A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation is traveling this week to the Middle East for a series of visits to the countries that were part of the peace and normalization agreements brokered by the Trump administration in 2020, according to Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) who are leading the delegation.
The big picture: The delegation is made up of lawmakers who are part of the Abraham Accords Caucus, which was formed to support the Abraham Accords and try to expand it to include more countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Supporters of teaching about race and diversity in schools appear to be better prepared this year to fight the expanding conservative broadside on critical race theory.
The big picture: The battle against critical race theory, often conflated with teachings on systemic racism, is not letting up in public schools across the country.
Taylor Dudley, a U.S. Navy veteran was released from Russian custody on Thursday after Russian border police arrested him in April 2022, according to former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Why it matters: Dudley was released through negotiations led by Richardson, who has worked to free Americans wrongfully held in Russia and around the world.
Former President Donald Trump in 2017 privately discussed the possibility conducting a nuclear strike on North Korea and diverting the blame to another country, according to a newly published afterword of a book on the Trump administration, NBC News reported.
Driving the news: The paperback version of "Donald Trump v. the United States," by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt, which will be published next Tuesday, offers more details about the period of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was expected to arrive in Kyiv Thursday to visit employees, drivers, and government and relief agency partners.
The big picture: During the war, the company doubled its service footprint from nine cities to 18. Uber has 25,000 drivers currently working in Ukraine.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it traced the mass system outage that temporarily grounded all domestic flight departures earlier that day to a "damaged database file."
Driving the news: The agency added that there was "no evidence of a cyber attack" and that it is "continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause," per a statement.
In establishing the Negev Forum, the U.S., Israel, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Morocco agreed that regional cooperation could be used to pave the way for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, according to a document published on Tuesday.
The big picture: The “Negev Forum Regional Cooperation Framework” was adopted by the participating countries in November but kept secret until its first meeting in Abu Dhabi ended this week.
The Israeli opposition is calling for mass street protests against the new government’s plan to weaken the Supreme Court and other democratic institutions.
Why it matters: The plan, announced less than two weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government took office, has deepened political divisions and stoked fear among some that the heightened tensions could tear Israeli society apart.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that Valery Gerasimov, head of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces, is taking over as the commander of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matters: Gerasimov replaces General Sergei Surovikin, who was appointed to the post just three months ago. Surovikin has been demoted to one of Gerasimov's deputies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Uganda's recent Ebola epidemic over on Wednesday less than four months after the first case was confirmed in the country’s central Mubende district.
Driving the news: It was the country's first outbreak of the rare Sudan strain of Ebola in a decade. The last patient was released from care on Nov. 30, 2022, which began the WHO's 42-day countdown to determine the outbreak over.
The FBI is using ads on Facebook to seek out Chinese language speakers in the U.S. who have been harassed or digitally stalked by malicious Chinese government actors, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's the latest step in a months-long effort to root out what law enforcement calls "transnational repression" by Beijing. Over the last year, the FBI has arrested or charged a host of U.S. residents and Chinese intelligence officials as part of a nationwide crackdown.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in a pre-recorded video message at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night that while the war against Russia's invading military "is not over" yet, "the tide is turning."
Driving the news:"The First World War claimed millions of lives," said Zelensky, who was introduced by actor Sean Penn during the telecast. "The Second World War claimed tens of millions of them. There will be no Third World War. It is not a trilogy: Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land."
