Tropical Storm Barry formed Sunday near Mexico’s southeast coast and is expected to drench the region for several days. The storm’s center was located about 90 miles (140 kilometers) east-southeast of Tuxpan, Mexico and about 165 miles (about 265 kilometers) southeast of Tampico, Mexico, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving northwest at 6 mph (9 kph). A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Boca de Catan southward to Tecolutla. The storm is expected to strengthen slightly before it reaches the coast of southeastern Mexico. Rapid weakening is expected after the system moves inland.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held his first meeting with families of the hostages still held in Gaza since taking office in January, according to a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., on Erev Shabbos.
“The real victory in Gaza will be achieved only when all the hostages return home,” Rubio told the families during the discussion, as reported by the forum.
Rubio also reportedly emphasized that the United States is playing a pivotal role in shaping events in the Middle East, pointing to recent Israeli military gains against Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as setbacks faced by the Iranian regime.

WASHINGTON – President Trump tore into New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Sunday, calling him a “pure communist” and threatening to block federal funding to the city should Mamdani win the general election in November. “He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad for New York,” Trump said during an interview on Fox […]

Israeli security services have dismantled a large and dangerous Hamas network that had been active in the Chevron region, with concrete plans to launch attacks on Israelis in the near term.
The extensive operation, coordinated between the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the IDF, and the Judea and Samaria branch of the Israel Police, led to the arrest of more than 60 individuals affiliated with Hamas. A large portion of those detained were previously incarcerated and had since returned to terror-related activity, including gathering intelligence, training with firearms, assembling explosive devices, and crafting bombs for future use.

More than four years after a Florida condominium collapse killed 98 people, federal investigators have yet to make a final determination of the cause — but they do have some leading theories. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the agency handling the probe, said this week it hopes to conclude the investigation in 2026. “We intend for our investigation of this failure to have a lasting impact, save future lives and ensure this never happens again,” NIST investigator Judith Mitrani-Reiser said in the agency’s latest report. Most residents were asleep in the 12-story Champlain Towers South when the beachfront condo building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed into a huge pile of rubble at 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021.

Trump on Mamdani: “He’s a pure communist. I think he admits it … If he does get in, I’m gonna be president and he’s gonna have to the right thing or they’re not getting any money. He’s gotta do the right thing.”

Israel and Syria are on track to sign a landmark peace agreement before the end of 2025, according to a Syrian source speaking to i24NEWS. Under the reported framework, Israel would gradually withdraw from all Syrian territory it seized during its incursion into the buffer zone on December 8, including the strategic peak of Mount Hermon. The deal, if finalized, would fully normalize ties between the two longtime adversaries, with one source describing the Golan Heights as being transformed into “a garden for peace.”

On Sunday, the Yerushalayim District Court agreed to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s request to delay his court appearances, meaning he will not be required to take the stand this week.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu appeared in court to present his reasons for seeking a postponement, citing regional developments as justification for the delay.
Just two days earlier, the court had turned down Netanyahu’s initial bid to pause his testimony for two weeks. He had argued that pressing matters of national importance, including political and security concerns, made it impossible for him to participate in the hearings as scheduled.

TRUMP ON IRAN: “They said, ‘We want enrichment.’ Enrichment doesn’t mean like air conditioning and it doesn’t mean to jack up your car. Enrichment is a bad word … I wouldn’t let that happen.”

FOX NEWS: “Has any other country suggested to you… that they want to join the Abraham Accords?” POTUS: “Yes. So, we have some really great countries in there right now and I think we’re going to start loading them up because Iran was the primary problem.”

The Jerusalem District Court announced that it is canceling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled testimony in his criminal trial this week, following his appearance in a closed-door court session today on the matter. Netanyahu requested in court that his scheduled testimony for the next two weeks be delayed due to diplomatic and national security issues, after two such requests were rejected on Friday.

The IDF announced on Sunday the tragic loss of Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, a 20-year-old soldier from Ra’anana, who was killed during a military operation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Rosenfeld served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, which is part of the 401st Armored Brigade.
The deadly incident occurred in Jabaliya shortly after 11:00 a.m., when an explosive device detonated as a team of IDF Armored Corps soldiers approached a structure during a targeted raid.
Thankfully, no other troops were injured in the blast. The military has opened an investigation to determine the precise details surrounding the event.

Popular Israeli actress and children’s entertainer Michal Weizmann, widely known as Michal HaKtanah, made a public commitment to fully observe Shabbos this past weekend, dedicating it as a zechus for the return of the hostages held in Gaza.
“This Shabbos, I chose to stop,” Weizmann wrote on her Instagram account. “A Shabbos of Rosh Chodesh. A Shabbos of new beginnings. A Shabbos I chose to keep in full, turning off my phone, opening my heart, and letting the light in.”

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Ticks can be active in any season and it’s important to check for and remove the bloodsuckers as quickly as possible — especially after you’ve been outside hiking, gardening or enjoying nature. “Humans are outside more in summer so we hear about more tick infections,” said Sam Telford, an infectious diseases expert at Tufts University. But he urges caution year-round because “every season is tick season.” While tick populations vary a lot regionally, some Northeastern states including Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are seeing “above average” numbers of American dog ticks this year, said Telford.

ITALY – Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s lavish four-day wedding in Venice drew 90 private

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