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December 5, 2023
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December 5, 2023
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December 5, 2023

Israel strikes in and around Gaza’s second-largest city in a bloody new phase of the war

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel is intensifying its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city, sending ambulances and private cars racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war. Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties in the conflict with Hamas, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. But Palestinians say there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

‘We are officially hostages.’ How the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz embodied Hamas hostage strategy

NIR OZ, Israel (AP) — The recent release of dozens of Israeli hostages is bringing new focus on the Hamas rampage through the kibbutz of Nir Oz. In Nir Oz, Palestinian fighters roamed unopposed for hours. By the time Israeli soldiers arrived, the militants were gone and they’d taken some 80 residents hostage — about a fifth of the community’s population. A review of hundreds of messages among Nir Oz residents shared exclusively with The Associated Press, direct interviews with 17 and accounts from many more, security camera footage and Hamas’ own instructions manuals suggests that the group planned well ahead of time to target civilians. Experts in hostage situations said Hamas’ actions indicated a plan to seize civilians to prepare for the war to come.

To phase out or phase down fossil fuels? That is the question at COP28 climate talks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After days of shaving off the edges of key warming issues, climate negotiators Tuesday are zeroing in on the tough job of dealing with the main cause of what’s overheating the planet: fossil fuels. As scientists, activists and United Nations officials repeatedly detailed how the world needs to phase-out the use of coal, oil and natural gas, the United Arab Emirates-hosted conference opened “energy transition day” with a session headlined by top officials of two oil companies. Negotiators produced a new draft of what’s expected to be the core document of the UN talks, something called the Global Stocktake.

Biden is spending most of the week raising money at events with James Taylor and Steven Spielberg

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is spending most of this week raising money for his reelection campaign. Biden is traveling to Boston on Tuesday to schmooze with donors at three fundraisers. One of the events features a concert by singer-songwriter James Taylor. On Friday, Biden will hit Los Angeles for his first fundraisers there since actors and screenwriters ended their strikes. The Democratic president also has a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., this week and one in Philadelphia on Monday. The burst of fundraising comes as the holiday season sets in and as candidates make a final big push to raise money before the fundraising quarter ends on Dec. 31.

The Supreme Court is taking up a case that could rule out a tax on wealth favored by some Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a case over a Washington couple’s $15,000 tax bill that is widely seen as a test of a never-enacted tax on wealth. Arguments are being heard Tuesday. A decision in favor of Charles and Kathleen Moore of Redmond, Washington, could strike down a provision of the 2017 tax bill that is expected to bring in $340 billion, threaten other provisions of the tax code and rule out a wealth tax that is favored by some Democrats who argue that the wealthiest Americans don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The couple is backed by conservative political groups and business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Cause sought of explosion that leveled an Arlington, Virginia, home as police tried to serve warrant

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding a massive explosion that destroyed a duplex and shook a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Police said early Tuesday that a suspect in the home fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times into the neighborhood on Monday afternoon, drawing a large police response. Arlington County, Virginia, police say they obtained a search warrant and tried to contact the suspect, but he remained inside his home. When police attempted to execute a warrant, the suspect fired several rounds inside the home and the house subsequently exploded. Police say all officers escaped serious injury, but it was unclear what happened to the suspect.

2 boats adrift in the Andaman Sea with 400 Rohingya aboard desperately need rescue, UN says

BANGKOK (AP) — Aid groups and the United Nations say an estimated 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats adrift in the Andaman Sea could die if more is not done to rescue them. The number of Rohingyas fleeing by boat, usually from squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh, has been rising since last year due to cuts to food rations and a spike in gang violence. A spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency said all aboard the two stranded vessels, including many children, could die if they are not rescued. More than 200 have died this year. About 740,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh since 2017 after a brutal counterinsurgency campaign.

Brutal killings of women in Western Balkan countries trigger alarm and expose faults in the system

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A man in Bosnia killed his wife while streaming the murder live on Instagram. In neighboring Serbia, at least 26 women were killed this year despite efforts to raise awareness and turn the trend. Protesters in Kosovo urged a ‘national emergency’ over violence against women. Throughout the Western Balkans, women are getting harassed, raped, beaten and killed by their partners, often after repeatedly reporting the violence to the authorities, not rarely just because of that. The staunchly conservative region with a centuries-old tradition of male dominance, has seen the problem surge following the wars in the 1990s’ and political, economic and social crises that have persisted since the conflicts ended.

Handcuffed and sent to the ER – for misbehavior: Schools are sending more kids to the hospital

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) — Last year, children were handcuffed and sent to a hospital emergency room for a psychiatric evaluation at least 117 times from schools in Wicomico County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The state law that allows for these removals is meant to be limited to people with severe mental illness, who are endangering their own lives or safety or someone else’s. But advocates say schools nationwide are using the practice in response to behaviors prompted by bullying or frustration over assignments. The ER trips, they say, often follow months, and sometimes years, of students’ needs not being met.