Top Eight

Top eight stories for today including President Joe Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease up the barrage of missile attacks on Hamas; Texas’ Republican governor signed a bill to bar abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected; Europe’s top human rights court held a hearing in the case of a prematurely dismissed Polish judge, and more.

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National

1.) Saying he expects a swift and “significant deescalation,” President Joe Biden stopped just short of demanding a ceasefire on Wednesday in a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian mourners carry the body of 11 year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, out of the morgue during his funeral in town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

2.) Victims of a jihadist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Florida have turned to the 11th Circuit to revive their claims that YouTube is liable for allowing Islamic extremist videos to spread on its website in the time leading up to the massacre.

A YouTube sign is shown across the street from the company's offices in San Bruno, Calif., on April 3, 2018.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

3.) A full century after a white mob destroyed the predominantly Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a group of now very old survivors told House lawmakers that they are still waiting on justice.

FILE - In this 1921 file image provided by the Greenwood Cultural Center via Tulsa World, Mt. Zion Baptist Church burns after being torched by white mobs during the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Black community and political leaders called on President Donald Trump to at least change the Juneteenth date for a rally kicking off his return to public campaigning, saying Thursday, June 11, 2020. From Sen. Kamala Harris of California to Tulsa civic officials, black leaders said it was offensive for Trump to pick that date — June 19 — and that place — Tulsa, an Oklahoma city that in 1921 was the site of a fiery and orchestrated white-on-black killing spree. (Greenwood Cultural Center via Tulsa World via AP)

Regional

4.) Texas’ Republican governor signed a bill Wednesday to bar abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected with a new wrinkle not seen in other GOP-led states with similar legislation: private citizens can sue abortion providers for violating the law.

Anti-abortion demonstrators gather in the rotunda of the Texas State Capitol in Austin on March 30, 2021, as state senators debate abortion bills. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)

5.) New York is getting on its feet again after a long year battling Covid-19, but federal appeals court judges dug in Wednesday to landlords’ claims of continuing hardships stemming first from an eviction moratorium and now a state law that lets tenants pay rent with their security deposits.

International

6.) France on Wednesday became the latest European nation to ease its national lockdown, with museums, cinemas and terraces for outdoor eating and drinking finally reopening.

Customers sit at restaurants terraces in Lyon, central France, Wednesday, May, 19, 2021. Cafe and restaurant terraces reopened Wednesday after a six-month coronavirus shutdown. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

7.) Europe’s top human rights court held a hearing Wednesday in the case of a prematurely dismissed Polish judge, the latest international legal battle over judicial reforms in Poland.

Police stand outside the Supreme Court in Warsaw, Poland, on May 6, 2021, while the court’s disciplinary chamber examines the case of a judge. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

8.) The European Union didn’t properly check Portuguese and Dutch airline bailout packages, the bloc’s second-highest court ruled Wednesday.

A Ryanair jet plane parks at the airport in Weeze, Germany, on Sept. 12, 2018. French authorities seized a Ryanair plane on Nov. 9, 2018, and forced 149 passengers to disembark because of a dispute over subsidies to the Irish airline. The French civil aviation authority announced it had impounded the plane on the tarmac of the Bordeaux-Merignac airport as a “last resort.” (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

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