5 things to know for April 8: Eclipse, Gaza, Ukraine, Congress, Boeing
CNN
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Huge swaths of North America today will suddenly darken and the clouds will eerily vanish — a cue for sky-watchers that the total solar eclipse is about to begin. The celestial event itself will have no effect on wireless networks but phone providers are preparing for potential disruptions as massive crowds will hold their cell phones skyward in unison to capture the moment. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Millions of people across Mexico, the United States and Canada will be able to see a total solar eclipse in the coming hours. The path of totality — where it’s possible to see the moon completely block out the sun — will draw thousands of tourists to states from Texas to Maine. Those who are not in areas with the best view are still likely to get a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse when the moon covers part of the sun. But for many Americans, this will be the last chance to see a total solar eclipse for 20 years. The next one won’t be visible across the contiguous US again until August 2044. Use this interactive tool to learn what time the eclipse may be visible near you. Israel has withdrawn its forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fierce fighting that left much of the city in ruins. But Israeli troops are “far from stopping” operations in the enclave, the military’s chief of staff said. Israel’s defense minister emphasized that troops would prepare for new missions, including in Rafah, where about 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. Also over the weekend, talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo yielded “significant progress” and consensus on many controversial points, Egyptian state media reported. The negotiations aim to achieve a ceasefire and hostage deal. In his starkest warning yet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country will lose the war with Russia if the US doesn’t supply more military aid. Zelensky, in a video conference Sunday, pleaded for more munitions and warned that “other states will be attacked” if Ukraine is unable to sustain its resistance. Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine was damaged Sunday in a drone attack. The International Atomic Energy Agency called the strike “a serious incident (with) potential to undermine the integrity of the reactor’s containment system” but stressed the damage did not compromise nuclear safety.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.