Yale Law School has fired an Iranian scholar, accusing her of refusing to cooperate as it probed allegations that she is involved with a group that the U.S. calls a “sham charity” for a designated terrorist organization. But Helyeh Doutaghi, an outspoken critic of Israel who worked at Yale on a visa as an associate research scholar and deputy director of the school’s Law and Political Economy Project, denies being uncooperative. She believes she was fired because of her criticism of the war in Gaza, as colleges around the country face financial pressure to crack down on antisemitism from the Trump administration.

Wall Street shuddered, and a level of shock unseen since COVID’s outbreak tore through financial markets worldwide Thursday on worries about the damage President Donald Trump’s newest set of tariffs could do to economies across continents, including his own. The S&P 500 sank 4.8%, more than in major markets across Asia and Europe, for its worst day since the pandemic crashed the economy in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,679 points, or 4%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 6%. Little was spared in financial markets as fear flared about the potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation that tariffs can create. Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies fell.

Former Vice President Mike Pence will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to go along with President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election, Kennedy’s family announced Thursday. The award recognizes Pence “for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021,” the JFK Library Foundation said. Trump pressured Pence to reject election results from swing states where the Republican president falsely claimed the vote was marred by fraud. Pence refused, saying he lacked such authority.

President Donald Trump’s expansive new tariffs flips on its head a decades-long global trend of lower trade barriers and is likely, economists say, to raise prices for Americans by thousands of dollars each year while sharply slowing the U.S. economy. The White House is gambling that other countries will also suffer enough pain that they will open up their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that would reduce the tariffs imposed Wednesday. Or, the White House hopes, more companies — both American and foreign — will reverse their moves toward global supply chains and bring more production to the United States to avoid higher import taxes. A key question remains: How will Americans react?

The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defense Department’s secure communications network. Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz.

Many in Bnei Brak are in shock after learning of the sudden passing of R’ Avraham Leibush Levi z”l, a well-known figure in the city and a prominent volunteer with Yedidim, Ichud, Zaka, Shomrim and many other Chesed organizations. He was 35. Sources tell YWN that he suddenly collapsed at home and was Niftar. In Bnei Brak, R’ Avraham was known as an extraordinary man of kindness, always eager to assist others. Anyone in need of help would call him, and he made himself available 24 hours a day to everyone. Many knew him where he worked at Kalman’s Deli in Bnei Brak, where he served customers with dedication and loyalty.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized Pentagon “mid-level” leadership for what he said Thursday was a misguided plan to reduce the number of U.S. troops based in Europe. The Defense Department, however, has not made public any proposal to cut force levels there. “There are some who believe now is the time to reduce drastically our military footprint in Europe,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said at a hearing with U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command military leadership. “I’m troubled at those deeply misguided and dangerous views held by some mid-level bureaucrats within the Defense Department,” Wicker said. “They’ve been working to pursue a U.S.

The IDF and Shin Bet announced Thursday that they successfully struck a key Hamas command and control center in Jabalia—eliminating multiple high-ranking terrorists, including individuals directly involved in the October 7 massacre. The strike, carried out on Wednesday, targeted a central hub used by Hamas both for strategic coordination and as a gathering place for senior operatives. Among those killed was Shadi Diab Abd Al-Hamid Falouji, a terrorist from Hamas’ East Jabalia Battalion who infiltrated Israeli territory and took part in the brutal attacks of October 7.

U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sent a sharply worded letter to Lebanon on Wednesday urging the  Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to accelerate the implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel or face a possible “reasssment” of US military aid. “We are at a critical moment in Lebanon. The Lebanese people have an opportunity to break Iran’s stranglehold on Beirut,” they wrote. The lawmakers expressed frustration over the LAF’s “too slow” implementation of the fulfillment of the ceasefire conditions. “The US should be prepared to expand assistance to the LAF to support expeditious fulfillment of the ceasefire obligations.

After weeks of anticipation and speculation, President Donald Trump followed through on his tariff threats by declaring on Wednesday a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the United States. In announcing what he has called reciprocal tariffs, Trump was fulfilling a key campaign promise by raising U.S. taxes on foreign goods to narrow the gap with the tariffs the White House says other countries unfairly impose on U.S. products. Trump’s higher rates would hit foreign entities that sell more goods to the United States than they buy. But economists don’t share Trump’s enthusiasm for tariffs since they’re a tax on importers that usually get passed on to consumers.