A U.S. proposal to provide a United Nations mandate for an international stabilization force in Gaza is facing opposition from Russia, China and some Arab countries, which have expressed unease about a yet-to-be established board that would temporarily govern the territory and the lack of any transitional role for the Palestinian Authority.
The Chinese and the Russians — two veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council — have called for the “Board of Peace” under President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan to be removed from the resolution entirely, according to four U.N. diplomats briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
In the latest draft released late Wednesday and obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. maintains the language around the board while providing further commitment to Palestinian self-determination. although the language remains weak.
While some of the responses to the U.S. proposal reflect typical negotiations between countries — with detailed back-and-forth and revisions in language — the objection to the transitional board indicates that wide gaps have emerged between some members of the U.N.’s most powerful body and the U.S. following more than two years of war.
Gaza stabilization force proposal by U.S. gets pushback from Russia, China and Arabs
Heavy rain in Gaza leaves people sheltering in makeshift tents soaked and cold
Heavy rain across the Gaza Strip on Friday has drenched many tents where displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
A crew from NHK's Gaza office has found flooded roads in a wide area of Gaza City in the north and muddy water surrounding tents there.
In an area near the central city of Deir al-Balah, residents were using shovels to pile up mounds around their tents to prevent the inflow of rainwater.
As the rainy, cold winter will soon arrive in the enclave, a local NGO has asked Israel to open all crossings to allow the delivery of needed shelter materials.
It says items needed to survive winter are slow in arriving even after the ceasefire took effect last month.
One resident said it is unbearable to see his child freezing due to lack of a blanket and a mattress. The resident called for support with essentials like tarps and blankets.
Israeli crowd applauds soldiers accused of raping Palestinian prisoner
Two Israeli soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee were met with cheers as they arrived at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Monday.
Supporters in the courtroom shouted “We are all Unit 100,” referring to the military unit to which the suspects belong, according to Israel’s Channel 14.
Footage shared on social media showed the two men, their faces concealed by hats, sunglasses and masks, embracing each other as some in the room applauded.
The hearing concerned a dispute over who would lead the investigation into the leak of a video showing their assault on a Palestinian detainee last year.
The case follows last month’s revelations implicating the army’s former chief legal adviser, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, in the leak of the footage to Channel 12 - a scandal that caused uproar in Israel.
Right-wing politicians, journalists and activists accused Tomer-Yerushalmi of persecuting Israeli soldiers and damaging Israel’s image internationally. She resigned shortly after the revelations and was subsequently arrested by Israeli police.
A rift has since emerged between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over who should head the probe into the leak. Levin has sought to appoint his own legal adviser, while Baharav-Miara insists the case should remain under the state prosecution’s authority.
‘Massive enemy attack’: Russia pounds Ukraine’s Kyiv, killing six
A “massive” Russian attack on Kyiv has killed at least six people with more than 30 others injured, according to the head of the Kyiv city military administration, Tymur Tkachenko.
More than 40 people had to be rescued as a result of the overnight assault into Friday, Ukraine’s emergency services added, with fires or damage to residential buildings reported in most of the Ukrainian capital’s 10 districts.
A separate Russian drone attack on Chornomorsk, a coastal city in the south, killed two people on Friday, according to Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper. Seven others were injured in the strike.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that the Kyiv barrage was “a wicked attack” which killed several and injured dozens, including children and a pregnant woman. He said “about 430 drones and 18 missiles were used in the strike, including ballistic and aeroballistic missiles. This was a deliberately calculated attack aimed at causing maximum harm to people and civilian infrastructure.
“The main target of the attack was Kyiv, and strikes also hit Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa regions,” he added.
Earlier, Kyiv police said an elderly woman was killed, while a 10-year-old boy was among the injured.
Coach featured in Netflix’s Last Chance U dies after Oakland campus shooting
A US football coach who starred in the Netflix documentary Last Chance U, about struggling college teams, has died after being shot on campus, authorities in California said.
John Beam, director of athletics at Oakland’s Laney College, was hurt in a Thursday lunchtime incident at the school’s field house, its downtown sports training complex. He later died, the Oakland police department said on Friday.
A lockdown of the entire Laney campus was lifted by Friday morning, and the Oakland police department announced it had made an arrest.
“This was a very targeted incident,” said the acting Oakland police chief, James Beere, who added that the suspect and Beam knew each other, but were not close.
The suspect went on campus for a “specific reason”, Beere told reporters, but did not elaborate on what that was. Beam was “open to helping everybody in our community”, he said.
Sources told ABC News that Beam was shot in the head, and that the suspect was arrested in possession of a firearm.
Beam, began his career at Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. He had served as the college’s athletics director since 2006, according to the school’s website. Beam retired from coaching in 2024 but stayed on at the school to shape its athletic programs.
California: powerful ‘atmospheric river’ storm prompts evacuation warnings
A powerful storm doused California with heavy rain on Friday, prompting evacuation warnings as the state braced for the potential of floods, mudslides, thunderstorms and even the chance of a tornado over the weekend.
More than 4in of rain fell over coastal Santa Barbara county as the storm moved south toward Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service.
Communities in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties – especially those near burn scars where there are higher risks for mudslides and debris flows – could be in for a dangerously wet weekend, with two surges of rainfall expected through Sunday.
As communities prepared for Saturday’s expected storm surge, evacuation warnings were issued through Sunday morning in areas affected by recent wildfires, including those by the major blazes in Los Angeles in January.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned that roads and highways would likely see flooding along with debris flows that could block thoroughfares and damage infrastructure. “In creeks and rivers, the flows will be heavy with anyone in or near those channels at risk of being swept away,” officials wrote in a Friday morning update.
Judge Blocks Trump From Immediately Cutting Funding To The University Of California
The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees.
Messages sent to the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately returned.
The unions argue in a lawsuit that the administration is using funding cuts, and the threat of cuts, to silence opposing viewpoints at UC in violation of the Constitution and federal law. President Donald Trump has decried elite colleges as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism.
Trump pulls endorsement of Greene amid growing rift
President Trump late Friday announced he is pulling his endorsement and support of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and would support a primary challenge against her — a major escalation of their growing beef after months of the House Republican criticizing fellow GOP members and the commander in chief himself.
“I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that despite his record, “all I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”\
Trump in the post called Greene a “ranting lunatic” and that she has “gone Far Left.”
The un-endorsement came days after a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill directing the Department of Justice to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein got enough signatures to succeed. Greene was one of four Republicans to sign on, in spite of fierce objections of Trump.
Greene’s split from the president she had once adamantly supported started months earlier, after Trump discouraged Greene earlier this year from running for statewide office in Georgia, which Trump confirmed in the post.
Trump administration seeks new restrictions on foreign students and media
President Donald Trump this week ignited a wave of criticism from conservatives when he suggested the United States needed a path for highly skilled foreign workers to enter the country.
Trump’s comments on the H-1B visa program echo the perspective of business leaders but have been controversial among members of his base who want a more hardline approach to immigration.
At the same time, the Trump administration has been quietly pushing a series of new restrictions on other visas targeting students and foreign journalists, raising a different set of concerns for some over the future of academic and press freedom.
A proposed Department of Homeland Security rule would change existing policy by granting visa holders with F, J or I classifications – academic students, exchange visitors and members of foreign media – admission to the U.S. for a fixed time period. Such individuals are currently permitted to stay indefinitely as long as they’re abiding by the terms of their visa.
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