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The Israel Defense Forces says it has carried out a precise strike on a compound used by the Hamas terror group inside an UNRWA school in central Gaza, while taking extensive precautions to reduce harm to civilians. The Hamas-run government media office has claimed at least 27 people were killed in what it termed the Israeli “massacre.” “A short while ago, fighter jets… conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat,” the army says in a statement, adding that several terrorists were “eliminated.” The IDF says the compound was used...

A juror in a Minneapolis trial related to $250 million in stolen pandemic aid reported that she had a sack with $120,000 in cash delivered to her door — and a note promising more if she voted to acquit. The bribe was delivered to the juror’s home in on Sunday evening — just hours before the jury was due back in court to hear the final closing arguments in the trial. Juror 52, a 23-year-old woman, was not home when the bag was dropped off but immediately notified police after family at the house showed it to her. “This is...

Former female lawmaker Zohreh Elahian has registered to run in Iran's June 28 snap presidential vote, potentially becoming the first woman ever allowed to stand if approved by the Guardian Council. Elahian, 57, is a physician and former member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. She was elected to parliament twice on the hardliners’ slate. In her speech following registration, Elahian declared her motto: “Sound government, sound economy, sound society,” and pledged to combat corruption. Like other hardliners, Elahian supports compulsory hijab rules. In March, Canada imposed sanctions against her for endorsing the death penalty for protesters...

A former college professor has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison over a string of arson fires in Northern California in 2021 as fire crews were battling the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose, pleaded guilty in February to three arson counts in connection to fires in the Shasta National Forest and near the Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest. The Dixie Fire burned over 1,500 square miles after igniting on July 13 and destroyed over 1,000 homes. Maynard was accused of setting fires behind firefighters battling the...

“No one could have foreseen that a single hit of marijuana that night would have caused Ms. Spejcher to have a total psychotic break from reality, certainly not Chad and certainly not Ms. Spejcher. In light of these facts, I do not believe that further incarceration of Ms. Spejcher is appropriate,” Judge David Worley said in court. He sentenced her instead to two years of probation and 100 hours community service, educating the public on the dangers of THC.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Republican-drawn South Carolina congressional district, reversing lower court rulings that had struck it down as a product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering that excluded Black voters. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court in a 6-3 ruling from which the liberal justices dissented, said the lower court's decision that race was unconstitutionally used to diminish the influence of Black voters was "clearly erroneous" because it had not properly analyzed the facts. "A party challenging a map's constitutionality must disentangle race and politics if it wishes to prove that the legislature was motivated by...

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Saturday warned that support for freedom of speech is "declining dangerously," especially on college campuses, as part of a commencement address he delivered at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic college in Ohio. His remarks appeared to reference unrest at various college campuses around the country arising from protests against Israel's military operations in Gaza. “Right now in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles," Alito said. "Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously," he added, especially on college campuses, where...

A former winner of the Miss Israel beauty pageant was hit in the face with a sign during a pro-Palestinian protest in Times Square in March, according to police, and now the suspect is on the run. The incident occurred just after 5 p.m. near Broadway and West 46th Street on March 30, police said Tuesday. The woman, identified by police sources as 25-year-old Noa Cochva, was walking at the popular tourist destination when an unknown man started arguing with her. Cochva, who was crowned Miss Israel in 2021, was then hit in the face with a cardboard sign, law...

The US has approved a potential Israeli Rafah operation in exchange for the Jewish state not conducting counterstrikes on Iran, according to a Thursday report from the Qatari newspaper The New Arab. A senior official told The New Arab that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to obtain American approval for a military operation in Rafah, in exchange for [Israel] refraining from carrying out a wide military operation against Iran in response to its recent attack." He claimed that "discourse of an Israeli response to Iran contradicts the desires of the American administration, and is not realistic, given the Israeli claims...

Israel has reportedly deployed extra artillery and armoured personnel carriers to the Gaza Strip periphery, suggesting that the military is preparing for its long-threatened ground offensive on Rafah, the only place of relative safety for at least 1.4 million displaced Palestinian civilians. Israeli daily Ma’ariv also said on Wednesday that troops had been put on alert and “the governing principle of the operation” had been approved by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general staff and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister. The IDF declined to comment on the reports. The IDF confirmed on Tuesday it was buying 40,000 tents to prepare...

These Israelis have a message for terrorists. There is some war footage and strong expression, so viewer discretion is advised.

Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was seen on camera running through the terror group’s underground network accompanied by his wife, children and brother, the IDF says. The newly released video shows the family traveling through a tunnel beneath Khan Younis on Oct. 10, with Sinwar’s brother, Ibrahim, leading the way with a flashlight in hand. The brother could be seen looking back at the family as he continues to walk down the narrow tunnel, with Sinwar’s wife following after him along with a little girl and two young boys. Sinwar, the man believed to have been the mastermind...

Judge Sebutinde, in her dissent, argued that “South Africa has not demonstrated, even on a prima facie basis, that the acts allegedly committed by Israel and of which the Applicant complains, were committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the Genocide Convention.” She added that “the Applicant has not demonstrated that the rights it asserts and for which it seeks protection through the indication of provisional measures are plausible under the Genocide Convention.” Sebutinde said the failure of states to reach a political solution to conflicts “may...

Quantum physicists at Delft University of Technology have shown that it's possible to control and manipulate spin waves on a chip using superconductors for the first time. These tiny waves in magnets may offer an alternative to electronics in the future, interesting for energy-efficient information technology or connecting pieces in a quantum computer, for example. The breakthrough, published in Science, primarily gives physicists new insight into the interaction between magnets and superconductors. Energy-efficient substitute "Spin waves are waves in a magnetic material that we can use to transmit information," explains Michael Borst, who led the experiment. "Because spin waves can...

Floods are becoming a "new normal" in New York City, a recent study by a NASA led research team has found that the metropolitan area is slowly sinking by an average of 0.06 inches per year. The study comes just as New York City experienced a historic rainfall. Last Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, calling the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia a "life-threatening rainfall event." A month's worth of rain, more than 4.5 inches of rain fell in just three hours and nearly 8 inches of...

CHICAGO — A rally was held Tuesday for an 11-year-old girl who was severely injured in an alleged hate crime attack in the city’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Trinity Washington and her mother said she was attacked on Sept. 17 outside their home on the 1900 block of South Spaulding Avenue. Trinity said her neighbor’s sister was out, intoxicated, celebrating Mexican Independence Day. “I didn’t know I’d experience this,” Trinity said. Trinity was with her Yorkie puppy when she said the female called her a racial slur and stepped on the dog. The 11-year-old said the female hit her in the...

Forestry agents have arrested a Pitkin woman for setting multiple fires in Rapides Parish that made their way into Vernon. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s Enforcement Division said it arrested Laura Mclaughlin on Friday for setting what ultimately became a massive wildfire. “In the early morning hours of Aug. 24, LDAF fire crews and the Plainview Fire Department responded to multiple wildfires set in Union Hill. LDAF enforcement investigators, Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives, and Office of State Fire Marshal deputies immediately began investigating the wildfires as arson was suspected to be the cause,” said LDAF spokesperson Jennifer Finley....

The Republican Party of Texas unanimously passed a resolution calling on Governor Greg Abbott to convene a special legislative session to address Colony Ridge, the massive housing development north of Houston that’s become a hub for illegal immigrants. The resolution, which passed by a vote of 61-0, says a special legislative session must be convened in order to “prevent further settlement of illegal aliens in Colony Ridge and any other areas of Texas.” The power to call a special legislative session is with Abbott, who has already been urged by the state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to do the same....

Investigators with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s Forestry Enforcement Division have determined that many of the large wildfires burning throughout Louisiana in recent weeks are the result of arson. LDAF investigators, Louisiana State Fire Marshal deputies, and various parish sheriff’s office detectives continue to actively investigate the matter. Investigators urge anyone with information in the Tiger Island, La. 113 and Lions Camp Road fires to call the LDAF 24-hour hotline at 1-855-452-5323 or the LFA at 318-443-2558. Callers may remain anonymous. The Louisiana Forestry Association is a statewide, private, non-profit association made up of landowners, foresters, employees of...