US president is balancing the demands of a Middle East war and a presidential campaign expected to heat up in January
US President Joe Biden will not attend a gathering of world leaders focused on climate change in Dubai this week, a US official said on Sunday.
The announcement comes after the New York Times reported that Biden would not attend.
Continue reading...Crew recovers body of Kara Heller, whose parents and sister found dead, and look for third child of family and their neighbor
Authorities recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl Saturday evening from the debris of a landslide in south-east Alaska that tore down a wooded mountainside days earlier, smashing into homes in a remote fishing village.
The girl, Kara Heller, was the fourth person confirmed killed by last Monday night’s landslide.
Continue reading...Abigail Mor Edan, who was one of three US hostages, was among the 17 captives freed on Sunday under cease-fire terms
A four-year-old Israeli American girl who was among three US hostages held by Hamas was released Sunday.
President Joe Biden confirmed on Sunday that the girl – Abigail Mor Edan – was in the hands of Red Cross officials.
Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Victims reportedly were wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh and speaking in Arabic when they were attacked in Burlington
Three college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded on Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, on their way to a family dinner.
The head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid, undergraduate students at Brown, Haverford and Trinity. Zomlot said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that each of the victims was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh when they were attacked, though authorities have stopped short of publicly discussing a possible motive for the triple shooting.
Continue reading...Minneapolis police chief provided updates about attack on former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd
The former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd and was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate Friday is expected to survive the attack, officials have told media outlets.
Updates about Derek Chauvin, the wounded convicted killer and ex-cop, were provided to various media outlets – including the Associated Press and the news station KSTP – by the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, as well as a spokesperson for Minnesota state attorney general Keith Ellison’s office on Saturday.
Continue reading...Social media videos show protesters igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood outside Michael Tuchin’s home
A protest outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) president’s Los Angeles home is reportedly being investigated as a possible hate crime after social media videos showed demonstrators igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood.
According to reports by the Los Angeles Times and other news outlets, Aipac president Michael Tuchin’s home in the Brentwood section was vandalized Thursday on Thanksgiving by protesters who also pounded pots in the driveway and held up a sign that read: “Fuck your holiday, baby killer.”
Continue reading...Attacks on US troops in Iraq have led to US airstrikes, highlighting the risk of spillover from the situation in Gaza
A salvo of machine gun fire, customary during funerals, illuminated the night sky as dozens of men converged in a dimly lit, unpaved alley on the edges of the sprawling slums of Sadr city to pay their respects. A giant picture of Ali Hassan al-Daraaji had been erected outside the family home in northeast Baghdad to announce his “martyrdom” in this week’s US airstrikes on Iraqi armed groups.
The series of strikes left a total of nine fighters dead, including Daraaji, the first Iraqi fatalities linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Even as a tenuous truce takes hold in Gaza, the pace and intensity of clashes in Iraq has picked up, highlighting the risk of spillover in a country that has long been mired in conflict.
Continue reading...Pink top designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel among the famous items of clothing to be sold
A top worn by Diana, Princess of Wales for her engagement portrait in 1981 is among the items in an auction of famous clothing.
The pink crepe blouse with ruff-like collar and loose pleats to the front, worn by Diana, was captured by royal photographer Lord Snowdon and is being put up for sale by Julien’s Auctions.
Continue reading...On X Spaces Friday night, Republican congressman charted his rise from ‘It girl’ to ‘Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress’
Republican George Santos has said he expects to be expelled from Congress following a scathing report by the House ethics committee that found substantial evidence of lawbreaking by the lying New York representative.
In a defiant speech Friday sprinkled with taunts and obscenities aimed at his congressional colleagues, Santos insisted he was “not going anywhere”. But he acknowledged that his time as a member of Congress may soon be coming to an end.
Continue reading...Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, who met via an accidental text message, invited a second stranger to join them this year
An Arizona grandmother and the stranger to whom she accidentally texted a Thanksgiving invitation in 2016 celebrated their eighth holiday dinner together this week – and welcomed a new guest to the tradition.
Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, whose unexpected Thanksgiving went viral nearly a decade ago, expanded their annual get-together this year by inviting another stranger into her home.
Continue reading...The Heller family was at home when the rockslide buried their home on Friday; neighbor Otto Florschutz was also killed
The deadly landslide in south-east Alaska early this week killed five family members and their neighbor, a commercial fisher who made a longshot bid for the state’s lone seat in the US House last year, authorities said on Friday.
Timothy Heller, 44, and Beth Heller, 36 – plus their children Mara, 16; Derek, 12; and Kara, 11 – were at home on Monday night when the landslide struck near the island community of Wrangell. Search crews found the bodies of the parents and the oldest child late on Monday or early Tuesday; the younger children remain missing, as does neighbor Otto Florschutz, 65, the Alaska public safety department said in a statement that identified the victims of the disaster.
Continue reading...Pollution has tamped population density by 99.5%, but scientists think cultural icon could aid in tissue repair and cancer recovery
Ecologists from Mexico’s National Autonomous University on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, a native, endangered fish-like type of salamander.
The campaign, called Adoptaxolotl, asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters”. Virtual adoption comes with live updates on your axolotl’s health. For less money, donors can buy a virtual dinner for one of the creatures, which are relatively popular pets in the US.
Continue reading...Police said the entertainer was slumped over the steering wheel of a car stopped in the road at 5.45am on Friday
Tiffany Haddish was jailed early on Friday in Los Angeles on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said, marking the second time in less than two years that the actor and comedian has been arrested on such allegations.
Police in Beverly Hills said they found Haddish, 43, while responding to a call to check on a motorist who was stopped in the road at about 5.45am. Officers found Haddish appearing to be slumped over the steering wheel of that car, whose engine was still running.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani of Buffalo, New York, died when their Bentley flew through air and exploded into flames
The investigation of a car crash and explosion at a Niagara Falls, New York, border checkpoint on Wednesday – which killed the married couple inside the vehicle – is examining whether mechanical or medical issues were to blame, according to reports.
That detail surfaced as officials identified the Rainbow Bridge crash victims as Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, both 53. The Villani family owns several hardware stores as well as a lumber business around the Buffalo, New York, region.
Continue reading...About 400 workers walk out in dispute over allegedly unfair labor practices and failure to agree new contract
About four hundred Macy’s workers in Washington state began striking on Friday – known as Black Friday among retailers and one of the year’s busiest shopping days – citing allegedly unfair labor practices and the retail giant’s purported refusal to agree to a new contract.
The union representing the employees, UFCW 3000, said workers started arriving about 3am on Friday to form picket lines. Workers are striking outside the Alderwood, Southcenter and Bellis Fair Macy’s stores and plan to continue for three days.
Continue reading...Ex-governor accused by former aide amid flurry of last-minute claims under New York’s Adult Survivors Act
The disgraced former governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, was accused of sexual assault late on Thursday night in one of the final claims in a last-minute flurry made under the state’s “look-back window”, which closed at midnight.
Late claims were also filed against the music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and against the current mayor of New York, Eric Adams.
Continue reading...Orange county prosecutors say Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, shot Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, three times
A California jogger allegedly filmed himself killing a homeless man who was blocking the sidewalk, according to prosecutors announcing charges against him.
Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, was jogging with his two dogs and pushing a cart on 28 September when he came across Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, who was sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk, prosecutors in Orange county, California, said.
Continue reading...Study’s author says ‘we need to reduce exposure in order to ensure men who want to conceive are able to without interference’
Exposure to several widely used insecticides probably decreases sperm concentration and may have profound effects on male fertility, new US research finds.
The George Mason University paper analyzed five decades of peer-reviewed studies to determine if organophosphates and carbamate-based pesticides exposure correlated with decreased sperm concentration.
Continue reading...Trade unionists from US and Europe stand with staff at Coventry hub over local pay dispute amid global day of action
Hundreds of strikers outside Amazon’s Coventry warehouse were joined on Black Friday by trade unionists from Europe and the US as part of a global campaign calling for better working conditions at the internet retailer.
Wearing orange beanie hats branded with the GMB union logo, activists from Germany, Italy and California, on strike at their respective Amazon workplaces, expressed solidarity with the Coventry strikers, who have taken 28 days of industrial action since January.
Continue reading...Thankfully the 12-year-old survived five nights away but there’s still the gas bill to worry about
The child returns home today from his first ever school trip away (which is also, because we are useless, at the age of 12 his first trip abroad). He has been away for five nights, which is five times more nights than he has ever been away from us before (see uselessness above) and I have coped extremely well. Yes, I could periodically be found lying prostrate on the sofa or staring white-faced at a wall, praying to a god I don’t believe in not to let him be kidnapped, lost or killed while my husband futilely attempted to console me with the thought that school trips are not like they were in our day. “They chip them and rope them to a teacher at all times now. They probably don’t even go on the trip. They’re probably just in a room on a Luton industrial estate with some convincing holographics on the wall all week. He’ll be fine.”
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