Hurricane Humberto, seen at the right, is expected to vary in intensity over the next day. Photo courtesy of the NOAA
Sept. 29 (UPI) — Humberto strengthened slightly on Monday, bringing threats to the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said.
Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. AST update.
It was located about 340 miles south-southwest of Bermuda and was moving northwest at 13 mph, according to the forecasters.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles.
A tropical storm watch was in effect for Bermuda. While Humberto is expected to miss the island, its residents could begin to feel the effects of tropical-storm-force winds starting late Tuesday, the NHC said.
“On the forecast track, the center of Humberto will pass west and then north of Bermuda on Tuesday and Wednesday,” the NHC said.
The storm is expected to experience fluctuations in intensity over the next day or so, but gradual weakening is forecast after that. It is, however, to remain a “dangerous major hurricane” over the next few days, according to the forecasters.
Swells generated by Humberto will continue affecting portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Bermuda through much of this week, and likely produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
Dangerous surf conditions were expected to begin affecting much of the U.S. East Coast on Monday.
Humberto is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic season and became the season’s third hurricane on Friday morning.
On Sunday, it was joined in the Atlantic by Tropical Storm Imelda.
1 of 3 | Hurricane Humberto (R) remained a major hurricane on Saturday morning. Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine (L) is forecast to become Tropical Storm Imelda early Sunday. Photo courtesy of NOAA
Sept. 27 (UPI) — Humberto remained a major hurricane Saturday morning and is headed to Bermuda as another potential storm later threatens Cuba, the Bahamas and the eastern United States, the National Hurricane Center said.
Humberto, the eighth named storm of the Atlantic season, had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph as a Category 4, with additional strengthening forecast through the weekend, NHC officials said in a 5 a.m. EDT update. Humberto became the season’s fourth hurricane on Friday morning.
The eye of the storm was located about 375 miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. It was moving northwest at 6 mph.
The forecast track has Humberto moving northward at a slightly faster forward speed through the weekend with a turn north-northwest on Monday night.
Swells generated by Humberto will start affecting portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Bermuda this weekend, NHC said. They are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
“As Humberto gains latitude, a significant expansion in the surface wind field will likely occur while it passes west of Bermuda,” NHC forecaster Lisa Bucci said in a discussion.
NHC shows Bermuda in NHC’s cone early Wedesday as a major storm. Humberto will move eastward out to sea on Thursday.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect as of Saturday morning.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical-force one outward to 105 miles.
Humberto became the Atlantic hurricane season’s eighth named storm on Wednesday. It’s the third hurricane after Erin and Gabrielle.
In August, Erin intensified into a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds spreading across a 500-mile area. It did not make landfall in the United States but caused dangerous surf, rip currents and coastal flooding along the East Coast, with the worst conditions in North Carolina and Virginia.
Gabrielle formed in mid-September and also became a major hurricane, a Category 4. The storm dissipated into a post-tropical cyclone near the Azores on Friday.
Tropical Storm Chantal was the only storm to make landfall in the U.S. — South Carolina on July 6.
By Sept. 27 last year, there were 10 named storms with one other storm forming later in September.
Potential tropical cyclone
Another storm of concern in the Atlantic is Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine, which is forecast to become a depression on Saturday night and Imelda early Sunday. A hurricane is projected for Monday night east of Florida’s northern coast.
In the 8 a.m. EDT NHC advisory, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was about 170 miles northwest from the tip of Cuba and about 180 miles south of the Central Bahamas. It was moving northwest at 9 mph.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Central Bahamas and San Salvador, while a tropical storm watch is in effect for portions of the northwest Bahamas.
Moving north-northwest through Monday, the storm is expected to track across the central and northwestern Bahamas this weekend and approach the U.S. coast early next week. Eastern Cuba is expected to see 8 to 12 inches of rain with the potential for up to 16 inches of rain in isolated areas, which the Bahamas is predicted to see 4 to 8 inches of rain, forecasters said.
“Moisture from the disturbance will lead to a threat of heavy rainfall well to the north across portions of the Southeast U.S. and Virginia into early next week which could cause flash, urban, and river flooding,” NHC said.
Swells generated by the cyclone, as well as Hurricane Humberto, will affect parts of the Bahamas this weekend and are predicted to spread to the southeast U.S. coast early next week. The potential for swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, NHC said.
Sept. 25 (UPI) — The White House has warned federal workers there will be more mass firings if Congress is unable to agree on a stopgap funding measure by the end of the month.
The warning came in the form of a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies and viewed and first reported on by Politico.
The OMB asked the federal agencies to identify programs that would lose funding and have no other sources of funding if the stopgap measure measure fails to pass by Sept. 30. Programs that don’t align with President Donald Trump‘s priorities would then face a permanent elimination of jobs.
“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” the memo said.
“We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”
The House passed a short-term funding measure Friday, but the bill failed in the Senate. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the legislation unless it included provisions extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the New Year.
Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were expected to meet with Trump Tuesday, but the president canceled the meeting, saying he didn’t like their list of “demands.”
Schumer said Wednesday’s OMB memo was “an attempt at intimidation.”
“Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare,” he said. “This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the press after the House passed a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. The Republican plan now goes to the Senate and would fund the government until November 21. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III wants a second civil rights movement in response to President Trump and his fellow Republicans who are redrawing congressional district boundaries to increase their power in Washington.
In Missouri, the GOP’s effort comes at the expense of Cleaver’s father, Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, and many of his Kansas City constituents, who fear a national redistricting scramble will reverse gains Black Americans won two generations ago and will leave them without effective representation on Capitol Hill.
“If we, the people of faith, do not step up, we are going to go back even further,” the younger Cleaver told the St. James Church congregation on a recent Sunday, drawing affirmations of “amen” in the sanctuary where his father, also a minister, launched his first congressional bid in 2004.
Trump and fellow Republicans admit their partisan intent, emboldened by a Supreme Court that has allowed gerrymandering based on voters’ party leanings. Democratic-run California has proposed its own redraw to mitigate GOP gains elsewhere.
Yet new maps in Texas and Missouri — drafted in unusual mid-decade redistricting efforts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections — are meant to enable Republican victories by manipulating how districts are drawn.
Civil rights advocates, leaders and affected voters say that amounts to race-based gerrymandering, something the Supreme Court has blocked when it finds minority communities are effectively prevented from electing representatives of their choice.
“It’s almost like a redistricting civil war,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, whose organization is suing to block the Texas and Missouri plans.
‘Packing and cracking’
In redistricting lingo, it’s called “packing and cracking.” Those maneuvers are at the heart of Trump’s push for friendlier GOP districts as he tries to avoid reprising 2018, when midterms yielded a House Democratic majority that stymied his agenda and impeached him twice.
Because nonwhite voters lean Democratic and white voters tilt Republican, concentrating certain minorities into fewer districts — packing — can reduce the number of minority Democrats in a legislative body. By spreading geographically concentrated minority voters across many districts — cracking — it can diminish their power in choosing lawmakers.
The elder Cleaver, seeking an 11th term, said the Trump-driven plans foster an atmosphere of intimidation and division, and he and fellow Kansas City residents fear the city could lose federal investments in infrastructure, police and other services.
“We will be cut short,” said Meredith Shellner, a retired nurse who predicted losses in education and healthcare access. “I just think it’s not going to be good for anybody.”
Missouri’s U.S. House delegation has six white Republicans and two Black Democrats. The new map, which could still require voter approval if a referendum petition is successful, sets the GOP up for a 7-1 advantage.
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe says the new map better represents Missouri’s conservative values. And sponsoring state Rep. Dirk Deaton says it divides fewer counties and municipalities than the current districts.
“This is a superior map,” the Republican legislator said.
Cleaver’s current 5th District is not majority Black but includes much of Kansas City’s Black population. New lines carve Black neighborhoods into multiple districts. The new 5th District reaches well beyond the city and would make it harder for the 80-year-old Cleaver or any other Democrat to win in 2026.
In Texas, Abbott insists no racism is involved
A new Texas map, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law, is designed to send five more Republicans to Washington, widening his party’s 25-13 advantage to a 30-8 one.
The old map had 22 districts where a majority of voters identified as white only. Seven were Latino-majority and nine were coalition districts, meaning no racial or ethnic group had a majority. By redistributing voters, the new map has 24 white-majority districts, eight Latino-majority districts, two Black-majority districts and four coalition districts.
Abbott insists new boundaries will produce more Latino representatives. But they’ll likely reduce the number of Black lawmakers by scrambling coalition districts that currently send Black Democrats to Washington.
Democratic Rep. Al Green was drawn out of his district and plans to move to seek another term. On the House floor, the Black lawmaker called GOP gerrymandering another chapter in a “sinful history” of Texas making it harder for nonwhites to vote or for their votes to matter.
Green said it would hollow out the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “if Texas prevails with these maps and can remove five people simply because a president says those five belong to me.”
The NAACP has asked a federal court to block the Texas plan. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act broadly prohibits districts and other election laws that limit minority representation.
The NAACP’s Johnson suggested Republicans are playing word games.
“Was this done for partisan reasons? Was it done for race? Or is partisanship the vehicle to cloak your racial animus and the outcomes that you’re pursuing?” he asked.
In Missouri, the NAACP has sued in state court under the rules controlling when the governor can call a special session. Essentially, it argues Kehoe faced no extenuating circumstance justifying a redistricting session, typically held once a decade after the federal census.
Saundra Powell, a 77-year-old retired teacher, framed the redistricting effort as backsliding.
She recalls as a first-grader not being able to attend the all-white school three blocks from her home. She changed schools only after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954.
“It seems worse 1758147903 than what it was,” Powell said.
Hollingsworth, Barrow and Ingram write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta. AP reporter John Hanna contributed from Topeka, Kan.
Multifactor verification and other precautions are becoming essential as AI enables more sophisticated scams.
Video and phone call freezes are typically attributed to poor service or some exterior cause. But if you notice unusual white hairs around the edge of your CFO’s beard just before a freeze, and when the call resumes seconds later, the beard is once again jet black, should you follow his instructions to transfer funds?
Perhaps, but not without further verification. Fraudsters, aided by AI applications, may one day—soon, even—perfect so-called deepfake audio and video calls. But even now, “tells” can indicate something is amiss, and the temporary freeze could actually be AI’s doing.
“I was recently testing a platform that had a feature designed to help hide artifacts, glitches, or synching issues,” recalls Perry Carpenter, chief human risk management strategist at KnowBe4, a security awareness and behavior change platform. “The program would freeze the video on the last good deepfake frame to protect the identity of the person doing the deepfake. It’s clear that some attackers are using adaptive strategies to minimize detection when their deepfakes start to fail.”
“There should never be an immediate need to wire a large amount of money without first verifying [it].”
Perry Carpenter, Chief Human Management Strategist, KnowBe4
To what extent such attacks are successful or even attempted is unclear since companies typically keep that information under wraps. A significant attack reported last year by CNN and others involved a Hong Kong-based corporate finance executive of UK-based engineering firm Arup, who warily eyed an email requesting a secret, $25 million payment. He sent the money anyway, after a video call with several persons who looked and sounded like colleagues—but were, in fact, deepfakes.
In another incident reported by The Guardian last year, scammers used a publicly available photo of Mark Read, CEO of advertising giant WPP, to establish a fake WhatsApp account. That account in turn was used to set up a Microsoft Teams meeting that used a voice clone of one executive and impersonated Read via a chat window to target a third executive, in an attempt to solicit money and personal details.
A WPP spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of The Guardian’s account but declined to explain how the scam was foiled, noting only, “This isn’t something we are eager to relitigate.”
Self-Correcting Deepfakes
Unlike deepfake video clips, which are extremely difficult to detect, real-time voice and video via social messaging platforms are still prone to errors, says Carpenter. Whereas earlier deepfakes had obvious tells, like facial warping, unnatural blinking, or inconsistent lighting, newer models are starting to self-correct those irregularities in real time.
Consequently, Carpenter doesn’t train clients on the oftenfleeting technical flaws, because that can lead to a false sense of security. “Instead, we need to focus on behavioral cues, context inconsistencies, and other tells such as the use of heightened emotion to try to get a response or reaction,” he says.
Rapid deepfake evolution poses an especially significant risk for corporate finance departments, given their control over the object of the fraudsters’ desire. Distributing a new code word to verify identities, perhaps daily or even per transaction, is one approach, says Stuart Madnick, professor of information technology at MIT Sloan School of Management. There are various ways to do so safely.
When executives in corporate finance who deal with large fund transfers are well acquainted, they can test their voice or video counterparts by asking semi-personal questions. Madnick has asked alleged colleagues what their “brother Ben” thinks about an issue, when no such brother exists.
A clever, but not a permanent solution, Madnick cautions: “The trouble is that the AI will learn about all of your siblings.” Ultimately, all companies should use multifactor authentication (MFA), which bolsters security by requiring verification from multiple sources; most large companies have broadly implemented it. But even then, some critical departments may not consistently use MFA for certain tasks, notes Katie Boswell, US Securing AI leader at KPMG, leaving them susceptible.
“It’s important for corporate leadership to collaborate with their IT and technology teams to make sure that effective cybersecurity solutions, like MFA, are in the hands of those most likely be exposed to deepfake attacks,” she urges.
Perry Carpenter, Chief Human Management Strategist, KnowBe4
Identifying Multifaceted Scams
Even with MFA, devious fraudsters can mine social media and online resources and use AI to conjure authentic looking invoices and other documents, and along with deepfake video and/or audio, create backstories persuasive enough to convince executives to make decisions they later regret. That makes training critical, conditioning executives handling large sums of money to automatically pause when they receive unusual requests and demand additional verification.
“There should almost never be an immediate need to wire a large amount of money without first verifying through a known internal channel,” says Carpenter. An interlocutor who communicates over a private phone or email account is also problematic, especially if they resist moving the conversation to the company’s secure systems. Ploys like adopting a tone of urgency, authority, or high emotion are also red flags, “so it’s critical that people give themselves permission to pause and verify,” he said.
While two or more verifications help, companies must still ensure their verification sources are secure. Madnick recalls a client company losing money when a fraudster passed a phony check. Suspicious, the bank called the company’s corporate finance department to verify the transaction, but the fraudster had already instructed the phone company to reroute calls to a number where it validated the check.
“Companies can set up procedures with their phone company that require them never to reroute calls without further verification with the company,” Madnick says. “Otherwise, it’s at the discretion of the phone company.”
Given corporate finance’s allure for fraudsters, KPMG’s Boswell stresses the importance of keeping abreast of emerging threats. Since CFOs and other top finance leaders must focus on their immediate duties, they can’t be expected to read the latest research on deepfake attacks. But companies can establish policies and procedures that ensure IT, or other experts regularly update them, raising finance’s awareness of the latest types of attacks, both internally and at other companies.
Madnick regularly asks corporate finance executives to raise their hands if they know their departments have faced cyberattacks. Many do not.
Katie Boswell, US Securing AI leader at KPMG
“The trouble is that cyberattacks on average continue over 200 days before they’re discovered,” he says. “So, they may think they haven’t experienced an attack, but they’re just not aware of it yet.”
Corporate finance can also include deepfake scenarios in its risk assessments, including tabletop exercises incorporated in the company’s security initiatives. And employees should be encouraged to report even unsuccessful attacks, or what they believe may have been attacks, that they might otherwise dismiss, Boswell advises.
“That way, others in the organization are aware that it has potentially been targeted, and what to look out for,” she says.
In addition, while c-suite executives at large companies may have significant public profiles, information available externally about lower-level executives and departments such as accounts payable and accounts receivable should be limited. “Threat actors use that type of information more frequently using AI, to help manipulate targets through social engineering,” Boswell notes. “If they don’t have access to that data, they can’t incorporate it in attacks.”
Such precautions are only becoming more important, as deepfake fraudsters broaden and deepen their reach. While they have been spreading fastest in major economies such as the US and Europe, even countries whose populations use fewer common languages are increasingly exposed.
“Most criminals may not know Turkish, but what’s great about AI systems is that they can speak just about any language,” Madnick cautions. “If I were a criminal, I would target companies in countries that have been targeted less in the past, because they are probably less prepared.”
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS says it would not take part in next year’s competition given the ‘severe human suffering in Gaza’.
Published On 12 Sep 202512 Sep 2025
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The Netherlands has announced it will boycott the 2026 Eurovision in Vienna if Israel participates, joining other European countries that have threatened to withdraw from the song contest over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, on Friday said it would not take part in next year’s competition in Vienna if Israel participates, “given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza”.
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“The broadcaster also expresses deep concern about the serious erosion of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and the many casualties among journalists,” it said in a statement.
Irish broadcaster RTE released a similar statement on Thursday, saying participating would be “unconscionable” as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza. Iceland said it may withdraw from the contest, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for Israel to be booted from the competition.
AVROTROS said it had also taken into account the high number of journalists who have died in Gaza.
The European Broadcasting Union, which runs the contest, said it was consulting its members on how to “manage participation and geopolitical tensions” around the contest and would give them until mid-December to decide if they want to participate.
“We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” said Martin Green, director of Eurovision. “It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest, and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
The organisation said in July it was launching a consultation with all members of the EEBU, which organises the song contest over the issue.
The Dutch broadcaster said it will continue preparing for the contest — which was watched by 166 million people on television this year — until it receives a decision from organisers about whether it will include Israel.
Calls to boycott Israel grow
The boycott threat is part of a campaign by arts organisations and figures to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza.
Earlier this week, Hollywood stars including Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri, Ava DuVernay and Olivia Colman joined 3,000 other industry figures in signing a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” according to the group Film Workers for Palestine.
Russia has been banned from Eurovision since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Israel has continued to compete in the past two years despite disputes over its participation.
Dozens of former participants, including 2024 winner Nemo of Switzerland, have called for Israel to be excluded over its conduct in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests took place around this year’s contest in Basel, Switzerland, though on a much smaller scale than the 2024 event in Sweden.
Eurovision’s finale is scheduled for May 16 after semifinals on May 12 and 14, 2026.
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid.
Roberts acted on the administration’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. President Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago.
The high court order is temporary, though it suggests the justices will reverse a lower court ruling that withholding the funding was probably illegal. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.
Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a letter Aug. 28 that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch.
He used what’s known as a pocket rescission. That’s when a president submits a request to Congress toward the end of a current budget year to not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent.
The Trump administration has made deep reductions to foreign aid one of its hallmark policies, despite the relatively meager savings relative to the deficit and the possible damage to America’s reputation abroad as foreign populations lose access to food supplies and development programs. The administration turned to the high court after a panel of federal appellate judges declined to block Ali’s ruling.
Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge last month that an additional $6.5 billion in aid that had been subject to the freeze would be spent before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
The case has been winding its way through the courts for months, and Ali said he understood that his ruling would not be the last word on the matter.
“This case raises questions of immense legal and practical importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally appropriated funds,” he wrote.
In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out an earlier injunction Ali had issued to require that the money be spent. But the three-judge panel did not shut down the lawsuit.
After Trump issued his rescission notice, the plaintiffs returned to Ali’s court and the judge issued the order that’s now being challenged.
The United Arab Emirates warned Wednesday that Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank would cross a “red line,” and end “the vision of regional integration,” Anadolu reports.
“Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace,” Emirati Special Envoy Lana Nusseibeh told The Times of Israel news outlet.
“It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution,” she said.
In 2020, the UAE signed US-sponsored agreements with Israel to normalize their relations. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco also followed suit.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said early Wednesday that Israel plans to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Israeli sovereignty will be applied to 82% of the territory,” Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party, told a press conference in Jerusalem.
The far-right minister called the West Bank annexation “a preventative step” against moves by many countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Several countries, including Belgium, France, the UK, Canada, and Australia, announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood during the upcoming meetings of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 8-23, joining 147 nations that already do.
On Aug. 20, Israel approved a major settlement project, called E1, which aims to split the occupied West Bank into two parts, cutting off the northern cities of Ramallah and Nablus from Bethlehem and Hebron in the south and isolating East Jerusalem.
The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law. The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Defence minister’s threat follows report of new missile launch from Yemen.
Published On 4 Sep 20254 Sep 2025
Israel’s defence minister has promised to inflict the 10 biblical plagues of Egypt on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The threat was issued by Israel Katz on social media on Thursday amid reports that the Iran-backed Houthis have stepped up their missile attacks against Israel. The Yemeni rebel force has resumed attacks in retaliation for last week’s assassination of Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi and several senior officials.
“The Houthis are firing missiles at Israel again. A plague of darkness, a plague of the firstborn – we will complete all 10 plagues,” Katz wrote in Hebrew on X, as tensions continue to escalate between his country and the Yemeni group.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army said a missile fired from Yemen had struck outside Israeli territory. The previous day, the military had reported it intercepted two Houthi missiles.
The Yemeni group on Monday claimed responsibility for a missile attack in the Red Sea that hit the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray.
Katz’s threat refers to the 10 disasters that the Bible’s Book of Exodus says were inflicted on Egypt by the Hebrew God to convince the pharaoh to free the enslaved Israelites.
The Houthis have launched numerous drone and missile attacks against Israel, saying the launches are in support of the Palestinians, since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
The group, which controls vast areas of Yemen, also ran a campaign targeting international shipping in the Red Sea, a route vital for global trade. That saw the United States launch a concerted series of attacks on the Houthi-occupied parts of Yemen earlier this year.
In May, Oman brokered a ceasefire between the US and Houthis, leading Washington to halt its daily bombing campaign.
However, the group said the agreement does not cover operations against Israel, and has continued to launch attacks.
In turn, Israel has carried out several rounds of strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi-held ports as well as the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
A week ago, an Israeli air strike killed al-Rahawi, nine of his ministers, and two other Houthi representatives.
Aug. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs and restrict U.S. chip exports on countries that have a digital services tax.
He wrote on Truth Social Monday that digital service taxes, largely implemented by Britain and the European Union, “are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology.”
“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote.
He added that the United States would also “institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips.”
“Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences!” he wrote.
The taxes are meant to apply only to the largest tech companies like Alphabet, Meta and Amazon, which are based in the United States. The countries that have digital services taxes argue that tech titans like Amazon operate within their borders and generate huge profits from their people while paying little or no taxes to those governments.
The U.K.’s digital services tax raises about $1.1 billion annually from global tech companies through a 2% tax on revenues. Trump said these taxes “outrageously give a complete pass to China’s largest tech companies.”
France, Italy and Spain also have DSTs.
Trump declared in June that he would cut off all trade talks with Canada over the tax, which it had recently passed. When Canada quickly removed its tax just before it was set to turn on, the White House boasted that Canada had “caved” to pressure.
In February, Trump signed an executive order titled Defending American Companies and Innovators from Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties, threatening tariffs.
In April, it emerged that Keir Starmer offered big U.S. tech companies a reduction in the headline rate of the DST to appease Trump, at the same time applying the tax to companies from other countries.
Aug. 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is threatening to investigate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as he continues to use the Justice Department to punish political adversaries.
Trump made the threat Sunday on his Truth Social account after Christie criticized him during an appearance on a Sunday talk show for rejecting “the idea that there should be separation between criminal investigations” and the president.
In a statement published on his Truth Social media platform Sunday, Trump suggested the Justice Department should investigate Christie over the so-called Bridgegate scandal of 2013, in which former staffers to Christie closed two lanes of the George Washington Bridge, creating traffic jams over several days.
Christie came under intense criticism over Bridgegate, but said he was never aware of what his associates did.
Trump accused Christie of lying about “the dangerous and deadly closure” of the bridge “in order to stay out of prison.”
“Chris refused to take responsibility for these criminal acts,” Trump said. “For the sake of JUSTICE, perhaps we should start looking at that very serious situation again? NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!”
Trump campaigned on using the office of the presidency to retaliate against his political rivals, and he has done just that since returning to the White House in January.
He has used his executive powers to punish those he accuses of targeting him, including lawyers who prosecuted his criminal cases, as well as law firms.
His attorney general, Pam Bondi, earlier this month ordered a grand jury into former President Barack Obama over his administration’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
And most recently, the FBI raided the home of Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. Bolton has become a critic of Trump and published a book about his time in his administration in 2020, which the U.S. president tried to prevent from happening.
Trump has claimed that Bolton revealed classified information.
Trump’s post on Sunday was made after Christie’s appearance on ABC News’ This Week, in which the former New Jersey governor discussed Trump’s prosecution of Bolton.
“Let me say candidly to the American people who are watching: you were told this,” Christie said.
“You were told that this was what he was going to do. And not by me, by Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign. He told you he was going to do this, that he was going to have a Justice Department that acted as his personal legal representation, and that is what they’re doing.”
