News

The Associated Press reports: Israel’s Blue and White party leaders are conceding defeat in Israel’s election, saying they will work against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the opposition. Yair Lapid, the party’s No. 2 figure, told a press conference Wednesday that though his party “did not win in this round, I respect the voters.” He said his party will …

Roll Call reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already declared the Democratic net neutrality bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber. Democrats likely never gave their legislation, sponsored by Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, much of a chance of advancing beyond the House. But while Republicans have spent weeks shaping their message …

The Independent reports: An international scientific team on Wednesday announced a milestone in astrophysics – the first-ever photo of a black hole – using a global network of telescopes to gain insight into celestial objects with gravitational fields so strong no matter or light can escape. The research was conducted by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, an international collaboration …

The Associated Press reports: Attorney General William Barr is returning to Capitol Hill for a second time this week as lawmakers, the White House and the American public anxiously await his release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. Barr will speak to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Wednesday, the second of two days of hearings about his department’s budget. Like …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz both declared that they won Tuesday’s election after inconclusive exit polls were broadcast on the three Israeli networks. Netanyahu claimed victory, because his Right-Center bloc won handily over Gantz’s Center-Left bloc in polls broadcast on Channel 13 and KAN, 66 to 54 and 64 to …

CBS News reports: As Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha calmly, clinically, described reviewing the autopsy reports for his murdered daughters and son-in-law, members of the House Judiciary Committee clasped their hands over the mouths, stifling tears. The Feb. 10, 2015 murders of 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, her 23-year-old husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, and 19-year-old sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, shocked the Chapel Hill, …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Warning of the rise of the Left, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned campaign event in Ashdod on Tuesday and returned to Jerusalem, where he said he was going to work to “save the Right” and ensure that a right-wing government comes to power following the elections. “I received a dramatic update that there is …

NBC News reports: Attorney General William Barr faced tough questions from a House panel Tuesday morning regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, telling lawmakers he would release a redacted version of the original document “within a week.” Barr’s appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee which oversees funding for the Commerce and Justice Departments …

The Washington Post reports: For years, Silicon Valley has struggled to strike the right balance between allowing users to express themselves and preventing the viral spread of objectionable posts, photos and videos. But a series of recent, high-profile failures in the eyes of some Democrats and Republicans have prompted renewed debate in Washington over the need to hold tech companies …

Hillary Clinton this morning tweeted a link to a Huffington Post article, noting, “The white nationalists certainly think MAGA is a white nationalist slogan.” From the article: Alexandre Bissonette wore the hat. A Canadian, Bissonette hadn’t voted for Donald Trump. He lived in a French-speaking province, far from the U.S. president’s campaign rallies and “America first” appeals. But some of …

USA Today reports: Congress has its first opportunity on Tuesday to question Attorney General William Barr on the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the details of which remain secret more than two weeks after the inquiry ended. The House Appropriations subcommittee is expected to press Barr on his decision to release a bare-bones summary of the special counsel’s …

The BBC reports: Madonna is set to play two songs during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel next month. The pop icon will reach more than 180 million viewers when she takes to the stage in Tel Aviv on 18 May. Her appearance was first announced by local promoters Live Nation Israel, who said the performance would …

The Associated Press reports: A neo-Nazi website operator must be present in the U.S. for questioning under oath in a lawsuit accusing him of orchestrating an anti-Semitic “troll storm” against a Montana real estate agent’s family, a federal judge has ruled. The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin says he lives abroad and says it’s too dangerous for him to travel …

The Portland Press Herald reports: Federal prosecutors charged a Burlington woman with mailing a threatening letter containing a white powder to the Bangor home of Sen. Susan Collins. Suzanne E. Muscara, 37, faces one count of mailing a threatening communication, and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. She is expected to make her …

ABC News reports: Alec Baldwin is asking his social media followers if he could count on his their votes if he ran for president. The actor, who won an Emmy Award in 2017 for his portrayal of President Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” wrote to his more than 1 million Twitter followers on Monday. It’s not the first time that …

Politico reports: Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, called Monday for Democrats to immediately bring special counsel Robert Mueller to the Capitol to testify on his still-secret report on Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign — and whether Trump himself obstructed the probe. “If you seek both transparency and for the American public to …

USA Today reports: Former SNL cast member Jason Sudeikis returned to his old stomping grounds to reprise his impression of Joe Biden that the former vice president once called “so good it scared me.” “I’m a hugger, I’m a kisser and a little bit of a sniffer. But the last thing I want to do is offend anyone,” Sudeikis’s Biden …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Don Lemon is tying the knot. The CNN Tonight anchor revealed in an Instagram post shared Saturday that his boyfriend, Tim Malone, popped the question while celebrating the real estate agent’s birthday. “He gave me a present on his birthday. How could I say no?” the 53-year-old news anchor captioned the photo, which showed two photos …

NBC News reports: Ecuador has denied WikiLeaks’ claims that it is set to expel Julian Assange from its embassy in London, rejecting what it called “an attempt to stain the dignity of the country.” On Friday, WikiLeaks tweeted that Assange would be expelled from the embassy “within ‘hours to days'” and claimed that Ecuador “already has an agreement with the …

The Associated Press reports: Bill Cosby has agreed to settle lawsuits filed by seven women who say he defamed them when he accused them of lying about sexual misconduct allegations. Court documents filed Friday in Springfield, Massachusetts, show the two sides have negotiated a settlement since Cosby went to prison last fall in a separate Pennsylvania sex assault case. The …