Israel bombs Lebanon as conflict at Muslim holy site spreads out from Jerusalem

Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip early Friday in response to a barrage of rockets fired toward Israel. The strikes in southern Lebanon are a potentially serious escalation of tensions tied to clashes this week at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims. Israel said its operation in Lebanon was aimed solely at Hamas, which it blamed for the rocket attacks. The Israeli strikes killed sheep and caused damage to houses and infrastructure, The Associate Press reports, but there were no casualties reported. 
Israeli crackdowns on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has sparked several recent conflicts with Muslims in the region, including an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas government in 2021. The most recent clash started Wednesday, when Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque twice, prompting Thursday’s rocket attacks from Gaza and Lebanon. The dozens of rockets caused some damage but resulted in no reported casualties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would “exact a significant price from our enemies,” accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of at least knowing about the rocket attacks. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said military operations inside its territory will only “destabilize the situation.” Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006. 
Egypt is working with Hamas and Israel to avoid further escalation, a Palestinian official said, and Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Friday that both sides want to avoid a full-blown conflict. “Quiet will be answered with quiet,” he said. But “all our eyes are now on Jerusalem.” In Jerusalem, Israeli police again used batons on Palestinian worshipers attending Friday morning prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Tensions are especially high because Muslims are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan and Jews are marking Passover. 
And all this comes after an especially deadly start to 2023 for Palestinians. “Nearly 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the year,” AP reports. “During that time, 16 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.”

How will Finland’s entrance into NATO affect global relations?

A key Western alliance has grown, as Finland has officially become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This marks the end of a long process to have the country join the group. Finland, along with Sweden, first applied for membership in May 2022, a move that was prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine months prior. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg fast-tracked Finland’s acceptance into the group to shore up a pushback against Russian aggression, calling the country’s entrance into NATO the fastest in recent history. 
As the war in Ukraine continues, the Nordic country’s addition to NATO comes at a watershed moment for both international relations and Finland itself. The nation is still reeling from parliamentary elections that ousted Prime Minister Sanna Marin and handed a victory to the conservative National Coalition party. While coalition talks are expected to heat up in the coming weeks, this could potentially mark a change in the way that Finland has dealt with the war. 
A shutdown of NATO expansion has often been cited as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main reasons for starting the war in Ukraine, Insider reports. However, over the past year, the opposite has occurred: NATO has seemingly grown more powerful due to increasing alliances, and Finland’s entrance into the group now doubles NATO’s land border with Russia, BBC News notes, extending it another 832 miles. So suffice it to say, the admission of NATO’s 31st country is likely to further agitate the Russian president. 
What are commentators saying?
One of the most consequential moves could be the addition of NATO troops along the Finnish-Russian border — if the country chooses to station them there. While Finland has said this is not currently necessary, “its accession will give the alliance direct access to that 800-mile frontier, should it decide at any point to deploy additional forces for strategic or security purposes,” Haley Ott writes for CBS News. Ott notes that Finland’s entrance into NATO will also help the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all NATO members that border either Russia or Belarus. “Those nations have long worried that Russia could seize Finnish islands to use as bases from which to stage attacks on their own territories,” Ott adds. “With Finland becoming a NATO member, they will be better protected.”
In June 2022, prior to Finland’s entrance, “some Western military analysts have said that NATO would almost certainly need basing rights in Finland and Sweden to defend the Baltic states,” Jonathan Masters reports for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). However, this is not the only area where Finland’s admission is expected to have an impact, as it could also have an effect on policies in the Arctic — a region where Masters notes that  “Russia has invested heavily in commercial and military infrastructure.” If Sweden were to join Finland, something that seems more likely than not to happen, then every nation containing Arctic territories would be a NATO member. 
If this is the case, then it likely means NATO “will be a more qualified venue for holding high-level Arctic-related talks on a wide range of defense and security topics,” Nima Khorrami writes for international think tank The Arctic Institute. Khorrami adds that this could include issues such as maritime security, military deterrence, and perhaps most importantly, climate change. 
What is next? 
Russia, as it has previously done, warned against NATO expansion after Finland was admitted. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that his country “strengthen our military capabilities in the west and northwest if NATO members deploy forces and equipment on Finnish territory,” per CNN. If NATO troops were to amass on the border, it’s not unthinkable to consider that Russia could retaliate. 
Another question arises around Finland and Sweden’s militaries, which have long had integrated defense forces. This could cause problems given that Sweden is not yet a NATO member. This differential could “add technical challenges as NATO’s defense planners try and bring Finland into all of the alliance’s strategic planning,” Emma Ashford of the Stinson Center think tank tells NPR. She adds that NATO “[has] to basically accept that Sweden is outside and Finland is inside for right now. Finnish leaders obviously felt that it was better to be inside the alliance and reduce that sort of risk of this limbo period even if Sweden weren’t there. But it’s hardly an ideal circumstance.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. files paperwork to challenge Biden in 2024

Environmental lawyer and vocal anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to enter the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat, CNN reports. His campaign treasurer, John E. Sullivan, confirmed the filing Wednesday. Kennedy will make an official statement regarding his candidacy on April 19 in Boston, his campaign office said. 
Kennedy first expressed interest in a presidential run last month on Twitter. “If it looks like I can raise the money and mobilize enough people to win, I’ll jump in the race,” he said. If he runs, his priority would be to “end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power,” which he claims has ruined the economy, middle class, and landscapes.
Kennedy is “the son of former New York senator, U.S. attorney general, and assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy,” CNN explains, “and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy.” Should he follow through with his bid, he “would be the latest in a long line of family members to enter politics.”
Kennedy also has a long history of vaccine skepticism, CNN says. He has been known to promote misinformation about links between vaccines and autism, as well as since-debunked claims about the COVID-19 vaccine, the latter of which earned him an Instagram ban. He also founded the anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense. In 2019, three of his relatives denounced his anti-vaccine views in a Politico Magazine op-ed, arguing that he was “part of a misinformation campaign that’s having heartbreaking — and deadly — consequences.”
Kennedy is “the second Democrat to launch a long-shot bid ahead of President Biden’s expected announcement of another presidential run,” says The Washington Post — author and “self-help guru” Marianne Williamson launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination last month.

Record number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year focus on education and health care access

At least 417 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the United States since the start of the year — a new record, according to American Civil Liberties Union data as of April 3. That’s already more than twice the number of such bills introduced all of last year.

Biden announces trip to United Kingdom and Ireland next week

President Joe Biden will travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland next week, the White House announced early Wednesday morning.

Chicago mayoral election day: Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson vie for top job in runoff

This post was originally published on this siteChicago voters are determining the new mayor of the nation’s third-largest city in a runoff election between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.     

Wisconsin voters will decide control of state Supreme Court in most consequential election of 2023

Wisconsin voters on Tuesday will decide the outcome of a state Supreme Court race that could be the most consequential election of the year.

FDA approves overdose-reversing drug Narcan for over-the-counter sales

This post was originally published on this siteThe FDA approved selling naloxone over the counter, the first time an opioid treatment drug will be available without prescription.     

39 dead in fire at immigration facility in Mexico near US border, officials say

This post was originally published on this siteThe fire broke out late Monday at the National Immigration Institute, a Ciudad Juarez facility. More than three dozen migrants have died.     

Sen. Rand Paul’s staff member stabbed in D.C., treated for life-threatening injuries

This post was originally published on this siteOne of Senator Rand Paul’s staff members was stabbed in Northeast Washington, D.C. on Saturday afternoon and treated for life-threatening injuries.     

Tagged Assault with Intent to KillDC Metropolitan PoliceGlynn NealRand PaulSenate