The Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix's revenue climbed 16% to reach $11.08 billion during the second quarter, while net profits surged 46% to $3.1 billion. The company's financial momentum reflects its ability to capitalize on popular content and global expansion strategies.

Operating margins expanded significantly to 34.1% in the second quarter, compared to 27.2% during the same period last year, surpassing the company's own projection of 33.3%, The Wall Street Journal noted. Free cash flow nearly doubled to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion year-over-year.

The entertainment giant, which hosts successful series including "Squid Game," "KPop Demon Hunters," and "Ginny & Georgia," has solidified its position as the leading global streaming platform while traditional entertainment companies continue facing difficulties with declining cable operations. Netflix shares have nearly doubled over the past year.

Netflix anticipates that returning popular programming such as "Wednesday" and the concluding season of "Stranger Things" will maintain viewership momentum during the year's second half.

The streaming service now projects generating $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion in annual revenue, representing an increase from previous guidance of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion. Netflix also raised its operating margin expectations to 29.5% from 29%.

Netflix implemented price increases across existing US subscription plans in January. The company has redesigned its user interface and expanded investment in diverse programming, including international content, to attract and retain subscribers.

With domestic streaming subscriber growth experiencing deceleration, Netflix has focused on broadening its international content portfolio. The company announced a partnership with French broadcaster TF1 in June, enabling Netflix subscribers in France to access selected TF1 channels and on-demand programming.

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The Wall Street Journal revealed Monday details of the notable Gaza family who held three of the four hostages rescued by the IDF on June 8 hostage in their home.

According to the daily, 73-year-old physician Ahmad Al Jamal and his son, journalist Abdullah Al Jamal, were hiding Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv in a small room in their Nuseirat apartment. Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 250 captive.

To the outside world, Ahmad was a respected community figure – a doctor at a public clinic, an imam known for his beautiful Quran recitations, and the head of a family with ties to Hamas. However, behind closed doors, the Al Jamal apartment had become a prison for hostages.

According to local residents interviewed by the WSJ, Ahmad went about his regular routines of work and worship while his son Abdullah and daughter-in-law Fatma guarded the hostages in the darkened room. The captives could hear the family's daily activities from their locked quarters.

The Al Jamal home – along with another building nearby where hostage Noa Argamani was held by another family with Hamas links – was destroyed after the IDF rescue operation that included a dramatic commando raid to extract the four hostages, which turned into fierce fighting with Hamas terrorists. Ahmad, Abdullah, and Fatma were killed in the operation, though their children are said to have survived.

Hamas was condemned for recklessly endangering civilians by housing captives in a densely population neighborhood without their knowledge, while some suspect those living nearby might have been aware of the hostages being held in the vicinity.

According to the WSJ, the Al Jamals were deeply involved with Hamas. Ahmad's brother is a Hamas lawmaker, while Abdullah openly supported the Oct. 7 massacre. Yet they were also respected community members – the doctor who circumcised local boys, the imam with the beautiful voice.

While Hamas' indiscriminate use of human shields is well-documented, the hostage crisis has revealed a new depth of depravity in embedding captives within civilian homes and neighborhoods.

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There are growing concerns about President Joe Biden's mental sharpness and consistency during high-stakes meetings and negotiations, according to accounts from lawmakers and officials who have interacted with the 81-year-old commander-in-chief, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

In a January meeting on Ukraine aid in the West Wing, Biden moved at a sluggish pace and spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him, five people familiar with the gathering said. The president relied heavily on notes to make basic points and frequently deferred to aides when faced with questions, giving the impression he had tuned out at certain moments.

A month later, Biden appeared to misunderstand the details of his own administration's policy temporarily halting permits for LNG export terminals during a one-on-one exchange with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Biden claimed it was just a study, contradicting the actual directive and alarming Johnson, according to six people briefed on the conversation.

The episodes reflect a broader pattern of uneven behavior and engagement from the president, displaying both lucid moments and prolonged lapses, over a dozen lawmakers, administration officials and others who have negotiated with Biden said in interviews. His demeanor and command of policy minutiae would shift day-to-day, they recalled.

"He's not the same person," former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy bluntly stated about Biden compared to when he was vice president.

During last year's debt ceiling talks, McCarthy said Biden would have loose, spontaneous exchanges one day, only to mumble and rely excessively on notes the next meeting. The president spoke so inaudibly at one point that attendees struggled to understand him, three people present said.

The White House pushed back, providing numerous examples of Biden staying sharp and vigorous during crises. Spokesman Andrew Bates accused Republicans of peddling "false claims as a political tactic" about Biden's capacities. The president's doctors have deemed him fit, with no need for cognitive testing, Bates noted.

Biden has faced steady questioning and mockery from Republicans over his age and mental acuity, an issue that has caused some concern among Democrats as well heading into his re-election campaign. His public stumbles and verbal gaffes have provided fodder for critics questioning whether the oldest-ever president remains up for the job.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will drop the most controversial part of his plan to remake the court system, which would have allowed the national legislature to overturn Supreme Court rulings, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

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In an interview, Netanyahu told the newspaper he would also revise another controversial element that would have given the ruling Coalition more power to appoint judges, while adding that he was not sure what the new version would look like.

"I'm attentive to the public pulse, and to what I think will pass muster," Netanyahu said.

On Tuesday, Hundreds of opponents of the judicial reform program demonstrated in front of Justice Minister Yariv Levin's home in the city of Modi'in. The protesters blocked the road near the entrance to the minister's house with barbed wire and burning tires. They waved signs reading, "Bitter Enemy of Israel," a Hebrew-language play on the minister's first name, and a large object shaped like a hotdog with "Dictatorship sausage from the Levin deli" written on it.

Clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police, who arrested six of them. Protest organizers called on the demonstrators to protest at the local police station against what they termed "violent arrests."

Protesters said police used tear gas.

The police said in a statement: "This is a serious incident of a violation of public order, endangering local residents by burning tires in the heart of a residential neighborhood, blocking traffic lanes and trampling on Supreme Court orders regarding protests in front of the home of an elected official, and therefore six suspects were detained for questioning."

Levin posted a lengthy response on his Facebook page, sharply criticizing the police for slow response to the protest, which began at 5:30 a.m. and wasn't stopped until after 8 o'clock. He also castigated Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and her deputy, Gil Lemon, for their ongoing opposition to the judicial reform plan that he has played a major part in formulating.

They "systematically distribute documents and opinions in writing and orally, without even updating me, to summarize the policies I lead. They did it again just yesterday," the minister wrote.

At the same time, he said the threats, incitement "and growing violence against those who 'dare' fulfill their promise to vote and support reform, none of these has yet earned a single word of public address by the attorney general and her staff."

The "most outrageous thing is the selective enforcement," Levin said.

He said protesters against the 2015 disengagement from the Gaza Strip were arrested in the thousands. Ethiopian Israeli protesters in 2019 were treated with brutality. But because today's protesters are on the side of the judicial system, "no indictments have been filed against them to date and they have been given the green light," he said.

The minister said that he wouldn't be deterred and that he would continue the mission "that the public bestowed on me with great loyalty and faith. The reform must pass."

IDF to discipline reservists who refuse to serve

Israeli army officials said on Tuesday that reservists who refuse to show up for duty to protest the government's judicial reform initiative will be disciplined, while also clarifying that no action would be taken against those who merely threaten to not show up for duty.

The IDF stated its position after 300 doctors in the active reserves sent a letter on Monday to senior security officials threatening not to report for duty should the coalition continue its judicial reform legislative push "unilaterally and without negotiations."

Former MK calls for 'nonviolent uprising'

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yair Golan, a former MK and deputy economy minister for the far-left Meretz Party and a former IDF deputy chief of staff, drew criticism from the ruling coalition on Tuesday after calling for a "nonviolent uprising" against the government over its judicial reform push.

"In the face of the attempts to destroy democracy, we will mount an unequivocal civil resistance, and if we have to have a large-scale and nonviolent uprising, that is what we will do," Golan said in an interview.

He also said that demonstrators will have "no choice but to break the law."

The Likud Party slammed Golan's comments as "incitement to rebellion" and called for him to be investigated. "Those who violate the law and call to break the law must pay a price. Otherwise the rule of law has no meaning," the party said.

 JNS.org contributed to this report.

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Iranian guards sexually harassed female inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. The report, which relies on testimony from senior diplomatic officials, who say the US relayed the message to Tehran it must put an immediate end to the harassment.

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The harassment, which was not reported on in the past, took place at a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, an isolated site in the desert where a large explosion took place in July. According to the sources, the guards attempted to remove the inspectors' clothing on four different occasions. One diplomatic source quoted in The Wall Street Journal report said he had witnessed seven incidents of sexual harassment by the guards.

In a letter published by The Wall Street Journal, IAEA employees called on the organization's leaders to demand an end to the harassment.

According to the sources, the first such incident took place in June, with the most recent incident happening in recent weeks. While the IAEA has now admitted the harassment took place, it has yet to reveal any details of what transpired. The Iranians have yet to respond to The Wall Street Journal's request for comment.

In a statement, the IAEA said it "immediately and firmly raised this issue with Iran to explain in very clear and unequivocal terms that such security-related incidents involving Agency staff are unacceptable and must not happen again.

"Iran has provided explanations related to reinforced security procedures following events at one of their facilities. As a result of this exchange between the Agency and Iran there have been no further incidents," the agency said.

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