US Senator Outlines Republican Support for Israel in New Congress

Associated Press
Heavy fighting in Gaza's Rafah keeps aid crossings closed, sends 100,000 civilians fleeing
Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday. Israel's plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah appear to be on hold for now, with the United States deeply opposed and stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms. Heavy fighting was also underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults.
Reuters
Russia advances in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in push to create buffer zone, Kyiv source says
KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces launched an armoured ground attack on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region early on Friday, advancing one kilometer near the border town of Vovchansk in an effort to create a buffer zone, a senior military source said. Fighting in the border areas of the Kharkiv region continued and Kyiv has sent more forces to the area as reinforcements, the defence ministry said. A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said that Russian forces were aiming to push the Ukrainian armed forces as far back as 10 kilometers from the Russian border and that Kyiv's forces were trying to hold them back.
AFP
French, US drug firms team up for Covid-flu shot
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and struggling US rival Novavax announced Friday an alliance to sell a Covid vaccine and develop another that combines with a flu shot.The French group will be able to develop a combination flu-Covid vaccine using its own flu shots with the US company's Covid jab.
Reuters
Gaza aid could grind to a halt within days, UN agencies warn
Dwindling food and fuel stocks could force aid operations to grind to a halt within days in Gaza as vital crossings remain shut, forcing hospitals to close down and leading to more malnutrition, United Nations aid agencies warned on Friday. Humanitarian workers have sounded the alarm this week over the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for aid and people as part of Israel's military operation in Rafah, where around 1 million uprooted people have been sheltering. The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which governs the besieged Palestinian territory.
AFP
UK's Labour vows to ditch government's Rwanda deportation plan
Britain's main opposition Labour party on Friday pledged to scrap the Conservative government's flagship Rwanda scheme if it comes to power, replacing it with a tougher more joined-up approach to tackling irregular migration."We will replace the Rwanda policy permanently," he said, promising a new approach to securing UK borders by tackling the issue "upstream" to smash the people-smuggling gangs behind the crossings.
Reuters
Futures rise ahead of data, speeches from Fed officials
Wall Street indexes were back in sight of record highs following a selloff last month, as a slew of economic data pointed to cooling labor market momentum, raising expectations that the Fed will cut borrowing costs more than once this year. Expectations of U.S. monetary policy easing, along with a much better-than-expected earnings season put the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite on track for their third consecutive week of gains. While most Fed policymakers have reiterated that the next policy move will be a rate cut, doubt still remains about when the easing will begin.
Time
How to Stop Bird Flu from Becoming the Next Pandemic
The most important tool in our arsenal is widespread testing, write Janika Schmitt and Michael Mina. We're not doing enough of it.
AFP
Departing Georgia envoy to Francehits out at foreign influence bill
Georgia's ambassador to France, who has resigned over a bill criticised for mirroring repressive Russian legislation, called for the draft law to be dropped on Friday.Critics say the bill, a similar version of which was scrapped last year following protests, mimics repressive Russian legislation that the Kremlin uses to crack down on opponents and could block Georgia's path to joining the European Union.
AFP
European stock markets hit record highs on rate cut hopes
European stock markets climbed to fresh record highs Friday on growing hopes that central banks are close to cutting interest rates.The European Central Bank is expected to cut its rates in June.
Reuters
Crypto group with 440,000 members launches PAC to target House, Senate elections
A cryptocurrency nonprofit has launched a new political action committee (PAC) to raise money from its 440,000 members for crypto-friendly politicians, and is endorsing a bipartisan slate of candidates running in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Stand With Crypto's PAC joins a deep-pocketed effort from the cryptocurrency industry to put political candidates in office who are committed to supporting crypto and blockchain. Crypto super PACs Fairshake, Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress have so far raised more than $110 million this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Reuters
Police were advised to avoid mass arrests; then came the US campus protests
In the three tumultuous weeks since protests broke out at U.S. universities, police have descended on dozens of campuses to sweep up students in mass arrests, adhering to an approach many criminologists have found to be outdated and counterproductive. New York police arrested nearly 300 people at Columbia University and City College of New York on April 30 during protests over the war in Gaza, setting off flash bangs to stun and disorient demonstrators. But an early examination of the approach to campus protests suggests police, in many cases, have yet to shed outdated ways of handling large demonstrations, they said.
Reuters
Fed's Bostic says economy likely slowing, though rate-cut timing uncertain
The U.S. central bank likely remains on track to cut interest rates this year even if the timing and extent of the policy easing is uncertain and further declines in inflation come only slowly, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said in an interview with Reuters. "I still have that belief" that interest rates can be lowered this year despite a first quarter in which the pace of price increases seemed to stall well above the Fed's 2% target, Bostic said in his first public comments since the central bank's policy meeting last week. Conversations with businesses in his U.S. Southeast Fed district indicate that wage and job growth will likely slow, Bostic said, and that most firms feel their pricing power is in decline after the fast price hikes that pushed inflation to 40-year highs in 2022.
Reuters
Trump prosecutors prepare to call final witnesses in hush money trial
Donald Trump is set to return to court Friday after porn star Stormy Daniels' lurid testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with him, as prosecutors prepare to call their final witnesses in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former U.S. President. In seven hours of testimony this week over two days in New York state criminal court in Manhattan, Daniels spared few details. Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election about the alleged encounter.
Associated Press
Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, move to clear Philadelphia and Arizona protests
Police early Friday dismantled a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and moved to clear protesters from University of Pennsylvania’s campus in Philadelphia, just hours after police tear-gassed protesters and took down an encampment at the University of Arizona. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, video showed police roaming through the MIT encampment and organizers said about 10 students had been detained.
Reuters
Analysis-Tesla's EV charging team layoffs threaten to slow Biden's program to electrify highways
Elon Musk's decision to gut Tesla's electric-vehicle charging team is scrambling plans for rolling out new fast-charging stations and may delay President Joe Biden's efforts to electrify U.S. highways. Last year, the Biden administration announced rules for an ambitious plan to expand the country's charging infrastructure and jump-start EV adoption. Under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, the government is doling out $5 billion to states over five years to build 500,000 EV chargers.
Associated Press
Your tax refund could be bigger this year. Here's what to do with it
A tax refund is typically the “biggest extra windfall of the year," said Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma. “While this behavior is completely understandable, given how hard up people are — with the rising cost of living, and high interest rates, the best thing you can do is use it as an opportunity to advance your financial goals.” Emily Garcia, 30, who works in marketing for a medical imaging software company in Toledo, Ohio, said she and her husband, with whom she filed jointly, were refunded about $1,000 and spent the money on patio furniture.
Associated Press
Top Indian opposition leader given bail by the Supreme Court enabling him to campaign in elections
India's Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to a top opposition leader who was arrested nearly seven weeks ago in a bribery case that opposition parties called a political move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government against his rivals during a national election. Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, is the chief elected official in the city of New Delhi and one of the country’s most influential politicians of the past decade.
USA TODAY
After infertility, other struggles, these moms are grateful to hear 'Happy Mother's Day'
For some women, Mother's Day can be fraught or even painful. After their own difficult journeys, moms reflect on what Mother's Day now means to them.
CNN
Three people shot at Super Bowl parade grapple with bullets left in their bodies
James Lemons, 39, wants the bullet removed from his thigh so he can go back to work.
Yahoo Finance
Why trends are so intoxicating for investors — and dangerous: Morning Brief
A trend can represent the beginning of making a ton of money and a changing world. It can also represent the disappointing beginning of a fad.

Latest Stories