European Union leaders appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to defend their security interests at Friday’s summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, desperate to exert influence over the meeting from which they are sidelined. Russian forces closed in on a key territorial grab, potentially to use as leverage in any peace negotiations. Seeking Trump’s ear before the summit It was unclear whether even Ukraine will take part in the summit. Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year. Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender. The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them. European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine. Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.” The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the idea that Ukraine must commit to giving up land to secure a ceasefire. Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south. “We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war,” he said Monday. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelenskyy’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world. A ‘profoundly alarming moment for Europe’ Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers. The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy. That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance,” he said. The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said. It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the U.S. state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th […]
U.S. inflation was unchanged in July as rising prices for some imported goods were balanced by falling gas and grocery prices, leaving overall prices modestly higher than a year ago. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in July from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the same as the previous month and up from a post-pandemic low of 2.3% in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 3.1%, up from 2.9% in June. Both figures are above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The figures suggest that slowing rent increases and cheaper gas are offsetting some impacts of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Many businesses are also absorbing much of the cost of the duties. Tuesday’s figures likely include some impact from the 10% universal tariff Trump imposed in April, as well as higher duties on countries such as China and Canada. The figures still leave the Federal Reserve in a difficult spot: Hiring slowed sharply in the spring, after Trump announced tariffs in April. The stalling out of job gains has boosted financial market expectations for an interest rate cut by the central bank, and some Fed officials have raised concerns about the health of the job market. A rate cut by the Fed often, but not always, lowers borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and business loans. Economists are divided over how Fed officials will read the data in the coming months. Some argued that the worsening jobs picture will outweigh lingering inflation concerns and lead the Fed to cut at its next meeting in September. Yet some say that with core inflation notably above 2% and rising, the Fed will hold off on reducing borrowing costs. Chair Jerome Powell has warned that worsening inflation could keep the Fed on the sidelines — a stance that has enraged Trump, who has defied traditional norms of central bank independence and demanded lower borrowing costs. On Tuesday, Trump attacked Powell again for not cutting rates and suggested he would allow a lawsuit against the Fed to proceed because of the rising costs of its extensive building renovation. It wasn’t clear what lawsuit he was referring to. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.2% in July, down from 0.3% the previous month, while core prices ticked up 0.3%, a bit faster than the 0.2% in June. Many economists expect the impact of tariffs will continue to push inflation higher in the coming months, even as the impact of the duties has so far not been as large as many feared. Brian Bethune, an economist at Boston College, said that overall U.S. tariffs — calculated as the amount of duties paid by U.S. companies divided by overall imports — has reached 10%, the highest in decades, and will likely keep rising for months. “Those cost increases will be passed on to the consumer in some way, shape, or form,” Bethune said. Some companies could return to “shrinkflation,” he noted, in which they reduce the package size of a good while keeping the price the same. And companies that are absorbing tariff costs, which reduces their profit margins, are less likely to hire new employees, he said. Job gains have slowed to a crawl since April. Gas prices fell 2.2% from June to July and have plunged 9.5% from a […]
Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by President Donald Trump began arriving in the nation’s capital on Tuesday, ramping up after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city’s police department and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city. The influx came the morning after Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves — to a point. Still unclear as the week unfolds: how visible and aggressive the federal presence in Washington would be, how it could play out, who will be targeted — and how long it might last. On Monday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Trump’s freshly announced plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and call in the National Guard was not a productive step. She calmly laid out the city’s case that crime has been dropping steadily and said Trump’s perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the numbers. She also flatly stated that the capital city’s hands are tied and that her administration has little choice but to comply. “We could contest that,” she said of Trump’s definition of a crime emergency, “but his authority is pretty broad.” Bowser made a reference to Trump’s “so-called emergency” and concluded: “I’m going to work every day to make sure it’s not a complete disaster.” The city and Trump have had a bumpy relationship While Trump invokes his plan by saying that “we’re going to take our capital back,” Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. More than half of those arrested, however, are juveniles, and the extent of those punishments is a point of contention for the Trump administration. Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Trump’s first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words “Black Lives Matter” painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Trump’s second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasizing common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL’s Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives had evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Trump has followed through on months of what many D.C. officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her longtime critics. “It’s a power play and we’re an easy target,” said Clinique Chapman, CEO […]
A Chareidi avreich from Ashkeon was arrested for draft-dodging early Tuesday afternoon at Ben-Gurion Airport, where he was on his way abroad with his family. The 22-year-old avreich, who got married three months ago, was later transferred to the military police. As is known, bnei yeshivos have been instructed not to try to leave the county before clarifying their legal status with the Va’ad Hayeshivos. According to reports, the avreich’s family said that he tried to clarify his status before his flight with the Va’ad Hayeshivos but did not receive an answer. The Va’ad Hayeshivos, on the other hand, claims that the avreich was told that his status was still being clarified, and he chose to fly on his own accord. The avreich’s family turned to the Am Kadosh organization, affiliated with Peleg Yerushalmi, which is providing him with legal assistance. Following the arrest, the heads of the Badatz Eidah HaChareidit and Gaavad HaRav Tzvi Friedman, the leader of one of the Peleg Yerushalimi sects, instructed avreichim to carry out a protest in the Lod area. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
A grave antisemitic incident occurred in Venice, Italy, when three unidentified thugs attacked a Jewish American couple taking a stroll in Venice’s historic Jewish ghetto, Italian media reported. The Venice-based Il Gazzettino newspaper reported that the victim, a Chabad chassid visiting from the United States, and his wife—who is five months pregnant—had just finished eating dinner and were taking a walk. Three men walking nearby with a dog noticed his traditional Jewish attire and long beard and shouted “dirty Jew,” spat on him, and threw a bottle at him. One of the thugs then unleashed his large dog and ordered it to attack the Jew—an act that evokes dark chapters of Jewish history. The dog heeded the order, but b’chasdei Hashem, it bit into the cellphone in the man’s pants pocket. The couple quickly fled back to the kosher restaurant where they had just dined. The couple decided not to press formal charges and left for the United States the next morning. However, according to the report, local Jews reported the incident to the police, who opened an investigation and are reviewing nearby surveillance footage in an effort to identify the perpetrators. The owner of the kosher Gam Gam restaurant, Tzion Yechiel Banim Rachamim, told the outlet that “the attack was completely unprovoked, and passersby acted as if nothing had happened.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The more than 130-year-old Eastman Kodak Co. is cautioning that there’s “substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business, saying it may have difficulty meeting upcoming debt obligations. Shares of the photography company slid more than 13% in early trading Tuesday. “Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms,” the company wrote in a regulatory filing. “These conditions raise substantial doubt about Kodak’s ability to continue as a going concern.” The Rochester, New York-based company said that it had $155 million of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, with $70 million held within the U.S. Last year Kodak said that it would end its retirement income plan in order to pay down debt, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kodak Chief Financial Officer David Bullwinkle said in a statement on Monday that the company expects to know by Friday how it will satisfy its obligations to pay all pension plan participants and foresees completing the reversion by December. Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co. is credited with popularizing photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. The company wound up selling off many of its businesses and patents, while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous. It received approval for its plan to emerge from court oversight a year later. At the time, Kodak was looking to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing. Kodak is now nearing completion on a manufacturing plant to create regulated pharmaceutical products. The company already makes unregulated key starting materials for pharmaceuticals. Production at the retrofitted facility is expected to start later this year. (AP)
Northern Border Police and Northern District Police officers carried out a targeted operation in Nazareth on Tuesday as part of an effort to crack down on illegal infiltration. At one building, officers discovered 28 illegal infiltrators along with a commercial quantity of merchandise of unknown ownership. Later in the operation, the officers located another hideout apartment with 11 infiltrators, and a third apartment where three more were hiding. In total, 42 Gazans who had entered Israel illegally were arrested at three apartments in the city. All suspects, along with the seized goods, were transferred to the Nazareth police station for questioning. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Wildfires burned in parts of Europe on Tuesday as millions of people across the continent struggled to adapt to the new reality: record summer heat. Temperatures in some areas soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Europe is warming faster than any other continent, at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Last year was the hottest year on record in Europe and globally, the monitoring agency said. Scientists warn climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making parts of Europe more vulnerable to wildfires. The burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal release heat-trapping gasses that are the main driver of climate change. Spain and Portugal: Numerous wildfires Outside Madrid, firefighters had largely contained a blaze that broke out Monday night, authorities said. It killed a man who suffered burns on 98% of his body, emergency services said. Elsewhere, firefighters and nearly 1,000 soldiers were battling blazes in regions including Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia. Thousands of people evacuated homes and hotels, including holiday-goers at beaches at the southern tip of Spain. Regional authorities said Tuesday afternoon that some of those evacuated from beach locations could return to their hotels. In Portugal, more than 700 firefighters were working to control a fire in the municipality of Trancoso, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) northeast of Lisbon. Smaller fires were burning further north. Turkey: Thousands evacuated, some on boats Firefighters largely brought a major wildfire in northwest Turkey under control, the forestry minister announced, a day after the blaze prompted hundreds of evacuations and led to the suspension of maritime traffic. The blaze broke out on agricultural land in Canakkale province. Fanned by strong winds, it rapidly spread to a forested area, then to a residential one. It forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents — some by sea — and led to 77 hospitalizations due to smoke exposure, officials said. Firefighters were still battling two other wildfires in Manisa and Izmir provinces in western Turkey, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on social media. France: A red alert for heat The national weather authority placed most of France’s southern region on the highest heat warning, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) expected for the second consecutive day. The heat will spread to the northeast, including the Paris region, Meteo France said. Some municipalities offered free or discounted access to public swimming pools. Most regions in central and southern France were monitored for the high risk of forest fires, after a deadly blaze last week in the Aude region. Officials said the fire was under control but will not be fully extinguished for weeks, with hot spots at risk of reigniting. Greece: Multiple evacuations for fires Authorities ordered multiple evacuations due to wildfires on the island of Zakynthos and in nearby areas on the western Greek mainland, as high winds added to the nationwide risk. Water-dropping planes and helicopters were operating in the Agala area in the southwest of Zakynthos, and evacuations affected a nearby coastal area popular with tourists. Zakynthos Mayor Giorgos Stasinopoulos appealed to the government to send additional aerial support. Britain: Another heatwave Temperatures were expected to hit 34 Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in southern parts of England, […]
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slammed the Hamas terror organization for its exploitation of “humanitarian aid” brought into Gaza during an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday. “Why does Hamas hate GHF?” Huckabee asked. “One of the things they demanded in one of the negotiations just two and a half weeks ago was that GHF had to be shut down. Why would Hamas want to shut it down?” “I’ll tell you why. Because GHF’s method of getting food has really hurt their capacity to control the food market, and it’s costing them money. Otherwise, they would say, ‘Sure, go ahead and bring food; all we care about is people getting to eat.’ They don’t care about people getting to eat. They care that they eat.” “And if you look at the people from Hamas, when they get photographed – they’re well fed. None of them are hungry—I guarantee you. Look at their faces, look at their bodies. And instead of food, they could use some Ozempic.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Israel’s defense establishment revealed on Tuesday that the Hamas terrorist organization is running a deliberate disinformation campaign to depict a false picture of widespread hunger in Gaza, aiming to damage Israel’s international standing and gain political leverage. The investigation revealed a significant gap between the number of malnutrition-related deaths reported by Hamas’s Ministry of Health and the number of confirmed cases with verifiable information. The assessment showed that since the beginning of July, while the hostage deal/ceasefire negotiations were taking place, Hamas reported a soaring number of alleged deaths from malnutrition in Gaza. Until June 2025, Hamas reported 66 such deaths since the war began. In July alone, however, over 133 cases were announced—most without identifying details, in contrast to earlier reporting practices. For example, Hamas claimed 18 malnutrition-related deaths on July 19 and another 15 on July 22. Yet independent analysis of communications and social media found only a handful of cases that could be confirmed. Many named individuals were found to have had serious preexisting health conditions unrelated to malnutrition, and some had even received medical treatment in Israeli hospitals before the war. For example, in recent weeks, photos of a four-year-old child, Abdullah Hani Muhammad Abu Zarqa, were circulated, with claims that his condition is due to starvation in Gaza. The investigation by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) revealed that he suffers from a genetic disease causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning—a hereditary illness that also affected other family members. It was also found that four months before the outbreak of the war, the child traveled with his mother, with Israel’s approval, to receive medical treatment at the Al-Makassed Hospital in east Jerusalem. Another example was 27-year-old Karem Khaled Mustafa al-Jamal, whose death Hamas attributed to malnutrition but who had long suffered from muscular dystrophy and partial paralysis, impairing his ability to swallow “The investigation carried out by security officials in cooperation with professional medical personnel found no signs of a broad malnutrition crisis in Gaza,” the statement said. “Hamas is cynically exploiting tragic imagery as part of a false and timed disinformation campaign intended to create international pressure and negative public opinion against Israel.” “We will continue working to improve the humanitarian response in Gaza, in cooperation with the international community, while rejecting allegations of famine in the Gaza Strip.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
For about a century, Belgium’s Jewish community has maintained a minhag of asking the country’s leaders to send Shana Tov greetings, which are then shared with local Jews through community publications. However, antisemitism couched in “concern over Gazans” has reached such epidemic proportions that it seems that today, even offering the Jewish community a simple Shana Tova has taken on political overtones, Yisrael Hayom reported. Minister-President of Flanders Matthias Diependale recently responded to a letter from the Jewish community by stating, “Thank you very much for your kind request and for bringing your special edition for the Jewish New Year to our attention. We wish you much success with the publication and appreciate your efforts in producing this initiative. After an internal discussion, we regret to inform you that, given the current situation and sensitivities regarding tensions in the Middle East, we are unable to fulfill your request. Anything related, even in the slightest, to this conflict is closely monitored and examined under a magnifying glass. For this reason, we do not think it is appropriate to elaborate on the matter. We hope for your understanding regarding the decision and thank you again for your involvement.” Members of the Jewish kehilla were shocked by the response, and as word of it became known, it gradually caused a storm of outrage that reached Diependale, who understood that the claim of avoiding wishing a Shana Tova greeting to Jews because of the situation in the Middle East was problematic, to say the least. However, instead of admitting the mistake and sending a Shana Tova greeting, Diependale sent a letter, this time signed by him personally and not by his office and cabinet of advisors, claiming that he wasn’t sending a Shana Tova greeting because of his “long-standing” position to avoid becoming involved in religious activities. “I have learned that there has been a stir due to my refusal to comply with the request below,” he wrote. “In light of this, I would like to correct something. My refusal is not due to the situation in the Middle East, as was misrepresented in the following announcement from my cabinet. I would like to share my personal motivation: My refusal stems solely from the principle that for over 15 years in my role as a representative of the people, I have not supported religious activities. I have also never accepted invitations to the Muslim ‘Eid’ holiday. I have also never participated in the ‘Te Deum’ for Catholics, and so on. In doing so, I do not judge any religion or the people who observe it in any way. However, I am convinced that no religion—including my own—plays any role in the fulfillment of my mandate. I hope I can count on your mutual respect on this matter.” It should be noted that Diependale’s explanation did not clarify why he didn’t avoid issuing a Shana Tova greeting for the past 14 years. His response incensed the Jewish community, as well as other politicians. “To me, this proves it’s madness and that the cabinet of the minister-president of the Flanders region is influenced by extreme leftists who are either Jew-haters or cowards, or a combination of both,” said MP Sam Van Rooy of the right-wing Vlaams Belang party, who said that the ruling New Flemish Alliance […]
Over the past six months, French authorities have stopped renewing work visas for El Al flight security guards employed in Paris, sources told Ynet on Monday. According to the sources, the move was made by Parisian authorities due to anti-Israel sentiments amid rising tensions between France and Israel. The work visa extensions previously received by the Israeli security staff authorized them to stay and work legally in France, classifying them as ITAN employees (Israeli citizens supporting diplomatic missions) via the Israeli embassy. Since the visa renewals were halted, some of the security guards are living in the country illegally, while others obtained diplomatic visas through the Israeli embassy, which grants them temporary status to continue their stay. “In the past six months, none of the employees whose work visas expired have received renewals,” an El Al flight security guard stationed in Paris told Ynet. “This has never happened before, and no one has been granted new approvals. It seems they are trying to end the employment of El Al security personnel in France.” In response to a Ynet inquiry, the Foreign Ministry said that “the matter is being handled by the embassy in coordination with the French Foreign Ministry.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Amid rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayers from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. It’s not clear that any state has a solution and the actual effect of data centers on electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against tech behemoths like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta. But more than a dozen states have begun taking steps as data centers drive a rapid build-out of power plants and transmission lines. That has meant pressuring the nation’s biggest power grid operator to clamp down on price increases, studying the effect of data centers on electricity bills or pushing data center owners to pay a larger share of local transmission costs. Rising power bills are “something legislators have been hearing a lot about. It’s something we’ve been hearing a lot about. More people are speaking out at the public utility commission in the past year than I’ve ever seen before,” said Charlotte Shuff of the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group. “There’s a massive outcry.” Some data centers could require more electricity than cities the size of Pittsburgh, Cleveland or New Orleans, and make huge factories look tiny by comparison. That’s pushing policymakers to rethink a system that, historically, has spread transmission costs among classes of consumers that are proportional to electricity use. “A lot of this infrastructure, billions of dollars of it, is being built just for a few customers and a few facilities and these happen to be the wealthiest companies in the world,” said Ari Peskoe, who directs the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard University. “I think some of the fundamental assumptions behind all this just kind of breaks down.” A fix, Peskoe said, is a “can of worms” that pits ratepayer classes against one another. Some officials downplay the role of data centers in pushing up electric bills. Tricia Pridemore, who sits on Georgia’s Public Service Commission and is president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, pointed to an already tightened electricity supply and increasing costs for power lines, utility poles, transformers and generators as utilities replace aging equipment or harden it against extreme weather. The data centers needed to accommodate the artificial intelligence boom are still in the regulatory planning stages, Pridemore said, and the Data Center Coalition, which represents Big Tech firms and data center developers, has said its members are committed to paying their fair share. But growing evidence suggests that the electricity bills of some Americans are rising to subsidize the massive energy needs of Big Tech as the U.S. competes in a race against China for artificial intelligence superiority. Data and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie published a report in recent weeks that suggested 20 proposed or effective specialized rates for data centers in 16 states it studied aren’t nearly enough to cover the cost of a new natural gas power plant. In other words, unless utilities negotiate higher specialized rates, other ratepayer classes — residential, commercial and industrial — are likely paying for data center power needs. Meanwhile, Monitoring Analytics, the independent market watchdog for the mid-Atlantic grid, produced research in June showing that 70% — or $9.3 billion — of last year’s increased electricity […]
A former Mossad official under investigation in the so-called “Qatargate” affair took part in meetings of Israel’s hostage negotiation team during the first two weeks of the current war — at times representing the Mossad itself — according to a report Monday by Kan. The official, identified only as “Shin,” acknowledged to Kan that he had business ties with Qatar and claimed he informed both the Mossad and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, the IDF’s lead envoy to the talks. However, Kan reported that neither the spy agency nor other members of the negotiating team were aware of those connections at the time. Channel 12 reported in May that “Shin” had previously worked with Qatari intelligence while serving in the Mossad and currently conducts business in Qatar. He also reportedly co-owns a company with retired IDF general Yoav Mordechai, who developed ties with Qatari officials during his tenure as head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In a sharp statement following the Kan report, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accused Qatar of penetrating “the holy of holies of the struggle to return hostages — from the Prime Minister’s Office to the senior officials of the Mossad and the negotiating team.” The group called on the prime minister to “prove with actions” that he is committed to bringing home all the captives held in Gaza. The Qatargate scandal centers on allegations that two close aides to Prime Minister Netanyahu — Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein — engaged in illicit activity while working for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm. Prosecutors suspect the pair of offenses including contact with a foreign agent and corrupt dealings with lobbyists and businessmen, all while serving in the Prime Minister’s Office. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has hit a new low in public perception, and is the most disliked prominent newsmaker in America, according to a new Gallup poll released last week. The survey found Musk with a net favorability rating of -28, marking a steep 24-point drop from earlier in the year. In the latest numbers, just 33% of Americans said they view the Tesla and SpaceX CEO favorably, while 61% view him unfavorably — nearly a two-to-one negative split. Musk’s decline puts him five points below Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the same poll. Gallup did not pinpoint a single reason for the shift, but noted that Musk has alienated a broad range of Americans. His outspoken political stances, including aligning with President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election, drew sharp criticism from Democrats. A public feud with Trump just months later also damaged his standing among Republicans. The plunge comes as Musk continues to face controversies surrounding his stewardship of X (formerly Twitter), legal disputes, and political battles that have put him at the center of public debate — and, increasingly, public disapproval. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu personally phoned the veteran chassidishe lawmaker MK Meir Porush to inquire about his health, as Porush continues a partial hunger strike protesting the government’s actions against bnei Torah in the matter of giyus. Late last week, Porush moved his office activities to a protest tent outside the Justice Ministry, declaring that he would forgo food for nine hours each day as part of his demonstration. The move comes in response to the government’s recent stepped-up enforcement of draft orders against bochurim, which has already led to the arrest of several yeshivah bochurim. UTJ last month left Netanyahu’s coalition in protest over the lack of progress on legislation to formally exempt lomdei Torah from army or national service. According to Kan, during Sunday’s cabinet meeting Netanyahu asked ministers why Porush had begun his hunger strike. Communications Minister Shlomo Karchi replied that it was because Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara “is persecuting Torah learners” and “abusing the olam haTorah.” Karchi — a vocal advocate for removing the attorney general from office — visited Porush yesterday, telling him that Baharav-Miara’s actions are intended “to cause disagreement between us,” and not out of any genuine interest in enlistment. “She is trying to harm Torah learning,” Karchi reportedly said, adding, “and I am certain that we will overcome these attempts.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A Jerusalem Magistrate Court judge has ordered that a man accused of vandalizing the Kosel and the Great Synagogue with politically charged graffiti be committed to a psychiatric ward. The graffiti, which read “Yesh Shoah B’Gaza” – “There is a Holocaust in Gaza,” sparked widespread outrage. Police had sought to extend the suspect’s detention by an additional five days, but the judge declined, describing the matter as a “sad case.” Ynet reported that police also requested the suspect be barred from visiting the Kosel but the judge refused, saying, “I do not ban Jews from the Kosel.” The suspect is reportedly a 27-year-old chareidi. His parents are said to have contacted Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef to share concerns over their son’s alleged mental illness. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
AOL’s dial-up internet is finally taking its last bow. Yes, while perhaps a dinosaur by today’s digital standards, dial-up is still around. But AOL says it’s officially pulling the plug for its service on Sept. 30. “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” AOL wrote in a brief update on its support site — noting that dial-up and associated software “optimized for older operating systems” will soon be unavailable on AOL plans. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the world wide web for the first time when its dial-up service launched decades ago, rising to prominence particularly in the 90s and early 2000s. The creaky door to the internet was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone used to connect your computer online — along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, and an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance, doing away with dial-up’s quirks for most people accessing the internet today. Still, a handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines. In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide. AOL was the largest dial-up internet provider for some time, but not the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today. Regardless, the decline of dial-up has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other relics of the internet’s earlier days continue to disappear. Microsoft retired video calling service Skype just earlier this year, for example — as well as Internet Explorer back in 2022. And in 2017, AOL discontinued its Instant Messenger — a chat platform that was once lauded as the biggest trend in online communication since email when it was founded in 1997, but later struggled to ward off rivals. AOL itself is far from the dominant internet player it was decades ago — when, beyond dial-up and IMs, the company also became known for its “You’ve got mail” catchphrase that greeted users who checked their inboxes, as famously displayed in the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan by the same name. Before it was America Online, AOL was founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1985. It soon rebranded and hit the public market in 1991. Near the height of the dot-com boom, AOL’s market value reached nearly $164 billion in 2000. But tumultuous years followed, and that valuation plummeted as the once-tech pioneer bounced between multiple owners. After a disastrous merger with Time Warner Inc., Verizon acquired AOL — which later sold AOL, along with Yahoo, to a private equity firm. At the time Verzion announced that sale to in 2021, an anonymous source familiar with the transaction told CNBC that the number of AOL dial-up users was “in the low thousands,” down from 2.1 million when Verzion first moved to acquire AOL in 2015 — and far below peak demand seen back in the 90s and […]
As the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee gets ready for its first discussion on the ongoing gezeiras hagiyus since the removal of former chairman MK Yuli Edelstein, Chareidi representatives have placed a clear list of demands before the new chairman, MK Boaz Bismuth. According to reports, the requests include the full cancellation of the tens of thousands of draft orders sent in the past year to bnei Torah, and a halt to sanctions against mosdos haTorah that don’t meet the government’s army enlistment quotas. The delegation is also demanding the removal of a highly objectionable clause from Edelstein’s earlier proposal that would have forced yeshivah bochurim to sign in and out of the bais medrash with a fingerprint machine. The committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss advancing the government’s enlistment proposal toward its second and third readings in the Knesset — steps that would be needed before the law could take effect. Both Shas and UTJ have been working intensely to ensure that most bnei Torah can continue learning full-time without being forced into the army or other frameworks. Last month, UTJ left the government in protest after receiving Edelstein’s draft bill, which they said violated the agreement reached in June. Shas soon followed, also “quitting” but continuing to function as part of the coalition. Edelstein’s plan had contained far-reaching punishments for those not enlisting, including taking away driver’s licenses, forbidding travel outside Eretz Yisrael, blocking eligibility for public jobs, ending housing assistance, and removing discounts on buses, National Insurance, and electric bills. In a move clearly aimed at easing tensions, the coalition replaced Edelstein with MK Bismuth, who is viewed as more likely to work with the frum factions toward a mutually acceptable solution. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
What is ADHD and does my child have it? Good question! Let’s get some clarity. ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a person’s ability to regulate attention, impulses, and activity level in a way that is appropriate for their age. It’s one of the most common mental health conditions in children, but it also affects teens and adults. ADHD symptoms fall into two main categories: inattentiveness and hyperactivity. Symptoms of inattentiveness include difficulty sustaining attention, disorganization, forgetfulness, and distractability. Symptoms of hyperactivity include fidgeting, excessive talking, interrupting, and acting without thinking. Children can have symptoms from either or both categories to qualify for an ADHD diagnosis. To be diagnosed, symptoms must start before the age of 12, be present for at least 6 months, be present in two or more settings, (e.g., home, school, with friends), and clearly impact functioning. About 9.8% of children (ages 3–17) in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD. Most children are diagnosed between ages 6–11, though it can be identified earlier. Boys are diagnosed significantly more than girls with a disparity of 13 to 6 percent. Some theorize that this disparity is not due to a genuine disparate prevalence but rather due to differences in presentation of symptoms. Boys may display more “externalizing” behaviors such as hyperactivity, impulsivity and disruptive behavior. In contrast, girls may present with symptoms like daydreaming, disorganization and quiet difficulty with focusing, which may cause them to fly under the radar. Teachers and parents are more likely to notice and report disruptive behaviors, so boys are diagnosed more often. Girls may be under-diagnosed, diagnosed later, or misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression. ADHD is thought to be a result of multiple contributing factors. Genetics play a large role with heritability estimates ranging from 70 to 80%. Environmental factors can also play a role in interacting with genetic vulnerabilities and influence brain development, especially during prenatal and early life stages. These can include maternal alcohol or drug use, premature birth or birth complications and early childhood adversity. Since all children can be impulsive, hyperactive and inattentive at times, it’s really common for parents to wonder if their child is displaying normal childhood behavior or is perhaps struggling with ADHD. Key questions for parents to ask themselves are these: ● Is my child like this daily or only occasionally? ● Is he/she like this just at home or school or across multiple environments? ● Most importantly- is this negatively impacting my child’s functioning in life? If a child is suffering due to impulsivity, hyperactivity or inattentiveness then this is a sign that it is not just normative childhood behavior but something more significant. Speaking to teachers can also be very helpful as they have a sense of how your child is doing compared to their same age peers. If you do suspect that your child has ADHD, you can start out by discussing it with their pediatrician or a mental health professional. They can help guide you to next steps if it is deemed necessary. As mentioned earlier, there is some indication that ADHD may be under-diagnosed in girls or those with less disruptive symptoms; similarly ADHD may be overdiagnosed in certain populations. A 2010 study (Elder, Journal of Health Economics) found that kindergartners who were the youngest in class […]
