The Latest: Raul Castro Had Left Cuba's Presidency

A federal judge sentenced the man convicted of assaulting and attempting to kidnap Paul Pelosi, the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to 30 years in prison on Friday, the AP reports.

Frank Fahrenkopf — the chair of the Republican National Committee in the Reagan era and co-founder of the Commission of Presidential Debates — told Politico he thought the Biden campaign rolled the Trump campaign by seeming to get everything it wanted in the debate over the terms of the debates.

New York Times: “With the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey underway on Thursday, a prosecutor handed a juror in the first row of the jury box a plastic bag containing an object at the heart of the government’s case: a gold bar that glinted under the courtroom lights.”

“A senior communications staffer in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office abruptly resigned this week after he was presented with complaints about his behavior,” NOTUS reports. “Anang Mittal, who was Johnson’s head of digital, resigned from his position when superiors in the office confronted him about the complaints on Thursday. A source familiar with the situation said the complaints centered around Mittal’s workplace performance and unprofessional outbursts.”

“Two top Biden administration officials held indirect talks with Iranian officials in Oman this week on how to avoid escalating regional attacks,” Axios reports. “The talks — involving President Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and Abram Paley the acting U. S. envoy for Iran — were the first round of discussions between the U.

New York Times: “Two years into President Biden’s term, his aides began negotiating with Saudi leaders to have the kingdom establish diplomatic relations with Israel. But when the Israel-Hamas war began last October, the talks withered. American and Saudi officials have tried to revive prospects for a deal by demanding more from Israel — a cease-fire in Gaza and irreversible steps toward the founding of a Palestinian nation.” “Now those officials say they are close to a final agreement on the main elements of what the Saudis want from the deal: a U.