Biden says Netanyahu's approach to the war is a mistake, deepening a rift between the two allies
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake. In remarks aired late Tuesday, Biden ramped up his criticism of Israel, demanding a cease-fire so that more aid be sent to Gaza. That widened a rift between the two staunch allies that has worsened as the war has dragged on. Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas since the militant group launched a deadly assault on Oct. 7, but in recent weeks his administration has taken a more stern line with Israel. Palestinians in Gaza marked a muted start to the Eid al-Fitr holiday with visits to the grave of sons and daughters killed in the war.
Israel threatens to strike Iran directly if Iran launches attack from its territory
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Foreign Minister has threatened that his country’s forces would strike Iran directly if the Islamic Republic launched an attack from its territory against Israel. Wednesday's remarks come after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a promise to retaliate against Israel over the attack on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month. Tehran holds Israel responsible for the strike that leveled the building, killing 12 people. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement. The strike killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, four Syrians and a Hezbollah militia member. Khamenei spoke at a prayer ceremony celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying the airstrike was “wrongdoing” and akin to an attack on Iranian territory.
What to know about the Arizona Supreme Court ruling that reinstates an 1864 near-total abortion ban
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has delivered a landmark decision in giving the go-ahead to enforce a long-dormant law that bans nearly all abortions. The law revived Tuesday drastically alters the legal landscape for terminating pregnancies. It also places the politics of abortion access front and center in a battleground state for the 2024 presidential election and partisan U.S. Senate control. The law predating Arizona’s statehood provides no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother's life is in jeopardy. Arizona’s highest court has put doctors on notice that they may be prosecuted under the 1864 law.
Track and field becomes first sport to pay prize money at Olympics. Paris gold medalists get $50,000
Track and field is set to become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, with World Athletics saying Wednesday it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris. World Athletics said it was setting aside $2.4 million to pay the gold medalists across the 48 events on the program for this year’s Paris Olympics. Relay teams will split the $50,000 between their members. Payments for silver and bronze medalists are planned to start from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Former Trump executive Allen Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months in jail for lying in civil fraud case
NEW YORK (AP) — Retired Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg has received a five-month jail sentence for lying under oath during testimony in a lawsuit brought against ex-President Donald Trump by New York’s attorney general. Weisselberg was previously the chief financial officer at Trump’s real estate company. Weisselberg pleaded guilty last month to perjury and was sentenced Wednesday. It’ll be Weisselberg’s second time behind bars. The 76-year-old served 100 days in jail last year for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in company perks. Trump’s lawyers have accused the Manhattan district attorney of deploying “strong-armed tactics against an innocent man.” Weisselberg admitted lying about how Trump’s Manhattan penthouse came to be overvalued on his financial statements.
Desperate young Guatemalans try to reach the US even after horrific deaths of migrating relatives
COMITANCILLO, Guatemala (AP) — In the small town of Comitancillo in Guatemala’s mostly Indigenous highlands, two murals memorialize the nearly two dozen local migrants who died in mass tragedies en route to the United States recently. Yet even the siblings of those migrants continue to set off for the United States, because they can’t find another way out of extreme poverty, especially if they still owe huge debts to smugglers. One 17-year-old girl whose sister died in a smuggler's tractor-trailer in Texas said: “I want to go there, because here there are no opportunities, even though Mom says that I’ll suffer what Blanca did." Guatemalans are the largest group of unaccompanied minors among record-high numbers crossing the U.S.-Mexican border illegally, which turned migration into a top concern in the 2024 election.
Higher gas and rents keep US inflation elevated, likely delaying Fed rate cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer price increases remained high last month, boosted by gas, rents and car insurance, the government said in a report that will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it weighs when and by how much to cut interest rates this year. Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices were up 3.8%. The Fed closely tracks core prices because they tend to provide a good read of where inflation is headed. The March figures, the third straight month of inflation readings well above the Fed’s 2% target, threaten to torpedo the prospect of multiple interest rate cuts this year.
Biden administration imposes first-ever national drinking water limits on toxic PFAS
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced its first-ever limits for several common types of PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Two types, PFOA and PFOS, will be limited to 4 parts per trillion, the lowest level that tests can reliably detect. The agency says it will reduce exposure for 100 million people and prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancer. Utilities groups, however, say the EPA is underestimating the rule's cost and overestimating its benefits. They argue water rates will go up and struggling utilities will only struggle more. The Biden administration has made protecting drinking water a priority.
Italy opens new slander trial against Amanda Knox. She was exonerated 9 years ago in friend's murder
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox is back on trial for slander for wrongly accusing a Congolese man of murdering her roommate while the young women were exchange students in Italy. Knox was convicted of the slaying before being exonerated. Knox was a 20-year-old student with rudimentary Italian, when she endured a long night of questioning in the murder of Meredith Kercher. She ended up accusing the owner of a bar where she worked of killing Kercher. In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the interrogation violated her rights because she was questioned without a lawyer or official translator. In November, Italy’s highest Cassation Court threw out the slander conviction. Knox was not expected at Wednesday’s hearing in Florence. She is being tried.
College students are flocking to the Marriage Pact, mostly for fun, but some find lasting love
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s the stuff of movies: Two friends vow to marry each other if they’re not hitched by a specified future date or age. Well, the Marriage Pact, an annual matching ritual that has become popular on college campuses around the U.S., has turned that dusty cliche into fun. And a few couples have found lasting love. The pact's founders say the goal is to find people a backup plan for a lifetime match. Unlike dating apps and services, each student gets just one name, a percentage on the quality of the match and an email address to reach out. Questions are meant to look for long-term compatibility. About 500,000 students have participated since the pact first rolled out at Stanford University in 2017.
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