Part of our “News That Matters“ Series, “Friday Update” is a weekly feature that offers brief overviews of important news that you might might have overlooked in the course of a busy week. Here’s what you may have missed in the period February 3 through February 7, 2025.
@BRIEFLY NOTED
Hamas said it will release the next group of three hostages as scheduled this weekend, potentially resolving its ceasefire spat with Israel.
An Afghan refugee drove into a Verdi union rally in central Munich on Thursday, injuring nearly 40 people. The attack came just ten days before federal elections where debater has been largely focused on migration. See full story here.
Interstate 80 will continue to remain closed eastbound after a sinkhole precipitated a major roadway collapse, authorities in New Jersey said. See full story here.
A Boeing jet with two people on board crashed into San Diego Bay Wednesday morning, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. See full story here.
At the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance signalled suport for far-right parties in Europe and used the podium at the high-level gathering that had been focusing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine to raise social issues animating many on the American right. He urged the Europeans to end their opposition to anti-immigration parties such as the AfD, or Alternative für Deutschland, party, classified as extremist by German intelligence.
A Russian drone damaged a radiation shield at Chernobyl. Ukraine reported that a Russian drone had caused the damage and President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there were no signs of radiation leaks.
@DEADLINE
NABEMONO TO TAKE AWAY THE COLD
In Japan, winter is unthinkable without nabemono, Japanese hot-pot dishes, cooked with family or friends.
In many places in the Northern Hemisphere, low daytime temperatures range from -8° F (-22° C) at the summit of Mount Washington, to -1° F (-18° C) in Prospect Creek, Alaska, to 5° F (-15° C) in Sidney, Nebraska, to 26° F (-3° C) in New York City, and just reading these figures is enough to send us running to nabemono recipes.
Oden, or おでん, 御田, is the most popular hot-pot dish, Aki Hirai, the City of Tokyo’s tourism representative told us. It typically consists of several ingredients including boiled eggs, daikon or konjac, and various fish cakes, and potatoes that have been stewed for hours in a light soy sauce-based broth, but you can add mushrooms (oyster mushrooms work particularly well), Napa cabbage, green onion, nira, bok choy, or carrots.
MOMMY, HOW LONG WILL EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES STAY FRESH?
Close to $500 million in emergency food assistance funded by U.S. taxpayers is now at risk of becoming spoiled according the inspector general’s office for the United States Agency for International Development, according to a report the IG released earlier in the week.
This includes $10 million of emergency food supplies in a South African warehouse, another $39 million of aid waiting for shipment from Houston, and 40,000 metric tons of food worth $40 million In a warehouse in the East African port of Djibouti and at risk of imminent spoilage.
The White House fired the agency’s inspector general shortly after the report came out, an action of questionable legality since the president can only remove an inspector general after he provides 30-days’ notice to Congress.
The Trump administration’s freeze of all U.S. foreign aid and the comical and chaotic attempt by Elon Musk to shut down the USAID.
All told, the watchdog estimated there’s nearly $500 million of emergency food assistance paid for by US taxpayers at risk of being ruined by the Trump administration’s disruptive freeze of all US foreign aid and Elon Musk’s chaotic attempt to shut down the United States Agency for International Development.
The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem
@TRAVEL
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines announced it would offer status matches between Alaska’s frequent-flyer plan Mileage Plan and Hawaiian’s HawaiianMiles, the ability to redeem Mileage Plan miles on Hawaiian Airlines-operated flights, select benefits for Mileage Plan elites when flying on Hawaiian Airlines, and the ability to earn miles across both programs.
Hilton Worldwide announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full calendar year. The hotelier said that net income was $505 million for Q4 and $1,539 million for 2024, a 6.6% and 9% year-over-year increase respectively. System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 3.5% year-over-year.
United Airlines said it would restart its non-stop service from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Tel Aviv starting on March 15. A second daily flight is slated to begin on March 29.
A shop assistant at Fortnum & Mason in London
@IN BRIEF
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, the black church that won control of the Proud Boys’ trademark after the extremist group’s members vandalized church property, has repurposed the group’s logo to signify “Stay Proud, Say Black.”
Miami Beach, as part of its yearslong effort to keep Spring Breakers away, has created a real commercial for a fake reality TV show. The commercial for “Reality Check” spoofs reality-show like dialog but highlights sccenes where revelers break the rules and suffer the consequences.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Julio Medina, the founder of Exodus, a taxpayer-funded program to house incarcerated people released from Rikers in hotels during the early years of the pandemic, with a wide range of federal felonies including taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickback. Medina has raised significant sums of money for New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his predecessor, Bill de Blasio.
The Louisiana surgeon general, Ralph Abraham, said that the state would no longer promote “mass vaccinations” in media campaigns or at health fairs.
All 3 Fayed brothers, the ex-owners of Harrods, a group that includes billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, now stand accused of sexual assault. Some of their accusations come from now former Harrods employees.
Jesse Sokolow, Timothy Perry, Jonathan Spira, Kurt Stolz, and Anna Breuer contributed to this issue of Friday Update.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
