Blinken is heading back to the Middle East, this time without fanfare or a visit to Israel

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By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt on Tuesday for his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began nearly a year ago, this one aimed partly at refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire deal and release of hostages.

Unlike in recent mediating missions, America’s top diplomat this time is traveling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiations.

Notably, Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip. The Israeli leader’s fiery public statements — like his declaration that Israel would accept only “total victory” when Blinken was last in the region in June — and some other unbudgeable demands have complicated earlier diplomacy.

Blinken is going to Egypt for talks Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and others, in a trip billed as focused both on American-Egyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt.

The tamped-down U.S. approach to Mideast diplomacy follows months in which President Joe Biden and his officials publicly talked up an agreement to end the war in Gaza as being just within reach, hoping to build pressure on Netanyahu’s far-right government and Hamas to seal a deal.

The Biden administration now says it is working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised final proposal to try to at least get Israel and Hamas into a six-week cease-fire that would free some of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Americans believe public attention on details of the talks now would only hurt that effort.

Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union.

American, Qatari and Egyptian officials still are consulting “about what that proposal will contain, and …. we’re trying to see that it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.

The State Department pointed to Egypt’s important role in Gaza peace efforts in announcing last week that the Biden administration planned to give the country its full $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding congressional requirements that the U.S. hold back some of the funding if Egypt fails to show adequate progress on human rights. Blinken told Congress that Egypt has made progress on human rights, including in freeing political prisoners.

Blinken’s trip comes amid the risk of a full-on new front in the Middle East, with Israel threatening increasing military action against the Hezbollah militant organization in Lebanon. Biden envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday to try to calm tensions after a stop in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has one of the strongest militaries in the Middle East, and like Hamas and smaller groups in Syria and Iraq, it is allied with Iran.

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged strikes across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas started the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will ease those strikes — which have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border — only when there’s a cease-fire in Gaza.

Hochstein told Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help get Israelis back in their homes, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu that he risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.

Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel’s northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.

Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would “not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.” The prime minister said Israel “appreciates and respects” U.S. support but “will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely.”

Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, warned in his meeting with Hochstein that “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action,” his office said.

In Gaza, the U.S. says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal in principle and that the biggest obstacles now include a disagreement on details of the hostage and prisoner swap and control over a buffer zone on the border between Gaza and Egypt. Netanyahu has demanded in recent weeks that the Israeli military be allowed to keep a presence in the Philadelphi corridor. Egypt and Hamas have rejected that demand.

The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. Terrorists also abducted 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, said Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction, displaced a majority of Gaza’s people and created a humanitarian crisis.

Netanyahu says he is working to bring home the hostages. His critics accuse him of slow-rolling a deal because it could bring down his hardline coalition government, which includes members opposed to a truce with the Palestinians.

Asked earlier this month if Netanyahu was doing enough for a cease-fire deal, Biden said, simply, “no.” But he added that he still believed a deal was close.

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

South African acrobatics troupe spins up an energetic show at Children’s Theatre Company

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Children’s Theatre Company helps make the world smaller for our smallest theatergoers.

In recent seasons, the company has taken to turning its stage over to traveling troupes from other continents, usually presenting pieces that transcend language barriers through pure physicality. It opened last season with the madcap kitchen comedy, “Cookin’,” from South Korea, and has previously launched new seasons with shows from Ethiopian circus troupe Circus Abyssinia.

Now another African import is gracing the CTC stage. Hailing from the southern tip of the continent, Zip Zap Circus is a group from Cape Town, South Africa, founded upon using circus skills as an avenue off the streets for youth dealing with crime, gangs, drugs and homelessness.

You could call the Zip Zap production, “Moya,” a combination of the best aspects of Circus Abyssinia and “Cookin’,” for it features both the eye-popping, gasp-inducing aerial acrobatics of its African stylistic cousin and the kind of comical clowning the Korean troupe brought last season. The result is a very entertaining hour at the theater that should place smiles upon the faces of those of any age.

Bridgette Berning in the South African troupe Zip Zap Circus’ theatrical piece, “Moya,” a combination of comedy, acrobatics and lessons about life in South Africa that runs through Oct. 20, 2024 at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. (Glen Stubbe / Children’s Theatre Company)

At first, it seems as if “Moya” will contain a narrative, as we’re introduced to a homeless youth shivering on the street, his panhandling dismissed by passersby. But soon he falls in with some acrobats who find he has a skill for being tossed about, and any story is set aside in favor of one “wow”-producing circus act after another — and some fun dance numbers — all set to some terrific Afropop music.

That comes courtesy of composer and music director Josh Hawks and a 10-piece band, who are only present via recording, but stand out as this production’s secret weapon, from the cool, slow blues of the opening to the mesmerizing ballads that accompany solos by acrobats suspended on straps or a 20-foot scarf to the funky jazz a la Hugh Masekela that suffuses the tumbling full-cast finale with joy.

It might aid your appreciation of the aerial artistry to know that the tale of the homeless kid who becomes a company member is based upon the story of cast member Phelelani Ndakrokra. When performances were shut down by the pandemic, Zip Zap made a dramatic film about his life that’s since won awards, and it’s easy to see how Ndakrokra charmed audiences while playing himself, judging from the effervescence and approachability he brings to his routines on the straps and the Cyr wheel, which is kind of like a hula hoop that uses the entire body, not just the waist and hips.

But the character in “Moya” based upon him is that panhandler brought into the fold, and Jacobus Claassen expertly fills the role of the clown acrobat who looks hapless until it becomes clear that he isn’t. Looking a lot like a miniaturization of comic actor Richard Pryor (circa-’70s), Claassen finds an ideal straight man for the show’s funniest bits in Jason Barnard, who also serves as the production’s resident rapper.

It’s a show with plenty of variations in pace and mood, the bouncy acrobatics and comical juggling often giving way to meditative aerial feats from Bridgette Berning or astoundingly athletic handstands from Masizakhe Kovi. They help make “Moya” a very enjoyable option for a family outing.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

Zip Zap Circus’ ‘Moya’

When: Through Oct. 20

Where: Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis

Tickets: $73-$15, available at 612-374-0400

Capsule: A very fun feast of funky flying about.

Judge rejects former Trump aide Mark Meadows’ bid to move Arizona election case to federal court

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By JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has rejected a bid by Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, to move his charges in Arizona’s fake elector case to federal court, marking the second time he has failed in trying to get his charges out of state court.

In a decision Monday, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi said Meadows missed a deadline for asking for his charges to be moved to federal court, didn’t offer a good reason for doing so and failed to show that the allegations against him related to his official duties as chief of staff to the president.

Meadows faces charges in Arizona and Georgia in what authorities allege was an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump’s favor. He had unsuccessfully tried to move charges in the Georgia case last year. It’s unknown whether Meadows will appeal the decision. The Associated Press left phone and email messages for two of Meadows’ attorneys.

While not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors said Meadows, while chief of staff, worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Arizona and Georgia.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

The decision sends Meadows’ case back down to Maricopa County Superior Court.

In both Arizona and Georgia, Meadows argued his charges should be moved to federal court because his actions were taken when he was a federal official working as Trump’s chief of staff and that he has immunity under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says federal law trumps state law.

Arizona prosecutors said Meadows’ electioneering efforts weren’t part of his official duties at the White House.

Meadows last year tried to get his Georgia charges moved but his request was rejected by a judge whose ruling was later affirmed by an appeals court. Meadows has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling.

The Arizona indictment says Meadows confided to a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election. Prosecutors say Meadows also had arranged meetings and calls with state officials to discuss the fake elector conspiracy.

Meadows and other defendants are seeking a dismissal of the Arizona case.

Meadows’ attorneys said nothing their client is alleged to have done in Arizona was criminal. They said the indictment consists of allegations that he received messages from people trying to get ideas in front of Trump — or “seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the president’s campaign.”

In all, 18 Republicans were charged in late April in Arizona’s fake electors case. The defendants include 11 Republicans who had submitted a document falsely claiming Trump had won Arizona, another Trump aide and five lawyers connected to the former president.

In August, Trump’s campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation.

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the forgery, fraud and conspiracy charges in Arizona.

Trump wasn’t charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.

The 11 people who were nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried the state.

A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.

Minnesota Sinfonia sets October dates for final concerts in St. Paul and Minneapolis

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The final two Minnesota Sinfonia concerts will take place Oct. 18 and 20.

Last October, the chamber orchestra’s board of directors announced the nonprofit would shut down in January 2025. The two upcoming concerts will serve as the group’s farewell to audiences. Music in the Schools performances and related materials will continue to be available to school districts free of charge into the winter of 2025. At the time of dissolution, any remaining assets will be distributed pursuant to the sinfonia’s articles and bylaws and any applicable nonprofit laws.

The free concerts will feature Sergei Prokovief’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D major and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3. Each concert will be followed by an open reception.

The Oct. 18 performance will take place at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s First Covenant Church.

On Oct. 20, the group’s final public concert will happen at 2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis.

The sinfonia was founded by conductor Jay Fishman in 1989, who has also spent the past 36 years as artistic director. His idea was to create a professional orchestra that would perform free concerts to ensure live classical music was available in underserved and low-income communities in Minnesota.

From its founding, the orchestra has performed more than 1,600 concerts for more than 500,000 attendees.

For more information, see mnsinfonia.org.

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