Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Israeli-Hamas violence showed no signs of abating, and diplomatic efforts appeared stalled. Israel pounded targets in Gaza, and Hamas continued to unleash a barrage of rockets at towns across southern Israel, with the level of destruction escalating to the kind last seen in 2014. Above, a house in Gaza that was bombed by Israeli warplanes. In the past week, Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed 212 people and wounded about 1,400, according to the authorities there. Rocket fire from Gaza has killed at least 10 people in Israel. As the civilian casualties grow, the conflict has polarized Israeli society and the world as seldom before. Here is what is driving the conflict, and its arc so far. The White House said President Biden expressed “support” for a cease-fire in a call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. 2. A media shake-up — and a failed acquisition strategy. AT&T agreed to spin off its WarnerMedia group and merge it with Discovery, a rival programmer, after spending three years trying to monetize its $85 billion purchase of Time Warner. The new company would be the second-largest U.S. entertainment firm, behind Disney but bigger than Netflix or NBCUniversal. It would put under a single media umbrella HBO, Warner Bros., CNN and a host of reality-based cable channels from Discovery, including Oprah Winfrey’s OWN, HGTV, the Food Network and Animal Planet. As part of the deal, AT&T will shed some of its debt and get cash and bonds that together would amount to $43 billion. AT&T shareholders will own 71 percent of the new business, with Discovery investors owning the rest. Here’s what it might mean for your favorite shows. 3. Top Republicans in Arizona’s largest county issued a broadside against the review of November’s election results. After upholding the vote three times, Maricopa County officials attacked the latest audit, and the county’s top election official called former President Donald Trump “unhinged” for his online comments falsely accusing the county of deleting an elections database. Above, a contractor working for the audit company Cyber Ninjas. “We can’t indulge these insane lies any longer,” Stephen Richer, the county recorder and a Republican, wrote on Twitter. The five elected supervisors, all but one of whom are Republicans, were meeting Monday to respond to a state senator’s accusations of irregularities. In Texas, Republicans in the state Legislature recently softened their voting bill to remove measures banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting. But one key state senator wants to add them back.
