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Work crews began preparations at the Kennedy Center on Friday to reflect the board’s decision to add President Donald Trump’s name to the iconic performing arts complex, one day after the vote was taken.

Early in the morning, large blue tarps were draped across portions of the building’s exterior, shielding the activity from public view. Before the coverings were fully in place, a large letter “D” could be seen mounted on the structure, while workers operated from scaffolding along the façade of the building originally named for President John F. Kennedy.

Under the resolution approved by the board, the venue will now be known as The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Trump, a Republican, currently serves as chairman of the board.

The decision has drawn objections from critics, including Democrat members of Congress who sit on the board in an ex-officio capacity, as well as several historians. They argue that authority to alter the center’s official name rests solely with Congress, not the board.

The Kennedy Center now joins a growing list of Washington landmarks bearing Trump’s name. Earlier this year, his name was also added to the building that houses the U.S. Institute of Peace.

{Matzav.com}

Leadership changes are underway at the BBC after an internal assessment faulted the organization’s response to controversial edits made to a speech by US President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol unrest.

At the center of the shake-up is the network’s editorial standards committee. BBC chairman Samir Shah, who faced criticism over the episode, will step aside from leading that body as part of the restructuring.

The review, released Friday, concluded that senior management failed to respond “quickly or decisively enough following the discovery” that edits to Trump’s remarks created the impression that he urged supporters to storm the US Capitol.

Those edits prompted Trump to file a $10 billion lawsuit against the broadcaster, escalating scrutiny of the BBC’s editorial practices and governance.

According to the report, the committee’s remit will be adjusted to “clarify and focus” its role, with the stated aim of adopting a “robust and transparent approach” to addressing editorial issues as they arise.

{Matzav.com}

President Trump moved late Thursday to halt the visa lottery program after it was disclosed that the suspect in the killing of two Brown University students and an MIT professor entered the United States through that system.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the decision in a statement posted overnight on X, saying, “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.” She added, “At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”

The suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old native of Portugal, received a Diversity Immigrant (DV1) Visa in 2017 and was granted a green card several months later. Authorities said he was found dead Thursday evening at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, from what was described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Neves Valente was identified as the prime suspect in the December 13 mass shooting at Brown University that left students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov dead and nine others wounded. Investigators also linked him to the December 15 killing of MIT nuclear science professor Nuno Loureiro.

Records show that Neves Valente had previously enrolled in a graduate physics program at Brown during the 2000–01 academic year. He took a leave of absence in April of that year and officially withdrew from the university in 2003.

Authorities have not determined where Neves Valente lived or what he was doing in the years leading up to the shooting. His most recent known address was in Miami, Florida, and his activities between receiving his green card in 2017 and last weekend’s attack remain unclear.

The Diversity Immigrant Visa program was created under the Immigration Act of 1990 and allows for up to 50,000 visas each year. The lottery system prioritizes applicants from countries that have sent relatively few immigrants to the United States over the previous five years.

For the 2025 lottery cycle, nearly 20 million people submitted applications. More than 131,000 applicants and their spouses were selected worldwide, including 38 Portuguese nationals.

President Trump has criticized the visa lottery in the past, renewing calls to end it after a 2017 terror attack in Lower Manhattan. In that case, Uzbekistan national Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people and injured 11 others when he drove a pickup truck onto a crowded bike path along the Hudson River.

Saipov was convicted in January 2023 on murder and other charges and was sentenced to eight life terms plus an additional 260 years in prison.

{Matzav.com}

Debate over presidential war powers has resurfaced as President Donald Trump defended his authority to expand U.S. military action against drug traffickers linked to Venezuela, arguing that congressional approval is not required for such operations.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump dismissed the need to formally notify lawmakers if he chose to authorize strikes on land, saying he would not object to informing them but questioning the value of doing so. “I wouldn’t mind telling them, but you know, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have to tell them,” he said, adding that members of Congress “leak like a sieve.”

The comments came in response to a reporter’s question about whether Trump would seek authorization from Congress before targeting drug cartels inside Venezuela, following months of U.S. military activity aimed at trafficking operations at sea.

Since September, American forces have carried out a series of airstrikes against suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, actions that have resulted in at least 99 deaths, according to U.S. figures.

Those operations have drawn criticism from both parties in Congress, with lawmakers pointing to constitutional limits on presidential authority. While the president serves as commander-in-chief, the Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war — a concern raised not only by Democrats but also by some Republicans, even as most members of Trump’s party have continued to back him.

During a House debate, New York Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks challenged the legal basis for the strikes, saying, “The president has failed to demonstrate the necessary authority under U.S. or international law to conduct lethal military strikes on these boats.”

Meeks went further, arguing that the threat justification does not hold up. “No one can credibly claim that these vessels, in some cases not even traveling to the United States and located thousands of miles from U.S. soil, posed an imminent threat to the American people warranting the use of military force,” he said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused Washington of using anti-drug operations as a pretext for destabilizing his government, claiming the true objective of the campaign is regime change rather than narcotics enforcement.

Legal and military analysts note that a U.S. president may order limited strikes without congressional approval under certain conditions, but say such actions are generally expected to be short-term and narrowly defined, often framed as defensive measures.

After the September 11 attacks, Congress passed authorizations for the use of military force in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were later cited to justify counterterrorism missions in other parts of the world, a precedent now being referenced as lawmakers weigh the scope of Trump’s current actions.

{Matzav.com}

A fascinating letter in English signed with the holy signature of the Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Rebbe in the Lubavitch dynasty, whose influence extended to the entire world.

A provocative protest installation was discovered Friday morning near the private residences of former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, retired Supreme Court Justice Uzi Fogelman, and Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai, drawing immediate attention for its graphic and accusatory imagery.

At each location, protesters placed cloth dolls with severed heads laid on the ground in pools meant to resemble blood. Accompanying signs delivered personal messages aimed directly at the figures associated with the homes, linking them to past legal decisions and public statements.

The placards referenced rulings and positions connected to immigration policy and the treatment of migrant populations. Each sign carried a different message. The one near Barak’s home stated: “You prided yourself on canceling the infiltration laws – we got decapitated heads.” Outside Fogelman’s residence, the sign read: “You wanted hobbies – we got decapitated heads.” The sign placed near Huldai’s home said: “You said a person is a person is a person – we got decapitated heads.”

The display was described by organizers as a reaction to a recent and shocking killing in south Tel Aviv, where a migrant murdered another migrant by beheading him. The protest was framed as an expression of anger over what organizers view as the deteriorating security and social conditions in the city’s southern neighborhoods.

In a statement issued by the group “The Front for the Liberation of South Tel Aviv,” headed by Sheffi Paz, the organization said: “When a resident of Kiryat Shalom can’t take her dog for a walk in the park for fear that a migrant will jump on her with a machete; when a child in the Shapira neighborhood can’t play in the playground for fear that migrant children will lynch him; and when an elderly person in the Hatikva neighborhood can’t withdraw money from the ATM for fear of being attacked and robbed violently – we remember the arrogant Supreme Court justices, who cared about the matchmaking and hobbies of the infiltrators, and the cowardly mayor who fosters a slave ghetto in the southern neighborhoods.”

Paz continued with further criticism of Israel’s judicial and municipal leadership, saying: “Their compassion is our disaster. Their embrace of border thieves is a spit in our faces. Their fake liberalism is the knife in our back. We know that the display won’t move their closed minds, but we thought there was no reason why only we should enjoy the cultural wealth they forced on us.”

{Matzav.com}

Airport officials at Ben Gurion located a 13-year-old boy on Thursday night who had previously drawn national attention after secretly boarding an El Al flight to New York last October without a ticket or passport. This time, he was identified before reaching the security screening areas.

The boy was noticed inside the terminal but outside the standard passenger flow. A deputy shift commander on duty observed behavior that raised suspicion and stopped him for questioning.

During the encounter, airport personnel confirmed the boy’s identity and determined that he was the same minor who had managed months earlier to fly abroad without authorization or identification.

Following this and other recent incidents, the Israel Airports Authority announced changes to security procedures at Ben Gurion Airport. Under the updated protocol, boarding passes will now be inspected earlier in the screening process rather than only near the departure gate.

The decision comes after another serious breach earlier this week, when an 18-year-old Israeli boarded an Austrian Airlines flight from Israel to Vienna without holding a valid ticket. The oversight was discovered only after the plane landed in Austria, and the passenger was returned to Israel.

Addressing that case, the Israel Airports Authority said, “A preliminary investigation of the incident revealed that the passenger underwent security screening but did not complete the border control procedure.”

Airport officials said an immediate review was carried out in coordination with the Population and Immigration Authority and the airline involved, and that the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.

{Matzav.com}

BREAKING IN KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN: A person was stabbed in the chest moments ago at the intersection of Coney Island Avenue and Beverly Road. Two suspects reportedly fled the scene. EMS is transporting the victim to a nearby hospital, while the NYPD has initiated a Level 1 mobilization in response to the fleeing suspects. A name […]

Video from the U.S. Coast Guard shows the moments when two boaters were rescued early Wednesday morning after their sailboat’s mast broke on the rough waters off Florida’s Coast.

Chanukah Mesiba by Reb Sruly Schubert, attended by HaRav Elya Brudny and a close group of Chaveirim, with Hartzig music by Sruly Wulliger.

The FBI’s special agent in charge confirmed that the suspect in both the Brown University shooting and the killing of the MIT professor attended the same university in Lisbon, Portugal, as the slain professor.

UPDATE: Suspect in Brown University shooting ID’d as Claudio Neves-Valente, 48, a Miami resident originally from Portugal. He was found dead tonight.

The Brown University shooting suspect has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage facility in Salem, NH.

The IDF condemned an incident in Yerushalyim on Thursday in which chareidi extremists attacked and threw stones at a bus transporting IDF trainees and commanders from the Kfir Brigade. The IDF said the bus was forced to stop after a group of civilians gathered around it and began throwing stones. Commanders disembarked in order to […]

TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a new joint venture led by American investors, resolving a prolonged national security dispute, Axios reports. * Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi–based MGX will collectively own 45% of the U.S. entity. * Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will hold nearly one-third of the company. * […]

BEN SHAPIRO: “The people who refused to condemn Candace’s truly vicious attacks – and some of them are speaking here tonight – are guilty of cowardice.”

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories accused the authors of a recent IPC food security analysis on Gaza of producing a report whose conclusions were decided in advance and detached from verified humanitarian data, arguing that its publication undermines genuine relief efforts.

In a statement responding to the report, COGAT said the way the assessment was compiled raises doubts about the organization’s professionalism. According to COGAT, the IPC team met with Israeli officials only after drafting the report and finalizing its conclusions, and even when presented with “complete, daily, and verified data,” the authors “chose to present a series of excuses regarding the use of the data and relied only partially on the information provided.” COGAT stated: “The manner in which the IPC conducted itself during the preparation of the report raises serious questions regarding its credibility and professional integrity.”

COGAT also pointed to what it described as internal contradictions in the report, saying its authors ultimately acknowledged there is no famine in Gaza, despite earlier claims to the contrary, while still maintaining assertions of severe food insecurity.

Detailing the scope of aid entering the territory, COGAT stressed that “between 600-800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, approximately 70 percent of which carry food,” explaining that this is “in accordance with Israel’s commitment under the ceasefire agreement to allow and facilitate the entry of 4,200 aid trucks per week.” The statement further said: “Nearly 30,000 food trucks carrying more than 500,000 tons of food entered the Gaza Strip throughout the ceasefire period,” while adding that “approximately 100,000 food trucks entered the Gaza Strip until the start of the ceasefire.” According to COGAT, “these quantities significantly exceed the nutritional requirements of the population in the Gaza Strip according to accepted international methodologies, including those of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).”

COGAT emphasized that much of this assistance does not flow through UN channels, noting that “only about 20 percent of the humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip is delivered via the UN, while the remainder is delivered by countries, additional international organizations, and the private sector.” It said this fact “illustrates the severe gap between the actual volume of aid and the partial data on which, among other things, the IPC report relies.”

The Israeli agency added that all aid figures are shared transparently, stating the data are “presented daily as part of joint situational assessments to the mediators, the UN, and international organizations,” and warning that “any attempt to present the data otherwise or to claim a shortage of food constitutes a deliberate distortion of the facts.”

In its official rebuttal, COGAT said: “COGAT strongly rejects the claims and conclusions presented in the IPC report published today (Friday), which once again portrays a distorted, biased, and unfounded picture of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The report relies on severe gaps in data collection and on sources that do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance. As such, it misleads the international community, fuels disinformation, and presents a false depiction of the reality on the ground.”

Concluding its response, COGAT warned that flawed assessments harm, rather than help, civilians in Gaza. It stated: “The publication of statements and warnings that are not based on complete and verified data does not advance the humanitarian response. Instead, it harms it and diverts the discussion from the real challenge – improving collection and distribution mechanisms within the Gaza Strip and preventing Hamas from taking control of the aid.” The statement added that the international community must “avoid falling for false narratives and distorted information,” and that COGAT “will continue to act, together with international actors and regional partners, to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and its transfer to the civilian population, while preventing the exploitation of the aid by the terrorist organization Hamas.”

{Matzav.com}

Security camera recordings from Weizmann City Mall in Tel Aviv show a hijab-wearing woman approaching a menorah and extinguishing four Chanukah candles while a man believed to be with her claps in approval. After walking away, she returns moments later to put out the shamash that remained lit, and she appears to document the episode on her cellphone.

Israeli authorities are weighing whether the incident constitutes a criminal offense under Section 170 of the Penal Law, which bars “the destruction, damage, or desecration of a place of worship or any object held sacred by a group of people, with intent to insult their religion, or knowingly that they may regard the act as an insult to their religion.”

Police confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the actions of an Arab individual seen in the footage blowing out the Chanukah candles, with detectives reviewing the video and examining the circumstances surrounding the act.

WATCH:

ערבייה עוברת בחנוכיות מתעדת איך היא מכבה אותן, ומצלמת להנאתה: התיעוד מקניון וייצמן. גועל נפש! pic.twitter.com/7RJ3O20gtF

— Yossi Eli (@Yossi_eli) December 19, 2025

At a high-level gathering of Russia’s defense establishment, President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Western leaders, using crude language to ridicule UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and suggesting that Russian weaponry could soon be positioned close enough to threaten Britain.

Speaking during the annual defense ministry meeting, Putin accused former US President Joe Biden of deliberately provoking the war in Ukraine and claimed European governments rushed to align themselves with Washington. “Everyone assumed that they would destroy Russia in a short period of time, they would ruin it,” Putin said.

He continued with even sharper rhetoric aimed at Europe, adding: “And the European piglets immediately joined in to aid the former American administration in this task. They were hoping to profit from the collapse of our country. To get back something that was lost in previous historical periods and try to take revenge. As it has now become obvious to everyone. All these attempts and all these destructive plans towards Russia completely failed.”

The remarks were delivered as tensions spiked following reports of a World War III alert, after Russian border guards allegedly crossed into a NATO country without authorization.

Putin used the occasion to argue that Russia has weathered Western pressure, declaring that “Russia has demonstrated its steadiness in the economy, finance, in the internal political situation of the society […] and in the sphere of defence capacity,” while also saying Moscow remains open to talks with Europe — though not with current European leadership.

The comments came just ahead of a crucial summit of European Union leaders focused on reaching an agreement to continue financing Ukraine.

In the same appearance, Putin confirmed that Russia plans to deploy its Oreshnik missile system in Belarus in the near future, placing it within minutes of London. According to Ukrainian intelligence assessments cited by the Express, the move is not primarily aimed at Kyiv but is intended to pressure European capitals.

The planned deployment would position the system roughly 124 miles from Lithuania and the nearest NATO border, significantly shortening missile flight times across much of the European Union compared to launches from within Russia.

Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, warned that the move is designed to intimidate Europe, saying: “The deployment of Oreshnik on Belarusian territory is a means of pressure primarily on the EU and NATO, not on Ukraine.

“This move will allow Russia to expand its capabilities for striking the capital of any European country and significantly reduce missile flight time compared to launching from the Kapustin Yar test site.”

Ivashchenko added that Russia and Belarus are currently building the necessary military infrastructure for the system, including launch sites as well as tracking and communications facilities, though he noted that the work is not yet finished.

Belarusian leader Aliaksandr Lukashenka previously said on October 31 that the Oreshnik missile system is expected to become operational sometime this month.

{Matzav.com}

The IDF has disclosed new details of a covert naval raid carried out deep inside Lebanon last year, revealing that elite Israeli commandos captured one of Hezbollah’s most significant and tightly guarded operatives involved in planning maritime terror attacks. According to the IDF, members of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 unit launched a nighttime operation […]