A Jewish-owned business in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London was vandalized overnight in an of antisemitism cloaked in pro-Palestinian activism. According to witnesses and security footage, a group of masked individuals shattered the storefront’s windows and splashed red paint across the exterior of the building—an act meant to symbolize the blood of Palestinians. The attackers also left behind graffiti referencing the British government’s ties with Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense company. However, the business in question has no known with Elbit or with UK defense contracts, sources confirmed to YWN. “This was not a protest. This was targeted hate,” said a local Jewish community representative.

A Defense Ministry civilian contractor was killed on Thursday by a powerful roadside bomb explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced. He was identified as Dovid Libi, H’yd, 19, from the Malachei HaShalom yishuv in Binyamin. Libi was operating a heavy engineering vehicle when the bomb went off and was killed instantly. The Binyamin Regional Council stated: “With great sorrow, we announce the fall in battle in the Gaza Strip of Dovid Levi, H’yd, a resident of the yishuv Malachei HaShalom in Binyamin. Dovid, 19, a third-generation pioneer of settlement in Binyamin, a builder and lover of the land, is survived by his parents and seven siblings.” “He is the oldest son of Eliav and Sora Libi, settlement pioneers.

A push in Texas to ban social media accounts for children under 18 faded Thursday after lawmakers did not take a key vote on creating one of the nation’s toughest restrictions aimed at keeping minors off platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. The bill, which already passed the GOP-controlled state House, aims to go further than a Florida social media ban for minors under 14. Australia banned social media accounts for anyone under 16. But earlier momentum behind the Texas measure slowed at the eleventh hour in the state Senate as lawmakers face a weekend deadline to send bills to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields.” China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote.

A 64-year-old man remained missing Thursday after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90% of the village was destroyed. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man, whose name wasn’t made public, and it involved a drone with a thermal camera.

With the world’s attention fixed on efforts to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, talks are quietly continuing to liberate an Israeli hostage held in Iraq by a different Iranian-backed militant group. A 38-year-old Middle East scholar from Israel was kidnapped in 2023 while doing research in Iraq, and officials from several countries say progress is being made to secure her release. The family of the scholar – Elizabeth Tsurkov, who also holds Russian citizenship – is trying to remain optimistic. Even though the circumstances are completely different, the release of hostages from Gaza earlier this year gave the family reason to stay hopeful that Tsurkov, who marks 800 days in captivity on Thursday, will also be freed.

QUESTION:   I know that according to many poskim the brachos of Elokai Neshama and Hamaavir Sheina are not recited in the morning if one did not sleep. How long must a person sleep at night to justify reciting the brachos? ANSWER: The Mishnah Berurah (46:24) quotes the Chayei Adam (7:8) that if one slept at night for a duration of sixty breaths, he may recite the brachos of Elokai Neshama and Hamaavir Sheina in the morning. How long is a duration of sixty breaths? The Chayei Adam writes that it is the length of time it takes to walk 100 amos. Since it takes 18 minutes to walk 2,000 amos, 100 amos would take slightly less than a minute. The themes of these brachos are emotions of hakaras hatov for the neshama‘s return after temporarily departing while we sleep.

A federal court in New York handed President Donald Trump a big setback Wednesday, blocking his audacious plan to impose massive taxes on imports from almost every country in the world. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and justify the sweeping tariffs. The tariffs overturned decades of U.S. trade policy, disrupted global commerce, rattled financial markets and raised the risk of higher prices and recession in the United States and around the world. The U.S. Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over civil cases involving trade. Its decisions can be appealed to the U.S.

The Va’ad HaYeshivos published an announcement on Thursday morning that, according to the instructions of HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, any ben yeshivah who has received a draft order is forbidden from leaving the country. The letter states, “At the instruction of the Rosh Yeshiva HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, Nasi of the Va’ad HaYeshivos and Maranan Verabanan Gedolei Yisrael, we hereby order absolutely and without any exceptions, except in extremely rare and necessary cases and subject to the approval of the Rosh Yeshiva and after clarification with our office.” “This instruction is given now, in light of the recent changes in the authorities’ approach and various cases that have caused much distress and real damage to talmidim.

A delegation of Gedolei Eretz Yisroel will be traveling to the United States two weeks after Shavuos in support of Keren Olam Hatorah, the fundraising initiative established to sustain yeshivos and kollelim across Eretz Yisroel amid deep and painful funding cuts by the Israeli government.