PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN is calling for a cease-fire in Gaza (Fortuna Brainstorming/Flickr).

As the battles raged between Israel and the militant Hamas group, President Joe Biden on Monday called on the leaders of both sides to agree to a cease-fire. According to the Associated Press, the president placed a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a statement, the White House “encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians” but added that Israel had a right to protect itself. Netanyahu vowed to continue to strike “terror targets” in Gaza.

In response, Hamas replied that as long as “the criminal Zionist enemy” kept bombing “homes and residential areas” the rocketing would continue, according to Reuters.

Rocket attacks from Palestinian areas have been met with air strikes and artillery barrages from Israel.

So far, there have been 212 deaths in Gaza attributed to Israeli attacks and at least 10 people killed in Israel, The New York Times is reporting.

News: Supreme Court will take up key abortion case

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a legal challenge to restrictions on abortion in Mississippi.

UNITED STATES Supreme Court building (Flickr/Geoff Livingston).

According to USA Today, the court will be examining a law in that state which bans most abortions after 15 weeks. The case is considered important because the high court now has a conservative majority of six members to three liberals. Chief Justice John Roberts is sometimes a swing vote, siding with the liberals, but that would still leave a 5-4 majority that is considered “pro-life.”

The case may establish a challenge or at least a curtailment of the landmark Roe vs. Wade case in 1973, in which the court recognized a “right of privacy” sufficient to legalize abortion nationally.

A ruling on the case is expected in 2022.

Business: Big media merger announced

ANOTHER BIG MEDIA MERGER (Shutterstock)

In the latest in a series of big media mergers, AT&T announced on Monday that WarnerMedia and Discovery would be merging to create a new, yet-to-be-named, company.

According to NBC News, AT&T would be “spinning off” Warner Media, which encompasses CNN, TBS, TNT, Warner Bros film and TV and HBO. They would combine with Discovery, owner of the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, the Food Network and other media properties.

In 1982, American Telephone and Telegraph, operator of most of the nation’s telephone systems, was dissolved and broken into smaller pieces to eliminate the near-monopoly.

Since then, many of the original components –including Pacific Bell – have recombined with additional and new operations, making the “new” AT&T bigger than the original.

A small stutter: All three major stock indexes posted small declines on Monday. The Dow fell 54.34 points to 34,327.79, while the S&P 500 declined 10.56 points to 4,163.29. Nasdaq dropped 50.93 points to 13,379.05.

Sports: White Sox at the top, says SI

Sports Illustrated’s weekly ranking of Major League Baseball teams puts the Chicago White Sox (25-15) in the top spot. Rounding out the top five are Houston Astros (24-17), San Diego Padres (24-17), Boston Red Sox (25-17) and Los Angeles Dodgers (22-18). Curiously enough, the San Francisco Giants, who lead the NL West ahead of the Padres and Dodgers, are rated ninth.

Our Los Angeles Angels (17-22) are 23rd.

Monday’s games:

• Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7
• Cleveland Indians at Angels, 6:30

Weather: Inching toward warmer, sunnier days

The West Orange County area can look forward to saying goodbye to the 60s – the temperature, not the decade – with daytime highs in the low 70s. Partly cloudy skies will continue through Thursday and then give way to sun after, well into next week. In the coastal area of Huntington Beach, daytime highs are expected to be three to four degrees cooler.