Passover is a major Jewish holiday, celebrated over seven or eight days each year, commemorating the exodus of ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt, as recounted in the Bible. It is considered the most widely observed of any Jewish holiday, symbolizing freedom and the birth of a Jewish nation.
This year, the celebrations again occur amid anxieties and divisions among many Jews related to the unresolved Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and the specter of widespread antisemitism.

The main auditorium of the Islamic University of Gaza is a gutted, burned-out wreck. Giant holes have been blasted through its blackened walls. The banks of seats are mangled and twisted.
And now the stage, once the scene of joyous graduation ceremonies, is crowded with the tents of the displaced. The campus has become a refuge for hundreds of families in northern Gaza since Israel broke a ceasefire in March and relaunched the war.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said Wednesday that his country will offer temporary shelter to Palestinian medical evacuees and children orphaned by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
"We are ready to evacuate those who are injured or traumatized, and orphans, if they want to be evacuated to Indonesia, and we are ready to send planes to transport them," Subianto said, adding that he has instructed his foreign affairs minister to discuss evacuation plans with the Palestinian authorities at once.

The Trump administration has reversed sweeping cuts in emergency food aid to several nations while maintaining them in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world's poorest and most war-ravaged countries, officials said Wednesday.
The United States had initially cut funding for projects in more than a dozen countries, part of a dramatic reduction of foreign aid led by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Aid officials warned the cuts would deny food to millions of people and end health programs for women and children.

Iran's president again pledged Wednesday that his nation is "not after a nuclear bomb" ahead of talks between Tehran and the United States, going as far as dangling the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a deal.
The comments by reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian represent a departure from Iran's stance after its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which Tehran sought to buy American airplanes but in effect barred U.S. companies from coming into the country.

Manufacturers struggling to make long-term plans. Farmers facing retaliation from Chinese buyers. U.S. households burdened with higher prices.
Republican senators are confronting the Trump administration with those worries and many more as they fret about the economic impact of the president's sweeping tariff strategy that went into effect Wednesday.

Chinese diplomats threatened to cancel a summit and called top officials in two African countries to pressure lawmakers to quit an international parliamentary group critical of China, officials from the group told The Associated Press.
It's an example of how far China will go to influence politicians overseas, and how that pressure can succeed behind closed doors.

By declaring a trade war on the rest of the world, President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II.
Trump's latest round of tariffs went into full effect at midnight Wednesday, with higher import tax rates on dozens of countries and territories taking hold.

Asian and European shares slid on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 dipping more than 5%, as the latest set of U.S. tariffs including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports took effect.
The Nikkei 225 lost 3.9% to 31,714.03. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 20,041.03, while the Shanghai Composite index reversed early losses, gaining 0.9%. to 3,173.56. Taiwan led losses in Asia, as its Taiex plunged 5.8%.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington for a hastily organized White House visit bringing a long list of concerns: Iran's nuclear program. President Donald Trump's tariffs. The surging influence of rival Turkey in Syria. And the 18-month war in Gaza.
Netanyahu appeared to leave Monday's meeting largely empty-handed — a stark contrast with his triumphant visit two months ago. During an hourlong Oval Office appearance, Trump appeared to slap down, contradict or complicate each of Netanyahu's policy prerogatives.
