A push in Texas to ban social media accounts for children under 18 faded Thursday after lawmakers did not take a key vote on creating one of the nation’s toughest restrictions aimed at keeping minors off platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. The bill, which already passed the GOP-controlled state House, aims to go further than a Florida social media ban for minors under 14. Australia banned social media accounts for anyone under 16. But earlier momentum behind the Texas measure slowed at the eleventh hour in the state Senate as lawmakers face a weekend deadline to send bills to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that if the “One Big Beautiful Bill” fails to pass, Democrats will be responsible for a massive 65 percent hike in taxes. He laid the blame squarely on their shoulders during remarks from the Oval Office following a swearing-in ceremony for interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.
“You know, if it’s up to the Democrats, they’ll take the 65 percent increase. If that doesn’t get approved, this country is going to have a 65 percent increase in taxes and lots of other problems, big problems, almost bigger than that,” Trump said, stressing that the legislation would deliver “the largest tax cut in the history of our country.”

The U.S. flag was hoisted at the American Ambassador’s residence in Damascus, marking the first time since 2012.

The Tel Aviv district’s main unit stopped a group of five suspects, including some from a foreign gang, who were planning a shooting. During the arrest, police confiscated a loaded pistol with a cartridge, two rubber bullets, and face masks.

IDF forces putting the finishing demolition touches on a terrorist structure in Gaza.

In a searing address delivered Wednesday from the Knesset plenum, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Almog Cohen of the Otzma Yehudit party lashed out at Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, calling them “disgraceful” and “lowly” individuals.
Cohen, speaking forcefully from the podium, slammed Golan for past remarks made about IDF soldiers: “The message I’m sending,” he said, “to Yair Golan, who described our soldiers as baby killers for sport — see under: sadists — is that you should be ashamed of yourself. You are a lowly person. You are a disgraceful person.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields.” China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote.

The IDF issues an unusual warning to Palestinians in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza, telling them to stay away from several locations where the military claims Hamas operatives are. The IDF also names six prominent Hamas operatives in its announcement.