Israeli soldiers in Lebanon have found large troves of Russian weapons in Hezbollah areas, surprising security officials who were unaware of the large cache of modern Russian arms Hezbollah had acquired in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The report quoted an IDF major who said that 60% to 70% of the weapons that troops found in southern Lebanon in the first days of the ground war were Russian-made. More recently, reservists told the WSJ that they continue to locate large amounts of Russian weapons inside Lebanon. Although the IDF was aware that Hezbollah had some older Russian-made weapons, their withdrawal from the country in 2006 meant that they lacked information from the ground in the almost two decades since then.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman The Power of Student Voices: A Torah-True Initiative There’s a problem that we are currently facing that was pointed out yesterday by an anonymous letter-writer in Brooklyn. This challenge presents us with an opportunity to engage our students in meaningful change, while learning from the timeless wisdom of Avraham Avinu’s purchase of Me’aras HaMachpelah. As written in the Tanchuma  [Behar 1], we are taught, “Be not alarmed by a man of evil eye” [Mishlei 28:22] – referring to Ephron the Hittite. The Divine Lesson from the Midrash The Midrash elaborates: When Sarah Imeinu died, Avraham approached Ephron to purchase the cave.

The Associated Press said Monday that it would begin offering buyouts and lay off selected employees, part of a plan to reduce the news outlet’s staff by about 8% and accelerate a transition to a digital-first organization. The move is part of what is expected to be a dispiriting end-of-year period in the news industry, which is beset by business woes that go back years. The end of a busy presidential-election cycle was also expected to accelerate reorganization plans. The AP said those eligible for buyouts were to learn of the offer, which would include severance pay and partial health coverage for 18 months, by the end of Monday. Those whose positions are due to be eliminated would learn about their fates over the next few weeks.

President-elect Donald Trump appears to be planning to attend a SpaceX “Starship” rocket launch on Tuesday, in the latest indication of founder Elon Musk ‘s influence in the Republican’s orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued temporary flight restrictions over Brownsville and Boca Chica, Texas area for a VIP visit that coincides with the SpaceX launch window for a test of its massive Starship rocket from its launch facility on the Gulf of Mexico. The flight restrictions put in place over Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida when he is there will be lifted briefly while the Texas security measures are in place.

Red alert sirens blared in central Israel and northern Israel at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, including Netanya, Herzliya, Hadera, Ra’anana, Kfar Saba, and the surrounding areas. After scanning the areas, the police said that they are at the scenes of two sites where missiles hit open areas, near Kfar Yona and in the Beit Lid area, both in the Sharon area in central Israel. There is an IDF base in Beit Lid. Four people were lightly injured after windows shattered in a “concrete building” in Beit Lid. The building was not identified. Another person was lightly injured in the Karmiel area in northern Israel. Also, shrapnel from an interceptor missile fell in the central Israeli town of Kadima-Tzoran, causing damage but baruch Hashem no injuries. U.S.

Attorneys for Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX argued in a federal appeals court Monday that the National Labor Relations Board’s structure is unconstitutional, advancing a legal fight that may last into the Trump administration where Musk is expected to oversee bureaucratic cost-cutting. A panel of three judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard separate oral arguments in the SpaceX and Amazon lawsuits, which the two companies initiated after the labor agency filed complaints against them in disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing.

The U.S. will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied longer-range weapons to conduct strikes inside Russian territory, a long-sought request by Kyiv. It was not clear if there would be limits on Ukraine’s use of the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, as there have been on other U.S. missile systems. Their deployment could — at least initially — be limited to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops seized territory earlier this year. Since the first year of the war, Ukrainian leaders have lobbied Western allies to allow them to use advanced weapons to strike key targets inside Russia — a move they hope would erode Moscow’s capabilities before their troops reach the eastern front line and could make it more difficult for them to strike Ukrainian territory.

President Joe Biden inadvertently was a missing man in the traditional photo of world leaders at the final Group of 20 summit of his presidency Monday, a photo-shoot fail that U.S. officials attributed to timing. Instead, Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strolled up after photographers had already taken the official picture, as other world leaders milled about chatting after having smiled and raised linked hands for the photo. The timing left Chinese President Xi Jinping front and center among the rows of leaders posed against blue skies and blue water in Rio de Janeiro. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stood, less visible, in a back row.

U.S. officials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest in the name of fighting wildfires and boosting rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan that’s been in place for three decades. The U.S. Forest Service proposal, released Friday, would overhaul the Northwest Forest Plan that governs about 38,000 square miles (99,000 square kilometers) in Oregon, Washington and California. The plan was adopted in 1994 under President Bill Clinton amid pressure to curb destructive logging practices that resulted in widespread clearcuts and destroyed habitat used by spotted owls. Timber harvests dropped dramatically in subsequent years, spurring political backlash.

The U.S. government’s automobile safety ratings will get a major update starting with the 2026 model year when regulators add new driver-assistance technologies and tests for protecting pedestrians. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday that it has finalized the changes, which were required by Congress under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. In addition to the five-star ratings for crash tests, the agency will add four new technologies including pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, blind spot warning, and intervention if a driver tries to move toward a vehicle in a blind spot.