RSS
Jewish Organization Offers Interest-Free, Zero-Fee Loans to All Victims of Los Angeles Wildfires
A damaged fireplace stands amid the remains of a devastated home, as the Eaton Fire continues, in Altadena, California, US, Jan. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA) is offering families and individuals affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, regardless of their race or religion, zero-interest and zero-fee loans up to $15,000.
The loans can cover temporary housing, including short-term rentals and hotels, clothing, medication, the purchase of a used car, and other needs and supplies. JFLA is also offering assistance to small businesses and nonprofits by helping with the purchase of inventory, relocation costs, marketing, and the replacement of equipment. Small business and nonprofit loans are available for up to $36,000.
The nonprofit organization offers zero-interest, zero-fee personal and business loans with no collateral. JFLA usually requires applicants to have a qualified guarantor but is waving that necessity for those affected by the wildfires and offering them a fire relief loan of up to $2,000 for people of all faiths and backgrounds. The organization has a limited number of loans up to $2,000 without guarantors that are available on a first-come, first serve basis.
The organization has been helping the Los Angeles community since it was founded in 1904, assisting thousands of families who immigrated to the US during World War II and supporting hundreds of Iranian Jewish refugee immigrants who relocated to the US in the late 1970s and 1980s after the Iranian revolution. It is the only interest-free lending agency in the greater Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties, and has provided $18 million of interest-free loan dollars throughout the region.
Wildfires have been burning throughout the Los Angeles area since Jan. 7 and at least 24 people have died. Officials said at least 12,300 structures have been damaged or destroyed, and more 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes since Sunday, according to Reuters.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the wildfires could be the most catastrophic natural disaster in US history.
The post Jewish Organization Offers Interest-Free, Zero-Fee Loans to All Victims of Los Angeles Wildfires first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
RSS
UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
RSS
‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.