The Full Belmonte, 4/2/2024
Israel Says Strike That Killed Seven Gaza Aid Workers Was Unintentional
“An aid group providing key supplies in the Gaza Strip paused operations across the Middle East after seven of its workers, including a U.S.-Canadian dual citizen, were killed in an Israeli strike that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was unintentional.”
READ MORE at Wall Street Journal
Aid group says Israeli strike kills 7 of its workers in Gaza, including foreigners
Australia's PM has said he expects "full accountability" for the death of aid worker Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom. Credit: Reuters
“An apparent Israeli airstrike killed six international aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver, the aid group said Tuesday, hours after it brought a new shipload of food into northern Gaza, which has been isolated and pushed to the brink of famine by Israel’s offensive. The source of the fire could not be independently confirmed. Read more.
Recent developments:
World Central Kitchen, the food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said it was immediately suspending operations in the region. The strike marked a potentially major setback to efforts to deliver aid by sea as Israel heavily restricts access to northern Gaza, where experts say famine is imminent.
Footage showed the bodies of the dead at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, several of them wore protective gear with the charity’s logo. The food charity said early Tuesday that the seven killed include citizens of Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
Three aid ships from Cyprus arrived earlier Monday carrying some 400 tons of food and supplies organized by the charity and the United Arab Emirates, the group’s second shipment after a pilot run last month. The Israeli military was involved in coordinating both deliveries and has said it was conducting a review ‘to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.’” [AP News]
World Central Kitchen worker Zomi Frankcom, 44, pictured (at left) in a kitchen in Gaza last week, was among those killed. Photo: World Central Kitchen via Reuters
An Israeli air force F-15 fighter jet flies near the southern city of Beersheba in 2023. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)
Israel
“The US is close to approving the sale of up to 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion. It would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the country went to war with Hamas on October 7. The transaction underscores the extent to which the US continues to support Israel, despite the strained relationship between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Iran has vowed to retaliate after a strike it blamed on Israel killed two of its top commanders and five officials at its consulate in Syria, potentially raising the risk of a wider Middle Eastern conflict.” [CNN]
“Abortion will be the most important issue on Florida’s ballot this November, thanks to two rulings released yesterday. Florida voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in their constitution in November after the state’s Supreme Court allowed a proposed amendment onto the ballot. The same court allowed a 15-week abortion ban enacted in 2022 to go into effect.
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
The 15-week abortion ban paves the way for a six-week ban that was enacted last year to take effect by May 1. In November, Floridians will be able to vote on the right to abortion ‘before viability,’ which is usually 24 weeks.
In states where abortion has been on the ballot, voters have shown up overwhelmingly to support abortion rights, NPR’s Greg Allen explains on Up First. The move has also boosted midterm voter turnout in states like Ohio and Kansas. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump won Florida, but having abortion on the ballot changes the expectations about who comes out to vote. Here’s what to know about abortion and the 2024 election.” [NPR]
Donald Trump posts $175 million bond to avert asset seizure
“The posting of a multi-million dollar bond on Monday in Trump’s New York civil fraud case halts the collection of the more than $454 million he owes and prevents the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals, according to a court filing. Read more.
Why this matters:
The bond Trump posted is essentially a placeholder, meant to guarantee payment if the judgment is upheld. If that happens, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will have to pay the state the whole sum, which grows with daily interest. If Trump wins, he won’t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.” [AP News]
Speaker Mike Johnson Kent Nishimura for The New York Times
“Speaker Mike Johnson said that lawmakers would consider a bill to aid Ukraine when they return next week. He noted that it would include other policies meant to appeal to House Republicans, many of whom oppose more support.” [New York Times]
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign said he had enough signatures to appear as a third-party candidate in North Carolina, a swing state, The Hill reports.” [New York Times]
“Oregon reimposed criminal penalties for hard drugs, three years after decriminalization. Read an interview with the mayor of Portland about why the state’s experiment ‘failed.’” [New York Times]
“Biden, flanked by two people in giant bunny costumes, hosted the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. He also rejected Republican criticisms for commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday.” [New York Times]
Crews scramble to build temporary channel for 'essential' ships at Baltimore port
“One week after a container ship's catastrophic crash into a Baltimore bridge, authorities are preparing to establish a temporary alternate channel to allow ‘commercially essential’ ships to navigate through one of the nation's busiest ports. A 2,000-yard safety zone remains in effect around the Francis Scott Key Bridge site to protect salvage workers, ships and the marine environment, officials said. The 11-foot-deep temporary route will be marked with lights and represents part of a phased approach to opening the main channel.” Read more at USA Today
Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to 40 years for financial crimes.
“Who is he? Murdaugh was part of a once-powerful legal dynasty in South Carolina. Last year, he was convicted of killing his wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22.
The latest: Yesterday’s sentencing came after Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 financial crimes in September. He was already serving two life sentences.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“Washington State enacted a “Strippers’ Bill of Rights” to protect dancers from harassment and violence.” [New York Times]
A dairy worker in Texas is being treated for bird flu.
“What we know: The worker had contact with cattle infected with the virus that has recently rampaged through dairy cows in five states, officials said yesterday.
Why it matters: Experts worry the virus could evolve to spread between people. But the Texas worker is only the second human case in the U.S., and the risk to the public remains low.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Congress gets caller ID
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“The House is updating its phone system to make it easier for Capitol Police to track down threatening calls to congressional offices, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
Congressional offices will now get the numbers of callers that were connected through the Capitol's switchboard.
Why it matters: After dropping from their historic 2021 high, threats against lawmakers ticked back up last year and remain at vastly higher levels than the pre-Trump years, according to Capitol Police data.”
Keep reading. [Axios]
New fear of wider war in Middle East
Workers remove debris at the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, after an Israeli strike yesterday. Photo: Omar Sanadiki/AP
“Tensions in the Middle East spiked to dangerous new highs yesterday after an Israeli airstrike killed seven Iranian officers in Syria — including a senior general who oversaw an allied network of militant proxy groups, Axios' Barak Ravid and Zachary Basu write.
Why it matters: The strike could significantly escalate the shadow conflict that has raged in the Middle East since Hamas' terrorist attack on Oct. 7, U.S. and Israeli officials say.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi is the most senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer to be killed since the U.S. assassinated Qassen Soleimani in 2020.
Iran has vowed to seek revenge and accused Israel — which flattened a diplomatic building in Syria with its airstrike — of a ‘breach of all international conventions.’
Iran hasn't directly intervened in the current conflict and mostly relies on proxies.
Behind the scenes: Israeli intelligence has been following Zahedi, who is in charge of arming and coordinating with Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militias in Lebanon and Syria, for a long time.
An operational window to take him out only opened in recent days, an Israeli official said.
Israel notified the Biden administration a few minutes before its Air Force conducted the strike but didn't ask for a green light, Israeli and U.S. officials said.
Aircraft drop humanitarian aid over the northern Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Israeli forces withdrew from the largest hospital in Gaza after a devastating two-week raid killed hundreds of alleged Palestinian militants and left the facility in ruins.” [Axios]
Finland
“Three 12-year-old children have been wounded in a school shooting near Finland's capital Helsinki, Finnish police reported today. A suspect in the incident, also age 12 and a student at the same school, fled on foot but was later caught by police, according to a local broadcaster. Police have not yet ‘provided details about the nature or severity of the injuries,’ nor what type of firearm was used, the broadcaster reported. Finland enjoys a strong tradition of hunting and its gun ownership rates are among the highest in the world, but school shootings are extremely rare.” [CNN]
“Recovering in hospital from a hernia operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a lot to contend with.
The top Iranian commander of anti-Israel militias in Lebanon and Syria was assassinated at the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Damascus, almost certainly by Israel; Netanyahu’s forces also killed seven foreign aid workers in Gaza; and outside Parliament, hundreds of tents have gone up where anti-government protesters seeking his removal are setting up camp.
The war in Gaza, heading soon into its seventh month, has been brutal with no end in sight. Now, with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon threatening retaliation for the strike in Syria yesterday — and growing impatience with him both abroad and at home — Netanyahu is under increasing pressure.
WATCH: The aftermath of the strike in Damascus. Source: Bloomberg
Last week, in an unexpectedly severe ruling from the Supreme Court, subsidies that go to religious seminaries were stopped until he comes up with a law to draft ultra-Orthodox students into the military.
This prompted Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to remind him that keeping their students permanently out of military service was a promise he made that drew them into the government 15 months ago and that led to the campaign to weaken the high court; if he can’t live up to it, the coalition may not survive.
That led some of the premier’s centrist partners to warn that they’ll leave if the students aren’t drafted, because the Gaza war has demonstrated the urgent need for more manpower. Netanyahu says he’s looking for a way to keep both sides happy.
The two intense crises of the past year — street demonstrations against the government for its plans to limit the judiciary, and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that’s leading to the longest war in Israel’s history since independence — may prove too much to handle even for the nation’s longest-serving premier.” —Ethan Bronner [Bloomberg]
The area surrounding Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex yesterday. Photographer: AFP/Getty Images
“An opposition leader has secured his position as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief political irritant and potential challenger. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu defeated Erdogan’s hand-picked candidate in Sunday’s municipal voted to extend his rule over Turkey’s biggest city, while his main opposition Republican People’s Party inflicted further losses on the ruling AK Party nationwide less than a year after Erdogan overcame his country’s economic woes to secure re-election.” [Bloomberg]
Imamoglu speaks to supporters in Istanbul on Sunday. Photographer: Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images
“South African Speaker of Parliament Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula faces arrest after she lost a court bid to prevent the authorities from detaining her over allegations of corruption.” [Bloomberg]
“President Felix Tshisekedi appointed Judith Tuluka Suminwa as prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first woman to hold the role in the world’s second-biggest copper producer.” [Bloomberg]
“Peruvian President Dina Boluarte reshuffled her cabinet as she tries to navigate a crisis triggered by her use of luxury watches, with Congress set to vote tomorrow on whether to confirm or reject her entire slate of ministers.” [Bloomberg]
“Google will destroy the private browsing data/history of millions of people who used the “incognito” mode as part of a settlement filed to federal court yesterday. For years, people who used Google Chrome’s “incognito” mode were informed that they could browse privately when they turned on the supposedly untraceable browsing option, but a 2020 class action lawsuit showed that the tech giant continued to scrape searches through the advertising tools used by websites. Google then used this data to measure web traffic and sell ads to its users.
This is just a reminder that nothing we do online is invisible, NPR’s Bobby Allyn reports on Up First. In internal emails obtained by the lawyers, one Google engineer wrote that incognito mode’s “spy guy” branding was misleading. Allyn adds that Google got something out of this too. It won't be paying any monetary damage to consumers or any fines.” [NPR]
Truth Social shares plummet
Former President Trump speaks to the media after attending the wake of slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller last Thursday in Massapequa, N.Y. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“Former President Trump's net worth has fallen by about $1 billion today as shares in his social media company plummeted, Axios' Dan Primack reports.
Trump Media & Technology Group — the newly public parent company of Truth Social — saw its share price dive after the company disclosed that it had a $58 million loss for 2023 and just $751,500 in fourth-quarter revenue.
The big picture: This is a MAGA meme stock meeting financial reality.
Trump supporters helped drive up the price of the stock when it launched last week. If they're now selling, Truth Social may not provide Trump with the financial cushion he was hoping for.” [Axios]
Happy birthday, Gmail
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
“20 years ago today, Google rolled out a new email service so lavish that people thought it was an April Fools' Day joke.
The first iteration of Gmail offered 1 whole gigabyte of free storage — an unheard-of sum at the time. It was searchable, and multiple messages within the same conversation were threaded together.
Given Google's penchant at the time for April Fools' pranks, some prospective users thought those features seemed too decadent to possibly be true.
Now, Gmail has nearly 2 billion active accounts, and each one comes with 15 gigabytes of free storage, though many users pay for more.” [Axios]
Clark gets revenge
Iowa's Caitlin Clark during the fourth quarter of last night's game against LSU. Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP
“Iowa and Caitlin Clark knocked defending national champion LSU out of the NCAA Tournament and won a spot in the women's Final Four.
Last night's highly anticipated matchup was a rematch of last year's national championship game won by LSU, which drew a record 9.9 million viewers.
Iowa will play Paige Bueckers and UConn in the semifinals on Friday.
N.C. State and South Carolina will play in the other game.
March madness doubles: N.C. State and UConn are also in the men's Final Four.
The men's betting favorite is UConn, followed by Purdue, Alabama and N.C. State, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.” [Axios]
Iowa, UConn, South Carolina and NC State in NCAA women's Final Four
“After the Iowa-LSU rematch Monday night delivered must-see TV, Connecticut knocked out No. 1 seed Southern California. Now the Hawkeyes and Huskies will join South Carolina and NC State in Cleveland for the Final Four on Friday.
What this means for each team: The South Carolina Gamecocks are trying to win a third national title, while the NC State Wolfpack has not won an NCAA championship before. Iowa and Caitlin Clark have made back-to-back trips to the Final Four, and the UConn Huskies are back in the Final Four after they missed the Elite Eight for the first time in 16 seasons last year.
•This weekend is a big deal for UConn and NC State, which both had their men’s and women’s basketball teams reach the Final Four. It’s the first time that two schools were able to accomplish the milestone in the same season.
•In the most anticipated college basketball game of the season, men’s or women’s, Clark delivered against rival LSU in last night's Elite Eight rematch, scoring a game-high 41 points and 12 assists while regularly electrifying the crowd.
•The massive attention to the LSU-Iowa rematch is yet another sign it's the women's tournament generating the buzz around March Madness this year.
Keep reading: LSU's Angel Reese tearfully addressed critics postgame.” [USA Today]
LSU forward Angel Reese (10) reacts in the fourth quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2024 NCAA Tournament Monday night.
Winslow Townson, Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
In Northern Ireland. Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times
“Recovering history: In June 1922, an explosion destroyed an office in Dublin’s main court complex, causing the loss of sensitive documents and census returns dating to the Middle Ages.
Seven years ago, a group of experts started a project to recover that history. The team has found a quarter of a million pages of duplicates in libraries and archives. Read about the team’s efforts.” [New York Times]
“Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the battleship Arizona from Pearl Harbor, died at 102.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Esther Coopersmith was a long-reigning Washington hostess, a well-connected diplomat and a top fund-raiser. For decades, a place at her dinner table provided access to money, influence and power. She died at 94.” [New York Times]