Pressure grows on Israel to open more aid routes into Gaza by land and sea as hunger worsens
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Efforts to get desperately needed humanitarian aid to war-wracked northern Gaza are gaining momentum. The European Union increased pressure Wednesday for the creation of a sea route from Cyprus to Gaza and British Foreign Minister David Cameron is saying that Israel’s allies are losing patience. While aid groups say all of Gaza is mired in crisis, the situation in the largely isolated north stands out. Many there have been reduced to eating animal fodder and acute malnutrition is rampant among young children. Two Israeli officials said the government will begin allowing aid to move directly from its territory into northern Gaza and will also cooperate with the creation of the sea route from Cyprus.
Houthi missile attack kills 3 crew members in Yemen rebels’ first fatal assault on shipping
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military says a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden has killed three of its crew members and injured at least four. It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. U.S. Central Command says the missile caused significant damage to the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier called True Confidence, and the crew had to abandon the ship. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed the attack on the vessel and insisted their assaults would continue as long as Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues.
Biden is hoping to use his State of the Union address to show a wary electorate he’s up to the job
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to use his State of the Union address to promote his vision for a second term to a dispirited electorate who questions whether he’s up to the job and to warn that GOP front-runner Donald Trump would be a dangerous alternative. Biden’s third such address from the House rostrum on Thursday will be something of an on-the-job interview, as the nation’s oldest president tries to quell voter concerns about his age and job performance. The president hopes to showcase his accomplishments on infrastructure and manufacturing, and push for action on aid to Ukraine, tougher migration rules, restoring access to abortion, and lowering drug prices, among other issues.
The Biden and Trump campaigns are readying for their rematch, starting with rival events in Georgia
ATLANTA (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump each won the White House by razor-thin margins in key states. Now they each must try to rebuild their once-winning coalitions. Trump’s next task is to complete a takeover of the Republican National Committee with his preferred leadership team. They are then expected to work on trying to catch up to Democrats’ fundraising and organizing network. Biden will deliver his State of the Union address Thursday before leaving Washington to campaign in key battleground states. Both men will campaign in Georgia on Saturday. Biden’s team believes its head start on building campaign teams in key battleground states will pay off in November.
Alabama governor signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has a new law protecting in vitro fertilization providers from legal liability. Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation Wednesday that shields IVF providers from possible lawsuits and criminal prosecutions stemming from a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children. Three major IVF providers paused services after the state Supreme Court ruled last month that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits. The ruling raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups.
Putin’s crackdown casts a wide net, ensnaring the LGBTQ+ community, lawyers and many others
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — It’s not just opposition politicians who are targeted in the crackdown by the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years. Also falling victim are independent voices as well as those who don’t conform to what the state sees as the country’s “traditional values.” Russia’s once-thriving free press after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been reduced to either state-controlled outlets or independent media operating from abroad. Prominent rights groups have been outlawed or classified as agents of foreigners. Lawyers who have worked with dissidents have been prosecuted or have fled abroad. LGBTQ+ activists have been labeled “extremists.”
China accuses US of devising tactics to suppress China despite improvement in relations
BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister is accusing the U.S. of devising tactics to suppress China’s rise and he has criticized the Biden administration for adding more Chinese companies to its sanctions lists. Wang Yi said Thursday that relations with the U.S. have improved since Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in November, but that America has not fulfilled its promises. He spoke to the media during an annual meeting of China’s legislature. China had been expected to name a new foreign minister during the weeklong meeting of the National People’s Congress, but it appears to be sticking with Wang. He is a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who has earned Xi’s trust. He also reiterated a Chinese call to make Palestine a full member of the United Nations.
Frozen in time: Families of those on missing Flight 370 cannot shake off their grief without answers
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Over the past decade, Grace Subathirai Nathan graduated from law school, got married, opened a law firm and had two babies. But part of her is frozen in time, still in denial over the loss of her mother on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane in 2014. There has been no funeral service, and Grace still speaks of her mother in the present tense. The Malaysian lawyer has channeled her grief into keeping alive the quest for answers in the mysterious disappearance of MH370 that has ripped many families apart. Many other families are coping with grief in different ways 10 years on, but one thing is constant: their quest for answers.
Mexico’s most dangerous city for police refuses to give up or negotiate with cartels
CELAYA, Mexico (AP) — Welcome to what might be the most dangerous place to be a police officer in North America. At least 34 officers have been killed in the line of duty in the Mexican city of Celaya in the last three years. In Guanajuato state, more police were shot to death in 2023 than across the United States. As Mexico’s June 2 presidential elections approach, Celaya lies at the crossroads of a number of political trends. It has refused to eliminate its local police force, and refused to rely almost completely on soldiers and the quasi-military National Guard.
For social platforms, the outage was short. But people’s stories vanished, and that’s no small thing
NEW YORK (AP) — The widespread attention given to the blanking of Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger platforms on Tuesday tells a tale. It says that social media platforms, like the books or newspapers or insert-medium-here of other times in history, matter more than just entertaining pastimes. The technologies might be recent, but what we use them for? That taps into something age-old — that we’re wired to love stories. Telling them. Listening to them. Relating to each other and our communities through them. And showing them to the world.