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Alligator Pond, a coastal village in Manchester, Jamaica, is bracing for the imminent landfall of Hurricane Melissa.

Heavy rains have caused major flooding in central Vietnam, with rivers swelling and inundating homes and farmland, and submerging tourist destinations including the historic cities of Hue and Hoi An. By late Monday, rainfall in the central city of Hue reached 1,085.8 millimeters (42 inches) within 24 hours, the highest volume ever recorded in Vietnam, […]

The NJ gubernatorial general election is underway with early voting open now until November 2, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 4. This is the moment to stand up for leadership that shares our values. Jack Ciattarelli Delivers for Us  Jack Ciattarelli has proven himself a genuine friend of the Jewish community, fighting for tuition relief, property-tax […]

President Trump sent a heartfelt letter to the Bobov-45 Rebbe, congratulating him and the community on the completion of their new Bais Hamedrash in Boro Park. Personally delivered by Rabbi David Katz, a close friend of the president, the letter—received during Chol Hamoed and recently made public—praises the community’s resilience, calling the building “a powerful […]

As reported earlier, Israeli authorities revealed on Tuesday morning that the remains handed over overnight by Hamas were not those of a new hostage, but rather the already-buried body of Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli abducted and murdered during the October 7 attacks.

“After the completion of the identification process this morning, it was determined that last night remains belonging to the fallen hostage Ofir Tzarfati were returned — remains that had already been brought back from Gaza in a military operation about two years ago. The family has been notified,” the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed.

Officials said the handover violated the agreement with Hamas, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu quickly called an emergency consultation with Israel’s defense leadership to determine the next course of action. “This constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the terrorist organization Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security consultation with the heads of the defense establishment to discuss Israel’s response to these violations,” the statement continued.

The casket had crossed into Israel under IDF supervision around midnight and was taken to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir. Hours later, the grim realization emerged that Hamas had handed over remains already buried in Israel.

Ofir Tzarfati had been kidnapped from the Nova Festival and murdered on October 7, 2023. His body was recovered by Israeli forces in November 2023, and additional remains were later returned in March 2024.

An Israeli official described the handover as a deliberate act of psychological warfare. “This cannot go without a response,” the source told The Jerusalem Post.

Netanyahu, who was en route to give court testimony when the discovery became public, immediately cut his appearance short to convene the security cabinet. Military officials are expected to present three potential responses — restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza, expanding ground operations, and carrying out additional targeted eliminations of Hamas leaders.

However, one senior security source warned, “Much depends on receiving a green light from the United States for imposing sanctions on Hamas. It is not certain that the U.S. will approve.”

According to Army Radio, IDF reservists claimed Hamas may have staged the discovery of the remains. The soldiers reported seeing a Hamas tractor digging near the “Yellow Line” ceasefire area in Shejaiya. They described how operatives appeared to bury remains taken from a nearby building, then summoned Red Cross personnel to “discover” them — an act caught by an IDF drone. “According to the fighters who spoke with us, the entire incident is documented by an IDF drone,” said Army Radio’s military correspondent Doron Kadosh.

Whether those remains were the same ones later returned to Israel has not yet been confirmed.

The shocking incident has left hostage families reeling. Bar, the daughter of Manny Godard, whose body remains in Gaza, said on Army Radio, “I’m thinking about the family – a family has to reopen the grave, and reopen the wound. It’s unimaginable. This abuse must stop. The mediators must use every leverage they can.”

The revelation triggered widespread outrage among Israeli politicians. “Hamas’s violations cannot remain without a harsh response – otherwise, we have done nothing and returned to October 6, [2023],” wrote Benny Gantz on . National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared, “The fact that Hamas continues to play games and not immediately hand over all the bodies of our fallen is in itself evidence that the terrorist organization is still standing on its feet. The time has come to break those legs once and for all.”

He continued, “Now we do not need to ‘exact a price from Hamas’ for the violations. We need to take its very existence and destroy it completely – in accordance with the central goal defined for the War of Redemption. Mr. Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for an immediate cabinet meeting “to formulate a firm and decisive package of responses and to ensure we stand by the main objective of the war: the destruction of Hamas and the removal of the threat posed by Gaza to the citizens of Israel.” He added, “We cannot allow Hamas to mock Israeli citizens and cynically play with the emotions of the families of the fallen hostages.”

The overnight handover was the first in nearly a week, coming just before a 48-hour deadline set by President Trump expired. “Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly,” he said. “Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.”

Meanwhile, Israeli officials are considering several possible retaliatory measures, including retaking ground in Gaza, resuming targeted assassinations, retrieving hostage remains by force, increasing diplomatic pressure, or fully ending the ceasefire agreement.

For the Tzarfati family — and for all of Israel — Hamas’s cruel deception has reopened wounds that never healed, turning what was meant to be a moment of closure into another chapter of torment.

This is unconfirmed, but lots of rumors swirling today within the circle of political insiders of NYC.

Speaker Mike Johnson on President Trump running for a third term: “I think the president knows – and he and I have talked about – the constrictions of the Constitution…I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution, because it takes about 10 years to do that…I don’t see the path for that.”

Elon Musk has launched Grokipedia, a crowdsourced online encyclopedia that the billionaire seeks to position as a rival to Wikipedia. Writing on social media, Musk said that “Grokipedia.com version 0.1 is now live” and promised that “Version 1.0 will be 10X better.” Grokipedia’s goal is “ the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the […]

WATCH:

by Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer We are living in momentous and historic times. Prophecies from thousands of years ago are unfolding before our eyes in record time, seemingly preparing us for the redemption. Rashi and Pnei Yehoshua offer the same interpretation for the words in parshas Ha’azinu that state, “v’chash asidos lamo — the future will rush forward.” They explain this to mean […]

Muslim socialist New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing a storm of criticism over a story he shared about a relative who stopped wearing her hijab and taking the subway after the September 11 attacks. After widespread scrutiny, Mamdani revealed Monday that the “aunt” in his story was actually his father’s cousin, the NY Post reports.

“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani explained at a press conference, noting that he referred to her as his aunt because of cultural custom. In Urdu and Hindi, “fuhi” means paternal aunt.

His campaign declined to provide the cousin’s full name when pressed by reporters. The clarification came after social media users posted photos of a woman they identified as Mamdani’s biological aunt, who appeared without a hijab, questioning the accuracy of his account.

The controversy began after Mamdani’s emotional remarks on Friday outside the Islamic Cultural Center in The Bronx, where he recalled how his “aunt” made the painful decision to stop riding the subway due to fear of anti-Muslim hostility. “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” he said during the speech.

During the same address, Mamdani also accused opponents Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and Mayor Eric Adams of stoking Islamophobia. “In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement,” he said.

The comments drew widespread backlash, including from Vice President JD Vance, who mocked Mamdani on X: “According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.”

Online speculation intensified after users identified public health consultant Masuma Mamdani—who lives in Tanzania and was photographed without a hijab—as his only known aunt. That prompted Mamdani’s clarification that he had been referring to a cousin, not an aunt by blood.

“For the takeaway from my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and in this city, to be the question of my aunt, tells you everything you need to know about Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own making,” Mamdani said on Monday, blaming his rival for fueling the controversy.

As early voting continues ahead of the November 4 election, Cuomo—now running as an independent—has escalated his attacks on the socialist candidate. While he avoided direct reference to the “aunt” story, Cuomo condemned Mamdani for hosting left-wing Twitch personality Hasan Piker at his “New York is Not For Sale” rally in Forest Hills. “I think that is insulting to all New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. “Hasan Piker is the person who said, ‘America deserved 9/11.’”

Piker was seen at Sunday’s rally live-streaming interviews and was granted a “new media” press pass for the event, which also featured appearances by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Mamdani had previously faced criticism for appearing on Piker’s show in April, months before the Democratic primary, with opponents calling out Piker’s remarks that “America deserved 9/11.” Two weeks ago, during the first mayoral debate, Mamdani publicly distanced himself from those statements, saying, “I find the comments that Hasan made on 9/11 to be objectionable and reprehensible.”

{Matzav.com}

A plane crash killed 11 people, mostly foreign tourists, in Kenya’s coastal region of Kwale early Tuesday while en route to Maasai Mara National Reserve. The airline, Mombasa Air Safari, said in a statement eight Hungarian and two German passengers were onboard, and that the Kenyan pilot was also killed. The plane crashed in a […]

Shamgar is where the action is There’s a moment each morning when Shamgar Street transforms. The snarl of buses, streams of coffee-sipping girls, stroller-pushing Mommas and fathers walking sons to cheder. It all flows toward the Yirmiyahu intersection, a thronging wave of beauty in routine schedules. The daily rhythm intensifies, and the city’s heartbeat becomes audible. Feigin Architects saw this convergence […]

The chairman of Degel HaTorah, MK Moshe Gafni, visited the bnei yeshivos imprisoned in the military jail in Kfar Yona, offering them words of chizzuk. Gafni is the first Chareidi MK to visit the prison. Among those he met was Ariel Shamai, a student at Ateret Shlomo Yeshiva, whose arrest sparked demonstrations and protests across […]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sharply criticized remarks from out-of-state Democrats that he said trivialize the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Speaking at New College of Florida’s Sainer Auditorium, DeSantis took direct aim at both New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Mamdani had recently recounted that his aunt no longer felt “safe in her hijab” following the 9/11 attacks and that she stopped taking the subway as a result. DeSantis blasted the comment as insincere, saying Mamdani showed “phony emotion” and mocked him for implying that “the real hurt of 9/11 was that his aunt got a dirty look on a subway, not that thousands of people were murdered by jihadists.”

Turning to Omar, DeSantis recalled her controversial 2019 statement describing 9/11 as an event where “somebody did something,” referencing her comment that the Council on American-Islamic Relations was “founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

Though Omar later clarified that the organization had expanded after 9/11 rather than being founded in response to it, DeSantis dismissed the explanation entirely. To him, such remarks reflect “a real sickness out there in American society.”

The governor closed his remarks with a jab at Mamdani’s New York mayoral campaign, joking about how far he might go to keep Florida insulated from policies like Mamdani’s. “Look, if I have to build a wall on I-95 … maybe we’ll have to do it,” he said with a grin.

{Matzav.com}

Melissa rises to third strongest Atlantic storm on record by central pressure, reaching 892 hPa. With winds of 185 mph, the storm is just 5 mph shy of the Atlantic wind record.

SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: “Oversight chairman James Comer released a blockbuster report now on the Biden autopen presidency…This is an unprecedented situation in American politics and government. The actions of President Biden simply were not all his own actions.”

A shocking new report from the House Oversight Committee claims that a number of Joe Biden’s official actions “cannot all be deemed his own,” asserting that his closest advisers “went to great lengths to prop up” the president amid growing signs of mental and physical decline, the NY Post reports.

Based on over a dozen interviews with White House staff, the 91-page document describes how Biden’s “inner circle” supposedly “meticulously stage-managed” his presidency—curating his schedule, limiting his contact with lawmakers, and scripting even minor events. “These steps ranged from addressing President Biden’s makeup, clothing, schedule, the number of steps President Biden could walk or climb, the amount of time President Biden needed to read and to spend with his family,” the report says, “keeping cabinet meetings to a minimum, eliciting ‘direction’ from Hollywood on the State of the Union and other events, and using teleprompters even at small, intimate events.”

One of the most alarming details involves Biden’s use of the autopen. Investigators allege that numerous executive orders and pardons signed with the device lack “approval traceable to the president’s own consent,” rendering them invalid. Biden himself acknowledged to the New York Times in July that an autopen was used for 25 pardons and commutations between December 2024 and January 2025. The only exception during that time, the report notes, was the handwritten pardon for his son Hunter.

Jeff Zients, Biden’s chief of staff at the end of his term, admitted during a transcribed interview that he didn’t even know who operated the autopen. “I do not,” he said when asked directly. Zients maintained, however, that “there were good processes in place,” though he conceded he wasn’t present for pardon deliberations and was briefed only afterward. He further revealed that “Hunter Biden weighed in on some of those ‘family discussions’ of pardons ‘towards the end, the very end of the administration.’”

The committee emphasized that “the authority to grant pardons is not provided to the president’s inner circle. Nor can it be delegated to particular staff when a president’s competency is in question.” Even if delegation were permissible, the report says, “it would have to be expressly delegated by President Biden himself.”

Biden fired back in June: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

The Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a criminal probe into Biden’s actions and those of aides accused of participating in a “cover-up.” Among those named were deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal — all of whom invoked the Fifth Amendment when subpoenaed.

When asked whether he had ever been told to misrepresent Biden’s medical condition, Dr. O’Connor refused to answer. The report portrays him as “a key figure in the coverup,” claiming he issued “grossly misleading medical assessments” to conceal the president’s deterioration. “His refusal to answer questions about the execution of his duties as physician to the president — combined with testimony indicating that Dr. O’Connor may have succumbed to political pressure from the inner circle, influencing his medical decisions and aiding in the cover-up — legitimizes the public’s concerns that Dr. O’Connor was not forthright in carrying out his ultimate duties to the country.”

O’Connor’s lawyers, David Schertler and Mark MacDougall, responded that “physician patient privilege and the physician’s ethical duty of confidentiality require that Dr. O’Connor refuse to testify about any aspect of his care and treatment of President Biden.” Former Obama physician Jeffrey Kuhlman has disagreed, stating that such questions wouldn’t have violated medical privacy.

Comer declared that “the Biden Autopen Presidency will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.” Yet Justice Department memos have long maintained that the president’s clemency powers remain valid even when executed via autopen.

According to the report, Biden’s annual medical exams included neurological evaluations, though none of the results were ever released and he was never given a cognitive test. Each year, O’Connor simply sent a short summary to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declaring Biden healthy and free of Parkinson’s. Jean-Pierre — who once claimed the president “passes a cognitive test every day” — declined to explain a January 2024 meeting between Biden and a Parkinson’s specialist.

After Biden’s halting June 27, 2024 debate against Donald Trump, senior aides — including Zients and Anita Dunn — discussed whether the president should finally undergo cognitive testing. “I do recall the communications team brought forward, led by [Biden senior adviser] Anita [Dunn], the question of whether the President should have a cognitive test when he did his physical,” Zients told investigators. Dunn explained that “we did not have any concern about his ability to pass those tests. We did not think it would help politically.” Bruce Reed recalled O’Connor dismissing such exams as “meaningless.”

Hollywood figures like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg were enlisted to coach Biden for the March 2024 State of the Union address in a bid to dispel public doubts. Around the same time, Special Counsel Robert Hur decided not to charge Biden for willfully mishandling classified documents, writing that a jury would view him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

Following that report, Biden skipped the customary Super Bowl interview. Dunn, O’Connor, and top adviser Mike Donilon allegedly had financial incentives to keep Biden in the race, with Donilon projected to earn up to $8 million if Biden secured a second term.

Despite claims of decline, some aides described occasional bursts of vigor — such as after a NATO summit in Brussels when Biden entertained staff all night aboard Air Force One. But none could back up Hunter Biden’s assertion that his father’s poor debate showing was caused by Ambien. Only Ron Klain, the first White House chief of staff, conceded that the event was disastrous. “We’re f–ked,” Klain recalled thinking. “I certainly knew that we had a big political problem as a result of [the debate].”

The report noted that “not one of the Committee’s 14 witnesses was willing to admit that they ever had a concern about President Biden being in cognitive decline,” suggesting that aides either ignored or rationalized his issues. “It is unclear whether these Biden aides were attempting to be deceptively euphemistic about President Biden’s cognitive decline, or whether they had so deceived themselves that they actually believed there to be a meaningful distinction that the American people were simply worried that President Biden was old, not that he was in cognitive decline.”

The White House dismissed the entire probe. “This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency,” a spokesperson said. “There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown.”

Attorneys for O’Connor, Bernal, and Tomasini did not return requests for comment. Their lawyer, Jonathan Su, insisted that invoking the Fifth Amendment “is not evidence of wrongdoing” and that “there is no actual evidence of wrongdoing by Ms. Tomasini, and President Biden has already confirmed that he made all decisions concerning the grants of clemency at the end of his term.” Su also pointed out that “there is an ongoing federal criminal investigation into this matter by the Department of Justice,” noting that “any reasonable person would seriously consider an invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights.”

Schertler and MacDougall, representing O’Connor, echoed that sentiment: “The totality of the circumstances surrounding this Committee’s investigation leave Dr. O’Connor no choice but to decline to answer questions.”

{Matzav.com}

Food banks and pantries were already struggling after federal program cuts this year, but now they’re bracing for a tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend as the federal government shutdown persists. The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled Saturday to […]

The U.S. conducted lethal strikes on four drug-smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific, killing 14, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed.