The brutal murder of two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night has been met with a bloodcurdling response from pro-Hamas groups, who have hailed the killings as a “heroic attack.” The victims, a young couple on the cusp of engagement, were gunned down by 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez as they left an American Jewish Committee (AJC) event aimed at fostering dialogue on the Gaza crisis. Rodriguez, who shouted “Free Palestine” during his arrest, fired 21 shots at the couple, killing them in a targeted act of antisemitic terrorism. Yet, instead of universal condemnation, pro-Hamas groups have repulsively glorified the attack.

The Trump administration has terminated Harvard University’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), effectively barring the institution from enrolling international students for the 2025-2026 academic year. The decision, announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday, requires current international students at Harvard to transfer to other institutions or face loss of their legal status in the United States. The move follows a series of disputes between the Trump administration and Harvard, centered on allegations of noncompliance with federal demands for records related to student protests and disciplinary actions.

Excess body weight can raise the risk of certain cancers, leading researchers to wonder whether blockbuster drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound could play a role in cancer prevention. Now, a study of 170,000 patient records suggests there’s a slightly lower risk of obesity-related cancers in U.S. adults with diabetes who took these popular medications compared to those who took another class of diabetes drug not associated with weight loss. This type of study can’t prove cause and effect, but the findings hint at a connection worth exploring. More than a dozen cancers are associated with obesity. “This is a call to scientists and clinical investigators to do more work in this area to really prove or disprove this,” said Dr.

An inman in the heart of Oklahoma told his congregation that throughout history, “the cowardly Jews just want to attack women and children.” “This is how they were and this is how they will aways be,” he said during a Friday sermon in Norman, the third most populous city in the state. MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, which often translates similar videos from Arabic to English, published the video with subtitles—no translation needed in this case. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Democrats chairman Yair Golan was videoed on Thursday evening in a physical confrontation with a resident of Kiryat Shmona, during a conference in the city. In the footage, residents of the city are seen condemning Golan for the statements he made on Tuesday, implying that “IDF soldiers kill babies as a hobby.” Golan started yelling back at one of the protesters who called on him to remove his military ranks. Golan then approached the elderly man and pushed him. Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich stated: “Yair Golan’s true and violent face continues to be revealed.

A government report released on Thursday covering wide swaths of American health and wellness reflects some of the most contentious views on vaccines, the nation’s food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs held by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The much-anticipated “Make America Healthy Again” report calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule, a review of the pesticides sprayed on American crops and a description of the nation’s children as overmedicated and undernourished. “Never in American history has the federal government taken a position on public health like this,” Kennedy told a group of MAHA supporters during an event unveiling the report on Thursday.

The number of white nationalist, hate and anti-government groups around the U.S. dropped slightly in 2024, not because of any shrinking influence but rather the opposite. Many feel their beliefs, which includes racist narratives and so-called Christian persecution, have become more normalized in government and mainstream discourse. In its annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, released Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it counted 1,371 hate and extremist groups, a 5% decline. The nonprofit group attributes this to a lesser sense of urgency to organize because their beliefs have infiltrated politics, education and society in general.

The U.S. social safety net would be jolted if the budget bill backed by President Donald Trump and passed Thursday by the House of Representatives becomes law. It would impose work requirements for low-income adults to receive Medicaid health insurance and increase them for food assistance. Supporters of the bill say the moves will save money, root out waste and encourage personal responsibility. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over a decade. The measure, which also includes tax cuts, passed the House by one vote and could have provisions reworked again as it heads to the Senate. Here’s a look at the potential impact.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is launching a sweeping crackdown on billing practices across all Medicare Advantage (MA) plans—an aggressive move that could ripple through the nursing home industry and reshape how skilled nursing operators navigate federal reimbursement. In a major policy shift announced Wednesday, CMS revealed plans to dramatically scale up audits of all MA plans to recover billions in alleged overpayments. Nursing home operators that contract with these plans—and rely on timely, predictable reimbursements—could soon find themselves in the crosshairs of intensified federal scrutiny. Until now, CMS has been auditing only about 60 MA contracts a year.