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Israeli strike kills senior Hamas official in Beirut: Reports

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

A strike apparently carried out by Israel on Tuesday killed Saleh al-Arouri, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Beirut, according to Hamas and Hezbollah officials cited on Lebanese state-run media and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and according to U.S. officials cited in U.S. media outlets.Al-Arouri was a senior official for Hamas in its political bureau and a commander within its military wing. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the attack on the state-run National News Agency. “This explosion is a new Israeli crime aimed at inevitably dragging Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation,” he said, “following the daily ongoing assaults in the South, resulting in a significant number of martyrs and wounded individuals.”According to Hezbollah’s television channel, the alleged drone strike took place in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold. U.S. officials have expressed co...

Federal appeals court denies Trump’s effort to delay E. Jean Carroll civil trial

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

(CNN) — A federal appeals court denied Donald Trump’s effort to delay his defamation trial set to begin in two weeks.In a brief court order issued late last week, a three-member panel of judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, denied Trump’s motion without elaborating.Trump asked the appeals court to delay the trial after he lost an earlier attempt to use presidential immunity as a defense to the defamation allegations. He said he needed additional time to consider his options, including potentially seeking review by the US Supreme Court. He could still do that, but he would need to move quickly since the defamation trial is set to begin on January 16.A spokeswoman for Trump could not immediately be reached.Last month, the Second Circuit ruled that Trump could not use presidential immunity to defend against the defamation allegation brought by E. Jean Carroll because he waited too long to say he wanted to use it, affirming a decision by the trial court j...

‘Battle against time’ to find quake survivors as Japan lifts tsunami warnings and death toll rises

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

(CNN) — Scenes of devastation emerged along Japan’s western coast Tuesday as rescuers raced to save residents trapped in the rubble of a 7.5 magnitude quake that triggered multiple aftershocks and killed dozens of people.The quake shook the Noto Peninsula in the central prefecture of Ishikawa on Monday afternoon, collapsing buildings, sparking fires and triggering tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Russia.At least 57 people have been killed by the earthquake, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing officials from the Ishikawa prefecture.And five people were killed at Tokyo Haneda airport on Tuesday when a Japan Airlines jet collided with a coast guard plane on its way to provide earthquake relief.Japan’s Meteorological Agency lifted all tsunami advisories along portions of the country’s western coast Tuesday, but more than 24 hours after the quake struck, there has been limited access to the northern part of the secluded Noto Peninsula.Prime ...

The people’s inflation is still a big problem

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

What is inflation? Officially, it’s the change in average consumer prices over a period — a number that has, in recent months, been easing down toward the US Federal Reserve’s 2% target. But for many people, it’s a way to describe in one word the struggle to make ends meet.On the latter front, the battle against inflation is far from won.Can’t afford to buy a home? Using credit card debt to buy groceries? Paying out of pocket for prescription drugs? All these problems are part of the people’s inflation, which isn’t rooted in supply chain issues or monetary policy or how quickly the Fed acted. It reflects the systemic weaknesses and market failures that have long dogged our economy.The list of markets that fail to deliver affordable and accessible goods and services is long, including child care and prescription drugs, but the surge in prices of the past couple years has brought to the forefront two items crucial to survival: food and shelter.Food prices have risen 25% since the star...

2 Massachusetts State Police struck by car fleeing traffic stop in Boston

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

Two Massachusetts State Police troopers were struck by a door of a vehicle their agency says fled a traffic stop on Blue Hill Avenue. Neither suffered serious injuries.At 10:30 a.m. Monday, a trooper saw a black Land Rover driving down Blue Hill Avenue. The trooper said he stopped the vehicle because it had no front license plate and “extreme” dark tint on the windows — later tested as so dark it allowed only 3% of light through, significantly less than the minimum 35% allowed by state law.When the trooper and his partner approached the vehicle and told the driver to lower the tinted window, they say they saw three males inside who “appeared to be very nervous.”A records check for the driver, who police identify as Tylique K. Ortiz-Howard, 25, of Boston, allegedly revealed a criminal history for firearms violations, so they called in a Boston Police officer for backup before the troopers approached again.Ortiz-Howard allegedly became hostile when the troopers asked him to step out. ...

Armed man breaks into Colorado Supreme Court building, causes ‘significant and extensive’ damage

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

A man shot through a window and broke into the Colorado Supreme Court building early Tuesday morning, causing “significant and extensive” damage in several areas of the building before surrendering to police, according to the Colorado State Patrol.The incident happened two weeks to the day after the state Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump cannot appear on the state’s primary ballot based on his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach and the riot by his supporters. Colorado State Patrol officials said in a news release that Tuesday’s incident is not believed to be “associated with previous threats to the Colorado Supreme Court justices.”Police were investigating threats made to the Supreme Court justices in the week after the ruling and increased patrols around their Denver homes following at least one “hoax report,” the Associated Press reported.The man who broke into the courthouse was involved in a crash about 1:15 a.m. near 13th Avenue and Lincoln Street a short...

Gina Fiandaca no longer employed by Healey administration, official confirms

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

Former Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca is no longer employed in Gov. Maura Healey’s administration, ending a roughly three month run as a senior advisor, a position she took on after unexpectedly stepping down from her cabinet-level post.A spokesperson for Healey confirmed Fiandaca’s employment ended Dec. 31, 2023, three months and two weeks after stepping into the advising role on Sept. 11, 2023, a move Healey said ensured a “smooth transition” on her way out the door.A message sent Tuesday to a number listed in Fiandaca’s name did not immediately receive a response.No reason was given for why Fiandaca stepped down as secretary but the August announcement came after revelations the Massachusetts Department of Transportation awarded a no-bid contract worth $900,000 to a company affiliated with a personal associate of hers.At an unrelated press conference days after the announcement, Fiandaca did not answer multiple questions about why she was leaving and where she plann...

Earthquake rattles Queens, may have caused Roosevelt Island explosions in NYC

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

Thomas Tracy | New York Daily News (TNS)NEW YORK — An earthquake rattled parts of Queens Tuesday morning and may have sparked a series of underground explosions reported on Roosevelt Island, city officials said.“The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that a 1.7 magnitude earthquake has occurred near Astoria, Queens,” Notify NYC reported. “The earthquake has reportedly been felt in the New York City area, but there are no reports of injuries or damage in New York City at this time.”Residents of both Manhattan and Queens reported hearing multiple explosions just before 6 a.m. centered on Main St. in Roosevelt Island  just south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Queens. Callers reported that at least one building near the explosion shook, an FDNY spokesman said.Firefighters arrived and found no flames and no one injured. The explosion, which may be electrical, appeared to have occurred underground.The FDNY handed the job over to Con Edison, which was investigating. Resident...

Brother of powerful Colombian senator pleads guilty in New York to narcotics smuggling charge

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

New York (AP) — The brother of a powerful leftist senator in Colombia pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal narcotics charges as part of a sting in which he offered to introduce U.S. drug informants to dissident guerrillas who could help smuggle huge quantities of cocaine to New York.Álvaro Córdoba, dressed in prison garb, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiring to send 500 grams or more of cocaine into the U.S. He will be sentenced to a mandatory five years and prison but could also face more than two decades behind bars. His plea does not contain any promise to cooperate with law enforcement.“I knew that the cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong,” Córdoba, who will be sentenced in April, told Judge Lewis J. Liman. Córdoba, 64, was arrested in Medellin, Colombia, in 2022 and extradited to the U.S. almost a year ago by President Gustavo Petro, who was elected with the support of Córdoba’s sister, Sen. Pied...

Ottawa to accept 1,000 applications from Canadians’ relatives seeking way out of Gaza

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:21:52 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government says a maximum of 1,000 Palestinian relatives of Canadian citizens will be able to apply to escape the Gaza Strip with Canada’s help.The special extended family program for people in Gaza is set to launch next week, after Palestinian Canadians pleaded for months to get help from the government to rescue their loved ones as the Israel-Hamas war continues.The policy details released last week says the program will stop taking applications either after it receives 1,000 requests, or after a year has elapsed.The program would offer Palestinians visas allowing them to take refuge in Canada for three years if their families are willing to financially support them during that time. But the immigration minister says Canada cannot guarantee safe passage out of the Palestinian territory, and Ottawa has no control over who can cross the tightly controlled border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on any given day.A spokesman for the National Council of Canad...