Biden administration secures key agreement for aid distribution from US military pier being built off Gaza coast
CNN
The Biden administration has secured an agreement with a major UN agency to distribute aid from the pier the US military is constructing off the coast of Gaza, two senior US officials told CNN – a key development as the US and its allies have rushed to finalize plans for how desperately needed humanitarian aid will be distributed inside the war-torn strip.
The Biden administration has secured an agreement with a major UN agency to distribute aid from the pier the US military is constructing off the coast of Gaza, two senior US officials told CNN – a key development as the US and its allies have rushed to finalize plans for how desperately needed humanitarian aid will be distributed inside the war-torn strip. The US military is expected to finish constructing the pier early next month. The World Food Programme (WFP) will support distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the organization said Saturday. “The UN has agreed to work with the US and other partners on the maritime corridor as an additional route for relief to Gaza, on the condition that humanitarian principles can be ensured and that land access is also expanded,” a spokesperson told CNN. “Our objective remains to bring as much food to starving Gazans as possible, to avert looming famine,” the spokesperson added. The US role in the effort has been complex, with the military carrying out a high-stakes construction mission in a warzone and diplomats helping to organize a dangerous and highly politicized aid distribution operation. And as the US military is beginning to set up in the eastern Mediterranean, a private American company is eyeing a similar operation nearby that will also need security and some help from the UN. The logistics have been particularly complicated because no US troops will be on the ground in Gaza — something President Joe Biden ruled out when announcing the pier last month.
President Donald Trump this week lashed out at congressional Republicans like he rarely has before.
A Border Patrol agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon, during a traffic stop after authorities said they were associated with a Venezuelan gang, another incident in a string of confrontations with federal authorities that have left Americans frustrated with immigration enforcement during the Trump administration.
The Bella 1 had been tailed by a US Coast Guard cutter across the Atlantic Ocean for almost two weeks when the ship’s crew employed a novel tactic to evade the US military: painting a Russian flag on its hull.
The Washington National Opera on Friday announced it is parting ways with the Kennedy Center after more than a decade with the arts institution.
‘It’s uninvestible’: Trump’s Venezuela pitch met with skepticism from oil executives
FBI Director Kash Patel has named Christopher Raia, a seasoned career agent, to replace Dan Bongino as deputy director, according to people briefed on the matter.
President Donald Trump faced Republican defections on a series of split votes this week, but his willingness to call out members of his own party convinced some wavering lawmakers to stay in line.
Trump’s description of the Mexican trafficking world – one dominated by a few cartels that can be swiftly defeated – is at odds with how the crime organizations actually operate, experts say.
The Virginian man accused of planting two bombs in Washington, DC, five years ago pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of transporting and attempting to use explosives.
A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, according to a US official. CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon reports from Bogota.
Oregon authorities are investigating a shooting by a Border Patrol agent in Portland that wounded two people federal authorities say are tied to a violent international gang – an incident that renewed questions about the Trump administration’s handling of its immigration crackdown in the city and across the US.
A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolas Maduro, according to a US official.
Mutual distrust between federal and state authorities derailed plans for a joint FBI and state criminal investigation into Wednesday’s shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer, leading to the highly unusual move by the Justice Department to block state investigators from participating in the probe.