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Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty ImagesKHARKIV, Ukraine—After months of infighting on Capitol Hill, President Joe Biden has finally been able to sign off on a huge new $61 billion military aid bill for Ukraine. Delays to the bill, which got bogged down in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, were widely blamed for impacting Kyiv's ability to defend itself from Russian advances.
After its passage last week, some members of the House waved Ukrainian flags while others cheered in celebration that Ukraine will soon receive new weapons ahead of Russia's expected counteroffensive. Signing it into law at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, Biden promised the arms shipments would begin immediately and hailed what he called "a good day for world peace."
The reaction here, near the front lines of the war, felt very different.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty ImagesDonald Trump's claim that the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 was less hateful than pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses lately was "repugnant and divisive," the White House shot back Thursday night.
After proceedings in his criminal trial in New York concluded for the day, Trump said the torch-lit rally on the campus of the University of Virginia—in which participants chanted "Jews will not replace us" and a Neo-Nazi murdered a counter-protester with his car and injured thirty others—was "a little peanut" compared to the largely peaceful encampments springing up on college campuses in recent weeks.
"It was nothing compared, and the hate wasn't the kind of hate you have here. This is tremendous hate," Trump claimed.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Israel is facing global condemnation after killing several international aid workers in Gaza. The workers with charity group World Central Kitchen were killed by an Israeli airstrike after unloading more than 100 tons of food aid carried by ship from Cyprus into Gaza. The charity staff, including three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national and an American-Canadian dual citizen, and their Palestinian driver were struck while traveling in a clearly marked convoy branded with the charity's logo. World Central Kitchen said the attack occurred after the workers left a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, even though the charity had coordinated in advance about the convoy with the Israeli military. "Every single humanitarian aid worker … is already recognized by the Israeli army," says journalist Akram al-Satarri, reporting live from Rafah. "It's the full responsibility of the Israeli government now to clarify and … demystify the circumstances that led to that catastrophic incident." Al-Satarri also reports on Israel's move to ban the outlet Al Jazeera and on his experience living in Gaza right now, where food and medical supplies are scarce under Israel's strict blockade. "The famine is not looming. The famine is already taking place."
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