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Israel bombs ambulance convoy near Gaza’s largest hospital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

The Israeli army bombed a convoy of ambulances near the largest hospital in Gaza on Friday, an attack that “horrified” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The facility — Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City — is overcrowded with patients and serves as a refuge for some 20,000 displaced people, according to local health authorities.The attack resulted in 15 deaths and at least 60 wounded civilians, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). In a statement, the PRCS said the convoy of five ambulances tried to transport casualties toward the Rafah border crossing, but was returning to the hospital because the road was blocked with rubble when it was targeted by two missiles.Israel acknowledged that it attacked an ambulance because it was used by the Hamas militia. The Israeli forces have been insisting on the evacuation of this hospital, claiming it houses the underground command center of the Islamist militants.The Gaza Strip — which is control...

The UN is in disarray over the Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

The state of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians is nearly as old as the United Nations. But it’s hardly ever caused as much havoc at the typically staid institution as it has in the last month.Israeli officials have called for the secretary-general to resign, a top human rights official stepped down with an angry letter invoking “genocide,” and diplomats on a paralyzed U.N. Security Council are upbraiding each other for being too soft on Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7.The frustration is palpable in Turtle Bay, the New York neighborhood home to the U.N. headquarters, diplomats and officials say. It courses through WhatsApp messages and the corridors. Informal meetings on totally unrelated topics inevitably turn toward the Middle East.And it’s getting worse as the body count rises — a number that already includes more than 70 U.N. employees.“You can feel that tension — it’s definitely a big crisis. The numbers are absolutely staggering,” said one diploma...

Toronto, GTA gas prices to drop Sunday and will hold until midweek

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

It will be a good few days for Toronto and GTA drivers when it comes to gas prices.Roger McKnight, Chief Petroleum Analyst with En-Pro International Inc., says the price of gas will drop three cents at midnight on Sunday, from 151.9 cents to 148.9 cents per litre at most Toronto and GTA locations.McKnight adds that this price will hold for Monday, November 6 and Tuesday, November 7. Related: Toronto & GTA Gas Prices It will be the lowest price since it dipped to 147.9 cents in October. Before that, though, the last time the gas price was that low was in May 2023 (147.9 cents per litre) and will match the lowest price of April 2023. The cheapest price was in March 2023, when it dipped to 139.9 cents a litre at most gas stations. Factors that can influence the pump price include: Seasonal changes Weather conditions Increased demand Geopolitical conflict Status of oil and gas reserves Refining capacity Value of the US dollar The...

Colorado Republican Ken Buck plans to challenge GOP’s direction under Trump as he leaves the House

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Ken Buck has had enough.When the Colorado Republican announced this past week that he would not seek reelection, he began with the type of criticism of Democratic policies that is standard fare for a hard-line conservative. But then Buck turned his ire to fellow Republicans, spending most of the three-minute announcement video accusing them of being “obsessively fixated on retribution and vengeance for contrived injustices of the past.”Buck’s scorched-earth approach caught few on Capitol Hill by surprise.With a deadpan demeanor, an independent streak and a background as a federal prosecutor, Buck has gained national prominence as a House Republican fed up with Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and the Trump allies in Congress who amplify them. It’s a stand few others in the GOP are taking and is a remarkable turn that shows just how deeply Trump’s once-fringe lies about that race have settl...

Gov. Youngkin aims for a GOP sweep in Virginia’s legislative elections. Democrats have other ideas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — In a closing message to voters in this year’s closely watched Virginia legislative elections, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin ticks off accomplishments from the first half of his term. Tax cuts, law enforcement pay raises and more money for mental health services, Youngkin says in the political ad, adding that there’s so much more he wants to get done over his next two years in office.“Elect a Republican team to back me up and I promise, we’ll deliver,” Youngkin says.Unmentioned is what Democrats warn will happen if Republicans end two years of divided government: new restrictions on abortion, a rollback of gun control laws and recently expanded voting rights, and an agenda driven by divisive social issues.Voters could make their priorities clear Tuesday when they decide whether to give the GOP full control of state government for the first time in a decade or empower Democratic legislators to continue serving as a check on Youngkin’s priorities...

Israel’s military and Hezbollah exchange fire along the tense Lebanon-Israel border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

RMEISH, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes along the border with Lebanon Saturday as the militant Hezbollah group attacked several Israeli army posts, including one that was struck with two large rockets.The escalation came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his powerful group is already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border. He threatened a further escalation as Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas, Hezbollah’s ally, nears the one-month mark. Hezbollah is prepared for all options, Nasrallah declared, “and we can resort to them at any time.” Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters attacked at least six Israeli posts along the border, saying “suitable rockets and weapons” were used. It added that “direct hits were scored and technical equipment was destroyed.”The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV network reported that Hezbollah fired Saturday two Burkan rockets, which carry heavy warheads, at an Israeli post kno...

Russia opens a vast national exposition as presidential election approaches

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — With pointed disdain for the West, Russia on Saturday unveiled a sprawling exposition highlighting the nation’s accomplishments, which will run through the months leading to the presidential election in which Vladimir Putin is widely expected to seek a new term.Putin issued a decree in March to hold the exposition and some observers have seen it as aimed at creating an ideological framework for his reelection. News reports had suggested he might use the opening to announce his candidacy for the March election, but his spokesman later said he would not attend the event.Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since 2000, and reelection would extend his term until 2030.The event is held at VDNKh, the vast exposition grounds in northern Moscow that was established by Josef Stalin and is renowned for its collection of elaborate Soviet Gothic-style pavilions. The setting plays to many Russians’ nostalgia for the Soviet era and echoes Putin’s dri...

Israeli forces use illegal white phosphorus in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon: Amnesty International

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli forces used shells containing the illegal and flesh-burning white phosphorus in attacks on Gaza and southern Lebanon, the human rights group Amnesty International said. The organization said it verified three other instances of Israel's military dropping white phosphorus on Lebanese border areas in the past month.Human rights advocates say the use of white phosphorus is illegal under international law when the white-hot chemical substance is fired into populated areas. It can set buildings on fire and burn human flesh down to the bone. Survivors are at risk of infections and organ or respiratory failure, even if their burns are small.After an Oct. 16 Israeli strike in the town of Duhaira, houses and cars caught fire and nine civilians were rushed to the hospital with breathing problems from the fumes, Amnesty said. The group said it had verified photos that showed white phosphorus shells lined up next to Israeli artillery near the tense Lebanon-Israel border.Th...

Daylight saving time: Lawmakers tried to lock the clocks this year — what happened?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — It's nearly time for us to fall back an hour (and gain an hour of sleep) as daylight saving time comes to an end. Americans have repeatedly expressed their distaste for changing the clocks twice a year. A 2022 poll by Monmouth University found that 61% want to end the bi-annual tradition. In a poll conducted earlier this year by YouGov, 62% said they want the clock changing to be “eliminated.” Less than 30% of those polled by AP-NORC in 2019 said they like the twice-a-year change, while the rest were split between sticking to permanent standard time or daylight time year-round. Despite 6 in 10 Americans hoping we can stop changing the clocks, efforts to do so have largely stalled.  Have you been tipping wrong at restaurants? What experts advise Numerous states have passed (or tried to pass) legislation regarding daylight saving time — at least 29 have considered legislation this year alone. But, in many cases, the legislation is almost symbolic at best.&...

Adam Frank: Science could finally discover aliens. What does that mean?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:33 GMT

Are we alone? Is life around us a cosmic accident that only happened once on this lonely planet, making human beings the only technological civilization anywhere? Or is the universe teeming with life, and perhaps even intelligence and self-awareness?These questions have haunted humanity for millennia. Science is now poised to take a fantastic leap forward in answering them.Over the next few decades, we will finally gain hard data that will help us answer our questions about alien life. But as we come ever closer to that milestone, another equally pressing question emerges. What would finding alien life — or not — mean for us all?Many people believe that answers about life in the universe will come from Earth’s own skies via UFOs — or as our government has taken to calling them, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Recent years have seen the Pentagon acknowledging pilots’ reports of UAP and creating a related office, Congress holding UAP hearings and NASA laun...