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President Donald Trump’s administration has decided not to cover expensive, high-demand obesity treatments under the federal government’s Medicare program. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said late Friday that it would not cover the medications under Medicare’s Part D prescription drug coverage. Medicare covers health care expenses mainly for people age 65 and older. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, proposed a rule in late November after Trump won re-election that would have extended coverage of drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy. The rule was not expected to be finalized until Trump took office. Trump returned to office in January. The Senate confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday. CMS did not offer an explanation Friday for its decision, and federal spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been an outspoken opponent of the injectable drugs, which have exploded in popularity due to the potentially life-changing weight loss that some patients experience. Polls show Americans favor having Medicaid and Medicare cover the costs. But many insurers, employers and other bill payers have been reluctant to pay for the drugs, which can be used by a wide swath of the population and can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Biden’s proposal was expensive: It would have included coverage for all state- and federally funded Medicaid programs for people with low incomes, costing taxpayers as much as $35 billion over next decade. Proponents of the coverage have argued that treating obesity can actually reduce longer-term costs by cutting down on heart attacks and other expensive health complications that can arise from the disease. The benefits consultant Mercer has said that 44% of U.S. companies with 500 or more employees covered obesity drugs last year. Medicare does pay for drugs like Wegovy for patients who have heart disease and need to reduce their risk of future heart attacks, strokes and other serious problems. The federal program also covers versions of the drugs that treat diabetes. More than a dozen state Medicaid programs already cover the drugs for obesity. (AP)

New York state officials have pushed back against the Trump administration’s directive to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from public schools, making it clear they won’t comply—even with the threat of losing federal education dollars.

In a letter sent Friday to the U.S. Department of Education, Daniel Morton-Bentley, legal counsel and deputy commissioner at the New York State Education Department, expressed strong objections, questioning the federal agency’s legal basis for such an ultimatum.

“We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion,’” he wrote. “But there are no federal or State laws prohibiting the principles of DEI.”

Morton-Bentley also emphasized that state officials do not recognize any legitimate authority the federal education department has to dictate how states interpret legal rulings or to cut off funding without following a formal process.

As of now, the U.S. Department of Education has not issued a public response to inquiries about the state’s position.

On Thursday, the Trump administration instructed all K-12 schools across the country to submit certifications within 10 days confirming that they comply with civil rights laws and have dismantled what it terms discriminatory DEI programs. These certifications are now a condition for receiving federal education funds, which account for roughly 6% of New York’s overall K-12 school funding.

“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” said Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, when announcing the requirement. He argued that numerous educational institutions have disregarded their legal duties, “including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.”

The certification form requires education leaders to acknowledge that continued access to federal aid hinges on adherence to federal civil rights statutes. It also includes several pages of legal interpretation provided by the administration.

At the heart of the threat is Title I funding, a major source of federal financial support aimed at assisting schools in low-income communities.

In his letter, Morton-Bentley noted that the state has repeatedly affirmed to the federal government its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with the most recent assurance sent in January. He maintained that the federal government’s current approach rests on a misreading of the law.

“Given the fact that you are already in possession of guarantees by NYSED that it has and will comply with Title VI, no further certification will be forthcoming,” he wrote.

Morton-Bentley also highlighted the administration’s apparent reversal on this issue, pointing out that the previous Trump administration took a very different view. In 2020, then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stated that diversity and inclusion were “cornerstones of high organizational performance.” He said no rationale has been given for this sudden change in policy.

Opponents of the certification order argue that it contradicts Trump’s oft-repeated pledge to return control of education to states and local communities.

The federal government’s current threat mirrors actions taken against colleges in recent months, where funding has been wielded as leverage to suppress protests related to Israel that the administration has categorized as antisemitic.

This isn’t the only directive New York has defied. The state has also resisted a federal push to block a congestion pricing plan that would impose higher tolls on vehicles entering Manhattan, a strategy designed to support the city’s mass transit system.

{Matzav.com}

The IRS plans to cut as many as 20,000 staffers — up to 25% of the workforce — as part of layoffs that began Friday, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The job cuts will begin with the IRS Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, which would be reduced by 75% through layoffs, and its remaining workers would be absorbed into the agency’s Office of Chief Counsel, according to those two people as well as a third person familiar with the matter. Fewer than 200 people work in the Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, formerly known as the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The three people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the plans. The Washington Post first reported on Friday’s layoffs at the IRS, which collects revenue and enforces tax laws. The workforce reductions are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal bureaucracy through billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The administration has closed agencies, laid off probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection and offered buyouts through a “deferred resignation program.” A Treasury spokesperson who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Treasury plans said Friday that any staffing reductions are part of larger process improvements and tech innovations that will allow the IRS to operate more effectively. Rolling back Biden-era hiring and consolidating support functions are intended to more efficiently serve the public, the spokesperson said in a statement. The IRS started workforce reductions in February. Roughly 7,000 probationary employees with one year or less of service at the agency were notified they would lose their jobs. However, a federal judge recently ordered those workers to be reinstated. In March, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline of April 15. (AP)

Hamas announced on Friday that it will not relocate Israeli hostages currently held in parts of Gaza where the IDF has issued evacuation warnings, placing the blame on Israel should anything happen to the captives.

The Israel Defense Forces recently ordered evacuations from several areas, including Rafah, Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, and northern parts of the Strip. These directives came approximately two and a half weeks after fighting resumed due to the collapse of a ceasefire and hostage deal.

“Half of the living Israeli prisoners are located in areas which the Israeli occupation army has requested to be evacuated in recent days,” said Hudhaifa Kahlout — better known as Abu Obeida — who serves as the spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

“We have decided not to transfer these prisoners from these areas, and to keep them under strict security measures, which are extremely dangerous to their lives,” Abu Obeida stated in a message released in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

He continued by saying, “if the enemy is concerned about the lives of these prisoners, they must immediately negotiate their evacuation or release.”

“The Netanyahu government bears full responsibility for the lives of the prisoners. Had they been concerned about them, they would have adhered to the agreement signed in January. Most of them would probably be in their homes today,” Abu Obeida added.

In the past, Hamas has threatened to kill hostages if Israeli troops moved close to their holding locations. In one such case in August, six hostages were executed in Rafah while IDF operations were underway nearby.

This latest warning from Hamas came shortly after the military revealed that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met on Friday with relatives of hostages still held in Gaza.

Since assuming his position last month, Zamir has held weekly meetings with hostage families, and the IDF said he plans to continue doing so in the coming weeks.

During Friday’s gathering, Zamir outlined the military’s current objectives in Gaza and emphasized that securing the return of the hostages remains “a supreme goal.”

Nevertheless, many of the hostages’ families have expressed concern that the ongoing military operations in Gaza are endangering their loved ones rather than bringing them closer to freedom.

Among the critics is Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages killed in a Hamas tunnel last August. In a post on X Friday, Polin took aim at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership during the conflict and beyond.

“Not everything is political. Some things are simply human. The exemplary people of Israel deserve more. Do things with broad consensus. Bring back our 59 loved ones.

“Accept responsibility, say ‘I’m sorry,’ [establish] a national commission of inquiry, [advance] a fair sharing of national service,” Polin tweeted, though he did not mention Netanyahu by name.

Netanyahu has pushed back against calls for a state-led commission to investigate the failures leading up to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre and has continued to push for legislation that would formally exempt ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service.

“Enough with the division, stop blaming, stop dividing, stop ignoring the will of the people, enough with the paranoid TikTok videos,” Polin said in his post.

In recent days, Netanyahu has released a series of social media videos targeting what he calls the “deep state” and denying allegations against his staff in the ongoing Qatargate scandal, which centers around suspected links between Hamas’s Qatari backers and members of the prime minister’s inner circle.

“Why vacation during war? We Israelis deserve better,” Polin added, criticizing Netanyahu’s decision to extend his visit to Budapest for a weekend stay in Hungary with his wife.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued in a court filing Friday that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican’s “unparalleled crimes” had “made a mockery” of the country’s election system. “From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” the office wrote. Prosecutors also argued that Santos had been “unrepentant and defiant” for years, dismissing the prosecution as a “witch hunt” and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked. They said his claims of remorse after pleading guilty “ring hollow” and suggested he has a “high likelihood of reoffending” given he has not forfeited any of his ill-gotten gains or repaid any of his victims. Santos’ lawyers, in an email to The Associated Press, dismissed the seven-year proposal as “absurd and unfounded,” saying it appears “designed to beat up on a man that already took full responsibility for his actions.” In their own sentencing memo Friday, they rejected the notion that Santos will fall back into criminal behavior, noting he has no prior criminal record and also provides “crucial” support to his sister and her young daughter. They argued for a two-year prison term, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft. The lawyers maintain such a sentence is in line with those handed to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and other political figures facing similar financial crimes. They also touted Santos’ cooperation in a separate federal investigation into a Texas man who tried to dupe Santos out of nearly $1 million by posing as a political fixer offering to destroy evidence in his cases. “This sentence, coupled with the significant collateral consequences Mr. Santos has already suffered—including the loss of his congressional seat and public humiliation — would send a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated,” the lawyers wrote. A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to decide Santos’ sentence during a court hearing April 25. The once-rising Republican, who represented parts of Queens and Long Island, served barely a year in office before he was ousted by his House colleagues in 2023, just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber’s history. Santos’ political demise came after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign. The now-36-year-old cast himself as a wealthy businessman who had graduated from top colleges, worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio. In truth, he was struggling financially and faced eviction. Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his congressional campaign. He was initially due to be sentenced in February, but a judge granted him a three-month reprieve to come up with more than half a million dollars in court fines. As […]

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is scheduled to head to Washington, D.C., on Monday for a meeting with President Donald Trump, according to a report from Axios.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said the two leaders would “speak about Israel, and we’ll speak about what’s going on.”

“That’s another thing we’d like to get solved,” he added, without elaborating on the specifics of Netanyahu’s visit.

According to Axios, the agenda for the meeting includes discussions on several major issues: the 17% tariffs recently placed on Israeli goods by the U.S., ongoing tensions surrounding the Iran nuclear situation, and the conflict in Gaza.

{Matzav.com}

John Gutierrez had been thinking about buying a new laptop for the past year. The Austin, Texas, resident needed a computer with faster processing and increased storage for his photography work and had his sights set on a product from a Taiwanese brand. Then President Donald Trump announced expansive new import tariffs Wednesday, including a 32% tax on imports from Taiwan. That same day, Gutierrez ordered the laptop, with a base price of $2,400, from a retailer in New York specializing in photo and video gear. “I thought I’d bite the bullet, buy it now, and then that way I’ll have the latest technology on my laptop and don’t have to worry about the tariffs,” he said. Gutierrez was among the U.S. consumers rushing to buy big-ticket items before the tariffs take effect. Economists say the tariffs are expected to increase prices for everyday items, warning of potentially weakened U.S. economic growth. The White House hopes the tariffs prod countries to open their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that could reduce tariffs, or that companies increase their production in the U.S. to avoid higher import taxes. Rob Blackwell and his wife needed a new car that could handle long drives from Arlington, Virginia, to their son’s college. Their current electric vehicle is older with a limited range, and it will soon be used by his daughter, who is on the verge of getting her driver’s license. “I have been telling my wife that for some time we were going to need to do it,” he said, “and I was watching to see what the president did with tariffs.” Blackwell wanted another EV, but said leasing made more economic sense because the technology is ever-changing. He had his eye on the new General Motors Optiq; it’s an American car but made in Mexico, which could be subject to tariffs on supply chains that might increase the cost. After hearing that tariffs would be announced, they made plans the weekend before to lease the car. He said the dealership honored the agreement they worked out before the tariffs were finalized. And although he said the salespeople were a pleasure to deal with, Blackwell sensed a shift in their stance. “They know what we know, which is suddenly it flips from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market very quickly,” Blackwell said, adding that he is happy with his choice. “It was just a simple rational decision,” he said. “If this is what the government’s going to do, I need to get my act together.” Lee Wochner, CEO of the Burbank, California-based Counterintuity marketing and strategy firm, also needed a new vehicle. He wanted a more presentable car for business meetings, but kept putting it off because of his busy work schedule. On March 27, a Thursday, he told his firm’s car broker: “Ed, I need a car pronto and it’s got to happen by Sunday.” The broker gave him some car and pricing options and he leased an Audi Q3, which was delivered Sunday to his house by a nearby dealership. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation showed how much he saved by leasing before the tariffs were implemented. If he had waited, Wochner said, it would have cost about another $4,300. “One of the things my car broker said was […]

Former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor is expected to face tough questioning from House Republicans over his alleged role in concealing President Joe Biden’s cognitive issues, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) told The New York Post.

“Dr. Kevin O’Connor will absolutely, positively be implicated in the cover-up of this. He is a massive, massive part,” said Jackson, a medical doctor who previously worked in the White House Medical Unit under three presidents and now chairs the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee.

“I guarantee you Kevin O’Connor has medical information that the American people don’t have,” Jackson continued. “He was probably putting President Biden on lots of medications that we have no clue of — in efforts to try to treat his cognitive decline.”

“I’ve known him for a long time; he’s part of the Biden family. He would do or say anything to cover up and protect that family, regardless of what it meant professionally for him,” Jackson said. “This could not have been covered up without him — and Jill Biden — in particular.”

Jackson claimed that a congressional panel would investigate whether Biden’s presidency was effectively being run by others for a significant portion of his time in office, although there has been no confirmation that any such probe is actively underway.

O’Connor, who spoke to The Post just four days after Biden withdrew from the 2024 race and described his mental health as “excellent,” had previously been invited to speak before the GOP-led House Oversight Committee in 2023. It’s unclear whether he responded to the request.

Jackson also stated that Republicans in the House want to bring in doctors and specialists who may have evaluated Biden, who was 82 years old during his re-election bid, for possible conditions like “Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and whatever else.”

According to visitor logs, neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times between July 2023 and March 2024. O’Connor later clarified that only three of those visits involved Biden and were part of his annual checkups.

Asked last year whether the visits should raise any alarms, O’Connor told The Post: “No, he’s good.”

Earlier in 2023, the White House shared that O’Connor did not believe Biden needed a cognitive test. That announcement came even as Biden publicly confused the names of deceased and living foreign leaders. Special counsel Robert Hur later declined to prosecute him, citing that a jury would likely see Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

After Biden’s performance in the July 2024 debate, neurologist Dr. Tom Pitts told NBC News, “I could’ve diagnosed him from across the Mall,” noting that Parkinson’s is “one of the easier movement disorders to diagnose” and highlighting the president’s “rigidity,” “shuffling gait” and “slow movement.”

Despite serving as Biden’s top physician for four years, O’Connor—whom the president often referred to as “Doc”—never took questions from the press in the briefing room about the president’s condition.

O’Connor was succeeded by Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, who had also served as Trump’s doctor during part of the 45th president’s term, following Jackson’s tenure.

Jackson said congressional investigators will focus on those who he believes deliberately misled the public about Biden’s health.

“I was saying that this man was not fit to be president when he was candidate Joe Biden in 2020 — and I said that over and over and over and God knows how many times I was on TV,” Jackson said, “talking about [how] this man is not in control.”

“Not only do they know now — but they knew, you know, two or three years ago,” Jackson added. “These people are cashing in on, you know, telling the truth now and writing these books and stuff that’s coming out of the woodwork.”

Since Biden left office, more revelations have surfaced about Democrats’ internal concerns regarding his mental sharpness, including contingency plans if he died in office and growing alarm over how “out of it” he appeared in the days leading up to his June 27 debate against Trump — which longtime adviser Ron Klain labeled a “disaster.”

After that debate, First Lady Jill Biden made headlines when she congratulated her husband onstage, saying: “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question! You knew all the facts!”

The conservative Heritage Foundation reviewed Biden’s signatures on several last-minute pardons, including those for Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of the House January 6th Committee, and concluded that several were signed using an autopen.

Sources inside the Biden White House later told The Post that one of the president’s aides may have independently chosen to use the autopen for official documents — a claim that was contested by other staffers.

Some of the pardons issued for members of Biden’s family may have also had implications for O’Connor, who had been involved in business discussions with Biden’s brother James. The conversations reportedly centered on a now-defunct rural hospital chain that was later targeted by both the SEC and DOJ for fraud.

James Biden received a pardon covering potential criminal activity spanning from January 1, 2014, to January 20, 2024 — Biden’s final day in office.

“Any of the things that he signed or put into law, are they legitimate?” Jackson asked. “That’s a great question.”

“Was he even aware of what was going on, much less actually, you know, in favor of the stuff he signed?”

{Matzav.com}

Russia launched a deadly missile assault on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih late today, killing at least 19 people, including nine children. It was one of the most devastating strikes on the city since the war began.

The missile attack obliterated part of a residential district in Kryvyi Rih, injuring at least 72 more people, among them a 3-month-old infant, according to Ukrainian officials.

“There were dead children lying there, crying parents — it was horrible,” a 47-year-old woman named Yulia told Reuters.

Zelensky paid tribute to the youngest victims in an emotional post on Saturday.

“Three-year-old Timofiy, unfortunately, died today in the hospital. Seven-year-old Radyslav. Arina, who will also be 7 forever. Nine-year-old German. Fifteen-year-old Danylo. Fifteen-year-old Nikita. Fifteen-year-old Alina. Konstantin, who will be 16 forever. Nikita is 17 years old,” he wrote Saturday on X of the youngest of the dead.

“There is simply no deeper level of cynicism, vileness, or hatred toward people than what Russia embodies today,” Zelensky added.

The Iskander-M missile strike left a large crater in the city and caused widespread destruction — damaging more than 20 apartment blocks, six schools, over 30 cars, and several shops and restaurants, according to a post by Kryvyi Rih Governor Serhii Lysak.

“This can never be forgiven,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, who leads the city’s military administration, in a message on Telegram.

Russian authorities claimed that the strike killed 85 individuals and targeted a restaurant where Ukrainian military officers and Western advisors were allegedly meeting. These claims were reported by state media.

However, Ukraine’s military dismissed the statement as false and accused Russia of spreading lies to distract from the civilian toll of its actions.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook that the weapon used was designed “to affect a larger area and a larger number of people.”

Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine’s second-biggest city in the Dnipropetrovsk region, has been regularly targeted by Russian attacks throughout the conflict.

Later, a drone strike on the same city killed a 56-year-old woman and injured seven additional people.

In all, Russia launched 92 drones into Ukrainian territory overnight, with 51 of them intercepted by air defense systems, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

“There is only one reason why this continues: Russia does not want a ceasefire,” Zelensky said in a statement Friday. “Every missile, every strike drone proves that Russia only wants war.”

He urged the international community to maintain pressure on Moscow and expressed gratitude to global diplomats for their support, but singled out the U.S. Embassy for its muted response.

“Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant in Kryvyi Rih,” Bridget Brink, US ambassador to Ukraine, posted on X Friday.

“This is why the war must end,” she added.

“Such a strong country, such a strong people — and such a weak reaction,” Zelensky responded on X. “They are even afraid to say the word ‘Russian’ when talking about the missile that killed children.

“Yes, the war must end. But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade.”

Brink had spent the day in Kharkiv, visiting U.S.-funded initiatives and inspecting an underground school designed to protect students from Russian attacks, she said in another social media post.

Meanwhile, at a NATO summit in Brussels that wrapped up Friday, global leaders continued to call on Putin to engage with the ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and the U.S.

Nations that have pledged to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine if a truce is reached — referred to as the “coalition of the willing” — are expected to reconvene on Thursday at NATO’s Brussels headquarters, the UK’s Joint Delegation to NATO said.

The Canadian Parliament was forced into lockdown today after a man barricaded himself inside one of the buildings, triggering a tense security response and prompting authorities to tell people to “hide.”

Police in Ottawa, along with the Parliamentary Protective Services, responded swiftly to an incident at the East Block on Wellington Street — home to senators’ offices and their staff — shortly before 3 p.m., according to a post on X from Ottawa Police. The building was evacuated soon after.

As of this evening, the area remained under a shelter-in-place directive, with officers carrying heavy weaponry stationed throughout the grounds and surrounding streets.

An emergency alert was issued by the Parliamentary Protective Services at 2:45 p.m., instructing those inside to “seek shelter in the nearest room, close and lock all doors and hide,” according to reporting by CTV News.

So far, no injuries have been reported in connection with the incident, police said.

“Stay Safe Ottawa,” wrote Canadian Senator Patrick Brazeau on X, attaching a photo of the emergency notification sent to those on site.

Law enforcement sources informed Global News that the immediate threat has been managed, but a lockdown remains in place as a precaution. Authorities are continuing to treat the event as if it could escalate, aiming to keep the area secure.

At present, Parliament is not in session due to the upcoming federal election, which has dissolved the legislative body temporarily.

Authorities have asked people to steer clear of Parliament Hill and surrounding areas impacted by the lockdown.

According to police, several roads remain closed, including Wellington Street between Bank Street and Sussex Drive.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris: “There were many things we knew would happen… I’m not here to say I told you so.”

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, will terminate its fact-checking initiative on Monday.

After a U.S. Air Force C-5M “Super Galaxy” landed at Nevatim Airbase in Southern Israel today, Al Arabiya reports that the U.S. has delivered two MIM-104 “Patriot” missile batteries and an additional THAAD system to Israel.

Massive crowds poured into Washington, DC, today as part of a wave of “Hands Off!” demonstrations held nationwide. The protests were aimed at opposing spending reductions implemented by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and President Trump’s newly introduced “Liberation Day” tariffs. One fiery speaker urged demonstrators to strike fear into the hearts of both men.

Gathering near the Washington Monument, thousands of attendees held homemade signs—many with explicit language—criticizing Republicans, while similar protests took place in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

“Trump and Musk, who want to be dictators and want to be kings and lords, they are afraid of the power of love and truth and justice!” thundered Rev. William Barber II, one of the opening speakers in DC.

“They are afraid of your unity and diversity. Well, let’s keep them afraid until they change,” he added, raising his voice. “This is an outright battle for civilization! We are not going to bow to power drunk neofascist extremists.”

The event was backed by a broad alliance of progressive organizations and marked one of the largest protests in the capital since Trump’s return to office in January. Parallel rallies occurred at more than 1,000 locations nationwide, including in New York City at Columbia University and Bryant Park.

There has been a rise in acts of vandalism targeting Tesla facilities and vehicles across the country, which Trump—who survived two assassination attempts in the past year—has condemned as acts of domestic terrorism.

Among the organizers were Indivisible, which recently called for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to resign after he helped avert a government shutdown, and MoveOn.org, a well-known activist group.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who led the House prosecution during Trump’s second impeachment, followed Barber at the podium and praised him, saying he was “the great Rev. Barber.”

Speaking to the energized crowd, Raskin said, “the right to call the president deranged for crashing our economy, destroying $6 trillion of wealth and turning my 401k into a 201k.”

“No moral person wants an economy-crashing dictator who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,” he continued, drawing applause.

Raskin didn’t limit himself to economic issues, either. He slammed the administration’s foreign policy ambitions.

“We say to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, hands off Greenland! That’s an independent country,” he said. “Hands off Canada! That’s an independent country. Hands off Panama! That’s an independent country. Statehood for Washington, DC!”

Demonstrators brought with them the now-iconic Trump baby balloons and chanted slogans like “DOGE [profanity]!” The event wrapped up peacefully in the afternoon, with no reports of violence or confrontations with police.

Expecting potential unrest, the White House had preemptively canceled its Saturday garden tours and erected anti-riot fencing. Trump himself was not in the capital for the weekend.

In New York, Columbia University—which has been a hub for anti-Israel protests since October 2023—saw only a small turnout, with about 20 mostly older demonstrators holding signs that read “Democracy, not dictatorship” and chanting “hands off our students!”

One protester, 71-year-old retiree Kathryn Graybill, told The NY Post, “I’m very disturbed that people are being picked up and taken to prisons in other countries without due process. That’s against our Constitution. Our Constitution says that no one should deprive anybody of freedom of speech.”

She added, “That happened in Hitler’s Germany and I’m not comfortable with it.”

The Trump administration is currently pursuing the deportation of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who allegedly distributed pro-Hamas materials on campus.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, a different group of demonstrators marched past towering skyscrapers with signs shaped like hearts that read “hands off our libraries,” referring to one of Musk’s budget cuts.

Julie Peppito, an artist who crafted two large yellow hand props for the event, said, “painted all the things they wanted the Trump regime to keep their hands off: our rights, our land, all the things we hold dear.”

Among the marchers were Sandy and Eddie Pomerantz, a couple in their 90s, who told The Post that staying active is their secret to staying young.

“We’re still doing everything we did at the age of 25,” Eddie said, recalling their activism from the 1960s. “It is long, long overdue to charge the president of the United States with the attempted murder of our democracy.”

{Matzav.com}

In a moment that caught Kamala Harris and her team completely by surprise, Donald Trump—known for his combative political style—responded with unexpected grace when Harris phoned to concede the 2024 presidential race. He commended her on running a “great” campaign and called her a “tough cookie,” according to revelations in a new book.

On the call, which took place the day after the election, Harris reportedly said, “I’m calling to concede. It was a fair election. The peaceful transfer of power is important. It’s important to the country,” as detailed in Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History by author Chris Whipple.

She didn’t hang up without getting in a subtle remark about Trump’s often polarizing style, adding, “I hope you’re president for all Americans.”

Rather than reacting defensively, Trump took the high road and expressed admiration for Harris’ campaign effort, even though she had entered the race late. Whipple writes that the president-elect was in a celebratory mood following his unprecedented win.

“You’re a tough cookie. You were really great. And that Doug — what a character! I love that guy,” Trump told her, referring fondly to her husband, Doug Emhoff.

Despite Trump’s cordial tone, one of Harris’ staffers didn’t buy it and viewed his demeanor as suspicious given his usual rhetoric during the campaign.

“I was like, what?” the aide reportedly exclaimed. “Honestly, I felt like, what is this? It’s so manipulative. He’s a sociopath.”

The now-routine concession call almost didn’t happen at all, as technical glitches made the process unexpectedly clumsy, according to Whipple’s account.

Harris’ campaign chief of staff Sheila Nix and her White House chief of staff Lorraine Voles tried to initiate the call from the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. But when Harris attempted to dial Trump, the phones wouldn’t connect properly.

Ultimately, Voles used her own phone to call Trump and then passed it to Harris while she and Nix physically pressed their devices together to complete the conversation, Whipple reports.

As Trump’s voice came through the line, Harris reportedly “felt the weight of the crushing defeat,” capturing the emotional toll of the moment, Whipple writes.

The book, Uncharted, is set to be released on Tuesday.

{Matzav.com}

Protesters gathered in front of the US embassy in Mauritania to protest the strikes on Gaza

Eight decades after the liberation of Auschwitz from Nazi control, Jewish visitors now have access to kosher food at the site. Just a short distance from the former concentration camp, travelers will for the first time be able to purchase ready-to-eat kosher meals at the Auschwitz Jewish Center. This center, now functioning as a museum, is also home to the only synagogue that still stands in Oświęcim, the town the Nazis once renamed Auschwitz.

The kosher food service is launching in conjunction with Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on the evening of April 23. In Poland, the solemn day is marked by the March of the Living, an annual event where thousands walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau. The Auschwitz Jewish Center plans to enhance its programming for the event by offering prayer services.

Eighty survivors of the Holocaust are expected to take part in this year’s march, making it one of the most significant survivor gatherings at Auschwitz in recent memory. They’ll be joined by Jewish teenagers from various parts of the globe.

Prior to the Holocaust, the Jewish community made up more than half of Oświęcim’s population. The town boasted over 30 synagogues, as well as kosher bakeries, restaurants, and butchers. Today, only one Jew is known to live there — a woman employed by the Auschwitz Jewish Center. Hila Weisz-Gut relocated in 2023 to live with her Polish partner. Her grandmother survived Auschwitz, though many of her relatives were among the one million Jews who perished there.

Since reopening in 2000, the Auschwitz Jewish Center has welcomed around 800,000 guests. Although that figure represents only a fraction of the over one million annual visitors to Auschwitz itself, the foundation’s leadership believes it’s important to accommodate religious Jewish travelers.

“Opening the city’s first post-war kosher concession was a natural step, ensuring that Kosher-observant visitors could pray or reflect in our synagogue while also enjoying a kosher meal,” said Simon Bergson.

Until now, observant Jews visiting the site had to bring food with them or coordinate catered meals in advance. But the new kosher option at the center is about more than convenience, says Jack Simony, the foundation’s director general.

“This concession is more than just a place to eat – it symbolizes continuity, resilience, and hope for future generations,” he said in a statement.

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Azerbaijan’s intelligence agency disclosed today that it had prevented an assassination attempt targeting the country’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Shneur Segal.

Authorities reported that Agil Aslanov, a known drug dealer, was recruited by the Iranian Quds Force to carry out the mission. Aslanov allegedly met with a commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps last autumn, who gave him “precise instructions” on how to execute the killing.

Azerbaijani officials stated that Aslanov had accepted a $200,000 payment offer in return for carrying out the murder of Rabbi Segal.

The plot was reportedly stopped in January by Azerbaijani security personnel, who also prevented an attack that had been planned on an educational center within the country.

Aslanov, a Georgian national, has since been apprehended and faces charges related to terrorism and attempted murder.

Rabbi Segal shared with the Washington Post that he became aware of the assassination plot targeting a “religious figure” through media coverage. Despite the threat, he emphasized that, “Jews live in tranquility and without fear” in Azerbaijan.

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Iran’s rial currency traded Saturday at a record low against the U.S. dollar as the country returned to work after a long holiday, costing over 1 million rials for a single greenback as tensions between Tehran and Washington likely will push it even lower. The exchange rate had plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market. But as traders resumed work Saturday, the rate fell even further to 1,043,000 to the dollar, signaling the new low appeared here to stay. On Ferdowsi Street in Iran’s capital, Tehran, the heart of the country’s money exchanges, some traders even switched off their electronic signs showing the going rate as uncertainty loomed over how much further the rial could drop. “We turn it off since we are not sure about the successive changes of the rate,” said Reza Sharifi, who works at one exchange. Tensions with US squeeze the rial Iran’s economy has been severely affected by international sanctions, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. At the time of the 2015 deal, which saw Iran drastically limit its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium in exchange for lifting of international sanctions, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar. After Trump returned to the White House for his second term in January, he restarted his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign targeting Tehran with sanctions. He again went after firms trading Iranian crude oil, including those selling at a discount in China. Trump meanwhile has written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, trying to jumpstart direct talks between Tehran and Washington. So far, Iran has maintained it is willing for indirect talks, but such discussions under the Biden administration failed to make headway. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing an intense airstrike campaign targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the last force in Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” able to attack Israel after other militant groups were mauled by Israel during its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Mehdi Darabi, a market analyst, said he believed that foreign pressures in recent months caused “expectations for the possibility of a decrease in oil sales and more inflation, and it caused a higher rate for hard currencies,” according to Tehran’s Donay-e-Eqtesad economic newspaper. A pensioner who gave only his first name, Saeed, for fear of reprisals, said if Iran stopped its hostile policy toward the outside, financial relief could be possible. “If we want to live a comfortable life, we should maintain good ties with our neighbors,” he said. “We shouldn’t bare our teeth at them. They will do the same.” Economic pressure inflames Iranian public and politics Economic upheavals have evaporated the public’s savings, pushing average Iranians into holding onto hard currencies, gold, cars and other tangible wealth. Others pursue cryptocurrencies or fall into get-rich-quick schemes. Meanwhile, internal political pressure remains inflamed still over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past. Iran’s theocracy has responded by dialing broadly back hijab enforcement and easing restrictions […]

Tosay, the Hamas terrorist organization released the first footage indicating that hostages Maxim Herkin and Bar Kupershtein, abducted during the October 7 attack, are still alive and in captivity.

Out of sensitivity to the families, the video—or any part of it—will only be released publicly with their explicit consent.

Currently, 59 individuals remain imprisoned in Gaza, with 24 believed to be alive. Since the conclusion of the second negotiated exchange, indications of life have emerged regarding 19 of them.

The Herkin family identified Maxim’s voice in the brief video clip issued by Hamas. Maxim is a Russian citizen, and in the past, Russia has made efforts to secure his freedom.

Two months ago, senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, who led a delegation to Moscow, commented that any discussion regarding Herkin’s release would only occur during the second phase of the negotiated deal.

Kupershtein, who turned 23 on Sunday, remains captive. He had been working as a security guard at the Nova music festival and was actively involved in helping the wounded during the attack. In a separate video, he is seen restrained and being taken by Hamas operatives.

Bar’s family has obtained information about his current conditions from individuals who were freed in the previous hostage deal.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters issued a statement: “The families of Bar Kupershtein and Maksym Harkin do not authorize the publication of the video released by Hamas earlier this evening, nor any parts or images from it. The families have requested that their privacy be respected during this time.”

{Matzav.com Israel}