A prominent real estate association has filed a lawsuit against New York City over a new law mandating that landlords pay broker fees.
The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and other affiliated groups initiated the legal action on Monday in a federal court in Manhattan, arguing that the law will “wreak havoc on the New York City rental markets and unleash a host of unintended consequences.”
The New York City Council passed the controversial measure last month, requiring landlords to cover the costs of hiring brokers rather than shifting these expenses onto tenants. This practice, which had been a longstanding feature of the city’s rental system, added an extra financial burden for renters when moving into new apartments.

During his press conference from Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump blasted the outgoing Biden Administration for auctioning off materials set aside for the border wall; “it’s almost a criminal act,” Trump said.
“What they’re doing is really an act, it’s almost a criminal act,” he said. “They know we’re going to use it and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it, and it’ll cost double what it cost years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars because you’re talking about a lot of, a lot of wall.”
Watch the clip below:

From Fox News:

The mayor of a New Jersey town raised concerns on Tuesday that recent drone sightings over the state could be connected to missing radioactive material, although federal authorities have assured that the amount in question poses no significant danger.
Belleville Mayor Michael Melham stated that the drones flying in a grid formation over his town in Essex County seem to be “looking for something.”
“What might they be looking for? Maybe that’s radioactive material,” Melham told Fox TV’s “Good Day New York.”
Melham further explained, “It was a shipment. It arrived at its destination. The container was damaged, and it was empty.”

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, accompanied by Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Northern Command Head Uri Gordin, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, visited Mount Chermon today.
During his visit, Netanyahu conducted a situational assessment, reviewed the IDF’s readiness in the region, and set guidelines for future deployments. Minister Katz emphasized the urgency of swiftly completing the IDF’s entrenchment in the area, which includes building barricades and defense infrastructure, as well as regulating soldiers’ conditions to ensure they are fully prepared in case their presence in the region is extended.

Luigi Mangione has been formally charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s announcement on Tuesday.
A grand jury in New York has indicted Mangione, 26, on charges of first- and second-degree murder, as well as additional related offenses, following the ruthless killing of the 50-year-old CEO outside a hotel in Midtown on December 4, according to the prosecution.
“We allege that Luigi Mangione carried out the brazen, targeted and fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan,” Bragg stated.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday issued long-awaited rules requiring companies to display the full price of a hotel room, concert ticket or sporting event up front to customers, rather than hiding any extra charges – often called “junk fees” – until the very end of the checkout process.
The new regulations seek to crack down on “bait and switch” pricing practices, according to FTC Chair Lina Khan, who said the agency has received a groundswell of complaints about service charges, amenity fees and a raft of other potentially obscure, last-minute additions to consumers’ bills.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has denied reports suggesting that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is planning a visit to Cairo in connection with a potential hostage release and ceasefire deal. However, a high-ranking Palestinian Authority official provided details about the agreement during an interview with the BBC, outlining what the deal is expected to entail. According to the official, the negotiations are currently in the “decisive and final phase.”

Israeli security sources have informed Channel 12 News that reports suggesting Israel has retrieved the remains of spy Eli Cohen from Syria for burial are false.
These rumors have circulated widely on social media in recent hours.
Eli Cohen, an Egyptian-born Israeli, was apprehended in Syria and executed in 1965 after serving as a Mossad agent. With the Assad regime recently falling and Israel carrying out an extraordinary military operation in Syria—featuring air strikes across the country and ground operations near the border—there has been speculation that Israel might attempt to recover Cohen’s remains.
{Matzav.com Israel}

The leader of Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that spearheaded the toppling of the Assad regime on Dec. 8 said on Monday that the rebel alliance in Damascus would continue to uphold the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
According to The New York Times account of an interview given in Arabic to a group of journalists, Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, also called on the international community to ensure that Jerusalem follows the agreement, criticizing the Israeli military’s deployment to the demilitarized buffer zone on the Syrian border and other areas of Syrian territory.

The FBI is investigating a potential manifesto linked to the 15-year-old girl accused of a deadly school shooting in Wisconsin, which left a teenager and a teacher dead before she took her own life.
Natalie Rupnow, a student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, allegedly opened fire with a handgun inside a study hall, killing two people and injuring six others before shooting herself.
Rupnow succumbed to her self-inflicted gunshot wound while being transported to the hospital, and two other students remained in critical condition as of Monday night, according to police reports.