President Trump revealed Thursday that the United States and the United Kingdom had reached a consensus on the general structure of a new trade pact — marking the first such agreement since Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs last month.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump, 78, said the UK had agreed to “open up the country” to more U.S. products, placing a strong emphasis on American agriculture, particularly beef exports.
“They’ll also be fast-tracking American goods through their customs process, so our exports go to a very, very quick form of approval, and there won’t be any red tape,” he added.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, originally from the United States, has been elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church following the passing of Pope Francis last month. He will now be known as Pope Leo XIV.
On Thursday afternoon, a plume of white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the traditional signal to the world that the College of Cardinals had successfully chosen a new pontiff with the required two-thirds consensus.
The voting cardinals, numbering 133, were locked inside the chapel as part of the highly confidential papal selection process known as the conclave.

Federal authorities are now pursuing a criminal probe into allegations of mortgage fraud involving New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a report from the New York Post.
The Times Union first broke the story, revealing that the investigation was initiated following a referral made earlier this month to the Department of Justice by William Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
In his referral, Pulte accuses James of having “falsified records” in connection with two properties: a home she bought in Virginia in 2023 and a Brooklyn brownstone she has held title to since 2001.

In a mostly party-aligned decision, the House voted 211-206 on Thursday to officially rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” aiming to solidify President Donald Trump’s recent executive directive.
Only one GOP member, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, broke ranks and opposed the legislation, which was championed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Greene celebrated the bill, calling it “one of the most important things that we can do this Congress.”
Democrats slammed the move as a pointless distraction and criticized Republicans for squandering legislative attention.

The Biden administration considered ways to “get rid” of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu when he wouldn’t go along with their plans for the Gaza Strip, Channel 13’s weekly investigative news show HaMakor (“The Source”) revealed.
“The White House got tired of Netanyahu and started to roll around a revolutionary idea … : how to get rid of Netanyahu,” said Raviv Drucker, who hosts the hour-long Sunday show.

Since the launch of “Operation Iron Wall” on Jan. 21, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 terrorists, arrested approximately 320 wanted individuals and seized around 450 weapons in Judea and Samaria, the military announced.
Security forces have also dismantled hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and pipe bombs, along with dozens of homes used as bomb-making laboratories and weapons storage facilities.
Since Hamas’s massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces have eliminated over 700 terrorists in Judea and Samaria, including 36 senior operatives from various organizations.
On Wednesday night, two people were seriously wounded in a terrorist attack near the Reihan Crossing along the security fence in northern Samaria.

During Wednesday night’s episode of Special Report on Fox News, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont addressed criticism over his extensive use of private jets during campaign events like The Fighting Oligarchy Tour. He defended the high travel costs by arguing that the demands of a busy campaign schedule necessitate such transportation. “You run a campaign and do you three or four or five rallies in a week,” Sanders said. “You think I’m going to be sitting on a waiting line at United waiting while 30,000 people are waiting?” He made it clear that he plans to continue flying private.

At a major press conference held Wednesday at “Compound 89” in Meron, officials presented the comprehensive operational plan for the upcoming hilula of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai on Lag BaOmer 5785. Leading the announcement were Minister of Yerushalayim Affairs and Jewish Tradition Meir Porush, Northern District Police Commander Chief Superintendent Meir Eliyahu, Hilula Project Coordinator Yossi Deutsch, along with senior figures from the Ministry of Yerushalayim Affairs, including Director-General Shimon Alboum and Deputy Director and Head of the Meron Division Chaim Rosenshtein.

National Unity party leader Benny Gantz stated that Israel’s complete pullout from Gaza in 2005 was a mistake, arguing that suggestions to further retreat or establish a Palestinian state ignore current security needs.
Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister, made his remarks while speaking at a “Settlements Conference” in Ofra, located in the West Bank. The event was hosted by the religious-Zionist newspaper Makor Rishon.
His remarks followed the government’s recent declaration that it would begin appropriating land in Gaza. Gantz, who entered the wartime cabinet shortly after Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023 attack, said he had pushed from the outset for Israel to secure parts of Gaza to establish a security buffer.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu held a key meeting with Shas leader Aryeh Deri and MK Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in a bid to ease tensions over the contentious issue of the proposed chareidi draft legislation.
Individuals familiar with what transpired in the meeting said that Edelstein pushed for a policy that would see at least fifty percent of eligible chareidi men drafted into the IDF. Deri, however, strongly objected to this suggestion and reportedly dismissed the numbers put forward during the discussion.