May 29, 2018

Israeli jets bomb Gaza after wave of rocket attacks

Smoke rises after Israel carried out an airstrike over Gaza. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Israel launched airstrikes on militant bases in Gaza after a wave of rocket attacks from the strip hit southern Israel. At least 27 mortar shells were fired from Gaza, the biggest attack on Israel since the 2014 war with Hamas.

The bottom line: Tensions between Israel and Palestinian groups have reached new heights after Israeli troops killed 110 Palestinians during protests at the Gaza border. There were no reports on injuries in Gaza after the Israeli airstrike. No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks, most of which were intercepted by the Israeli defense system. Jason Greenblatt, President Trump's special envoy for Middle East peace, called the mortar attacks "reprehensible" and blamed Hamas.

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Orion Rummler

House passes bill to make lynching a federal hate crime

Photo: Aaron P. Bauer-Griffin/GC Images via Getty Images

The House voted 410-4 on Wednesday to pass legislation to designate lynching as a federal hate crime.

Why it matters: Congress has tried and failed for over 100 years to pass measures to make lynching a federal crime.

Go deeper45 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Kim Hart

This year's census may be the toughest count yet

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Community leaders are concerned that historically hard-to-count residents will be even harder to count in this year's census, thanks to technological hurdles and increased distrust in government.

Why it matters: The census — which will count more than 330 million people this year — determines how $1.5 trillion in federal funding gets allocated across state and local governments. Inaccurate counts mean that communities don't get their fair share of those dollars.

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Axios

Live updates: Coronavirus spreads to Latin America

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

Brazil confirmed the first novel coronavirus case in Latin America Wednesday — a 61-year-old that tested positive after returning from a visit to northern Italy, the epicenter of Europe's outbreak.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,700 people and infected over 81,000 others. By Wednesday morning, South Korea had the most cases outside China, with 1,261 infections. Europe's biggest outbreak is in Italy, where 374 cases have been confirmed.

Go deeperUpdated 3 hours ago - Health