Unbiased headline news for Wednesday May 1, 2024 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it crystal clear on Tuesday that an invasion into Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, will proceed irrespective of any negotiations aimed at freeing hostages held captive by the terrorist group Hamas.
Netanyahu affirmed that Israeli forces would enter Rafah and “eradicate the Hamas battalions there,” adding that this plan would be executed “with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.” However, Palestinians and the international community have continued to voice concerns that such a move would result in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
—
In an effort to deliver substantial humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, the U.S. and its allies are scrambling to assemble an intricate system.
Nearly two months after President Joe Biden gave the directive, U.S. Army and Navy troops are constructing a large floating platform several miles offshore from Gaza’s coast, intended to serve as a launching point for deliveries. However, any eventual aid distribution will hinge on a complex logistical and security plan with numerous moving parts and details that remain unfinalized.
—
Haiti’s newly established transitional council has made a surprising choice by selecting a relatively unknown former sports minister, Fritz Bélizaire, as the Caribbean nation’s prime minister, tasked with the monumental challenge of attempting to establish a stable new government amidst stifling violence.
Bélizaire gained the support of four out of seven voting members on the nine-member panel, but with other panel members admitting they were unfamiliar with him, replacing the current interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert in an unexpected move.
—
New details have emerged a day after police reported that four law enforcement officers were killed and four others were wounded in a shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina, while attempting to serve a warrant on Monday afternoon.
When officers approached a house to arrest the suspect, they were immediately met with gunfire, and they returned fire, according to Jennings, who stated, “There’s indication that the suspect saw them coming to the house prior to them getting to the front door.”
—
One person died, and 13 others were injured after a sports utility vehicle crashed through the front glass wall of a thrift store in Las Cruces, New Mexico, authorities said.
First responders stated that 10 of the injured in Tuesday’s crash were taken to hospitals for treatment, and a 67-year-old woman was critically injured and later died. The 69-year-old woman who was driving the SUV was not injured, according to Las Cruces police, who did not immediately release her name.
—
A teenager is dead, and a man has been arrested after driving a car into a home in east London before getting out and attacking members of the public with a sword, according to police.
The incident occurred at approximately 7 a.m. local time when the Metropolitan Police in London were alerted to a “serious incident” taking place in Hainault, east London, involving reports of a vehicle being driven into a house in the Thurlow Gardens area and multiple people being stabbed, according to a police statement detailing the early morning incident.
—
In a historic shift, the Drug Enforcement Administration supports recommending the reclassification of marijuana as a less dangerous drug, moving it from a Schedule 1 classification, alongside drugs like heroin and ecstasy, to a Schedule 3 drug, like ketamine, steroids, and testosterone, sources stated.
A source confirmed that the Department of Justice will send its recommendation to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which will review it, further solidifying a process that will then take several more months.
—
Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have hit their lowest level ever reported since the pandemic began, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 5,615 COVID hospitalizations in the most recent week of available data. In comparison, there were over 150,000 weekly admissions at the peak of the Omicron variant circulating in early 2022. Forecasts of new hospitalizations from the CDC indicate that admissions will likely remain stable for the next four weeks.
