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Israel carried out airstrikes against Iran on Friday and explosions were reported in the sky over the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz. The Iranian government sought to play down the scale of the attack.
Officials in Washington confirmed Israeli forces were carrying out military operations against Iran. Iranian state media said drones had been shot down over Isfahan province and sought to reassure citizens. A senior Iranian official told Reuters there was no plan for immediate retaliation.
Meanwhile, on Thursday night the US vetoed a Palestinian request to the UN security council for full United Nations membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
What is the context? The Israeli strike is in retaliation for a Iranian aerial attack involving 300 missiles and drones on Sunday morning, Iran’s first ever attack on the Jewish state, which in turn was a reprisal for the bombing of an Iranian consular building in Damascus on 1 April.
What does it say about US-Israeli relations? Benjamin Netanyahu defied Joe Biden, who had urged Israel not to respond militarily but to “take the win” of having shot down Iranian missiles.
How was the UN security council vote on Palestinian UN membership split? The 15-member body voted 12 in favor, the US opposed, and two abstentions, the UK and Switzerland.
All 12 jurors seated in Trump hush-money trial after two dismissals
A full jury of 12 people has been seated in the criminal case against Donald Trump.
The development came after two jurors were removed – underscoring the difficulty of choosing a jury in one of the most high-stakes cases in US history – and after the judge criticised the press corps.
It was the third day of Trump’s hush-money trial and a continuation of the tricky process of jury selection. Trump, the first former US president to face criminal trial, sat expressionless throughout the session on Thursday morning and appeared attentive.
What happens next? The court still needs to appoint six alternate jurors. At least one alternate had been selected before court concluded on Thursday.
How did the judge rebuke the press? He said to exercise “common sense” and “refrain from anything that has to do, for example, with physical descriptions” of jurors. He prohibited reporting on employers of jurors. It came after Fox News ran a segment on Tuesday that directly attacked jury members.
What will the 12 jurors decide? Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged $130,000 hush-money scheme involving Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. He pleads not guilty.
Over 100 arrested for Columbia protest against Israeli attack on Gaza after university president calls in NYPD
More than 100 people were arrested at Columbia University on Thursday – including the daughter of the Democratic representative Ilhan Omar – after the school’s president called in the New York police department to break up student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Tents were pitched on the central campus of the Ivy League school on Wednesday, and hundreds of students demonstrated to call for the university to financially divest from Israel, and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The university’s president, Minouche Shafik, said: “I authorized the New York police department to begin clearing the encampment [because organizers] violated a long list of rules and policies.”
What is the context? Since 7 October, tensions have flared on college campuses across the US. Students have protested against the Israeli war effort and the US’s support, while Jewish voices have alleged rising antisemitism.
Who organized the protest? A coalition of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace. Columbia says the organizations have been suspended for violating school policies on holding events. Columbia has a history of campus radicalism, with students occupying university buildings in 1968 to protest against the US war in Vietnam.
What prompted Shafik to call in the NYPD? It is unclear. The demonstration was nonviolent. On Wednesday, Shafik was grilled by a House committee over antisemitism on campus. Similar testimonies from the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania led to them stepping down.
In other news …
Nigerian troops have rescued a pregnant woman and her three children 10 years after she was abducted by Boko Haram militants. Lydia Simon was one of 276 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok in 2014.
A Polish man was arrested over allegations of aiding a plot to assassinate the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors said it was a plot by Russian intelligence services.
The US has resumed deportation flights to Haiti despite the continuing bloodshed in the country. More than 70 Haitians expelled from the US arrived on Thursday amid Haiti’s bloody insurrection.
The UK’s Prince Harry formally confirmed he is a US resident. It came in a corporate filing and follows his walk away from royal duties four years ago.
Stat of the day: unhealthy levels of pesticides in about 20% of US produce
Consumer Reports has found unhealthy levels of pesticides in about 20% of US produce. The Guardian has a briefing on the six fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide risk – blueberries, bell peppers, potatoes, watermelons, green beans, and kale and mustard greens – plus a full interactive guide on the chemical levels of each item of produce.
Don’t miss this: the chilling policy to cut Greenland’s high birthrate – podcast
More than 100 women are suing the Danish government for a policy of forced contraception. Today in Focus investigates how thousands of Inuit women and girls in Greenland – some aged just 13 – were fitted with coils from the late 1960s. Many say this was done without their or their parents’ consent, and caused lasting damage.
Last Thing: 11 transport fantasies that never caught on
From jetpacks to swan-powered paragliders, check out these 11 transport prototypes that never went mainstream. Above is MW Hulton demonstrating his sea-shoes and duckfoot propellers. Still, some of the inventions seem worth salvaging. Why are moving platforms confined to airports, for instance, after Parisians experimented with “moving pavements” in 1900?
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