U.S. policy toward Houthi-led aggression against Israel is guided by the potential risk posed to American nationals, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee explained in a televised interview excerpt aired by Channel 12 on Thursday.
“The United States isn’t required to get permission from Israel to make some type of arrangement that would get the Houthis from firing on our ships,” Huckabee stated in a segment of the conversation that will be fully aired over the weekend.
His remarks came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s unexpected revelation earlier in the week that the U.S. had reached a direct ceasefire understanding with the Houthi rebels in Yemen, despite the group’s insistence that it will persist in attacking Israel.

President Donald Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China from 145% to 80% ahead of a weekend meeting as he looks to deescalate the trade war. Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports. “80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B,” Trump wrote on his social media account on Friday morning, referring to Scott Bessent, his Treasury chief, who has been a point person on trade. Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced this week.

The White House issued a proclamation on Thursday declaring May 8 as “Victory Day for World War II,” honoring the 80th anniversary of the Allied Powers’ “triumph over national socialism and fascism, and the end of World War II in Europe.”
“On this Victory Day for World War II, we celebrate the unmatched might, strength, and power of the American Armed Forces, and we commit to protecting our sacred birthright of liberty against all threats, foreign and domestic,” read a White House statement from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The proclamation went on to honor the sacrifice of the “more than 250,000 Americans lost their lives in the fight against the Nazi regime.”

Reformulation by Rabbi Yair Hoffma

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tefila4Life-Shiur-943-Deserve.mp3

Pope Leo XIV, newly selected to lead the Catholic Church, previously took to social media to voice strong opposition to President Trump’s policies, especially those related to immigration. Now the first American to be elected pope, Leo XIV — formerly Robert Francis Prevost — had repeatedly used his verified X account, @drprevost, to amplify criticism during Trump’s presidency.
Prior to his papal election, one of his last public online activities was a repost of a tweet from Catholic analyst Rocco Palmo. The post criticized a Trump-Bukele deportation policy involving a U.S. resident with Salvadoran roots.

The nation’s infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants. The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Thursday. That’s down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years. CDC officials believe the findings will not change much when the final numbers come out later this year.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering a significant reduction in tariffs on Chinese imports, cutting them from the current 145% to slightly over 50%, potentially starting as early as next week. This development comes as American and Chinese representatives gear up for high-stakes trade negotiations in Switzerland.
According to individuals familiar with the ongoing talks, U.S. officials are evaluating a proposal to bring the tariffs down to somewhere between 50% and 54%. This shift would mark the beginning of extended discussions aimed at achieving a broader trade deal with Beijing.
In addition to the changes targeting Chinese goods, tariffs on other South Asian nations could also be revised downward, possibly to 25%, one insider revealed.