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The Pentagon has put back on display a towering portrait of Robert E. Lee at the West Point library, according to a report from CBS News.

The 20-foot-high painting, which shows Lee in his Confederate military attire, had previously been taken down in 2022 after the Department of Defense issued an order requiring the U.S. Military Academy to address issues tied to racial injustice and remove items that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.”

In the artwork, Lee is portrayed alongside an enslaved man who is seen leading the Confederate general’s horse in the background.

“At West Point, the United States Military Academy is prepared to restore historical names, artifacts, and assets to their original form and place,” Army communications director Rebecca Hodson told The New York Times earlier this week.

“Under this administration, we honor our history and learn from it — we don’t erase it.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has consistently emphasized his support for bringing back Confederate monuments and names that were removed during the last five years.

{Matzav.com}

An electric streetcar that is one of Lisbon’s landmarks and a big draw for tourists derailed Wednesday, killing 15 people and injuring 18 others, emergency services said. Five of the injured were in serious condition and a child was among the injured, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies said in a statement. An unknown number of foreigners were among the injured, it said. Authorities called it an accident, the worst in the city’s recent history, and it cast a pall over Lisbon’s charm for the millions of foreign tourists who arrive every year. The yellow-and-white streetcar, which is known as Elevador da Gloria and which goes up and down a steep downtown hill in tandem with one going the opposite way, was lying on its side on the narrow road that it travels along. Its sides and top were partially crumpled, and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends. Parts of the vehicle, made mostly of metal, were crushed. Several dozen emergency workers were at the scene but most stood down after about two hours. Eyewitnesses told local media that the streetcar careened down the hill, apparently out of control. One witness said the streetcar toppled onto a man on a sidewalk. Carris, the company that operates the streetcar, said scheduled maintenance had been carried out. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his condolences to affected families, and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said the city was in mourning. “It’s a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen,” Moedas said. Portugal’s government announced that a day of national mourning would be observed on Thursday. “A tragic accident … caused the irreparable loss of human life, which left in mourning their families and dismayed the whole country,” it said in a statement. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences. “It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Gloria,” she wrote in Portuguese on X. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. It reportedly occurred at the start of the evening rush hour, around 6 p.m. Emergency officials said all victims were pulled out of the wreckage in just over two hours. An investigation into the causes will begin once the rescue operation is over, the government said. The streetcar, technically called a funicular, is harnessed by steel cables and can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing. It is also commonly used by Lisbon residents. The service up and down a few hundred meters (yards) of a hill on a curved, traffic-free road was inaugurated in 1885. It is classified as a national monument. Lisbon hosted around 8.5 million tourists last year, and long lines of tourists typically form for the brief rides on the popular streetcar. (AP)

Florida’s top health official announced on Wednesday that the state will eliminate all vaccine requirements, declaring that the mandates are finished “every last one of them.”

Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo revealed the move alongside the launch of the Florida Make America Healthy Again commission, a new panel that will be led by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.

Speaking at a press event in Valrico, a community outside Tampa, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the panel would focus on principles such as “individual medical freedom, informed consent, parent rights and also market innovation.”

The plan includes removing vaccine requirements for schools across the state, covering shots such as hepatitis B, polio, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), and chickenpox.

“Every last one is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery. Who am I, or anyone else, to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right. Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God,” Ladapo said. “Government does not have that right.”

Ladapo, who did not specify when the mandates would be repealed, will also serve as a member of the Florida MAHA commission.

Gov. DeSantis explained that the commission’s broader mission will include “promoting clean, safe and nutritious food, improving transparency and accountability in healthcare, working on the causes of chronic diseases to identify and prevent future occurrences, and restoring trust in the medical profession and in public health.”

{Matzav.com}

On Wednesday, victims and a coalition of lawmakers from both parties pressed the House GOP to release Jeffrey Epstein-related records, even though the Speaker has already been taking steps to make them public. President Donald Trump, however, dismissed the entire push as nothing more than a continuation of what he called the “Democrat hoax.”

“This is a Democrat hoax that never ends,” Trump remarked during a press conference in the Oval Office alongside Polish President Karol Nawrocki. He argued that the current demand for openness was unnecessary since Republicans are already moving ahead with it, calling the whole effort a political sideshow.

“I think it’s enough because I think we should talk about the greatness of our country and the success that we’re having,” he continued, pivoting away from the controversy to highlight achievements during his presidency.

Trump accused Democrats of fixating on obstruction as a strategy to derail his administration’s goals and criticized the media for giving attention to the Epstein matter instead of what he sees as America’s resurgence.

“We’re having the most successful eight months of any president ever and that’s what I want to talk about and should be talking about — not the Epstein hoax,” he declared.

The president also questioned why the story of the disgraced financier continues to linger in the news cycle.

“We gave them everything over and over again, more and more and more and nobody is ever satisfied,” Trump said. “From what I understand, I could check, thousands of pages of documents have been given, but it is really a Democrat hoax because they are trying to get people to talk about something that is totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”

Pointing to the nation’s capital as proof of his administration’s progress, Trump emphasized improvements in public safety.

“Even if you look at D.C. right now. D.C. is a totally safe zone. It is called the safe zone. That’s a term. It is a term of art. It is a safe zone because it is very safe. You can walk down the street now and nothing will happen. No crime, no murders, no nothing because we had a lot of problem with certain places.”

{Matzav.com}

WATCH: After deadly strike on Venezuelan drug boat, Sec. Rubio says US military will continue targeting cartels. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”

DEVELOPING: Emergency alert issued for ‘reported weapons incident’ at University of Massachusetts – Lowell campus.

Renewed Israeli airstrikes targeting areas along the southern Lebanese coast between Tyre and Sidon.

Pessimism about the U.S. economy has reached historic levels, with most Americans declaring that the American dream is no longer within reach, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NORC poll. The survey found that only one in four U.S. adults believes they have a good chance of improving their standard of living — a striking collapse of confidence in a country long defined by economic mobility. Nearly half of respondents said they expect the economy to get worse over the next year, compared with just a quarter who anticipate improvement, while the rest expect little change. Perceptions of the economy remain overwhelmingly negative. A majority of Americans, 56 percent, described the economy as either “poor” or “not so good.” Even though that number has eased slightly from last year, the outlook remains grim. Equally stark was the finding that 69 percent of Americans believe the American dream — the belief that hard work leads to a better life — is no longer true or never was. The survey also underscored deep financial unease. Nearly half of respondents described themselves as only “more or less satisfied” with their current financial situation, while 30 percent admitted to being outright dissatisfied. Just 22 percent expressed satisfaction. Inflation remains a central strain: nearly a third of Americans reported major financial hardship from rising prices, and another third said inflation is at least a minor burden. Even among those not yet hit hard, many warned they will feel the squeeze if prices keep climbing. Housing affordability stood out as another major concern. Fewer than a quarter of Americans said they were very confident they could buy a home if they wanted to, while more than half said they had little or no confidence in their ability to do so. Despite a modest uptick in optimism — with 44 percent rating the economy as “excellent” or “good,” six points higher than last year — the poll confirms a bleak national mood. At its core, the findings suggest a public increasingly resigned to economic stagnation and doubtful that the path to prosperity is still open. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The United States will continue to keep its military presence in the Caribbean and will target anyone “trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco terrorist,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning. His remarks followed President Donald Trump’s announcement a day earlier that U.S. forces had destroyed a drug-laden vessel in the region.

On Tuesday, President Trump revealed that American forces had carried out the strike in international waters after the craft departed Venezuela. He later wrote on Truth Social that 11 people were killed in the operation. Trump said the mission was directed at members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan crime syndicate classified by his administration as a foreign terrorist organization.

Trump also shared footage that appeared to capture the moment a small vessel was destroyed by military firepower in the open sea.

Hegseth, speaking on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday, said he had observed the attack as it unfolded. He rejected claims from Venezuela’s Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez, who alleged on social media that the clip was fabricated. The defense chief stressed that the footage was authentic and called the mission a “precision” strike, though he declined to discuss operational specifics.

“We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented, and that was Tren de Aragua … trying to poison our country with illicit drugs,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth did not explain how U.S. forces identified the craft or its occupants. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday that he believed the narcotics were destined for Trinidad and Tobago or another Caribbean nation. Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, welcomed the strike in a statement later that evening, according to the Associated Press.

The defense secretary emphasized that the action demonstrated “President Trump is willing to go on offense in ways that others have not been” when it comes to combating international drug smuggling.

“You want to try to traffic drugs, it’s a new day,” Hegseth said. “It’s a different day, and so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere.”

He added that American forces would remain stationed in the area and that similar missions could follow.

“This is a deadly, serious mission for us and it won’t stop with just this strike,” Hegseth said. “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”

Last month, President Trump ordered the military to intensify operations against Latin American cartels. In August, U.S. officials announced that additional Navy vessels would patrol waters near Venezuela as part of the effort. Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro denounced the American moves as an “extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat,” and in response dispatched warships and drones along his nation’s shores.

So far, the United States has not suggested it will attack Venezuela directly. When asked Wednesday on Fox News about whether regime change in Caracas was being considered, Hegseth replied that it was a “presidential decision.” The Trump administration has accused Maduro’s regime of aiding drug networks, including Tren de Aragua, in funneling narcotics into the U.S.

In 2020, a federal court in the United States indicted Maduro on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges, which he has denied. Washington has put forward a $50 million bounty for his capture.

“What we have, there in the Caribbean, is clear demonstration of military might,” Hegseth said during his television appearance. “President Trump has shown whether it is southwest border, Houthis, (Operation) Midnight Hammer in Iran, precise power could impact and reshape dynamics around the world and in the region. Nicolas Maduro, as he considers whether to be a narco-trafficker, has decisions to make.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that New Orleans could be his next target for deploying the National Guard to fight crime, potentially expanding the number of cities around the nation where he may send federal law enforcement. Trump has already said he plans to send the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore following his administration deploying troops and federal agents to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., last month. “So we’re making a determination now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki. “Do we go to Chicago? Do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite, you know, quite tough, quite bad.” Trump now frequently boasts about turning Washington into a “safe zone.” The White House reports more than 1,760 arrests citywide since the president first announced he was mobilizing federal forces on Aug. 7. But Washington is a federal district subject to laws giving Trump power to take over the local police force for up to 30 days. The decision to use troops to attempt to quell crime in other Democratic-controlled cities around the country would represent an important escalation. Trump’s latest comments came a day after he declared “We’re going in” and suggested that the National Guard might soon be headed for Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, and Baltimore. That’s despite state and local officials, as well as many residents, both places staunchly opposing the idea. New Orleans, however, is a Democrat-controlled in a red state run by Landry. “So we’re going to be going to maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We’ll straighten that out in about two weeks,” Trump said. “It’ll take us two weeks, easier than D.C.” City leaders immediately balked at the idea. “Crime is down in New Orleans,” City Councilmember Oliver Thomas, who is also a mayoral candidate, said via text message. “That would seem to be very political or a major overreaction!” Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly railed against Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for not requesting that the National Guard be deployed. “We could straighten out Chicago. All they have to do is ask us to go into Chicago. If we don’t have the support of some of these politicians, but I’ll tell you who is supporting us, the people of Chicago,” Trump said Wednesday. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have been adamant in saying Chicago doesn’t need or want military intervention. In Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore have remained similarly opposed. In Washington, Mayor Muriel Bowser has said Trump’s decision to take over her city’s police force and flood streets with hundreds of federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops has succeeded in reducing violent crime — but she’s also argued that similar results could have been achieved simply by having more city police officers in service. (AP)

Several people are dead after an iconic cable car in Lisbon, Portugal, derailed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that drug cartels face a “rude awakening,” declaring that the President plans to go on the offensive after the U.S. military destroyed a Venezuela-linked drug boat.

A plane has crashed through a fence at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, Illinois. No injuries reported.

A confidential report from the United Nations’ nuclear monitoring body shows that Iran sharply expanded its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in the days leading up to Israel’s military strike on June 13, according to a Wednesday report from the Associated Press.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), headquartered in Vienna, wrote in its most recent update that Iran had accumulated 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity as of June 13. That amount represents an increase of 32.3 kilograms since the agency’s last update in May and places Iran just one technical step below weapons-grade capability.

The findings draw on disclosures made by Iran, on-the-ground verification work carried out from May 17 through June 12, and projections based on earlier monitoring. Uranium at 60% purity is widely recognized as alarmingly close to the 90% level necessary for use in nuclear arms.

The IAEA also confirmed it has not been able to reach any deal with Tehran to restart inspections at facilities hit by U.S. and Israeli strikes in June. Since the outbreak of the conflict, inspectors have only been granted access to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, where Russian experts are assisting with operations.

Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, urged Iran to restore full cooperation quickly, stressing that its scaled-back compliance after the fighting began was “deeply regrettable.”

The report further disclosed that Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile had reached 9,874.9 kilograms by June 13—an increase of 627.3 kilograms compared with May. Since then, the agency has been unable to track developments because of Tehran’s restrictions, which it flagged as a “serious concern.”

IAEA experts noted that only 42 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% would be enough for a single nuclear device if it were taken to the 90% weapons threshold.

{Matzav.com}

Israel is continuing to concentrate its forces and equipment for what could be a full-scale military control of Gaza, with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas in order to bring the conflict to an end. At the same time, President Donald Trump issued another strong call for Hamas to release the hostages still in captivity.

“Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages (Not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly,” Trump posted Wednesday morning on Truth Social.

“IT WILL END!”

Since the war against Hamas erupted on October 7, 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the situation as a battle being waged on seven different fronts, involving Iran and its network of proxies. From the start, the objectives for Israel’s campaign have been clear: bring back every hostage, dismantle Hamas, and remove both the weapons and the radical ideology entrenched in Gaza.

Trump’s message emphasized that the 20 hostages thought to still be alive should be returned at once. Overall, roughly 50 people taken on October 7 remain missing, but Israeli officials fear that around 30 of them have already been killed, in which case their remains would have to be returned.

Despite mounting global criticism and accusations of “genocide,” Israel argues that civilian deaths are a tragic consequence of Hamas’s deliberate use of innocent people as shields. Officials insist that military strikes are aimed at terrorist infrastructure but that Hamas ensures these targets are placed among civilians to manipulate world opinion.

Reports have long indicated that Hamas has exploited humanitarian supplies to build its network of tunnels beneath Gaza. Israeli officials also stress that many of these underground operations are run directly under or inside hospitals. That, they say, causes the world to misinterpret legitimate strikes on terrorists as deliberate attacks on noncombatants.

{Matzav.com}

As YWN reported on Tuesday, Sara Brown, a genocide scholar and a member of the International Association of “Genocide Scholars” (IAGS) for over 10 years, accused the organization’s leadership of pushing through a resolution labeling Israel’s actions as “genocide” without holding the group’s customary debate and using unreliable data. Additionally, only 129 of the association’s roughly 500 members voted, and the association recently expanded its membership, with almost no qualifications to become a member. According to Brown, the association, formerly comprised of mainly scholars, now includes activists and artists. As it turned out, “almost no qualifications” is actually “no qualifications.” The only credential that “scholars” need to join the association is $30! This fact was revealed on Tuesday by author Salo Aizenberg, who is on the board of the Honest Reporting media watchdog group and is now a newly minted member of IAGS! (Of course, he was only accepted to the prestigious group after submitting his stellar credentials—30 bucks.) Aizenberg wrote, “I’ve been getting to know some of my fellow ‘genocide scholars.’ It seems that Iraq is a center of knowledge in this field, with 80 listed scholars of ~600 (13%). Remarkable, especially the Mahmood family with 5 scholars in the field. I wonder who voted for the Gaza resolution.” “I have been asked by other scholars about the necessary credentials to join this esteemed group of ‘genocide scholars’ that generated worldwide headlines because 24% of members voted that Gaza was a genocide. There are 2 key criteria:(1) be alive (2) have a valid credit card.”   (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

The conservative news network Newsmax filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday, saying Fox has sought to maintain its market dominance through intimidation and exclusionary business practices designed to stifle competition. Fox has sought to block television distributors from carrying Newsmax or minimize its exposure, pressured guests not to appear on the rival network and hired private detectives to investigate Newsmax executives, said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in south Florida. Newsmax seeks a jury trial. Fox, in a statement, said “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.” (AP)

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un brought along his own portable toilet on his trip to China, a measure meant to ensure no biological traces of his health could be collected, according to intelligence assessments from Japan and South Korea. Observers also noted that his entourage went to unusual lengths to sanitize the meeting space where he conferred with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The customized bathroom was installed on his signature green bulletproof train, which carried him to Beijing on Tuesday to attend China’s largest-ever military parade, an event marking 80 years since Japan’s defeat in World War II.

“The physical condition of the supreme leader has a major impact on the North Korean regime,” a South Korean intelligence official familiar with Pyongyang’s practices told Nikkei Asia, a prominent English-language news outlet based in Japan.

“North Korea makes a particular effort to seal off anything related to that, such as hair and excrement.”

Meanwhile, Kremlin journalist Alexander Yunashev posted footage that appeared to show Kim’s aides diligently tidying up the meeting space following a two-and-a-half-hour conversation between the North Korean leader and Putin.

Yunashev observed that Kim’s team “took away the glass from which he drank, wiped the upholstery of the chair and those parts of the furniture that the Korean leader touched.”

{Matzav.com}

The IDF announced it eliminated Hezbollah operative Al-Munim Musa Sweidan in Yater, southern Lebanon, where he served as the group’s local representative and managed its financial and military ties with village residents.

Iran further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels before Israel launched its military attack on June 13, a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen by The Associated Press said Wednesday. The report also said that Iran and the IAEA have not reached an agreement on resuming inspections of sites affected by Israeli and U.S. bombing in June. The director general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that “technical modalities to enable the full resumption of Agency inspection should be concluded without delay,” the report stated. The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of June 13, Iran had 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 32.3 kilograms since the IAEA’s last report in May. The report stated that this figure is “based on the information provide by Iran, agency verification activities between 17 May 2025 and 12 June 2025 (the day preceding the start of the military attacks), and estimates based on the past operation of the relevant facilities.” That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The confidential report also stated that as of June 13, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was 9874.9 kilograms, which represents an increase of 627.3 kilograms since the last repot in May. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said that since June 13, it has “not been able to conduct the in-field activities required to collect and verify Iran’s declarations used to estimate the changes to the previously reported stockpile.” According to the IAEA, approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is theoretically enough to produce one atomic bomb, if enriched further to 90%. (AP)