US military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed, aid to soon flow as Israel-Hamas war rages on
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip. Officials said Thursday that they are poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies fail to make it in. Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push on that southern city on the Egyptian border, complicating those shipments. American officials insist U.S. troops will not set foot in Gaza, though they acknowledge the danger of operating near the war zone.
The top UN court is holding hearings on the Israeli military’s incursion into Rafah
THE HAGUE (AP) — The United Nations’ top court is opening two days of hearings into a request from South Africa to make sure Israel halts its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. More than half of Gaza’s population has sought shelter there. This is the fourth time South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice for emergency measures since it launched proceedings alleging that Israel’s military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. It says the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address “a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza.”
Slovakian leader is in stable but serious condition after assassination attempt, hospital says
BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (AP) — A hospital official says Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is in stable but serious condition after being shot multiple times in an assassination attempt. Defense Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital that doctors are continuing to treat Fico on Thursday in an attempt to improve his condition. The government says five shots were fired at Fico on Wedneday outside a cultural center where he was meeting with supporters.
Putin expresses gratitude to Xi for China’s initiatives to resolve the Ukraine conflict
BEIJING (AP) — Russia’s Putin has expressed gratitude to Xi Jinping for China’s initiatives to resolve the Ukraine conflict. His remarks came at a summit with Xi where the Chinese leader said China hopes Europe will return to peace and stability soon and that China will play a constructive role. Putin on Thursday began a two-day state visit to Beijing as Moscow presses forward on a new offensive in Ukraine. China had issued a proposal for peace in Ukraine in 2023. China has significant influence as a critical supporter of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. It continues to supply Russia with key components that Moscow needs for its productions of weapons, and its purchase of Russian oil and gas has helped boost the Russian economy.
Will jurors believe Michael Cohen? Defense keys on witness’ credibility at Trump hush money trial
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors’ star witness will be back in the hot seat in Donald Trump’s hush money trial as defense lawyers try to chip away at Michael Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president. The trial will resume Thursday in Manhattan with the defense cross-examining Cohen. His credibility could determine the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s fate in the case. He’s the last witness for prosecutors before Trump’s lawyers get a chance to put on a defense. Prosecutors are trying to prove Trump schemed to suppress a damaging story he feared would torpedo his 2016 presidential campaign, and then falsified business records to cover it up. Trump says he did nothing wrong.
The Commission on Presidential Debates faces an uncertain future after Biden and Trump bypassed it
PHOENIX (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s whirlwind agreement to meet for two presidential debates has upended the way the forums have been organized for nearly four decades. It sidelines and casts doubt on the future of the nonpartisan commission that has traditionally planned them. The presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees on Wednesday accepted debate invitations from CNN in June and ABC in September, shaking up the tradition of three debates not tied to a specific network and held in the weeks before the November election. Their plans came together rapidly, ending uncertainty about whether the candidates would debate.
Florida deputy’s killing of Black airman renews debate on police killings and race
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida deputy’s fatal shooting of a U.S. service member has jarred the former top enlisted officer of the Air Force. In 2020, Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright warned that his greatest fear was waking up to news that police had killed a Black airman. The death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson has community leaders including the NAACP asking whether unconscious bias led the deputy to shoot the young service member simply because he was a young, Black male and ask what, if anything, can be done to prevent this kind of tragedy. The investigation into Fortson’s death is ongoing. The sheriff’s office says they received the local NAACP’s “list of demands and understand their concerns.”
Topeka was at the center of Brown v. Board. Decades later, segregation of another sort lingers
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The school system in Topeka, Kansas, was at the center of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that struck down segregated education 70 years ago. In school lessons, memorials and ceremonies, Topeka is marking its ties to the 1954 ruling. But just as clear to many is the legacy of discrimination that stands in the way of its promise of equity. Segregation persists today, not as a matter of law but as a reflection of underlying disparities, including in housing. In greater Topeka, as in school systems across America, students of color are concentrated in districts that disproportionately serve low-income families.
As countries tighten anti-gay laws, more and more LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety and asylum in Europe
RIETI, Italy (AP) — While many of the migrants who reach Europe are escaping war, conflict and poverty, an increasing number are fleeing possible prison terms and death sentences because they are gay. International law recognizes that anti-LGBTQ+ persecution is a valid claim for asylum requests. And despite huge obstacles to win asylum on LGBTQ+ grounds, it can be done. But the challenges remain significant for these so-called “rainbow refugees.”
All eyes are on Coppola in Cannes. Sound familiar?
CANNES, France (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola will soon premiere at the Cannes Film Festival a film on which he has risked everything that’s arriving clouded by rumors of production turmoil. Sound familiar? On Thursday Coppola’s self-financed opus “Megalopolis” will make its much-awaited premiere. Other films are debuting in Cannes with more fanfare and hype, but none has quite the curiosity of “Megalopolis,” the first film by the 85-year-old filmmaker in 13 years. Coppola put $120 million of his own money into it. Forty-five years ago, something very similar played out when Coppola was toiling over the edit for “Apocalypse Now.”