Capital One Financial said it will buy Discover Financial Services for $35 billion, in a deal that would bring together two of the nation's credit card companies as well as potentially shake up the payments industry, which is largely dominated by Visa and Mastercard. Under the terms of the all-stock transaction, Discover Financial shareholders will receive Capital One shares valued at nearly $140. That's a significant premium to the $110.49 that Discover shares closed at Friday. The deal marries two of the largest credit card companies that aren't banks first, like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, with the notable exception of American Express. It also brings together two companies whose customers are largely similar: often Americans who are looking for cash back or modest travel rewards, compared to the premium credit cards dominated by AmEx, Citi and Chase. “This marketplace that’s dominated by the big players is going to shrink a little bit more now,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit card analyst at LendingTree. It also will give Discover's payment network a major credit card partner in a way that could make the payment network a major competitor once again. The U.S. credit card industry is dominated by the Visa-Mastercard duopoly with AmEx being a distance third place and Discover an even more distant fourth place. Read: FDIC: First Citizens Bank to acquire Silicon Valley Bank With its purchase of Discover, Capital One is betting that Americans’ will continue to increasingly use their credit cards and keep balances on those accounts to collect interest. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Americans held $1.13 trillion on their credit cards, and aggregate household debt balances increased by $212 billion, up 1.2%, according to the latest data from the New York Federal Reserve. As they run up their card balances, consumers are also paying higher interest rates. The average interest rate on a bank credit card is roughly 21.5%, the highest it’s been since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data in 1994. At the same time, the two lenders have had to boost their reserves against the possibility of rising borrower defaults. After battling inflation for more than two years, many lower- and middle-income Americans have run through their savings and are increasingly running up their credit card balances and taking on personal loans. The additional reserves have weighed on both banks’ profits. Last year, Capital One’s net income available to common shareholders slumped 35% versus 2022, as its provisions for loan losses soared 78% to $10.4 billion. Discover’s full-year profit sank 33.6% versus its 2022 results as its provisions for credit losses more than doubled to $6.02 billion. Discover’s customers are carrying $102 billion in balances on their credit cards, up 13% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the charge-off rates and 30-day delinquency rates have climbed. Beyond boosting bank deposits and loan accounts, the acquisition would give Capital One access to the Discover payment processing network. While smaller than industry giants Visa and Mastercard, the Discover network will enable Capital One to get revenue from fees charged for every merchant transaction that runs on the network. Read: Silicon Valley Bank collapse concerns founders of color Discover has been operating under heightened scrutiny from regulators. Last summer, the company disclosed that beginning around mid-2007, it incorrectly classified certain card accounts into its highest merchant pricing tiers. The company also received an unrelated consent order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation over its customer compliance management. Analysts at Citigroup say the regulatory issues may have prompted the sale. “We are surprised that DFS would sell, but suppose that its regulatory challenges such as its recent October FDIC consent order and the card product misclassification issue may have opened the door for the board to consider strategic alternatives that it may not have in the past,” wrote analysts Arren Cyganovich and Kaili Wang in a note to clients. It's unclear whether the deal will pass regulatory scrutiny. Nearly every bank issues a credit card to customers but few companies are credit card companies first, and banks second. Both Discover — which was long ago the Sears Card — and Capital One started off as credit card companies that expanded into other financial offerings like checking and savings accounts. Consumer groups are expected to put heavy pressure on the Biden Administration to make sure the deal is good for consumers as well as shareholders. Read more: Washington reacts on the fly to Silicon Valley Bank failure “The proposed transaction is rather out of sync with the times. But big banks don’t worry too much about consumers and they are always out to reduce competition," said Carter Dougherty with Americans for Financial Reform.

Historic hearings are opening on Monday at the United Nations’ top court into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. Palestinian representatives will speak first as the International Court of Justice begins hearing legal arguments following a request submitted by the U.N. General Assembly for a non-binding advisory opinion into Israel's policies in the occupied territories. Though the case opens at the court's Great Hall of Justice against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, it focuses instead on Israel’s open-ended control over the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem. The Palestinian legal team will tell the panel of international judges that Israel has violated the prohibition on territorial conquest by annexing large swaths of occupied land and the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and has imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid. Read: Munich Security Conference concludes with anxiety to seek "silver lining"  “We want to hear new words from the court,” said Omar Awadallah, the head of the U.N. organizations department in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry. After the Palestinians address the court on Monday, an unprecedented 51 countries and three international organizations will speak. The court will likely take months to issue its opinion. Israel is not scheduled to speak during the hearings, but could submit a written statement. Yuval Shany, a law professor at Hebrew University and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, said Israel will likely justify the ongoing occupation on security grounds, especially in the absence of a peace deal. It is likely to point to the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas-led militants from Gaza killed 1,200 people across southern Israel and dragged 250 hostages back to the territory. However, Palestinians and leading rights groups argue that the occupation goes far beyond defensive measures. They say it has morphed into an apartheid system, bolstered by settlement building on occupied lands, that gives Palestinians second-class status and is designed to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel rejects any accusation of apartheid. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose future should be decided in negotiations. It has built 146 settlements across the West Bank, according to watchdog group Peace Now, many of which resemble fully developed suburbs and small towns. The settlements are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers, while around 3 million Palestinians live in the territory. Read: US envoy says Israel has not presented evidence that Hamas diverted U.N. aid deliveries in Gaza  Israel annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighborhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones. Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but continued to control the territory's airspace, coastline and population registry. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza when the Palestinian militant Hamas group seized power there in 2007. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements to be illegal. Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, is not internationally recognized. It’s not the first time the court has been asked to give an advisory opinion on Israeli policies. In 2004, it said a separation barrier Israel built through east Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank was “contrary to international law.” It also called on Israel to immediately halt construction. Israel has ignored the ruling. Also, late last month, the court ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its campaign in Gaza. The order came at a preliminary stage of a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, a charge that Israel denied. South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to the apartheid regime of white minority rule in South Africa, which restricted most Black people to “homelands” before ending in 1994. 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's fight to avoid facing spying charges in the United States may be nearing an end following a protracted legal saga in the U.K. that included seven years of self-exile inside a foreign embassy and five years in prison. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in London next week as he tries to stop his extradition to the U.S. The High Court has scheduled two days of arguments over whether Assange can ask an appeals court to block his transfer. If the court doesn't allow the appeal to go forward, he could be sent across the Atlantic. His wife says the decision is a matter of life and death for Assange, whose health has deteriorated during his time in custody. “His life is at risk every single day he stays in prison,” Stella Assange said Thursday. “If he’s extradited, he will die.” WHAT IS ASSANGE CHARGED WITH?Assange, 52, an Australian computer expert, has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over Wikileaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. If convicted, his lawyers say he could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower. Assange and his supporters argue he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing and is protected under press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. US, Philippines to host 6th Indo-Pacific Business Forum on May 2 Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists. “Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing and communicating information to the public of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. government,” Stella Assange said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.” U.S. lawyers say Assange is guilty of trying to hack the Pentagon computer and that WikiLeaks’ publications created a “grave and imminent risk” to U.S. intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq. WHY HAS THE CASE DRAGGED ON SO LONG?While the U.S. criminal case against Assange was only unsealed in 2019, his freedom has been restricted for more than a dozen years. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after courts in England ruled he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation in the Scandinavian country. He was arrested by British police after Ecuador’s government withdrew his asylum status in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail when he first took shelter inside the embassy. Although Sweden dropped its sex crimes investigation, Assange has remained in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison while the extradition battle with the U.S. continues. A judge in London initially blocked Assange’s transfer to the U.S. on the grounds he was likely to kill himself if held in harsh American prison conditions. But subsequent courts cleared the way for the move after U.S. authorities provided assurances he wouldn’t experience the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk. US rolls out visa restriction policy on people who misuse spyware to target journalists, activists Stella Assange and her husband's supporters have criticized those assurances as being meaningless because they are conditional. WHAT ARE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES FROM THE HEARING?If the London court rejects Assange's plea for a full appeal, he could be extradited to the U.S. once British officials approve his removal. His legal team plans to appeal an adverse ruling to the European Court of Human Rights, but they fear he could possibly be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal. If he prevails at next week's hearing, it would set the stage for an appeal process that is likely to further drag out the case. “This procedure has been marked by prolonged and creeping time frames,” Wikileaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said. “We call it punishment through process. It is obviously a deliberate attempt to wear him down to punish him by taking this long.” While the U.K. Supreme Court rejected Assange's petition, saying he didn't raise an “arguable point of law," his wife said his new bid will raise several points that are grounds for appeal. Lawyers for Assange plan to argue he can't get a fair trial in the U.S., that a U.S.-U.K. treaty prohibits extradition for political offenses and that the crime of espionage was not meant to apply to publishers. “The drafters of the Espionage Act did not intend for publishers to fall within its ambit,” Stella Assange wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Unchallenged expert evidence showed that receipt and publication of state secrets is routine, and that there was an ‘unbroken practice of non-prosecution’ of publishers. The prosecution ‘crosses a new legal frontier’ and ‘breaks all legal precedents.’” WHAT IS ASSANGE'S CURRENT STATE?Stella Assange said her husband's mental and physical health has declined dramatically and he's aged prematurely in prison. He experienced a mini-stroke in October 2021 and was so ill in December that he broke a rib coughing. “I worry about him every time he gets sick,” Stella Assange said. “The mental toll is extreme.” The couple, who got married at Belmarsh Prison almost two years ago, have two young sons, Gabriel and Max, who were conceived during Assange's stay in the embassy. The boys visit their father in prison every week, undergoing security checks that include being patted down by guards and sniffed by dogs, Stella Assange said. The couple is protective of the children, who haven’t been told why their father is behind bars, according to their mother. “I don’t think it’s fair on them to know what’s really going on,” she said as she choked up. “They know exactly what a prison is. They know that the guards are stopping Julian from leaving the prison even though he wants to come home.”

The 60th Munich Security Conference concluded on Sunday after three days of discussion on security challenges, during which Western leaders expressed worries and anxiety about geopolitical risks. The organizer highlighted "a real risk that more and more countries end up in a lose-lose situation." Addressing the conference on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the global community is more fragmented and divided than at any time in the past 75 years. Read: Macron says recognizing a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France  Faced with regional challenges including the Ukraine crisis and Gaza conflict, participants were looking for a "silver lining" amid the current global situation. An increasing number of representatives from the Global South have been invited to the event in recent years. They expressed their views on reforming a global order defined by the West. "A multilateral system needs to be able to make voices heard," said Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley during the conference.

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight and into Sunday, according to medics and witnesses, as the United States said it would veto another draft U.N. cease-fire resolution. The U.S., Israel's top ally, instead hopes to broker a cease-fire agreement and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, and envisions a wider resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back, calling Hamas' demands “delusional” and rejecting U.S. and international calls for a pathway to Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “total victory” over Hamas and to expand it to Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah, where more than half the enclave's population of 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. An airstrike in Rafah overnight killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another strike killed five men in the southern city of Khan Younis, the main target of the offensive over the past two months. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies arrive at a hospital in Rafah. In Gaza City, which was isolated, largely evacuated and suffered widespread destruction in the initial weeks of the war, an airstrike flattened a family home, killing seven people, including three women, according to Sayed al-Afifi, a relative of the deceased. The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas. Read: Do everything to prevent further military offensives, forge permanent ceasefire in Gaza: Joint Statement  UN SAYS RAIDED HOSPITAL NO LONGER FUNCTIONING The head of the World Health Organization meanwhile said Nasser Hospital, the main medical center serving southern Gaza, was no longer able to function after Israel raided the facility late last week. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a WHO team was not allowed to enter the hospital on Friday or Saturday “to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners.” He said there are still about 200 patients in the hospital, including 20 who need urgent referrals to other hospitals. Israel says it has arrested 70 suspected militants, including 20 who it says participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, without providing evidence. The military says it is looking for the remains of hostages inside the facility and does not target doctors or patients. The war erupted after Hamas burst through Israel's defenses and attacked communities across southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Militants still hold around 130 hostages, a fourth of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the others were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. The war has killed at least 28,858 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records. Around 80% of Gaza's population have been driven from their homes and a quarter face starvation. David Satterfield, the U.S. Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues, said Friday that Israeli strikes on Hamas-run police guarding aid convoys had caused them to halt the escorts, making it "virtually impossible” to deliver desperately-needed aid because of the threat of criminal gangs. He also said Israel has not presented specific evidence for its claims that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid. Read: 5 patients die as oxygen runs out in Gaza hospital seized by Israeli forces, health officials say  US OPPOSES ANOTHER CEASE-FIRE RESOLUTION Algeria, the Arab representative on the U.N. Security Council, has circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and unhindered humanitarian access, as well as rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement late Saturday that the draft resolution runs counter to Washington's own efforts to end the fighting and “will not be adopted." “It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it — and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities — in jeopardy,” she said. The U.S. has used its veto on similar previous resolutions with wide international support, and President Joe Biden has bypassed Congress to rush arms to Israel while urging it to take greater measures to spare civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker a cease-fire and hostage release, but there's a wide gap between Israel and Hamas' demands and Qatar said Saturday that the talks “have not been progressing as expected.” Hamas has said it will not release all of the remaining hostages without Israel ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza. It is also demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including top militants. Netanyahu has publicly rejected both demands and any scenario in which Hamas would be able to rebuild its military and governing capabilities. He said he sent a delegation to cease-fire talks in Cairo last week at Biden’s request but doesn't see the point in sending them again. Netanyahu has also pushed back against international concern about a planned Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, saying residents will be evacuated to safer areas. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear. The Israeli leader is also opposed to Palestinian statehood, which the U.S. says is a key element in its broader vision for normalization of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, and Arab investment in Gaza's postwar reconstruction and governance.  

Israel has not presented specific evidence that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid and its recent targeted killings of Gaza police commanders safeguarding truck convoys have made it “virtually impossible” to distribute the goods safely, a top U.S. envoy said in rare public criticism of Israel. With the departure of police escorts following Israeli strikes, criminal gangs are increasingly targeting the convoys, said David Satterfield, the Biden administration's special Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues. He said the lawlessness as well as regular Israeli protests at crossing points by those opposed to aid going into Gaza have disrupted delivery and distribution. “We are working with the Israeli government, the Israeli military in seeing what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the assistance continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. A solution "is going to require some form of security escorts to return.” Satterfield said that Israeli officials have not presented “specific evidence of diversion or theft” of U.N. assistance, but that the militants have their own interests in using “other channels of assistance ... to shape where and to whom assistance goes.” Read: Top UN court rejects South African request for urgent measures to safeguard Rafah Even before the latest setback, the U.S. has said aid reaching Gaza is woefully inadequate. More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are packed into the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, having heeded Israeli evacuation orders. Yet nowhere is safe, with Israel also carrying out airstrikes in Rafah. Israel's air and ground offensive, triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has killed over 28,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. It as caused widespread destruction, displaced some 80% of the population and sparked a humanitarian crisis. Rafah area residents say it's common for groups of children and teenagers to try to stop trucks as they enter Gaza and to grab supplies. On Friday, police opened fire after a crowd charged toward an aid truck that had emerged from the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the local Crossings Authority, said one person was killed. Israel has alleged repeatedly that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, after it enters Gaza, a claim denied by U.N. aid agencies. Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three senior police commanders in Rafah, the first entry point for aid deliveries. Two other officers were killed in another strike. Read: Israeli forces storm main hospital in southern Gaza, saying hostages were likely held there The police force is controlled by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, but Satterfield noted that it also includes those who joined before Hamas seized Gaza in 2007. EGYPT IS CONCERNEDIsrael has said it is determined to expand its ground combat to Rafah, portraying it as the last significant stronghold of Hamas fighters, but has not given a timeline. Addressing international concerns, Israel has said it would develop a plan to evacuate civilians before invading the southern city. U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a “credible” plan to protect civilians and to instead focus on a cease-fire, while Egypt has said such an operation could threaten diplomatic relations between the countries. Many other world leaders have issued similar messages of concern. Israel has said it has no plans to force Palestinians into Egypt. New satellite photos, however, indicate that Egypt is preparing for that very scenario. The images show Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with Gaza. Egypt has not publicly acknowledged the construction. Two senior Egyptian officials said Saturday that Egypt is building additional defensive lines in an already existing buffer zone. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with the media. The buffer zone, which Egypt built in recent years as part of its battle against an Islamic State insurgency, is 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border. It was meant to prevent weapons smuggling to and from Gaza through underground tunnels. Authorities said they destroyed over 1,500 tunnels over the years. The newly fortified zone is not intended to shelter Palestinians fleeing Gaza, said Diaa Rashwan, the head of the State Information Service. THE WAR DRAGS ONThe Israeli military launched its war in response to a cross-border Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 others hostage. The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the overall death toll in Gaza to 28,858, saying the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours. Read: Blasts hit a natural gas pipeline in Iran that an official says was an act of sabotage The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says two-thirds of those killed are women and children. More than 68,000 people have been wounded, including 11,000 who need urgent evacuation for treatment outside Gaza, it said. In recent weeks, Israel's military has focused on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city and a Hamas stronghold. The city's Nasser Hospital has been portrayed by the military as a Hamas hideout and as one of its last targets in Khan Younis. The army said Saturday that it has arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at the hospital. Israel's defense minister has said at least 20 of those detained had been involved in the Oct. 7 attack. The Health Ministry said troops had turned the hospital into “military barracks" and detained a large number of medical staff, without providing details. Israel says it does not target patients or doctors, but staff say the facility is struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water.

French President Emmanuel Macron says recognizing a Palestinian state is not a ‘’taboo’’ for France, as international frustration grows with Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories. France and the EU have long supported a two-state solution in the Mideast, but as part of a negotiated settlement. With talks long stalled and Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza deepening, some European countries are voicing support for recognizing a Palestinian state sooner. ‘’Recognizing a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,’’ Macron said Friday at a meeting in Paris with Jordan’s King Abdullah. ‘’We owe it to Palestinians, whose aspirations have been trampled on for too long. We owe it to Israelis, who lived through the worst antisemitic massacre of our time. We owe it to a region that is seeking to rise above those who promote chaos and seed revenge.’’ Macron did not elaborate on when and under what conditions France could recognize a Palestinian state, and France is unlikely to take such a decision unilaterally. But France holds important diplomatic weight, as one of just five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. “Our partners in the region, notably Jordan, are working on it, we are working on it with them. We are ready to contribute to it, in Europe and in the Security Council,’’ Macron said. Read: Biden warns Israel not to attack Rafah without plan to protect civilians  He also called for a cease-fire in Gaza and warned that an Israeli offensive in Rafah on the border with Egypt would lead to an “humanitarian disaster without any precedent.” Britain’s Foreign Minister David Cameron said earlier this month that his country could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood, and there have been no substantive negotiations on a two-state solution since 2009. A move by some of Israel’s key allies to recognize a Palestinian state could put pressure on Israel to resume negotiations.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that the Palestinian state is not a gift or a favor but "a right imposed by international law and legitimate international resolutions." This came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest rejection of international pressure for Palestinian statehood Friday following a Washington Post report on Wednesday regarding the ongoing negotiation for "a fixed timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state" by the United States and a small group of Arab countries. Top UN court rejects South African request for urgent measures to safeguard Rafah "We strongly reject international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians," Netanyahu said in a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden Friday night. "Netanyahu once again challenges international and American consensus on the right to end the occupation and establish the Palestinian state, declaring his rejection of international and UN recognition of it," said the ministry in a statement Friday. Netanyahu imposes "his traditional conditions and dictates on the world and the Palestinian people in order to thwart any efforts or ideas regarding the statehood of the Palestinian people, foremost among them his rejection of any international intervention," according to the statement. Israeli forces storm main hospital in southern Gaza, saying hostages were likely held there It considered Netanyahu's positions as "political terrorism par excellence and a clear interpretation of the true goals of settlement and annexation of the West Bank, including Jerusalem."

President Joe Biden said Friday there was no sign Russia has decided to go ahead and deploy an emerging anti-satellite weapon, the disclosure of which has rattled Washington this week. The White House has confirmed that U.S. intelligence officials have information indicating Russia has obtained such a capability, although such a weapon is not yet operational. Biden said Friday that “there’s no evidence that they have made a decision to go forward with doing anything in space,” while he continued to stress that there was no immediate danger to humans. “There is no nuclear threat to the people of America or anywhere else in the world with what Russia’s doing at the moment,” Biden told reporters at the White House during remarks on the reported death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Biden warns Israel not to attack Rafah without plan to protect civilians The president confirmed that the capability obtained by Russia “related to satellites and space and damaging those satellites potentially,” and that those capabilities could “theoretically do something that was damaging.” But Russia hasn’t moved forward with plans yet, and, Biden added: “My hope is, it will not.” The news of the capability emerged this week after a cryptic warning from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who urged Biden to declassify information relating to what he called a “serious national security threat." Biden welcomes King of Jordan as framework for hostage deal is decided in Israel-Hamas conflict That declassification process had been underway when Turner released the statement, according to the White House. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, raised the matter with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and “emphasized that the pursuit of this capability should be a matter of concern,” according to a U.S. official traveling with Blinken in Munich. The official, who was granted anonymity to discuss details of meetings that hadn’t been publicly disclosed, said Blinken will continue raising it throughout his meetings at the security forum.

In a welcome move on Thursday, the Indian Commerce Ministry confirmed its rejection of Switzerland’s demand for data exclusivity for medicines in the India-EFTA trade deal, and emphasised the importance of protecting the country’s generic drug production and supply. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Public Eye, and Delhi Network of Positive People yesterday issued a joint statement highlighting their concerns about the damaging intellectual property provisions that were being negotiated in the India-EFTA trade deal that could negatively impact access to affordable medicines for millions of people in India and around the world. One of the key concerns was the proposal to introduce an additional IP barrier, data exclusivity, as it would delay the registration of generic versions of new medicines or new formulations for a set period, even when there is no patent on the medicine. "We welcome the Indian Commerce Ministry’s strong stand against the inclusion of data exclusivity in its trade talks with EFTA. We appeal to India to continue to reject all harmful intellectual property provisions in this and other trade deals that may limit India's supply of affordable generic medicines for millions of people in India and around the world," said Farhat Mantoo, Executive Director, MSF South Asia.