https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-january-11-2026/
Iran warns US President Donald Trump that any US attack would lead to Tehran striking back against Israel and regional US military bases as “legitimate targets,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf tells parliament.
Israel is on high alert for the possibility of a US intervention to support a nationwide anti-regime protest movement in Iran, sources say.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/putin-russia-us-foreign-policy-venezuela
Trump is no longer bending the rules – he is demolishing them, with consequences far beyond Caracas
Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars. He claimed (falsely) to have ended eight wars, and his greatest ambition in 2025 seemed to be winning the Nobel peace prize. Less than a month ago he was brandishing a hastily confected substitute, the Fifa peace prize. That act of self-abasement by world football’s governing body looks even more absurd now than it did when Trump grabbed the gold medal and put it around his own neck.
The international laws and norms Trump has barged through had already been loosened by previous US administrations. The operation most closely resembles the 1989 invasion of Panama and forced surrender of its strongman, by the first Bush administration.
In his press conference on Saturday, Trump added Cuba to the list of countries in his sights, suggesting it was “very similar” to Venezuela “in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba”. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added that Havana should feel “concerned” in the wake of the events in Venezuela.
It accelerates the slide from a mostly rules-based world to one of competing spheres of influence, to be determined by armed might and the readiness to use it. One US commentator, David Rothkopf, called it the “Putinization of US foreign policy”.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/01/10/trump-childcare-funds-minnesota-california/
The temporary order will keep aid flowing to five Democratic-led states for 14 days as a lawsuit against the government moves ahead.
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing about $10 billion in federal funds for child care grants and family assistance earmarked for five Democratic-led states over what it had said were concerns around fraud.
The 43-minute video, posted to YouTube the day after Christmas by a 23-year-old conservative content creator, claimed with little evidence Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota were fraudulently taking funding meant to provide child care for low-income families. The video, boosted by Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk, quickly racked up millions of views.
Investigators last week visited all of the child care centers accused of fraud in the video, and all were operating as expected, state officials say.
The state’s initial findings cast doubt on the claims of fraud articulated in the viral video. Still, investigations into alleged wrongdoing are ongoing.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryjliblsze
Israel is closely watching the unfolding protests in Iran, with experts on Iranian affairs saying, “If there was ever a real chance for the Iranian people to topple the regime, it’s now.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/10/middleeast/tehran-iran-protests-deaths-arrests-intl
A woman in her mid-60s and a 70-year-old man described seeing people of all ages out in the streets of the Iranian capital on Thursday and Friday. On Friday night, however, security forces brandishing military rifles killed “many people,” they said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/420701
US President Donald Trump has in recent days been briefed on new military strike options against Iran, as he weighs whether to follow through on his threat to respond to the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing multiple US officials familiar with the discussions.
Officials said the President has not made a final decision but is seriously considering authorizing a strike in response to Iran’s suppression of demonstrations sparked by widespread economic grievances. He has been presented with a range of possibilities, including potential strikes on nonmilitary sites in Tehran, the officials told The Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump said, “What they've done in the past, they've started shooting the hell out of people. And all of a sudden, people without any weapons whatsoever standing there and get machine guns, gunning them down, or they grab, take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them. So they played rough. And I said, if they do that, we're going to hit them very hard. We're going to hit them hard."
Trump added, “We're ready to do it. If they do that, we're going to hit them hard. And so far, for the most part, there's been some of it, but for the most part, they haven't. There have been people killed. Some of them, the crowds are so big that some of them have had, were stomped on. Literally. It was terrible."
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/crime-in-israel/article-882886
A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly assaulting patients at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Authorities are investigating possible additional victims.
The 23-year-old suspect from Har Homa allegedly entered the hospital dressed in attire resembling that of the medical staff and presented himself as an authorized hospital employee.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/job-market-cooling-labor-department-6d4204ed?mod=hp_lead_pos1
Job hunts get more desperate, as workers cobble together part-time gigs, raid 401(k)s and get waitlisted by DoorDash
America’s unemployment rate is low. But so is its job growth. That means Americans without stable, full-time work are locked out of a job market that has settled into a low-hire, low-fire stasis.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/09/us/ice-shooting-minneapolis-renee-good-cell-phone-invs
As he approached Renee Good’s vehicle on a Minneapolis street on Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross held up his phone camera and recorded video.
Less than a minute later, he was still recording when he drew his weapon and fatally shot Good as she accelerated.
That extraordinary footage, along with video shot by bystanders and a 3D model created by CNN of the confrontation, shows Good and her wife challenging ICE officers – but also raises new questions about Ross’s tactics and decision to use deadly force.
CNN’s analysis found that while the Department of Homeland Security claims that Good was “blocking” ICE agents, multiple cars – including one driven by Ross – were able to drive around Good’s vehicle before the shooting.
“I would have been livid if one of my folks were doing that,” the former official, who requested to speak anonymously, told CNN. “If you’re so concerned about your safety … then why are you tying up your hands and attention on your cell phone? Clearly they didn’t feel threatened.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-trump-relationship/
“I don’t need international law,” Trump declared in an interview with the New York Times.
“It’s a very important moment,” said one diplomat from a European country, granted anonymity, like others, to speak freely. “There had been a tendency in European media to make fun of Trump and his people and present them as stupid and sometimes even as madmen. I think that’s wrong. They’re highly capable.”
file:///C:/Users/Daniel/Downloads/Jacob_J_Schacter_Haskalah_Secular_Studie.pdf
This new English version of R. Epstein's work was published with approbation by Rabbi Nachman Bulman of Kiryat Nachliel in Israel wrote:
An English rendition of Rav Boruch Epstein's Mekor overdue. . . . The experience of Torah life derives first and foremost from Torah learning. But the impact of Torah learning is immeasurably richer when the lives of living Sifrei Torah, of Torah Sages, become educative models for our people. Further, such lives are vital links in the chain of Jewish historical knowledge. Mekor Boruch is a matchless compendium of biography, memoirs and lore. It was authored by a celebrated son of the greatest yeshiva in modern time - Volozhin of Lithuanian Jewry come alive. A glowing por last central figure, the venerable Netziv, is a major part of the work
Rabbi Moshe Dombey merits unstinting commendation for his adaption of Mekor Boruch for an English reading public which could find much edification from reading te fruit of his effort
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/420652
Responding to the claim that the Military Police are primarily arresting Sephardic yeshiva students, he confirmed, "This is not a feeling, it’s reality. It’s because Shas is a dominant factor in the government, so they direct the fire more in that direction."
https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-investigates-portland-shooting-customs-border-patrol-11333028
The FBI is investigating a shooting involving U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Portland, Oregon, that wounded two people near the 10000 block of Main Street around 2:15 p.m. local time Thursday.
FBI Portland said on X in a since deleted post, "FBI Portland is investigating an agent involved shooting that happened at approximately 2:15pm near the 10000 block of Main St. in Portland involving Customs and Border Patrol Agents in which 2 individuals were wounded. This remains and [sic] active and ongoing investigation led by the FBI. Please follow this thread for updates regarding this matter."
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, on X Thursday night: "Here are the facts: At 2:19 PST, US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon. The passenger of the vehicle and target is a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting in Portland.
Vance says media omitted that ICE officer was previously dragged by car, received 33 stitches
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/08/politics/ice-immunity-jd-vance-minneapolis
Vice President JD Vance’s claim Thursday that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis is “protected by absolute immunity” drew immediate pushback from experts who said the legal landscape around a potential prosecution is far more complicated.
In this case, the question of whether state charges would ever be brought against the agent, who shot and killed Good, 37, while she was seated in the driver’s seat of her car, is clouded because of the investigation itself. The Department of Homeland Security described Good as a “rioter” who was obstructing and attempting to use her vehicle against officers enforcing immigration laws. Three videos taken of the scene and reviewed by CNN, however, show a more nuanced picture of the scene.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-republican-senators-war-powers-venezuela-maduro-11331375
President Donald Trump blasted Republican senators who voted in favor of a War Powers Resolution on Thursday.
"Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again," the president wrote on Truth Social.
The comments from the president come after the Senate on Thursday advanced a resolution to curb Trump’s authority to launch further attacks on Venezuela, signaling disapproval of his growing ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/09/trump-machado-meet-peace-prize/
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said it “would be a great honor” if the Venezuelan opposition leader decided to share her Nobel Peace Prize with him.
Trump has openly coveted and publicly lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have “solved” a number of international conflicts. Several world leaders have backed his claims.
Two people close to the White House previously told The Post that Trump was not willing to support Machado because she accepted the Peace Prize. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one of the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
The experts the Guardian spoke to agreed that the US is likely to have violated the terms of the UN charter, which was signed in October 1945 and designed to prevent another conflict on the scale of the second world war. A central provision of this agreement – known as article 2(4) – rules that states must refrain from using military force against other countries and must respect their sovereignty.
“You would have to prove those drug traffickers were threatening the sovereignty of the United States,” Breau added. “The United States is going to argue vigorously that drug trafficking is a scourge and it’s killing many people, and I agree. But a lot of international law experts have been looking at this and there wasn’t even clear evidence that those drug traffickers were from Venezuela, let alone that they were governed by Maduro in any sense.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/07/ice-minneapolis-shooting-deportaitons-escalation/
A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said the driver, identified as U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good, attempted to “run over” law enforcement officers in an act of “domestic terrorism” that required an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer to fire three shots. Trump posted on social media that the driver “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”
Yet, while additional information can always emerge, so far social media clips do not show a situation that would justify using deadly force. Disregarding instructions from police is unacceptable, and any violence against law enforcement ought to be prosecuted, but it’s unclear if the woman intended to hit anyone with her vehicle.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/07/politics/trump-officials-venezuela-oil-plan
Also unclear is the legal authority for such an arrangement, which administration officials have openly acknowledged is being negotiated with Rodriguez under the threat of paying “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she doesn’t agree, as Trump put it.
Within the administration, the push to manage the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s ouster has masked another looming problem: Despite Trump’s insistence that US oil companies would pour into Venezuela, officials have no ready plan for convincing firms to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in rebuilding the nation’s energy infrastructure.
The administration is “trying to sell us on engaging and getting in,” the energy lobbyist said. “It’s, ‘Hey look what we did for you. Now step up.’”
That push has been met with trepidation in public and even deeper skepticism in private, the industry sources said, driven by doubts that Trump can provide the stability and security needed for companies to set up operations — and that the potential profits will be worth the risk.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/07/politics/trump-venezuela-justifications-credibility
In the run-up to ousting him, Trump and his administration repeatedly cast Maduro as the head of a drug-trafficking organization called Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.
The first Trump administration did so in its initial indictment of Maduro in 2020, and then again last year when the Treasury and State departments designated this supposed cartel as a terrorist organization. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have also cast Maduro as the head of this cartel in recent days.
“They’re designating a non-thing that is not a terror organization as a terrorist organization,” former State Department lawyer Brian Finucane told CNN in November.
Similarly, Trump and his administration have in recent weeks set about accusing the Venezuelan government of stealing oil that the United States had a right to.
But the issue is a lot more complicated than that, as CNN’s David Goldman reported this week. And the indictment makes no mention of oil, much less Maduro’s or anyone else’s role in such purported theft.
https://thehill.com/newsletters/morning-report/5676130-potential-greenland-seizure-trump/
The Trump administration is stepping up its rhetoric about potentially seizing Greenland following the U.S. military action in Venezuela and capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
President Trump has openly shared his desire for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory from Denmark, throughout his second term. He’s argued it’s necessary for protecting national security
