Storm Kills 3, Injures 71 At Belgian Festival

As President Joe Biden started walking out of the press room on Friday afternoon, after finishing a speech outlining a cease-fire plan for the Israel-Hamas war, a journalist called out, questioning him on former President Donald Trump’s historic hush-money trial conviction. “Donald Trump refers to himself as a ‘political prisoner’ and blames you [Biden] directly.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed by U. S. President Joe Biden to end the nearly 8-month-long war and bring their relatives home, but Israel’s government said conditions for a cease-fire still must be met. Biden outlined a three-phase deal Friday proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel.

LONDON — The UK’s ambassador to Mexico has left his post after a video was posted on social media that purportedly shows him pointing an assault rifle near a colleague. The Financial Times reported Friday that Jon Benjamin was traveling in Sinaloa and Durango, two states in northern Mexico where drug cartels have a significant presence, when the incident occurred.

JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela.

What does it mean to really belong? What happens when we can no longer recognize where we came from? And what do we owe to the places that raised us? These questions and more drive the best books of the year so far, a crop of novels, memoirs, and essay collections that tackle love, loss, friendship, and more.

The black armored limousine rolled out the driveway of Joe Biden’s home in the leafy outskirts of Wilmington just before 7:30 a.m. It was a bright, blue-skied Thursday morning. The short trip wasn’t on the President’s public schedule, so the usual clutch of pro-Palestinian protesters hadn’t known to gather to shout down his motorcade as he drove by. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The world would soon come to remember that Thursday for what would unfold 10 hours later: a New York jury would finish their deliberations sooner than many expected, voting unanimously to convict a former President on 34 felony charges.