Biden, harboring low expectations, wants Israel and Gaza to give 'calm' a chance

President Biden is trying to tackle a number of big problems, and he pretty clearly was hoping Mideast peace wasn't going to be one of them. But the long-simmering conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted again last week, more than 200 Palestinians and 10 Israelis are dead, and the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and Hamas rockets for Israel show no sign of letting up. Biden said Monday that he had voiced support for a ceasefire in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he isn't publicly pressuring Israel to accept a pause in fighting and Netanyahu has made clear he's not currently interested.

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  Biden raises cease-fire, civilian toll in call to Netanyahu

  Associated Press
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  Drone shows damage of Gaza rockets fired toward Israel

  Reuters Videos

On-duty police officer sexually assaulted by gas station manager, Georgia cops say

The manager of a Georgia gas station is accused of sexually assaulting a police officer who was on duty and in uniform. According to the Hogansville Police Department, Prilesh Navinchandra Thakkar “attempted to forcefully commit an indecent act on an on duty female police officer.” The officer was conducting a business check on May 11 at the Hop In service station along state Highway 54 when the 300-pound manager grabbed her and pulled her behind the counter, WAGA reported.

Israel, Hamas trade fire in Gaza as war rages on

Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on what it said were militant targets in Gaza, leveling a six-story building, and militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Tuesday. Palestinians across the region observed a general strike as the war, now in its second week, showed no signs of abating. Heavy fighting broke out May 10 when Gaza's militant Hamas rulers fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests there against Israel's heavy-handed policing of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims, and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers.

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  EXPLAINER: Are Israel, Hamas committing war crimes in Gaza?

  Associated Press
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  Drone shows damage of Gaza rockets fired toward Israel

  Reuters Videos

Bill Gates admits affair with Microsoft employee, denies being forced off Microsoft's board over it

Melinda French Gates started talking with divorce lawyers in late 2019, not long after The New York Times reported that Bill Gates had more interactions with pedophile and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein that she had known about, the Times and The Wall Street Journal report. Microsoft board members hired a law firm to investigate the woman's allegations and deemed the relationship inappropriate, and by early 2020 "some board members decided it was no longer suitable for Mr. Gates to sit as a director at the software company he started and led for decades," the Journal reports.

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  Report: Microsoft investigated Gates before he left board

  Associated Press
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  Microsoft says it investigated Gates' involvement with employee

  Reuters

HK suspends operations at representative office in Taiwan as tensions rise

HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Hong Kong government's suspended on Tuesday operations at its representative office in Taiwan in a sign of escalating diplomatic tension between the global financial hub and the democratically ruled island that Beijing claims. Tension between Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government and Taiwan have risen since pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 and China responded by imposing a sweeping national security law in the city that prompted many activists to leave, some for Taiwan. A Hong Kong government representative did not provide an explanation for the decision to halt operations at the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office, adding only that the decision was not related to the recent rise in coronavirus cases in Taiwan.

Australian businessman trapped in India dies from Covid

An Australian man has died of Covid in Delhi, after getting infected around the time Australia banned citizens in India from returning home. Govind Kant, a Sydney businessman, died on Sunday, his company said. Mr Kant is believed to be the second Australian to have died in India amid a temporary travel ban imposed after a devastating second wave.

'This is our land': Russia warns West against staking claims in Arctic

Russia has warned the West against staking claims in the Arctic ahead of an international meeting on the future of the region, where strategic competition has reached levels not seen since the end of the Cold War. Moscow has recently increased its military presence in the area while also seeking to exploit mineral resources and new shipping routes that have opened up as the ice melts. The US, several Nordic countries, and China have also made moves to protect their own interests in the High North.

Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste - study

Plastic bottles, food packages and bags are among billions of items that are used once and then thrown away, often ending up in the oceans. The research - carried out by a consortium including the London School of Economics - looked at which companies are at the base of the plastic supply chain and make polymers, the building blocks of all plastics. It names 20 petrochemical companies which it says are the source of 55 per cent of the world's single-use plastic waste.

Durst jurors to get refresher in deaths tied to millionaire

Whatever they may have forgotten about Durst — from the cloud of suspicion that has dogged him for decades to his claims of innocently being trailed by bad luck — they will be reminded Tuesday in a new round of opening arguments. Judge Mark Windham moved the case to a larger courtroom in Inglewood to accommodate the distancing needed to resume. Lawyers are spaced out in jury boxes on both sides of the courtroom, Plexiglas separates participants, and the 21 jurors in the case, including nine alternates, are seated several seats and rows apart in the gallery.

Exclusive-India unlikely to resume sizable COVID-19 vaccine exports until October -sources

The World Health Organization, which co-leads COVAX, on Monday called on vaccine makers outside India to advance supplies to the programme given the shortfall from the South Asian country. The sources, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media on the subject, said India's vaccination drive will now take priority as its tally of coronavirus infections crosses 25 million and daily death toll hits a record high. "We don't have to officially convey to all countries as we are not obligated to do," one of the sources said about the decision to hold back exports.

Bipartisan pair of U.S. senators call for reauthorization of Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. senators, a Republican and a Democrat, asked Congress on Monday to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, as Republican-controlled state legislatures pass measures imposing new curbs on voting. Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Lisa Murkowski noted in a letter that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices, was last reauthorized in 2006 with a bipartisan Senate vote of 98-0. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, saying that Section 4, the formula used to determine which states and localities were subject to additional federal scrutiny, was outdated.

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  Manchin, Murkowski call on Congress to reauthorize Voting Rights Act

  NBC News
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  Manchin, Murkowski for bipartisan support to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. Bill needs 9 more GOP votes to pass in the Senate.

  Business Insider

A major cruise line has canceled its wildly hyped, fully vaccinated cruises from Israel over unrest

Royal Caribbean has canceled a series of fully vaccinated cruises from Israel amid the surging Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Royal Caribbean had planned for its new Odyssey of the Seas ship to begin sailing in June out of Haifa, Israel. The cruise series - unveiled in March - served as Royal Caribbean's first fully vaccinated cruise announcement, and would have been the cruise line's first voyage from Israel.

Hong Kong's new bishop wants differing views respected

Hong Kong's incoming Roman Catholic bishop Stephen Chow called for respect for different views as he prepares to lead a diocese that has been polarized by the city's deteriorating political situation. Chow said while he had “no big plan” on how to unify a Catholic community divided since months of anti-government protests in 2019, he believed that God wanted them to be united. “Unity is not the same as uniformity,” Chow said at a news conference Tuesday, one day after Pope Francis named him to head the Hong Kong diocese.

Princess Diana gave me information in faked bank statements, claims Martin Bashir

Martin Bashir told a BBC inquiry that information contained in faked bank statements came from Princess Diana, The Telegraph can disclose. The mocked-up bank statements are at the heart of an inquiry led by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, into the conduct of Bashir in securing his world exclusive interview with the princess in 1995. Lord Dyson has completed his detailed report, due to be published this week and expected to contain damning criticism of Bashir, 58, who resigned as the BBC's religion editor on grounds of ill-health ahead of its publication.

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  Martin Bashir quits BBC amid investigation into his infamous 1995 interview with Princess Diana

  INSIDER
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  Earl Spencer concerned at BBC 'postponing Panorama investigation' into Princess Diana interview

  The Telegraph

Trump, House Democrats near agreement on Deutsche Bank subpoenas

Former President Donald Trump and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Monday they are near an agreement to resolve disputes concerning congressional subpoenas of his financial records from Deutsche Bank AG. In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, lawyers for Trump and the Democrats said they believed they were "close to an agreement" in talks concerning the scope of the subpoenas and a process for resolving privacy concerns. They asked a judge for another 30 days to continue talks. Deutsche Bank, Trump's main bank, said in the same filing that both sides would invite it to raise any concerns "at an appropriate time."

Man cuts own throat, dies after verdict in federal courtroom

Federal authorities say a man on trial in Fargo, North Dakota, slashed his own throat in the courtroom Monday and died. North Dakota U.S. Marshal Dallas Carlson said the incident happened after a jury returned a partial guilty verdict against the man, who had faced terrorizing-related charges. Carlson said the man had a sharp instrument that might have been made of plastic.

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  Convicted man kills himself in federal court after verdict, North Dakota officials say

  Lexington Herald-Leader
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  Defendant kills himself in courtroom after guilty verdict

  The Independent

India coronavirus: Tracing a family’s journey to save a life

Anoop Saxena, 59, was one of hundreds of thousands Indians who fell sick with Covid at the end of April. What followed over the next few days was just one example of a family's desperate search for help, wherever they could find it. There are many thousands more across India, just like this.

India reports record day of virus deaths as cases level off

India's total virus cases since the pandemic began swept past 25 million on Tuesday as the country registered more than 260,000 new cases and a record 4,329 fatalities in the past 24 hours. The numbers continue a trend of falling cases after infections dipped below 300,000 for the first time in weeks on Monday. Active cases in the country also decreased by more than 165,000 on Tuesday — the biggest dip in weeks.

Trump sent bizarre secret memo after losing election urging Pentagon to immediately remove troops overseas

Then-president Donald Trump sent a secret memo to the Pentagon after he lost the election pushing them to withdraw US troops stationed around the world, according to a new report. One of Mr Trump's closest aides, John McEntee, handed a handwritten note to retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor on 9 November 2020, saying: “This is what the president wants you to do.” It instructed the Colonel to “complete the withdrawal from Germany,” and to “get us out of Africa,” according to new reporting by Axios.

Vanessa Bryant didn't want daughter Natalia to miss prom because of Kobe, like she did

Vanessa Bryant missed her senior prom because of her future husband, Kobe Bryant. She wasn't about to let the same thing happen to their oldest daughter, Natalia Bryant. Natalia's senior prom was Saturday night (in California), which also was the same night her late father was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (in Connecticut).

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  Vanessa Bryant Didn’t Want Daughter Natalia to 'Miss Out' on Her Prom: 'Once in a Life Time Opportunity'

  People
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  Vanessa Bryant reveals Natalia missed Kobe induction ceremony for prom

  TheGrio

Misinformation about Israel-Palestine violence is spreading online, from viral videos to the Israeli government's tweets

Social media platforms have mostly remained quiet about any plans to combat the growing amount of false or misleading claims perpetuating online. Video clips, infographics, tweets, and memes that get important details wrong or bend the truth - to the favor or detriment of both the Israelis and the Palestinians - are now spreading quickly on social media, where some have gone viral with boosts from celebrities' large platforms and even government social-media pages. The Israeli government is spreading false and misleading claims The Israeli government is among the sources directly spreading misinformation online.

Four-year-old found beaten to death on Dallas street was kidnapped and attacked by intruder through back door, mother reveals

The mother of a 4-year-old boy found murdered on a Dallas street says he was snatched from his bed by his killer in a random attack. Cash Gernon's family identified him as the victim in the horrifying attack which has rocked the suburban neighborhood where his body was found. Police said the boy suffered from wounds made by an “edged weapon” in a “violent” death before his body was found shoeless and partially clothed in the Mountain Creek neighborhood by a jogger around 6:45am on Saturday morning.