Blinken welcomes UN vote in favor of Gaza cease-fire plan and again calls on Hamas to accept it
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.N. Security Council’s vote in favor of a U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza has made it “as clear as it possibly could be” that the world supports the plan. He again called on Hamas to accept it, and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal. Blinken’ spoke Tuesday during his latest visit to the region, his eighth since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war. Hamas also welcomed the Security Council vote and says it supports the broad outline of the agreement but wants assurances it will be implemented.
UN says Israeli forces, Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes in deadly raid
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office is citing possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend. Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concerns about possible violations of rules of proportionality, distinction, and precaution by the Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian health officials say at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, were killed in the operation. Laurence said Palestinian armed groups who are holding hostages in densely populated areas are putting the lives of nearby civilians and the hostages at “added risks” from the hostilities.
Jurors will resume deliberations in the federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Jurors are set to resume deliberations in the criminal case against Hunter Biden over a 2018 gun purchase when prosecutors say President Joe Biden’s son was in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction. Jurors deliberated for less than an hour Monday before leaving the federal courthouse in Delaware. Jurors are weighing whether Hunter Biden is guilty of three felonies in the case pitting him against his father’s Justice Department in the middle of the Democratic president’s reelection campaign. Hunter Biden’s lawyers have argued he did not consider himself an “addict” when he bought the gun.
Biden and gun-control advocates want to flip an issue long dominated by the NRA
ATLANTA (AP) — Gun-control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hardline positions of the gun lobby. President Joe Biden’s campaign says gun control could be a motivating issue for suburban college-educated women who may be decisive in several key battlegrounds this fall. The campaign and its allies have already circulated clips of former President Donald Trump saying after an Iowa school shooting in January that “we have to get over it.” Trump has also promised that he would impose no new restrictions on guns if elected again. About 7 in 10 college-educated women who voted in the 2022 midterm elections supported stricter gun control laws.
Malawi’s vice president and 9 others have died in a plane crash, the president says
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi’s vice president and nine others have been killed in a plane crash, the country’s president said Tuesday. The wreckage of the military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima was located in a mountainous area in the north of the country after a search that lasted more than a day. There were no survivors of the crash, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said. Chakwera made the announcement in a live address on state television. The plane went missing Monday morning while making the 45-minute flight from the southern African nation’s capital, Lilongwe, to the city of Mzuzu, to the north.
Chinese police say a suspect is in custody in the stabbing of 4 US college instructors
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police say a suspect is in custody in a stabbing attack on four instructors from Iowa’s Cornell College who were teaching at a Chinese university in the northeast city of Jilin. Jilin city police said Tuesday a 55-year-old man surnamed Cui was walking in a public park when he bumped into a foreigner. They say he then stabbed the foreigner and three other foreigners who were with him, and also a Chinese person who approached in an attempt to intervene. The instructors from Cornell College were teaching at Beihua University, officials at the U.S. school said. China’s Foreign Ministry says the injured were rushed to a hospital for treatment and none was in critical condition.
In Italy’s Puglia region, women take the lead in challenging the local mafia at great personal risk
LECCE, Italy (AP) — Puglia is known for its olive groves, white-washed houses, and spectacular coastlines that will provide the backdrop when Premier Giorgia Meloni hosts Group of Seven leaders for their annual summit this week. But the region is also home to the Sacra Corona Unita, Italy’s fourth main organized crime group. It is far less well-known than Sicily’s Cosa Nostra but just as effective in infiltrating everything, from local businesses to government. And yet, a remarkable array of women is challenging its power structures at great personal risk. They are arresting and prosecuting clan members, exposing their crimes and confiscating their businesses, all while working to change local attitudes.
These candidates who won seats in the European Parliament this week aren’t who you might expect
LONDON (AP) — Social media influencers and candidates in jail have won seats in the powerful European Parliament, with social media playing an outsized role in many elections. In Cyprus, a 24-year-old influencer with millions of followers but no political experience snagged one of six seats in the legislature. In Spain, an anti-immigrant influencer with a squirrel as a logo snatched not one but three of the country’s 61 seats. In Germany, a far-right party kicked its top candidate out because of a series of scandals — but he won a seat anyway. A jailed politician won a seat from Greece, and an Italian activist jailed in Hungary won a seat for Italy.
US gas prices are falling. Experts point to mild demand at the pump ahead of summer travel
NEW YORK (AP) — Gas prices are once again on the decline across the U.S. That’s bringing some relief to drivers now paying a little less to fill up their tanks. The AAA motor club says the national average for gas prices on Monday stood around $3.44 a gallon. That’s down about 8 cents from a week ago, more than 19 cents from one month back, and over 14 cents down from this time last year. Why the recent fall in prices at the pump? Industry analysts point to a blend of mild demand and increasing supply — as well as relatively mild oil prices worldwide. The future is never promised. But, if there are no major unexpected production interruptions, some experts say that prices could keep working their way lower.
Attraction starring Disney’s first Black princess replaces ride based on a film many viewed as racist
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A new attraction starring the first Black Disney princess is opening at the company’s theme parks in Florida and California. Some Disney followers see it as fitting that the attraction starring Tiana from the 2009 film “The Princess and the Frog” is opening in the space formerly occupied by the Splash Mountain ride. Splash Mountain had ties to “Song of the South,” a 1946 movie that contained racist tropes. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is infused with music, scenery and animatronic characters inspired by the film set in 1920s New Orleans. It opens to the public later this month at Disney World in Florida, and later this year at Disneyland in California.
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