Weekend Briefing From Reuters Daily Briefing By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

 

Weekend Briefing  From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor Welcome to today’s edition of the Weekend Briefing, and do listen to our World News podcast on the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel and what it means for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Israeli society at large. We also are reporting on a hostage taking at a nightclub in the eastern Dutch town of Ede.

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Rafah. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot

US will send more bombs and warplanes to Israel Details: The new arms package is worth billions of dollars and contains more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, sources said. President Joe Biden on the same day said he was devastated by the suffering of the people Israel is bombing in the Gaza Strip and that “we must also pause to reflect on the pain being felt by so many in the Arab American community with the war in Gaza.” Assessment: Southern and central Gaza are at risk for famine, and it is likely present in the northern part of the strip, an unnamed U.S. State Department official said. The World Court said the same as it ordered Israel to ensure that basic food supplies get delivered. Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters meanwhile fought in close quarters around Al Shifa hospital.

The immigrants on the Baltimore bridge Who they are: The six victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse came from Mexico and Central America to do the grueling work that most people don’t want to do. They were filling potholes in the middle of the night when a container ship struck the bridge, and they ended up dead in the Patapsco River. Our story looks at the dangerous work immigrants do as they try to earn their way toward a better life. Lives saved: A first responder on emergency radio sent police officers to halt traffic onto the bridge less than a minute before it collapsed. Without their swift response, the scale of disaster could have been far greater.

Kamala Harris is driving the party bus Profile: Hosting Fat Joe at the White House to talk marijuana-law reform, visiting an abortion clinic, calling for a Gaza ceasefire: The vice president is making the case for a second Biden administration as progressive Democrats assail the president over his pro-Israel stance and polls show him in a tight race with Donald Trump. Mark your calendars: Four states hold their election primaries on Tuesday, including Wisconsin, considered one of the battleground states that could determine whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins the White House this year. Reuters has what you need to know.

Tajikistan arrests nine over Russian concert attack The latest: Tajikistan, which is a member of a Russian-led security bloc and hosts a Russian military base, has also rounded up the families of the suspected gunmen so that Russian investigators can question them in Dushanbe. At least 143 people died in the attack, which Moscow continued to link to Ukraine. The United States said Islamic State was solely responsible for the attack. Ukraine: The Ukraine military’s top general said Kyiv will not need to mobilize up to 500,000 more people to fight Russia, as initially expected. And President Zelenskiy reported a rise in income, fired some of his office staff and said Ukraine would have to retreat if it doesn’t get U.S. aid.

You are what you eat eats Pigs, turkeys and cows: Food safety, environmental and animal-rights groups sued the FDA, seeking a reconsideration of the U.S. agency’s approval of the livestock growth drug ractopamine, which they say harms farm animals prior to slaughter, and harms humans who eat their meat. On top of that, we’re paying more for the privilege of eating it. Not enough fish in the sea: ConAgra must face a lawsuit that accuses the company of misleading U.S. consumers by telling them that nine Mrs. Paul’s and Van de Kamp’s fish products were sustainably sourced. A judge rejected ConAgra’s argument that the phrase “Good for the Environment” on the packaging was an overstatement and exaggeration that would not support a class-action lawsuit.

Before I forget…   Poland’s president vetoed a bill that would have made emergency contraceptive pills available without prescription to people over the age of 15, a move that one politician called a win for “superstitions and conservative ideology.”   Georgia’s ruling party wants to ban sex changes, adoptions by same-sex couples and “gatherings aimed at popularizing same-sex family or intimate relationships.”   Old and in the way: Chinese adults 30 and up are bemoaning their difficulties in finding a job as the government fights high youth unemployment.   The U.S. is seeking to forfeit two New York City apartments that a former Mongolian prime minister bought for $14 million with stolen mining funds, prosecutors said.   Fact Check: ‘Public hanging’ is not a punishment for treason listed in the U.S. Code.   Louis Gossett Jr. died at 87. He was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best supporting actor. “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Enemy Mine” and “Iron Eagle” were mainstays in my moviegoing childhood, but I urge you to watch Hal Ashby’s all-but-forgotten “The Landlord,” in which he plays a substantial role opposite Beau Bridges.   And how did those cookies turn out? Let me know.