After an early-morning vote to open debate, the House passed the Republican spending and tax bill this week. Now, it moves to the Senate.

Elsewhere in Washington, President Donald Trump welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for a meeting in the Oval Office where he lectured the visiting leader and made false claims about supposed persecution of white Afrikaner farmers.

Despite Gaza being on the edge of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces launched a new offensive in the region that will supposedly bring the entire area under Israeli control.

In his first general audience, Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for aid to be allowed to enter Gaza.

The European Union is engaged in a war of words with Israel after the IDF fired warning shots at an E.U. diplomatic delegation visiting the city of Jenin.

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