Bezalel Smotrich is not just the Israeli finance minister. He is a minister within the Ministry of Defence in Israel that is responsible for administering the occupied West Bank – and for expanding settlements.

So when he talks about “enforcing Israeli sovereignty”, he is talking about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, which is part of the Israeli government agenda.

He’s saying Donald Trump’s US presidency offers a golden opportunity for the Israeli government to finish the job. He’s told his staff to take the practical steps, the infrastructure steps, needed to ensure this annexation can happen by 2025 when Trump takes office.

So, when Smotrich talks about annexation, many observers say we have to believe him.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) is encouraging groups from Virginia to apply for a chance to participate in the 2025 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. The parade is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20.

“Presidential inaugurations are not just symbolic ceremonies – they are an instrument of democracy by which we execute the peaceful transfer of power in this country,” said Warner. “I encourage Virginia’s talented entities – including our many marching bands, floats, and equestrian groups – to take part in this time-honored tradition, dating back when President Jefferson rode his horse from the Capitol to the President’s House in a procession that would become the Inaugural Parade we know today.”

The JTF-NCR Parade Coordinator Office is accepting applications for the 60th Inaugural Parade through Dec. 4. The JTF-NCR will collect and organize the applications, which will then be reviewed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee . The PIC, at the discretion of the president-elect, organizes all Inaugural events.

In 2017, the parade included 48 non-DoD elements selected from 141 applications. Groups interested in applying can review the parade application guide and register for an account on the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region website

There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of northern Gaza, according to a committee of global food security experts, as Israeli forces press on with a major offensive in the area.

“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert on Friday.

The warning comes just days before a United States deadline for Israel, which started its offensive in the north of the enclave last month, to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that there are between 75,000 and 95,000 people still in northern Gaza.

The FRC said it could be “assumed that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease, are rapidly increasing” in north Gaza.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic, citing medical sources, have reported that 13 were killed in the north of the besieged enclave.

Israel’s devastating siege and bombing of the north of the Gaza Strip has entered its 35th day.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent confirmed that an Israeli air attack hit the eastern areas of Gaza City, and another attack hit a house in the Jabalia refugee camp.

They also reported that two Palestinians were injured in an Israeli bombing of the entrance to Halima al-Sadia School in Jabalia, which houses displaced people.

LIVE: Israeli warplanes hit Beirut, wave of strikes kill 40 in east Lebanon

Israel bombed Beirut overnight after Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 40 people were killed and 53 wounded in aerial bombardment of areas in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Baalbek city.
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Joyce Msuya, has warned that Palestinian civilians held under “near-total brutal siege” by Israeli forces in northern Gaza are “starving while the world watches”.
Hezbollah says swarms of attack drones targeted the Israeli military’s Bilu base south of Tel Aviv for the first time, while a naval base in Israel’s northern port city of Haifa was attacked again.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians and injured 102,347 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
In Lebanon, at least 3,050 people have been killed and 13,658 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.

When will Rochester see its first snow? What the records tell us

After near-record or record-breaking temperatures on Halloween and Election Day, respectively, Rochester has yet to see its first snowfall of the year.

There has been measurable snowfall in the United States outside of the mountains, with Minneapolis receiving 0.2 inches of snow on Oct. 31. And the average earliest measurable snowfall in Rochester is Nov. 8, in records dating back to 1940.

It might be hard to feel like snow is imminent when Rochester saw 81 degrees on Nov. 5, a temperature 23 degrees above normal for the date. Especially as the city continues to experience its warmest year on record in terms of average temperature, high temperature and low temperature.

Trump prepares to appoint top jobs after Harris vows to help transition

Trump prepares to appoint top jobs after Harris vows to help transition

As investors digest Donald Trump’s election victory, the US central bank is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates around 14:00 EST (19:00 GMT).

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key rate for the second month in a row as the pace of price rises eases.

Fed officials will also be grappling with concerns that the president-elect’s policies, including higher import taxes, may trigger more inflation.

Trump’s win on Wednesday sent the US dollar soaring by about 1.65% against other currencies, including the pound, euro and Japanese yen.

Trump has also said he may want to have a say in the central bank’s decisions, potentially threatening its independence. In last term in office, he criticised Chair Jerome Powell after rates were hiked to tackle inflation.

Meanwhile, the UK’s latest interest rate announcement is due at 12:00 GMT – a cut to 4.75% is expected

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti has said the Israeli government is repeating in Lebanon the same war crimes it is committing in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Israeli fighter jets bomb Lebanon’s Beirut 95 killed across Gaza

Posting on social media platform X on Friday, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths close to the town of Metula on Thursday, adding that another Thai citizen was injured.

Israeli strikes kill 47 Palestinians in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency says

Forty seven Palestinians were killed and dozens injured, most of them children and women, in overnight Israeli bombardment of the the central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Friday.
The attacks occurred in the city of Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat camp and the town of Al-Zawayda, it said.
The Israeli military said its troops had identified and eliminated “several armed terrorists” in central Gaza and had eliminated “dozens of terrorists” in targeted raids in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area.

“Its army is targeting medical workers and journalists,” he said in a statement. “They already killed 178 medics in Lebanon and bombed a convoy of ambulances in Tyre. The Israeli army recently killed three Lebanese journalists.

Israel’s military has accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of using Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya for military purposes and said “dozens of terrorists” have been hiding there. Health officials and Hamas deny the assertion.
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip called for all international bodies “to protect hospitals and medical staff from the brutality of the (Israeli) occupation”.

There are casualties, including an unidentified number of deaths, following an Israeli attack on an apartment building in the Ain el-Remmaneh, Aley area, in Beirut’s southeastern suburbs, early this morning, NNA reported.
Israeli forces have raided the town of al-Yamoun, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, our colleagues on the ground reported.
Mostly women and children were among the 47 killed in overnight attacks of central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah Nuseirat refugee camp.
Rescue teams have recovered three bodies following overnight Israeli shelling in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza, our Al Jazeera colleagues reported.
The Israeli Air Force has announced that it intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle “launched from the east in Syria” overnight.

Najib Mikati has blasted Israel for its evacuation orders, the latest of which came today and displaced people in 10 towns and villages, as residents of Baalbek, Ain Bourday and Duris received renewed evacuation orders.

The United Nations children’s agency said on Thursday that the Israel-Hezbollah war has killed at least one child a day in Lebanon over the past month.

UN says war has killed one child a day in Lebanon in past month

“Since October 4th of this year, at least one child has been killed and 10 injured daily,” UNICEF said, adding that “the ongoing war in Lebanon is upending children’s lives”.

“The threats issued by the Israeli enemy against Lebanese civilians to evacuate entire cities and displace them from their areas and homes is an additional war crime, added to the series of crimes committed by the Israeli enemy, including killing, destruction and sabotage,” he said, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

UNICEF says Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least one child per day and wounded 10 since October 4.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati says he hopes a ceasefire with Israel will be announced in the coming hours or days as US envoy Amos Hochstein travels to the region for truce talks.
An Israeli air strike at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya destroys a warehouse containing medical supplies that were received only days ago.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,204 Palestinians and wounded 101,641 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive.
In Lebanon, at least 2,822 people have been killed and 12,937 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.

Vice President Kamala Harris called out the dark grievances and racism that were prominent in former President Donald J. Trump’s MAGA rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.

Kamala Harris will deliver her campaign’s “closing argument” Tuesday from the same spot in Washington where Republican Donald Trump helped incite a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

She chose the spot to draw a contrast between her vision for the country and Trump’s continued lies about the 2020 election, and the risks she says his return to the White House would pose for the nation.

Here’s the latest on the 2024 race.

Vice President Kamala Harris accused former President Donald J. Trump on Monday of stoking division and “trying to divide our country” after speakers making bigoted and misogynistic remarks packed his rally in Manhattan on Sunday night. Referring to the rally as “that nonsense last night at Madison Square Garden,” Ms. Harris said “that’s why people are exhausted with him.”

“I always tried to be so nice and respectful,” said Mr. Trump, who in 2011 spent weeks spreading the lie that Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, was actually born in Kenya, with the insinuation being that he was therefore illegitimately in office. He added, “She opened up a little bit of a box.”