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A teenage Iranian girl who went into a coma after she was allegedly assured by police for not wearing a head scarf

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Iranian teen ‘brain dead’ following alleged assault by morality police | CNN

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A teenage Iranian girl who fell into a coma after she was allegedly assaulted by the country’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf is “brain dead,” state-aligned media said.

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There is a war going on in Israel- Hamas. Recently a hospital was bombed and it canceled a meeting between Joe Biden and the leaders of Jordan.

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Hundreds of people are believed to be dead following a strike on a hospital in Gaza. Palestinian officials blamed ongoing Israeli airstrikes for the lethal incident, while a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said a Palestinian Islamic Jihad group is responsible for a “failed rocket launch”…

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women pleads guilt for hiring 2 teens to kill her husband for 13,000

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human resources and personnel management

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Video: Woman pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot to kill ex-husband | CNN

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A Washington woman pleads guilty to hiring two teenagers to kill her ex-husband for $13,000. KING's Julie Calhoun reports.

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On the morning of Janurary 7th Alex was driving when some one hit the back of his car which had eventually led into an altercation says the police then when he was driving he was later shot in the back of the head lost control and hit ihop. The case is still under investagation and no one has been arrested .

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He stopped at a gas station for a chocolate bar and Gatorade. Then he was gunned down | CNN

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Alexander Lara Delgado’s mother lost her only child on the early morning of January 7, awoken by a phone call that her son had been shot after his car was struck by another at the gas station and an altercation ensued. The happy, lovable and outgoing teen left behind both parents, four half-siblings…

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There was a shooting/warfare between Israel and Hamas at a music festival. A mother saved her son's life from gunfire, but, sadly, she died in doing so. Sadly, two brothers were killed in the process as well.

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international relations and national security

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A mother shielding her son, a 26-year-old attending a music festival and two brothers are among the Americans killed in Israel | CNN

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A mother who shielded her son from gunfire, a "pro-peace" academic, young people who attended a musical festival and two brothers are among at least 27 Americans who have been killed in the warfare between Israel and Hamas, family members and officials say.

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In the US schools have to practice active shooter drills because of the many school shootings that have happened in the past years. Parents are terrified of sending their children to school because there is no law protecting our children and teens from gun violence. Many people think guns make safer households and safer people, but that's false; from 2000 - 2021 there have been more than 300 casualties due to gun violence in school. Now more people than ever are discussing what we can do to keep our loved ones safe.

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When MaryAnn Alvarado asks her students if they know how to get a gun, their response always takes her aback. "Everyone raises their hand," she said.

Alvarado, 36, runs Teens on Target, a program operated by YouthAlive! in Oakland, California, that trains middle- and high-schoolers to become violence prevention advocates in their own communities. For many of the teens she sees, especially those coming from underserved neighborhoods, gun violence is normalized, she explained, or they believe that stopping gun violence is impossible. Others feel like gun ownership is okay to protect their family. "I've heard youth say, 'I feel like everybody owns a gun here,'" she said.

In the US, Gen Z grew up doing active shooter drills and watching school massacres and other acts of violence unfold on TV. So it's perhaps unsurprising that many of them have been high-profile faces in the movement for gun reform. But at the same time, research shows many young people, like those Alvarado works with, remain open to - even interested in - gun ownership. What connects those two threads, experts say, is shared trauma and exposure to violence.

Guns are now the leading cause of death for American youth ages 24 and under, and the collective psyche of Gen Z has been reshaped as a result. A 2023 national study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Everytown for Gun Safety and American University's Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (Peril) found that young people report feelings of anxiety, grief, loss and fear from gun violence regardless of whether they have experienced it directly or indirectly.

"We see a lot of rumination, a lot of hyper vigilance, a lot of anxiety and depression and concern around violence in public spaces," said Pasha Dashtgard, director of research at Peril.

Children pose as victims as Miami fire and rescue and Miami-Dade schools police officers perform rescue operation during a shooter drill in Florida. Photograph: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

While one response to that sense of dread has been to join the gun violence prevention movement, another is to embrace firearms. The 2023 Peril study showed that about one-third of youth under 18 believe they are safer with guns than without them. 39% of participants reported having easy access to a gun, and about half of those answers were from young people who purchased a firearm themselves.

In another study from 2019, 42% of boys and men ages 13-21 reported they will likely own a gun in the future, while 76% of all respondents agreed that gun ownership makes a home safer. And between 2002 and 2019, rates of gun ownership among teens rose by 41%. During the pandemic, one-third of people who purchased guns were between 18 and 29 years old.

These swings coincide with rising ownership among demographics not historically linked to firearms, like women, Latinos and Asian Americans. In the latter two groups, new gun owners say that they are motivated to carry by the increased threat of racist extremism.

"Gun ownership has diversified dramatically," said Kelly Drane, research director at Giffords Law Center in San Francisco.

or young people who are drawn to guns, geography plays a big part in how those interests manifest. In rural areas, support for the second amendment and adherence to gun-related traditions can be driving forces behind ownership. Often, younger people in those parts of the country want to own guns to hunt with or to follow in the footsteps of gun-enthusiast parents and grandparents.

But rates of gun-related deaths are on the rise in rural areas. "Young people in rural areas are particularly susceptible to using a gun for death by suicide," said Nick Wilson, senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress.

Seventeen-year-old Erin DeSantis has lived her whole life in rural Pennsylvania, where guns have been a constant presence. Three years ago, she began to volunteer with the youth advocacy group Students Demand Action, and today serves on its national advisory board. But she's not unequivocally anti-gun, and even practices sport shooting. "I wanted to make sure that rural voices were part of the conversation," she said, "because we tend to get forgotten."

In urban settings, high rates of gun violence are directly correlated with exposure to systemic poverty.

An exhibit by March for Our Lives in Washington DC in 2019. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Growing up in south central Los Angeles, Manny Macedo heard gunshots almost nightly. "I was kind of raised to just ignore it," he said. Now a junior at UC Berkeley, Macedo leads the university's Students Demand Action campus group, which he hopes will help keep his siblings and other kids in urban centers safe from guns.

While Macedo steered clear of firearms, other young people in his community carried - especially those involved with gangs. That's one of the most common routes toward youth gun ownership in underserved neighborhoods, said Fernando Rejón, executive director of the Urban Peace Institute, a Los Angeles-based violence prevention organization, as well as lack of trust in law enforcement.

For members of Gen Z in particular, social media can escalate gang conflict, leading to more gun-related deaths, Rejón explained, pointing to a recent shooting in LA's Watts neighborhood that was exacerbated by social media posts. "Social media has become a platform to kind of disrespect and challenge other individuals or groups," he said. "That violence can quickly manifest into reality."

In Oakland, Alvarado, has also witnessed how social media can encourage young people to participate in gun culture. "I've heard youth as young as sixth grade say there's a lot of promotion of violence on social media," she said, pointing to videos that "glorify having weapons" and that encourage 11- and 12-year-olds to think guns are "cool".

The notion that owning a gun can improve one's personal or community safety is not a new one, said Peril's Dashtgard.

"It's paired with this masculine protector thing," he said, recounting how one interviewee for the study explained that he keeps a gun in his truck in case he encounters a mass shooter. At the same time, myths that guns allow "the weak to stand up to the strong " are designed to appeal to women and other demographics traditionally seen as vulnerable.

While these narratives predate the internet era, they're perpetuated online, where young people find themselves sucked into channels and chat groups that promote guns as the solution to any number of grievances. From Reddit and Discord to SnapChat and Instagram, content designed to make young people amenable to guns is ubiquitous. Youth influencers have become part of the gun industry's strategy, as well. There's even a gun-focused YouTube lookalike, "GunTube", that's dedicated strictly to promoting pro-gun videos.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun manufacturers play on those narratives through youth-oriented advertising campaigns, seeing young people as an untapped consumer market, said Josh Sugarmann, executive director of Washington's Violence Policy Center. "The gun industry is like any other industry that has a profit motive. It has a goal to sell more guns regardless of the cost," he said.

The NRA did not respond to request for comment.

But guns do not make people or households safer, explained Nina Vinik, the founder of gun violence prevention group Project Unloaded, who hopes to snuff out protectionist falsehoods. In fact, people who own handguns are more likely than non-gun owners to be shot.

People gather for the March for Our Lives rally in Washington DC in June 2022. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

Research conducted by Project Unloaded last year found that 70% of young people believe owning a gun makes them safer, and half of young people are interested in owning a gun. But it also showed that young people are open to having discussions about gun ownership, and that they are the most likely to have their minds changed by hard evidence.

"Most Americans have bought into the myth that having a gun is going to make them safer," said Vinik. "But for young people, that's not a belief that is deeply held. They want to learn more and they're interested in knowing more about the risks and responsibilities of gun use."

Vinik and Project Unloaded launched the Snug (Safer Not Using Guns) campaign last year, which uses TikTok videos and paid influencer messaging to connect with young people.

Anvesha Guru, a 16-year-old member of Project Unloaded's Youth Council, said that many of her peers in suburban Wisconsin come from gun-owning families, but are receptive when she talks about gun violence in a non-judgmental and non-partisan manner. "Young people have the ability to actually make an impact in gun deaths and decrease gun homicides [by] changing the narrative surrounding guns," said Guru.

Urban violence prevention groups take a similar approach, by using community navigators or "peacemakers" to intervene in conflicts and help steer young people away from guns. In Oakland, Alvarado sends high schoolers into middle-school classrooms to recount how gun violence has impacted them personally. She explained that the technique not only empowers high schoolers, but is effective at convincing younger students, who look up to their more senior counterparts.

On top of cultural and peer interventions, researchers emphasized the need for systemic changes that can address the root causes of gun violence among young people, including mental health challenges and socio-economic inequities.

"I don't want to disparage the work that a lot of really good organizations are doing in promoting gun safety and gun control legislation, but I really think that we should be looking further upstream," said Dashtgard.

"How are we going to create the conditions where people feel like they live in a safe community such that they don't need a gun to protect themselves?" he said. "It's a complicated thing to try and accomplish. But that's the real answer to this problem."

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Gen Z grew up with school shootings - why do so many think guns keep them safe?

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In the US, gun violence and shared trauma is normalized for young people - which could be why many are open to firearm ownership

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7.5 tn tons of ice has melted since 1997. The ice shelves have shrunk 40% since 1997. Releasing tons on top of tons of fresh water. 67 tn tonnes have melted but only 59 tn tonnes have refrozen in the east with a net loss of 7.5 tn tonnes. Scientists say that it has no chance of recovering from the loss.

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Antarctica has lost 7.5tn tonnes of ice since 1997, scientists find

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Study finds more than 40% of ice shelves have shrunk, with millions of tonnes of freshwater entering ocean

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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the EU's solidarity with Israel during a visit to the country. She emphasized that Hamas alone is responsible for the violence, stating that Hamas' actions do not align with the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Von der Leyen also expressed concern over the spread of antisemitism and hate speech, stating that she is in contact with social media platforms to remind them of their obligations.

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Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled south - UN
Tens of thousands of people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes and moved south following Israel's evacuation warning, according to estimates by the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were already internally displaced, it said.

Israel's military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion. Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes.

This blog is now closed. We have launched a new blog at the link below:

In addition to pro-Palestine protests reported earlier, Jewish communities in the US, France and other countries also held rallies on Friday in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack, Reuters reports, while some governments have stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools.

In the US, demonstrators have showed solidarity with both sides in the conflict, and major cities from New York City to Los Angeles have reinforced their police presence in Jewish and Muslim neighbourhoods.

In Washington, a rally supporting Israel and the American Jewish community drew about 200 people at the city's Freedom Plaza, in view of the Capitol complex, where police had erected protective fencing the night before. In New York, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets.

Germany and France had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several western countries said they had stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools fearing that protests could lead to violence.

In the Netherlands, Jewish schools were closed for safety reasons, as were two Jewish schools in London.

Police in Britain 's capital said thousands of officers were carrying out extra patrols, visiting schools, synagogues and mosques. At least two Jewish schools closed due to security fears. The boost reflected a significant increase in hate crime, particularly antisemitism, a police statement said.

In Warsaw, the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was scheduled to lead a multi-confessional prayer for peace. Members of France's Jewish community were to gather at the largest synagogue in Paris for the Sabbath.

Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied across the Middle East and in parts of Asia, Europe and the US in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel as it intensified its strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas attacks a week ago, according to reports by Reuters.

In Turkey, crowds gathered outside mosques chanting against Israel and saluting Hamas. In the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, 46-year-old business owner Mikail Bakan said: "All the Muslim world needs to be one against Israel."

In Baghdad on Friday, tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Tahrir Square, waving Palestinian flags and burning the Israeli flag while chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

State-organised rallies were held across Iran - whose government is Hamas' main backer and one of Israel's principal foes - in support of the militant group, state TV reported.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a protest in Lebanon, the group was "fully ready" to contribute to the fighting. The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border in the past week.

Thousands of Yemeni citizens carried large Palestinian flags and shouted slogans during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in the capital, Sana'a.

In Indonesia, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, joined dozens of people in a march against Israel in the Javanese city of Solo.

In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, activists protested against Israel's actions after Friday prayers at the main mosque. Members of Japan 's Muslim community demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, holding signs and chanting "Israel, terrorist" and "Free Palestine".

In Sri Lanka, protesters held up signs saying, "Palestine you will never walk alone". Protesters also took to the streets in Bulgaria, Yemen, Cape Town, India's Kashmir region, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the US for the ongoing conflict, according to a report by AFP news agency.

The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The document did not specifically name Hamas.

"We're convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian state as it was supposed to do so long ago," Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday.

Nebenzia said there were positive responses to the draft resolution among some member states.

He also blamed the US for bearing "responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East," and criticized European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for "turning a blind eye to the Israeli air force attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."

The Security Council is regularly divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Members spoke cautiously of the resolution after the meeting.

"The draft resolution appeared just two minutes before we went into the council meeting," said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward. "I think for something that is as important as this, we've already seen how much human life has been destroyed. We need time for consultation, serious consultation."

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that "there is an emerging consensus on the humanitarian concerns," adding: "We are open to all efforts which will help cease the fire, help de-escalate the tension."

Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said that "Brazil will continue to work closely with all delegations aiming for a unified position by the Council on the situation."

China's Special Envoy on the Middle East on Friday met with representatives of the Arab League in China for an emergency session on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.

China's special envoy, Zhai Jun, told the meeting that China supports the 22-member strong Arab League in playing an important role on the "Palestinian issue" and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

"The international community should earnestly enhance its sense of urgency to return to the correct basis of the Two State Solution to realise the peaceful coexistence of the two states of Palestine and Israel," Zhai said, according to the statement.

Here is some more detail about the strikes reported earlier. The Israeli military says it intercepted two unidentified targets above the northern city of Haifa.

"Following the initial report, another unidentified UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] crossed into northern Israel. Additionally, an IDF UAV was fired upon. In response, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist target in southern Lebanon," Israel Defense Forces said on social media.

The IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted 2 unidentified targets above the city of Haifa.

No sirens were activated according to protocol. pic.twitter.com/JdKBEmAzgs
- Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 13, 2023

A 25-year-old Thai man who is among 21 Thai citizens killed following Hamas' attacks has been named as Pongsathorn Khunsri in local media.

A report in the Bangkok Post says that Pongsathorn had been in Israel for a year, and was working on a farm. He moved so that he could earn more money and hoped to build a new house for his mother. He sent money back home regularly to his mother, hoping she could have a better life.

About 30,000 Thais are living in Israel, including many who work in agricultural jobs that offer better salaries than those back home.

An official from the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv called his mother, Surangkhana, on Wednesday to inform her of his death.

"I never imagined my son would die like this in a faraway land. Many Thais have worked there, but why did it happen to be my son who was captured and killed?" Surangkhana told the Bangkok Post.

She told the paper that she did not have much detail about what had happened to her son.

The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a "crime against humanity" by Israel, which has warned nearly half of the population of the Gaza Strip to relocate as it plans an assault, according to a Reuters report.

"He has to do more. Whatever was done is not sufficient. We need all of us to do more to stop this crime against humanity," Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters before a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors at the United Nations.

Countries urged Israel on Friday to hold off attacking northern Gaza, where more than a million civilians largely defied Israel's order to evacuate before it goes after Hamas militants who slaughtered Israeli civilians last weekend.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said on Friday that Israel's warning to residents in northern Gaza was "to temporarily move south ... to mitigate civilian harm." He was speaking at an event Israel hosted at the UN with families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza in the attack.

Guterres briefed the 15-member UN Security Council behind closed doors on Friday.
"The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low," he told reporters on his way to the briefing, adding that he was in constant contact with the leaders across the region to try and "prevent further dangerous escalation in the West Bank or elsewhere in the region, especially in southern Lebanon."

Guterres reminded the parties: "Even wars have rules ... Civilians must be protected and also never used as shields."

Israel's military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the "infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel" and fire on an Israeli drone. The military intercepted the objects and the fire on its drone, it said, according to a Reuters report.

Daniel Hurst

Nearly 240 Australians have landed in London on the first Australian-government backed repatriation flight from Israel, the foreign minister has confirmed.

Penny Wong said on Saturday that the Qantas-operated flight from Tel Aviv landed earlier on Saturday carrying 238 people. Overall, about 825 Australians had departed Israel and the occupied territories, she said.

"My department continues to assist a number of Australians seeking to leave Gaza, numbering about 20," Wong said.

A second repatriation flight is due to leave on Saturday from Tel Aviv to Dubai. The government announced on Friday it would arrange an extra two charter flights, taking the total number to four.

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UN says tens of thousands have fled south in Gaza after Israel's evacuation order - as it happened

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More than 400,000 in Gaza were already internally displaced before Israel's evacuation order, UN humanitarian office says

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North Korea lashed out Friday at the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in South Korea and said it was provocation and raised the specter of using nuclear weapons to defend itself. The North’s latest nuclear threat came a day after the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group arrived at South Korea’s southeastern port of Busan, following U.S.-South Korean-Japanese naval exercise in international waters earlier this week.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea lashed out Friday at the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in South Korea, calling it a provocation and again raising the specter of using nuclear weapons to defend itself.

Emboldened by its advancing nuclear arsenal, North Korea has increasingly issued threats to use such weapons preemptively. But the North is still outgunned by U.S. and South Korean forces, and experts say it is unlikely to use its nukes first, though it will continue to upgrade those arms without returning to diplomacy for the time being.

The North's latest nuclear threat came a day after the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group arrived at South Korea's southeastern port of Busan, following U.S.-South Korean-Japanese naval exercise in international waters earlier this week.

South Korean defense officials said the carrier is to be docked at Busan for five days as part of an agreement to increase the temporary deployments of powerful U.S. military assets in response to the North's growing nuclear program.

On Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency called the aircraft carrier's arrival "an undisguised military provocation" that proves a U.S. plan to attack North Korea is being realized. It threatened to respond in line with its escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.

"The (North Korean) doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons already opened to public allows the execution of necessary action procedures in case a nuclear attack is launched against it or it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent," the KCNA dispatch said.

North Korea's "most powerful and rapid first strike will be given to the 'extended deterrence' means, used by the U.S. to hallucinate its followers, and the bases of evil in the Korean peninsula and its vicinity," KCNA added.

North Korea has argued it was forced to develop nuclear weapons to cope with what it calls the U.S. and South Korean plots to invade. It has often responded furiously to the deployment of U.S. strategic assets such as aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as U.S. joint training exercises with South Korean forces.

Many experts say North Korea heightens tensions with its rivals to provide a pretext for expanding its nuclear arsenal and then uses the arms as leverage to wrest greater outside concessions.

Since last year, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests in the name of responding to the expanded U.S.-South Korean military drills. Washington and Seoul say their drills are defensive in nature.

Last year, North Korea adopted a law that stipulates a broad range of situations in which it can use nuclear weapons, including when it determines that its leadership faces imminent attack by hostile forces or when it needs to prevent an unspecified catastrophic crisis to its people and government.

The U.S. and South Korean governments have repeatedly warned that any attempt by North Korea to use nuclear weapons would result in the end of the North's government led by Kim Jong Un.

On Friday, North Korea also accused the U.S. of being behind what it calls "a groundless and false rumor" that Hamas used North Korean weapons in its recent attack on Israel. Some media outlets including Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government-funded news service, earlier reported about Hamas' suspected use of North Korean weapons such as F-7 high-explosive fragmentation rockets.

"What should not be overlooked is that the U.S. is resorting to its stereotyped smear campaign against (North Korea) to deliberately link the recent Middle East crisis to the latter," KCNA said in an article attributed to Ri Kwang Song, a commentator on international affairs of North Korea.

Ri said the U.S. administration's "reptile press bodies and quasi-experts" are spreading the rumors but didn't name them.

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North Korea raises the specter of nuclear strike over US aircraft carrier's arrival in South Korea

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North Korea lashed out Friday at the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in South Korea, calling it a provocation and again raising the specter of using nuclear weapons to defend itself. Emboldened by its advancing nuclear arsenal, North Korea has increasingly issued threats to use such weapons preemptively.

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A tiny liquor store in California sold the winning lottery ticket. $1.765 billion to be exact. the winning numbers being 22,24,40,52,64, and 10 being the Powerball. In Cali, the winner's name must be disclosed. the store that sold the ticket received 1 million dollars.

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$1.765 billion Powerball jackpot goes to a player who bought a ticket in a California mountain town

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A liquor store in a tiny California mountain town reverberated with excitement Thursday after word that the winning ticket for a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot was sold there. The drawing Wednesday night ended a long stretch without a winner of the top prize and brought news media to Midway Marke…

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Thousands of people have begun fleeing their home towns for their safety. the terrorist group is called the Hamas they are the reason this is happening. They have been killing women and children and also taking them prisoner. Israel have declared war on the Hamas the terrorist group that have been killing women and children.

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Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled south - UN
Tens of thousands of people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes and moved south following Israel's evacuation warning, according to estimates by the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were already internally displaced, it said.

Israel's military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion. Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes.

This blog is now closed. We have launched a new blog at the link below:

In addition to pro-Palestine protests reported earlier, Jewish communities in the US, France and other countries also held rallies on Friday in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack, Reuters reports, while some governments have stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools.

In the US, demonstrators have showed solidarity with both sides in the conflict, and major cities from New York City to Los Angeles have reinforced their police presence in Jewish and Muslim neighbourhoods.

In Washington, a rally supporting Israel and the American Jewish community drew about 200 people at the city's Freedom Plaza, in view of the Capitol complex, where police had erected protective fencing the night before. In New York, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets.

Germany and France had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several western countries said they had stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools fearing that protests could lead to violence.

In the Netherlands, Jewish schools were closed for safety reasons, as were two Jewish schools in London.

Police in Britain 's capital said thousands of officers were carrying out extra patrols, visiting schools, synagogues and mosques. At least two Jewish schools closed due to security fears. The boost reflected a significant increase in hate crime, particularly antisemitism, a police statement said.

In Warsaw, the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was scheduled to lead a multi-confessional prayer for peace. Members of France's Jewish community were to gather at the largest synagogue in Paris for the Sabbath.

Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied across the Middle East and in parts of Asia, Europe and the US in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel as it intensified its strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas attacks a week ago, according to reports by Reuters.

In Turkey, crowds gathered outside mosques chanting against Israel and saluting Hamas. In the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, 46-year-old business owner Mikail Bakan said: "All the Muslim world needs to be one against Israel."

In Baghdad on Friday, tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Tahrir Square, waving Palestinian flags and burning the Israeli flag while chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

State-organised rallies were held across Iran - whose government is Hamas' main backer and one of Israel's principal foes - in support of the militant group, state TV reported.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a protest in Lebanon, the group was "fully ready" to contribute to the fighting. The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border in the past week.

Thousands of Yemeni citizens carried large Palestinian flags and shouted slogans during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in the capital, Sana'a.

In Indonesia, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, joined dozens of people in a march against Israel in the Javanese city of Solo.

In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, activists protested against Israel's actions after Friday prayers at the main mosque. Members of Japan 's Muslim community demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, holding signs and chanting "Israel, terrorist" and "Free Palestine".

In Sri Lanka, protesters held up signs saying, "Palestine you will never walk alone". Protesters also took to the streets in Bulgaria, Yemen, Cape Town, India's Kashmir region, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the US for the ongoing conflict, according to a report by AFP news agency.

The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The document did not specifically name Hamas.

"We're convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian state as it was supposed to do so long ago," Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday.

Nebenzia said there were positive responses to the draft resolution among some member states.

He also blamed the US for bearing "responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East," and criticized European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for "turning a blind eye to the Israeli air force attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."

The Security Council is regularly divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Members spoke cautiously of the resolution after the meeting.

"The draft resolution appeared just two minutes before we went into the council meeting," said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward. "I think for something that is as important as this, we've already seen how much human life has been destroyed. We need time for consultation, serious consultation."

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that "there is an emerging consensus on the humanitarian concerns," adding: "We are open to all efforts which will help cease the fire, help de-escalate the tension."

Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said that "Brazil will continue to work closely with all delegations aiming for a unified position by the Council on the situation."

China's Special Envoy on the Middle East on Friday met with representatives of the Arab League in China for an emergency session on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.

China's special envoy, Zhai Jun, told the meeting that China supports the 22-member strong Arab League in playing an important role on the "Palestinian issue" and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

"The international community should earnestly enhance its sense of urgency to return to the correct basis of the Two State Solution to realise the peaceful coexistence of the two states of Palestine and Israel," Zhai said, according to the statement.

Here is some more detail about the strikes reported earlier. The Israeli military says it intercepted two unidentified targets above the northern city of Haifa.

"Following the initial report, another unidentified UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] crossed into northern Israel. Additionally, an IDF UAV was fired upon. In response, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist target in southern Lebanon," Israel Defense Forces said on social media.

The IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted 2 unidentified targets above the city of Haifa.

No sirens were activated according to protocol. pic.twitter.com/JdKBEmAzgs
- Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 13, 2023

A 25-year-old Thai man who is among 21 Thai citizens killed following Hamas' attacks has been named as Pongsathorn Khunsri in local media.

A report in the Bangkok Post says that Pongsathorn had been in Israel for a year, and was working on a farm. He moved so that he could earn more money and hoped to build a new house for his mother. He sent money back home regularly to his mother, hoping she could have a better life.

About 30,000 Thais are living in Israel, including many who work in agricultural jobs that offer better salaries than those back home.

An official from the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv called his mother, Surangkhana, on Wednesday to inform her of his death.

"I never imagined my son would die like this in a faraway land. Many Thais have worked there, but why did it happen to be my son who was captured and killed?" Surangkhana told the Bangkok Post.

She told the paper that she did not have much detail about what had happened to her son.

The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a "crime against humanity" by Israel, which has warned nearly half of the population of the Gaza Strip to relocate as it plans an assault, according to a Reuters report.

"He has to do more. Whatever was done is not sufficient. We need all of us to do more to stop this crime against humanity," Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters before a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors at the United Nations.

Countries urged Israel on Friday to hold off attacking northern Gaza, where more than a million civilians largely defied Israel's order to evacuate before it goes after Hamas militants who slaughtered Israeli civilians last weekend.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said on Friday that Israel's warning to residents in northern Gaza was "to temporarily move south ... to mitigate civilian harm." He was speaking at an event Israel hosted at the UN with families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza in the attack.

Guterres briefed the 15-member UN Security Council behind closed doors on Friday.
"The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low," he told reporters on his way to the briefing, adding that he was in constant contact with the leaders across the region to try and "prevent further dangerous escalation in the West Bank or elsewhere in the region, especially in southern Lebanon."

Guterres reminded the parties: "Even wars have rules ... Civilians must be protected and also never used as shields."

Israel's military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the "infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel" and fire on an Israeli drone. The military intercepted the objects and the fire on its drone, it said, according to a Reuters report.

Daniel Hurst

Nearly 240 Australians have landed in London on the first Australian-government backed repatriation flight from Israel, the foreign minister has confirmed.

Penny Wong said on Saturday that the Qantas-operated flight from Tel Aviv landed earlier on Saturday carrying 238 people. Overall, about 825 Australians had departed Israel and the occupied territories, she said.

"My department continues to assist a number of Australians seeking to leave Gaza, numbering about 20," Wong said.

A second repatriation flight is due to leave on Saturday from Tel Aviv to Dubai. The government announced on Friday it would arrange an extra two charter flights, taking the total number to four.

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UN says tens of thousands have fled south in Gaza after Israel's evacuation order - as it happened

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More than 400,000 in Gaza were already internally displaced before Israel's evacuation order, UN humanitarian office says

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In Massachusetts 80 women are accusing a doctor of sexual assault. The man who is accused of these things is named Dr. Derrick Todd. He was doing inappropriate pelvic and breast examinations.

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In the weeks since his dismissal from a Boston hospital, the number of women accusing Dr Derrick Todd of sexually abusive medical exams has surpassed 80, adding to a spate of cases involving US physicians reported to have violated patients in their most vulnerable moments.

At least 82 women have joined a class-action lawsuit that was filed against Todd in a Massachusetts state court Wednesday, the plaintiffs' attorney Drew Meyer told the Boston Globe.

The women's complaint came after two others had filed separate, individual lawsuits against Todd, who voluntarily surrendered his medical license in September before his accusers' portrayal of him as a serial sexual predator had more fully taken shape.

"Dr Todd performed inappropriate pelvic examinations, breast examinations and rectal examinations on patients ... for his own sexual gratification," read an excerpt of the lawsuit initiated Wednesday. The suit contended that Todd had inflicted "these horrifying, traumatizing and deplorable acts" on patients as far back as 2011 and continued until an investigation halted him this past July.

In an interview with the Boston television news station WBZ, Sabrina Soini and Samantha Sullivan - who are sisters - described enduring abuse at Todd's hands during appointments in February and April.

"It was a 45-minute pelvic massage that at the end he had you sit down, and he talked with you, and he asked you all kinds of extremely inappropriate and personal questions about your sex life," Soini said to the station.

Sullivan added to WBZ: "He was doing things that weren't standard, weren't typical of any normal gynecological exam and at that point, you know, I felt suspicious." She recalled leaving the hospital saying to herself: "I think my doctor just sexually assaulted me."

In a statement to the Globe, an attorney for Todd said the rheumatologist maintains "he has done nothing wrong and will defend [himself] vigorously".

An official at the medical center where Todd practiced, Brigham and Women's hospital, told the Globe that facility leaders "immediately" began investigating him after receiving two anonymous complaints. They initially put him on leave but then decided to fire him on 31 July as the investigation evolved.

Todd offered his resignation as the hospital moved to dismiss him, according to local reports. Then, on 5 September, Todd voluntarily signed an agreement with the state medical licensing board to stop practicing. He has also been under investigation by state prosecutors and Boston police.

A more complete account of the allegations against Todd began emerging after a plaintiff who has chosen to remain anonymous sued him on 29 September. A former patient who has publicly identified herself as Mimi DiTrani filed a separate lawsuit seeking damages Tuesday accusing Todd of exploiting his "position of trust and authority to commit acts of sexual violence, sexual exploitation and serial abuse".

DiTrani's suit described how Todd would fondle her in exam rooms while asking invasive questions about her sexual history as he ostensibly treated her for a genetic condition affecting her joints and skin.

Wednesday's lawsuit brought forth dozens of more plaintiffs seeking damages with claims that generally echo DiTraini's. The complaint - whose lead plaintiff is listed as Nancy Larsen - recounts how Todd would convince patients who primarily needed care for arthritis and rheumatological problems that he should also perform gynecological and breast exams, often before and after traditional hours, as WBZ reported.

Besides Todd, defendants named in the pending lawsuits include the hospital as well as physicians groups where he worked. The plaintiffs argue that Todd's employers failed to competently supervise him and essentially allowed his abusive behavior, though statements from the sued entities insist the first complaints they received about the doctor were the ones that resulted in the actions against him so far.

"We are disappointed and saddened by these disturbing allegations and recognize the courage it takes for these patients to come forward," said a statement from Charles River Medical Associates, to which Todd had belonged.

The lawsuits against Todd come about three months after prosecutors filed a litany of sex crime charges against New York City doctor Zhi Alan Cheng. Authorities allege he sexually abused at least three patients at the hospital where he worked while also raping three other women in his apartment.

Meanwhile, in July, Manhattan gynecologist Robert Hadden received a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in federal court of sexually assaulting his patients during examinations.

In April, federal prosecutors charged New York City urologist Darius Paduch with sexually abusing patients at his offices, including minors. And last year, New York City neurologist Ricardo Cruciani was found guilty of sexually abusing a half-dozen patients before dying by apparent suicide in jail while awaiting sentencing.

Advocates say the cases collectively show how medical facilities can do more to root out potential abusers from medical settings, where patients face an inherent power imbalance with providers that leaves all the more at risk.

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More than 80 women accuse US doctor of sexual abuse in class-action lawsuit

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Allegations against Dr Derrick Todd in Boston adds to spate of cases involving US physicians reported to have violated patients

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An annular eclipse is scheduled to happen this Saturday. Different from a total solar eclipse, but an annular covers the sun everywhere besides the outer border. Another one of these won't happen until 2046. In Kansas City, it's scheduled peak time is 11:49am. Be sure to wear ISO approved glasses.

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How to watch the 'ring of fire' eclipse | CNN

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Here's everything you need to know about how to watch the annular solar eclipse occurring across the Americas on Saturday.

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The shooting happened as a popular homecoming week event was letting out. The mass shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore injured 5 people on October 3. Police just arrested a 17-year-old who was and had a connection with the shooting. He faces charges of multiple counts of attempted murder and was taken into custody. The police saw surveillance video of the suspects who were shooting and are on the look with a warrant issued for an 18-year-old by the name of Jovan Williams who also has connections with the shooting.

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A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting at Morgan State University | CNN

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Police have arrested a 17-year-old in connection with the mass shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore on October 3 that injured five people, the Baltimore Police Department said in a news release Friday.

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During the war with Israel and Hamas, recently, the military from Israel tries to warn people (about 1 million of them) that live in Gaza to evacuate quickly since a ground assault will commence. It is totaled as of now that 423,000 people have evacuated so far and are cluttered and seeking shelter quickly but there are people that think that this is a death sentence like Putin where he thinks that it's a bad idea to evacuate people since it might cause more deaths.

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Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled south - UN
Tens of thousands of people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes and moved south following Israel's evacuation warning, according to estimates by the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were already internally displaced, it said.

Israel's military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion. Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes.

This blog is now closed. We have launched a new blog at the link below:

In addition to pro-Palestine protests reported earlier, Jewish communities in the US, France and other countries also held rallies on Friday in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack, Reuters reports, while some governments have stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools.

In the US, demonstrators have showed solidarity with both sides in the conflict, and major cities from New York City to Los Angeles have reinforced their police presence in Jewish and Muslim neighbourhoods.

In Washington, a rally supporting Israel and the American Jewish community drew about 200 people at the city's Freedom Plaza, in view of the Capitol complex, where police had erected protective fencing the night before. In New York, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets.

Germany and France had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several western countries said they had stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools fearing that protests could lead to violence.

In the Netherlands, Jewish schools were closed for safety reasons, as were two Jewish schools in London.

Police in Britain 's capital said thousands of officers were carrying out extra patrols, visiting schools, synagogues and mosques. At least two Jewish schools closed due to security fears. The boost reflected a significant increase in hate crime, particularly antisemitism, a police statement said.

In Warsaw, the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was scheduled to lead a multi-confessional prayer for peace. Members of France's Jewish community were to gather at the largest synagogue in Paris for the Sabbath.

Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied across the Middle East and in parts of Asia, Europe and the US in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel as it intensified its strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas attacks a week ago, according to reports by Reuters.

In Turkey, crowds gathered outside mosques chanting against Israel and saluting Hamas. In the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, 46-year-old business owner Mikail Bakan said: "All the Muslim world needs to be one against Israel."

In Baghdad on Friday, tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Tahrir Square, waving Palestinian flags and burning the Israeli flag while chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans.

State-organised rallies were held across Iran - whose government is Hamas' main backer and one of Israel's principal foes - in support of the militant group, state TV reported.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a protest in Lebanon, the group was "fully ready" to contribute to the fighting. The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border in the past week.

Thousands of Yemeni citizens carried large Palestinian flags and shouted slogans during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in the capital, Sana'a.

In Indonesia, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, joined dozens of people in a march against Israel in the Javanese city of Solo.

In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, activists protested against Israel's actions after Friday prayers at the main mosque. Members of Japan 's Muslim community demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, holding signs and chanting "Israel, terrorist" and "Free Palestine".

In Sri Lanka, protesters held up signs saying, "Palestine you will never walk alone". Protesters also took to the streets in Bulgaria, Yemen, Cape Town, India's Kashmir region, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the US for the ongoing conflict, according to a report by AFP news agency.

The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The document did not specifically name Hamas.

"We're convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian state as it was supposed to do so long ago," Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday.

Nebenzia said there were positive responses to the draft resolution among some member states.

He also blamed the US for bearing "responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East," and criticized European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for "turning a blind eye to the Israeli air force attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."

The Security Council is regularly divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Members spoke cautiously of the resolution after the meeting.

"The draft resolution appeared just two minutes before we went into the council meeting," said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward. "I think for something that is as important as this, we've already seen how much human life has been destroyed. We need time for consultation, serious consultation."

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that "there is an emerging consensus on the humanitarian concerns," adding: "We are open to all efforts which will help cease the fire, help de-escalate the tension."

Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said that "Brazil will continue to work closely with all delegations aiming for a unified position by the Council on the situation."

China's Special Envoy on the Middle East on Friday met with representatives of the Arab League in China for an emergency session on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.

China's special envoy, Zhai Jun, told the meeting that China supports the 22-member strong Arab League in playing an important role on the "Palestinian issue" and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

"The international community should earnestly enhance its sense of urgency to return to the correct basis of the Two State Solution to realise the peaceful coexistence of the two states of Palestine and Israel," Zhai said, according to the statement.

Here is some more detail about the strikes reported earlier. The Israeli military says it intercepted two unidentified targets above the northern city of Haifa.

"Following the initial report, another unidentified UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] crossed into northern Israel. Additionally, an IDF UAV was fired upon. In response, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist target in southern Lebanon," Israel Defense Forces said on social media.

The IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted 2 unidentified targets above the city of Haifa.

No sirens were activated according to protocol. pic.twitter.com/JdKBEmAzgs
- Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 13, 2023

A 25-year-old Thai man who is among 21 Thai citizens killed following Hamas' attacks has been named as Pongsathorn Khunsri in local media.

A report in the Bangkok Post says that Pongsathorn had been in Israel for a year, and was working on a farm. He moved so that he could earn more money and hoped to build a new house for his mother. He sent money back home regularly to his mother, hoping she could have a better life.

About 30,000 Thais are living in Israel, including many who work in agricultural jobs that offer better salaries than those back home.

An official from the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv called his mother, Surangkhana, on Wednesday to inform her of his death.

"I never imagined my son would die like this in a faraway land. Many Thais have worked there, but why did it happen to be my son who was captured and killed?" Surangkhana told the Bangkok Post.

She told the paper that she did not have much detail about what had happened to her son.

The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a "crime against humanity" by Israel, which has warned nearly half of the population of the Gaza Strip to relocate as it plans an assault, according to a Reuters report.

"He has to do more. Whatever was done is not sufficient. We need all of us to do more to stop this crime against humanity," Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters before a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors at the United Nations.

Countries urged Israel on Friday to hold off attacking northern Gaza, where more than a million civilians largely defied Israel's order to evacuate before it goes after Hamas militants who slaughtered Israeli civilians last weekend.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said on Friday that Israel's warning to residents in northern Gaza was "to temporarily move south ... to mitigate civilian harm." He was speaking at an event Israel hosted at the UN with families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza in the attack.

Guterres briefed the 15-member UN Security Council behind closed doors on Friday.
"The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low," he told reporters on his way to the briefing, adding that he was in constant contact with the leaders across the region to try and "prevent further dangerous escalation in the West Bank or elsewhere in the region, especially in southern Lebanon."

Guterres reminded the parties: "Even wars have rules ... Civilians must be protected and also never used as shields."

Israel's military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the "infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel" and fire on an Israeli drone. The military intercepted the objects and the fire on its drone, it said, according to a Reuters report.

Daniel Hurst

Nearly 240 Australians have landed in London on the first Australian-government backed repatriation flight from Israel, the foreign minister has confirmed.

Penny Wong said on Saturday that the Qantas-operated flight from Tel Aviv landed earlier on Saturday carrying 238 people. Overall, about 825 Australians had departed Israel and the occupied territories, she said.

"My department continues to assist a number of Australians seeking to leave Gaza, numbering about 20," Wong said.

A second repatriation flight is due to leave on Saturday from Tel Aviv to Dubai. The government announced on Friday it would arrange an extra two charter flights, taking the total number to four.

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UN says tens of thousands have fled south in Gaza after Israel's evacuation order - as it happened

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More than 400,000 in Gaza were already internally displaced before Israel's evacuation order, UN humanitarian office says

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The UFC is creating its own drug testing organization so that they can move away from the US Anti Doping Agency. This will allow them to clear fighters for fights quicker without 2 negative tests and a 6month waiting period. This started over conflict from Connor Mcgregor former champion trying to schedule a fight and not being able to. They said that he would have to wait longer and they still thought he would fail a drug test. But, the UFC proved he was cleared so the USADA stated publicly that they still think he is in a drug cycle.

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The UFC is moving on from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and is creating its own drug-testing program in a feud that involves former champion Conor McGregor.

The mixed martial arts organization also sent a legal letter to Usada to demand a retraction and apology for a statement it issued Wednesday regarding the end of its deal with the UFC.

In a statement to the Associated Press, Usada CEO Travis Tygart said, "We stand by our statement and our credibility."

Drug Free Sport International will be in charge of the collection process under the new program that begins in January when the UFC's deal with Usada ends. Former FBI special agent George Piro, best known for interrogating former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, will be in charge of the new program.

"You identify people and entities in this space that can make something that is already working well and you make them better," said Jeff Novitzky, UFC senior vice president of athlete health and performance. "You learn that Usada is not the only player in this space and that a combination of other entities and individuals can actually make your program stronger and better, and that's exactly what's happening right now with our program."

Usada announced Wednesday it was severing its eight-year-old relationship with the UFC over a dispute regarding McGregor. UFC officials said in a news conference Thursday the organization informed Usada on Monday it was ending its relationship.

"I think it's a self-preservation tactic," Hunter Campbell, UFC executive vice president and chief business officer, said of Usada's announcement. "I think it will ultimately fail."

Tygart acknowledged in the Wednesday statement that the UFC told his organization on Monday it was leaving, but said the two organizations in May had "a positive and productive meeting about a contract renewal".

McGregor said on social media this week that he was returning to the Usada testing pool, a requirement before returning to competition. McGregor, 35, hoped to fight Michael Chandler in December, but Usada requires a six-month period of testing as well as at least two negative drug tests.

UFC officials said McGregor wasn't scheduled to fight in December and would be in the testing program that meets the testing minimum before going back into the octagon. McGregor hasn't fought since injuring his leg in July 2021.

A letter from Las Vegas law firm Campbell & Williams said Tygart's statement included "several false and highly misleading representations". The letter also said it appeared "to be the first time Usada has publicly announced an athlete's entry into its testing program".

"(McGregor's) fulfilled every obligation under the rules that's been asked of him and gets rewarded with that garbage statement that came out early this week," Novitzky said. "It's really unfair."

Usada partnered with the UFC in 2015, its first deal with a domestic professional sport. The agency is mostly known for its involvement with Olympic sports.

Drug Free Sport International has numerous clients that include the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the NCAA, among others.

"In fact, we see from time to time that Usada has contracted out with Drug Free Sport and their collection network of over 5,000 strong international collectors," Novitzky said. "They test in over 100 countries. They collect over 200,000 samples annually. So for a sport with over 650 athletes in over 50 countries, they fit us perfectly."

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UFC creates own drug-testing program after split with Usada over Conor McGregor

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The UFC is moving on from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and is creating its own drug-testing program in a feud that involves Conor McGregor

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Fumes from toxic PFA's "forever chemicals" are flowing from at least 245 military bases. This is just frm data of 1/3 of our military bases and this could affect the drinking water of nearby communities for hundreds of people. The Department of Defense is carrying out more investigations to figure out how to control all the toxic chemicals in our water.

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Plumes of toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" flowing from at least 245 US military bases are contaminating or threatening to pollute drinking water for nearby communities, and hundreds more are likely at risk across America, a new Department of Defense report finds.

The number of communities threatened by the military's pollution is likely to increase as further more investigations are carried out. The defense department has only looked at about one-third of more than 700 facilities suspected of having contaminated the ground with PFAS.

While the report acknowledges the pollution, it does not clarify which drinking water sources are polluted, how high PFAS levels are in the polluted water systems, or provide information about the plumes' locations.

The sheer number of bases and the lack of clarity is "shocking", said Scott Faber, the vice-president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group non-profit, which tracks military PFAS pollution.

"A good neighbor would let you know that their use of PFAS was the reason your water was contaminated, and a bad neighbor would only tell you: 'Hey, a plume is heading in your direction,'" Faber said.

The defense department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and a range of other serious health problems.

They are dubbed "forever chemicals" because most do not degrade in the environment.

The military is considered one of the largest PFAS polluters in the world, largely due to its use of firefighting foam laced with the chemicals discharged during emergencies or training exercises. Some of the highest levels of PFAS in groundwater ever detected have been found around bases. The Environmental Protection Agency's advisory health guidelines state that less than one part per trillion (ppt) in drinking water is safe, while levels found around military bases have exceeded 2.25m ppt.

Congress in recent years has included in Defense Authorization Acts requirements for the military to begin investigating PFAS pollution in and around its facilities. The defense department has so far confirmed PFAS contamination at 455 bases, it wrote in the new report, and of that group it has confirmed that 275 out of 295 checked, or about 90%, have plumes "in the proximity" of drinking water supplies.

The report does not clarify what "in the proximity" means and does not specify which types of drinking water supplies are threatened. Though it provides a list of bases, public drinking water systems can draw from surface water or community wells, and it is unclear how the plumes may be impacting those pulling water from private wells.

"That is what we know so far because that's all the DoD told us, and it took an act of Congress to get that much information," Faber said.

Though the report does not provide clarity on which communities are drinking contaminated water, the defense department in August issued a separate report revealing that it is now providing clean drinking water to 53 communities.

The military currently only provides clean drinking water for communities with levels of PFOA and PFOS, two kinds of PFAS compounds, above 70 ppt. The EPA is proposing lowering the legal limit to 4 ppt. If it does, as expected, the defense department will likely be forced to provide drinking water to most, if not all, communities around facilities where there is PFAS contamination.

Even as the military uncovers more PFAS pollution in and around its sites, the amount of spending on remediation of all pollution at its bases is dropping.

"Communities around the facilities must be really frustrated because they in all likelihood are drinking from wells that are contaminated by the military, but the DoD is coming up short," Faber said. "Inevitably we will get answers for these questions as we move through the process."

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Toxic PFAS from US military bases polluting drinking water, report finds

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Plumes of 'forever chemicals' from at least 245 sites are contaminating water for nearby communities

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The Republicans are scrambling to find a new person for speaker of the house after Scalise drops out their new top candidate for the job is Jim Jordan. He got second in a vote on Wednesday but they are still skeptical if he is ready to take the job.

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House Republicans scrambled to find a new speaker on Friday, after Steve Scalise, the majority leader of the chamber, abruptly dropped out of the race.

Scalise announced his decision on Thursday evening, following a conference meeting in which it became clear that he had no path to winning the 217 votes needed to ascend to the speakership.

"This country is counting on us to come back together," Scalise told reporters. "This House of Representatives needs a speaker, and we need to open up the House again."

The conference will meet again on Friday morning to determine whether Congressman Jim Jordan, the House judiciary committee chair, can cobble together enough votes to become speaker.

Jordan finished second in the conference vote held Wednesday, winning the support of 99 House Republicans in his bid to become speaker. But it remains highly unclear whether Jordan, a hard-right lawmaker with a history of sparring with House leadership, can assuage the concerns of more moderate Republicans.

The crisis comes a week after Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, becoming the first person in US history to ever be ejected from the job. With no speaker in place, Congressman Patrick McHenry, a Republican of North Carolina, continues to serve as the acting leader of the House. Until a new speaker is selected, the House remains paralyzed, unable to take up any legislation.

Congressman Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House foreign relations committee, warned that the ongoing standoff sends a worrisome message to America's adversaries.

"It's a dangerous game that we're playing," McCaul said on Thursday. " It just proves our adversaries right that democracy doesn't work. Our adversaries are watching us."

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House Republicans consider Jim Jordan for speaker after Scalise drops out

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Scalise left race after it became clear he had no path to winning, and now conference will assess Jordan, a hard-right lawmaker

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Air Canada is being sued over gold bars and cash worth over millions that were stolen from Toronto's airport. The heist was deemed one of the largest in Canada's history. Claims show that security protocols were not followed which is why this individual was allowed into the facility. The person was able to enter by showing an airway bill for an unrelated shipment to an Air Canada employee. Air Canada staff made no attempt to verify that the bill was real or not.

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A US-based security company has sued Air Canada over gold bars and cash worth millions that were stolen from Toronto's airport in April.

Brink's International alleges the airline was "reckless" and had failed to prevent the theft.

The goods, worth more than C$20m ($15m, £12m), had recently arrived on an Air Canada flight from Zurich to Toronto before they were stolen.

The heist is one of the largest in Canada's history.

Among the items stolen were gold bars that weighed 400.19kg and $2m in cash.

The 14 April theft garnered international headlines at the time, and it remains unsolved by the police.

In the lawsuit, filed in the Federal Court of Canada on 6 October, Brink's said it was hired by a bank and a precious metal company to coordinate the shipment of the goods.

The goods were stolen 42 minutes after they were unloaded from a plane that had just arrived in Toronto Pearson International Airport from Switzerland, the company said.

After they were unloaded, the lawsuit alleged that an unidentified person gained access to the warehouse where the valuables were kept at around 18:30 local time.

"No security protocols or features were in place to monitor, restrict or otherwise regulate the unidentified individual's access to the facilities," Brink's said.

The person was allegedly able to enter by showing an airway bill for an unrelated shipment to an Air Canada employee.

The airline then released the shipment to the individual, who "absconded with the cargo," the lawsuit stated.

Brink's alleged that Air Canada staff made no attempt to verify the waybill's authenticity "in any way," and that the theft could have been prevented if Air Canada properly followed its security guidelines.

The company argued that Air Canada is liable for the damages. Brink's has asked that the price of the goods stolen be paid back by the airline in full.

Air Canada has not released a public statement on the allegations. The BBC has reached out to the airline for comment.

The theft is one of the biggest heists in Canadian history. Other heists include the 2011 and 2012 Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist when 3,000 tonnes of syrup valued at $18.7m were stolen from a storage facility in Quebec.

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Air Canada sued over $20m gold and cash heist

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Six months later, the heist remains unsolved. Now, a US-based security company wants its money back.

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Because of the recent war with Israel and Gaza, many schools around the world are warning parents about what social media is showing to young people. Social media is revealing the horrific brutality of the injuries, whether its real or not, kids cannot be helped to unsee it. It's easy for people to identify misinformation and assume the events are "okay" when they aren't.

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Opinion: Schools are right to warn parents about what their kids are seeing right now | CNN

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Parents should listen to schools who are warning against social media coverage on Israel and Gaza, writes Kara Alaimo. Due to possibilities of misinformation coming from Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, parents ought to give their kids a social media hiatus and turn to appropriate or reliable sources instead.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Sunday that the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group — which includes the namesake aircraft carrier, the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy and four guided missile destroyers (the USS Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney and Roosevelt) — would be headed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

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Almost one week on from hamas brutal terror attack, which killed more than 1,300 people, Israel’s retaliation has come from the skies, It has dropped about 6,000 bombs on Gaza between October 7 and 12, according to the Israeli Air Force (IAF). Palestinian officials said more than 1,500 people have been killed in the strikes.
Israel’s next move looks set to come from the ground Overnight Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned some 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to relocate south, as some 300,000 IDF reservists have amassed near the border.

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By Kathleen Magramo, Adam Renton, Christian Edwards, Ed Upright, Aditi Sangal, Alisha Ebrahimji, Elise Hammond, Kaanita Iyer, Zoe Sottile and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 7:44 a.m. ET, October 16, 2023

What we covered here

Israel's military has warned 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes, amid signs Israel is set to ramp up its retaliatory offensive against Hamas following the group's October 7 terror attacks that killed 1,300 people.

Israel's evacuation order prompted tens of thousands of people to leave their homes in Gaza Friday, according to the UN's humanitarian office.

Gaza's humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation. At least 1,900 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

President Joe Biden says the US is "working like hell" to get Americans missing from Israel back to the United States. The first charter that the US State Department organized to get its citizens out of Israel has arrived in Athens, Greece, an official said, and more flights are planned for the coming days.

Here's how to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza.

1:07 a.m. ET, October 14, 2023

President Joe Biden spent about 45 minutes Friday speaking to family members of missing Americans in Israel, according to the father of missing American Sagui Dekel-Chen.

"As an American citizen, as an Israeli citizen, as someone whose beloved son, we are sure is being held alive, dead, wounded, we don't know, I could not possibly ask for more than President Biden expressed about the United States' commitment to getting these people back," Jonathan Dekel-Chen told CNN's Abby Phillip.

Dekel-Chen said it wasn't an easy conversation, but that the president made it clear that he and the administration are in it for the "long haul."

"As crazy as this must sound, at that moment, as proud as I am to be an Israeli I was no less proud to be an American as a result of that phone call," he said. "And honestly most of the time he was listening to people's stories and their desires for his action, and his answers were inspiring."

Although the president could not give much information, according to Dekel-Chen, the president's "willingness to listen" was "extraordinary."

Dekel-Chen's son, Sagui has been missing since Saturday when his kibbutz was invaded.

Some context: Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, kidnapped a number of people, including both civilians and soldiers, during its October 7 attack on Israel. It's unclear how many people are being held hostage; Israeli authorities have said as many as 150 people may have been kidnapped. The IDF said Friday that it had notified 120 families of those taken hostage.

The Israeli military says it has struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon after one of its drones was fired on.

The move came in response to "the infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel and fire on an IDF UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]," the Israeli military said in a statement Saturday morning local time, adding that it intercepted both the aerial objects and the fire.

A CNN team on the ground in southern Lebanon heard two loud explosions in the early hours of Saturday.

In an earlier statement, the Israeli military said the "infiltration of an unidentified object" took place near the city of Shfar'am in northern Israel.

Some Palestinian-Americans have received their first set of instructions that family members stuck in Gaza may be able to evacuate into Egypt on Saturday afternoon, according to emails shared with CNN.

The US State Department's Consular Affairs Crisis Management System (CACMS) told family members that on Saturday the Rafah crossing "may be open."

"We understand the security situation is difficult, but if you wish to depart Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity," the CACMS email said.

A State Department spokesperson told CNN they "are actively discussing this with our Israeli and Egyptian counterparts."

"We support safe passage for civilians," they said. "We are working with our Israeli and Egyptian partners to establish a safe humanitarian corridor both for Gazans trying to flee this war and to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those in need within the territory."

Anas Alfarra, a Lawful Permanent Resident of the US living in the San Francisco area who is trying to get family members out of Gaza, says the email falls short of what the US Embassy needs to be doing.

"Two 'mays' and a 'wish' in a situation that warrants much more," Alfarra told CNN.

Mai Abushaaban, a 22-year-old from Houston who also received the email, has been desperately trying to evacuate her mother and sister from Gaza this week.

"I've had to put a lot of pressure on the embassy," Abushaaban said. "It feels almost as though we were forgotten, I personally feel like we're second-class citizens."

This comes after the United States has continued to press the Egyptian and Israeli governments on "the importance of the Rafah crossing being open for American citizens and foreign nationals of other countries who want to leave and have the right to leave to be able to do so," a senior State Department official said Friday.

US officials have been engaged in discussions for days to try to secure a humanitarian corridor that would allow Americans and other civilians to safely leave Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli military incursion.

The United Nations on Thursday said it was informed by the Israeli military that "the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours," but IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN Friday that any deadline "may slip."

The State Department official told the press traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the US' focus has been "on American citizens, but other countries you could presume are engaged in trying to get their foreign nationals out as well."

There are an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of people left their homes in Gaza on Friday after Israel's military warned over one million people living north of Wadi Gaza to move south, according to a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Saturday.

Prior to the warning, more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) said it had distributed food to 135,000 people in shelters across Gaza on Friday, but warned "humanitarian supplies are running low."

OCHA added that most people in Gaza now have no access to water.

"As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, triggering serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases," it said.

As Israel tightens its chokehold in Gaza, a humanitarian crisis in the territory is rapidly spiraling amid warnings that people are at risk of starvation.

It comes as Israel has ordered more than a million people in Gaza to evacuate southward ahead of a potential Israeli ground operation, according to the United Nations. Many people in the enclave left their homes on Friday.

The Gaza Strip is one of most densely populated places on earth, with some 2 million people crammed in 140-square-mile territory.
Here's where things stand:

Offensive action from Israel: In addition to continued airstrikes, Israeli troops have carried out local raids over the past day in the Gaza Strip, searching for hostages and collecting evidence to find people taken by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces said. Meanwhile, Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along the Gaza border for a potential full ground operation. Israel has also been accused by the Palestinian Ministry of Health of the "targeting and killing of medical and ambulance personnel during their humanitarian missions to evacuate the victims of aggression."

Humanitarian concerns: The UN said the calls for the evacuation of 1.1 million people in Gaza are "impossible" and has urged the Israeli military to withdraw, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general. Dujarric said such a mass evacuation would have "devastating humanitarian consequences." Israel has blocked food, water and fuel from coming in leading to "catastrophic" conditions, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned.

What Hamas is saying: A senior Hamas official said Friday that the current situation in Gaza represents "an extraordinarily audacious and brutal endeavor to forcibly remove the Palestinian indigenous people from their land." The official called Israel's actions in Gaza "inhumane" and "barbaric," adding that Hamas "will not surrender our legitimate fight for freedom and self-determination."

International input: The White House says national security officials held calls with United Nations officials on Thursday and Friday about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but declined to offer details about progress on getting foreign nationals out of the area. Vassily Nebenzia, the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, is circulating a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls for a ceasefire in the "Israel-Gaza" war. Nebenzia called for de-escalation in the conflict and said the resolution received a mixed reaction from the other 14 member countries. Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, said in a statement Saturday morning (local time) that it welcomes "Russia's tireless efforts" aimed at stopping Israel's aggression against the territory.

Attacks in Lebanon: Israel is conducting drone attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. It comes after the Israeli military shelled southern Lebanon in response to an explosion at a security fence near the Lebanese-Israeli border earlier Friday, the IDF said. There are rising fears of the Lebanon-based Shia militant faction Hezbollah entering the conflict.

Concerns about a wider regional conflict: Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said his country is "extremely concerned" about the conflict in Israel spreading and that it is working to de-escalate the situation. Of Israel's immediate neighbors, it is only at peace with Jordan and Egypt, and is officially in a state of war with Lebanon and Syria. Israel has said it is ready in case there are attacks from those two countries.

Sign up for CNN's Meanwhile in the Middle East, a three-times-a-week newsletter that explores the region's biggest stories.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, said in a statement Saturday morning (local time) that it welcomes "Russia's tireless efforts" aimed at stopping Israel's aggression against the territory.

"[We] appreciate Russian President Vladimir Putin's position regarding the ongoing Zionist aggression against our people and his rejection of the Gaza siege, the cutting of relief supplies, and the targeting of safe civilians there," the statement read.

What Putin has said: On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged both sides in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to "minimize or reduce to zero" civilian casualties, and the foreign ministry in Moscow made similar calls for calm on Friday.

His comments come as Russia continues a ruthless war campaign against Ukraine and is being investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. That case includes, among other things, allegations of targeting civilians.

In addition to Putin's comments, the Russian envoy to the UN circulated a resolution calling for a ceasefire Friday.

Remember: Israel has ordered a " complete siege" on the crowded Gaza strip - including halting supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel - while also bombarding the densely populated territory in retaliation for Hamas' devastating October 7 terror attacks. At least 1,900 Palestinians have been killed by near-constant shelling in Gaza, according to the health ministry, including journalists, medics and other civilians. The dead include 614 children and 370 women, says the Palestinian health ministry.

The number of Ukrainian nationals killed in Hamas' attack on Israel over the weekend has risen to 11, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

Nikolenko also said there are still nine Ukrainian citizens missing.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health accused Israeli forces of the "targeting and killing of medical and ambulance personnel during their humanitarian missions to evacuate the victims of aggression."

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. The IDF told CNN it will look into these allegations.

At least 15 health facilities were damaged and 23 ambulances were destroyed in airstrikes Friday, according to the Palestinian ministry.

A dramatic video posted on the ministry in Gaza's Facebook page captured the moment an ambulance was rocked by an explosion as it attempted to flee a chaotic scene.

In the video, explosions are heard going off when the person recording jumps into an ambulance. Several people can be seen inside the ambulance, including a woman on a stretcher and a young girl by her side.

An explosion rocks the ambulance carrying the child and woman. The young girl screams in panic as another explosion goes off.

It is not clear what happened to the woman and child. The exact source and cause of the explosion was unclear.

"The Israeli violations against medical personnel, health institutions, and ambulance units are a blatant attack on the laws, conventions, and international norms that stipulate the protection of medical personnel and their facilities during times of conflicts and wars," the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Friday in a statement.

The ministry also said that "thousands of displaced citizens are sleeping in hospital courtyards, facing the immense number of wounded individuals who are congesting the hospital corridors, putting immense pressure on the fragile healthcare system."

The ministry went on to call for "immediate action to open a secure passage to ensure the arrival of medical supplies, fuel, delegations, ambulance vehicles, and allow the departure of hundreds of wounded and patients before it is too late."

The ministry also accused Israeli forces of targeting people in Gaza as they were trying to evacuate their homes.

"The Israeli occupation deceived the citizens and forced them into forced displacement, then multiplied its crimes by targeting them this afternoon," the health ministry said.
"The world witnessed that all the victims of this targeting are entire families, including unborn children. Three ambulances were targeted, and 10 of their crews were injured during the evacuation of the wounded."

What we covered here

Israel's military has warned 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes, amid signs Israel is set to ramp up its retaliatory offensive against Hamas following the group's October 7 terror attacks that killed 1,300 people.

Israel's evacuation order prompted tens of thousands of people to leave their homes in Gaza Friday, according to the UN's humanitarian office.

Gaza's humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation. At least 1,900 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

President Joe Biden says the US is "working like hell" to get Americans missing from Israel back to the United States. The first charter that the US State Department organized to get its citizens out of Israel has arrived in Athens, Greece, an official said, and more flights are planned for the coming days.

Here's how to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza.

1:07 a.m. ET, October 14, 2023

President Joe Biden spent about 45 minutes Friday speaking to family members of missing Americans in Israel, according to the father of missing American Sagui Dekel-Chen.

"As an American citizen, as an Israeli citizen, as someone whose beloved son, we are sure is being held alive, dead, wounded, we don't know, I could not possibly ask for more than President Biden expressed about the United States' commitment to getting these people back," Jonathan Dekel-Chen told CNN's Abby Phillip.

Dekel-Chen said it wasn't an easy conversation, but that the president made it clear that he and the administration are in it for the "long haul."

"As crazy as this must sound, at that moment, as proud as I am to be an Israeli I was no less proud to be an American as a result of that phone call," he said. "And honestly most of the time he was listening to people's stories and their desires for his action, and his answers were inspiring."

Although the president could not give much information, according to Dekel-Chen, the president's "willingness to listen" was "extraordinary."

Dekel-Chen's son, Sagui has been missing since Saturday when his kibbutz was invaded.

Some context: Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, kidnapped a number of people, including both civilians and soldiers, during its October 7 attack on Israel. It's unclear how many people are being held hostage; Israeli authorities have said as many as 150 people may have been kidnapped. The IDF said Friday that it had notified 120 families of those taken hostage.

The Israeli military says it has struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon after one of its drones was fired on.

The move came in response to "the infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel and fire on an IDF UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]," the Israeli military said in a statement Saturday morning local time, adding that it intercepted both the aerial objects and the fire.

A CNN team on the ground in southern Lebanon heard two loud explosions in the early hours of Saturday.

In an earlier statement, the Israeli military said the "infiltration of an unidentified object" took place near the city of Shfar'am in northern Israel.

Some Palestinian-Americans have received their first set of instructions that family members stuck in Gaza may be able to evacuate into Egypt on Saturday afternoon, according to emails shared with CNN.

The US State Department's Consular Affairs Crisis Management System (CACMS) told family members that on Saturday the Rafah crossing "may be open."

"We understand the security situation is difficult, but if you wish to depart Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity," the CACMS email said.

A State Department spokesperson told CNN they "are actively discussing this with our Israeli and Egyptian counterparts."

"We support safe passage for civilians," they said. "We are working with our Israeli and Egyptian partners to establish a safe humanitarian corridor both for Gazans trying to flee this war and to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches those in need within the territory."

Anas Alfarra, a Lawful Permanent Resident of the US living in the San Francisco area who is trying to get family members out of Gaza, says the email falls short of what the US Embassy needs to be doing.

"Two 'mays' and a 'wish' in a situation that warrants much more," Alfarra told CNN.

Mai Abushaaban, a 22-year-old from Houston who also received the email, has been desperately trying to evacuate her mother and sister from Gaza this week.

"I've had to put a lot of pressure on the embassy," Abushaaban said. "It feels almost as though we were forgotten, I personally feel like we're second-class citizens."

This comes after the United States has continued to press the Egyptian and Israeli governments on "the importance of the Rafah crossing being open for American citizens and foreign nationals of other countries who want to leave and have the right to leave to be able to do so," a senior State Department official said Friday.

US officials have been engaged in discussions for days to try to secure a humanitarian corridor that would allow Americans and other civilians to safely leave Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli military incursion.

The United Nations on Thursday said it was informed by the Israeli military that "the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours," but IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN Friday that any deadline "may slip."

The State Department official told the press traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the US' focus has been "on American citizens, but other countries you could presume are engaged in trying to get their foreign nationals out as well."

There are an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of people left their homes in Gaza on Friday after Israel's military warned over one million people living north of Wadi Gaza to move south, according to a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Saturday.

Prior to the warning, more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) said it had distributed food to 135,000 people in shelters across Gaza on Friday, but warned "humanitarian supplies are running low."

OCHA added that most people in Gaza now have no access to water.

"As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, triggering serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases," it said.

As Israel tightens its chokehold in Gaza, a humanitarian crisis in the territory is rapidly spiraling amid warnings that people are at risk of starvation.

It comes as Israel has ordered more than a million people in Gaza to evacuate southward ahead of a potential Israeli ground operation, according to the United Nations. Many people in the enclave left their homes on Friday.

The Gaza Strip is one of most densely populated places on earth, with some 2 million people crammed in 140-square-mile territory.
Here's where things stand:

Offensive action from Israel: In addition to continued airstrikes, Israeli troops have carried out local raids over the past day in the Gaza Strip, searching for hostages and collecting evidence to find people taken by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces said. Meanwhile, Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along the Gaza border for a potential full ground operation. Israel has also been accused by the Palestinian Ministry of Health of the "targeting and killing of medical and ambulance personnel during their humanitarian missions to evacuate the victims of aggression."

Humanitarian concerns: The UN said the calls for the evacuation of 1.1 million people in Gaza are "impossible" and has urged the Israeli military to withdraw, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general. Dujarric said such a mass evacuation would have "devastating humanitarian consequences." Israel has blocked food, water and fuel from coming in leading to "catastrophic" conditions, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned.

What Hamas is saying: A senior Hamas official said Friday that the current situation in Gaza represents "an extraordinarily audacious and brutal endeavor to forcibly remove the Palestinian indigenous people from their land." The official called Israel's actions in Gaza "inhumane" and "barbaric," adding that Hamas "will not surrender our legitimate fight for freedom and self-determination."

International input: The White House says national security officials held calls with United Nations officials on Thursday and Friday about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but declined to offer details about progress on getting foreign nationals out of the area. Vassily Nebenzia, the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, is circulating a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls for a ceasefire in the "Israel-Gaza" war. Nebenzia called for de-escalation in the conflict and said the resolution received a mixed reaction from the other 14 member countries. Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, said in a statement Saturday morning (local time) that it welcomes "Russia's tireless efforts" aimed at stopping Israel's aggression against the territory.

Attacks in Lebanon: Israel is conducting drone attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. It comes after the Israeli military shelled southern Lebanon in response to an explosion at a security fence near the Lebanese-Israeli border earlier Friday, the IDF said. There are rising fears of the Lebanon-based Shia militant faction Hezbollah entering the conflict.

Concerns about a wider regional conflict: Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said his country is "extremely concerned" about the conflict in Israel spreading and that it is working to de-escalate the situation. Of Israel's immediate neighbors, it is only at peace with Jordan and Egypt, and is officially in a state of war with Lebanon and Syria. Israel has said it is ready in case there are attacks from those two countries.

Sign up for CNN's Meanwhile in the Middle East, a three-times-a-week newsletter that explores the region's biggest stories.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, said in a statement Saturday morning (local time) that it welcomes "Russia's tireless efforts" aimed at stopping Israel's aggression against the territory.

"[We] appreciate Russian President Vladimir Putin's position regarding the ongoing Zionist aggression against our people and his rejection of the Gaza siege, the cutting of relief supplies, and the targeting of safe civilians there," the statement read.

What Putin has said: On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged both sides in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to "minimize or reduce to zero" civilian casualties, and the foreign ministry in Moscow made similar calls for calm on Friday.

His comments come as Russia continues a ruthless war campaign against Ukraine and is being investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. That case includes, among other things, allegations of targeting civilians.

In addition to Putin's comments, the Russian envoy to the UN circulated a resolution calling for a ceasefire Friday.

Remember: Israel has ordered a " complete siege" on the crowded Gaza strip - including halting supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel - while also bombarding the densely populated territory in retaliation for Hamas' devastating October 7 terror attacks. At least 1,900 Palestinians have been killed by near-constant shelling in Gaza, according to the health ministry, including journalists, medics and other civilians. The dead include 614 children and 370 women, says the Palestinian health ministry.

The number of Ukrainian nationals killed in Hamas' attack on Israel over the weekend has risen to 11, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

Nikolenko also said there are still nine Ukrainian citizens missing.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health accused Israeli forces of the "targeting and killing of medical and ambulance personnel during their humanitarian missions to evacuate the victims of aggression."

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. The IDF told CNN it will look into these allegations.

At least 15 health facilities were damaged and 23 ambulances were destroyed in airstrikes Friday, according to the Palestinian ministry.

A dramatic video posted on the ministry in Gaza's Facebook page captured the moment an ambulance was rocked by an explosion as it attempted to flee a chaotic scene.

In the video, explosions are heard going off when the person recording jumps into an ambulance. Several people can be seen inside the ambulance, including a woman on a stretcher and a young girl by her side.

An explosion rocks the ambulance carrying the child and woman. The young girl screams in panic as another explosion goes off.

It is not clear what happened to the woman and child. The exact source and cause of the explosion was unclear.

"The Israeli violations against medical personnel, health institutions, and ambulance units are a blatant attack on the laws, conventions, and international norms that stipulate the protection of medical personnel and their facilities during times of conflicts and wars," the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Friday in a statement.

The ministry also said that "thousands of displaced citizens are sleeping in hospital courtyards, facing the immense number of wounded individuals who are congesting the hospital corridors, putting immense pressure on the fragile healthcare system."

The ministry went on to call for "immediate action to open a secure passage to ensure the arrival of medical supplies, fuel, delegations, ambulance vehicles, and allow the departure of hundreds of wounded and patients before it is too late."

The ministry also accused Israeli forces of targeting people in Gaza as they were trying to evacuate their homes.

"The Israeli occupation deceived the citizens and forced them into forced displacement, then multiplied its crimes by targeting them this afternoon," the health ministry said.
"The world witnessed that all the victims of this targeting are entire families, including unborn children. Three ambulances were targeted, and 10 of their crews were injured during the evacuation of the wounded."

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By Kathleen Magramo, Adam Renton, Christian Edwards, Ed Upright, Aditi Sangal, Alisha Ebrahimji, Elise Hammond, Kaanita Iyer, Zoe Sottile and Tori B. Powell, CNN

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October 13, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

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Gaza's humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday with warnings people are at risk of starvation as Israel maintained a siege and bombarded targets in response to the Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people.

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Native Americans fight the government to not put lithium mines on there sacred land. But the government needs that to help go more eco friendly. So the mine ultimately started construction even though nobody on the reservation approved it. They have been trying to sue and stop the construction of the mines in the reservation.

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The rugged and beautiful Thacker Pass in the desert mountains of northern Nevada has long been a sacred site for Native American tribes in the region.

It has witnessed bloody and terrible history. On 12 September 1865, US federal soldiers in the 1st Nevada cavalry committed a massacre of Native Americans, the Numu, across Thacker Pass, named Peehee Mu'huh - Rotten Moon, in the Numu language. Thirty to 50 Native Americans are believed to have been killed, including women and children.

The pass is also the site of the largest known lithium deposit in the US and one of the largest in the world, and Native people and their supporters say another tragedy is now unfolding there.

A mining project on the site by Lithium Americas, fast-tracked at the end of the Trump Administration, started construction earlier this year. For its proponents, the mine is an essential component for the US's shift to a greener future. For its critics, the mine threatens irrevocable environmental and historical destruction to the area.

"All the people here on the reservation were not consulted when this mine was approved," said Dorece Sam, a direct descendant of Ox Sam, one of three survivors of the Thacker Pass massacre.

She is currently being sued by Lithium Americans along with six other protesters of the project. "Myself as an Ox Sam descendant, it means a lot to me to know and watch from US Highway 95 as the grounds become more and more desecrated. It's hard to see and hard to watch."

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe are currently pushing to have the Thacker Pass region designated a site under the National Register of Historic Places.

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe are advocating for Thacker Pass to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Photograph: Max Wilbert

Lithium, dubbed "white gold" by investors, is used for rechargeable batteries used in electronics ranging from cell phones to computers, with demand expected to surge in the next several years for the material.

But the process for mining lithium is rife with environmental impacts. Production of a ton of lithium carbonate produces three times the emissions of producing a ton of steel on average, and uses a huge amount of water. The Thacker Pass lithium project is expected to use 1.7bn gallons of water annually to produce 60,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate a year.

A lawsuit filed by the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the Summer Lake Paiute Tribe is still pending in court against the project to recognize Thacker Pass as a cultural district. Another lawsuit filed by a rancher, four environmental groups, and two other Native American tribes was ruled in favor of the project and an appeal was lost in July 2023.

Michon Eben, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said she submitted the petition report to the Bureau of Land Management in February but has not heard any movement on it from the agency.

She said the regional office still has not turned it into the National Park Service to review, respond, and put it on the national register. She also criticized the federal agency for not addressing these issues in the environmental impact statement for the mining project.

"That's upsetting, because while they're holding the report, the traditional cultural district has been destroyed. Because Lithium Americas is out there, they're doing ground-disturbing activities in the area, which we state is a traditional cultural district," said Eben. "So, if any tribes or anybody wanted to mitigate that destruction, what are we going to mitigate?"

Between 1864 to 1868, there were concerted efforts by the federal government to massacre Native Americans in the Great Basin area, a part of history not taught in schools and often ignored, Eben said.

"The world needs to know that an important historical event occurred there, and that the Bureau of Land Management is not following the National Historic Preservation Act, one of the federal laws that has to be followed during a project like this. They failed to conduct an ethnography with Paiute and Shoshone people," added Eben.

Construction continues at the Lithium Nevada Corp mine site Thacker Pass project. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

Arlan Melendez, chair of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, said the tribe has been in contact with the White House to try to apply pressure to federal agencies to take some sort of action. The White House did not provide comment for this story.

"We're kind of looking for some action. There hasn't been any, especially on the massacre site, which is a big issue to the tribes. We're also concerned about water and the environment and the cultural significance," said Melendez. "When we talk about leaving something for our generations to come, we're trying to do that."

Mining projects have extracted wealth on Native lands for generations under the 1872 Mining Act, and have stolen lands under the Dawes Act of 1887, all while the government has levied taxes on Native Americans on their own land, said Melendez.

"It's just one big political Ferris wheel that keeps turning, and it never turns for the tribes. What did the Native Americans get who had all this aboriginal land? How much of the millions of dollars that went out of Nevada did the tribes ever get? They got zero. This came out of their aboriginal territories, [and] all they got is a bunch of holes in the ground and contaminated water," added Melendez.

"If you're not going to stop, are we still in a situation where the rich get rich and the tribes get poorer because they don't get a dime off of the mining that happens within their original lands? That's hard to swallow."

Around 85% of all lithium reserves are on or near indigenous land. In Argentina, indigenous communities held demonstrations in June to oppose mining efforts, and met with riot police, resulting in numerous injuries of protesters. Lithium mining operations in Chile have incited indigenous communities to decry the effects mining has had on water and farming practices.

In the US, the Thacker Pass lithium mining project has prompted similar opposition from activists and Native Americans who built activist camps to try to stop the project. The latest protest camp, the Ox Sam Camp, was raided by police and disbanded in June and seven protesters are currently facing a lawsuit filed by Lithium Americas.

The protesters are currently seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit, characterizing it as a Slapp (strategic lawsuit against public participation) lawsuit, on the grounds of free speech.

Daranda Hinkey holds a large hand-painted sign that says 'No lithium, no mine'. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

"This mining company is destroying a biodiversity hotspot in a Native American sacred site where people were massacred, and people including direct descendants of those were killed in Thacker Pass, environmentalists and other allies, went out non-violently in prayer to try to stop that destruction and are now facing criminalization from the company and the government," said Max Wilbert, one of the protesters who are being sued.

"The company is seeking to bar from even visiting the sacred site that was first taken from them in 1865 at the point of a gun, and here in 2023, it's being taken from people again under these bulldozer treads and the court system."

The Bureau of Land Management declined to comment.

Lithium Americas also declined to comment on this story, citing pending litigation.

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'We were not consulted': Native Americans fight lithium mine on site of 1865 massacre

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Indigenous groups say huge project in northern Nevada threatens environmental, cultural and historical destruction