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The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to bring about a political shift in Cuba, aiming to dismantle the island’s communist leadership and reach an agreement that would end decades of one-party rule before the close of the year, according to a new report.

As part of that effort, U.S. officials are attempting to identify figures within the Cuban government who might be willing to cooperate with Washington in easing the current leadership out of power, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

While officials have not yet finalized a specific strategy to topple the communist system that has governed Cuba for nearly seven decades, they believe the regime is now more vulnerable than at any point in recent memory.

That assessment follows the removal of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, an event U.S. officials say has sent shockwaves through Havana and pushed Cuba’s already weak economy toward the brink.

According to U.S. intelligence evaluations cited in the report, Cuba is grappling with widespread shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials, alongside rolling power outages that have become a regular feature of daily life.

The situation is being compounded by the island’s dependence on Venezuelan oil supplies, which officials warn could dry up within weeks. Washington is now seeking to block any additional Venezuelan crude from reaching Cuba as a way to further strain the government’s ability to function.

Senior U.S. officials told the Journal that the operation that led to Maduro’s capture — and the leverage it gave Washington in extracting concessions from Caracas — is being studied closely as a possible model for dealing with Havana.

That Jan. 3 mission, which resulted in Maduro’s arrest, succeeded in part because of assistance from someone inside his inner circle, officials said.

In hopes of finding a comparable opening in Cuba, Trump administration officials have been holding discussions with Cuban exile leaders and civic organizations in Miami and Washington, according to the report.

At the same time, the administration is considering escalating pressure on the Cuban government while offering a negotiated exit path for senior figures, including 94-year-old Raúl Castro, brother of the late Fidel Castro, and current President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

President Trump has already publicly signaled to Havana that patience is running out and urged the leadership to come to terms with Washington.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump wrote in a Jan. 11 post on Truth Social.

“I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he added.

{Matzav.com}

Ukraine’s SBU struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Krasnodar Krai, a major oil facility in the Black Sea region, damaging pipelines and fuel storage tanks.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France has boarded a Russian oil tanker linked to Moscow’s “shadow fleet” in the Mediterranean Sea, saying the French Navy carried out the operation and that Paris will not tolerate violations while enforcing international law and sanctions.

The IDF says troops from the Kfir Brigade, operating under the Gaza Division alongside the Yahalom Unit, dismantled an underground tunnel route approximately one kilometer long east of the Yellow Line, which contained weapons and three hideouts that were used by terrorists.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking in his home state of Ohio before visiting Minnesota on Thursday, blamed the “far left” for turmoil surrounding the White House’s deportation campaign. “If you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country,” Vance […]

Federal officials say anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, is expected to be deported to Algeria, a move that would close out a lengthy legal fight over his immigration status.

Khalil, who was born in Syria and taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement early last year, is facing removal from the United States after the Trump administration alleged he committed fraud in obtaining his green card.

“It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday during an appearance on NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight.

“It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country — act like it,” she added.

“It is a privilege, not a right, to be in this country to live or to study.”

The Trump administration has sought to remove the 31-year-old since he was among the first individuals detained amid the federal crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses.

The government alleges Khalil supports Hamas, and he spent roughly three months held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, a period during which he was absent for the birth of his first child.

Federal authorities defended his arrest by citing a little-used provision of immigration law that permits the deportation of noncitizens whose views are considered harmful to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ordered Khalil’s release, concluding that the government’s justification would likely be found unconstitutional.

That decision was reversed last week, when a federal appeals court sided with the White House and overturned the order that had freed him from ICE custody.

The three-judge panel ruled that Khalil’s case should have proceeded through the immigration court system before he was entitled to challenge his detention in federal court.

Following the ruling, McLaughlin publicly called on Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

As of now, officials have not said when authorities may move to detain him again.

Khalil has rejected the claims against him as “baseless and ridiculous,” arguing that the case is a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

{Matzav.com}

[Video below.] President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace at a ceremony on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, attended by representatives of at least 18 nations.

Leaders and representatives from Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan were among those on stage as Trump spoke during the signing ceremony, The Guardian reported.

The board, which will initially focus on solidifying the ceasefire with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, “can do pretty much whatever we want to do” once it is “completely formed,” said Trump in remarks.

“And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” he added.

“I’ve always said the United Nations has got tremendous potential, has not used it, but there’s tremendous potential in the United Nations, and you have some great people at the United Nations,” the president said.

“You know, on the eight wars that I ended, I never spoke to the United Nations about any of them,” he went on. “They tried, I guess, in some of them, but they didn’t try hard enough.”

The Board of Peace can be “something very, very unique for the world,” Trump continued. “The first steps toward a brighter day for the Middle East and a much safer future for the world are unfolding right before your very eyes.”

The new body will seek to end “decades of suffering, stop generations of hatred and bloodshed, and forge a beautiful, everlasting and glorious peace for that region and for the whole region of the world,” he said.

“We’re going to have peace in the world,” the president declared.

As the signing ceremony got underway, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared, “The charter is now in full force, and the Board of Peace is now an official international organization.”

Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy for peace missions, told attendees that Trump “created a sense of hope for what the future can bring in Gaza and in all other places where the Board of Peace will operate.

“I remember when the president asked Jared [Kushner], I, and of course our great secretary of state [Marco Rubio] to work on something that the world thought was impossible and unattainable,” the envoy said in his speech. “But the president—on this peace deal for Gaza, as on all other deals we work on his behalf—said we had to try and, of course, we were inspired by that.

“We have achieved a peace deal in Gaza. We have brought the hostages home all of the bodies, except for one, and we will bring that body home too,” Witkoff vowed.

Witkoff thanked “my good friend from Qatar,” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.

During the event, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a Middle East real estate developer, presented plans to disarm Hamas and develop the Gaza Strip into a free market hub for tourism with an airport and seaport after U.S.-backed reconstruction efforts conclude by 2035.

Netanyahu on Wednesday accepted Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace. While the body’s efforts will initially focus on Gaza, it “is like a new United Nations,” Netanyahu told Knesset lawmakers on Monday.

Speaking in Davos on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that the Board of Peace has “some controversial people. But these are people that get the job done. These are people that have tremendous influence. If I put all babies on the board, that wouldn’t be very much.”

He continued, “I think the Board of Peace will be the most prestigious board ever, and it’s going to get a lot of work done that the United Nations should’ve done. And we’ll work with the United Nations, but the Board of Peace is going to be special. We’re going to have peace.”

Trump went on to mention the U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear project in June as the platform that facilitated peace in the Middle East.

“It started off with Gaza in the Middle East. We’ve got peace in the Middle East. Tremendous peace in the Middle East. Nobody thought that was possible. And that happened by taking out the Iran nuclear threat. Without that, it could’ve never happened,” said Trump. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says despite the ‘peanut gallery’ analyzing President Trump’s every step, it’s important to wait for ‘long-term’ results

Bread was flying off the shelves, salt was being loaded into trucks and utility workers were nervously watching forecasts Thursday as a huge winter storm is barreling toward the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around […]

The letter contains a warm mazel-tov blessing: “And just as Hashem blessed be He, has begun to show him kindness through the matter of the shidduch with mazel tov — to the Rav, the son-in-law of the Admor, may it be His will that it should be with a good mazel, so too may Hashem […]

Eyewitness videos shot from a helicopter showed landslides in northern New Zealand due to heavy rain, including one at a campsite in Mount Maunganui, a popular tourist spot on the country’s northern coast, with several people still reported missing.

Trump announced his Board of Peace plan at Davos and said there was a commitment to ensure Gaza would be demilitarized and ‘beautifully rebuilt.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his nation needs US involvement in any postwar security guarantees as he criticized Europe’s lack of action and for continuing to rely on Russian energy supplies. “That oil helps destabilize Europe”.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was denied entry to an event at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos after pressure from the White House. Newsome: Greg Bovino dressed up as if he literally went on eBay and purchased SS garb.

The U.S. is expected to officially exits the World Health Organization today after Trump gave formal notice via executive order early in his presidency in 2025, triggering the required one-year withdrawal process under U.S. law.

Maria Bartiromo: On the cap on the credit card rates… One analyst says it’s going to cut earnings for the banks between 5% and 16%. Trump: It’s a one year deal. We got to let people get back on their feet.

The convicted ringleader of Minnesota’s massive $250 million welfare fraud scheme says she believes local Democratic politicians were aware of the scam including Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.

One of the suspects responsible for painting more than 57 swastikas across walkways and playground equipment at a park on 18th Avenue and 56th Street in Boro Park has been arrested, authorities confirmed. The arrest was made through a joint effort by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and Boro Park Shomrim, following an investigation […]

The advancement of Israel’s draft law has reached a critical stage, with a final decision now hinging on approval from the senior rabbinic leadership of Degel HaTorah. If the spiritual leadership grants its consent, the legislation could pass through the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as early as Tuesday and proceed immediately afterward to a vote in the Knesset plenum.

From the outset of deliberations in the committee, Hagaon Rav Dov Landau and Hagaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch made clear that the approval they granted was only preliminary. They stipulated that once committee discussions concluded, the chareidi Knesset members would need to return to the Gedolim to receive final authorization before voting in favor of the law.

Progress on the legislation has been steady, and as of now only one remaining committee session is needed to complete the reading of all sections of the bill. However, that final discussion was unexpectedly postponed by nearly a week. In a statement issued by the office of committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, it was announced that due to the heavy legislative schedule surrounding the state budget—set to be brought for its first reading on Monday—the concluding discussion would be delayed until Tuesday.

According to information obtained by Matzav, chareidi lawmakers have already begun updating the Gedolim on the legal adviser’s comments and reservations raised during committee deliberations over the past month. The goal, sources say, is to avoid delays so that once discussions formally end, the committee can move directly to a vote. Lawmakers are said to already be aligned with the anticipated ruling of the Gedolim.

Sources further indicated that this preparation is one of the reasons the final discussion was deferred. Within Degel HaTorah, there is hope that rabbinic approval will be secured in the coming days. If that happens, Tuesday’s session is expected to be longer than usual, serving as a comprehensive summary of the legislation, followed immediately by a committee vote and then a vote in the Knesset plenum.

Meanwhile, internal political arithmetic has also shifted. Following the resignation of Yisrael Eichler, who was appointed deputy minister, MK Yitzchok Pindrus entered the Knesset, restoring Degel HaTorah’s fourth vote. At the same time, the Chassidishe Agudas Yisroel faction continues to voice firm opposition to the draft law. However, the Chassidishe Agudah Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah has not yet clarified whether that opposition will take the form of an outright rejection or abstention.

In parallel developments, leaders of the chareidi factions held discussions with Knesset legal adviser Sagith Afik, who reportedly clarified that claims she had warned the current version of the draft law would not withstand Supreme Court review were inaccurate.

{Matzav.com}