#boycottstarbucks has been used in thousands of posts in recent weeks, prompting customers to avoid the coffee chain. Also in the news: The U.S. national security adviser will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Friday to discuss Gaza's future. The House has passed a $886 billion last-minute annual defense spending bill. | |  |
This is the news to know Friday. |
Boycotts over Middle East tensions highlight Starbucks labor fight |
You may have noticed more and more people calling for a boycott of Starbucks on social media. The protests are stemming from a series of issues. First, Starbucks and the union organizing its workers are suing each other in federal court over a social media post that was sent out by the workers' union supporting Palestinians in light of the Israel-Hamas war (Starbucks distanced itself from the workers' union's pro-Palestinian stance). The lawsuit barrage between the company and its workers is just one example of how the two sides have been clashing for the past few years. Starbucks Workers United, which represents thousands of baristas at 340 locations nationwide, is still trying to get its first union contract. Read more |
US floats a possible Palestinian security role in postwar Gaza |
The United States national security adviser is set to meet with the Palestinian president on Friday to discuss postwar arrangements for Gaza, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the war and seeks to maintain an open-ended security presence there. |
The Biden administration has started to become more critical about how Israel is carrying out its war against Hamas amid the rising number of Palestinian civilian casualties. | Palestinians check a half destroyed building following Israeli bombardment on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 15, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. SAID KHATIB, AFP via Getty Images |
House passes crucial defense bill in last-minute sprint |
The House passed an annual defense policy bill Thursday morning, sending it to President Joe Biden's desk to approve $886 billion in spending for military pay raises, funding for Ukraine and other key issues. The bill includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops, authorizes funding for Ukraine and an extension of a controversial foreign surveillance program. Conservative members were concerned by the bill's extension of Section 702, a provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that enables the U.S. to monitor foreign nationals using U.S. based messaging services, and its omission of several culture war amendments. Read more |
Will a Supreme Court case put abortion access in peril (even where it's legal?) |
The Supreme Court will hear cases challenging the abortion pill, putting access for hundreds of thousands of patients in states where abortion is legal and protected in the balance, experts say. The high court will review an appellate ruling that significantly restricted use of mifepristone, rolling back the Food and Drug Administration's decision to make the pregnancy termination drug available to patients through telemedicine and the U.S. mail. If the majority determines the FDA overstepped its bounds by making abortion medication accessible through video appointments and mailed medicine, people would no longer be able to obtain these abortions in their first trimester remotely, regardless of state laws that protect access to abortion. Read more |
Atlanta asks federal appeals court to kill 'Stop Cop City' petition |
Lawyers for the city of Atlanta are asking an appeals court to overturn a ruling that let nonresidents collect signatures in the "Stop Cop City" effort to force a referendum on a police and fire training center. Those lawyers on Thursday asked three federal judges to kill the petition drive as illegal under state law. Even a ruling that just narrows which petitions are accepted could doom the chances that opponents will have enough signatures to force a referendum, experts said. Read our earlier coverage about Cop City. | FILE - Activists haul boxes of signed petitions to Atlanta City Hall, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, to force a referendum on the future of a planned police and firefighter training center. Miguel Martinez, AP |
Photo of the day: Shohei Ohtani debuts Dodgers jersey | Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) poses for photos at Dodger Stadium Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. ASSOCIATED PRESS |
Associated Press contributed reporting. | | All of the headlines, none of the chaos. | Learn daily with The Excerpt,
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