As signs point to the 2024 presidential election being a repeat of the 2020 race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Biden holds a lead over Trump 50 - 44 percent among registered voters in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released today. In Quinnipiac University's December 20, 2023 poll, the same hypothetical 2024 general election matchup was 'too close to call' as President Biden received 47 percent support and former President Trump received 46 percent support.
In today's poll, Democrats (96 - 2 percent) and independents (52 - 40 percent) support Biden, while Republicans (91 - 7 percent) support Trump. Women 58 - 36 percent support Biden, up from December when it was 53 - 41 percent. Men 53 - 42 percent support Trump, largely unchanged from December when it was 51 - 41 percent.
➤CEASE-FIRE DEAL: U-S. negotiators want a cease-fire deal in Gaza long enough to stall Israel’s military momentum and potentially lead to a more lasting truce, according to U.S. and Arab officials familiar with the negotiations. Israel and Hamas are considering a three-part deal that would release hostages in Gaza beginning with a six-week pause in fighting, according to a draft of the agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been dodging the question of who should govern Gaza after Hamas. Meanwhile, funding cuts from the U.S. and international donors will likely hit the U.N. Relief and Works Agency over the coming month, adding to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
➤ISRAEL WANTS U-N AGENCY CLOSED: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Wednesday for the closure of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as his forces conducted more air strikes in Gaza amid diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire and release of hostages in the enclave.
Israel has accused some UNRWA staff of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas assault in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Donors including the United States have paused funding pending an investigation, but aid agencies say ending UNRWA operations would wreck humanitarian efforts in devastated Gaza. The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which was set up to help refugees of the war at Israel's founding in 1948 and to which more than half Gaza's population look to for day-to-day assistance. "It's time the international community and the U.N. itself understand that UNRWA's mission has to end," Netanyahu told visiting U.N. delegates, according to his office.
➤RUSSIA BOMBS HOSPITAL: A Russian bomb struck a hospital in northeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, smashing windows and equipment and prompting the evacuation of dozens of patients, regional officials said. Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional branch of the national police, said one bomb scored a direct hit on the hospital at about 9:45 p.m. in the town of Velykyi Burluk, northeast of Kharkiv. A second bomb landed nearby. Writing on Facebook, he said 38 people were evacuated from the facility, all but five of them patients and two confined to hospital beds.
Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said emergency teams conducted cleanup operations well into the night and four people were treated for slight injuries at the site. Synehubov said quick action by hospital staff in response to air raid alerts ensured a smooth evacuation. Patients were sent to other facilities or switched to outpatient treatment.
➤NATO TO PREP FOR TRUMP RETURN: The prospect of Donald Trump returning as president is prompting some U.S. allies in Europe to push their neighbors to increase defense budgets. The former president has criticized them for insufficient military spending. Defense ministers will discuss at upcoming EU and NATO meetings how to prepare for a potential new U.S. administration, but they are struggling to agree on the steps to take, say people involved in the discussions. Trump’s campaign website advocates re-evaluating NATO’s mission. Many European leaders worry about a severe threat to the postwar order because NATO, which turns 75 in April, has allowed the continent to focus on economic development, confident that the U.S. would repel threats from Moscow or elsewhere.
➤THE FED SHIFTS ON INTEREST-RATES: The Fed formally shifted its interest-rate outlook, providing flexibility to lower rates in the coming months if it is convinced inflation hazards have recededAs expected, the central bank left its benchmark federal-funds rate in a range between 5.25% and 5.5%, where it has been since July. The Fed signaled that the change shouldn’t imply a rate cut is imminent. The central bank began raising rates from near zero in March 2022; in July 2023, rates hit their highest level since 2001. Fed officials don’t want to move too slowly and have the economy crumple under the weight of higher interest rates, causing millions of people to lose their jobs, nor can they risk easing rates too much and too soon, which would allow inflation to flare up again.
➤SOCIAL MEDIA CEOs GRILLED BY CONGRESS: In the middle of a heated Senate hearing Wednesday on the dangers of social media, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood, turned around and faced families who have accused his platforms — Facebook and Instagram — of harming their children. It was a rare public apology, and it comes amid scathing criticism from lawmakers and child advocates who say the industry for years has failed to protect its most vulnerable users from abuse and exploitation. In bipartisan unison throughout the hearing, Congress chastised the leaders of some of the nation's top social media companies and called on them to take immediate steps to protect children and teens online.
➤TEXAS TOWN SHAKEN OVER BORDER BATTLE: As the biggest forces of global migration, constitutional law and election-year politicking roil America, perhaps nowhere is more shaken than tiny Eagle Pass, Texas. Shelby Park, once a riverfront picnic spot, has become a militarized outpost — a city park where state officials face off with federal authorities over who will control international migration. In recent weeks, the city has found itself a discomfiting tourist destination for out-of-town visitors who want to lay eyes on the border themselves, a show of solidarity in what they see as an Abbott-Biden standoff.
➤BOSTON HOUSES MIGRANTS IN REC CENTER: The city of Boston is repurposing a city recreation center as an overflow emergency shelter for migrants. Migrant families who had nowhere else to go had been staying for weeks at Logan Airport. Activities that had been offered at The Cass Center in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood are being relocated to create a shelter for some 100 families. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said the state has eight or nine other similar emergency shelters operating in the state.
➤NY GOV INSISTS DEPORTATION IS ON THE TABLE: Republican pols are lining up to demand that the rowdy migrants nabbed in a caught-on-camera attack on two NYPD cops in Times Square get deported — as Gov. Kathy Hochul said it’s something that should certainly be “looked at.”
