Israel, Hamas fighting intensifies; GOP set to oust Cheney today; NRA dealt major blow

Jacob Simona stands by his burning car during clashes with Israeli Arabs and police in the Israeli mixed city of Lod, Israel Tuesday, May 11,2021. 

An Israeli firefighter extinguishes a burning bus after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, at the central Israeli town of Holon, near Tel Aviv, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. 

In this April 26, 2019, file photo NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre attends the National Rifle Association annual convention in Indianapolis. 

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 14, 2021, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., arrives early for a meeting with fellow Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington. 

1970 — Ernie Banks hits his 500th career home run off Pat Jarvis in the Chicago Cubs’ 4-3 victory over Atlanta at Wrigley Field.

1974 — The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 102-87 to win the NBA championship in seven games.

2006 — Justin Gatlin breaks the 100-meter world record with a time of 9.76 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. A week later, the International Association of Athletics Federations announces a timing error gave Gatlin a time of 9.76 seconds. His time of 9.766 seconds, should have been manually rounded up to 9.77, tying Asafa Powell’s world mark of 9.77.

2013 — Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Madrid Open to retain her No. 1 ranking and collect her 50th career title.

2014 — LeBron James ties his playoff career high with 49 points, Chris Bosh makes the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 57 seconds left, and the Miami Heat beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-96 for a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Rock musician Billy Duffy is 60. 

Actor Bruce Boxleitner is 71. 

Composer Burt Bacharach is 93.

TV personality/chef Carla Hall is 57.

Actor-singer Clare Bowen is 37. 

Actor Emilio Estevez is 59.

Actor Emily VanCamp is 35.

Rock musician Eric Singer (KISS) is 63.

Actor Gabriel Byrne is 71. 

Blues singer-musician Guy Davis is 69.

Actor Jason Biggs is 43.

Actor Kim Fields is 52. 

Country singer Kix Brooks is 66. 

Actor Malcolm David Kelley is 29. 

Actor Malin Akerman is 43.

Country musician Matt Mangano (The Zac Brown Band) is 45.

Actor Rami Malek is 40.

Actor Rhea Seehorn is 49.

Actor Samantha Mathis is 51. 

Singer-musician Steve Winwood is 73. 

Actor Ving Rhames is 62. 

In 1937, Britain’s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort.

In 1943, the two-week Trident Conference, headed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, opened in Washington.

In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.

In 1955, Manhattan’s last elevated rail line, the Third Avenue El, ceased operation.

In 1958, the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD).

In 1975, the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)

In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.)

In 1997, Australian Susie Maroney became the first woman to swim from Cuba to Florida, covering the 118-mile distance in 24 1/2 hours.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president in or out of office to visit since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

In 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

In 2009, suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN’-yuk) was deported from the United States to Germany.

Ten years ago: A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard. (Demjanjuk, who maintained his innocence, died in March 2012 at age 91.)

Ten years ago: CEOs of the five largest oil companies went before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats challenged the executives to justify tax breaks at a time when people were paying $4 a gallon for gas.

Five years ago: A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate so that a lower court could review claims that strokes and dementia had rendered him incompetent to understand his looming death sentence. (A federal appeals court ruled in March 2017 that Vernon Madison was incompetent, and could not be executed.)

One year ago: Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a Senate panel that cities and states could “turn back the clock” and see more COVID-19 deaths and economic damage if they lifted stay-at-home orders too quickly. 

One year ago: House Democrats unveiled a coronavirus aid package totaling more than $3 trillion, including nearly $1 trillion for states and cities to avert layoffs and a fresh round of direct cash aid to American households. (The measure won House approval but Senate Republicans and the White House rejected it as too costly.)

An Israeli firefighter walks next to cars hit by a missile fired from Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Palestinian mourners carry the body of 11-year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, during his funeral in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinians gather near a fire burning next to the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem during clashes between police and Palestinian protesters on Monday, May 10, 2021. Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Monday, including a barrage that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city. The rocket fire drew heavy Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

An Israeli soldier inspects a house damaged by a missile fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man helps a wounded girl and a woman to an ambulance after an Israeli airstrikes at their building, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A wounded boy lies on a stretcher in a hospital following an explosion in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Monday, May 10, 2021, during a conflict between Hamas and Israel. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ali)

People look at a damaged fence around a house after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Relatives of 11-year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, mourn during his funeral in the family home in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinian workers repair damaged power cables following Israeli airstrikes that destroyed a building belonging to the Hamas movement’s, Al-Salah Charitable Association, in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A member of Israeli bomb squad looks at burning cars that were set on fire by a missile fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

An Israeli police water cannon is deployed near the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem as a fire burns during clashes between police and Palestinian protesters Monday, May 10, 2021. Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Monday, including a barrage that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city. The rocket fire drew heavy Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Medics and youths chant Islamic slogans while carrying the covered body of a man who was killed in Israeli airstrikes at his apartment building, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinians begin to clear rubble following Israeli airstrikes that destroyed a building belonging to the Hamas movement’s, Al-Salah Charitable Association, in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A man holds a fragment of a projectile after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People look from a damaged window of their home after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Israeli soldiers take cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man inspects the heavily damaged house after it was hit by a missile fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli soldiers take cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip, at the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

An Israeli firefighter takes cover as rocket fired from Gaza strip hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

An Israeli Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept rockets fired from Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli firefighters take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People take cover as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets fired from Gaza strip, in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Mourners chant Islamic slogans while they carry the body of Amira Soboh, and her 19-year-old disabled son Abdelrahman, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes at their apartment building, during their funeral at the Shati refugee camp, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Rockets are launched from Gaza Strip towards Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

A Israeli soldier takes cover as an Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept a rocket from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Avi Korkas, a municipality worker, examines the damages of a municipality office in charge of an outdoor food market, that was torched after a night of violence between Israeli Arab protesters and Israeli police in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Lod, central Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine)

A Palestinian man inspects the rubble of a mechanic garage destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinians inspect the rubble of an ice factory and mechanics garages destroyed by an Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A Palestinian man inspects the rubble of a mechanic garage destroyed after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

People gather near the rubble of an ice factory and mechanic garages that were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian mourners carry the body of 11-year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, out of the morgue during his funeral in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Relatives of 11 year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, react during his funeral in the family home in town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A man passes by cars torched after a night of violence between Israeli Arab protesters and Israeli police in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Lod, central Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine)

Smoke rises after an Israeli forces strike in Gaza in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

An Israeli authorities worker inspects the damage to a house hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

A Palestinian rescuer searches for survivors under the rubble of a destroyed rooftop of a residential building hit by Israeli missile strikes, at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Tuesday, May. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Smoke billows as the sun rises after an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Israeli police inspect damage to a house hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, at a kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, Monday, May. 10, 2021. Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Monday, including a barrage that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A medic treats a wounded boy following an explosion in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Monday, May 10, 2021, during a conflict between Hamas and Israel. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ali)

Smoke rises after an Israeli forces strike in Gaza in Gaza City, Monday, May 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, Monday, May. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Palestinians evacuate a wounded man during clashes with Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City Monday, May 10, 2021. Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at the flashpoint Jerusalem holy site on Monday, the latest in a series of confrontations that is pushing the contested city to the brink of eruption. Palestinian medics said at least 180 Palestinians were hurt in the violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, including 80 who were hospitalized. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)