Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials reiterated their intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations Security Council vote to authorize the U.S. plan for post-war Gaza on Monday.
There are three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.
The ceasefire is broadly holding in Gaza, with Israeli forces inside the strip having pulled back to the so-called "yellow line." Still, renewed Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians in the past week.
Elsewhere, Israel is continuing strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and on Sunday launched an airstrike in the capital Beirut. The Israel Defense Forces is also continuing raids in parts of the occupied West Bank.
Israel-Gaza live updates: Israel attacks Beirut, targets Hezbollah chief of staff
Congress’s Medicare ‘auto-enrollment’ bill is a trap
As a gerontologist who has helped countless older adulhttps://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5617927-congress-medicare-reform-dangers/ts navigate the Medicare maze, I’ve seen how one enrollment decision can shape someone’s quality of life for decades. That’s why the new legislation before Congress, H.R. 3467, should alarm anyone who cares about protecting older Americans’ health and autonomy.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and introduced in May, would automatically enroll new Medicare beneficiaries into the lowest-premium Medicare Advantage plan available in their ZIP code unless they actively opt out. Even more troubling, it would lock them into that plan for three full years, limiting their ability to switch back to traditional Medicare or select a new plan except under narrowly defined hardship circumstances.
At first glance, “auto-enrollment” sounds efficient, with fewer decisions to make at a confusing time. But when you dig deeper, this proposal removes freedom rather than simplifying a decision. Many would find themselves stuck in private insurance plans they never chose, possibly unable to access trusted doctors, specialists or hospitals outside their network.
Older Americans are far from a uniform group. Their health, medications and financial circumstances vary dramatically. Yet H.R. 3467 assumes everyone will benefit from being placed in the cheapest available plan.
South Africa hosts G20 as tensions with U.S. flare amid boycott
The world's biggest economy will be conspicuously absent from a meeting of the globe's 20 richest nations this weekend, as the U.S. boycotts the G20 Leaders' Summit hosted by South Africa.
The Trump administration is snubbing the event over false race-based claims and what it considers the summit's DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion -- agenda. Since returning to office Trump has accused the South African government of confiscating white-owned land and allowing the killing of white Afrikaners.
"You know we have a G20 meeting in South Africa, South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs anymore, because what happened there is bad," Trump said earlier this month.
The government here has repeatedly tried to correct the U.S. administration, to no avail.
Ramaphosa has kept his cool and was taciturn this week, saying: "Their absence is their loss."
Still, it's a huge blow to South Africa on the global stage.
Brazil's Bolsonaro arrested for allegedly plotting escape ahead of prison term
Brazil's federal police on Saturday arrested former president Jair Bolsonaro over suspicion he was plotting to escape and avoid starting a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt.
In a dramatic and unexpected twist in the final stage of a long and divisive criminal trial, federal agents entered Bolsonaro's house early Saturday under the order of a Supreme Court Justice to take the former president to the headquarters of the country's federal police in the capital, Brasilia.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the case on Bolsonaro's attempt to keep the presidency after his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022, ordered the preemptive arrest after saying the far-right leader's ankle monitor was violated at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday. His lawyers claimed in a statement that did not take place.
Bolsonaro, 70, who had been under house arrest, was ordered to wear the device after being deemed a flight risk. His aide Andriely Cirino confirmed to The Associated Press that the arrest took place around 6 a.m. on Saturday.
Meet the peace activist who persuaded France's Macron to recognize a Palestinian state
Ofer Bronchtein was brought to tears as French President Emmanuel Macron delivered his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, recognizing a Palestinian state for the first time.
"Honestly, I cried," he told NPR in an interview in his Paris apartment after his return from New York. "I see it happening in front of me and I see the full room of the General Assembly and everyone is applauding."
Bronchtein says his only regret is that the Israeli delegation walked out of the General Assembly. The Israeli and U.S. governments opposed the move. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said world leaders who recognized Palestinian statehood were granting a "tremendous reward" to the Palestinian militant group Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Bronchtein refutes this, arguing it is no reward for a group that never sought a peaceful coexistence alongside Israel.
"I strongly believe that if there had been a Palestinian state before the 7th of October, if the Palestinians had been sovereign to run their lives as they wanted, the 7th of October [attack in Israel] would not have happened," he says.
Israel launches strikes in Gaza ceasefire’s latest test as hospitals say 24 killed
Israel’s military on Saturday launched airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza in the latest test of the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said five senior Hamas members were killed. Health officials in Gaza reported at least 24 people killed and another 54 wounded, including children.
The strikes, which Israel said were in response to gunfire at its troops, came after international momentum on Gaza, with the U.N. Security Council on Monday approving the U.S. blueprint to secure and govern the territory. It authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
Israel has previously carried out similar waves of strikes after reported attacks on its forces during the ceasefire. At least 33 Palestinians were killed over a 12-hour period Wednesday and Thursday, mostly women and children, health officials said.
One of Saturday’s strikes targeted a vehicle, killing 11 and wounding over 20 Palestinians in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The majority of the wounded were children, director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.
Associated Press video showed children and others inspecting the blackened vehicle, whose top was blown off.
A strike targeting a house near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and wounded 11 others, according to the hospital. It said a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least seven people including a child and wounded 16 others.
Trump to end temporary protected status for Somali immigrants in Minnesota
Donald Trump said on Friday night that he’s “immediately” terminating temporary legal protections for Somali migrants living in Minnesota, further targeting a program seeking to limit deportations that his administration has already repeatedly sought to weaken.
Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali community. Many fled the long civil war in the east African country and were drawn to the state’s welcoming social programs.
But how many migrants would be affected by Trump’s announcement that he wants to end temporary protective status could be very small. A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by the program at just 705 nationwide.
Congress created the program granting temporary protective status (TPS) in 1990. It was meant to prevent deportations of people to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil strife or other dangerous conditions.
The designation can be granted by the homeland security secretary and is granted in 18-month increments.
The president announced his decision on his social media site, suggesting that Minnesota was “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”.
First rebuilt home in wake of LA fires celebrated in Pacific Palisades
Less than a year after the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in Los Angeles, the first completed rebuilt home is being celebrated in Pacific Palisades.
In a statement, mayor Karen Bass confirmed that the Los Angeles department of building and safety had issued the certificate on Friday, certifying that the home had passed inspection and was ready for occupancy.
“The Palisades community has been through an unimaginable year, and my heart breaks for every family that won’t be able to be home this holiday season. But today is an important moment of hope,” said Bass.
“With more and more projects nearing completion across Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles remains committed to expediting every aspect of the rebuilding process, until every family is back home,” Bass added.
The Pacific Palisades home features four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms spread across nearly 4,000 sq ft. It replaces a 1,600 sq ft ranch-style home destroyed in January. Across the Palisades and Eaton fire zones, nearly 2,000 rebuilding permits have been issued, according to the LA Times.
European leaders say Trump’s Ukraine peace plan needs ‘additional work’
European leaders on Saturday praised President Trump’s reported 28-point plan to end the war between Ukraine and Russia for including “important elements,” but added that the plan needs “additional work” for peace to last.
The proposal would reportedly require Ukraine to relinquish the eastern territory of the Donbas region to Russia and cut its armed forces by half. In a joint statement released by the Council of the European Union, leaders signaled the plan is a good start — but merely a draft.
“We believe therefore that the draft is a basis which will require additional work,” they added. “We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force.”
They added, “We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”
The coalition expressed their continued support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that they “will continue to coordinate closely with Ukraine and the U.S. over the coming days.”
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