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US House votes against pausing arms to Israel

The House delivered a rebuke to President Joe Biden Thursday for pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, passing legislation that seeks to force the weapons transfer as Republicans worked to highlight Democratic divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Seeking to discourage Israel from its offensive on the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Biden administration this month put on hold a weapons shipment of 3,500 bombs — some as large as 2,000 pounds — that are capable of killing hundreds in populated areas. Republicans were outraged, accusing Biden of abandoning the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East.

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Hezbollah introduces new weapons and tactics against Israel

Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military.

Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, but the one on Thursday appears to have been the first successful missile airstrike it has launched from within Israeli airspace.

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Top tennis players say they're playing too much, tournaments are too long

More competition days, more tickets sold, more TV time, more money.

For tennis organizers, the long-sought upgrade of tournaments in Madrid and Rome — expanding them from eight days to nearly two weeks — has been a bonanza.

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Mbappé farewells French league when PSG visits Metz in final round

Nine years after his debut, Kylian Mbappé bids farewell to the French league when Paris Saint-Germain visits struggling Metz on Sunday.

He has a last chance to add to his club-record tally of 256 goals, including 191 in the league.

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FIFA reveals promised anti-racism pledge

FIFA will urge all 211 national federations to mandate racist abuse in soccer as a disciplinary offense, after months of consulting with victimized players including Vinícius Júnior.

Soccer's world body also suggests on Thursday "a global standard gesture for players to communicate racist incidents" to referees — hands crossed at the wrists and raised in the air — and for match forfeits to be a specific punishment.

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Germany coach watches as others announce his Euro 2024 squad with no surprises

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann watched as his initial European Championship squad was announced for him by a variety of people reflecting the mix in German society on Thursday.

Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nübel was the only new name among the 27 called out in a video message featuring students, TV presenters, singers, döner kebab chefs, radio presenters and others.

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Japan's economy shrinks on weak consumer spending, auto woes

The Japanese economy shrank at an annual rate of 2% in the first quarter of this year, as consumption and exports declined, the government said Thursday.

Although unemployment has stayed relatively low in the world's fourth largest economy at about 2.6%, wage growth has been slow and prices have risen partly due to weakness of the yen against the U.S. dollar.

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Facebook and Instagram face fresh scrutiny under the EU's strict digital regulations

The European Union opened fresh investigations Thursday into Facebook and Instagram over suspicions that they're failing to protect children online, in violation of the bloc's strict digital regulations for social media platforms.

It's the latest round of scrutiny for parent company Meta Platforms under the 27-nation EU's Digital Services Act, a sweeping set of regulations that took effect last year with the goal of cleaning up online platforms and protecting internet users.

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Fire threat eases near Canada's oil sands hub, but long, hot summer looms

The threat from a wildfire near Canada's oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, Alberta, appeared to be easing, a day after it forced thousands of residents to evacuate and stirred memories of a damaging blaze nearly a decade earlier.

Favorable winds were expected to push the fire away from the city of about 68,000 in northwest Canada, where many residents earn a paycheck from the nearby oil industry. The Fort McMurray fire comes as Canada is just entering a new fire season after last year's record number of wildfires sent choking smoke across parts of the U.S. and forced more than 235,000 Canadians to evacuate their communities.

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US applications for jobless benefits come back down after last week's 9-month high

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain at historically low levels even as other signs that the labor market is cooling have surfaced.

Jobless claims for the week ending May 11 fell by 10,000 to 222,000, down from 232,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week's applications were the most since the final week of August 2023, though it's still a relatively low number of layoffs.

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