Biden tells Israel’s Netanyahu future US support for war depends on new steps to protect civilians

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that future U.S. support for Gaza war depends on new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza and added a new layer of complication in the leaders’ increasingly strained relationship.

“He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,” the White House said in a statement following the leaders call. “He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”

Biden in the call also told Netanyahu that an “immediate ceasefire is essential” and urged Israel to reach deal “without delay,” according to the White House.

The leaders conversation comes as the World Central Kitchen, founded by restauranteur José Andrés to provide immediate food relief to disaster-stricken areas, called for an independent investigation into the Israeli strikes that killed the group’s staff members, including an American citizen.

The White House has said the U.S. has no plans to conduct its own investigation even as they called on Israel to do more to prevent the killing and wounding innocent civilians and aid workers as it carries out its operations in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Minnesota teen sets goal to see every total solar eclipse through the year 2099

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CLOQUET — On Monday, April 8, the moon’s shadow will extend across North America from Mazatlan, Mexico, to Newfoundland, Canada.

In the little town of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, the total solar eclipse will achieve peak totality — when the moon completely blocks the sun and reveals the star’s outer atmosphere, the corona — at 1:45 p.m. This will mark the second of eight total solar eclipses that Cloquet teen Kenadie Mickle plans to witness in her lifetime.

Days before departing for Broken Bow, Mickle, 14, looks over a list of every total solar eclipse that will be visible in the contiguous United States during her lifetime. The list concludes Sept. 14, 2099, when the moon’s shadow will cover Cambridge, Minnesota. Mickle will be 89 years old.

“It’s weird that I’ll still be alive by then,” Mickle said.

The timeline, titled “Kenadie’s ‘See ‘em’ all’ 21st Century Total Eclipse Schedule,” assembled by her father, David Mickle, will serve as a roadmap for Kenadie in her pursuit to view every total solar eclipse in the lower 48 states. It lists the date of every total solar eclipse, how old Kenadie will be and where to view it.

Though it is far from Kenadie’s last, Monday’s solar eclipse is certain to be one of the most memorable.

David and Kenadie Mickle, of Cloquet, demonstrate how they will look wearing their safety goggles during the Aug. 21, 2017, eclipse, which they viewed in Marshall, Mo. (Jamie Lund / File / Duluth Media Group)

For 4 minutes, 16 seconds, Broken Bow will be shadowed in complete darkness as the moon eclipses the sun. This will nearly double the totality of Kenadie’s first solar eclipse in 2017 in Marshall, Missouri, which lasted 2 minutes, 41 seconds.

“The duration of the totality is going to be what’s the best part,” David said, “because it’s going to be longer than someone can hold their breath before they die.”

Not only will the sun be totally eclipsed, but the “devil comet,” which derives its nickname from its hornlike appearance, will be making its 71-year-passage across the sky at roughly the same time as the eclipse and could be made visible to the naked eye in the daytime twilight brought on by the eclipse, according to Astronomy Magazine.

Moreover, the sun will be near its solar maximum, giving its magnetic field the appearance of a “tangled hairball,” NASA reported. Streamers — cap-like structures with long pointed peaks — and prominences — bright features extending from the sun’s surface — will likely be visible throughout the corona.

“It is a heck of a sight to see, is what it is,” David said.

Kenadie credits her ambitious goal to her father, who was inspired by his father, “a self-professed astronomy enthusiast,” David said.

Kenadie and David will travel to Broken Bow with Kenadie’s mother and David’s wife, Denise Mickle, and family friends Scott and Beth Emilson and their children, Hendrix Wilkinson, 14, Aili Wilkinson, 13, and Charlie Mayo, 7.

The two families will depart Thursday, April 4, and are expected to arrive in Oklahoma on Saturday, April 6, leaving themselves extra time if the weather appears like it could inhibit viewing the eclipse and they need to reroute.

This will be the Emilson family’s first time viewing a total solar eclipse.

“Expectations for me are zero because I’ve never seen one,” Scott said.

Though Kenadie plans to see as many solar eclipses as possible, the astronomical rarity of the event isn’t lost on Hendrix.

“I’m just having a good time and also seeing something that really anyone won’t ever see again in their lifetime,” he said.

This will be the last total solar eclipse Kenadie will see until she is 34 years old and the moon’s shadow will pass over Medora, North Dakota, on Aug. 23, 2044.

However, the eclipse Kenadie anticipates the most will be when she is 35 years old, on Aug. 12, 2045, when a total eclipse will engulf Port St. Lucie, Florida.

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Israel says large gaps remain with Hamas over Gaza cease-fire

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Ethan Bronner | Bloomberg News (TNS)

Cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are stalling again, Israeli officials say, with large gaps between the sides over hostages, prisoners and the future of Gaza.

A delegation of Israeli negotiators returned late Tuesday from two days of talks in Cairo and reported that Hamas is insisting on an immediate end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks.

The Iran-backed group also wants people in Gaza to be able to return to the north of the territory after the Israeli military urged them to move south at the start of the conflict, the officials said. Another sticking point, they said, is Hamas’s call for all Palestinians to be released from Israeli jails.

These reflect a hardening of Hamas’s stance compared with earlier talks, according to the Israeli officials, and are demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government won’t accept.

Israel has proposed a 42-day cease-fire during which several dozen hostages would be exchanged for several hundred prisoners. Many north Gazans could also return home after being screened by Israeli forces for arms and links to Hamas.

The officials said Hamas believes its position is stronger because of growing international pressure on Israel as the war rages. That was manifested by a U.S. decision not to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution last month calling for an immediate cease-fire. President Joe Biden, who’s scheduled to speak to Netanyahu on Thursday by phone, also said he was “outraged” but an Israeli strike on Monday that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including a US national.

Hamas is intent on remaining in power in Gaza even after fighting stops, the officials said, while Israel insists the war will continue until the group’s destroyed. Hamas swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting around 250.

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More than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its air and ground assault, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

The talks between Israel and Hamas are mediated by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Wednesday that the negotiations were deadlocked over the return of displaced people to their homes in Gaza.

Israel was wary of Gazans returning to the north because of the risk of Hamas rocket fire returning from there into Israel. The officials, though, said Israel has shifted its stance and is offering to permit thousands, even tens of thousands, of civilians to return.

The officials said Israel still wants to move forces into the southern Gaza city of Rafah to destroy the four remaining Hamas battalions there. Israel estimates they have roughly 8,000 fighters between them.

The U.S. and others have expressed alarm over the plan, saying there’s no way for the more than one million civilians in Rafah to be moved out quickly, and nowhere safe for them to go.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The teaching of Hmong and Asian American histories to be required in Wisconsin under a new law

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday signed into law a bipartisan bill requiring Wisconsin schools to teach Asian American and Hmong American histories.

Evers signed the bill at an elementary school in Wausau, which is home to about 4,700 Hmong. That is 12% of the city’s residents, making Wausau the highest per-capita Hmong population in the state and country, according to the Hmong American Center.

“The Hmong and Asian American communities are a critical part of our state’s history, culture, economy, and our future,” Evers said in a statement. “It’s important that we celebrate our shared histories and honor the people who help make Wisconsin the state it is today.”

Persecuted as an ethnic minority in their ancestral lands in China, the Hmong fled first to the mountains of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. There, tens of thousands fought for the United States in the Vietnam War. When Communist regimes swept the region, they escaped to refugee camps in neighboring Thailand and, starting in the mid-1970s, resettled largely in California farm country, Minneapolis and central Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s Hmong population of 50,000 places it third highest behind California at 80,000 and Minnesota at 70,000, according to the Hmong American Center.

Current Wisconsin law requires K-12 schools to teach Black, Hispanic and Native American histories. The new law adds Hmong and Asian American histories to this required curriculum. The goal is to promote greater awareness and understanding of Hmong and Asian American histories, cultures and traditions.

The measure had broad support in the Legislature, including from the state education department, the state teachers’ union and the Wisconsin Council of Churches. There were no registered opponents.

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