The Israel-based Modern Orthodox network Ohr Torah Stone pushed back strongly against allegations made by conservative commentator Candace Owens, who claimed that the group’s founding rabbi tried to bribe Christian pastors to speak out against her during church sermons, JTA reports.
Owens, who has previously courted controversy with remarks widely regarded as antisemitic, repeated the claim both on her podcast and on her X account. She posted what she said was a copy of a letter from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, allegedly sent to an unidentified pastor, suggesting the rabbi offered Bitcoin as an incentive for pastors to deliver anti-Owens and anti-Tucker Carlson messages.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, said on Sunday that Cairo is actively pursuing a plan to establish a ceasefire in Gaza, floating the idea of a 60-day pause in fighting as a foundation for a more comprehensive resolution to the ongoing war.
Speaking during an interview on Egyptian television, Abdelatty cautioned, “If Israel resumes its aggression in Gaza after an agreement is reached, this will be the main source of instability in the region.”
He charged that Israel had breached the terms of the January 19 ceasefire agreement, suggesting the recent resurgence in hostilities lacked justification. Abdelatty added that Washington appears to accept the idea that any future deal must come with binding assurances to preserve a truce.

Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani repeatedly refused on Sunday to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a rallying cry used as an incitement to violence against Jews. Pressed three times during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Mamdani would not explicitly reject the slogan, insisting, “That’s not language that I use,” and declaring that it is not the mayor’s job to “police language.” Mamdani, an outspoken anti-Israel activist who supports the boycott-Israel movement, has faced growing pressure to denounce the phrase, which is widely used by anti-Israel protest movements and associated with calls for violent attacks on Jews and Israelis.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for U.S. lawmakers last week. Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday’s ceasefire with Israel took hold.

LEIGH VALLEY, PEN

Forest fires fanned by high winds and hot, dry weather damaged some holiday homes in Turkey as a lingering heat wave that has cooked much of Europe led authorities to raise warnings and tourists to find ways to beat the heat on Monday. A heat dome hovered over an arc from France, Portugal and Spain to Turkey, while data from European forecasters suggested other countries were set to broil further in coming days. New highs are expected on Wednesday before rain is forecast to bring respite to some areas later this week. “Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,” tweeted U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres from Seville, Spain, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 Celsius (nearly 108 Fahrenheit) on Monday afternoon.

Lebanese broadcaster LBCI reported Sunday that Syria has laid out a set of preconditions for any potential peace accord with Israel, according to sources familiar with the matter.
As outlined in the report, Syria is seeking formal recognition of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s leadership by Israel, a pullback from territories captured since last December as well as from the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, a complete end to Israeli air raids on Syrian soil, and the establishment of coordinated security protocols in southern Syria, especially along its borders with Israel and Jordan.
The most critical demand, per the report, is that the United States provide binding assurances for the deal and offer diplomatic and economic backing for the Syrian government.