The Biden administration confirms reports that it held up a shipment last week of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs that it fears Israel might use in a major ground operation in Rafah. This is the first time since October 7 that the US has held up a weapons shipment earmarked for Israel. Washington adamantly opposes a major offensive in the southern city of Gaza, convinced that there is no way for Israel to conduct one in a manner that would ensure the safety of the over million Palestinians...

The Biden administration paused the supply of thousands of large bombs to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the Gaza city of Rafah, US officials have confirmed. The US president, Joe Biden, has been trying to head off a full-scale assault by Israel against the southern city, where more than a million displaced Palestinian have sought refuge from combat elsewhere in Gaza. The highly significant move comes amid mounting...

The U.S. withheld certain bombs from Israel to prevent their use in an attack on Hamas battalions in the town of Rafah, according to multiple news reports Tuesday evening. The news, ironically, came on Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, hours after President Joe Biden told Jews: “Never again.” The reports confirmed stories that first appeared in Axios earlier in the week. The White House, when asked on Monday and Tuesday, refused to confirm or deny withholding weapons from Israel...

The US last week paused a bomb shipment for Israel over concerns it was going ahead with a major ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior US administration official said. The shipment consisted of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs, the official told the BBC. Israel has not "fully addressed" US concerns over humanitarian needs of civilians in Rafah, the official said. An Israeli military official appeared to play down the US move.  

President Biden paused an arms shipment to Israel last week to prevent the U.S.-made weapons from being used in a long-threatened assault on the city of Rafah, administration officials said on Tuesday night, a sign of the growing rift between the United States and Israel over the conduct of the war. The president withheld 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah, where more than one million Gazans have taken refuge, the officials said. The...

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene put her campaign to oust Speaker Mike Johnson on an indefinite pause Tuesday, saying she was no longer committed to forcing a vote on vacating the speaker’s office this week. After meeting with Johnson for the second time in as many days, Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said they would wait to hear how the embattled speaker responds to four “suggestions” they made on policy changes they want to see enacted. “Right now, the ball is in Mike Johnson’...

IN THE EARLY hours of April 30, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced that negotiations with student protesters had failed. She ordered the students, who were demanding that the school divest from Israel, to disband their encampments and end their protests. Instead, students occupied Hamilton Hall. They renamed the building — which has a long history of occupations — Hind’s Hall in honor of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was...

Over 20 states are demanding congressional leaders defund a United Nations aid agency over its ties to Hamas and rising antisemitism on college campuses in the United States. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson led 22 other states in a letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries...

The Boy Scouts of America announced Tuesday that it would no longer be known under that name in order to become more inclusive. The organization will be known as Scouting America. The scouts have been battered by scandal related to thousands of sexual assault claims and a massive $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization in the wake of a legal settlement with victims. “In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,” said Boy Scouts...

The largest scouting organisation in the US announced on Tuesday (7 May) that it will change its name to Scouting America as part of an initiative to make everyone feel welcome. “Though our name will be new, our mission remains unchanged,” Boy Scouts of America president, Roger A Krane, said in a statement. “We are committed to teaching young people to be prepared. For life. This will be a simple but very important evolution as we seek to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Scouting...