Up First briefing: U.S. conducts airstrikes on militants in Iraq; 2023 U. S. union wins
Good morning. You are reading a newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a speech yesterday that Israel will keep fighting the war against Hamas. He talked to President Biden over the weekend. Though Biden did not ask for a cease-fire, the U.S. wants Israel to curtail bombing and employ a more precise ground operation. “That’s not happening — at least not yet,” NPR’s Tom Bowman reports on Up First.
Source: Up First briefing: U.S. conducts airstrikes on militants in Iraq; 2023 U.S. union wins
How to Say No to Social Invites: Advice From a Mum-Mum’s Explanation of Her Parents’ Dilemma
The foreign minister of India is on a visit to Russia. He’s expected to discuss trade and other issues with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. India has a big buyer of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia is India’s top arms supplier. But Russia and India’s decades-long close relationship is complicated by India’s growing relationship with the U.S.
She said she felt an “existential void” after her parents died. She thought about how she could lead a more fulfilling and happy life without them. One of the first recordings by Martin was of this conversation with her siblings. Listen to them discuss how losing their parents made them reckon with their own faith and spirituality, and read the interview here.
New Year’s Eve celebrations are just around the corner, despite the Christmas party season being over. Don’t feel bad if your social battery is low and you have to decline some social invitations. A new study finds that people tend to overestimate how much it matters to the inviter. Here’s some advice on how to say no: