Joe Biden toured the drought-shrunken waters of the Amazon River’s greatest tributary Sunday as the first sitting American president to set foot in the legendary rainforest, while the incoming Trump administration seems poised to scale back the U.S. commitment to combating climate change. The massive Amazon region, which is about the size of Australia, stores huge amounts of the world’s carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change when it’s released into the atmosphere. But development is rapidly depleting the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and rivers are drying up. Flying over a stretch of the Amazon in a helicopter, Biden saw severe erosion, ships grounded in the Negro River tributary, and fire damage.

New details have emerged about a significant security breach within the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, involving the alleged leak of highly sensitive documents to the German newspaper Bild. The documents, reportedly aimed at influencing public opinion on hostage negotiations in Gaza, were allegedly leaked by Eli Feldstein, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Feldstein has been in detention since October 27, and the case is under investigation by the IDF and Israeli authorities. The scandal traces back to June 2024, when a noncommissioned IDF officer in the reserves allegedly transferred classified intelligence documents to Feldstein.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office issued a statement on Motzei Shabbos that his scheduled trip to COP29, the climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, was canceled due to “security reasons.” Herzog was scheduled to fly to Baku on Israel’s Wings of Zion plane on Tuesday for a visit of only several hours. However, Ynet reported on Sunday that a report on an Azeri news site that is considered the government’s mouthpiece claims that the real reason for Herzog’s cancellation is Turkey’s refusal to allow Wings of Zion to fly in its airspace en route to the meeting. Azeri officials were not pleased by Israel’s statement blaming Herzog’s canceled trip on “security reasons” and tried to have it changed via diplomatic channels. Azeri officials confirmed the veracity of the report to Ynet.

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman A couple of weeks ago, the Rebbe of Karlin was at the Kosel with thousands of his Chassidim.  He davened there in heartfelt prayer for an hour. I remember my mother aleha hashalom vividly recalling the Six Day War, where it was her, my uncle, my sister and me in a bomb shelter in Yerushalayim.  She would convey such depth of feeling.  Join me for a moment. Picture yourself standing there in 1967, your heart pounding as history unfolds before your eyes. After two thousand years of exile, tears, and prayers whispered in foreign lands, the Temple Mount returned to Jewish hands. In those moments of divine intervention, miracles blazed across Jerusalem like shooting stars. A bomb fell on the Mirrer Yeshiva – and by Hashem’s grace, remained silent.

A federal judge in Texas has blocked a new rule from the Biden administration that would have expanded access to overtime pay to millions more salaried workers across the U.S. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan sided with the state of Texas and a group of business organizations that argued the Labor Department exceeded its authority when it finalized a rule earlier this year to significantly expand overtime pay for salaried workers — ruling that the department could not prioritize employee wages over job duties when determining eligibility. Under the federal law, nearly all hourly workers in the U.S. are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours a week. But many salaried workers are exempt from that requirement — unless they earn below a certain level.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and environmentalist, for years gained a loyal and fierce following with his biting condemnations of how the nation’s public health agencies do business. And that’s put him on a direct collision course with some of the 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors and other officials who work for the Department of Health and Human Services, especially with President-elect Donald Trump tapping him to head the agency. If confirmed, Kennedy will control the world’s largest public health agency, and its $1.7 trillion budget. The agency’s reach is massive. It provides health insurance for nearly half of the country — poor, disabled and older Americans. It oversees research of vaccines, diseases and cures.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) on Sunday morning called for the immediate dismissal of  Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from her position after anarchists threw flares at the home of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Ceaserea on Motzei Shabbos, causing a fire. “While the streets are burning and anarchists feel free to break police barriers, throw torches, shoot fireworks, and break into the prime minister’s house, the Attorney-General continues to sit idly by, granting them legitimacy and refusing to stop this dangerous deterioration.” “Where will we end up? This recklessness is bringing us closer to disaster – to the murder of a prime minister, chalilah.

Dozens of Charedi protesters from the kehilla of Rabbi Tzvi Friedman demonstrated Sunday evening on Jabotinsky Street in Bnei Brak against the enforcement of mandatory military service. The protest follows the distribution of thousands of draft orders to yeshiva students starting today. Protesters blocked the intersection and clashed with police. At one point, police declared the demonstration illegal before taking action to disperse the protest. Despite the warning, protesters escalated into violent behavior, shouting inflammatory remarks such as “Nazis” and other derogatory terms at police officers. Mounted police units were deployed to clear the roadway, and officers arrested one individual for disorderly conduct. The demonstration caused significant traffic disruptions in the area.

A group of mice is called a nest, but what do you call 1,000 of them in one animal shelter? “Crippling,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents. It all started Monday when a man arrived saying he wanted to give up 150 mice. But then he clarified: 150 containers of mice, not individual critters. He had 73 mice with him that day, and by Friday morning, about 450 had been transferred to the shelter. Another 500 or so were on the way. Lined up nose to tail, they’d span more than a football field. There’s enough to give one mouse to every member of the U.S. Congress and the 424-member New Hampshire Legislature combined.

Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump and former senior White House adviser, is reportedly set to have a significant, albeit unofficial, role in shaping U.S. Middle East policy during Trump’s second term. Despite not holding a formal position within the administration, Kushner’s established relationships in the region could make him a central figure in diplomatic efforts, according to a CNN report on Friday. Kushner’s deep ties to Gulf leaders and Israeli officials, cultivated during Trump’s first term, have positioned him as a trusted intermediary. A Middle Eastern diplomat told CNN, “No one on the incoming team has what Jared has, and that is trust. Jared earned it, he didn’t have it at the beginning. He earned it.