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President Joe Biden said France was America’s “first friend” at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions. “United we stand, divided we fall,” Macron said in toasting Biden at a state dinner. “Allied we are and allied we will stay.” Biden and Macron attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday and met separately the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris. The leaders both used those engagements used to underscore the urgent need to support Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion. But Macron and Biden have often chafed at the pace of support for Ukraine, especially as the United States, by far the largest contributor to Kyiv’s defense, was forced to pause aid shipments for months while congressional Republicans held up an assistance package. The state visit began Saturday with a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, including a wreath-laying at France’s tomb of the unknown soldier, and a military parade along the Champs-Élysées leading to the Élysée Palace, where the two held official meetings and delivered public statements. Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, hosted state dinner at the palace for Biden and his wife, Jill. The American president followed Macron’s toast by saying the U.S. and France have been “unyielding as well as unwavering in our partnership,” adding, “That’s what democracies do.” Biden and Macron put the war in Ukraine at the top of Saturday’s agenda, but it was the strength of the countries’ long alliance, fortified at Normandy 80 years ago but with roots far deeper, that was the centerpiece of the weekend. Calling himself a student of French history, Biden said the visit was a “great honor” and he noted that America’s ties to France date to the Revolutionary War. “France was our first friend,” Biden said. “It remains one of our best friends.” Macron praised Biden as not just the leader of a world power but also for bringing the “clarity and loyalty of a partner that loves and respects the Europeans.” It appeared to be a subtle criticism of former President Donald Trump, whose “America First” foreign policy has shaken European leaders. They are now contending, gingerly, with the possibility of his return to power next year should the presumptive Republican nominee defeat the Democratic incumbent in November’s election. Later, in a statement of principles that the presidents called a road map, they cited the legacy of the U.S.-French relationship and “the price for peace and freedom” paid by past generations in reaffirming their commitment to “a Europe, whole, free and at peace.” Macron hosted Trump for Bastille Day in 2017, and the French president came to Washington for a state visit in 2018 before their relationship soured. Despite disagreements over whether to send allies trainers onto Ukrainian soil to support the country’s defense against Russia’s invasion, Macron insisted that, “I think we see eye to eye on this war raging in Ukraine. He tempered his previous concerns about U.S. commitment to Europe — which he has used to argue that the continent must do more to provide for its own defense — to […]

Seriously overdue credit card debt is at the highest level in more than a decade, and people 35 and under are struggling more than other age groups to pay their bills. The share of credit card debt that’s severely delinquent, defined as being more than 90 days overdue, rose to 10.7% during the first quarter of 2024, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A year ago, just 8.2% of credit card debt was severely delinquent. If you’re experiencing delinquency, or at risk of it, experts advise speaking with a nonprofit credit counselor and negotiating with your creditors directly. Here’s what you should know: WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I’M AT RISK OF DELINQUENCY? Bruce McClary, senior vice president at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, says that anyone at risk of delinquency should reach out as soon as possible for help from a nonprofit credit counselor, some of whom can be found through his organization. The consultation is free, and a non-judgmental counselor can give guidance towards a long-term solution. Nonprofits can also help create debt management plans that have lower interest rates, no late fees, and a single payment each month, McClary said. These plans may come with maintenance fees, which vary, but the fees are offset by the overall savings on the debt. McClary urged borrowers to be careful of scammers and for-profit debt consolidation companies, which often charge much higher fees than nonprofit organizations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a helpful breakdown comparing the two. Martin Lynch, president of the Financial Counseling Association of America, echoed this advice. “Taking that first step and contacting a counselor is difficult for many people,” Lynch said. He emphasized that consumers in debt should do their best to “first, relax,” and then to be as forthcoming as possible about their circumstances with the counselor. “You’ll be talking to someone for free, who will listen to you describe your situation,” he said. “You can share your concerns without being judged for falling into difficulty.” WHAT ABOUT NEGOTIATING WITH CREDITORS? Both Lynch and McClary urge borrowers to reach out directly to credit card companies to negotiate interest rates, fees, and long-term payment plans, noting that it’s in the companies’ best interests if you pay before the debt goes into collections. “The best thing to do is to reach out, give an honest assessment of your ability to pay over time, and ask what options are available to you both ‘on and off-the-menu,’” McClary said. This kind of phrasing can give creditors an opening to offer more flexibility, he said. McClary and other experts stress that most credit card companies and other lenders have hardship programs available for cases like these. Such options gained visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more companies publicly advertised that consumers facing difficulty may skip or defer payments without penalties. WHY ARE DELINQUENCIES INCREASING? The average annual interest rate on a new credit card is 24.71%, according to LendingTree, the highest since the company began tracking in 2019. That’s in part because the Federal Reserve has raised its key interest rate rate to a 23-year high to combat the highest inflation in four decades, which peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. Simultaneously, pandemic-era aid such as stimulus payments, the child tax credit, increased unemployment benefits, […]

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The Foreign Ministries of Jordan and Egypt have issued strong condemnations of the IDF operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which successfully rescued four hostages held by Hamas. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry slammed the operation as a “brutal Israeli attack” that “reflects the systematic targeting of Palestinian civilians” and violates international law. The statement called on the international community to take immediate action to stop Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza and to compel the country to comply with international law. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the operation, citing unverified death tolls provided by Hamas officials that exceeded 200 Palestinian civilians. The statement denounced the operation as a violation of international law and called on the UN Security Council to intervene immediately to stop Israel’s “war against the Gaza Strip.” Curiously, although not surprisingly, neither statement acknowledged the rescue of the four hostages, who were abducted by Hamas during the October 7 massacre. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Associated Press released a report on Friday undercutting its own reporting of Hamas’s claim that more than two-thirds of the Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been women and children.

According to the AP’s new analysis of Hamas’s figures, the terror group’s “detailed reports” of casualty statistics reveal a much lower number of likely civilian casualties than Hamas claims.

“Among those fully identified, the records show a steady decline in the overall proportion of women and children who have been killed: from 64% in late October, to 62% as of early January, to 57% by the end of March, to 54% by the end of April,” the report says. “Yet throughout the war, the ministry has claimed that roughly two-thirds of the dead were women and children.”

“This figure has been repeated by international organizations and many in the foreign media, including the AP,” the report adds.

David Adesnik, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that the scrutiny of Hamas’s false claims about its own numbers is long overdue.

“It’s a pretty stunning admission,” Adesnik said. “It’s probably not going to compensate for them repeating for months after months, time after time that 70% of the victims were women and children, but I guess better late than never.”

Hamas issues multiple types of claims about casualty statistics in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry issues both daily casualty tolls without supporting data identifying the individuals as well as what the AP describes as “detailed reports,” issued irregularly, that claim to list and identify individual casualties. Hamas’s media office also issues separate, higher claims of Palestinian casualties in Gaza, which are likewise widely repeated in news reports, by human-rights groups and others.

The percentage of women and children killed is used as a rough approximation of the number of civilians killed, even though Hamas recruits women and children, and not all adult men are members of Hamas. The terror group also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its data, or between those killed in Israeli strikes and the substantial number of Palestinians who have been killed by Palestinian rockets that land inside the Gaza Strip.

According to the AP’s analysis, Hamas’s repeated claims that more than two-thirds of the casualties in Gaza are women and children are increasingly out of step with its own figures.

“By the end of October, women and people 17 and younger accounted for 64% of the 6,745 killed who were fully identified by the Health Ministry,” the report says. “As the intensity of fighting has scaled back, the death toll has continued to rise, but at a slower rate – and with seemingly fewer civilians caught in the crossfire. In April, women and children made up 38% of the newly and fully identified deaths, the Health Ministry’s most recent data shows.”

Despite the trend, Hamas claimed in February and March that women and children made up more than 70% of the casualties in Gaza, a level that the AP notes “was never confirmed in the detailed reports” and claimed by Hamas “even as underlying data clearly showed the percentage was well below that.”

The AP, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious wire services, says its reporting is viewed daily by 4 billion people. It continued to tout the two-thirds claim made by the ministry as recently as early May.

‘Hamas has everyone on a short leash’

Reports by Hamas on civilian casualties in Gaza are widely repeated in the news media, as well as by U.N. and U.S. officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, who appeared to cite the Hamas-run health ministry’s death toll during his State of the Union address in March.

Defenders of the terror group’s statistics regarding Palestinian casualties argue that the health ministry’s past claims have ended up broadly comporting with Israeli and independent United Nations assessments.

In past operations in Gaza, however, the Gaza health ministry purported to distribute data it collected from Palestinian hospitals, whereas in the course of the current war, as Hamas began losing control of medical facilities, it has relied since November on what it calls “reliable media sources” to collect its data about casualties.

Adesnik told JNS that while the AP report reveals Hamas’s falsehoods about its own numbers, it does not explore why that methodology casts greater doubt on the accuracy of what Hamas claims in this conflict compared with past rounds of fighting.

“It really doesn’t talk about how many of the fatalities in the Ministry of Health death toll are based on supposedly ‘reliable media sources’—not hospital reporting or something more reliable,” Adesnik said. “I think that would be one of the biggest things that would really damage the credibility of the Ministry of Health.”

“In the first quarter of 2024—January, February, March—75% of the new deaths were supposedly gleaned from these media,” he added. “They’ve never said what these media are or why we should believe they’re credible. I don’t know what credible independent media they’re relying on in Gaza, where, of course, Hamas has everyone on a short leash. And the media were remarkably credulous about this.” JNS

The four were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the October 7th attacks. The IDF say they are “in good medical condition.”
WATCH:

Hospital officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza have reported a death toll of 210 Palestinians following Israel’s operation to rescue four hostages earlier today. However, these figures have not been verified and, as always, do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. According to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesperson Khalil Degran, the hospital received the bodies of 109 Palestinians, including 23 children and 11 women. An additional 101 bodies were taken to Al-Awda Hospital, according to the hospital’s director. The IDF has acknowledged that Palestinian civilians were killed during the operation, but attribute the blame to Hamas for holding hostages and engaging in combat within densely populated civilian areas. In a press briefing, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “We know of under 100 Palestinian casualties, but I cannot confirm how many of them were terrorists.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on Saturday on the Israeli military operation that freed four hostages. All three stressed their belief that a ceasefire deal is the appropriate way to secure the release of the other hostages.

Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the freed hostages during a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Saturday.

“In Gaza, we want to obtain the immediate liberation of hostages, and we can only welcome the liberation of four hostages by the Israeli army,” the French president said, per a White House transcript. “We want to achieve an immediate ceasefire and open up the prospect of a political solution, which is the only one that can bring about a fair and lasting peace and meet the security of [sic] concerns of both people. And that is why we are supporting the comprehensive proposal of the United States of America.”

Macron added that “the situation in Rafah and the human consequences are unacceptable” and “it is not acceptable that Israel should not open all checkpoints to humanitarian aid as requested by the unite—international community for months.”

Biden echoed Macron’s comments “welcoming the safe rescue of four hostages that were returned to their families in Israel.”

“We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached,” the U.S. president said. “That is essential to happen.”

The White House also discussed the future of Gaza in a “French-American Roadmap” that it released on Saturday. In part, Biden and Macron “reaffirm their commitment to a two-state solution, the only way to ensure lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Also on Saturday, Sullivan stated that “Israeli security forces conducted a successful operation to rescue four hostages from the grips of Hamas in Gaza.”

“All four were taken from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, and Hamas filmed the horrific abduction of Ms. Argamani for the world to see,” Sullivan said. “Now they are safe and reunited with their families. We commend the work of the Israeli security services that conducted this daring operation.”

The U.S. national security advisor added that Washington “is supporting all efforts to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas, including American citizens.”

“This includes through ongoing negotiations or other means. The hostage release and ceasefire deal that is now on the table would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza,” he said, noting that the G7 countries, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the 16 countries whose citizens Hamas kidnapped all endorse the deal.

“They all must be released—now,” Sullivan said.

“We welcome the rescue of four hostages who after eight months of captivity have finally been reunited with their families in Israel. The United States will not rest until every hostage is returned home,” Blinken stated.

The U.S. secretary of state added that “the proposal that President Biden outlined eight days ago would bring relief to both the people of Gaza and the remaining hostages and their families through an immediate ceasefire that could lead to the release of all hostages, a surge of humanitarian assistance, Gaza’s reconstruction and an enduring end to the war.”

“The only thing standing in the way of achieving this ceasefire is Hamas,” he added. “It is time for them to accept the deal.”

Following some reports that Israeli forces had used the temporary pier to launch the operation, U.S. Central Command stated on Saturday that the “humanitarian pier facility, including its equipment, personnel, and assets were not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza.”

“An area south of the facility was used by the Israelis to safely return the hostages to Israel,” CENTCOM stated. “Any such claim to the contrary is false. The temporary pier on the coast of Gaza was put in place for one purpose only, to help move additional, urgently needed lifesaving assistance into Gaza.”

CENTCOM also said on Saturday that it delivered about 1.1 million metric tons of aid to Palestinians starting that morning. To date, it has delivered about 3.5 million metric tons of aid.

“No U.S. military personnel went ashore in Gaza,” it said. “This ongoing effort in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza is entirely humanitarian in nature and involves aid commodities donated by several countries and humanitarian organizations.”

CNN drew criticism on Saturday for claiming that the hostages, who were rescued in an Israeli military operation, were “released.”

{Matzav.com}

The Israeli military rescued four hostages in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.
WATCH:

Israeli forces rescued four hostages from two separate locations in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. During a complex IDF/Border Police/Israel Security Agency daytime operation in the heart of a crowded residential neighborhood, the forces recovered from Hamas captivity Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

A fighter from the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was mortally wounded during the rescue mission.

Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora was rushed to the hospital and shortly thereafter was pronounced dead.

The four hostages were all abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Oct. 7 massacre.

Argamani, a student at the Information Systems Engineering Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, was five days short of her 26th birthday when she was kidnapped. She was being kept in a different location in the Nuseirat camp, hundreds of yards from where the three male hostages were held.

The freed captives are in good medical condition and being monitored at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan’s Tel Hashomer neighborhood.

“The entire nation salutes the brave fighters who risked their lives today to save lives. Once again, you have proven that Israel does not surrender to terrorism and acts with creativity and courage that knows no bounds to bring home the hostages,” Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said.

“We are committed to doing so in the future as well. We will not let up until we complete the mission and return all of the hostages home— both the living and the dead,” he added.

Netanyahu also released a video of a phone conversation between him and Argamani.

“How do you feel?” asked the premier.

“I’m very excited,” replied Argamani. “I haven’t spoken Hebrew in such a long time.”

Added Netanyahu: “We did not give up on you for even one moment. I don’t know if you believed it, but we did and I’m happy that it’s become a reality.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he was “overjoyed” to have the hostages home, adding that the military would “keep fighting” until every captive is returned.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said, “Noa, Shlomi, Almog and Andrey: We waited for you, and we are still waiting for everyone. Everyone.”

He expressed appreciation to the security forces for the “bold and brave” operation, calling it “a great light in the terrible darkness.”

Israeli authorities also released footage of Argamani, who has become one of the most recognizable Israeli hostages, reuniting with her father after eight months in Hamas captivity.

Noa’s mother, Liora, is hospitalized at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital with terminal brain cancer. Noa was reunited with Liora at the Tel Aviv hospital this evening.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum released a statement praising the “heroic operation” to recover the four captives, describing the development as a “miraculous triumph.”

“Now, with the joy that is washing over Israel, the Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas—the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial,” said the forum.

“We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too much,” it added.

Shortly after the news broke, footage of a lifeguard in Tel Aviv sharing the development amid rapturous applause from bathers went viral.

On Monday, the IDF announced that four Israeli men who were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 died in captivity in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“IDF officials informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell, who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip, that they are no longer alive and their bodies are being held by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military said.

Earlier on Monday, the IDF announced that the corpse of Dolev Yehud, an Israeli paramedic murdered by Hamas terrorists during the assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been located inside the kibbutz grounds.

Last month, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of captives Shani Louk, 22, Amit Bouskila, 28, Ron Benjamin, 53, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, during an overnight operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Also in May, Lior Rudaeff was declared dead exactly seven months after he was presumed to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 invasion.

Days earlier, two more Israeli victims were declared dead—Elyakim Libman, 23, a security guard at the Supernova music festival presumed to have been taken hostage but whose body was found in Israeli territory, and Dror Or, 49, who was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Be’eri.

In February, Israeli forces freed hostages Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Norberto Louis Har, 70, during an overnight raid in Rafah. The pair were kidnapped to Gaza while visiting Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7.

In late October, Pvt. Ori Megidish was freed by Israeli forces during a raid in the Gaza Strip after being kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz Base on Oct. 7. JNS

Israeli forces on Shabbos morning rescued four hostages from two separate locations in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

During a complex IDF/Border Police/Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) daytime operation in the heart of a crowded residential neighborhood, the forces recovered from Hamas captivity Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

A fighter from the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was mortally wounded during the rescue mission.

Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora was rushed to the hospital and shortly thereafter was pronounced dead.

The four hostages were all abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Oct. 7 massacre.

Argamani, a student at the Information Systems Engineering Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, was five days short of her 26th birthday when she was kidnapped. She was being kept in a different location in the Nuseirat camp, hundreds of yards from where the three male hostages were held.

The freed captives are in good medical condition and being monitored at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan’s Tel Hashomer neighborhood.

“The entire nation salutes the brave fighters who risked their lives today to save lives. Once again, you have proven that Israel does not surrender to terrorism and acts with creativity and courage that knows no bounds to bring home the hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

“We are committed to doing so in the future as well. We will not let up until we complete the mission and return all of the hostages home— both the living and the dead,” he added.

Netanyahu also released a video of a phone conversation between him and Argamani.

“How do you feel?” asked the premier.

“I’m very excited,” replied Argamani. “I haven’t spoken Hebrew in such a long time.”

Added Netanyahu: “We did not give up on you for even one moment. I don’t know if you believed it, but we did and I’m happy that it’s become a reality.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he was “overjoyed” to have the hostages home, adding that the military would “keep fighting” until every captive is returned.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said, “Noa, Shlomi, Almog and Andrey: We waited for you, and we are still waiting for everyone. Everyone.”

He expressed appreciation to the security forces for the “bold and brave” operation, calling it “a great light in the terrible darkness.”

Israeli authorities also released footage of Argamani, who has become one of the most recognizable Israeli hostages, reuniting with her father after eight months in Hamas captivity.

Noa’s mother, Liora, is hospitalized at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital with terminal brain cancer. Noa was reunited with Liora at the Tel Aviv hospital on Saturday evening.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum released a statement praising the “heroic operation” to recover the four captives, describing the development as a “miraculous triumph.”

“Now, with the joy that is washing over Israel, the Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas—the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial,” said the forum.

“We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too much,” it added.

Shortly after the news broke, footage of a lifeguard in Tel Aviv sharing the development amid rapturous applause from bathers went viral.

On Monday, the IDF announced that four Israeli men who were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 died in captivity in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“IDF officials informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell, who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip, that they are no longer alive and their bodies are being held by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military said.

Earlier on Monday, the IDF announced that the corpse of Dolev Yehud, an Israeli paramedic murdered by Hamas terrorists during the assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been located inside the kibbutz grounds.

Last month, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of captives Shani Louk, 22, Amit Bouskila, 28, Ron Benjamin, 53, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, during an overnight operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Also in May, Lior Rudaeff was declared dead exactly seven months after he was presumed to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 invasion.

Days earlier, two more Israeli victims were declared dead—Elyakim Libman, 23, a security guard at the Supernova music festival presumed to have been taken hostage but whose body was found in Israeli territory, and Dror Or, 49, who was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Be’eri.

In February, Israeli forces freed hostages Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Norberto Louis Har, 70, during an overnight raid in Rafah. The pair were kidnapped to Gaza while visiting Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7.

In late October, Pvt. Ori Megidish was freed by Israeli forces during a raid in the Gaza Strip after being kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz Base on Oct. 7.

{Matzav.com}

William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90. His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. “The family is devastated,” he said. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.” BREAKING: Former astronaut William Anders who took iconic Earthrise photo has died in Washington plane crash – AP pic.twitter.com/g5grzM1Jdx — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 8, 2024 William Anders, a retired major general, has said the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program along with making sure the Apollo 8 command module and service module worked. The photograph, the first color image of Earth from space, is one of the most important photos in modern history for the way it changed how humans viewed the planet. The photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space. NASA Administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson said Anders embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. “He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves,” Nelson wrote on the social platform X. Anders snapped the photo during the crew’s fourth orbit of the moon, frantically switching from black-and-white to color film. “Oh my God, look at that picture over there!” Anders said. “There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!” The Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 was the first human spaceflight to leave low-Earth orbit and travel to the moon and back. It was NASA’s boldest and perhaps most dangerous voyage yet and one that set the stage for the Apollo moon landing seven months later. “Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who is also a retired NASA astronaut, wrote on X. “He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.” A report came in around 11:40 a.m. that an older-model plane crashed into the water and sank near the north end of Jones Island, San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said. Greg Anders confirmed to KING-TV that his father’s body was recovered Friday afternoon. Only the pilot was on board the Beech A45 airplane at the time, according to the Federal Aviation Association. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash. William Anders said in an 1997 NASA oral history interview that he didn’t think the Apollo 8 mission was risk-free but there were important national, patriotic and exploration reasons for going ahead. He estimated there was about a one in three chance that the crew wouldn’t make it back and the same chance the mission would be a success and the same chance that the mission wouldn’t start to begin with. He said he suspected Christopher Columbus sailed with worse odds. He recounted how Earth looked fragile and seemingly physically insignificant, yet was home. “We’d been going backwards and upside down, didn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, […]

Eleven Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also have been taken. The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But while gaining more attention internationally, the secretive group has cracked down at dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in New York acknowledged 11 U.N. staffers had been taken. “We are very concerned about these developments, and we’re actively seeking clarification from the Houthi de facto authorities regarding the circumstances of these detentions and most importantly, to ensure the immediate access to those U.N. personnel,” he told journalists. “So I can further tell you that we’re pursuing all available channels to secure the safe and unconditional release of all of them as rapidly as possible.” Of the 11, the U.N. said nine are men and two are women. Six worked for the U.N.’s human rights agency, while one apiece worked for its special envoy’s office, its development arm, UNICEF, the World Food Program and UNESCO. The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights, which also reported U.N. staffers were held, named other aid groups whose employees were detained by the Houthis across four provinces that the Houthis hold — Amran, Hodeida, Saada and Saana. “We condemn in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law, and we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains,” the organization said in a statement. Save the Children, told the AP that it was “concerned of the whereabouts of one of our staff members in Yemen and doing everything we can to ensure his safety and well-being.” The group declined to elaborate. CARE International also said one of its staffers had been detained without being given a reason. “We are concerned about our colleague’s safety and are working to get more information in the coming hours and days,” said Sulafah al-Shami, a CARE spokeswoman. “Until then, we have extended our support to the family and share their hope for his speedy release.” Other groups also are believed to have staff who were taken as well, though they did not acknowledge it publicly. Activists, lawyers and others also began an open online letter, calling on the Houthis to immediately release those detained, because if they don’t, it “helps isolate the country from the world.” Human Rights Watch, quoting family members of those detained, said that “Houthi authorities have not revealed the locations of the people they detained or allowed them to communicate with their employers or families.” “The Houthis should immediately release any U.N. employees and workers for other independent groups they have detained because of their human rights and humanitarian work and stop arbitrarily detaining and forcibly disappearing people,” Human Rights Watch researcher Niku Jafarnia said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their affiliated media organizations didn’t discuss the detentions, though military spokesman Brig. […]

Russia-installed officials in the partially-occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28 people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone attacks overnight into Saturday. A Ukrainian attack Friday on the small town of Sadove in the Kherson region killed 22 and wounded 15 people, Moscow-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo said. Russian state news agency Tass cited Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first struck the town with a French-made guided bomb, then attacked again with a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile. He said Ukrainian forces had “deliberately made a repeat strike to create greater numbers of casualties” when “residents of nearby houses ran out to help the injured.” Officials declared Saturday a day of mourning in Luhansk, and public events will be similarly cancelled Sunday and Monday in Kherson. Further east, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk region, said Saturday that two more bodies had been pulled from the rubble following Friday’s Ukrainian missile attack on the regional capital, also called Luhansk. Russian state news agency Interfax cited regional authorities as saying this brought the death toll to six. Pasechnik also said 60 people were wounded in the attack. Ukraine did not comment on either assault. Meanwhile, drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine persisted. Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russian territory overnight Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday. Twenty-five drones were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s southern Kuban and Astrakhan regions, the western Tula region, and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. On Saturday morning, officials said air defenses for the first time shot down Ukrainian drones over the North Ossetia region in the North Caucasus, some 900 km (560 miles) east of the front line in Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that one drone had been destroyed, whereas regional Gov. Sergei Menyailo reported three downed drones over the region. Menyailo said that the target was a military airfield. Ukrainian air defense overnight shot down nine out of 13 Russian drones over the central Poltava region, southeastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday. Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak said the overnight drone attack damaged commercial and residential buildings. Later on Saturday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said Ukraine now controlled more than half of the town of Vovchansk, a flashpoint for fighting since Russia launched a renewed offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region last month. “Most of the city is under the control of the defense forces,” Nazar Voloshin, spokesman for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, said on Ukrainian state TV. It wasn’t immediately possible to independently confirm the claim. Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region further south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Also on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said there was an attempt on the life of the ex-mayor of Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, on Friday. The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Hennadiy Matsehora was in “critical condition” after he was attacked in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine. Officials said he “voluntarily agreed to full cooperation” when Russian troops invaded and in June 2022 “signed the so-called protocol for the creation […]

North Korea resumed flying balloons on Saturday in a likely attempt to drop trash on South Korea again, South Korea’s military said, two days after Seoul activists floated their own balloons to scatter propaganda leaflets in the North. Animosities between the two Koreas have risen recently because North Korea launched hundreds of balloons carrying manure and trash toward South Korea in protest of previous South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns. In response, South Korea suspended a tension-easing agreement with North Korea to restore front-line military activities. Saturday’s balloon launches by North Korea were the third of their kind since May 28. It wasn’t immediately known if any of of the North Korean balloons had landed on South Korean territory across the rivals’ tense border. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korean balloons likely carrying trash were moving in an eastward direction but they could eventually fly toward the south because the wind direction was forecast to change later. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advised the public to beware of falling objects and not to touch balloons found on the ground but report them to police or military authorities. After the North’s two rounds of balloon activities, South Korean authorities discovered about 1,000 balloons which were tied to vinyl bags containing manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and waste papers. Some were popped and scattered on roads, residential areas and schools. No highly dangerous materials were found and no major damage has been reported. The North’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, later said his country would stop the balloon campaign but threatened to resume it if South Korean activists sent leaflets again. In defiance of the warning, a South Korean civilian group led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it launched 10 balloons from a border town on Thursday carrying 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop songs and South Korean dramas, and $1 U.S. bills. South Korean media reported another activist group also flew balloons with 200,000 propaganda leaflets toward North Korea on Friday. South Korean officials called the North Korean trash balloon launches and other recent provocations as “absurd, irrational” and vowed strong retaliation. South Korea’s suspension of the 2018 military agreement with North Korea would allow it to restart live-fire military drills and anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts at border areas, actions that are certain to anger North Korea and prompt it to take its own retaliatory military steps. North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns and front-line propaganda broadcasts as it forbids access to foreign news for most of its 26 million people. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a third generation of his family to rule North Korea with an iron fist since 1948. Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign is also meant to cause a divide in South Korea over its conservative government’s tough approach on North Korea. Liberal lawmakers, some civic groups and front-line residents in South Korea have called on the government to urge leafleting activists to stop flying balloons to avoid unnecessary clashes with North Korea. But government officials haven’t made such an appeal in line with last year’s constitutional court ruling that struck down a law criminalizing an anti-North Korea leafletting as a violation of free speech. (AP)

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As you prepare for your Kabbolas HaTorah, embrace the zechus of helping all of Klal Yisroel be Mekabel the Torah as well.                                                               

Since October 7th, many non-religious families have been registering their children in a Shuvu school in Eretz Yisroel to learn about Torah and Mitzvos.         

In fact, close to 6,000 children are registered to learn Torah in a Shuvu school next year! Yet, 400 of those children may be turned away for lack of funds. Their families are asking Shuvu to take them in so they too can learn Torah – but we lack the funding to do so! Please go to shuvuusa.org/donate to help us take in these children.

With the haskamos of Harav Reuven Feinstein shlita and Harav Elya Brudny shlita, we ask that you please help this desperate situation. Head into Shavuos showing HKB’H  that you are thinking of Kabbolas HaTorah for ALL of Klal Yisroel, including these 400 children from non-religious homes, so desperate to grow in Yiddishkeit. Thank you in advance and a great Yom Tov.

Shuvuusa.org/donate

Hagaon Harav Avrohom Yitzchok Shuchatovitz Shlit”a from the world-famous Kollel Shishi in Yerushalayim will be delivering full-time Shiurim throughout the week. Over the past few years  Rav Shachatovitz Shlit”a, who is known for his fascinating Iyun shiurim has attracted hundreds of bochurim from the leading Yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel to his Kollel Shishi. He will now be giving Shiur full time to bochurim coming to learn in Eretz Yisroel. The Shiurim will take place in Yeshivas Noam Hatorah Yerushalayim.

Yamam Commander Arnon Zamora, H”yd, 36, heroically led Israeli forces in one of the most daring rescue operations in IDF history and tragically paid with his life. After he retrieved the hostages, he was critically wounded when dozens of terrorists opened fire on the Israeli forces with RPGs, machine guns and rifles. He was evacuated to a hospital in Israel where his death was pronounced. Zamora also saved countless lives on October 7th when he led the battle against Hamas terrorists near the southern community of Yad Mordechai. He killed dozens of terrorists and prevented them from infiltrating the kibbutz. When the battle at Yad Mordechai ended, he continued battling terrorists at the Nachal Oz and Be’eeri kibbutzim The rescue operation has been renamed Operation Arnon in his honor. He left behind a wife and two children. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

The rescue operation of four live hostages from Gaza,  initially dubbed by the IDF as Operation “Summer Seeds,” was one of the most complex and daring rescue operations in Israeli history. Following the tragic death of Yamam commander Arnon Zamora from injuries incurred during the operation, the IDF announced that the rescue operation had been renamed “Operation Arnon.” The operation was carried out by hundreds of Israeli security forces, including Israel Police’s “Yamam” counterterrorism officers, Shin Bet operatives, and IDF special forces soldiers. The planning for the operation took weeks of extensive intelligence gathering and meticulous planning. Military officials said that the models constructed by the police’s Yamam unit reminded them of the models used during the Entebbe Operation – intricate models of buildings, streets and training areas. The hostages were held by Hamas guards in the homes of “innocent” Gazan civilians – who were paid by Hamas – in the heart of a civilian area in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip in two separate locations. Noa Argamani was in an apartment on the first floor of a building and 400 meters away, the three male hostages were held on the third floor of another building. The Hamas terrorists frequently moved the four hostages from one apartment to another and therefore one of the main risks of the operation was that if the Israeli security forces raided one building, the terrorists would escape with the other hostages or even shoot and kill them. However, based on Air Force intelligence gathered in recent days, the IDF and Shin Bet formed a plan that allowed the forces to simultaneously storm both buildings. The Israeli forces invaded Nuseirat from several directions under heavy cover of Air Force bombardment and fire from Navy ships and drones. The operation heavily relied on the extensive use of fighter jets, attack helicopters and intelligence and attack drones. Two main rescue team disguised as Arabs first entered Nuseirat in a humanitarian aid truck and vehicle with Gazan license plates, as seen in the video below: The video below shows the beginning of the operation: The most difficult challenge arose when the security forces raided the apartment where the three male hostages were held. Yamam commander Arnon Zamora, H’yd, led the forces in breaking into the building. After they retrieved the hostages and began withdrawing from the area, dozens of terrorists armed with machine guns, AK-47 rifles, and RPGs ran through the alleys shooting at the forces [killing Gazan civilians in the densely populated area]. A shootout ensued, during which many terrorists were killed. At one point, the rescue vehicle carrying the three hostages got stuck while under heavy fire. Additional IDF forces and helicopters rushed to assist, firing dozens of explosives at the terrorists from the air, and hundreds of additional IDF troops rushed to the area on foot, in tanks, and in APCs while Navy ships fired from the west. It was an incredible neis that although Air Force helicopters struck terrorists only meters away from Israeli security forces, only a few soldiers suffered light shrapnel injuries. The terrorists fired several anti-aircraft missiles at the IDF helicopters in order to shoot them down – Baruch Hashem, unsuccessfully. The planning for the operation was carried out in almost total secrecy in order to preserve the element of […]