Tuesday morning news: July 4, 2023

Israel/West Bank » Israeli soldiers launched tear gas canisters in the West Bank Monday as Palestinian rioters hurled rocks at passing military vehicles.

That came after Israel’s military launched its most intense operation in the West Bank in nearly two decades carrying out a series of drone strikes and sending hundreds of troops into a militant stronghold.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen:

COHEN: We don't have a fight with the Palestinians, actually our fight is with the proxies of Iran in our region, which is mainly with the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The crackdown on the Jenin refugee camp follows a series of attacks on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas condemned the raid.

ABBAS: [Speaking Arabic]

He called on the international community to—quote—“provide urgent protection to our people and to impose sanctions on” Israel.

At least eight Palestinians were killed in the raid.

Harvard » Activists are challenging legacy admissions… after the Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action programs. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Some members of Congress are calling for an end to legacy admissions following the Court’s ruling last week that schools could not use race as a factor in admissions.

A nonprofit legal group filed a complaint yesterday saying that Harvard’s policy unfairly benefits some applicants.

In legacy admissions schools give priority to the children of alumni.

According to Harvard’s data, legacy status makes a student six times more likely to be admitted.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Holiday Weather » Severe weather is threatening to wash out July 4th celebrations in some parts of the country.

John Weiss with the National Weather Service:

WEISS: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, kind of in that stretch of the Central Plains through the upper Midwest has the greatest risk for July 4th.

Meantime, officials in Western states fear that a rouge spark from fireworks today could ignite a wildfire after weeks of drought.

Oil » You might have noticed that prices at the pump have not risen sharply as many expected at the start of the summer. But major oil-producing countries are hoping to change that.

Saudi Arabia and Russia say they’ll extend July oil cuts of a million barrels a day and a half-million barrels a day, respectively through the end of August.

For the moment, gas prices are actually lower than they were one month ago. The national average is down 2 cents to $3.54 per gallon.

Pentagon Hollywood censorship » Pentagon experts will no longer work with Hollywood studios that cave in to censorship demands from Beijing. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: China has become a multi-billion-dollar-a-year market for Hollywood.

But the Chinese Communist Party regularly censors American films that don’t parrot pro-China propaganda.

And a leaked document from the Department of Defense says its consultants will no longer work on films that comply with those censorship demands.

For example: The makers of Top Gun: Maverick agreed to remove the Japanese and Taiwanese flags from Maverick’s jacket to secure a China release.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz included the Pentagon policy change in the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

California worker strike » Thousands of unionized hotel workers in California and Arizona are on strike today as the summer tourism season ramps up.

They’re demanding higher pay and better benefits.

Union organizer Maria Hernandez:

MARIA HERNANDEZ: The biggest thing folks are fighting for are fair wages to help keep up with the rising cost of housing. More and more, we’re seeing hotel workers having to move farther and farther out to commute into the city.

Contracts expired on Friday at more than 60 hotels.

The strike affects about 16,000 workers.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Education after affirmative action. Plus, July’s Classic Book of the Month.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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