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As Israel ends 2-day West Bank offensive, Palestinian residents emerge to scenes of vast destruction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

By MALAK HARB (Associated Press)JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian residents of the Jenin refugee camp encountered scenes of widespread destruction Wednesday as they emerged from their homes and returned from nearby shelters following the most intense Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades.The two-day offensive, meant to crack down on Palestinian militants after a series of recent attacks, destroyed the camp’s narrow roads and alleyways, sent thousands of people fleeing their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier also was killed.While Israel claimed the operation had inflicted a tough blow on the militants, it remained unclear whether there would be any lasting effect on reducing more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The offensive also further weakened the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s erstwhile partner in battling militants, which already had little control in the camp to begin with.Is...

5 ways to simplify and reduce your money clutter

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.Professional organizers might define household clutter as a pile of unmade decisions. Money clutter is much the same.Those credit cards you no longer use but haven’t closed? That’s money clutter. So is the retirement account you left behind three jobs ago and the financial paperwork you keep but no longer need. Money clutter also can include broken systems that should be mended, such as a bill payment routine that leads to overdrafts or late fees.You can simplify your financial life by dealing with those long-delayed decisions now and streamlining how you manage your money going forward. Here are five tasks to consider.1. Consolidate accountsThe more financial accounts you have to monitor, the more stress you’re likely to feel, says ...

Freed from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, ‘Central Park Five’ member wins NYC Council race

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” has won a Democratic primary for a seat on the New York City Council, all but assuring him of eventual victory. It’s an improbable feat for a political novice who was wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned as a teenager for the rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park.The Associated Press refrained from calling the race to represent Central Harlem on election night, but vote tallies released Wednesday showed him to be the clear winner, garnering nearly two-thirds of the vote after three rounds of rank-choice voting.“Many doubted us along the way, but this was a campaign based on change,” Salaam said after AP called the race. “The voters overwhelmingly agreed with our vision for a better, stronger and more tolerant community. “We are going to have a new Harlem renaissance,” his statement said.Salaam and the four other Black and Latino teens from Harlem became known as the Central Park Five after the...

Accuser says Kevin Spacey grope wasn’t a caress: ‘It was like a cobra … angry’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man who said Kevin Spacey made crude and racially offensive remarks before forcefully grabbing his genitals said he kept the degrading incident boxed up inside for more than a decade because he feared no one would believe his word against that of an Oscar-winning “golden boy.” “I was a keeper of his secret for a long time,” the man said as he finally unburdened himself by telling his story to a policeman in a video interview played Wednesday for jurors in Spacey’s sexual assault trial in a London court.The man was older and more emotionally and financially stable when he decided to join others who had accused the actor of sexual misconduct as the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, the man said. He does not seek blood or hope Spacey is imprisoned but wants accountability for an injustice that has eaten at him so long.“It’s weird — he did it and I felt embarrassed,” the man said. “He made me feel worthless at the time.”Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen...

Ottawa follows peers, blasts Hong Kong bounties on activists with Canada ties

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

Ottawa is condemning Hong Kong officials for issuing bounties for the arrest of eight activists living abroad, days after Canada’s peers slammed the move.Hong Kong’s national-security law restricts civil liberties in the territory, which is a special administrative region within China but was guaranteed certain democratic freedoms when Britain handed over the former colony in 1997.Officials announced on Monday that eight pro-democracy activists who are charged under the law are the subject of bounties, with authorities offering the equivalent of roughly $170,000 for information leading to an arrest.The eight face charges such as “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”Edmonton-born Dennis Kwok, who renounced his Canadian citizenship when he became a Hong Kong legislator in 2012, is on that list. He left office as the national-security law came into force in 2020, and ...

After secret documents leak, Pentagon plans tighter controls to protect classified information

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday announced plans to tighten protection for classified information following the explosive leaks of hundreds of intelligence documents that were accessed through security gaps at a Massachusetts Air National Guard base. Airman 1st Class Jack Texeira, 21, is accused of leaking the highly classified military documents in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a memo released Wednesday, ordered all of the department’s secured rooms where classified information is stored and accessed to be brought into compliance with intelligence community standards for oversight and tracking. The changes call for increased levels of physical security, additional controls to ensure documents aren’t improperly removed, and the assignment of top-secret control officers to monitor users. Austin also said the sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs, must be monito...

Greta Thunberg charged with disobeying law enforcement during climate protest in Sweden

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors have charged climate activist Greta Thunberg with disobedience to law enforcement in connection with a protest in Malmö last month.Local newspaper Sydsvenskan reported Wednesday that Thunberg was detained with other activists after they stopped traffic in the oil terminal of the port in Malmö on June 19.A short statement by Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday said a “young woman” was charged with disobedience because she “refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene” during the protest. The statement didn’t identify the woman, but Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Collin confirmed that it was Thunberg.Sydsvenskan said the 20-year-old Swedish activist will be called to trial at the end of July. Prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen told the paper that the crime of disobedience is typically punishable with fines.Thunberg’s media team didn’t immediately answer a request for comment.Thunberg inspired a global you...

Qatar Airways reports $1.2B in profits after ferrying passengers to last year’s soccer World Cup

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar Airways on Wednesday reported $1.2 billion in profits over the past year, buoyed by its role in ferrying fans to the soccer World Cup.The long-haul airline increased its revenue to $21 billion, a 45% increase over the previous year, it said. Its yearly passenger load reached 31.7 million, a 71% increase.The airline said it transported 1.4 million passengers to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It also expanded its network to more than 160 destinations.Qatar Airways operates out of a gleaming new airport in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and competes with long-haul carriers Emirates and Ettihad, which operate out of the nearby United Arab Emirates.Qatar Airways made it through the pandemic’s hardest months with a $3 billion lifeline from the Qatari government. Its main competitor, Dubai’s flagship Emirates Airline, also received a multibillion-dollar payment by the Dubai government during the pandemic. The two airlines serve as economic mainstays for...

Israel’s prime minister says missing citizen in Iraq is being held by Iran-backed militia

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A dual Israeli-Russian citizen who has been missing in Iraq for months is being held by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the office of Israel’s prime minister said Wednesday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Elizabeth Tsurkov, who disappeared in late March, is still alive “and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being.”Tsurkov, who is an academic whose work focuses on the Middle East and specifically war-torn Syria, is an expert on regional affairs and was widely quoted over the years by international media.Netanyahu said she is being held by the Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah that is one of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed groups. He added that Tsurkov is an academic who visited Iraq on her Russian passport, “at her own initiative pursuant to work on her doctorate and academic research on behalf of Princeton University.”There has been no official comment from Iraq since she went missing but days after her disappearance, a local website re...

Mississippi high court will hear case about appointing judges in majority-Black capital city

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:14:28 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear an appeal Thursday as some Jackson residents try to revive one of the lawsuits challenging the appointment, rather than the election, of some judges in the capital city — and the top justice will not take part in the hearing.Chief Justice Mike Randolph has recused himself from considering the appeal because he said he does not want to prolong the case.The Jackson residents originally named Randolph as a defendant in the lawsuit because the chief justice is required to appoint five judges, under the law that the suit is trying to block. Randolph objected to being sued, and a chancery court judge removed him as a defendant. In Randolph’s recusal order on the appeal, he wrote Monday that he is neutral about the constitutionality of the law, which is the central issue in the lawsuit.“But absent recusal, the Chief Justice’s participation risks prolonging the ‘circus’ and allowing a sideshow to overshadow the center-ring ...