News Wrap: German police searching for assailants who tried to firebomb Berlin synagogue

Amna Nawaz:

In the day's other headlines: President Biden's nominee for ambassador to Israel pledged to ensure that Israel gets all it needs for defense.

Jacob Lew was Treasury secretary and White House chief of staff under President Obama. At his Senate confirmation hearing today, he told Democrats and skeptical Republicans that he will do all he can to aid the Israelis.

Jacob Lew, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Nominee: There is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the United States and Israel, to work toward peace in a region that has known so much war and destruction.

I will do my utmost to end the horrific attacks by Hamas and ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.

Amna Nawaz:

A committee vote on Lew's nomination could come next week.

Also today, two Jewish groups staged a sit-in on Capitol Hill in support of Palestinians. A crowd gathered outside the Cannon House Office Building, and more than 100 people moved inside, demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. Capitol Police arrested a number of them.

Police in Germany are hunting the assailants who tried to firebomb a synagogue in Berlin overnight. Investigators say two suspects threw Molotov cocktails at the building in the predawn hours. The bombs burst on the sidewalk. Germany's chancellor condemned the attack while visiting Egypt.

Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (through interpreter):

It is completely clear that we do not accept this and will never accept it when Jewish institutions are attacked and that events and activities which turn violent or use antisemitic slogans will not be accepted.

Amna Nawaz:

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in Germany since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned today the U.S. is going too far in aiding Ukraine. He spoke after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during a forum on China's Belt and Road infrastructure program. Putin said the U.S. decision to provide Kyiv with long-range missiles is only prolonging the agony for Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin, Russian President (through interpreter):

A mistake of a larger scale, which is not yet visible, but still of great importance, is that the United States becomes more and more personally drawn into this conflict.

Let no one say that they have nothing to do with this. We believe that they have. Plus, all this happens amid the Middle East conflict. All this heats up the atmosphere.

Amna Nawaz:

Ukraine used those U.S. long-range missiles this week to blast air bases in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Meanwhile, Beijing sharply rebuked the U.S. over curbing sales of artificial intelligence computer chips to China. The Foreign Ministry warned that — quote — "Such restrictions and forced decoupling for political purposes violate the principles of the market economy and fair competition." U.S. officials say selling the chips to China could threaten national security.

Back in this country, the chief suspect in the long-running Natalee Holloway murder case finally confessed. The Alabama teenager disappeared in Aruba in 2005. Today, Joran van der Sloot told a Birmingham judge that he killed Holloway and disposed of her body at sea. It was part of a guilty plea to lesser charges, but Holloway's mother said it means justice for her daughter at last.

Beth Holloway, Mother of Natalee Holloway: It's been 18 years since Natalee disappeared. And Natalee would be 36 years old today. I still miss her every day. It's been a very long and painful journey, but we finally got the answers we have been searching for all these years.

Amna Nawaz:

Van der Sloot's plea agreement carries a 20-year term for trying to extort money from Holloway's family.

U.S. household wealth is increasing at the fastest pace in more than three decades. The Federal Reserve reports median household wealth spiked 37 percent from 2019 through 2022 to nearly $193,000. The rise is largely attributed to increased home values and higher stock prices.

And on Wall Street, mixed profit reports and rising interest rates pushed stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 332 points, or 1 percent, to close at 33665. The Nasdaq fell 1.6 percent. The S&P 500 was down 1.3 percent.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": Congressman Carlos Gimenez weighs in on House Republicans' struggle to elect a speaker; an American woman with five family members held in Gaza speaks out about their kidnapping; prolific filmmaker Werner Herzog reflects on his long and varied career in a new memoir; plus much more.