The IDF says troops intercepted a drone from Egypt last night carrying six rifles and ten handguns, thwarting an attempted weapons smuggling into Israel, with the drone and contraband later handed over to police.
WILD FOOTAGE: A 26-year-old Malian asylum seeker was arrested after attacking Milan’s Malpensa Airport with a hammer and starting fires, before a passenger subdued him using a fire extinguisher.
The IDF says an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon today killed a Hezbollah Radwan force member operating in the Deir Seryan area, accusing him of violating the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
An Israeli civilian, Salah Abu Hussein, who was jailed in Lebanon for the past year, was returned to Israel today through the Rosh Hanikra Crossing following Red Cross-assisted negotiations. According to Israel’s coordinator of hostages and missing persons, Gal Hirsch, Abu Hussein underwent initial questioning and medical checks before being transferred to a hospital for further treatment and will later reunite with his family.
The IDF says troops from the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade raided former Assad regime commando posts in the Mount Hermon area of southern Syria yesterday, detaining several suspected weapons dealers.
The New York Yankees are being criticized after drafting shortstop Core Jackson, despite his past admission to drawing a swastika on a Jewish student’s dorm door as a freshman in 2021. Jackson says he was “blackout drunk” and has since undergone community service, sensitivity training, and antisemitism education. The Yankees say they vetted him more thoroughly than any player in years, citing his remorse and efforts to learn. Jackson also faced a DUI charge in 2024, later reduced to impaired driving.
Immigrants applying to live and work in the United States will now be screened for ties to anti-American, antisemitic, or extremist ideologies. The updated guidance instructs officers to weigh whether applicants have endorsed, promoted, or supported such views when deciding on green cards, visas, or other immigration benefits. Officials say the rule applies to all applicants seeking U.S. immigration benefits, including permanent residency and work authorization.
An appeals court has thrown out the massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, ruling Thursday in New York state’s lawsuit accusing him of exaggerating his wealth. The decision came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A panel of five judges in New York’s mid-level Appellate Division said the verdict, which stood to cost Trump over $515 million and rock his real estate empire, was “excessive.” After finding that Trump engaged in fraud by flagrantly padding financial statements that went to lenders and insurers, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him last year to pay $355 million in penalties. With interest, the sum has topped $515 million. The total — combined with penalties levied on some other Trump Organization executives, including Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. — now exceeds $527 million, with interest. “While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants’ business culture, the court’s disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote in one of several opinions shaping the appeals court’s ruling. Engoron also imposed other punishments, such as banning Trump and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. Those provisions have been on pause during Trump’s appeal, and he was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond. The court, which was split on the merits of the lawsuit and the lower court’s fraud finding, dismissed the penalty Engoron imposed in its entirety while also leaving a pathway for further appeals to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. The appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court, took an unusually long time to rule, weighing Trump’s appeal for nearly 11 months after oral arguments last fall. Normally, appeals are decided in a matter of weeks or a few months. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the suit on the state’s behalf, has said the businessman-turned-politician engaged in “lying, cheating, and staggering fraud.” Trump and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. In a six-minute summation of sorts after a monthslong trial, Trump proclaimed in January 2024 that he was “an innocent man” and the case was a “fraud on me.” He has repeatedly maintained that the case and verdict were political moves by James and Engoron, who are both Democrats. Trump’s Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president’s civil rights. James’ personal attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, has said that investigating the fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.” Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren’t deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren’t audited. The defense also noted that bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid. Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, lowball estimates of his fortune. During an appellate court hearing in September, Trump’s lawyers argued that […]
