Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison Friday on two murder conspiracy convictions in Arizona, marking an end to a winding legal saga for the mother with doomsday religious beliefs who claimed people in her life had been possessed by evil spirits.

Vallow Daybell, already serving life sentences in Idaho in the killings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, was convicted at separate trials this spring in Phoenix of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and her niece's ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.

Authorities say she carried out the plots with her brother Alex Cox, who acknowledged killing Vallow in July 2019 and was identified by prosecutors as the person who fired at Boudreaux months later but missed.

RELATED STORY | 'Doomsday Prophet' Chad Daybell found guilty of all charges in murders of his 1st wife, stepchildren

Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell conspired to kill her husband so she could collect on his $1 million life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author of several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world. They say Boudreaux suspected Vallow Daybell and Cox were responsible for Vallow's death and went into hiding with his children because he feared Cox would kill him.

Nearly two years ago, Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for killing her children, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder Daybell's wife, Tammy. The children went missing for several months before their bodies were found buried in rural Idaho on Daybell's property. Daybell was sentenced to death for the gruesome murders of his wife, Tylee and JJ.

At her Arizona trials, Vallow Daybell argued her brother acted in self-defense when killing Vallow. She also said no evidence showed she conspired with Cox to kill Boudreaux.

Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth.

At some point, maybe in my very old age, Ill go there and do the most beautiful thing youve ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.

At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his familys business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as the greatest 36 holes in golf."

While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at probably one of my properties.

The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles away on Scotlands southwest coast.

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Using this week's presidential overseas trip with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his familys business interests.

The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a working trip." But she added that Trump has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.

Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale

Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times.

It's not cheap for the president to travel.

The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. Thats not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles.

RELATED STORY | Trump says under his proposal for taking over Gaza, Palestinians would have no right to return

Were at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesnt seem to see much of a difference, said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Its as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.

During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics framework for Trump's second term allows them.

Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe.

Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles

Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs.

It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish governments legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views.

And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals.

Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged.

Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals.

Golfers-in-chief

Family financial interests aside, Trump isnt the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didnt play.

Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery then considered vital to national defense.

The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough.

Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnsons swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake.

Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White Houses South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it.

Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said.

John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvards golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

Id say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers weve had in the White House, Trostel said.

Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an honest 13.

The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap.

Federal regulators on Thursday approved Paramount's $8 billion merger with Skydance, clearing the way to close a deal that combined Hollywood glitz with political intrigue.

The stamp of approval from the Federal Communications Commission comes after months of turmoil revolving around President Donald Trumps legal battle with 60 Minutes, the crown jewel of Paramount-owned broadcast network CBS.

With the specter of the Trump administration potentially blocking the hard-fought deal with Skydance, Paramount earlier this month agreed to pay a $16 million settlement with the President.

RELATED STORY | Paramount Global reaches $16 million settlement with Trump for edited Harris interview

Critics of the settlement lambasted it as a veiled a bribe to appease Trump, amid rising alarm over editorial independence overall. Further outrage also emerged after CBS said it was canceling Stephen Colberts Late Show just days after the comedian sharply criticized the parent companys settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives.

In a statement accompanying the deal's approval, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr hailed the merger as an opportunity to bring more balance to once-storied CBS network.

Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change," Carr said.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza.

Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.

The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism, but he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel's war in Gaza, especially in recent months.

France is the biggest and most powerful European country to recognize Palestine. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

France has Europes largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in western Europe, and fighting in the Middle East often spills over into protests or other tensions in France.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

RELATED STORY | 73 people killed waiting for humanitarian aid across Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry says

Frances foreign minister is co-hosting a conference at the U.N. next week about a two-state solution. Last month, Macron expressed his determination to recognize the state of Palestine, and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution, in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself.

Thursdays announcement came soon after the U.S. cut short Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasnt showing good faith.

Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israels restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.

The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israels government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. The territorys 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.

Two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavored single Feels So Good and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy King of the Hill, has died. He was 84.

Mangione died at his home in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday in his sleep, said his attorney, Peter S. Matorin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. The musician had been retired since 2015.

Perhaps his biggest hit Feels So Good is a staple on most smooth-jazz radio stations and has been called one of the most recognized melodies since Michelle by the Beatles. It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

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It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level, Mangione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008.

He followed that hit with Give It All You Got, commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, and he performed it at the closing ceremony.

Mangione, a flugelhorn and trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizable following after recording several albums, doing all the writing.

He won his first Grammy Award in 1977 for his album Bellavia, which was named in honor of his mother. Another album, Friends and Love, was also Grammy-nominated, and he earned a best original score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie The Children of Sanchez.

Mangione introduced himself to a new audience when he appeared on the first several seasons of King of the Hill, appearing as a commercial spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, where shopping feels so good.

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Mangione, brother of jazz pianist Gap Mangione, with whom he partnered in The Jazz Brothers, started his career as a bebop jazz musician heavily inspired by Dizzy Gillespie.

He also was one of the first musicians I saw who had a rapport with the audience by just telling the audience what he was going to play and who was in his band, Mangione told the Post-Gazette.

Mangione earned a bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music where he would eventually return as director of the schools jazz ensemble and left home to play with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

He donated his signature brown felt hat and the score of his Grammy-winning single Feels So Good, as well as albums, songbooks and other ephemera from his long and illustrious career to the Smithsonians National Museum of American History in 2009.

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage eased this week, offering little relief for prospective homebuyers facing record-high home prices.

The long-term rate slipped to 6.74% from 6.75% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.78%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased. The average rate dropped to 5.87% from 5.92% last week. A year ago, it was 6.07%, Freddie Mac said.

Elevated mortgage rates have been weighing on the U.S. housing market, which has been in a sales slump going back to 2022, when rates started to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic.

RELATED STORY | Millions want to own but can't: What's being done to address the housing crisis?

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes, which sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years in 2024, have remained sluggish this year and slid last month to the slowest pace since last September. Sales of new single-family homes edged up 0.6% last month, but the sales pace for June and May have been the slowest since last October.

While there are more homes on the market than a year ago, rising home prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates have made homeownership financially untenable for many Americans. Elevated mortgage rates are also discouraging many homeowners from selling because they locked in mortgage rates when they were much lower.

The persistent risk of tariff-driven inflation, combined with a rising U.S. fiscal debt - expected to grow further following the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill Act - has helped establish a relatively high floor for interest rates, at least for now, said Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserves interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors expectations for the economy and inflation.

The main barometer is the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4.41% at midday Thursday, down from 4.40% late Wednesday, following the latest signals that the U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK despite all the pressures on it from tariffs and elsewhere.

Yields have moved higher for most of this month as traders bet that the Fed will hold its key short-term interest rate steady at its upcoming meeting next week, despite President Donald Trump demanding that the Fed to lower rates.

A less independent Fed could mean lower short-term rates, which influence the interest consumers pay on credit cards and auto loans, but it could have the opposite effect on the longer-term bond yields that influence the rates on home loans.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, set in mid-January. The 30-year rates low point this year was in early April when it briefly dipped to 6.62%.

Economists generally expect the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% this year. Recent forecasts by Realtor.com and Fannie Mae project the average rate easing to around 6.4% by the end of this year.

The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows.

The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all.

The new statistic is on par with fertility rates in western European countries, according to World Bank data.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING | Birth rates remain stagnant as US encounters aging population issues

Alarmed by recent drops, the Trump administration has taken steps to increase falling birth rates, like issuing an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilization and backing the idea of baby bonuses that might encourage more couples to have kids.

But there's no reason to be alarmed, according to Leslie Root, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher focused on fertility and population policy.

Were seeing this as part of an ongoing process of fertility delay. We know that the U.S. population is still growing, and we still have a natural increase more births than deaths, she said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the statistic for the total fertility rate with updated birth data for 2024.

In the early 1960s, the U.S. total fertility rate was around 3.5, but plummeted to 1.7 by 1976 after the Baby Boom ended. It gradually rose to 2.1 in 2007 before falling again, aside from a 2014 uptick. The rate in 2023 was 1.621, and inched down in 2024 to 1.599, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Birth rates are generally declining for women in most age groups and that doesnt seem likely to change in the near future, said Karen Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.

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People are marrying later and also worried about their ability to have the money, health insurance and other resources needed to raise children in a stable environment.

Worry is not a good moment to have kids, and thats why birth rates in most age groups are not improving, she said.

Asked about birth-promoting measures outlined by the Trump administration, Guzzo said they dont tackle larger needs like parental leave and affordable child care.

The things that they are doing are really symbolic and not likely to budge things for real Americans, she said.

Increase in births in new data

The CDC's new report, which is based on a more complete review of birth certificates than provisional data released earlier this year, also showed a 1% increase in births about 33,000 more last year compared to the prior year.

That brought the yearly national total to just over 3.6 million babies born.

But this is different: The provisional data indicated birth rate increases last year for women in their late 20s and 30s. However, the new report found birth rate declines for women in their 20s and early 30s, and no change for women in their late 30s.

What happened? CDC officials said it was due to recalculations stemming from a change in the U.S. Census population estimates used to compute the birth rate.

That's plausible, Root said. As the total population of women of childbearing age grew due to immigration, it offset small increases in births to women in those age groups, she said.

In the weeks before Bryan Kohberger killed four University of Idaho students, there were strange happenings at their rental home near campus.

One of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, told her roommates she saw a man she didn't recognize staring at her when she took her dog outside. Another time, the residents came home to find the door open, loose on its hinges. They grabbed golf clubs to arm themselves against a possible intruder.

Those details were included in hundreds of documents released by police within hours of Kohberger being sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the brutal stabbing murders of Gonclaves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin early Nov. 13, 2022.

It remains unclear whether the strange happenings had anything to do with the killings. But the documents do illustrate the frenzied efforts by law enforcement to follow every possible lead to find and convict Kohberger.

RELATED STORY | Idaho survivors speak out at Kohberger sentencing

Here's a look at some information from the documents:

Curious happenings at 1122 King Rd.

Bethany Funke was one of two roommates to survive the night of the stabbings. In interviews after the murders, she told police that about a month earlier, Goncalves had taken her dog, Murphy, outside when she saw an unknown man "up above their house to the south," staring at her.

It was concerning enough that Goncalves "told everyone" about it and called her roommates to ask if they'd be home soon, Funke said.

Then, on Nov. 4, nine days before the attack, the roommates came home at 11 a.m. to find the door open, loose on its hinges, as the wind blew. Goncalves was away at the time. Kernodle's father fixed the door, Funke reported.

On Nov. 13, police found a gruesome scene. Blood pooled on bed comforters, covered floors and was splattered on walls. One the victims, Kernodle, had extensive defensive wounds; in her room "it was obvious an intense struggle had occurred," one office wrote.

Detailing the investigation's steps

Tips poured in. A staff member at Walmart told police that two to three weeks earlier, a white, college-age male had come in looking for a black ski mask that would cover his face. People who saw online feeds of some of the victims at a food truck offered their thoughts about a possible perpetrator, and investigators also looked into leads about bar-goers they had seen earlier in the night or an Uber driver they frequently used, the documents show.

A woman who lived nearby told police that in either August or September 2022, she and her daughter saw a man in their yard who "looked nervous." She said she was almost certain it was Kohberger.

Officers eventually identified Kohberger a doctoral student in criminology at nearby Washington State University using a DNA sample found on a knife sheath at the crime scene. They tracked his movements that night with cellphone data, obtained online shopping records showing he had purchased a military-style knife, and linked him to a car that repeatedly drove by the students' house.

The documents include memos memorializing the subpoenas or warrants they served seeking records and the responses to those requests. Investigators served a warrant on the dating app Tinder, looking for accounts Kohberger might have created with certain emails and which might link him to his victims.

No such evidence emerged, and the motive for the killings remains a mystery.

RELATED STORY | Bryan Kohberger sentenced to life in prison for killing 4 University of Idaho students

Kohberger spoke with police briefly

Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, about six weeks after the killings. He was taken to a state police barracks to be interviewed by officers from the Moscow police department, Idaho State Police and the FBI.

They chatted about the Washington State football team, Kohberger's doctorate studies in criminal justice, his required duties to be a teaching assistant while in college, and why he wanted to become a professor.

Kohberger eventually said he understood they were engaging in small talk, but he would appreciate if the officers explained what they wanted. One detective told him it was because of what had happened in Moscow. Asked if he knew what had transpired, he replied, "Of course."

Did he want to talk about it? "Well, I think I would need a lawyer," Kohberger replied.

He continued speaking, though asking what specific questions they had and asking if his parents and dog were OK following his arrest.

Kohberger finally said he would like to speak to an attorney, and police ended the interview because he had invoked his Fifth Amendment right.

Behind bars with Kohberger

A man incarcerated at the Latah County Jail who was once housed next to Kohberger's cell told a detective Sept. 16, 2024, that Kohberger would often question him about his past criminal offenses and why he was in the maximum security wing of the facility.

The man said Kohberger's habits annoyed him, including how he washed his hands dozens of times each day and spent 45 minutes to an hour in the shower. He said Kohberger stayed awake almost all night and would only take a nap during the day.

Forty-eight people have died in a plane crash in Russias Far East, the head of the countrys Amur region said in a statement Thursday.

The An-24 passenger plane disappeared from radar as it travelled from the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border to the town of Tynda. Rescuers later found the aircrafts burning wreckage amid dense forests on a hillside south of its planned destination.

Regional Gov. Vasily Orlov said that all passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the crash. He also announced three days of mourning.

Images of the reported crash site circulated by Russian state media show debris scattered among dense forest, surrounded by plumes of smoke.

Russia's Interfax news agency said there were adverse weather conditions at the time of the crash, citing unnamed sources in the emergency services. Several Russian news outlets also reported that the aircraft was almost 50 years old, citing data taken from the plane's tail number.

The transport prosecutors office in the Far East reported that the site of the crash was 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tynda. The office said in an online statement that the plane attempted a second approach while trying to land when contact with it was lost.

Aviation incidents have been frequent in Russia, especially in recent years as international sanctions have squeezed the countrys aviation sector.

Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus, the university announced Wednesday.

Under the agreement, the Ivy League school will pay a $200 million settlement over three years, the university said. It will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty," acting University President Claire Shipman said.

The Trump administration pulled the funding, because of what it described as the universitys failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

Columbia then agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the universitys student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism.

Wednesdays agreement which does not include an admission of wrongdoing codifies those reforms while preserving the universitys autonomy, Shipman said.

RELATED STORY | Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

The school had been threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in grants cancelled earlier this year.

The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track," Shipman said. "Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.

As part of the deal, Columbia agreed to a series of changes previously announced in March, including reviewing its Middle East curriculum to make sure it was comprehensive and balanced and appointing new faculty to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. It also promised to end programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotes, diversity targets or similar efforts.

The university will also have to issue a report to a monitor assuring that its programs do not promote unlawful DEI goals.

The pact comes after months of uncertainty and fraught negotiations at the more than 270-year-old university. It was among the first targets of President Donald Trumps crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protests and on colleges that he asserts have allowed Jewish students be threatened and harassed.

Columbias own antisemitism task force found last summer that Jewish students had faced verbal abuse, ostracism and classroom humiliation during the spring 2024 demonstrations.

Other Jewish students took part in the protests, however, and protest leaders maintain they arent targeting Jews but rather criticizing the Israeli government and its war in Gaza.

Columbias leadership a revolving door of three interim presidents in the last year has declared that the campus climate needs to change.

Also in the settlement is an agreement to ask prospective international students questions designed to elicit their reasons for wishing to study in the United States, and establishes processes to make sure all students are committed to civil discourse.

Health officials in Colorado say the state's measles outbreak is over, and the U.S. added just 10 confirmed cases nationally in the last week.

Wednesday's national case count stood at 1,319, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this month, the U.S. passed the total count for 2019, when the country almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.

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A vast majority of this year's cases are from Texas, where a major outbreak raged through the late winter and spring. Other states with active outbreaks which the CDC defines as three or more related cases include Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.

There have been three deaths in the U.S. this year, and all were unvaccinated: two elementary school-aged children in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico.

North America has three other large outbreaks. The longest, in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 2,276 cases from mid-October through July 15. The province logged its first death June 5 in a baby who got congenital measles but also had other preexisting conditions.

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Another outbreak in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 1,472 as of Tuesday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 3,296 measles cases and 10 deaths as of Tuesday, according to data from the state health ministry.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus thats airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.

A federal judge in Maryland has prohibited the Trump administration from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immediate immigration custody if hes released from jail in Tennessee while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, according to an order issued Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the U.S. government to provide notice of three business days if Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to initiate deportation proceedings against the Maryland construction worker.

The judge also ordered the government to restore the federal supervision that Abrego Garcia was under before he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That supervision had allowed Abrego Garcia to live and work in Maryland for years, while he periodically checked in with ICE.

Abrego Garcia became a prominent face in the debate over President Donald Trumps immigration policies following his wrongful explusion to El Salvador in March. Trumps administration violated a U.S. immigration judges order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there.

The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police in Tennessee suspected human smuggling, but he was allowed to drive on.

RELATED STORY | Abrego Garcia says he was subjected to psychological torture in El Salvador jail

U.S. officials have said theyll try to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that isnt El Salvador, such as Mexico or South Sudan, before his trial starts in January because they allege hes a danger to the community.

A federal judge in Tennessee has been considering whether to release Abrego Garcia to await trial, prompting fears from his attorneys that he would be quickly expelled by ICE.

In an effort to prevent his deportation, Abrego Garcias attorneys asked the judge in Maryland to order the U.S. government to send him to that state to await his trial. Short of that, they asked for at least 72 hours notice if ICE planned to deport Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcias American wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is suing the Trump administration in Xinis Maryland court over his wrongful deportation in March and is trying to prevent another expulsion.

U.S. officials have argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally around 2011 and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, although not to his native El Salvador.

Following the immigration judges decision in 2019, Abrego Garcia was released under federal supervision, received a federal work permit and checked in with ICE each year, his attorneys have said.

The Trump administration recently stated in court documents that they revoked Abrego Garcias supervised release when they deemed him to be in the MS-13 gang and deported him in March.

A doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends stars overdose death.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia became the fourth of the five people charged in connection with Perrys death to plead guilty. He stood next to his lawyer and admitted guilt to four counts to Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in federal court in Los Angeles.

Plasencia, 43, was to have gone on trial in August until the doctor agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, according to the signed document filed in federal court in Los Angeles.

He spoke only to answer the judge's questions. When asked if his lawyers had considered all the possibilities of pleas and sentencing in the case, Plasencia replied, They've considered everything.

Dr. Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry, the doctor's attorney, Debra White, said in an emailed statement after the hearing. He is fully accepting responsibility by pleading guilty to drug distribution. Dr. Plasencia intends to voluntarily surrender his medical license, acknowledging his failure to protect Mr. Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction.

Plasencia had previously pleaded not guilty, but in exchange for the guilty pleas prosecutors have agreed to drop three additional counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of falsifying records.

Prosecutors outlined the charges in court before the plea, and said that he did not sell Perry the dose that killed the actor.

They described, and Plasencia admitted, that Perry froze up and his blood pressure spiked when the doctor gave him one injection, but Plasencia still left more ketamine for Perry's assistant to inject.

In court, Perry was referred to only as victim MP.

The charges can carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and there is no guarantee Plasencia will get less, but he's likely to. He has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest in August, and will be allowed to remain free until his Dec. 3 sentencing.

RELATED STORY | Autopsy shows Matthew Perry died from 'acute effects of ketamine'

Plasencia left the courthouse with his lawyers without speaking to reporters gathered outside.

"While Dr. Plasencia was not treating Mr. Perry at the time of his death," his lawyer's statement said, he hopes his case serves as a warning to other medical professionals and leads to stricter oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly growing at-home ketamine industry in order to prevent future tragedies like this.

The only remaining defendant who has not reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office is Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors allege is a drug dealer known as the Ketamine Queen and sold Perry the lethal dose. Her trial is scheduled to begin next month. She has pleaded not guilty.

According to prosecutors and co-defendants who reached their own deals, Plasencia illegally supplied Perry with a large amount of ketamine starting about a month before his death on Oct. 28, 2023.

According to a co-defendant, Plasencia in a text message called the actor a moron who could be exploited for money.

Perry's personal assistant, his friend, and another doctor all agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation as the government sought to make their case against larger targets, Plasencia and Sangha. None have been sentenced yet.

Perry was found dead by the assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death.

The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression, which has become increasingly common. Perry, 54, began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him.

Plasencia admitted in his plea agreement that another patient connected him with Perry, and that starting about a month before Perry's death, he illegally supplied the actor with 20 vials of ketamine totaling 100 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes.

He admitted to enlisting another doctor, Mark Chavez, to supply the drug for him, according to the court filings.

I wonder how much this moron will pay, Plasencia texted Chavez, according to Chavez's plea agreement.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perrys go-to, prosecutors said.

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBCs megahit.

President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation.

This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs There has never been anything like it, Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.

The president said Japan would invest at my direction $550 billion into the U.S. and would open its economy to American autos and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1.

Early Wednesday, Ishiba acknowledged the new trade agreement, saying it would benefit both sides and help them work together.

With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker even as his tariffs, when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector.

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But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the U.S. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear.

The wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs. The problem was seen sharply Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35% drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble.

As the Aug. 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19% on its goods, while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19% tariffs on Indonesia.

The U.S. ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau.

America had a trade imbalance of $17.9 billion with Indonesia and an imbalance of $4.9 billion with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the U.S. and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them.

The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on Aug. 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks.

We have Europe coming in tomorrow, the next day, Trump told guests.

The president earlier this month sent a letter threatening the 27 member states in the EU with 30% taxes on their goods to be imposed starting on Aug. 1.

The Trump administration has a separate negotiating period with China that is currently set to run through Aug. 12 as goods from that nation are taxed at an additional 30% baseline.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would be in the Swedish capital of Stockholm next Monday and Tuesday to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Bessent said his goal is to shift the American economy away from consumption and to enable more consumer spending in the manufacturing-heavy Chinese economy.

President Trump is remaking the U.S. into a manufacturing economy, Bessent said on the Fox Business Network show Mornings with Maria. If we could do that together, we do more manufacturing, they do more consumption. That would be a home run for the global economy.

Venus Williams wanted to send a message to herself and to others about coming back from a long layoff, about competing in a sport at age 45, about never giving up. Yes, there was something special about just being back on a tennis court Tuesday night.

There also was this: She really, really wanted to win.

And Williams did just that, becoming the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns 22 years her junior by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open.

Each week that I was training, I was, like, Oh, my God, I dont know if Im good enough yet. And then there would be weeks where I would leap forward. And there would be two weeks where I was, like, Oh, God, its not happening. Even the week leading up, (I thought), Oh, my gosh, I need to improve so much more. So its all a head game, Williams said after her first singles match in more than a year and first singles victory in nearly two.

Navratilova is the only woman older than Williams to win a singles match

The only older woman to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last triumph came at 47 in 2004.

The former No. 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as inactive.

Im just constantly praying for good health, so that way I could have an opportunity to play with good health, Williams said. A lot of this for me is being able to come back and try to play at a level (and) to play healthy.

Venus Williams won four Grand Slam titles before Peyton Stearns was born

Backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in womens doubles all alongside younger sister Serena and two in mixed doubles.

I wanted to play a good match, Williams told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: and win the match.

In Tuesday's second game, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th.

In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a forehand winner.

The first chorus of cheers arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the coin toss. The noise reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces at 110 mph and faster the way she used to.

Keep in mind: Williams won four Grand Slam trophies before Stearns was born.

Venus Williams hit big serves and groundstrokes just like she always did

She played some ball tonight, Stearns said. She was moving really well, which I wasnt expecting too much, honestly. Her serves were just on fire.

There also were moments where Williams whose fiance was in the stands looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long.

At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave.

It's not easy. It wont be easy. Its not easy for anyone out here, said Williams, who next faces No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, who's 27. So I know Ill have to fight for every match. But Im up for that.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in womens sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an obligation to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The new policy, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPCs website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under USOPC Athlete Safety Policy and references Trumps executive order, Keeping Men Out of Womens Sports, signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to rescind all funds from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in womens sports.

U.S. Olympic officials told the national governing bodies they will need to follow suit, adding that the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials since Trump signed the order.

As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations," USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and President Gene Sykes wrote in a letter. Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment.

RELATED STORY | Supreme Court will take up a new case about which school sports teams transgender students can join

The National Women's Law Center put out a statement condemning the move.

By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes, said that organization's president and CEO, Fatima Goss Graves.

The USOPC oversees around 50 national governing bodies, most of which play a role in everything from the grassroots to elite levels of their sports. That raises the possibility that rules might need to be changed at local sports clubs to retain their memberships in the NGBs.

Some of those organizations for instance, USA Track and Field have long followed guidelines set by their own world federation. World Athletics is considering changes to its policies that would mostly fall in line with Trump's order.

A USA Swimming spokesman said the federation had been made aware of the USOPC's change and was consulting with the committee to figure out what changes it needs to make. USA Fencing changed its policy effective Aug. 1 to allow only athletes who are of the female sex in women's competition and opening men's events to all athletes not eligible for the womens category, including transgender women, transgender men, non-binary and intersex athletes and cisgender male athletes.

The nationwide battle over transgender girls on girls and womens sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans portray the issue as a fight for athletic fairness. More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some policies have been blocked in court by those who say the policies are discriminatory, cruel and unnecessarily target a tiny niche of athletes.

The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes to limit competition in womens sports to athletes assigned female at birth. That change came a day after Trump signed the executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from girls and womens sports.

Female eligibility is a key issue for the International Olympic Committee under its new president, Kirsty Coventry, who has signaled an effort to protect the female category. The IOC has allowed individual sports federations to set their own rules at the Olympics and some have already taken steps on the topic.

Stricter rules on transgender athletes barring from womens events anyone who went through male puberty have been passed by swimming, cycling and track and field. Soccer is reviewing its eligibility rules for women and could set limits on testosterone.

Trump has said he wants the IOC to change everything having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject. Los Angeles will host the Summer Games in 2028.

A mountain lion bit a 4-year-old who was walking with their family over the weekend on a popular trail in Olympic National Park in Washington state, park officials said Monday.

The child was injured during Sunday's attack and flown to a trauma center in Seattle for treatment, according to a statement from the National Park Service.

The attack by a mountain lion fitted with a tracking collar was near an overlook on Hurricane Ridge, a popular mountain area with expansive views.

The attack was reported to rangers around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday and paramedics and park staff traveled to the injured child, according to the National Park Service.

Rangers immediately started searching for the cougar and by Monday, park staff had "dispatched the animal," the statement said using a term that generally refers to killing an animal.

"There are no current threats to the public," the statement said.

Officials said they would not be releasing any identifying information about the child to protect their identity.

The United States announced Tuesday it will again pull out of the U.N.s educational, scientific and cultural agency because it believes that its involvement is not in the countrys national interest, and that the agency promotes anti-Israel speech. This decision comes only two years after the United States rejoined UNESCO after leaving in 2018, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the withdrawal was linked to UNESCO's perceived agenda to advance divisive social and cultural causes.

She added in a statement that UNESCOs decision to admit the State of Palestine as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.

The decision, first reported by the New York Post, will take effect at the end of December 2026.

This will be the third time that the United States has left UNESCO, which is based in Paris, and the second time during a Trump administration. It last rejoined the agency in 2023, under the Biden administration.

UNESCOs Director General Audrey Azoulay said she deeply regrets the U.S. decision but insisted that it was expected, and that the agency has prepared for it. She also denied accusations of anti-Israel bias.

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These claims ... contradict the reality of UNESCOs efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism, she said.

The Trump administration in 2017 announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision took effect a year later. The U.S. and Israel stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011.

The reasons put forward by the United States of America are the same as seven years ago, even though the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism, Azoulay added.

The decision came as no surprise to UNESCO officials, who had anticipated such a move following the specific review ordered by the Trump administration earlier this year. They also expected that Trump would pull out again since the return of the US in 2023 had been promoted by a political rival, former President Joe Biden.

The U.S withdrawal is likely to affect UNESCO because the U.S. provides a notable share of the agencys budget. But the organization should be able to cope. UNESCO has diversified its funding sources in recent years and the US contribution has decreased, representing only 8% of the agencys total budget.

RELATED STORY | Trump pulls out of International Surveillance Treaty

Azoulay pledged that UNESCO will carry out its missions despite inevitably reduced resources. The agency is not considering any staff layoffs at this stage.

UNESCOs purpose is to welcome all the nations of the world, and the United States of America is and always will be welcome, she said. We will continue to work hand in hand with all our American partners in the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations, and will pursue our political dialogue with the U.S. administration and Congress.

The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance the interests of the Soviet Union. It rejoined in 2003 during George W. Bushs presidency.

Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said Tuesday, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting during the 21-month war.

The expansion of Israels ground invasion comes as Israel and Hamas have been considering terms for a ceasefire for Gaza that would pause the fighting and free at least some hostages.

The latest round of talks has dragged on for weeks with no signs of breakthrough, though negotiators have expressed optimism. With Israel expanding its control over large chunks of Gaza, an expected pullback of troops is a major point of contention in the talks.

RELATED STORY | 73 people killed waiting for humanitarian aid across Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry says

The Trump administration has been pushing Israel to wrap up the war and has shown signs of impatience. On Monday, President Donald Trumps press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was caught off guard by a recent Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza.

Top Christian clergy visited that church last week and in a press conference Tuesday in Jerusalem called for the war to end.

At least 20 killed in Israeli strikes, health officials say

One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up, seaside Shati refugee camp on the western side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the citys Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said it was not aware of such a strike by its forces.

The dead included three women and three children, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of the hospital told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.

The strike tore apart tents, and left some of the dead laying on the ground, according to footage shared by the Health Ministrys ambulance and emergency service.

An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Ahmed Mhana, who said he was waiting on a coastal road for aid trucks, said the crowd was struck twice by Israeli aircraft.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the Gaza City strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. It accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israels terms for a ceasefire including calls to give up power and disarm.

Heavy explosions heard in area that avoided major fighting

In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, which previously has not seen major ground operations or widespread devastation, Palestinians reported heavy explosions from strikes and tank shelling overnight.

It was non-stop, Ayman Aby Hassan said. We felt that the area was shaking, as if there was an earthquake.

The man, who is in his 40s, fled an area in the southwestern side of Deir al-Balah that was invaded by the military earlier this week. He headed to the Muwasi area near the sea.

The Israeli military ordered evacuations from parts of the city earlier this week.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.

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More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gazas Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

Church leaders witnessed an almost totally destroyed Gaza

In Jerusalem, top church leaders called on the international community to help bring an end to the war in Gaza after making a rare visit to the conflict-ridden territory last week.

Their visit came a day after Gaza's only Catholic church was struck by an Israeli shell in an attack that killed three people and wounded 10, including a priest who had developed a close friendship with the late Pope Francis.

The strike drew condemnation from Pope Leo XIV and Trump, and prompted statements of regret from Israel, which said it was an accident.

It is time to end this nonsense, end the war, Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters.

Israel has heavily restricted access to Gaza since the start of the war, though church leaders have entered on previous occasions, usually to mark major holidays.

Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III said they witnessed a Gaza that was almost totally destroyed. They said they saw older people, women and boys totally starved and hungry and called for urgent humanitarian aid.

"Every hour without food, water, medicine, and shelter causes deep harm," Pizzaballa said. It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Israel has greatly reduced the amount of aid being let into Gaza and aid that does enter is often met by chaos and violence at distribution points.

On Tuesday, the U.N. said more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking aid in Gaza since Israel redesigned the distribution of goods for Palestinians. Accusing Israel of the killings, the U.N. said more than 750 had died in the vicinity of aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli- and U.S.-backed group. GHF mostly denies that violence occurs at its sites.