North Korea’s top nuclear envoy who was reportedly executed is actually alive and in custody, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Kim Hyok Chol, who led working-level negotiations for the February summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un, is being investigated for his role in the failure to reach a deal, CNN reported Tuesday. South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon Chul told foreign correspondents at a briefing he has nothing to share about the reported purge in North Korea.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Monday that his organization was planning to send hundreds of millions of text messages to Muslims around the world in order to raise money for its activities.
The text messages, he said, will be sent in eight languages and the money collected will be intended to “support the open campaign with the supreme enemy of the Islamic nation.”
Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nahala has also called on Muslims around the world to unite and announce support for the organizations fighting the Arab regimes collaborating with the United States and the “Zionist entity.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

MK Yair Lapid on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after it was revealed that he had agreed during failed coalition talks last month to a charedi demand to allow for gender segregation in public spaces, saying he was turning Israel into Iran.
A draft of Likud’s agreement with Yahadut HaTorah, which was leaked Monday to the Kan public broadcaster, stated that “within 90 days the government will amend the law in such a way that it will be permissible to provide public services, public study sessions and public events in which men and women are separated. This separation will not constitute discrimination according to the law.”

Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden released his climate policy proposal early Tuesday, targeting net-zero emissions and 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050.
The “Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution & Environmental Justice” carries a price tag of $1.7 trillion for the federal government in its first 10 years, which the former vice president’s campaign says will be paid by undoing the tax cuts enacted by President Trump and congressional Republicans.
Investments from state and local governments as well as private companies would push the total to $5 trillion.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Tuesday slammed President Trump, calling him a “poster-boy for the far-right movement around the world” as thousands gathered in London to protest Trump’s state visit.
Khan in an interview with Sky News criticized Trump for his immigration policies, citing the Muslim travel ban and “zero tolerance” family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Surely we should be saying ‘listen, you know, you do realize you’re a poster-boy for the far-right movement around the world,’ ” Khan said.
Trump and Khan have often exchanged barbs since Trump took office in 2017.
Read more at The Hill.

During the failed coalition talks last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a charedi demand to allow for gender segregation in public spaces, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Monday.
A leaked draft of the Likud’s agreement with the Yahadut HaTorah party stated that “within 90 days the government will amend the law in such a way that it will be permissible to provide public services, public study sessions and public events in which men and women are separated. This separation will not constitute discrimination according to the law.”
The draft agreement also barred individuals from filing a civil suit against municipal organizers of such events on the grounds of gender discrimination.

Just prior to leaving office, former Education Minister Naftali Bennett signed an ordinance approving a life insurance plan for yungerleit.
Under the new initiative, a sum of 500,000 NIS ($138,390) will be paid to the widow and orphans of married yeshiva students, over a period of fifteen years.
“Every married yeshiva student will pay a minimal sum of 20-30 NIS ($5.54-8.30) each month, and if it becomes necessary, his widow and children will receive a monthly stipend of 5,000 NIS ($1,384) each month for a period of 15 years,” Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen explained when first pushing the plan forward.
Gafni, for his part, had claimed the insurance harms the yeshivas’ budgets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the Rivlin family upon the petira of First Lady Nechama Rivlin Tuesday morning, and offered his condolences to President Reuven Rivlin..
“Along with all the citizens of Israel, my wife Sara and I feel deep sorrow at the death of the president’s wife, Nechama Rivlin,” Netanyahu said in a brief statement.
“We all prayed for her recovery during the recent period during which she fought bravely and intensely for her life. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the president and to all his family,” he said.
Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau called Nechama Rivlin a “woman of valor” who for many years “stood by her husband as he served the public with endless devotion and humility.”

Nechama Rivlin, the wife of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, died at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva on Tuesday, a day before her 74th birthday.

Israel’s first lady had suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition in which scar tissue accumulates in the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe.
She was usually seen in public with a portable oxygen tank, including when accompanying her husband at official ceremonies.

 Sheunderwent a lung transplant on March 11.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
(JNS)
{Matzav.com}

An Israeli citizen who traveled to Syria to join the Nusra Front and “die a martyr’s death” crossed the border back into Israel last month and was arrested by the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police, the Shin Bet reported Sunday after an embargo on the story was lifted.
Ranwa Rasmi Mahmoud Shanawi, 22, a resident of the town of Jadeidi-Makr near Akko, was arrested upon her return to Israel in early May and taken for interrogation. Shanawi told investigators she had been in contact with a Syrian citizen who suggested she come to Syria and join the Nusra Front. Shawai agreed, seeking a “martyr’s death.”