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Why this matters:

• The move would likely cost billions of dollars. It would revert the Navy’s most advanced ships to a system that takes more sailors to operate and is more difficult to maintain. It also comes at a time when the U.S. military is trying to find funding from Congress for all its desired equipment and as the Navy is struggling to fill its ships with enough sailors.

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• New aircraft carrier heads toward Middle East after reports of issues on long-deployed USS Lincoln 
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WORLD NEWS

Israeli settlers’ siege of Palestinian homes draws a sharp US rebuke

For five nights, Israeli settlers surrounded three Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, including one owned by a Palestinian American. On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists.” Read more.

Why this matters:

• It was an unusually sharp rebuke from the administration of President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to Israeli settlements over the years. “Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee said in his post about the events. On Tuesday, Israel’s military condemned the siege and said Thursday that troops dismantled “two illegal outposts.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• WATCH: Palestinian American describes siege of his home
• Israel’s Christians rely on faith and allies as they fear rising harassment
• Jared Kushner to visit Israel and Egypt next week with Board of Peace officials to talk Gaza

POLITICS

Trump’s vaccine plan would require millions of individual shots last used decades ago

Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges. Read more.

Why this matters:

• Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Drugmakers would need to revive a slate of individual vaccines that have not been widely used in the U.S. for decades. They would also have to spend tens of millions of dollars on new studies and manufacturing facilities, capable of producing millions more vaccine doses than the nation currently uses.
  
  

• For parents, it would mean returning to the doctor’s office many more times than is currently needed. Those appointments could also strain pediatricians who typically administer the shots, while driving up costs tied to syringes and other medical supplies.