Israel and Lebanon are set to resume negotiations Thursday in Washington, with Israeli officials describing the talks as a potential turning point in the long and violent struggle between the Jewish state and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition has submitted legislation to dissolve the Knesset and send Israel to elections, moving to seize control of a fast-developing political crisis triggered by ultra-Orthodox anger over the government’s failure to pass a draft exemption law for yeshiva students.

The U.S. Senate, in a 54-45 vote, confirmed Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

A CIA whistleblower told Congress on Wednesday that agency scientists repeatedly concluded COVID-19 most likely originated from a Chinese laboratory, only to have those findings softened, delayed, or suppressed by higher-level officials before the agency later acknowledged the lab-leak theory as its leading assessment.

Japan’s prime minister confirmed Thursday that a Japanese supertanker emerged in the Gulf of Oman after apparently making a rare “dark transit” through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz without broadcasting its location.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, urged the United States to become “partners, not rivals” Thursday as he welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing for high-stakes talks overshadowed by tensions over trade, Taiwan, Iran, and technology competition.

Hungary’s former state secretary responsible for aiding persecuted Christians expects the new government of Prime Minister Péter Magyar to continue a mission that he says helped save “tens of thousands of human lives” around the world.

Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar has vowed to return luxury government buildings from the Orbán era to “the Hungarian people,” after revealing that he found a highlighted Bible passage in former premier Viktor Orbán’s office declaring that “the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth.”

A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily allowed the Trump administration to continue collecting its 10% global tariff, pausing a lower-court ruling that found the import duties unlawful for three plaintiffs who had won relief last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a short-term administrative stay while it considers whether to keep the tariffs in place during the government’s appeal.

Saudi Arabia launched covert airstrikes inside Iran during the recent Middle East war, according to a Reuters exclusive citing two Western officials and two Iranian officials — a move that, if confirmed, would mark the first known Saudi military action carried out directly on Iranian soil. The reported strikes came in late March after the kingdom suffered Iranian attacks, including missile and drone strikes that exposed vulnerabilities in the U.S.-backed security umbrella protecting Gulf Arab states.