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Israeli authorities are moving forward with plans to dramatically expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite growing international condemnation and warnings that the move would destroy already moribund prospects for a two-state solution.

The Israeli government has set Wednesday as the date to discuss building thousands of new housing units in the E1 area, east of occupied East Jerusalem. The proposed expansion would link the large and illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement with Jerusalem, effectively bisecting the West Bank and isolating Palestinian communities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government also appears on the cusp of announcing its intention to occupy all of Gaza as its genocidal war on the besieged enclave rages on.

The E1 plan in the West Bank has long been criticised by the international community, including the European Union and successive United States administrations. In 2022, Israel postponed the plan following US pressure, but in recent months, the government approved road-widening projects in the area and began restricting Palestinian access – a move rights groups say indicates a renewed push to entrench control.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will return from Moscow with a framework for peace between Russia and Ukraine. 

“The specific timing of it is not discussed,” Rubio told Larry Kudlow during an appearance on Fox Business Channel.

“I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war. We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept,” he added.

Witkoff has been gleaning information from talks in Russia as the Kremlin advances strikes on Kyiv and surrounding cities in its war with Ukraine.

In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed to obtain Crimea and additional land before removing soldiers from the frontlines.

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The Israeli military has put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders amid fears that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is preparing to order the full occupation of the Palestinian territory later this week.

Israel’s security cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday evening and sign off on plans for an expanded operation despite reported serious misgivings from senior military officers.

The order for Gaza – euphemistically described by the Israel Defense Forces as an “evacuation” – is the latest in dozens of such announcements that have displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population, many on multiple occasions.

The orders came as the US president, Donald Trump, said any decision over expanded Israeli control in Gaza was up to Israel. “As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

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An active-duty soldier opened fire at Fort Stewart military base in south-east Georgia on Wednesday, wounding five other soldiers before being taken into custody.

All victims are in stable condition and expected to recover. Three of the soldiers required surgery, and two were transferred to Memorial Health University medical center in Savannah, the top-level trauma center for coastal Georgia.

Brig Gen John Lubas, commander of the third infantry division and Fort Stewart-Hunter army airfield, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the alleged shooter was 28-year-old Sgt Quornelius Radford, who was assigned to Fort Stewart.

“The shooting occurred at the soldier’s place of work,” Lubas said. “It did involve his co-workers. We’re still not certain about the motivations, but again, he’s been interviewed by army investigators, and we believe we’ll gain more information here shortly.”

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The White House confirmed on Wednesday that Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin to try to broker an end to the Russian war on Ukraine as soon as next week, but finding a neutral venue to host the summit might not be easy, given that the Russian president was indicted for war crimes in 2023 by the international criminal court, and so is subject to arrest in 125 countries.

That rules out Helsinki, where Trump and Putin met in 2018, since Finland is one of the 125 state parties to the Rome statute authorizing the ICC, and so would be obliged to act on the court’s arrest warrant should Putin visit. Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, Malta, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, which all hosted cold war era summits between American and Soviet leaders, are also out, for the same reason.

Potsdam, where Truman met Stalin in 1945, is also impossible, since Germany is also a signatory to the ICC treaty.

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Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has joined the Democratic Party after falling out with the GOP, saying the switch has been coming for a while. 

Duncan, in an op-ed published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, said his journey to becoming a Democrat began well before President Trump tried to “steal” the 2020 presidential election, an effort Duncan denounced at the time. 

“There’s no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has,” he said. “My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.”

Duncan outlined various policy issues that contributed to his decision to make the switch, attackiDuncan outlined various policy issues that contributed to his decision to make the switch, attacking Republicans for their handling of health care, Medicaid, support for poor people, gun control and immigration. 

The former lieutenant governor said his time serving in elected office taught him the best way to “love my neighbor” is through public policy. 

He added that Republicans have argued for decades that the solution to not having health insurance is to get a job, but most uninsured Georgians live in working households but don’t have insurance because of issues with affordability or eligibility.

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Border Patrol agents clad in tactical gear jumped out of a Penske moving truck in the parking lot of a Los Angeles Home Depot before arresting more than a dozen immigrants early on Wednesday morning.

The raid, dubbed “Operation Trojan Horse” by U.S. Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, came weeks after a federal judge temporarily blocked agents from using race, spoken language or place of work to target people in indiscriminate immigration arrests. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed the federal judge’s ruling.

The Wednesday raid, as well as others in the Los Angeles area in recent weeks, suggest that the Trump administration is not complying with court orders, immigrant rights advocates told HuffPost.

“We are deeply troubled by reports of raids in Southern California since Saturday, including at a Home Depot in Westlake this morning,” Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney at ACLU Foundation of Southern California and one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told HuffPost in a statement. “While we continue to investigate these incidents, the evidence available so far raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation of the federal judge’s July temporary restraining order.”

“What we saw today is disturbing. It creates chaos. And it sends waves of terror in the community that is already reeling with the impact of more than 45 days of military siege,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

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Texas state House Democrats who left their state to prevent Republicans from passing a new congressional district map were forced to evacuate their hotel after a bomb threat, but officials say everyone is safe. 

The St. Charles Police Department in Illinois said officers responded to a report of a bomb threat at about 7:15 a.m. CDT Wednesday at a hotel where the Democrats were staying. The department’s officers, along with those from the fire department and the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a “thorough” search and did not find any device, according to a release. 

The release said 400 people were evacuated as bomb squad units conducted their search, and everyone has been able to return to the hotel.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said he’s “aware” of the threats and instructed the Illinois State Police to ensure that public safety is maintained. 

“Threats of violence will be investigated and those responsible will be held accountable,” he said in a post on the social platform X. 

A group of Texas state House Democratic leaders — Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Ramon Romero and Legislative Black Caucus Chair Barbara Gervin-Hawkins — said in a statement that a threat was made on Wednesday morning against the members, but everyone is safe. 

“We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred,” they said. “We are grateful for Governor Pritzker, local, and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety.”

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