Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the US nuclear deal proposal was “against Tehran’s national interests”  and that Iran will not abandon uranium enrichment, Reuters reported. Khamenei said in a speech on Wednesday that uranium enrichment is key to the country’s nuclear program. “Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America,” Khamenei says, adding that the proposal is “100 percent against the idea of ‘we can’”—an Iranian government slogan. “If we had 100 nuclear power plants while not having enrichment, they are not usable for us,” Khamenei said.

The IDF has announced the tragic death of Master Sergeant (Res.) Alon Farkas HY”D, a 27-year-old reservist from the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, who was killed during combat operations in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Farkas, a resident of Kibbutz Kabri, fell in battle while operating in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City. According to an initial investigation, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire with an assault rifle, striking Farkas and another soldier from the unit. The terrorist managed to flee the scene. The second soldier sustained serious injuries and is receiving medical treatment. יהי זכרו ברוך. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Yeshiva Mikdash Melech in Brooklyn recently received a threatening letter, allegedly sent by inmate Matthew Karelefsky, 47, who is currently serving a 25-years-to-life sentence for attempted murder and arson. The letter, addressed to the yeshiva on Ocean Parkway in Midwood, warned of planned mass shootings in three zip codes: 11230 and 11210 in Brooklyn, and 06710 in Waterbury, Connecticut. Karelefsky was convicted in 2024 for setting fire to a longtime Chaim Berlin rebbi’s home in 2019, an attack that injured 13 people, including a 6-week-old infant.

Two individuals from China are facing federal charges in the U.S. after being accused of conspiring to smuggle a dangerous biological agent into the country.
According to U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., the defendants—33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, both Chinese nationals—have been apprehended on multiple conspiracy-related offenses. Among those allegations is the illegal importation of Fusarium graminearum, a fungus known in scientific research for its potential use as an agroterrorism tool, the Justice Department revealed in a statement.

A Boulder, Colorado city council member is facing backlash after refusing to sign a joint statement condemning a firebombing attack at a rally in support of Israeli hostages, objecting to the statement’s description of the incident as antisemitic without also labeling it “anti-Zionist.” Councilmember Taishya Adams said her request to include the term “anti-Zionist” in the statement was denied, prompting her decision not to sign. “I cannot sign a letter that equates the calls for a ‘Free Palestine’ with antisemitism,” Adams wrote on Facebook.

A firestorm erupted Monday over revelations that a new U.S. proposal to Iran — reportedly delivered via Oman — would permit Tehran to continue enriching uranium at low levels for civilian use, contradicting President Donald Trump’s own public declarations that any deal must impose a total ban on enrichment. The report, first published by Axios and confirmed by two U.S. officials speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, outlines a framework that mirrors key elements of the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal — the very agreement Trump dismantled during his first term.

Elon Musk took aim at the sweeping tax and spending legislation championed by President Donald Trump, calling the bill a “disgusting abomination” and warning that it would significantly worsen the nation’s fiscal outlook.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk declared on X, the social media platform he owns.
Blasting lawmakers for approving the measure, Musk said, “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”
He added, “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” Musk had only recently stepped down from leading the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative to reduce federal spending.

A Russian rocket attack targeted the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding 25, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the assault, saying it underscored that Moscow has no intentions of halting the 3-year-old war. The attack came a day after direct peace talks in Istanbul made no progress on ending the fighting. Local authorities said the barrage of rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the center of Sumy. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s secret services said they struck inside Russia again, two days after a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack on air bases deep inside the country.

A man who identified himself as a New Orleans jail escapee released videos on social media while still on the run, leading to a police raid that failed to recapture him, an Associated Press source says. Authorities were so convinced about the authenticity of the videos that they searched a home a little over 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) from the jail late Monday where they believe the recordings were made by escapee Antoine Massey, according to a senior law enforcement official who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The official said he wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation into the May 16 escape by 10 inmates.