A shul in Melbourne, Australia, was set on fire on Friday night while 20 people were inside. B’Chasdei Hashem, only the door was burned, and no one was injured in the incident. Those inside the shul evacuated through the back of the building. The incident began when a man entered the grounds of the East Melbourne shul at around 8:00 p.m. on Friday night, poured a flammable liquid on the entrance door, and set it on fire. It is one of the oldest shuls in the city, founded in 1870. Only minutes after the arson attempt, pro-Hamas rioters stormed the Miznon restaurant in Melbourne, throwing chairs and shattering a window while shouting “Death to the IDF.” The group of rioters arrived at the restaurant after a demonstration attended by about 100 pro-Hamas rioters on a nearby street.

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Two Dutch intelligence agencies said on Friday that Russia is increasing its use of prohibited chemical weapons in Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison gas chloropicrin. The Netherlands’ military intelligence and the security service, together with the German intelligence service, found that the use of prohibited chemical weapons by the Russian military had become “standardized and commonplace” in Ukraine. According to the findings, the Russian military uses chloropicrin and riot control agent CS against sheltering Ukrainian soldiers, who are then forced out into the open and shot. Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for more sanctions against Moscow, and continued military support for Kyiv.

Hamas officially responded on Friday night to the latest offer aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza and facilitating a hostage release agreement.
In a public statement, the terrorist faction said, “Hamas has completed its internal consultations and with the Palestinian factions regarding the latest proposal from the mediators to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza.”
The group went on to say, “The organization has delivered its response to the mediating brothers, and it is characterized by positivity. The organization is ready, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a round of negotiations regarding the mechanism for implementing this framework.”

Dear Friends,
Just moments ago, on Independence Day, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which includes the first national scholarship tax credit!
Working together, this new opportunity can generate hundreds of millions of dollars for yeshiva tuition and will have a dramatic impact on families across the country.
Today’s victory was the culmination of decades of advocacy by Agudah and its coalition partners to address one of our community’s number one priorities: the ability of parents to afford tuition at the school of their choice.

Russia on Thursday became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021, after Moscow r emoved the group from its list of outlawed organizations. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had received credentials from Afghanistan’s newly appointed Ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan. The official recognition of the Afghan government will foster “productive bilateral cooperation,” the ministry said in a statement. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called it a historic step, and quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as welcoming the decision as “a good example for other countries.” The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.

About 40% of flights were canceled Friday at all Paris airports and tens of thousands of passengers were rearranging plans at the height of the summer travel season because of a strike by French air traffic controllers seeking better working conditions. Disruptions started hitting airports around France on Thursday and intensified Friday. The national civil aviation authority asked airlines to cancel 40% of flights Friday at Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais airports serving Paris, half of flights in Nice and 30% of flights in Marseille, Lyon and some other cities.

A gas station explosion early on Friday in southeastern Rome injured at least 25 people including nine police officers and a firefighter, local authorities and rescuers said. The explosion was heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8 a.m. and sent up a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire that was visible from several areas of the city. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said local police and firefighters rushed to the area after receiving a report of a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added. Elisabetta Accardo, Rome’s police spokeswoman, said 16 residents were injured, including two who were in “severe conditions” and hospitalized at Rome’s Casilino hospital.

Bright orange signs declaring restricted access—written in both English and Spanish—have begun to line the dry landscape of the New Mexico borderlands, where patches of tall grass and yucca break up fields of onions and arid ranches, all beneath the shadow of a towering border wall. These warnings, posted by the U.S. military, signal the creation of newly designated military zones, the AP reports.