The Taliban morality police in Afghanistan have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles and others for missing prayers at mosques during the holy month of Ramadan, a U.N. report said Thursday, six months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect. The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public. That same month, a top U.N. official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected U.N. concerns about the morality laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell U

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump acknowledged that his proposed tariff strategy could risk pushing the U.S. economy into a recession, but he expressed a strong desire to avoid a full-blown depression, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with Trump’s private conversations revealed that he was aware of the potential economic consequences of his […]

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated on Wednesday that his country has no intention of building a nuclear weapon and even opened the door to potential U.S. economic involvement, should a nuclear agreement be reached.
His remarks came ahead of anticipated negotiations in Oman this past weekend concerning Iran’s controversial nuclear ambitions. The talks follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office and his ongoing warnings that he would take military action against Iran to stop it from acquiring nuclear arms if needed.
“We are not after a nuclear bomb,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech in Tehran. “You [in the West] have verified it 100 times. Do it 1,000 times again.”

Slightly more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but the labor market remains broadly healthy despite an ongoing trade war. Jobless claim filings inched up by 4,000 to 223,000 for the week ending April 5, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s less than the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast. Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have mostly ping-ponged between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years. Even though President Donald Trump put a 90-day pause on most of his widespread tariff hikes Wednesday, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend what has been an incredibly resilient labor market.

Chabad Headquarters marked the 123rd birthday of the Rebbe—with Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky announcing the next round of thirty-five new Shluchim couples who will be supported with seed grants to expand the Rebbe’s life’s work in some of the most unexpected corners of the world. From Mykonos to Kenya, West Adams to Tanzania, they are planting seeds of Jewish life—some where Jewish infrastructure once existed, others where it never did. Each of these couples is receiving seed funding from Keren Hashluchim to help establish new Chabad centers and build Jewish communities, carrying forward a vision that has, for generations, redefined what it means to be there for another Jew. Yud Aleph Nissan has long served as a catalyst for expansion.

The European Union’s executive commission said Thursday it will put trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days to match President Donald Trump’s pause on his sweeping new tariffs and leave room for a negotiated solution. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the commission, which handles trade for the bloc’s 27 member countries, “took note of the announcement by President Trump.” New tariffs on 20.9 billion euros ($23 billion) of US goods will be put on hold for 90 days because “we want to give negotiations a chance,” she said in a statement.

Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen from Brooklyn, NY, was sentenced Wednesday to 230 months in federal prison—nearly 19 years—for recruiting people to join the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), obstructing justice, and failing to appear in court. Ceasar pleaded guilty to the three federal charges in 2017, 2019, and 2022, respectively. ISIS is officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States government. “Today’s resentencing marks the end of a righteous journey that began a decade ago,” said Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s national security division.