The Haifa District Attorney’s Office on Thursday filed an indictment against a resident of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, an Arab town in northern Israel, for pledging allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS) and planning an attack on Israeli security forces. In a joint statement, the Israel Police and Shin Bet warned that the case highlights a “worrying rise in Israeli Arab involvement in terrorism, influenced by the ongoing war.” The suspect, 25-year-old Najib Dick, was arrested in recent weeks. Investigators said he joined ISIS after swearing allegiance, watched ISIS content online—including execution and beheading videos—and, amid his increasing religious fervor and the war in Gaza, began considering an attack on Israeli security forces. This case follows a series of recent indictments tied to ISIS support. In May, two brothers and a 15-year-old from Arara were charged after allegedly pledging allegiance to ISIS, contacting a Syrian handler for instructions on building explosives, and planning a car bomb attack in Tel Aviv. Two months earlier, a 17-year-old from Jisr a-Zarqa was indicted for repeatedly pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting an attack in Hadera. Police found documents on bomb-making in his possession at the time of his arrest. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from houses destroyed by a major earthquake in Afghanistan last week, pushing the death toll to over 2,200, a Taliban government spokesman said Thursday. A 6.0 magnitude quake struck several provinces of the mountainous and remote east on Sunday night, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. The majority of casualties have been in Kunar, where many live in steep river valleys separated by high mountains. Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, who provided the updated casualty figure of 2,205, said rescue and search efforts were continuing. “Tents have been set up for people, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing.” The rough terrain is hindering relief efforts. Taliban authorities have deployed helicopters and airdropped army commandos to help survivors. Aid workers have reported walking for hours to reach villages cut off by landslides and rockfall. Funding cuts are also having an impact on the response. The Norwegian Refugee Council said it had fewer than 450 staff in Afghanistan whereas it had 1,100 in 2023, the date of the last major quake in the country. The council only had one warehouse remaining and no emergency stock. “We will need to purchase items once we get the funding but this will take potentially weeks and people are in need now,” said Maisam Shafiey, the communications and advocacy advisor for the council in Afghanistan. “We have only $100,000 available to support emergency response efforts. This leaves an immediate funding gap of $1.9 million.” Humanitarian organizations have called the latest disaster a crisis within a crisis. Afghanistan was already struggling with the impact of climate change, particularly drought, a weak economy and the return of some 2 million Afghans from neighboring countries. (AP)
Americans would save roughly $100 billion a year in interest costs if President Donald Trump’s campaign proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% were implemented, according to a paper published by Vanderbilt University on Thursday. Further, the banks and credit card companies would be able to withstand, and even still be profitable, if there were to be a national cap on interest rates. While limited in scope, the paper gives some academic backing to President Trump’s campaign promise. The paper found that banks would still be able to earn a profit on most of their customers even if credit card interest rates were capped at 15%, and if the banks continued to offer rewards and perks like points and airport lounge access. If interest rates were capped at 10%, the business model gets more difficult for the banks, but they could still make money off most card customers by cutting back on some rewards. Usury laws are as old as the Bible but have gotten traction again through Trump’s populist politics. When he was a candidate in the 2024 election, Trump proposed a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates. He has not spoken about it since the election. That said, politicians have seized on the idea. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in Congress that would match Trump’s campaign proposal of capping interest rates at 10%. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York. There are already some interest rate caps in effect in the U.S. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active servicemen and women more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions, the NCUA, has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%. The banking industry is adamantly against any caps on credit card rates. Historically, the industry has argued that any cap on interest rates would decimate the credit card business model and would threaten the viability of popular rewards and perks programs that millions of Americans use for free flights and hotel stays. It was this rhetoric that made Brian Shearer, the author of the report, start to look into the issue. Shearer previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the regulator’s assistant director of policy planning and strategy, working under Republican and Democratic administrations. “I wanted to see if President Trump’s proposed cap could be taken seriously, and the idea appears that it could be seriously considered and it would not have the amount of downside that often the pundits assume there will be,” Shearer said. Americans are carrying more credit card debt than ever before, to the tune of $1.21 trillion, or roughly $6,400 per person. The average credit card interest rate is roughly 21%, according to data from the Federal Reserve. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%. Banks earn revenue from credit cards two different ways: the amount of money they charge merchants to process a credit card transaction, often referred to as interchange, and the interest and fees the banks charge customers. That could be the annual fee on a credit card, or the monthly interest that accrues when a customer carries a […]
TRAGEDY: A 3-year-old boy has tragically passed away in Beersheva after being forgotten in a locked vehicle. Magen David Adom paramedics valiantly attempted to resuscitate the boy, but were tragically unsuccessful.
UPDATE: The Levaya of Habocher Yosef Shea Friedman, A”H, will take place at the Satmar Beis Hamedrish, 13 Monsey Blvd, at 10:30AM, followed by the Kevura in Kiryas Joel. Besuros Tovois!
Sec. Duffy on the Trump Administration’s air traffic control modernization effort: “We think, in 3.5 years, we can do a vast majority of this build on the infrastructure… Americans are going to see that when they fly. It’s going to be way better.”
Detectives in Yerushalayim arrested a man in his 20s from eastern Jerusalem after a video circulated online showing him boasting about contaminating ice cream at his workplace, saying, “We spit in the ice cream, we stick fingers in it, and the Jews eat it.” He remains under investigation, with further action pending.
NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced that the U.S. will send a four-man crew to the moon early next year, followed by plans to establish a lunar base camp. He emphasized that the mission aims to outpace China, with astronauts expected to stay 8–12 days on the surface, ultimately paving the way for a Mars mission in the early 2030s.
Powerball announced that the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.7 billion for Saturday night’s drawing after no tickets won Wednesday’s $1.4 billion prize.
Sa’ad al-Mihsal, a former school principal in Gaza, condemned Hamas for murdering his son, who was working at a distribution site in Khan Yunis. He also accused the group of neglecting Gaza’s residents, violating their dignity, stealing their property, and acting in ways that contradict Islamic values.
The IDF has completed dozens of operations from Mt. Dov to the summit of Mt. Hermon in the last year, including dismantling terror tunnels and weapons stockpiles.
Before tomorrow’s meeting on dismantling Hezbollah’s weapons, Beirut displayed banners for PM Salam and President Aoun: “We are all with you, one army, one weapon, one country…”
In Paris, the Coalition of the Willing—led by France and the UK with over 30 countries—met to coordinate security guarantees and aid for Ukraine, with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in attendance and a joint call with Trump planned after the talks.
Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Fadi Badriya warned that the community may push for separation from Syria if the regime is not held accountable before an international court.
Security footage from Lebanon shows the IDF carrying out a strike last night on a covert Hezbollah engineering equipment site in Ansariya, southern Lebanon.
