Israel orders evacuations in Rafah and Boeing to launch spacecraft: NPR

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Today’s top stories

Israel celebrates Holocaust Remembrance Day today. Nearly seven months into the war in Gaza and after another round of ceasefire talks collapsed. The Israeli military has begun dropping leaflets ordering the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Rafah, a move that indicates its ground offensive in the southern Gaza area could be imminent.

• NPR’s Lauren Frayer tells up first that the impasse between Hamas and Israel a ceasefire seems to be whether it will be temporary or permanent and whether Israeli troops will completely withdraw from Gaza.
• Israel raids Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem after the country’s cabinet voted to shut down the news network’s operations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the Qatar-based network of being a “mouthpiece for Hamas.” Press freedom advocates criticized the decision. In a statement, the Israel Foreign Press Association says Israel has now joined a “dubious club of authoritarian governments.”

Boeing’s airliner division has had a turbulent few months. The company is hoping for a smoother ride in outer space tonight when it plans to launch two NASA astronauts from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on a mission to the International Space Station. It will be the first time that Boeing’s Starliner capsule will transport people.

• “This is really important,” says Brendan Byrne of Central Florida Public Media. After NASA’s space shuttle retired in 2011, the space agency needed a way to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. Boeing and SpaceX signed development agreements in 2014. SpaceX has flown nine missions since then, but Boeing has been delayed for years. Byrne says it may be difficult to separate the image of Boeing’s safety problems with its 737 airplanes on this space mission.

The US House of Representatives could vote on a bill this week that would require counting and excluding noncitizens from the 2030 census. The decennial count determines each state’s share of House representatives and electoral college votes. The bill is among at least a dozen measures introduced by Republican lawmakers as they push for an unprecedented change to the country’s electoral maps.

We the voters

As part of the We the voters series, NPR brings you stories about immigration reported from the US-Mexico border each week.

Is it easy for immigrants to enter the United States? The arrival of migrants from all over the Americas and the rest of the world has led many to believe that it is as simple as walking through the front door. But when the Morning Edition team visited a border point, they discovered the opposite was true. Many immigrants wait there every day for the opportunity to enter the country legally in the hope of being able to apply for asylum.

Steve Inskeep spoke with a Venezuelan family who was waiting and hoping to be selected for a border police control that would allow them to enter the country conditionally. Listen to them describe their journey. and read about the other challenges migrants face.

today’s listening

You may have heard Jeff Beal’s work without knowing it. Beal wrote the Emmy-winning theme for the Netflix series House of cards. For 17 years he has lived with multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease with no cure that can affect the brain. He credits music writing as the reason he hasn’t had any significant gray matter loss. His latest collection of deeply personal solo piano works reflects his hopeful vision of life.

Listen to parts of the album. and listen to Beal talk about how it came about and why do you think you are lucky.

3 things you should know before you go

1. The original watercolor illustration. for the first edition of Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone It will be auctioned next month. Its sale is expected to break records for any Harry Potter-related material.
2. More than 16,000 pounds of ground beef sold at Walmart and produced by Cargill Meat Solutions have been cited due to possible E. coli contamination.
3. Have you seen this emotional support alligator? Joie Henney says her beloved Wally, who has been documented on social media visiting nursing homes in Pennsylvania and splashing in the fountain at Philadelphia’s LOVE Park, was kidnapped, recovered and released into a swamp.

This newsletter was edited by Obed Manuel. Anandita Bhalerao contributed.