Apple, FedEx and Marriott CEOs are reportedly among business leaders invited to tomorrow’s state dinner for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.
Why it matters: Their attendance emphasizes a key signal of Modi’s first official state visit — that the U.S. and India are strengthening political and economic ties amid drifting relations between the U.S. and China.
Violence in the occupied West Bank dramatically escalated this week after the Israeli military killed six Palestinians in a raid, Palestinian militants killed four Israeli settlers in an attack, Israeli settlers rampaged through a Palestinian town and torched dozens of homes and cars, and Israel conducted a rare drone strike on a car.
Thought bubble: The rapid escalation, which came as State Department's senior Middle East diplomat Barbara Leaf visited Israel and the West Bank, shows how quickly the situation in the West Bank can deteriorate and what little influence the Biden administration's warnings to prevent or stop the violence has had on either side.
The Department of Defense (DOD) said on Tuesday an accounting error revealed last month overestimated U.S. military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion by $6.2 billion.
Why it matters: The "valuation errors," as the Pentagon described them, will allow it to send additional military aid packages to Ukraine, which earlier this month embarked on its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in occupied territories.
Amos Hochstein, President Biden's senior adviser for energy and infrastructure, is visiting Saudi Arabia this week for talks with senior Saudi officials, two sources familiar with the trip tell Axios.
Why it matters: Hochstein’s trip is part of the diplomatic push by the White House to try to reach a set of agreements that would upgrade U.S.-Saudi relations and include a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
A meeting between Israel’s diaspora minister and a group of Jewish congressional Democrats earlier this month quickly turned tense after the Israeli politician invoked the term “woke," according to four U.S. and Israeli sources who attended the meeting or were briefed on it.
Why it matters: The difficult atmosphere, as well as the criticism and concerns expressed by the U.S. lawmakers during the meeting with Amichai Chikli, shows the growing rift between Jewish Democrats in Congress — many of whom are strong supporters of Israel — and Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
Driving the news: The nation's Consumer Prices Index rose by 8.7% in the 12 months through May, unchanged from the prior month and bucking analysts' expectations of a slowdown, the government's statistics agency said Wednesday.
President Biden referred to Xi Jinping as a dictator Tuesday after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's leader on a trip to Beijing that was aimed at reducing diplomatic tensions, per a pool report.
Driving the news: "The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn’t know it was there," Biden said at a fund-raiser in Kentfield, California about the Chinese balloon that the U.S. shot down over Atlantic Ocean in February.
Tropical Storm Bret formed Monday afternoonin the Central Atlantic, after emerging off the west coast of Africa and tracking over record warm ocean waters for this time of year.
About 20% of Gen Z Latinos in a new survey say they're most comfortable speaking Spanglish most of the time.
The big picture: Many Latinos in the U.S. are increasingly reclaiming aspects of their heritage, including speaking Spanish (or some version of it) or adding accent marks totheir names. The shift comes after years of older generations being taught to assimilate.
Advocates and legislators are looking to the upcoming farm bill as a way to reinstate Puerto Rico's access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but the effort faces an uphill battle in a divided Congress.
Why it matters: Puerto Rico's own version of SNAP, known as the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP), has fixed yearly funding. That forces the program to set higher eligibility requirements to stay within its budget, leaving thousands of people on the island without assistance who may otherwise be eligible.
The number of children forcibly displaced from their homes climbed to a new record high of 43.3 million in 2022, according to a recent new estimate from United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Driving the news: As the world marks World Refugee Day on Tuesday, advocates are highlighting the dangers and challenges faced by children forced to leave their homes.
Israel and Taiwan face similar challenges and should learn from each other, Jacob Nagel, a former top Israeli security official and a key architect of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, told Axios in an interview after he spent last week meeting with government officials in Taipei.
The big picture: Nagel called last year for Israel to pivot away from Beijing and for "warmer relations" with Taiwan.
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken's trip to China restored high-level dialogue between Washington and Beijing, but failed to persuade China's leaders to reopen communications that could help avert a potential military crisis.
Why it matters: The failure to establish a military-to-military crisis communications channel prolongs the risk of miscalculation and conflict in the region, experts say.
The United Nations adopted a landmark international treaty to govern the high seas on Monday after nearly two decades of negotiations.
Why it matters: The first-ever legally binding global agreement of its kind, known as the Treaty of the High Seas, provides framework for environmental protections to biodiversity ininternational waters — which cover over 60% of the Earth’s surface. Only 1.2% of the world's ocean areas are currently protected.
