Egypt's work to broker and secure a truce in the Gaza Strip this month has thrust it into the diplomatic spotlight, prompting top-level reengagement from Washington and overshadowing moves by several Arab states to normalise ties with Israel. The efforts have earned Cairo recognition at a time when it was struggling to strike a rapport with U.S. President Joe Biden's administration amid differences on human rights, and to make progress on its top foreign policy goal - a deal to regulate an Ethiopian dam that Egypt sees as a major threat to its supplies of Nile water. While Cairo has mediated during previous rounds of violence between Israel and the Palestinians through its ties with both sides, analysts and diplomats say its efforts have been more visible than in recent years.
Texas Republicans dug in Saturday for a final weekend vote on some of the most restrictive new voting laws in the U.S., putting the last touches on a sweeping bill that would eliminate drive-thru voting, empower partisan poll watchers and limit voting on Sundays, when many Black churchgoers head to the polls. The changes would need to be approved before midnight on Sunday, when the GOP-controlled Legislature wraps up a session dominated by Republicans muscling through staunchly conservative measures pertaining to guns, abortion and how race can be taught in public schools. Democrats have virtually no path to stop it from passing, thereby putting Republicans on the brink of a major victory in their nationwide campaign to impose new voting restrictions driven by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
May 29—In the past year since George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer — throwing a spotlight on interactions between police and Black citizens — Farrell Mayor Kimberly Doss said she thinks race relations have improved, but there is still work to be done. Among the improvements was the conviction April 20 of former police Officer Derek Chauvin, who used his knee to pin Floyd to .