Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz quits war Cabinet
Benny Gantz announced Sunday that he is resigning from Israel’s war Cabinet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will now be forced to rely on support from the far-right members of his government, leaving hopes for Biden’s cease-fire proposal hanging by a thread.
The announcement came a day after Israeli security forces rescued four hostages during a daytime raid in central Gaza. Among those rescued was Noa Argamani, whose harrowing abduction on Oct. 7 during the Nova Music Festival was captured on video.
The hostage rescue mission came at the expense of hundreds of Palestinians’ lives, making it one of the bloodiest days in the war. As of Sunday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 270 people were killed, pushing the war’s overall death toll past 37,000.
“What we saw yesterday is actually failure of the negotiations,” Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said in a phone interview with NBC News. “Had there been a cease-fire, these hostages would already have been at home, and the civilians that were killed yesterday would be alive.”
Gantz apologized to the families of the hostages during his speech Sunday, saying “we failed” to bring most of them home.
Trump probation interview set for Monday
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to sit for a virtual interview on Monday with a New York City probation officer, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. He will do so from his home at Mar-a-Lago with his attorney Todd Blanche at his side.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was convicted last month on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the historic hush money trial. The probation interview is required by the court as part of the former president’s pre-sentencing report.
Trump is losing a key voice ahead of election
Steve Bannon is bound for jail. He has been an inspiration for much of the MAGA movement and one of Trump’s most aggressive zealots — thanks in large part to his “War Room” show, which he has built to lead the grassroots of the Republican Party to the ballot box in November. But the fate of his show is uncertain as the July 1 deadline for him to report to prison looms.
“Who says I’m reporting!” he said in a text message when asked if he could broadcast from a penitentiary. Bannon said the show would continue: “4 hours a day 5 days a week and two on Saturday.”
NBC News spent months tracking Bannon’s show, uncovering the influence he wields and how he has built an audience he can leverage to influence party disputes and, he hopes, national elections.
Politics in brief
VP shortlist: They’ve called Trump a “whack job,” “reckless” and reprehensible. Now, they’re all vying to serve as his running mate.
Abortion rights: Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the court is weighing two major abortion cases with significant nationwide implications.
Right-wing media reckoning: Outlets that became purveyors of 2020 election misinformation are finding themselves on the losing end of legal challenges — or facing new ones.
Seeing red: Thousands gathered outside the White House Saturday to protest its policies toward the war in Gaza, many dressed in red to symbolize what they say is a red line that Israel crossed.
State visit: Biden visited Aisne-Marne American cemetery in France on Sunday, the burial ground for 2,289 Americans who died in World War I — and a place that Trump didn’t visit as president.
French President Macron calls a snap election after defeat in E.U. vote
French President Emanuel Macron said Sunday he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling a snap legislative election after his party suffered a heavy defeat in elections for the European Parliament.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party won around 32% of the votes, a 10-point increase on the last E.U. election in 2019 and some 17 points ahead of Macron’s party, according to the first exit polls.
The far-right was seen scoring big gains in Germany as well, opinion polls showed, offering the first signs that an expected rightward shift in the European Parliament is under way.
An Olympic snub for a WNBA star
Caitlin Clark, the WNBA rookie sensation and all-time college scoring leader, won’t be part of the Team USA roster for the Paris Olympics this summer, a source familiar with the decision told NBC News on Saturday. The roster is set to include such WNBA stars as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, the source said.
Clark said she had been informed of the decision ahead of the reports and that she had “no disappointment” over it. “I’m excited for the girls that are on the team,” she told a gaggle of reporters on Sunday.
Clark’s time so far in the WNBA hasn’t been completely smooth, but by leaving her at home, USA Basketball is passing on an opportunity to add additional buzz to the competition.
Invasive spiders crawl up the East Coast
As the South heats up, creatures better suited for the cold are moving north. Among those are the giant, venomous yellow Joro spiders. Scientist say people may begin to spot them in New Jersey, New York and even southern Canada as early as this year.
Although they sound scary, experts say they’re nothing to worry about. Nearly all spiders are venomous, but only a tiny fraction have venom that can seriously harm a human, said Gustavo Hormiga, a professor of biology at George Washington University. He compared a Joro spider bite to a bee sting.
Women open up about their bloated bellies
Many young, female creators are documenting and discussing bloating on TikTok, filming their distended bellies. Some say it happens because of menstruation or constipation. Others say it happens randomly and mysteriously.
Bloating trouble are by no means new, but they have been coming up in conversation more frequently, doctors say.
“It’s a really frequent complaint that I care for in 2024, and it seemed like it was very much more of a sideshow in years past,” said Dr. William Chey, chief of the gastroenterology division at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
In case you missed it
- At the French Open, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev in the final for his third Grand Slam title, and Iga Swiatek won her third women’s title by defeating Jasmine Paolini.
- Dornoch won the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, beating a handful of contenders widely believed to have a greater chance of winning.
- Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off threats from McLaren and Mercedes drivers in a chaotic race shaped by unpredictable weather.
- The FDA is expected to propose a big change to prepackaged food sold in America: requiring key nutrient information on the front of packages.
- In response to a wave of violence against women, one Australian state has created a new government position: parliamentary secretary for men’s behavior change.
- A Disneyland Resort employee has died after she fell out of a moving golf cart and hit her head.
- For South Asian Americans, Sunday’s World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan was more than just another sporting event.
- A landslide caused the roadway at Teton Pass in Wyoming to collapse and crumble.
- Obesity is generally measured by body mass index, but new research suggests “the body roundness index” is a more reliable indicator.
- The internet is putting weird labels on men again — this time, by fawning over how “rodent”-like they are.
