https://www.newsweek.com/israel-shows-shocking-images-three-hostages-released-hamas-2028237
They were also made to pose holding certificates and speak in an apparently staged interview by Hamas militants, where they reportedly called for Israel to stop the war and stick to the ceasefire.
Photos of the event were released later in which all three men are visibly thin and frail.
Responding to the images, Netanyahu said: "We will not gloss over the shocking scenes that we saw today."
https://time.com/7213409/elon-musk-us-government-trump/
The standoff at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue was not much of a spectacle. On the first day of February, a handful of men working for Elon Musk had come to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a few blocks from the White House, demanding full access to its headquarters. The agency’s staff refused. No guns were drawn. No punches thrown. Nobody involved the police. But in these early days of the Trump Administration, perhaps no other scene revealed more clearly the forces reshaping America’s government.
On one side stood an institution with a 64-year history, a $35 billion budget, and a mission enshrined in federal law. On the other stood Musk’s political wrecking crew. They identified themselves as members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a collection of temporary staffers with no charter, no website, and no clear legal authority. Its power derives from Musk, the wealthiest person on the planet, who has been deputized to dismantle vast swaths of the federal bureaucracy—slashing budgets, gutting the civil service, and stripping independent agencies of the ability to impede the President’s objectives.
https://www.newsweek.com/federal-workers-sue-trump-usaid-2027654
The lawsuit on Thursday marked the latest in a series of legal actions that federal workers have filed against the Trump administration over a host of issues, including President Donald Trump's executive orders, the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE's) access to sensitive payment and employee systems, and the White House's offer of deferred resignations to more than 2 million government employees.
The suit was filed shortly after the Trump administration proposed a plan to drastically cut USAID staff across the globe, which would leave the agency with less than 300 workers, compared to the thousands it had before Trump took office. USAID is responsible for distributing billions of dollars in foreign assistance to war-torn countries and populations facing poverty and disease.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit described Trump and his administration's actions as "unconstitutional and illegal," adding that they have "systematically dismantled" USAID.
With Donald Trump’s return to power has come an upswell of enthusiasm for tariffs and arguments in their favor: They’ll usher in an economic “golden age,” don’t cause inflation, are paid by foreigners instead of Americans, and are an effective cudgel in political disputes.
Most economists disagree, but who listens to economists these days? To test these claims we need “natural experiments”: events where the effect of tariffs isn’t confounded by other stuff like promised cuts to taxes and regulations. The 72 hours in which Trump was on track to hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs is one such experiment.
All the reasons Trump’s government investment fund is a very bad idea.
The answer is plenty, which is why President Trump’s proposal Monday to create a new sovereign wealth fund deserves to die in Congress. His executive order included scant details. But it said the fund would “promote fiscal sustainability,” “establish economic security for future generations, and promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally.” More likely, it would take resources from the private economy, fund political boondoggles, and mess with the business decisions of private companies.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-841053
If US President Donald Trump’s grand statements of a plan to transfer 1.8 million Palestinians from the uninhabitable Gaza Strip hadn’t been said this week, public discourse would have focused much more than it had on a terrifying number: Seven.
Six Arab Israelis were killed in criminal violence incidents in the span of 24 hours between Sunday and Monday this week, with one more on Tuesday in what police suspect was a revenge hit.
Israel Police said last week that it was launching what it called a “large-scale” operation to combat crime in the sector; these seven deaths came one week later.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-840911
In response to the UK's proposal of a bill that they claim may threaten Jewish yeshivas and Torah education, thousands of Haredi Jews gathered for an Atzeres Tefillah (prayer gathering) in Stamford Hill, London, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) said in a statement.
The bill in question, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, has passed its second reading in the House of Commons and has progressed to the Committee Stage. It seeks to ensure that all children who are home-schooled or taught outside a school setting are registered by local authorities.
Haredi campaigners have expressed fear that this would lead to state interference in yeshivas and force them to teach secular subjects or subscribe to the national curriculum, according to the Jewish Chronicle
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8975dx1pe3o
Don't mess with Canada - that's the private message to the US from the very top of Ottawa's political system. Just like nearly a century ago with the infamous American Smoot-Hawley tariffs, Canada got its retaliation in to Donald Trump's import taxes very quickly.
While the White House is claiming Canada's pledge to spend $1.3bn (£1bn) on a border protection plan has given it diplomatic victory in its battle over fentanyl traffic, there was very little conceded that was not already planned by America's northern neighbour.
Crucially, both Mexico and Canada were undeterred by a clear threat in Trump's executive orders that any retaliation would lead to higher tariffs on imports into the US.
After consulting each other, Canada and Mexico instead both negotiated a month's pause with Trump.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5127802-canada-trump-tariffs-delay/?tbref=hp
Canadian Member of Parliament Charlie Angus said President Trump “choked” as his tariff plan for Canada was ultimately delayed before going into action.
“He blinked,” Angus told MeidasTouch, highlighted by HuffPost. “He choked.”
Just days after Trump signed an executive order that imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canada, he reached an agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold the tariffs for a month.
Angus noted the Canadian people are much more united than American citizens currently, and the country is ready to go “pound for pound” with the U.S. if Trump plunges the countries into a trade war.
https://www.newsweek.com/doge-rapid-safety-upgrades-air-traffic-control-elon-musk-2026875
In a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report obtained by the Associated Press, officials say one air traffic controller was overseeing both helicopter traffic and planes arriving and departing Reagan National at the time of the collision. The FAA report said the personnel configuration was "not normal" but that overall staffing was typical.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/05/politics/how-trump-decided-gaza-strip-take-over/index.html
Sending US troops to the region would be in stark contrast to Trump’s long-held critique of nation building and foreign entanglements. He was among the sharpest critics of Republican orthodoxy of national building during the George W. Bush administration.
“We are ending the era of endless wars. In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America’s vital interests,” Trump told West Point cadets in 2020. “It is not the duty of US troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of.”
Igros Moshe (CM I #93) ובדבר אם מותר לקבל עבודה במקום שיצטרך ללכת בגילוי ראש, פשוט שמותר דאינו מחוייב להפסיד ממון בשביל זה דאינו איסור ממש אף מדרבנן אלא הוא מנהג טוב, שודאי לא חמור מבטול עשה שאינו מחוייב להפסיד סך גדול, ומניעה מליקח עבודה שהיא עיקר פרנסתו הוא כהפסד גדול. ואף להט"ז שסובר שבזה"ז הוא אסור מצד חק עכו"ם שא"כ הוא לאו שיש לאסור אף במקום הפסד ממון, הא לבד שאין דינו ברור הנה תלוי דבר זה להט"ז בהמקומות ובמדינה זו ודאי אין זה משום חק עכו"ם דרובן אינם זהירים בחוקיהם. אבל ודאי רק במקום עבודתו שע"ז הם מקפידין יהיה רשאי אבל כשיצא לחדר אחר וכ"ש כשיצא לשוק יהיה אסור אף אם ילעיגו עליו כיון שלא יפסיד משרתו ועבודתו בשביל זה.
Igros Moshe (CM I #93) Is it permitted to get a job at a place which requires that he not wear a kip and go bare headed? It is clearly permitted since one is not obligated to lose money in order to wear a kipa! That is because there is no actual prohibition even as a rabbinic decree to go bare headed but it is only a good custom. It definitely is not worse than nullifying a positive command which does not require sustaining a loss of a lot money to avoid. Therefore avoiding taking the job which is the basis for his parnossa is considered a large financial loss. Thus even according to the Taz who says not wearing a kipah violates the Torah prohibition of following non Jewish practices which would require sustaining a large financial loss to avoid. However this prohibition is is not clear. And this would also seem to depend on the specific place and country. In America , going bare headed is definitely not goyish custom, since most people don’t go bare headed to show they are goyim. But it would be permitted only at the office where they are strict about this. But going to another place and especially in public it would be prohibited to go bare headed even if people will laugh at him since there is no longer a financial loss of losing his job.by wearing a kipa there.
Igros Moshe (OC IV #2)
אם מותר לילך בגלוי ראש לצורך פרנסתו.
הנה בדבר שצריך מע"כ להשיג משרה שצריך להפגש עם בעלי המשרד שאומרים לו שיצטרך שם להוריד כובעו מעל ראשו ולישב בגלוי הראש בלא כיפה שקורין יארמולקע שאם ילבש שם כיפה לא יקבלוהו לעבודה שם, והמשתדל עבורו אומר שיהיה היזק גם לו על זה שהשתדל עבור אדם כזה שלדעתם לא יהיה מסוגל, ואחר שיתקבל אומרים לו שיוכל לישב שם עם כיפה, והוא צריך להמשרה לפרנסתו שם בדענעווער שלא מצוי להשיג משרה אצל אינשי שלא יקפידו על זה אם מותר.
