Yeshiva World News

A message from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: “DoD ≠ DEI” “no exceptions, name-changes, or delays. Those who do not comply will no longer work here.”

50 undocumented immigrants receive one-way tickets to ICE custody after DEA agents disrupt a Venezuelan gang’s gathering in Colorado, seizing cash and weapons.

New York’s Long Island was once synonymous with “duck” in the culinary world. Now it may lose its last commercial farm. The avian flu outbreak that has led to the slaughter of millions of birds at U.S. poultry farms and driven up the price of eggs struck the Crescent Duck Farm this week, leading federal officials to order the destruction of the operation’s entire flock. Doug Corwin, whose family has owned the roughly 140-acre farm since the 1640s, said Friday that a multiday culling of about 100,000 birds has been completed at the now-quarantined barns in Aquebogue. His remaining staff will thoroughly sanitize the facility, a process that could take months. “We’re just stunned right now,” Corwin, 66, said Friday by phone. “It’s a very, very sad time. We’re trying our best to work our way through this, one step at a time.” He said the family will have to reckon with the future of the fourth-generation business, which was established in 1908 and is tucked among the vineyards and agricultural lands of Long Island’s North Fork, about 80 miles (129 km) east of Manhattan. Corwin said he was forced to lay off 47 of the farm’s 75-member staff, including many who had worked there for decades as the farm’s revenue cratered. “If duck farming isn’t an option, I’m not sure what we’d do,” he said. “We’re not really set up for anything else.” Long Island was once a center of duck production in the U.S., thanks to its abundance of freshwater streams, friendly climate and proximity to major East Coast cities. During its heyday in the early 1960s, the region boasted more than 100 farms, producing up to 7.5 million birds annually, or about two-thirds of the nation’s duck output. Crescent Duck Farm has been the island’s lone remaining operation for the better part of a decade, as higher operating costs, tougher regulations and increasing suburban sprawl took their toll. Today the farm supplies nearly 4% of all the ducks sold in the country, supplying restaurants across the Northeast and beyond, including a number of high-end establishments in New York City, Corwin said. The key to its longevity has been the quality of its ducks, which he said have a thick, meaty breast and just enough skin fat to keep them tender and moist during cooking. “The only way we’ve survived on Long Island is by making a duck that is different from our competition,” Corwin said. Following the outbreak, the farm was allowed to hold on to several thousand duck eggs, which he hopes will help rebuild its flock and preserve the distinctive genetics honed over generations. The quarantined eggs will first be sanitized and hatched offsite, with regular testing for any signs of the virus. But Corwin said he is reluctant to restart without federal approval for vaccinating poultry — something larger industrial farms oppose because of its impact on international sales. Without vaccination, he said, smaller operations will continue to be at risk of total ruin. Even now, Corwin said he is not sure how the virus entered the tightly controlled facility after he noticed signs some of the birds were amiss last week. The farm, he said, imposed strict protocols to prevent infection as bird flu has ravaged poultry operations globally. Cases of this strain […]

U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated actions against Colombia with measures including 25% tariffs, a travel ban, visa sanctions, intensified CBP inspections, and financial penalties.

Border Czar Tom Homan is on the ground in Chicago with a team of ICE agents.

A resident of the central Oregon city of Bend says he was the person behind some of the googly eyes that appeared on sculptures around the city in recent months and sparked a viral sensation widely covered by news outlets. Jeff Keith, founder of a Bend-based nonprofit called Guardian Group that works to combat human trafficking, said Friday that he used duct tape to attach googly eyes to two sculptures. He said he has carried out similar pranks on other Bend sculptures before — such as adorning them with hula skirts and leis — and that they serve as a respite from the emotional toll of his work. “It is a place for me to cope with some pretty heavy stuff,” he told The Associated Press, noting that many of the trafficking victims he has worked with have been through “unimaginable trauma.” The city shared photos of the googly eye installations on social media in early December, saying the adhesives can damage the art. One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer — which Keith described as his handiwork — while another shows them attached to a sphere. City officials at the time said eight sculptures were affected and that it cost $1,500 to remove the googly eyes. The social media posts prompted a cascade of comments, with many social media users saying they liked the googly eyes and that the city shouldn’t spend time and money on removing them. The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Keith said he didn’t expect his exploits to receive that much attention, and that he went to city offices to offer to pay for any damages. The city didn’t immediately respond Friday to an emailed request seeking confirmation and comment. Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press last month that the city regretted that its post had been misunderstood. She said there was no intent to be “heavy-handed” and that the posts were meant to raise awareness about the damage adhesives can do to the city’s public art collection. The city had started treating some of the art pieces, she said, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. Keith, who has lived in Bend for nearly two decades, said he also hopes his pranks bring some humor and joy into people’s everyday lives. “I think the biggest thing is, for me, just to get a laugh,” he said. “When I come up on these roundabouts and I see families laughing, like hysterically laughing at these, it makes for a good time.” (AP)

An anti-Semitic incident occurred in Ireland where the President criticized Israel over the Gaza conflict during his International Holocaust Remembrance Day speech. Jews and Israelis at the event protested his comments and were forcibly removed from the ceremony.

Arsonist barely escapes explosion after igniting a gas station in South Russia; police are now hunting for the suspect.

As expected, Belarus President Lukashenko secures the election with 87.6% of the vote, according to exit polls

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend made a congratulatory call to terrorist Yasser Abu Bakr, a senior operative of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, after he was released from prison as part of the ceasefire/hostage deal. Abu Bakr Abu Bakr was serving a 115-year prison sentence for a 2002 terror attack in Netanya that killed several Israelis, including a 9-month-old baby, as well as other terror attacks that wounded numerous Israelis. Fatah named a training program after him for his “heroic” baby-killing deeds. In a recording of the call, which was broadcast by Kan News, Abbas is heard congratulating the murderer on his release, telling him that his time in prison was “for the sake of the Palestinian nation.” Reports about Abbas’ call enraged Israelis. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded: “Mahmoud Abbas remains a terror supporter and the Palestinian Authority is nothing more than a terrorist organization. His phone call to a murderer of Jews should be a wake-up call to those who still delude themselves about the PA as an alternative to Hamas after the war.” Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “You close your eyes to the PA rewarding murderers and teaching terror, release thousands of terrorists, stop the war in Gaza and retreat from Netzarim and northern Gaza. Give bulldozers to Hamas and don’t forget to tell us they’re deterred. It’s time to change the system.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Syrian channels assert that the new Syrian government has discovered a chemical weapons warehouse previously owned by the Assad regime in the Al-Abbasiya neighborhood of Homs city.

Colombia rejects deportation flights: two U.S. military planes with 160 migrants were turned back.

Miriam, a popular Israeli-style restaurant in Park Slope, was defaced overnight with anti-Israeli graffiti. The NYPD is currently investigating the incident as local residents report a steady increase in tensions within the neighborhood.

The Lebanese health ministry reports that 22 individuals were killed and 124 others wounded by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon since this morning, following attempts by civilians to reenter towns in the south that remain under IDF occupation.

Thirteen young Israelis were injured, five moderately to seriously, in a bus accident in the southeastern Asian county of Laos. Five locals were killed in the accident after the bus driver reportedly fell asleep and crashed into a tree. The driver died from his injuries. In addition to the Israelis who were injured, locals and about 10 European tourists were injured. The injured Israelis received emergency medical treatment at the scene and were evacuated to a local hospital. Later, after the intervention of the Magnus International Search & Rescue team and Israel’s Foreign Ministry in Vietnam, the Israelis were transferred by ambulances to a hospital in neighboring Thailand, where they can receive better medical care. Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world. Nadav, a young Israeli who was on the bus, was quoted by Ynet: “We were taking an overnight night bus to Pakse. Everyone was sleeping. Suddenly you feel like the bus is going to overturn. I found myself thrown into a ditch under the bus. Miraculously, the bus didn’t crush me. I started crawling out while everyone else was stuck in the bus. There were a lot of injured people, I made a list of all the Israelis to try to identify them. I found an American who knew how to perform a tourniquet while the Laotians were incapacitated and didn’t know what to do. There was complete chaos, panic.” “After a whole day, we arrived at the hospital and they didn’t know what to do. They transferred them to another hospital. No one treated the wounded except for bandages and painkillers. There were people in shocking condition. After 12-13 hours they got an ambulance from Thailand and evacuated us all to a hospital here. Baruch Hashem, all the Israelis are alive.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday the U.S. has not stopped military aid to Ukraine after newly sworn in U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would pause foreign aid grants for 90 days. Zelenskyy did not clarify whether humanitarian aid had been paused. Ukraine relies on the U.S. for 40% of its military needs. “I am focused on military aid; it has not been stopped, thank God,” he said at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu. The two leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss the energy needs of Moldova’s Russian-occupied Transnistria region, which saw its natural gas supplies halted on Jan. 1 due to Ukraine’s decision to stop Russian gas transit. Ukraine has said it can offer coal to the Transnistrian authorities to make up for the shortfall. The future of U.S. aid to Ukraine remains uncertain as President Donald Trump begins his second term in office. The American leader has repeatedly said he wouldn’t have allowed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to start if he had been in office, although he was president as fighting grew in the east of the country between Kyiv’s forces and separatists aligned with Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022. On Thursday, Trump told Fox News that Zelenskyy should have made a deal with Putin to avoid the conflict. A day earlier, Trump also threatened to impose stiff tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the fighting in Ukraine. Speaking in Kyiv on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he had enjoyed “good meetings and conversations with President Trump” and that he believed the U.S. leader would succeed in his desire to end the war. “This can only be done with Ukraine, and otherwise it simply will not work because Russia does not want to end the war, and Ukraine does,” Zelenskyy said. Grinding eastern offensive With Trump stressing the need to quickly broker a peace deal, both Moscow and Kyiv are seeking battlefield successes to strengthen their negotiating positions ahead of any prospective talks. For the past year, Russian forces have been waging an intense campaign to punch holes in Ukraine’s defenses in the Donetsk region and weaken Kyiv’s grip on the eastern parts of the country. The sustained and costly offensive has compelled Kyiv to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Friday that Russian troops had fought their way into the center of the strategically important eastern of Velyka Novosilka, although it was not possible to independently confirm the claim. Elsewhere, three civilians were killed Saturday in shelling in the Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Moscow-installed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said. He urged the residents of Oleshky, which sits close to the frontline in southern Ukraine, to stay in their homes or in bomb shelters. Russia also attacked Ukraine with two missiles and 61 Shahed drones overnight Saturday. Ukrainian air defenses shot down both missiles and 46 drones, a statement from the air force said. Another 15 drones failed to reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures. The downed drones caused damage in the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Khmelnytskyi regions, with Ukrainian emergency services saying that five people had to be from a 9-story apartment block in the Ukrainian capital. Russia also struck […]

VP Vance: “If we lower energy prices, we are going to see lower prices for consumers.”

This image shows Hamas leaders in Egypt, waiting for the release of individuals they secured: – Hussam Badran – Released in the Shalit deal – Abd Hanini – Released in the Shalit deal – Zaher Jabarin – Released in the Shalit deal – Musa Dodin – Released in the Shalit deal – Suhail Al-Hindi – Former chairman of an UNRWA committee

Massive floods have overwhelmed Rennes in the Brittany region of France, caused by extreme rainfall, inundating streets and prompting emergency responses. This event is part of a series of severe weather incidents affecting the area.