President Donald Trump’s trusted military leader, Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, who heads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, struck a slightly different tone from the president when addressing Russia’s intentions under Vladimir Putin. Specifically, Caine suggested skepticism about trusting Putin as a genuine partner in future negotiations.
During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the defense budget, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked pointed questions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Caine. He wanted to know if they believed Iran would use a nuclear weapon against Israel, whether China would make a move on Taiwan, and if Putin’s ambitions would end with Ukraine.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a measure Thursday that blocks California’s first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, a White House official told The Associated Press. The resolution Trump plans to sign, which Congress approved last month, aims to quash the country’s most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. He also plans to approve measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. The timing of the signing was confirmed Wednesday by a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share plans not yet public.

A bid for bail by former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez while he appeals his bribery conviction was rejected Wednesday by a federal appeals court, a week before the veteran New Jersey politician is scheduled to report to prison. Menendez, 71, was convicted last July of selling his clout for bribes. FBI agents who searched his home three years ago found $480,000, some of it stuffed inside boots and jacket pockets, gold bars worth an estimated $150,000 and a luxury convertible in the garage. Prosecutors said that in exchange, Menendez performed corrupt favors for the New Jersey business owners.

With broken hearts, Matzav.com reports the tragic petirah of Yaakov Yisroel Jurkanski z”l, a one-and-a-half-year-old child who was tragically struck and killed by a vehicle on Wednesday afternoon in Fallsburg, New York.
Yaakov Yisroel, a son of Reb Reuven Jurkanski, was a grandson of Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe of South Fallsburg.
The incident occurred on Laurel Park Road. Emergency personnel from Hatzolah arrived swiftly and did everything in their power to save his life, but, tragically, their efforts were to no avail.
The levayah will take place this evening, at 8:00 p.m., at Har Shalom Cemetery in Airmont, NY.

In a development few anticipated, major philanthropists from the Litvishe community have joined the fundraising efforts of the Olam HaTorah campaign initiated by the Gerrer chassidus. The campaign, launched during the current visit of the Gerrer Rebbe to the United States, has rapidly gained momentum and expanded its reach far beyond the Gerrer circles.
The shift came into public view after the Gerrer Rebbe paid a condolence visit to the home of the late philanthropist Rav Avrohom Noach Klein z”l. The next stop on the Rebbe’s itinerary was the home of Rav Shmuel Dovid Shapiro, a well-known supporter of Torah who had recently pledged $1 million to the Gerrer fund.

Agudah’s Rabbi Avi Schnall gives an update on efforts to get a monumental, $5 billion national school choice tax credit bill past the Senate and signed into law.

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed earlier today that Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.

The US has now ordered all embassies in striking distance of Iran to convene emergency action committees & send cables back to DC about what measures they are taking to mitigate risks.

SOUTH FALLSBURG, NY — A heartbreaking tragedy struck the South