Until the Israel-Hamas war, President Joe Biden’s foreign policy goals in the Middle East were to further integrate Israel with its Arab neighbors and to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Both of those goals may now be in jeopardy as he focuses on keeping the conflict from spiraling into a regional war involving Iran-backed combatants in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.

Biden has spoken nine times with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the conflict broke out, said a senior administration official briefing reporters Friday. The official said Biden has also spoken to regional leaders — including those of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia — while national security adviser Jake Sullivan has engaged “almost daily” with partners in the region.

As Arab capitals erupt in anti-Israel demonstrations, U.S. officials believe the provision of humanitarian relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza is a key to containing the war.

On Friday and Saturday, Biden’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was back in the region for the second time in less than a month to push for humanitarian pauses to allow for increased aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of civilians.

“We need to do more to protect Palestinian civilians,” Blinken declared in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu, however, ordered thousands of Palestinian migrant workers back to Gaza and said Israel will neither allow fuel into the territory nor agree to a temporary stop in fighting that does not include a hostage release. More than 200 people were captured by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel and at least 1,400 were killed.

Blinken will be met with opposing demands in a meeting with his Arab counterparts in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday. Washington’s Arab partners are pushing for a more sustained cease-fire in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 9,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Observers say that even if the U.S. can navigate the diplomatic stand-off in the short term, it must also keep an eye on the political horizon — laying the groundwork for decisions about who will govern post-war Gaza and how to achieve a two-state solution.

Containing the conflict

The United States is “determined that there not be a second or third front opened in this conflict,” Blinken said. It has deployed military assets to the region as a deterrent.

On Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Hezbollah, a powerful militia and Hamas ally, has been engaged in cross-border fighting with Israeli soldiers. On Friday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah stopped short of announcing his militia would fully enter the conflict but warned the U.S. that if Israel did not stop its assault on Gaza, the conflict could widen.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Tuesday claimed responsibility for missile and drone strikes targeting Israel, following the group’s attacks last month that were intercepted by U.S. ships in the Red Sea.

American troops in Iraq and Syria have also been under attack from Iran-allied groups, prompting concerns about strikes on other U.S. bases across the region.

Violence is also escalating in the West Bank, where more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in fights with Israeli soldiers and armed Israeli settlers.

Barbara Slavin, distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, said the longer Israel’s offensive on Gaza goes on, the more militancy brews in the region, the higher the risk of miscalculation and the harder it will be to contain the war.

“Arab public opinion is inflamed by these terrible scenes [in Gaza],” she told VOA. Even countries that have recently normalized relations with Israel, including United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, are under growing public pressure to sever those ties.

Biden has repeatedly warned Iran and its proxies not to escalate the conflict. Tehran officials have also declared they do not want to widen the war.

Iran likes “to be on the brink of a conflict without crossing that brink,” said Elisheva Machlis, senior lecturer of Middle East Studies at Bar-Ilan University. She told VOA that Iran is likely instructing its proxies not to create another front in the war but to cause just enough problems to draw the Israeli military’s attention away from Gaza.

With the potential for miscalculation, that strategy could backfire even if Tehran has no desire to get directly involved.

What happens next?

Both Israel and the U.S. have ruled out a return to a Hamas-controlled Gaza and largely agree that Israel will not govern the territory post-war. The allies differ on what happens next, with Washington insisting that the goal of the war cannot be only to defeat Hamas but must also be to work toward a two-state solution.

“At some point, what would make the most sense is for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” Blinken told the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this week.

Netanyahu’s office has released a statement saying the goal of the war is the elimination of Hamas and that “talk of decisions to hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority or any other party is a lie.”

Unlike Hamas, the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel and supports a two-state solution. Plagued by corruption and deeply unpopular with its own people in the West Bank, it has declared no interest in assuming power in Gaza on the back of an Israeli military victory.

Blinken promised to talk to partners about “what will happen once Hamas is defeated,” beginning with the Saturday summit in Amman. At his Senate hearing, Blinken said if a permanent solution to Gaza cannot be achieved in one step, there are “other temporary arrangements” involving countries in the region and international agencies to provide security and governance.

In Amman, Blinken will discuss the “critical importance” of having a unified governance in Gaza and the West Bank and putting the foundation in place for a “very serious” process that will lead to a two-state solution, the senior administration official said.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute, said there is also a need to ensure there is no further radicalization and empowerment of extremists across the region.

“There will be a need for Arab states to take the lead in trying to devise some sort of policy response which can tackle the underlying issues as well as the most immediate ones which prompted this attack on October 7,” he told VOA.

Hamas has cited Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, Israeli police raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the detention of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails as motivation for its attack.

Securing a pause in fighting will be the first challenge to both the administration’s short-term goal of protecting Palestinian civilians and the longer-term aim of working toward a lasting peace in the region.

In what may be the clearest signal on the U.S. position on Arab demands for an indefinite cease-fire, the senior administration official said it “depends on the Israelis feeling secure” that something like Hamas’ October 7 massacre cannot happen again.
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The New York City Marathon women’s record, which has stood for 20 years, could go down Sunday with one of the strongest fields assembled in the history of the race.

Reigning champion Sharon Lokedi looks to defend her title against a stellar group of female runners who include Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, Olympic gold medalist and 2021 New York champion Peres Jepchirchir and former marathon world-record holder Brigid Kosgei.

“It was very life-changing,” Lokedi said of winning last year. “Very excited to be back here again.”

She’ll have some added support from her mother, who flew to New York from Kenya and will be waiting at the finish line in Central Park.

All will be aiming for the $50,000 bonus if they can beat the NYC event record of 2:22:31 set by Margaret Okayo in 2003. Obiri won the Boston Marathon in April, lowering her personal best to 2:21:38.

“The field will be very strong when I’m together with them,” Kosgei said.

Lokedi won in her marathon debut last year, taking the New York laurel wreath crown in 2:23.23. She pulled away in the final three kilometers of the race, winning in unseasonably warm temperatures in the 70s. It was one of the hottest days in race history since the marathon was moved to November in 1986.

The temperatures on Sunday are expected in the high 50s, considerably better for the 50,000 runners expected to start the race.

“I’m happy it will be cooler,” Lokedi said.

The four Kenyans all have a chance to win the race. There likely won’t be many American runners in contention because the U.S. Olympic marathon trials are three months away. Kellyn Taylor and Molly Huddle are the top U.S. runners in the race, returning after giving birth to daughters in 2022. Huddle finished third at the 2016 NYC Marathon in her debut at the distance.

“We’ve got a really strong group,” Taylor said. “When I look at the people seeded ahead of me, I’m like ‘holy moly.’ Their accolades are light years ahead of mine. But that’s the beauty of New York is that you can put all of that aside and anything can happen on that day.”

The current women’s world record is 2:11:53, set by Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia at the Berlin Marathon in September.

While the men’s field may not have the star power of the women’s side, there’s still a lot of intrigue. Defending champion Evans Chebet and two-time winner Geoffrey Kamworor pulled out of the race a few weeks ago, leaving it more open.

World Championship medalists Maru Teferi of Israel and Mosinet Geremew of Ethiopia could win the race, along with 2021 New York Marathon champion Albert Korir. There’s also marathon newcomer Edward Cheserek, who moved to the U.S. in 2010 and won 17 NCAA titles in his college career.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola also hopes to improve on his consecutive fourth-place finishes in in 2018-19. He placed third in the 2022 Toyko Marathon and the London Marathon this year. He’s seeking his first major marathon victory.

Ticket to Paris

The New York City Marathon serves as the U.S. Paralympic Trials, with up to four wheelchair racers set to become the first athletes across all sports to make the team for the 2024 Paris Games.

The top two Americans in the men’s and women’s NYC Marathon will qualify, provided they also record a minimum qualifying time since last October and are ranked high enough.

Susannah Scaroni has already posted that time and ranking.

“It would mean a lot. So much gratitude,” she said. “Would love to make the team in one of those two slots Sunday. It would be incredible to know I’m going to the Paralympics.”

Daniel Romanchuk is an eight-time major winner, most recently in Boston in 2022. He has consistently been the top American in majors, only surpassed by Swiss Marcel Hug, who has dominated the sport.

Extra protection

The New York Police Department will implement heightened security measures for the marathon.

“As tensions rise around the globe, there is a growing concern over the impact it will have here at home,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban. “There are currently no credible or specific threats to the marathon or to our city. But having said that, we will still implement a comprehensive security plan.”

There have been numerous protests in New York City since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month.
…

Latest developments:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he stressed preventing escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, doing more to protect Palestinians and substantially increasing aid to Gaza, when he met Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Netanyahu’s war Cabinet.
Israel is sending back to Gaza thousands of Palestinian workers who were trapped in Israel after the Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel says its troops have surrounded Gaza City amid diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the fighting and address a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin paused military support for congressional travel to Israel and is restricting many senior leaders from visiting as well.
U.N. expresses concern over deadly Israeli strikes around the Jabaliya refugee camp, saying they "could amount to war crimes."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that preventing the escalation and spread of the nearly monthlong Israel-Hamas conflict was the top priority after he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war Cabinet in Tel Aviv.

After the meeting, Blinken outlined for reporters the steps that must be taken to ensure an attack like the one on Oct. 7 never happens again and to ensure a “better tomorrow” for the people of Israel and Palestinians.

“We’ve been clear that as Israel conducts its campaign to defeat Hamas, how it does so matters. It matters because it’s the right and lawful thing to do. It matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups,” Blinken said.

“There will be no partners for peace if they’re consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight,” he added.

The United States stands behind Israel’s right “and obligation” to defend itself, Blinken said, but he also called for Israel to pause military operations and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Protecting Palestinian civilians is the second priority of his trip, he said.

In response, Netanyahu said, “We’re continuing with all our force, and Israel is refusing a temporary truce that doesn’t include the release of our hostages.” U.S.-designated terror group Hamas took 230 hostages and killed 1,400 people in its attack.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless by Israeli airstrikes in response to the Hamas terror attack. The Hamas-run health ministry said Friday the death toll in the enclave has topped 9,250, the United Nations reported.

Blinken said 100 trucks a day are now entering the area through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, but it is still not enough. Aid needed to increase “substantially and immediately” into Gaza, he said, adding that getting American citizens and other foreign nationals out of Gaza is his third priority. He said Israel indicated it was committed to enabling increased aid into the area.

Blinken was asked about a speech made Friday by Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah denied any involvement in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and did not announce an intention to enter the war, saying that in effect Hezbollah already had entered the war with its weekslong exchange of rocket and artillery fire with Israel.

“With regard to Lebanon, with regard to Hezbollah, with regard to Iran,” Blinken said, “We have been very clear from the outset that we are determined that there not be a second or third front opened in this conflict.” Blinken spoke to reporters in Israel, noting the United States has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the region as a deterrent to a widening conflict.

Blinken’s visit comes as Israeli ground troops have surrounded Gaza City amid wider diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the Israeli-Hamas war so greater humanitarian aid can enter Gaza.

The United Nations and various aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza unless greater amounts of aid are allowed to enter the territory. Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza shortly after the Hamas attack. That and the relentless airstrikes have led to shortages of food, clean water and fuel in Gaza, home to some 2.3 million people.

Blinken is scheduled to meet Saturday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman. Safadi said in a statement Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it is committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has issued a memo pausing military support for congressional travel to Israel and restricting visits by many senior military leaders.

A senior defense official, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, said the decision was made because extra travel in a dangerous war environment would place “unnecessary risk and undue burden on our forces.”

In other developments Friday, Israel began sending back to Gaza thousands of Palestinian workers who were stranded in Israel following the Hamas attack.

Meanwhile, more foreign nationals who were trapped in Gaza since the start of the war were expected to leave the territory through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Hundreds of foreigners left Gaza through Rafah on Wednesday and Thursday, as did dozens of critically injured Palestinians.

The reopening of the Rafah border crossing to allow foreign passport holders to leave was part of a Qatari-brokered deal among Israel, Egypt and Hamas.

VOA Senior State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine and VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information also came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

With Donald Trump due on the witness stand next week, testimony from his adult sons in his civil business fraud trial wrapped up Friday with Eric Trump saying he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to assure the accuracy of financial documents key to the case.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the ex-president, his sons and their company again pressed allegations that Judge Arthur Engoron is being improperly influenced by his principal law clerk. Engoron strongly denied the claims and, as he had a day earlier, told the attorneys not to broach the matter again.

Donald Trump is scheduled to testify Monday in the case, which comes as he leads Republican 2024 presidential hopefuls and fights four separate criminal cases.

The unrelated civil case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses him, his company and executives of deceiving banks and insurers by exaggerating his wealth on his annual financial statements.

Trump and the other defendants, including sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., deny the allegations.

“We’re going to win this thing. I promise you we’re going to win it because we haven’t done a damn thing wrong,” Eric Trump said outside court.

He and his older brother are executive vice presidents of the family’s Trump Organization, and they became trustees of a trust set up to run the company when their father went to the White House.

The sons signed, for example, yearly letters that certified their father’s financial wherewithal to lender Deutsche Bank. As Donald Trump Jr. did in testimony earlier this week, Eric Trump said he trusted company finance executives and an outside accounting firm to ensure the information was correct.

“I would not sign something that was not accurate,” he said Friday, his second day on the stand. “I relied on one of the biggest accounting firms in the country. And I relied on a great legal team. And when they gave me comfort that the statement was perfect, I was more than happy to execute.”

He testified anew that he didn’t dig into the details of his father’s “statement of financial condition.” James’ office says the documents contained grossly inflated values for assets ranging from Trump Tower in New York to the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Emails shown in court indicate that Eric Trump was asked for information to help complete the statement in 2013, and another Trump Organization executive has testified that the younger Trump was on a video call about the document as recently as 2021. He reiterated Friday that he had no memory of the call.

“I get thousands of calls,” he said, saying he picks up his phone at 5 a.m. and puts it down at midnight.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Eric Trump called the case a “charade” and waste of taxpayer dollars. Echoing his father, he also cast the case as a political “witch hunt.”

James and Engoron are Democrats, and his principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, ran as a Democrat for a civil court judgeship last year.

A Trump social media post disparaging Greenfield a month ago spurred a partial gag order that bans parties to the trial from commenting publicly on the judge’s staff. Fines followed, after Engoron said the ex-president violated the order.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly complained in court about the clerk’s notes to the judge during testimony.

The contents of the notes have not been disclosed. But the attorneys argue that the messages indicate possible bias against their case.

Engoron insists that he has an “absolute, unfettered right” to input from his clerk, and that he doesn’t see how such advice is a bellwether of bias. He told the defense Thursday that he might expand the gag order to include attorneys if anyone refers to a member of his staff again.

After the judge started Friday’s court session by saying he hoped he’d made himself clear, Trump attorney Christopher Kise argued anew that if the judge was “receiving input from someone with potentially demonstrable bias — or, at least, there’s an appearance of that — we have to make a record of that.”

A record documenting questions or objections that were raised during a trial is key to any appeal.

Engoron said the record had been made, and he didn’t want “any further comments about my staff and how I communicate with them.”

Later Friday, he issued a written order barring all lawyers in the case from making public statements about “any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me” and threatening “serious sanctions” for any violations.
…

Latest developments:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he stressed preventing escalation of the conflict, doing more to protect Palestinians and substantially increasing aid to Gaza during a meeting Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war cabinet. He said humanitarian pauses would help accomplish each of those priorities.
Israel is returning to Gaza thousands of Palestinian workers who were trapped in Israel following the Hamas attack on Israelis.
Israel says its troops have surrounded Gaza City amid diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the fighting and address a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
U.S. President Joe Biden says 74 Americans were evacuated Thursday from Gaza to Egypt.
U.N. expresses concern over deadly Israeli strikes around the Jabaliya refugee camp. The U.N. human rights office says, “We have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday preventing the escalation and spread of the Israeli-Hamas conflict was the top priority after he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv.

Following the meeting, Blinken outlined for reporters the steps that must be taken to ensure an attack like the one that occurred October 7 never happens again and to ensure a “better tomorrow” for both the people of Israel and Palestinians. U.S.-designated terror group Hamas took 230 hostages and killed 1,400 people in that attack.

Blinken said, again, the U.S. stands behind Israel’s right “and obligation” to defend itself. He added that the U.S. believes it is vitally important Israel does so with the highest regard for the protection of civilians. He cited doing more to protect Palestinian civilians as the second priority.

“We’ve been clear that as Israel conducts its campaign to defeat Hamas, how it does so matters. It matters because it’s the right and lawful thing to do. It matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups,” said Blinken. “There will be no partners for peace if they’re consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight.”

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless by Israeli airstrikes in response to the Hamas terror attack. The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said Thursday the death toll in the enclave has topped 9,000.

Blinken cited “substantially and immediately increase the sustained flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and getting American citizens and other foreign nationals out of Gaza” as the third priority.

Blinken said 100 trucks a day are now entering the area through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, but it is still not enough. He said Israel indicated it was committed to enabling increased aid into the area.

The secretary of state noted humanitarian pauses in fighting would be important in achieving all these goals. He also discussed how any pauses might be tied to the release of hostages, emphasizing the U.S. is committed to their safe release.

But after meeting with Secretary Blinken, Netanyahu said there would be no humanitarian pauses until the hostages are released. He told reporters, “We’re continuing with all our force and Israel is refusing a temporary truce that doesn’t include the release of our hostages.”

Blinken was asked about threats made Friday by Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to widen the conflict by escalating cross-border fighting with Israel.

“With regard to Lebanon, with regard to Hezbollah, with regard to Iran — we have been very clear from the outset that we are determined that there not be a second or third front opened in this conflict,” Blinken told reporters in Israel, noting the United States has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in the region as a deterrent to a widening conflict.

“President [Joe] Biden said on day one to anyone thinking of opening a second front, taking advantage of the situation … don’t,” said Blinken.

The secretary also reiterated the U.S. continues to believe the only path to a lasting peace in the region is a two-state solution.

“That’s the only guarantor of a secure Jewish and democratic Israel,” Blinken said, “the only guarantor of Palestinians realizing their legitimate right to live in a state of their own, enjoying equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity. The only way to end a cycle of violence once and for all.”

Protest by hostages’ families

Earlier Friday, Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at Ben Gurion House, as families of Israelis still being held hostage by the militant group Hamas protested outside, calling for greater efforts to win the hostages’ release.

Herzog said, “We are hearing outside the demonstration of the families. Our heart goes out to them. We understand it and want their immediate release.”

Blinken also said the U.S. is determined to do everything possible to bring back the hostages.

Blinken is scheduled to meet Saturday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman. Safadi said in a statement Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it is committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege.

Earlier this week, Israel carried out airstrikes on the Jabaliya camp for Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces say the airstrikes targeted a Hamas commander. Hamas has denied the presence of any commanders at the camp and said 195 civilians were killed in the strikes.

War crimes concerns from U.N.

The U.N. human rights office said, “We have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

Blinken’s visit comes as Israeli ground troops have surrounded Gaza City amid wider diplomatic efforts to bring a halt to the Israeli-Hamas war so greater humanitarian aid can enter Gaza.

The United Nations and various aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza unless greater amounts of aid are allowed to enter the territory. Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza shortly after the Hamas attack. That and the relentless airstrikes have led to shortages of food, clean water and fuel in Gaza, home to some 2.3 million people.

In another development Friday, Israel began sending back thousands of Palestinian workers who were stranded in Israel following the Hamas attack almost a month ago.

Meanwhile, more foreign nationals who were trapped in Gaza since the start of the war are expected to leave the territory Friday through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Hundreds of foreigners left Gaza through Rafah on Wednesday and Thursday, as did dozens of critically injured Palestinians.

The reopening of the Rafah border crossing to allow foreign passport holders to leave was part of a Qatari-brokered deal among Israel, Egypt and Hamas.

VOA Senior State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine and VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information also came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

Across the nation, much of the debate around gun rights and restrictions centers on mental health. Many advocates on both sides agree that getting people with serious mental health struggles into treatment, and preventing people who are dangerous from accessing guns, is key to preventing mass shootings.

Yet in the weeks and months before the mass shooting in Lewiston, there were so many warning signs from the killer that people all around him were raising concerns to authorities. He was still able to massacre 18 people, wound another 13 and shatter a community’s sense of security.

Lawmakers want answers as to why laws in two states — Maine and New York — didn’t prevent the tragedy.

“It’s a massive failure,” said Maine state Senator Lisa Keim, sponsor of Maine’s so-called “yellow flag” law. “This one, it seems that there were too many touchpoints for neither law to come into play.”

The law in Maine, a state that is staunchly protective of gun rights, requires more hurdles than “red flag” laws in more than 20 states, including New York. Also known as extreme risk protection orders, they generally allow family members or police to ask a judge to temporarily keep guns away from someone who presents a danger to themselves or other people, said Allison Anderman of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Maine’s requirement of a medical evaluation adds an extra hurdle, especially in cases in which people are acting dangerously but don’t have a diagnosed mental illness, Anderman said. “They’re really very different laws,” she said.

Keim, meanwhile, said the “yellow flag” law process can begin with a phone call and noted it has been successfully invoked 82 times since taking effect in 2020.

Leroy Walker, whose son was killed in the shootings, said he’s pleased Maine’s governor is bringing together an independent panel of experts “to find how out how this slipped through the cracks and we ended up losing 18 beautiful lives.”

The Auburn city councilor said he’s not ready to point fingers but feels frustrated to learn from news outlets about the missed opportunities, including those under red and yellow flag laws.

“None of ’em worked. We definitely need to go back and figure out where these mistakes were made,” Walker said.

Behind the October 25 tragedy is a confusing web of federal and state laws

Under Maine’s yellow flag law, a warning to police can trigger a process in which an officer visits an individual and makes a judgment call on whether that person should be placed in temporary protective custody, in turn triggering assessments that with a judge’s approval can lead to a 14-day weapons restriction. A full court hearing could lead to an extension of restrictions for up to a year.

There were plenty of warnings that Card might snap.

During military training in New York, he said people were accusing him of being a pedophile. He pushed one reservist and locked himself in his motel room, leading commanders to take him to the base hospital. From there, he was taken to a private mental health facility where he was hospitalized for 14 days. His military weapons were taken away.

Maine officials say they were unaware of any alerts from officials in New York. And it’s unclear if there was any effort to invoke New York’s red flag law while he was in the state.

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said she couldn’t tell The Associated Press whether Card was committed to a psychiatric facility on his own free will or involuntarily because of a federal health privacy law. She said the same law prevented her from saying what Card’s diagnosis was after he was evaluated.

She denied requests to answer other questions about what the Army did or did not do to inform others of Card’s condition, citing ongoing law enforcement investigations.

Back in Maine, reservists kept voicing their worries about Card after he returned in early August. Family members told a deputy that his mental health deterioration had begun in January and that his ex-wife and son had alerted police in Maine that Card was angry and paranoid, as well as heavily armed with 10 to 15 guns he’d taken from his brother’s home.

People can be legally barred from having guns for a few reasons, including felony convictions and domestic-violence protection orders. But whatever the reason, removing guns a person already has is often complicated, said Anderman, the senior counsel at the gun violence law center.

“Most states do not have adequate relinquishment provisions for when people become prohibited,” she said.

A commitment to a mental health facility also bars people from having guns under federal law, but that measure doesn’t have a mechanism to take away any weapons a person already has. And although Card was treated at a facility, the FBI says nothing was entered into the federal background check system that would have prevented him from buying weapons.

In a text early on September 15, one of Card’s fellow reservists urged a superior to change the passcode to the gate and have a gun if Card arrived at the Army Reserve drill center in Saco. The reservist said Card refused to get help for his mental illness “and yes, he still has all his weapons.”

“I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” the reservist wrote.

That was the same day a deputy went to Card’s home in Bowdoin, but no one was home. The deputy returned the following day and heard noises inside, but Card didn’t answer the door. The deputy called for backup, but they eventually left.

The sheriff said his deputies didn’t have legal authority to break down the door and take Card, and there’s no indication the deputy ever spoke to him — the first step to triggering the yellow card law.

The sheriff’s office canceled its statewide alert seeking help locating Card, who they described as “armed and dangerous,” a week before Lewiston became the 36th mass killing in the United States this year.
…

Fewer high school students are vaping this year, the government reported Thursday.

In a survey, 10% of high school students said they had used electronic cigarettes in the previous month, down from 14% last year.

Use of any tobacco product — including cigarettes and cigars — also fell among high schoolers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

“A lot of good news, I’d say,” said Kenneth Michael Cummings, a University of South Carolina researcher who was not involved in the CDC study.

Among middle school student, about 5% said they used e-cigarettes. That did not significantly change from last year’s survey.

This year’s survey involved more than 22,000 students who filled out an online questionnaire last spring. The agency considers the annual survey to be its best measure of youth smoking trends.

Why the drop among high schoolers? Health officials believe a number of factors could be helping, including efforts to raise prices and limit sales to kids by raising the legal age to 21.

“It’s encouraging to see this substantial decrease in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health,” said Brian King, the Food and Drug Administrations tobacco center director.

The FDA has authorized a few tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes intended to help adult smokers cut back but has struggled to stop sales of illegal products.

Other key findings in the report:

Among students who currently use e-cigarettes, about a quarter said they use them every day.
About 1 in 10 middle and high school students said they recently had used a tobacco product. That translates to 2.8 million U.S. kids.
E-cigarettes were the most commonly used kind of tobacco product, and disposable ones were the most popular with teens.
Nearly 90% of the students who vape used flavored products, with fruit and candy flavors topping the list. 

In 2020, FDA regulators banned those teen-preferred flavors from reusable e-cigarettes like Juul and Vuse, which are now only sold in menthol and tobacco. But the flavor restriction didn’t apply to disposable products, and companies like Elf Bar and Esco Bar quickly stepped in to fill the gap.

The growing variety in flavors like gummy bear and watermelon has been almost entirely driven by cheap, disposable devices imported from China, which the FDA considers illegal. Those products now account for more than half of U.S. vaping sales, according to government figures.

In the latest survey, about 56% of teens who vape said they used Elf Bar, trailed by Esco Bar and Vuse, which is a reusable e-cigarette made by R.J. Reynolds. Juul, the brand widely blamed for sparking the recent spike in teen vaping, was the fourth most popular brand, used by 16% of teens.

The FDA tried to block imports of both Elf Bar and Esco Bar in May, but the products remain widely available. Elf Bar has thwarted customs officials by changing its brand name, among other steps designed to avoid detection.

On Thursday, the FDA announced another round of fines against 20 stores selling Elf Bar products. The agency has sent more than 500 warning letters to retailers and manufacturers of unauthorized e-cigarettes over the past year, but those citations are not legally binding and are sometimes ignored.

In the latest report, the CDC highlighted one worrisome but puzzling finding. There was a slight increase in middle schools students who said they had used at least one tobacco product in the past month, while that rate fell among high school students. Usually those move in tandem, said Kurt Ribisl, a University of North Carolina researcher. He and Cummings cautioned against making too much of the finding, saying it might be a one-year blip.
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Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities gathered Wednesday night at the University of California, Los Angeles to hold a vigil for peace that mourned lives lost in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the last month. Genia Dulot reports.
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The Senate circumvented a hold by Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville on Thursday and confirmed Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Franchetti’s historic confirmation as the chief of naval operations comes as Tuberville has drawn bipartisan criticism for holding up almost 400 military nominations in an effort to protest Pentagon abortion policy. In a remarkable display, several Republican senators angrily held the floor for more than four hours on Wednesday evening and called up 61 of the nominations for votes, praising each nominee for their military service.

Tuberville showed no signs of letting up, standing and objecting to each one.

The Senate confirmed Franchetti with an overwhelming 95-1 vote. Senators are scheduled to confirm two other top officers on Thursday — General David Allvin to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and Lieutenant General Christopher Mahoney to serve as assistant commandant for the U.S. Marine Corps.

If confirmed, Mahoney could immediately step in as acting commandant, temporarily taking over after General Eric Smith, the commandant, was hospitalized on Sunday after suffering a medical emergency at his official residence in Washington.

Smith, who is listed in stable condition and is recovering, was confirmed to the top job last month, but he had been holding down two high-level posts for several months because of Tuberville’s holds.

When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the vote this week on Mahoney’s nomination to be assistant commandant, he said Smith’s sudden medical emergency is “precisely the kind of avoidable emergency that Senator Tuberville has provoked through his reckless holds.”

Tuberville has challenged Schumer to put each nomination on the floor — a process that could take weeks or months as each nomination requires multiple days and multiple votes to get around the objection. Schumer has so far resisted, hoping to force Tuberville’s hand, but he has relented in the case of some top military officers.

Franchetti, the vice chief of operations for the Navy, has broad command and executive experience. A surface warfare officer, she has commanded at all levels, heading U.S. 6th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Korea. She was the second woman to be promoted to four-star admiral, and she did multiple deployments, including as commander of a naval destroyer and two stints as aircraft carrier strike group commander.

“She has worked her way up the ranks of the United States Navy. She has commanded at sea,” said Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Senator Jack Reed ahead of the vote. “She has accepted and excelled at every challenge presented to her. She is superbly prepared to be the chief of naval operations.”

Several women have served as military service secretaries as political appointees, but never as their top uniformed officer. Admiral Linda L. Fagan is the commandant of the Coast Guard, but she is not a member of the Joint Staff.

Tuberville said Wednesday there is “zero chance” he will drop the holds, which he first announced in February. Despite several high-level vacancies and the growing backlog of nominations, he has said he will continue to hold up the nominees unless the Pentagon ends — or puts to a vote in Congress — its new policy of paying for travel when a servicemember has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. Biden’s Democratic administration instituted the policy after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure.

Confronting Tuberville publicly for the first time since he announced the holds, the Republican senators — Alaska’s Dan Sullivan, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Indiana’s Todd Young and others — read lengthy biographies, praised nominees and lashed out at Tuberville as they called for vote after vote. They said they agree with the Alabama senator in opposing the abortion policy but questioned — as Democrats have for months — why he would hold up the highest ranks of the U.S. military.

Sullivan said Tuberville is “100% wrong” that his holds are not affecting military readiness. Ernst said the nominees are being used as “political pawns.” Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney advised Tuberville to try to negotiate an end to the standoff. All of them warned that good people would leave military service if the blockade continues.

The GOP effort to move the nominations came after Schumer said Wednesday morning they are trying a new workaround to confirm the officers. Schumer said the Senate will consider a resolution in the near future that would allow the quick confirmation of the now nearly 400 officers up for promotion or nominated for another senior job.

To go into effect, the Senate Rules Committee will have to consider the temporary rules change and send it to the Senate floor, where the full Senate would have to vote to approve it. That process could take several weeks and would likely need Republican support to succeed.

“Patience is wearing thin with Senator Tuberville on both sides of the aisle,” Schumer said.
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As more than 10,000 migrants continue to make their way to New York City each month, concerns are arising among residents regarding the city’s capacity to support them. Aron Ranen brings us this story. (Camera: Aron Ranen)
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The Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday a leading official from its department of arms control affairs will lead a delegation in China-U.S. nuclear talks.

The ministry did not name the official.

“Next week in Washington, China and U.S. will hold arms control and non-proliferation consultations at director-general level,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked about a report that China agreed to nuclear arms-control talks with the United States.

According to plans agreed by both sides, Wang said China and the U.S. will conduct dialogue and exchanges on a wide range of issues such as implementation of international arms control treaties.

The talks come days after Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with senior U.S. officials, with both sides agreeing to hold a series of consultations in the near future.

Wang also met with U.S. President Joe Biden in talks that the White House described as a “good opportunity” in terms of keeping lines of communication open between the two geopolitical rivals with deep policy differences.
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In the days following the massacre of hundreds of Israelis by Iranian-backed Hamas, the US military has blamed other Iranian-backed proxy groups for about 30 near-daily attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria. Last week, the US retaliated with precision strikes against facilities in Syria tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and affiliated groups, but the attacks against American personnel, while largely unsuccessful, have not stopped.  VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more.
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