Friday morning news: May 24, 2024

SOUND: [Military band for Kenya president]

Kenya state dinner/visit » A military band at the White House where a red carpet was rolled out on the South Lawn as President Biden welcomed the president of Kenya.

BIDEN: President Ruto, Mrs. Ruto, and your three lovely daughters who are here to my left, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.

The White House hosted President William Ruto for an official state visit making Kenya the first African nation to receive that honor since 2008.

And as the U.S. works to counter influence from China and Russia in Africa, Biden declared on Thursday …

BIDEN: I’m proud to announce we’re working with Congress to designate Kenya a major non-NATO ally.

Kenya is a leading tech market, with opportunities for American private investment and a potential partner for moving U.S. supply chains away from China.

Israel latest » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington soon to address a joint session of Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson made the announcement at the Israeli Embassy in Washington…

JOHNSON: This will be a timely and I think a very strong show of support to the Israeli government in their time of greatest need.

He did not say exactly when that will happen.

This week, prosecutor Karim Kahn of the International Criminal Court announced that he’s pursuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza, along with Hamas.

Netanyahu fired back:

NETANYAHU: He’s accusing us of deliberate starvation. What a pack of lies! I mean, we put in 20,000 trucks, 500,000 tons of food and medicine.

Lawmakers from both parties have condemned Kahn’s move, and are cooperating with the White House in a push for sanctions.

NETANYAHU: I’m very glad now that in the U.S. Congress there’s a very strong effort, which is bipartisan, to put sanctions on anyone who does this in the ICC.

President Biden says there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

Russian assets » Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday allowing Russia to seize American assets within his country if the U.S. chooses to give Russian assets frozen under sanctions to Ukraine.

Putin’s decree comes after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said G-7 nations would discuss handing over frozen Russian cash to Kyiv.

President Biden approved legislation last month clearing the way for American forces to send about five billion dollars of Moscow’s money to the country it is now invading.

SOUND: [Tourists at Kinmen]

China and Taiwan » Tourists snapped pictures on the beaches of the Taiwanese island of Kinmen yesterday. The beach scene may have been calm, but miles offshore, China began two days of military exercises around the island, prompting Taiwan to scramble its jets and put its military on alert.

Beijing says its exercises are punishment for the territory’s inauguration of a new president as well for elements seeking official Taiwanese independence from China.

CHING-TE: [Speaking Mandarin]

But Newly elected Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te says his government won't be intimidated, and as commander-in-chief he’s pledged to protect the island.

Senate border vote » On Capitol Hill, for the second time in three months, Republicans have rejected a Senate border security bill. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put the measure to another vote on Thursday. He said he was giving Republicans a second chance to take action.

SCHUMER: For years we have heard that if you want to fix the border, then Congress needs to act. Today we have a chance to act on the strongest border bill Congress has seen in generations.

The bill faltered, just as it did months ago.

The measure would, among other things, update asylum laws and add more border patrol agents. Schumer said if Republicans were serious about securing the border, they would pass it.

But GOP lawmakers say it doesn’t go far enough and that certain provisions in the bill would actually incentivize more illegal immigration.

Republican Sen. James Lankford helped craft the original bipartisan border bill, but he called today’s vote a political stunt in an effort to help Democrats save face on the border issue.

LANKFORD:  Today is an opportunity to be able to have a vote that's sitting out there so people can send fundraising emails out later tonight and say, look, I tried to do something when no work was actually done to try to get something done and completed and passed today.

Democrats are working to shift public perception about who’s to blame for the border crisis. Recent polls suggest that voters largely blame President Biden.

Migrant encounters at the border have shattered records over the past few years with more than 8 million crossing since Biden took office.

DOJ Ticketmaster/LiveNation lawsuit » The Justice Department and 30 states are suing Ticketmaster’s parent company LiveNation, calling the company’s dominance in the live events industry a monopoly.

Attorney General Merrick Garland:

GARLAND: We allege that to sustain this dominance, Live Nation relies on unlawful, anti competitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States and over the fans, artists, independent promoters, and venues that power the industry.

LiveNation argues that it is not violating any laws, and that suit demonstrates a lack of understanding about the economics of the industry.

NCAA » The NCAA and five major college sports conferences have agreed to settle antitrust allegations for almost $3 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The deal also calls for a groundbreaking revenue-sharing model that could start directing millions of dollars directly to college athletes as soon as fall 2025.

If approved by a judge, the payouts will go to thousands of former and current college athletes who were not allowed to earn money from endorsement and sponsorship deals dating to 2016.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: John Stonestreet answers questions from journalism students on Culture Friday. Plus, Memorial Day mementos.

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