.S. has authorized strikes on Russian territory. The Swedish government emphasized the need for citizens to be prepared for potential nuclear, biological, or chemical attacks. The booklet, now twice as detailed as previous versions, instructs citizens to seek shelter during such events. “Shelter provides the best protection. After a couple of days, the radiation has decreased significantly,” the pamphlet advises. Additionally, it reinforces Sweden’s resolve in the face of potential aggression, saying: “If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false.” Other Nordic countries have also ramped up preparedness. Finland updated its online crisis guidance, focusing on self-reliance during war or emergencies. Norway issued 2.2 million pamphlets advising citizens to stockpile food, water, and medicines for at least a week, while Denmark has distributed guidance on maintaining a three-day emergency supply. Norway’s Directorate for Civil Protection stressed the importance of being prepared for events ranging from war to extreme weather. The pamphlets come as the U.S. announced a shift in its policy, allowing Ukraine to use American-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs) to strike targets inside Russia. This decision, a significant escalation in the nearly 1,000-day conflict, has drawn sharp criticism from the Kremlin. “It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to continue adding fuel to the fire,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The announcement follows reports of devastating Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, including Sumy, where 11 people were killed, and Odesa, where 10 died, with dozens more injured. World leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine. Starmer, attending the G20 summit in Brazil, said that aiding Ukraine is his “number one” priority but declined to comment on whether British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles could be used against Russian targets. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

When Hector Xu was learning to fly a helicopter in college, he recalled having a few “nasty experiences” while trying to navigate at night. The heart-stopping flights led to his research of unmanned aircraft systems while getting his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then, he formed Rotor Technologies in 2021 to develop unmanned helicopters. Rotor has built two autonomous Sprayhawks and aims to have as many as 20 ready for market next year. The company also is developing helicopters that would carry cargo in disaster zones and to offshore oil rigs. The helicopter could also be used to fight wildfires. For now, Rotor is focused on the agriculture sector, which has embraced automation with drones but sees unmanned helicopters as a better way to spray larger areas with pesticides and fertilizers. On Wednesday, Rotor plans to conduct a public flight test with its Sprayhawk at an agriculture aviation trade show in Texas. “People would call us up and say, ‘hey, I want to use this for crop dusting, can I?’ We’d say, OK maybe,” Xu said, adding that they got enough calls to realize it was a huge untapped market. The Associated Press reporters were the first people outside the company to witness a test flight of the Sprayhawk. It hovered, flew forward and sprayed the tarmac before landing. Rotor’s nearly $1 million Sprayhawk helicopter is a Robinson R44, but the four seats have been replaced with flight computers and communications systems allowing it be operated remotely. It has five cameras as well as laser-sensing technology and a radar altimeter that make terrain reading more accurate along with GPS and motion sensors. At the company’s hangar in Nashua, New Hampshire, Xu said this technology means there is better visibility of terrain at night. One of the big draws of automation in agriculture aviation is safety. Because crop dusters fly at around 150 mph (240 kph) and only about 10 feet (3 meters) off the ground, there are dozens of accidents each year when planes collide with power lines, cell towers and other planes. Older, poorly maintained planes and pilot fatigue contribute to accidents. A 2014 report from the National Transportation Safety Board found there were more than 800 agriculture operation accidents between 2001 and 2010 including 81 that were fatal. A separate report from the National Agriculture Aviation Association found nearly 640 accidents from 2014 until this month with 109 fatalities. “It is a very, very dangerous, profession and there are multiple fatalities every year,” said Dan Martin, a research engineer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service. “They make all their money in those short few months so sometimes it may mean that they fly 10 to 12 hours a day or more.” Job hazards also include exposure to chemicals. In recent years, safety concerns and the cheaper cost has led to a proliferation of drones flying above farmers’ fields, Martin said, adding that some 10,000 will likely be sold this year alone. “It’s growing exponentially as a market, super fast,” Martin said. But the size of the drones and their limited battery power means they only can cover a fraction of the area of a plane and helicopters. That is providing an opening for companies building bigger unmanned aircraft like Rotor […]