Israel’s Cabinet

OKs settlements

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s far-right finance minister says the Cabinet has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The decision announced Sunday is part of a broader push by the government to expand settlements, which threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state.

The Peace Now anti-settlement group says the approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government’s tenure. Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.

The decision comes as the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to advance a Gaza ceasefire plan that includes a possible pathway to a Palestinian state.

Turning Point

endorses Vance

PHOENIX (AP) — Turning Point USA has endorsed Vice President JD Vance as the Republican nominee for the next presidential election. And Vance has told the crowd at the conservative youth organization’s gathering on Phoenix that he’s “honored to be on Turning Point’s team.”

But some schisms within the GOP surfaced during the four-day conference over whether the “Make America Great Again” movement should separate itself from those who espouse antisemitism. Vance said in his speech Sunday that he “didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform” and he decried “self-defeating purity tests.”

He said there’s a place for everyone if you love America.”

San Francisco

power restored

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Power has been restored to most of the 130,000 homes and businesses affected by a massive outage in San Francisco. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews were still working Sunday to restore power to 16,000 customers as midday.

The outage began Saturday afternoon and was partly caused by a fire at a substation. The full cause is still under investigation. The outage led to mass closures of restaurants and shops and disrupted transit. PG&E has mobilized additional engineers and electricians to help with restoration efforts. No injuries have been reported.

Muddy eruption

at Yellowstone

(AP) –“Kablooey!”

That’s the word U.S. Geological Survey volcanic experts used to describe a muddy eruption at Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone National Park on Saturday morning.

Video shared by the USGS on social media shows mud spraying up and out from the pool just before 9:23 a.m. in Biscuit Basin about midway between park favorites Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic.

Other recent eruptions have mostly been audible and not visible, because they happened either at night or when the camera was obscured by ice.

The agency said the Black Diamond Pool was previously the site of a hydrothermal explosion, in July 2024, that sent rocks and mud flying hundreds of feet high and damaged a boardwalk. It prompted the closure of the area to visitors due to the damage and the potential for additional hazardous activity.

So-called dirty eruptions reaching up to 40 feet have occurred sporadically since then.