Another very active news week has passed.  Listen to Crosstalk to get caught up on what you may have missed.  Here’s a sample of what Jim had to offer: 

–Sparks flew during a discussion in front of media between President Trump, VP J.D. Vance and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy over a cease-fire deal with Russia.

–President Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the White House as a press conference and lunch was canceled.  The critical minerals deal that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday was a done-deal was not signed as planned. 

–Zelenskyy said this past Sunday that Russia launched more than 200 drones in an overnight attack, the largest of the war. 

–President Trump said that a lot of progress has been made in ending the war in Ukraine after French President Macron joined him at the White House for a call with G7 leaders.

–The U.N. adopted a resolution, despite opposition from the U.S., that voted against the European-backed measure demanding Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine, reaffirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity and also strongly condemning Russia’s invasion on the war’s 3^rd anniversary.

–Israeli decision-makers plan to resume the Gaza war in 4-6 weeks with overwhelming force, sending in tens of thousands of troops to conquer the entire strip in a single, coordinated offensive against Hamas.

–Hamas released 6 living hostages last Saturday.

–In Buenos Aires there is a street named, “State of Israel” and another named, “State of Palestine.”  Following the murder of the Bibas children of Argentina by Hamas and the return of their bodies to Israel, Argentina has decided to rename the street, “State of Palestine” to “Bibas Family Street.”

–For Israelis, this will be the first weekend in six weeks that Hamas-held hostages living or dead will likely not be freed.

–After President Trump announced that he was reimposing his maximum economic sanctions pressure campaign on the Islamic republic of Iran, a high level Iranian general declared that his nation will wage an attack designed to obliterate Israel.

–The Trump administration announced new sanctions aimed at Iran’s shadow fleet of oil tankers that it said are used to help fund destabilizing activities around the world. 

–Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard moved to seek out and fire employees involved in group chats in which explicit behavior allegedly was discussed. 

–Vice President J.D. Vance presented a testimony of faith at a CPAC meeting last Thursday.  Jim provided audio of the testimony. 

–During the convening of the first cabinet meeting by President Trump, he called on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner who gave a prayer.  Jim provided the audio of that prayer.

–King Charles III has invited President Trump for a state visit to the U.K. 

–Vice President J.D. Vance called out British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to his face during a press conference yesterday over the infringement on free speech in his country.