--- description: In the News: U.S., E.U. impose new sanctions on Russia; Israel operations spread in Gaza; House GOP unveil women's package; Senate edging toward 'highway cliff'; and Eric Cantor's final days title: Morning Must Reads: July 30 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Morning Must Reads](/tag/morning-must-reads/) ## Morning Must Reads Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Morning Must Reads: July 30 by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2014 12:15 PM CUT  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2014 12:15 PM CUT * U.S., E.U. boost sanctions on Russia \[[TIME](http://time.com/3053338/russia-ukraine-sanctions-malaysia-airlines-obama-putin/ "undefined")\] * As sanctions pile up, Russians’ alarm grows over Putin’s tactics: “…there is growing alarm in Russia that the festering turmoil in Ukraine and the new round of far more punitive sanctions — announced Tuesday by both European nations and the United States — will have an impact on Russia’s relations with the West for years to come and damage the economy to the extent that ordinary Russians feel it.” \[[NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/europe/as-sanctions-pile-up-russians-alarm-grows-over-putin-tactics.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined")\] * “The airwaves are filled with images of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip. President Obama is pressing for an immediate cease-fire. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have been killed. But at home, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a massive wave of popularity.” \[[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle%5Feast/israelis-support-netanyahu-and-gaza-war-despite-rising-deaths-on-both-sides/2014/07/29/0d562c44-1748-11e4-9349-84d4a85be981%5Fstory.html?hpid=z1 "undefined")\] * Israel’s operation in Gaza spreads beyond just tunnels \[[TIME](http://time.com/3055834/israel-targets-gaza-infrastructure/ "undefined")\] * Inside the Kerry-Israel meltdown \[[The Daily Beast](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/29/inside-the-kerry-israel-meltdown.html "undefined")\] * House Republicans unveil women’s legislation in push for female voters \[[TIME](http://time.com/3055190/house-republican-women-unveil-womens-legislation/ "undefined")\] * Ex-first couple’s defense in Virginia: the state of their union \[[NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us/politics/ex-first-couple-bob-mcdonnell-and-maureen-mcdonnell-of-virginia-say-united-we-fall.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSectionSumSmallMedia&module=pocket-region®ion=pocket-region&WT.nav=pocket-region&%5Fr=0 "undefined")\] * Eric Cantor’s final days: “It’s an anticlimactic end to Cantor’s meteoric rise. His tenure as majority leader — defined in part by opposition to Obamacare and moments of friction with fellow GOP leaders — will close quietly on Thursday. One of the most dominant figures on Capitol Hill until his shocking primary loss in June, Cantor will spend the rest of this Congress as a member of the GOP rank and file.” \[[Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/eric-cantor-house-majority-leader-final-days-109525.html#ixzz38x6kLVaE "undefined")\] * “Labor advocates are claiming a big victory after a federal agency said Tuesday that McDonald’s central, corporate operations can be lumped in with its thousands of franchises for liability purposes.” \[[USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/07/29/mcdonalds-nlrb-franchises/13343125/ "undefined")\] * Dems fear a debacle on turnout \[[The Hill](http://thehill.com/blogs/213758-dems-fear-a-debacle-on-turnout "undefined")\] * “The Senate has passed a bill to rescue highway and transit funding that House Speaker John Boehner says he won’t accept, keeping the specter of a “highway cliff” alive with just days before Congress is set to leave for its August recess.” \[[Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/senate-highway-cliff-109523.html#ixzz38x8jHNoe "undefined")\] * Nixon’s nightmare, and ours, 40 years ago \[[The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/nixons-nightmare-forty-years-ago "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3057509/morning-must-reads-july-30/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3057509/morning-must-reads-july-30/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: July 30","datePublished":"2014-07-30T12:15:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:24:50.726Z","description":"In the News: U.S., E.U. impose new sanctions on Russia; Israel operations spread in Gaza; House GOP unveil women's package; Senate edging toward 'highway cliff'; and Eric Cantor's final days","url":"https://time.com/3057509/morning-must-reads-july-30/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/morning-must-reads/","name":"Morning Must Reads"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3057509/morning-must-reads-july-30/","name":"Morning Must Reads: July 30"}}]}] ```