US Secretary of State says that France’s announcement that it would recognize a Palestinian state led to a breakdown in hostage-ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and emboldens the Palestinian terror group. “Talks with Hamas fell apart on the day [French President Emanuel] Macron made the unilateral decision that he’s going to recognize the Palestinian state,” Rubio says in an interview with the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network.
Reb Boruch Levine and a group of Yeshiva bochurim made a Kumzits in Los Angeles on Erev Shabbos Nachamu for Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, who has been suffering from ALS for many years.
Georgia authorities have identified the suspected gunman who opened fire near the CDC headquarters and the Emory University campus in Atlanta that left one police officer dead and temporarily prompted a shelter-in-place and lockdown order.
A top official at the Federal Reserve said Saturday that this month’s stunning, weaker-than-expected report on the U.S. job market is strengthening her belief that interest rates should be lower. Michelle Bowman was one of two Fed officials who voted a week and a half ago in favor of cutting interest rates. Such a move could help boost the economy by making it cheaper for people to borrow money to buy a house or a car, but it could also threaten to push inflation higher. Bowman and a fellow dissenter lost out after nine other Fed officials voted to keep interest rates steady, as the Fed has been doing all year. The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how President Donald Trump’s tariffs are affecting inflation before the Fed makes its next move. At a speech during a bankers’ conference in Colorado on Saturday, Bowman said that “the latest labor market data reinforce my view” that the Fed should cut interest rates three times this year. The Fed has only three meetings left on the schedule in 2025. The jobs report that arrived last week, only a couple of days after the Fed voted on interest rates, showed that employers hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected. It also said that hiring in prior months was much lower than initially thought. On inflation, meanwhile, Bowman said she is getting more confident that Trump’s tariffs “will not present a persistent shock to inflation” and sees it moving closer to the Fed’s 2% target. Inflation has come down substantially since hitting a peak above 9% after the pandemic, but it has been stubbornly remaining above 2%. The Fed’s job is to keep the job market strong, while keeping a lid on inflation. Its challenge is that it has one main tool to affect both those areas, and helping one by moving interest rates up or down often means hurting the other. A fear is that Trump’s tariffs could box in the Federal Reserve by sticking the economy in a worst-case scenario called “stagflation,” where the economy stagnates but inflation is high. The Fed has no good tool to fix that, and it would likely have to prioritize either the job market or inflation before helping the other. On Wall Street, expectations are that the Fed will have to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September after the U.S. jobs report came in so much below economists’ expectations. Trump has been calling angrily for lower interest rates, often personally insulting Powell while doing so. He has the opportunity to add another person to the Fed’s board of governors after an appointee of former President Joe Biden stepped down recently. (AP)
India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during clashes in May, India’s air force chief said in the first such public claim by the country after its worst military conflict in decades with its neighbor
Q: “Will Zeleksky have to give up more territory, Mr. President?” President Trump: “We’re going to get some back. We’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”
Zelenskyy rejects Trump’s proposal that Ukraine could swap territories with Russia Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy defiantly declared Saturday that his countrymen “will not give their land to occupiers,” after President Donald Trump suggested that a peace deal would include some “swapping” of territories with Russia. “The answer to Ukraine’s territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a message on Telegram early Saturday. “No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.” His comments came after Trump announced on Truth Social that a long-awaited meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been scheduled for next Friday in Alaska.
Trump to speak at White House on violent crime in D.C. amid federal crackdown • President Donald Trump said he will hold a “press conference” on Monday about violent crime in Washington, D.C. • Trump claimed that the nation’s capital will “soon be one of the safest cities,” even as data shows that violent crime in the city has been decreasing. • On Thursday, the White House said it was launching an increase in federal law enforcement across D.C. as part of a crackdown.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met privately in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump to make a case he did not want to hear: the automotive industry he said he wants to save were being hurt by his tariffs. The Democrat came with a slide deck to make her points in a visual presentation. Just getting the meeting Tuesday with the Republican president was an achievement for someone viewed as a contender for her party’s White House nomination in 2028. Whitmer’s strategy for dealing with Trump highlights the conundrum for her and other Democratic leaders as they try to protect the interests of their states while voicing their opposition to his agenda. It’s a dynamic that Whitmer has navigated much differently from many other Democratic governors. The fact that Whitmer had “an opening to make direct appeals” in private to Trump was unique in this political moment, said Matt Grossman, a Michigan State University politics professor. It was her third meeting with Trump at the White House since he took office in January. This one, however, was far less public than the time in April when Whitmer was unwittingly part of an impromptu news conference that embarrassed her so much she covered her face with a folder. On Tuesday, she told the president that the economic damage from the tariffs could be severe in Michigan, a state that helped deliver him the White House in 2024. Whitmer also brought up federal support for recovery efforts after an ice storm and sought to delay changes to Medicaid. Trump offered no specific commitments, according to people familiar with the private conversation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity to describe it. Whitmer is hardly the only one sounding the warning of the potentially damaging consequences, including factory job losses, lower profits and coming price increases, of the import taxes that Trump has said will be the economic salvation for American manufacturing. White House spokesman Kush Desai said no other president “has taken a greater interest in restoring American auto industry dominance than President Trump.” Trade frameworks negotiated by the administration would open up the Japanese, Korean and European markets for vehicles made on assembly lines in Michigan, Desai said. But the outreach Trump has preferred tends to be splashy presentations by tech CEOs. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave the president a customized glass plaque with a gold base as Cook promised $600 billion in investments. Trump claims to have brought in $17 trillion in investment commitments, although none of those numbers has surfaced yet in economic data. Under his series of executive orders and trade frameworks, U.S. automakers face import taxes of 50% on steel and aluminum, 30% on parts from China and a top rate of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico not covered under an existing 2020 trade agreement. That puts America’s automakers and parts suppliers at a disadvantage against German, Japanese and South Korean vehicles that only face a 15% import tax negotiated by Trump last month. On top of that, Trump this past week threatened a 100% tariff on computer chips, which are an integral part of cars and trucks, though he would exclude companies that produce chips domestically from the tax. Whitmer’s […]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday rejected the idea that his country would give up land to end the war with Russia after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested a peace deal could include “some swapping of territories.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.” Later Saturday, European and Ukrainian officials met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in England to discuss how to end the more than three-year war. The talks came after Trump said he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy. Representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland attended the meeting in Kent, Zelenskyy said in a post on X, calling the talks constructive. “I have not heard any partners express doubts about America’s ability to ensure that the war ends,” Zelenskyy said. “The President of the United States has the levers and the determination.” Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy dismissed the planned Trump-Putin summit, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, warning that any negotiations to end Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II must include Kyiv. “Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work,” he said. Ukrainian officials previously told The Associated Press privately that Kyiv would be amenable to a peace deal that would de facto recognize Ukraine’s inability to regain lost territories militarily. The Trump-Putin summit The Trump-Putin meeting may prove pivotal in a war that began when Russia invaded its western neighbor and has led to tens of thousands of deaths, although there’s no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. “It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska,” Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Saturday in a statement posted to the Kremlin’s news channel. In his comments at the White House Friday, Trump gave no details on the “swapping of territories.” Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed. Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Zelenskyy. His announcement that he planned to host one of America’s adversaries on U.S. soil broke with expectations that they’d meet in a third country. Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the AP that the “symbology” of holding the summit in Alaska was clear and that the location “naturally favors Russia.” “It’s easy to imagine Putin making the point. … We once had this territory and we gave it to you, therefore Ukraine had this territory and now should give it to us,” he said, referring to the 1867 transaction known as the Alaska Purchase when Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million. Reactions in Kyiv On the streets of Kyiv, reactions to the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia […]
Residents and politicians in Armenia and Azerbaijan responded Saturday with cautious hope — and skepticism in some cases — after their leaders signed a U.S.-brokered agreement at the White House aimed at ending decades of hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed the agreement on Friday in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who stood between the leaders as they shook hands — a gesture Trump reinforced by clasping their hands together. While the agreement does not constitute a formal peace treaty, it represents a significant diplomatic step toward normalization of relations. The two countries remain technically at war, and the deal does not resolve the longstanding dispute over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. It does, however, reflect the shifting power dynamics following Azerbaijan’s 2023 military victory, which forced the withdrawal of Armenian forces and ethnic Armenians from the region. Among the agreement’s provisions is the creation of a new transit corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” highlighting a changing geopolitical landscape amid declining Russian influence in the South Caucasus. Nagorno-Karabakh has been at the heart of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Although internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, the mountainous region was controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia. Two wars — in the early 1990s and again in 2020 — left tens of thousands dead and displaced. In 2023, Azerbaijan regained control of most of the territory in a swift offensive. Hopeful for peace and a weaker Moscow Ali Karimli, head of the opposition People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party, wrote on Facebook that the signing of the agreement “has undoubtedly brought Azerbaijan and Armenia significantly closer to peace,” and noted that it delivered “another blow … to Russia’s influence in the South Caucasus,” while deepening ties with the U.S. Arif Hajili, chairman of Azerbaijani opposition party Musavat, said he believed that “the most positive aspect of the initialing in Washington was the absence of Russia from the process.” He said lasting stability in the region hinges on the continual dwindling of Russian power, which “depends on the outcome of the Russian‑Ukrainian war.” Hajili also warned of lingering challenges, including Armenia’s economic dependence on Russia and some 2 million Azerbaijanis living in Russia. “Russia will continue to use these factors as levers of pressure,” he said. Hope on the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital “We have been waiting for a long time for this agreement to be signed,” a resident of Baku, Gunduz Aliyev, told The Associated Press. “We did not trust our neighbor, Armenia. That’s why a strong state was needed to act as a guarantor. Russia couldn’t do it, but the United States succeeded.” “The U.S. is taking full responsibility for security. This will bring peace and stability,” said another, Ali Mammadov. “Borders will open soon, and normal relations with Armenia will be established.” Abulfat Jafarov, also in Baku, expressed gratitude to all three leaders involved. “Peace is always a good thing,” he said. “We welcome every step taken towards progress.” More divided views in the Armenian capital Some people in Yerevan were unsure of the meaning of the agreement. “I feel uncertain because much still needs clarification. There are unclear aspects, and although the prime minister of Armenia made some statements […]
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after hustling to the International Space Station five months ago to relieve the stuck test pilots of Boeing’s Starliner. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Pacific off the Southern California coast a day after departing the orbiting lab. “Welcome home,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed. Splashing down were NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. They launched in March as replacements for the two NASA astronauts assigned to Starliner’s botched demo. Starliner malfunctions kept Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams at the space station for more than nine months instead of a week. NASA ordered Boeing’s new crew capsule to return empty and switched the pair to SpaceX. They left soon after McClain and her crew arrived to take their places. Wilmore has since retired from NASA. Before leaving the space station on Friday, McClain made note of “some tumultuous times on Earth” with people struggling. “We want this mission, our mission, to be a reminder of what people can do when we work together, when we explore together,” she said. McClain looked forward to “doing nothing for a couple of days” once back home in Houston. High on her crewmates’ wish list: hot showers and juicy burgers. It was SpaceX’s third Pacific splashdown with people on board, but the first for a NASA crew in 50 years. Elon Musk’s company switched capsule returns from Florida to California’s coast earlier this year to reduce the risk of debris falling on populated areas. Back-to-back private crews were the first to experience Pacific homecomings. The last time NASA astronauts returned to the Pacific from space was during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission, a détente meet-up of Americans and Soviets in orbit. (AP)
Around 2 a.m., noisy revelers emerging from clubs and bars packed the sidewalks of U Street in Washington, many of them seeking a late-night slice or falafel. A robust but not unusual contingent of city police cruisers lingered around the edges of the crowds. At other late-night hot spots, nearly identical scenes unfolded. What wasn’t apparent in Friday’s earliest hours: any sort of security lockdown by a multiagency flood of uniformed federal law enforcement officers. That’s what President Donald Trump had promised Thursday, starting at midnight, in the administration’s latest move to impose its will on the nation’s capital. In short, that law enforcement surge to take control of the District of Columbia’s streets did not appear to unfold on schedule. A two-hour city tour, starting around 1 a.m. Friday, revealed no overt or visible law enforcement presence other than members of the Metropolitan Police Department, the city’s police force. That still might change in the coming evenings as Trump puts into action his long-standing plans to “take over” a capital city he has repeatedly slammed as unsafe, filthy and badly run. According to his Thursday declaration, the security lockdown will run for seven days, “with the option to extend as needed.” In an online post Saturday, the Republican president said the Democratic-led city would soon be one of the country’s safest and he announced a White House news conference for Monday, though he offered no details. On Friday night, a White House official said Thursday night’s operations included arrests for possession of two stolen firearms, suspected fentanyl and marijuana. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said more than 120 members of various federal agencies — the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service — were to be on duty Friday night, upping the complement of federal officers involved. “This is the first step in stopping the violent crime that has been plaguing the streets of Washington, D.C.,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who publicly faced off against Trump in 2020 when he called in a massive federal law enforcement response to disperse crowds of protesters, has not said a public word since Trump’s declaration. The police department has gone similarly silent. A crackdown came after an assault The catalyst for this latest round of takeover drama was the assault last weekend on a high-profile member of the bureaucracy-slashing Department of Government Efficiency by a group of teenagers in an attempted carjacking. Police arrested two 15-year-olds and were seeking others. Trump quickly renewed his calls for the federal government to seize control. “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. He later told reporters he was considering everything from repealing Washington’s limited “home rule” autonomy to “bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly.” The threats come at a time when Bowser’s government can legitimately claim to have reduced the number of homicides and carjackings, both of which spiked in 2023. The number of […]
