“Last night in Washington something horrific happened. A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young beautiful couple – Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. They were planning to start a new and happy life together. Well, that tragically did not happen. Yaron and Sarah weren’t the victims of a random crime. The terrorist who cruelly gunned them down did so for one reason and one reason alone – he wanted to kill Jews. And as he was taken away, he chanted, ‘Free Palestine!’ This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7th. On that day, thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza. They beheaded men. They raped women. They burned babies alive.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday evening appointed a new Shin Bet chief, ignoring Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara’s directive on Wednesday banning him from being involved in the appointment. Netanyahu announced his intention to appoint Maj.-Gen. David Zini to the position, replacing Bar, who is scheduled to resign on June 15. “Zini has served in many operational and command positions in the IDF, including as a fighter in the Sayeret Matkal commando unit, commander of Battalion 51 in the Golani Brigade, commander of the Egoz unit, commander of the Alexandroni Brigade, founder of the Commando Brigade, and commander of the Training and Doctrine Command and commander of the General Staff Corps,” the Prime Minister’s office said.

The Senate voted on Thursday to block California’s first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, acting to kill the nation’s most aggressive effort to transition toward electric vehicles as President Donald Trump’s administration has doubled down on fossil fuels. The resolution approved by the Senate goes to the White House, where Trump is expected to sign it, along with two other measures blocking California’s rules that the Senate is poised to pass. The House approved the three resolutions earlier this month. The GOP effort to kill the rules could have a profound impact on California’s longtime efforts to curb air pollution.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) viciously attacked President Trump on Wednesday, calling him a “monster” after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a probe into the city’s hiring practices for potential racial bias. The investigation follows Johnson’s recent comments at a church in Woodlawn, Ill., where he boasted about hiring more Black people in his administration. “As far as, you know, the president’s animus towards women, people of color, working people, we have always known who he has been,” Johnson said during a Wednesday press conference. “This is not a surprise. He’s a monster.” “We have the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago, and he is threatened by that,” he added. Johnson’s approval rating, however, tells a different story.

The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out, a Treasury Department official confirmed Thursday. An immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs is expected by stopping penny production, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the news. In February, President Donald Trump announced that he had ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin. Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost — almost 4 cents per penny now, according to the U.S. Mint — and limited utility.

Britain signed an agreement Thursday handing sovereignty over the contested and strategically located Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a move the government says ensures the future of a U.S.-U.K. military base that is vital to British security. The Indian Ocean archipelago is home to a strategically important naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia. Under the agreement, the U.K. will pay Mauritius 101 million pounds ($136 million) per year to lease back the base for at least 99 years. Starmer said that base, operated by U.S. forces, is crucial for British counterterrorism and intelligence and is “right at the foundation of our safety and security at home.” The signing was delayed for several hours after a U.K.

Klal Yisroel is urged to be mispallel for the refuah sheleimah of the Rosh HaYeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, Harav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlit”a, who has been unwell in recent days. According to an official notice released by the yeshiva, the Rosh Yeshiva was taken to the hospital last night due to weakness. Boruch Hashem, his condition is currently stable, and the yeshiva expressed hope that he will be able to return home within the next few days. In the meantime, the tzibbur is asked to continue davening for Shmuel ben Itta Ettil.

Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations “immediately.” “There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They are yet to be agreed upon.” During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the meeting delivered no significant breakthrough. Several months of intensified U.S.

Multiple people on board a private plane that crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday are dead, authorities said. Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said during a news conference that they will be investigating whether the plane hit a power line. No one on the ground was injured, he said. San Diego police and fire officials said the plane could hold eight to 10 people but they do not yet know how many were on board. Assistant San Diego Fire Chief Dan Eddy said no one was injured on the ground. “When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” Eddy said.

Israel is completely changing its strategy in the Swords of Iron war and aims for a full conquest of the Strip, while separating the civilian population from Hamas terrorists, Channel 12 reported on Thursday. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been dealing with what seems to be an insurmountable problem: the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas uses as human shields. Since the beginning of the war, IDF soldiers have been clearing areas in Gaza of terrorists and then leaving the area and allowing civilians to return to their homes. But of course, Hamas would return to the area along with the civilians. IDF soldiers have been forced to return to the same areas time and time again, clearing houses and streets of Hamas terrorists, at great risk to their lives.