Gaza Border Crossing with Egypt to Reopen, Venezuela Opens Oil Sector to Private Firms, and Other Global Developments
Israel announced Friday that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would reopen in both directions on Sunday, marking progress in US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan, according to Euronews. COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating aid to Gaza, stated that a "limited movement of people only" would be permitted through the crossing. While Gaza has four border crossings, Rafah is the only one linking the territory to a country other than Israel.
In Venezuela, interim president Delcy Rodriguez signed a bill into law that ends the monopoly of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA in the oil sector, Sky News reported. The National Assembly approved the bill on Thursday to attract foreign investment as the US eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry. The move authorizes US firms to buy, sell, transport, store, and refine Venezuelan crude oil, but does not lift all sanctions.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department in the United States announced the release of over three million pages of documents, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, Euronews reported. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the material was released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law enacted after public and political pressure to reveal what the government knew about Epstein's sexual abuse of young girls.
In Denmark, the government announced a deportation reform to expel non-Danish citizens sentenced to at least one year of imprisonment for serious crimes, such as aggravated assault and rape, Euronews reported. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen acknowledged the government was acting "unconventionally" by not waiting for court decisions in deportation cases. The new measures, set to take effect from May 1 if approved, also include tightened controls on foreigners without legal residence and a new ankle monitor for those who fail to comply with reporting requirements.
In Silicon Valley, billionaire tech mogul Reid Hoffman urged tech leaders to condemn the killings of two American citizens by Border Patrol agents and to stop pacifying President Trump, TechCrunch reported. In posts on X and an opinion column for The San Francisco Standard, Hoffman wrote, "We in Silicon Valley can't bend the knee to Trump. We can't shrink away and hope the crisis fades. Hope without action is not a strategy – it's an invitation for Trump to trample whatever he can see, including our own business and security interests." Vinod Khosla, another billionaire VC, has also been vocal, characterizing the White House as a "conscious-l" [sic].
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