Happy Friday! An enterprising car thief in Colorado was ready to get back to the grind after being released from jail on—you guessed it—a car theft charge when she saw a pickup that struck her fancy. Too bad she couldn’t drive a manual. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to respond to President Joe Biden’s announcement Wednesday that the U.S. government would halt some weapons shipments to Israel as it moved toward an invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah. “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone,” Netanyahu said Thursday. Responding to accusations that the decision to curtail weapons to Israel amounted to Washington’s abandonment of its ally, White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Thursday rejected that characterization and argued that a large-scale Israeli operation in Rafah would strengthen Hamas’ leverage in ongoing talks. Negotiations over the ceasefire-for-hostages agreement have reportedly paused amid the fighting in Rafah, though they have apparently not broken down completely.
• The Somali government asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to end a political assistance mission to the country that has advised on peace-building, security, and democracy. The 360-person mission has been active in some form in Somalia for three decades, but the Somali government asked the group to leave when its mandate expires in October. Minister of Foreign Affairs Aimed Moa Fiji didn’t specify a reason for the request, saying only “it is now appropriate to transition to the next phase of our partnership.”
• Adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand again on Thursday in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The former president’s defense lawyer cross-examined Daniels, a witness for the prosecution, for three hours about the details of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, ultimately suggesting Daniels had not actually had an affair with the former president and that she shared the story for profit. Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s former executive assistant, also testified to the fact that leaders at the Republican National Committee were “shaken” by the leak of the October 2016 Access Hollywood tape of Trump bragging about grabbing women, which the prosecution has argued was part of what propelled Trump to pay Daniels the hush money through an intermediary. Judge Juan Merchan also rejected the second request from Trump’s attorneys for a mistrial, criticizing the defense’s strategy in the process. “I don’t know why you went into it ad nauseam on cross-examination,” Merchan said when Trump’s lawyers complained about the level of supposedly unrelated detail Daniels got into on the stand. “You drummed it over and over again into the jury’s ears. I don’t understand the reason for that.”
• A federal appeals court on Thursday declined to dismiss federal gun charges against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, as a different federal judge threw out an appeal that would have had the charges tossed on Second Amendment grounds. The two rulings pave the way for a trial to begin early next month on the charges brought by special counsel David Weiss against the younger Biden last year. 
• The Senate voted 88-4 on Thursday evening to pass a bill that reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration for an additional five years. The legislation—which now goes to the House approval—includes $105 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration and $738 million for the National Transportation Safety Board. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland opposed the bill over provisions that would add long-haul flights to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., which they argued the airport is not equipped to handle. The Senate also unanimously approved a short-term extension on the current authorization to give the House time to vote before it lapses. 
• The Biden administration proposed a narrowly tailored immigration rule on Thursday that would accelerate the removal of people who crossed the border and were deemed ineligible for asylum—for posing a national security or public safety risk—earlier in the process than is currently possible. There will now be a 30-day public comment period on the rule before it can be finalized.

Rubles Between the Couch Cushions

Russia celebrated Victory Day on Thursday, the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. But this year’s celebration was a little more muted than in years past: After festivities in 2021 included a parade of 10 WWII-era T-34 tanks and more than a dozen modern ones, this year the military could only scrounge up a single T-34 tank for the display—almost assuredly due to the heavy losses Russia has suffered at the hands of Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of the country.

But the battlefield isn’t the only place Ukraine and its allies are trying to put the screws on the Kremlin. In the weeks and months following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and Europe imposed an array of sanctions and restrictions designed to degrade Russia’s ability to prosecute its war. Those measures included freezing some $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets held outside of the country—Central Bank of Russia assets, not oligarchs’ yachts.

Though the U.S. passed its own effort last month addressing Russian state holdings here, the bulk of the funds are in Europe. After years of deliberation, including with U.S. officials, the European Union (EU) decided on Wednesday to take the punishment a step further, agreeing to seize the windfall profits from the assets and use them to fund military aid to Ukraine. But it remains to be seen what will happen to the assets themselves.