Bloomberg fires reporter for ‘premature’ publication of Evan Gershkovich release – reports

At least one reporter appears to have been fired for a decision that would’ve been reviewed by senior editors

Bloomberg News said it had taken “disciplinary action” against a number of its editorial staff after the outlet “prematurely” published news of the historic prisoner swap between Russia and the United States last week that it said could have endangered the safety of the Americans being released.

In an email to staff on Monday, editor-in-chief John Micklethwait wrote that a number of staff members had been disciplined, although the company did not say who, how many or what their punishment had been. At least one reporter on the story appears to have been fired in a rare case where a journalist was punished for a decision to publish a major news story that would likely have been reviewed by senior editors at the outlet.

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White House will work ‘every single day’ to free US teacher from Russian prison

Aide says US had tried to include Marc Fogel in prisoner swap and officials will do ‘what they can’ to bring him home

Deputy US national security adviser Jonathan Finer said Sunday that the White House worked hard to get Pennsylvania schoolteacher Marc Fogel included in the recent landmark prisoner swap involving Russia and western American allies – and though those efforts were unsuccessful, government officials continue doing “what they can” to bring him home as soon as possible.

Appearing on CBS News’s Face The Nation, Finer declined to provide further details about Fogel’s case and what his return to the US may entail. But he did assure the US is doing “novel things” to ensure US nationals will not be detained in Russia – like Fogel – or elsewhere in the future.

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Assassination again shows Netanyahu’s disregard for US-Israel relations

Hamas killing is further snub to Biden administration, which does not share methods or objectives of Israeli leader

Standing alongside Donald Trump in Florida a week ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was vague on the latest prospect of a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

“I hope we are going to have a deal. Time will tell,” the Israeli prime minister said, two days after his controversial address to a joint session of the US Congress.

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US pays $2bn to Black and minority farmers after years of discrimination

Payouts are ‘an acknowledgement’ of US’s long history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, USDA says

The Biden administration has doled out more than $2bn in direct payments for Black and other minority farmers discriminated against by the US Department of Agriculture, the president announced Wednesday.

More than 23,000 farmers were approved for payments ranging from $10,000 to $500,000, according to the USDA. Another 20,000 who planned to start a farm but did not receive a USDA loan received between $3,500 and $6,000.

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Republican Arizona mayor John Giles endorses Harris for President

Mesa mayor crosses party line to back vice-president and rebuke Trump’s ‘political extremism’ in op-ed

John Giles, the Republican mayor of Arizona’s third largest city and a previous thorn in the side of his party for endorsing Democrats, has thrown his support behind Kamala Harris for president.

Giles, who since 2014 has been mayor of Mesa near Phoenix, also rebuked Donald Trump in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic published Monday.

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Biden administration blames Hezbollah for ‘horrific’ Golan Heights rocket attack

National security council says attack that killed 12 children and teenagers ‘should be universally condemned’

The Biden administration formally placed blame on Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah for the rocket strike that killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday.

National security council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the attack was “conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket, and launched from an area they control. It should be universally condemned.”

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Biden to announce plans to reform US supreme court – report

US president also to seek constitutional amendment to limit immunity for presidents and various officeholders

Joe Biden will announce plans to reform the US supreme court on Monday, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, adding that the US president was likely to back term limits for justices and an enforceable code of ethics.

Biden said earlier this week during an Oval Office address that he would call for reform of the court.

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US military to dismantle ill-fated Gaza aid pier, saying it is ‘mission complete’

Although Central Command praises operation, scheme announced by Biden cost $230m and only operated 25 days

The US military-built pier for carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to starving Palestinians.

Vice Adm Brad Cooper, deputy commander at US Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the pier had achieved its intended effect in what he called an “unprecedented operation”.

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Biden housing plan seeks to curb rent increases by penalizing landlords

President to unveil rent control plan for larger landlords that would restrict increases to 5%, or risk losing tax breaks

President Joe Biden wants to curb rent increases by penalizing landlords who hike rents beyond 5% each year, but he needs the help of Congress to put the plan into action.

The Biden administration will announce the idea in Nevada on Tuesday along with a host of other housing-related policies, including an influx of funds to add more housing in Nevada and elsewhere and a plan to use public federal lands for affordable housing near Las Vegas.

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US to resume sending 500lb bombs to Israel while withholding 2,000lb bombs, official says

US had paused shipment of bombs of both sizes amid concern over their impact in Gaza

The Biden administration will resume shipping 500lb bombs to Israel but will continue to hold back on supplying 2,000lb bombs over concerns about their use in densely populated Gaza, according to a a US official.

The US in May paused a shipment of 2,000lb and 500lb bombs due to concern over the impact they could have in Gaza during the war that began with Hamas’ deadly 7 October cross-border raid.

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‘Challenge me,’ Biden says as more Democrats urge president to quit race | First Thing

Leading Democrat Adam Smith called on Biden to end presidential bid. Plus, one of the heaviest Israeli strikes on Gaza City since 7 October

Good morning.

Joe Biden’s position among congressional Democrats eroded further on Monday when Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the armed services committee in the House of Representatives, lent his voice to calls for Biden to end his presidential campaign.

What are the polls saying? A New York Times/Siena College poll last week found 74% of voters thought Biden was too old to be effective, including 59% of Democrats. Biden v Trump polls have widened slightly since the debate, with Trump averaging 42% and Biden 39.7%.

Who are the alternatives? Vice-president Kamala Harris is touted by some Democrats, including Smith. The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said she would not run for the Democratic nomination even if Biden walked away.

What happens next? Today is the official start of a three-day Nato summit in Washington, and the Biden campaign signalled he would also increase public appearances, with a press conference on Thursday and more events next week, to try to allay voter concerns.

What is the humanitarian impact of Israel’s assault on Gaza? After the invasion was sparked when Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostage on 7 October, more than 38,500 people have died in Gaza as Israeli attacks have decimated infrastructure and housing, displaced 90% of the population, and brought widespread malnutrition and famine to the coastal strip.

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Outrage after Biden administration reinstates ‘barbaric’ Trump-era hunting rules

Rules allow hunting practices that target bears and wolves, including pups or cubs, on federal land in Alaska

The Biden administration has reinstated controversial Trump-era rules allowing what critics say are “barbaric” hunting practices that target bears and wolves, including pups or cubs, on federal land in Alaska.

Sport hunters use the practices, like killing young in their dens, to eliminate predators of caribou, which are considered trophy animals. The killings are probably decimating predator populations on federal Alaskan preserves, said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

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Kamala Harris: insiders rally behind VP to replace Biden if he bows out

After president’s poor debate performance, pundits point to polls saying Harris would do better in a race against Trump

As Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to withdraw his candidacy following last week’s poor debate performance, Kamala Harris has emerged as the frontrunner to replace him.

The president forcefully rejected calls to end his campaign on Wednesday, telling his staffers: “No one is pushing me out … I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.” His defiant remarks came after the New York Times reported that Biden had privately told allies he understood he might not be able to salvage his candidacy if he could not convince voters of his viability.

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Biden attacks Republican climate deniers as he unveils extreme-heat rules

President hails proposal to protect millions of Americans from extreme heat – the top weather-related US killer

President Biden on Tuesday trumpeted new rules from his administration that aim to protect Americans from extreme heat.

“Extreme heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States,” he said at the Washington DC Emergency Operations Center. “More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined.”

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Trump loyalists plan to name and shame ‘blacklist’ of federal workers

AAF to publish dossiers of employees they consider hostile to ex-president, with goal of ultimately replacing them

Armed with rhetoric about the “deep state”, a conservative-backed group is planning to publicly name and shame career government employees that they consider hostile to Donald Trump.

This “blacklist” of civil servants, which will be published online, is intended to advance Trump’s broader goals, which, if elected, include weeding out government employees and replacing them with loyalists.

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‘Biden can’t do it’: European politicians shocked by US president’s debate flop

Some call for rethink by Democrats and say continent must step up preparations for another Trump term

European politicians, already drowning in multiple crises of their own, were left shell-shocked and aghast at Joe Biden’s meandering performance in Thursday’s presidential debate, aware that a second Trump term had drawn that much nearer – with all that this implies for the rise of populism in the continent, the future of Nato, and for Ukraine and the Middle East.

The voices of despair came from across the mainstream political spectrum, interspersed with the odd call for Europe to prepare even more intensively for a Trump second coming.

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Intense phase of Israel’s war with Hamas nearing end, says Netanyahu

Israeli PM says he hopes for diplomatic solution to conflict but will solve it in ‘a different way’ if necessary

Israel’s prime minister has said the most intense phase of the assault against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, freeing up forces to move to the Lebanese border, where escalating exchanges of fire with the militant group Hezbollah have increased fears of a wider war.

In his first public interview with a Hebrew-language network outlet in more than eight months of conflict, broadcast on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu also walked back on his commitment to a US-backed ceasefire proposal with Hamas, instead suggesting a more limited offer.

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ByteDance alleges US’s ‘singling out of TikTok’ is unconstitutional

Chinese firm recounts talks with US government that ended abruptly and says it spent $2bn to draft security agreement

New legal filings from the Chinese tech firm ByteDance have challenged the US government’s “unconstitutional singling out of TikTok”, revealing fresh details about failed negotiations over a potential ban of the platform.

Legislation signed in April by Joe Biden gives ByteDance until 19 January to either divest TikTok’s US assets or face a ban. ByteDance claims in its new filings that such divestiture is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” and accuses the US government of refusing to engage in any serious settlement talks after 2022.

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US admits dams in Pacific north-west have devastated Native Americans

US says dams killed off salmon, inundated villages and burial grounds, and spirited wealth away from tribes

The US government, in a report published on Tuesday, acknowledged for the first time the harms that federal dams have inflicted on Native American tribes in the US Pacific north-west.

The report by the interior department details the “historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes”, including how dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers have devastated salmon runs, inundated villages and burial grounds, and deprived tribal members of the ability to exercise traditional ways of life.

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Immigration rights groups sue Biden administration over asylum directive

Advocates say president’s order restricting asylum claims differs little from Trump move blocked by courts

A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over President Joe Biden’s recent directive that in effect halts asylum claims at the southern border, saying it differs little from a similar move during the Trump administration that was blocked by the courts.

The lawsuit – filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Raices – is the first test of the legality of Biden’s sweeping crackdown on the border, which came after months of internal White House deliberations and is designed in part to deflect political attacks against the president on his handling of immigration.

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