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Negative views of both Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have soared since last year across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, according to a new poll from Pew Research Center. 

Out of 36 countries, majorities in 32 of them have either a very unfavourable or somewhat unfavourable view of Israel, with only respondents in India, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya holding a favourable view of the country.

The survey was conducted between 8 February and 13 May of this year. The US-Israel war on Iran started on 28 February and has had an impact on countries across the world, in part likely due to the economic impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20 percent of the global oil supply passes through. 

Pew reported that across 36 countries, a median of 67 percent of adults held an unfavourable view of Israel, with just 25 percent holding a favourable view. 

Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem had the highest percentage of unfavourable views of Israel, with Turkey at 97 percent and Japan at 83 percent.

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Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November election for California governor, according to a race call by The Associated Press. After days of counting ballots, it remains unclear who will claim the second spot in the fall.

In California's unusual primary system, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. The top two candidates then move on to the general election. An estimated 3.5 million uncounted ballots remain. The state also counts mail-in ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

The state hasn't had a wide-open primary like this one since the late 1990s. The winner in November will lead the country's most populous state, facing a large deficit and other obstacles, including the state's high cost of living, homelessness and wildfire risk. Incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is term limited and is widely thought to be running for president in 2028.

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Donald Trump has urged a controversial loyalist he installed as the country’s top intelligence official to fire “a lot of people” overseeing intelligence for the US federal government.

The US president said Bill Pulte, who has no previous experience in the intelligence sphere, is “less shackled” because he has only been appointed director of national intelligence temporarily.

Amid bipartisan concern over his appointment, Trump has told Pulte that he believes the office of the director of national intelligence – which oversees more than a dozen intelligence agencies and departments – is “unnecessary and/or too big”, the president told the Wall Street Journal.

“I’d like to see it smaller,” Trump told the Journal. “I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there.”

Asked whether he was calling on Pulte to fire people, Trump replied that he wants his ally to “start the process”, adding that whoever he nominates to take the job permanently can continue it.

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The Department of Justice’s civil rights division was once known as the crown jewel of the agency, but under Trump it has become just another tool of this administration’s politicized and racialized attacks targeting Black, Latino and other people of color.

The latest examples are the sham findings of discrimination the division issued against the medical schools of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Yale University for admitting high-achieving Black and Hispanic students. The administration is cynically wielding its anti-discrimination authority to tear down civil rights advances at the cost of equal educational opportunity.

In its findings, the justice department claimed the grades and test scores of Black and Hispanic admitted applicants were less competitive than those of white and Asian admits and said the schools intentionally discriminated against white and Asian applicants. But the justice department’s conclusions overstate the difference in scores between applicants and ignore other applicant data completely, including student transcripts, letters of recommendations and essays.

The differences among GPAs and test scores – one standard deviation or less – were too small to be legally or statistically significant and may be explained by random factors unrelated to race. Comparatively, two standard deviations is the commonly accepted threshold that federal courts and social scientists consider statistically significant in racial discrimination cases.

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The Department of Defense moved this week to dramatically reduce the number of recognized religions, faiths and belief systems from more than 200 all the way to 31.

The move was announced to troops in a memo signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, and shared with USA TODAY by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

In the memo, Tata says that the move comes at the direction of Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who said the move was done to “streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.”

Founder and President of the MRFF, Mikey Weinstein, called the move to reduce the number of recognized religions a direct hit on the Constitution's First Amendment.

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The New York State Senate and Assembly have passed three high-profile bills, including regulations on data centers, surveillance pricing, and civil orders of protection in stalking cases.

The Responsible Data Center Development Act will impose a year-long pause on new permits for data center computing facilities requiring 20 megawatts or more, and the One Fair Price Act will prevent retailers from using consumers' personal data to generate custom prices.

The Ceasing Repeated and Extremely Egregious Predatory Behavior Act will create a new class of civil orders of protection in stalking cases. However, more controversial environmental, housing, and entertainment measures were abandoned.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf in Texas on June 3, marking the first known U.S. case in decades and the closest the parasite has come to reestablishing itself north of the Mexico border since its eradication in the 1960s.

So far, the Texas case appears isolated, with no additional detections reported. Still, authorities are treating it as a worst‑case scenario. A quarantine zone roughly 12 miles wide has been established around the McAllen Ranch and surveillance has ramped up across the region, according to the USDA.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned residents to brace for a “challenging summer" during a June 4press conference, as agencies mobilize to prevent the parasite from gaining a foothold. Experts say the coming weeks will be critical. With increased surveillance, rapid treatment and strict containment, authorities hope to stop the outbreak before it spreads beyond a single case and avoid potentially billions in losses for ranchers and the broader food supply.

Because the parasite can infect any warm-blooded animal, the public concern extends beyond beef prices. Wildlife, pets and even people could find themselves occupied by flesh-eating larvae - but experts say that's not reason to panic. Here's why.

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Palestine casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, 11 Palestinians were killed and 32 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,956 killed, with 173,043 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 947 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,935, while 781 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Israel bombards Gaza City, killing at least 9: At least nine Palestinians were killed and 15 others were wounded in a wave of Israeli airstrikes that struck Gaza City shortly after midnight Thursday. The strikes hit homes in Al-Shati refugee camp, the Karama neighborhood, Tel al-Hawa, and Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City. Witnesses described widespread destruction and bodies burned beyond recognition after homes were hit while families were sleeping. One strike on an apartment in northwestern Gaza City killed five people, leaving a nine-year-old girl as the sole survivor among her relatives.

Israeli forces and settlers carry out raids, assaults, and detentions across the occupied West Bank: Israeli forces wounded five Palestinians during a Thursday raid on a home in Doha west of Bethlehem. In Nablus, dozens of Israeli military vehicles and a bulldozer stormed Joseph’s Tomb overnight, and in Beita, Israeli settlers reportedly beat a Palestinian man, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli troops also detained dozens of Palestinian workers near Tarqumiyah and Beit Ula northwest of Hebron. Eight Palestinians were also detained in Ramallah and al-Bireh, including a disabled woman.

Israeli soldiers detain American college student, Palestine football team players in West Bank: Israeli soldiers raided the Ramallah home of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old American citizen and second-year student at Birzeit University, at around 3:00 a.m. on Monday, detaining her alongside three other female students—Natalie Abu Diya, Jolan Abu Awwad, and Laila Khalil—as part of a broader overnight sweep that resulted in at least 31 Palestinian detentions across the West Bank. Safi is being held without charge, and the Israeli government has not notified her family or the U.S. Embassy of her whereabouts or the basis for her detention. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) condemned the arrest on Thursday, calling upon the State Department to “secure her release NOW.” One of the women detained, Natalie Abu Diya, is a former player with Palestine’s national football team; another current player, Rand Halawani, was also detained after being summoned to an Israeli police station.

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