The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell again last week, remaining near seven-month lows. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claim applications fell by 6,000 to 213,000 for the week of Nov. 16. That’s fewer than the 220,000 analysts forecast. However, continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 36,000 to 1.91 million for the week of Nov. 9. That was higher than expected and the most in three years. While the number of new people applying for jobless aid each week remains at historically healthy levels, some who are receiving benefits are finding it harder to land new jobs. That suggests that demand for workers is waning, even as the economy remains strong.

Israel’s State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against Eli Feldstein, a spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office and chief suspect in a leaked documents case, in the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday.
The state prosecutor is charging Feldstein with leaking secret information that damaged state security, an offense carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
A noncommissioned officer, who was not publicly named and who is part of the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate and reportedly passed Feldstein the documents, was also indicted.

The Australian government has declined to grant an entry visa to former Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked, who had planned to travel there to attend a pro-Israel event, Shaked said on Thursday.
Shaked, a right-wing former politician who is ideologically to the left of several current cabinet ministers in Israel’s government, told Channel 12 News that the decision was due to “the anti-Israel and radically pro-Palestinian” policies of the current Australian government, which has been led by the left-wing Labor Party since 2022.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will give Ukraine antipersonnel mines to help it slow Russia’s battlefield advances, marking the second major shift on U.S. military support for Kyiv in days. After allowing Ukraine to use longer-range American missiles to launch strikes deeper into Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the shift in Washington’s policy on antipersonnel land mines for Ukraine was needed to counter changing Russian tactics. The war, which reached its 1,000-day milestone on Tuesday, has largely been going Russia’s way. Moscow’s bigger army is slowly pushing Ukraine’s forces backward in the eastern Donetsk region, while Ukrainian civilians are being maimed and killed by Russian drones and missiles often fired from inside Russia.

Former minister Ayelet Shaked said on Thursday that Australia denied her a visa to enter the country. The reason? Shaked’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, a fact that might “incite discord.” Shaked was invited to participate in a conference of  the conference of the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) for a “strategic dialogue” between Israel and Australia. The head of the AIJAC, Colin Rubenstein, called the step “disgraceful.” “It is extraordinary that a government that refuses to take any meaningful action against an Iranian ambassador who effectively calls for genocide would act so undiplomatically towards a friend,” he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald T

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S.

Russia has sent a gift of more than 70 animals to North Korea for the Pyongyang Zoo, including bears, yaks, ducks and cockatoos. In another sign of the growing cooperation between the countries, the animals were flown to Pyongyang aboard a government plane, escorted by officials and experts from the Moscow Zoo, according to a government statement released Wednesday. “Historically, animals always have played a special role in relations between states. They have been given as a sign of support, kindness and care,” Russia’s Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, who traveled with the animals, said in televised remarks. The delivery included an African lion, two bears, two domestic yaks, 25 pheasants, 40 mandarin ducks and five white cockatoos, the statement said.