New York
Hundreds of Jewish students, parents, and community members gathered outside Gracie Mansion, Mayor Mamdani’s official residence, for morning prayers, songs, and speeches.
Students from the Ramaz School and SAR Academy arrived by school bus and led Shacharis on the Upper East Side sidewalk. Ramaz administrators told parents the students would “make clear that we are here, we are proud, and we aren’t going anywhere.” Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun told the crowd, “We are not running. We are standing here in the open, in the streets of New York.” Organizers framed the event as a vigil against antisemitism; some speakers criticized the mayor’s comments on Israel.
President Trump and Mayor Mamdani met for about an hour at Gracie Mansion, then held an unscheduled joint news conference on the lawn. It was their third meeting in less than a year and the first presidential visit to the residence since Ronald Reagan met Ed Koch in 1981. Mamdani said the talk was “wide-ranging,” covering policing, immigration, and a plan for about 12,000 homes at Sunnyside Yard in Queens that would need federal money. He said he would work with anyone who can “deliver” for New Yorkers. Trump said he wanted Mamdani “to be a great mayor” and that the mayor has “great potential.”
The MTA began mailing fines to drivers recorded going more than 10 mph over the posted limit in active work zones on its seven bridges and two tunnels. Mobile cameras on unmarked vehicles operate while work is underway, with warning signs posted ahead of enforcement areas. The Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program issued warnings beginning June 30; the agency said it sent more than 15,780 notices after cameras were used in 200 work zones and more than 33,000 vehicles were clocked more than 10 mph over the limit, averaging 14.5 mph above the posted speed. Civil fines are $50 for a first violation, $75 for a second within 18 months, and $100 for later offenses in that window, plus possible late fees. The Legislature expanded a 2021 state-highway camera law to cover MTA crossings in 2025.
World leaders are gathering in New York for the 81st U.N. General Assembly high-level debate as wars in Iran, Gaza, and Ukraine dominate the agenda. About 130 heads of state and government are expected to speak. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received U.S. visas for a restricted visit; Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the assembly. Chinese President Xi Jinping is skipping the U.N. session and sending a vice president while meeting President Donald Trump in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will speak at the United Nations despite New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for his arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant. Netanyahu replied, “I’m coming to the UN. I’m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell the truth about you.” Mamdani has said the city lacks authority to make the arrest.
U.S.
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sued President Trump’s administration after he barred their reporters from White House grounds, calling the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment. Trump announced the exclusion over coverage he labeled “FICTION and LIES.” Reporters were turned away and had credentials taken by the Secret Service. The complaint says the Constitution “does not allow a president … to deprive the press of their First Amendment rights … based solely on his dislike of the content of their reporting.” The outlets seek an emergency order restoring access. Trump wrote that he “cherished” a free press but was mounting “an assault on the FAKE NEWS.” The White House posted, “White House access is a privilege—not a right,” arguing the First Amendment protects publishing, not a hard pass. Major television networks suspended pooled coverage after CNN was blocked from serving as pool representative.
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a target range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent, the first increase since 2023. The Federal Open Market Committee approved the move 12-0 after holding rates through five prior meetings. “Inflation remains elevated,” the statement said. “Today’s policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee’s 2 percent goal. The Committee will deliver price stability.” Officials said economic activity is expanding at a solid pace, domestic spending has been resilient, and the unemployment rate has changed little, while uncertainty remains elevated “owing, in part, to geopolitical developments.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said she is cancer-free after pathology results from a Mayo Clinic appointment came back clear. Wiles, 69, posted on X six months after disclosing an early-stage breast cancer diagnosis in March. She said she would “continue to work to advance his America First Agenda.” Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, remained on the job during treatment.
President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, expanding statutory sanctions on Moscow and authorizing tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods from countries among the five largest purchasers of Russian oil or gas that continue new purchases. The law also targets Russian officials, banks, state firms, and the so-called shadow tanker fleet, and extends the Iran Sanctions Act through 2031. It passed the Senate 86-11 and the House 262-159. Named for the South Carolina Republican who died in July after years of pressing for tougher measures on Russia, the act includes a gas-import exception for countries below 15 percent of Russian exports that are reducing dependence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Trump for the “critically important legislation” and said fully implementing it would honor Graham.
President Trump said the United States, Denmark, and Greenland have reached an agreement giving Washington “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland,” with “no cost to the United States.” He wrote that no U.S. adversary could have a base, military presence, or “sensitive investments” there without American written approval, calling it an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement.” Officials said the United States would gain expanded basing, access, and overflight rights building on a 1951 defense treaty, with no transfer of territory. The three leaders were to sign at the U.N. General Assembly; the full text had not been released.
The U.S. average price for diesel reached a record $6.45 a gallon, up about 39 cents in a week and 98 cents in a month. A year earlier, the national average was about $3.71. California set its own record at $8.39 a gallon. Regular gasoline there was about $6.19. The climb follows months of tight refined-fuel supply after disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, damage to Middle East and Russian refineries, and a Russian diesel export ban. Diesel is the main fuel for freight, farming, and construction. Trucks now take about $1,500 to fill.
Postmaster General David Steiner said the U.S. Postal Service has halted work on a computer system tied to President Trump’s March executive order on mail ballots after the Supreme Court left an injunction in place. The order had directed agencies to compile state citizenship lists for a Postal Service portal that would have limited which voters could be sent ballots and required new envelope designs and voter data. The justices said the government was “unlikely to succeed on the merits.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that election officials lacked time to implement the rule before November; Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. An internal memo obtained by the AP told employees the agency will “not be enforcing any of these new rules in the 2026 federal election” and that for election mail it is “business as usual.”
Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay $167.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging their network rules barred independent ATM operators from charging lower access fees when a withdrawal could run on a cheaper competing network. Plaintiffs said cardholders therefore paid higher surcharges at machines not owned by a bank. Visa will contribute $88.775 million and Mastercard $78.725 million. Both companies deny wrongdoing. The class covers unreimbursed surcharges on cash withdrawals at independent ATMs in the United States from Oct. 24, 2007, through Aug. 14, 2026. Eligible customers may file claims without documentation through Feb. 10, 2027; payouts are a pro rata share of the net fund after fees and costs and will not be issued until after a Feb. 17, 2027, fairness hearing in Washington.
Toys “R” Us plans to open 120 new standalone U.S. stores this holiday season, lifting its domestic count from about 40 locations to 160. The rollout with Go! Retail Group is the brand’s largest brick-and-mortar expansion since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and liquidated its U.S. stores in 2018, when it operated roughly 750 outlets. The new stores, many on one-year leases and about 3,500 to 7,500 square feet, will stock LEGO, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Pokémon, and other lines. Some will add candy shops, cafés, and Creator Studios for product launches.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he would commit $2 million to humanitarian aid in the Gaza region after musician Ed Sheeran asked him to match Sheeran’s planned gift. Kraft released the statement through Gillette Stadium after rapper Macklemore said he would donate $1 million in net earnings from Sheeran’s Loop Tour to six Palestinian aid groups and invited Kraft to match him. Macklemore listed the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA, and Anera. Kraft did not name recipients. He said Sheeran planned to contact other venue owners “to build bridges.” Kraft owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore had been dropped from Sheeran’s concert dates.
Israel
Mourners gathered in Alei Zahav for the late-night funeral of Netanel Shakron, a father of six killed in a terror shooting at the Ein Raya spring near Neve Tzuf as he prepared for Yom Kippur. Shakron had gone to immerse with his 16-year-old son, Yoav, when a gunman opened fire from a vehicle on their car. Relatives said Shakron warned his son moments before he was hit, allowing Yoav to escape. “Thank you for shouting to me when the terrorist came in,” Yoav said. “Thank you for saving my life.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth attended. The IDF said a Binyamin Brigade tracker wounded the fleeing attacker, identified as a Hamas operative, who was later arrested at a Ramallah clinic.
A Second Beis HaMikdash-period mikveh weighing about 25 tons was lifted intact from a construction site in Kiryat Gat’s Carmei Gat neighborhood, the Israel Antiquities Authority said. Salvage excavations funded by the Israel Land Authority uncovered the ritual bath and stone measuring vessels used by Jews of that era, evidence of a previously unknown community between the Judean Lowlands and the northern Negev. Conservators spent two weeks exposing the roughly four-meter-wide installation, sliding steel beams beneath it and hoisting it with a 300-ton crane. The bath was moved to the IAA’s National Treasures Department for protection and is slated to return to an open public space once building work is finished. Archaeologists said the site appears to have been abandoned during the Bar Kokhba revolt and later resettled in the Byzantine period.
The Israel Defense Forces said an engineering vehicle struck a Hamas explosive device during routine operations in the Yellow Line area of northern Gaza. The army described the vehicle as unmanned and said it was working on the Israeli side of the line. No injuries were reported. The IDF called the incident “a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement by the Hamas terrorist organization.” In response, it said it struck Hamas infrastructure used to advance attacks against Israeli civilians and troops. Officials said they were still examining when the device was planted.
IDF soldiers killed a terrorist who tried to ram troops in the Ganim area of northern Samaria and arrested a second suspect in the same vehicle. No soldiers were injured. The incident occurred at a post in the Menashe Brigade sector, at the site of the former community of Ganim. Soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion opened fire on the car after the driver attempted to run them over, according to the IDF. Troops and Border Police then secured the scene.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded when a Hezbollah roadside bomb struck an engineering vehicle inside Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon. Both were evacuated to a hospital in good condition, and their families were notified. The IDF said it then struck several Hezbollah sites across southern Lebanon, including observation posts and infrastructure used to prepare and carry out attacks on Israeli forces. Some reports placed airstrikes around Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Israeli troops have held a buffer area in the south since fighting with the Iran-backed group resumed earlier this year.
World
Gil Hillel, 44, a father of three from Kibbutz Yizre’el, was killed near Slovenia’s Savica waterfall after falling nearly 60 meters into a ravine while trying to reach his 7-year-old son. Police said the family had visited the falls and stopped at a picnic rest area when the boy wandered off and cried for help. Hillel ran toward the sound and fell into the Savica River channel. Rescuers found both in the riverbed. The boy was airlifted with a broken leg and other injuries and is expected to recover. Hillel was pronounced dead at the scene; his body was recovered by rope, and arrangements were being made to return him to Israel. His brother Ben wrote that the child “slipped and fell into the water, hitting rocks,” and that Gil “apparently lost his grip” while trying to save him. “He was always ready to physically jump in and rescue them from any danger.”
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians turned out in Tehran for a government-organized rally billed as the largest since the United States and Israel struck Iran in February, state media said. The campaign, “those who sacrifice their lives for Iran,” called on civilians to train with assault rifles alongside the Revolutionary Guard and Basij. Basij head Hossein Taeb said volunteers would be ready for “full-fledged defense.” Some marchers chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” President Masoud Pezeshkian attended.
A gunman opened fire outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, as Yom Kippur services were beginning, seriously wounding Constable Jeff Smith of the Belleville Police Service. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said Sean Ward, 29, arrived in a truck with a shotgun about 7:10 p.m. and fired on Smith, who was stationed in the parking lot at the congregation’s request. Smith and a second officer returned fire. Authorities estimated 20 to 30 shots, which struck nearby homes and vehicles. About 25 congregants were inside; none were injured. Smith, a nearly 13-year veteran, was listed in critical but stable condition. Ward had life-threatening injuries. Congregation president Norm Weddum called Smith “definitely a hero in our books.” Mayor Neil Ellis said it was unclear whether the synagogue was the intended target. Remaining Yom Kippur services were canceled.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government will soon take up a measure to set a legal cap on foreign students per class, ban burqas and niqabs in schools, and require Italian lessons for parents of foreign pupils with “serious difficulties integrating into the school system.” She said anyone who wants to build a future in Italy “must learn our language, understand our culture, and respect our rules.” “At school, you go with your face uncovered,” and “equality between men and women is non-negotiable.” Non-citizen students are about 11.6 percent of enrollment.
