Axios

Ethiopia has again delayed its national elections amid ongoing violence in the country’s Tigray region, AP reports.

Why it matters: The country previously postponed national elections, which would be the first major electoral test for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. They were then rescheduled for June 5. Officials have not set a new date.

President Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday and raised concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza and the bombing of the building that housed AP and other media offices, according to Israeli officials.

The big picture: At least 140 Palestinians, including dozens of children, have been killed in Gaza since fighting between Israel and Hamas began Monday, according to Palestinian health officials. Nine people, including two children, have been killed by Hamas rockets in Israel.

The Associated Press and Al Jazeera on Saturday condemned the Israeli airstrike that destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza that housed their and other media offices.

What they're saying: The White House, meanwhile, said it had "communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility," according to press secretary Jen Psaki.

A group of high-profile scientists published a letter calling for renewed investigation into the origins of COVID-19 — including the theory that it spilled out of a virology lab.

Why it matters: The possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was created in a Chinese lab and accidentally escaped — rather than emerging naturally from an animal — was initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory. But the letter shows a potential lab leak is increasingly being taken seriously.

The U.S. for the first time attended a summit on Saturday with tech giants and world leaders as part of an international effort to stop extremist violence from proliferating online while also protecting freedom of speech, AP reports.

Why it matters: The effort was created by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron in the aftermath of the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings and deadly attacks in France that were streamed or shared on social media platforms.

An Israeli airstrike on Saturday flattened a high-rise building housing media offices for Al Jazeera, the AP and others in the Gaza Strip.

Driving the news: The attack came nearly an hour after the Israeli military warned the building's owner that it was going to bombed and asked for it to be evacuated.

The Taiwanese government on Saturday raised the coronavirus alert levels for two cities, Taipei and New Taipei City, after authorities reported a surge in new infections.

The state of play: People in the two cities will be required to wear masks outdoors, and indoor and outdoor gatherings will be limited to five and 10 people respectively, per the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

The United Nations warned Friday that ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas "has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis," in not only the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, but "the region as a whole."

The big picture: More than 125 Palestinians, including 31 children have been killed in Gaza since fighting began Monday, per the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Eight people, including two children, have been killed in Israel, Reuters reported, citing Israeli authorities.

The United States must encourage an immediate cease-fire in the Middle East and adopt an "evenhanded approach" that recognizes Palestinians and Israelis have a right to "live in peace and security," Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) wrote in a New York Times opinion on Friday.

Driving the news: Violence escalated this week after Israelis intensified efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem. Hamas fired rockets and Israel massed troops, leaving more than 125 Palestinians and seven people in Israel dead.

Facebook lost on Friday in its attempt to block a European Union privacy decision related to how it sends data about EU users back to the U.S.

Driving the news: Ireland's High Court dismissed procedural complaints from Facebook about a decision it had made about the data transfer last August, rejecting the platform's argument that the EU's judgment was made too hastily.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to Denmark, Iceland and Greenland this weekend to address Arctic policies amid sweeping climate change that is affecting the region.

State of play: While in Reykjavik, Iceland, Blinken will attend the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council, an organization created 25 years ago to foster cooperation among the eight Arctic nations at a time when Russia has been increasingly aggressive in building up its military presence in the region.

Ireland's public health care service preemptively deactivated its IT services on Friday after it was targeted by a ransomware attack, according to the AP.

Why it matters: The attack on Ireland's Health Service Executive, and other recent high-profile cyber extortion attempts, demonstrates how vulnerable critical infrastructure is to criminal hacking groups.

Tel Aviv — With U.S. envoy Hady Amr set to arrive in Israel on Friday for de-escalation talks with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials, Israeli officials are concerned the U.S. intervention will lead to increased pressure to stop their military operation.

Driving the news: Fighting continued overnight, with the Israeli military massing forces along the frontier with the Gaza Strip and briefing reporters about ground forces entering the fight. Anticipating a ground invasion, Hamas sent its elite forces to their defensive tunnels. The Israeli forces instead began to bomb those tunnels and did not cross into Gaza, Israeli officials say.

At least 109 Palestinians and seven people in Israel have been killed since recent fighting between Israel's military and Hamas began Monday.

The big picture: Israel began massing troops on its border with Gaza on Thursday, launching attacks from the air and ground as Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel.

About 150 million vaccine doses were administered globally over the past week, the highest weekly total yet and a jump from 130 million last week.

Breaking it down: In the U.S., daily vaccinations peaked in mid-April and fell sharply as demand waned, though they've ticked up over the past few days (46% of the population has at least one dose).