Saturday, March 7

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Deadly Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon prompts global condemnation
World News

Deadly Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon prompts global condemnation

A car marked "Press" at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area where a number of journalists were located in the southern Lebanese village of Hasbaya on 25 October 2024. Photo: AFP / ALI HANKIR Three journalists were killed in Lebanon by an Israeli strike, their colleagues said, drawing condemnation from rights advocates about the number of reporters who have lost their lives in the region over the past year. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it "strongly condemned" the attack, urging the international community to "stop Israel's long-standing pattern of impunity in journalist killings." Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously denied deliberately attacking journalists. The last year has been the deadliest period for jo...
Biden says U.S. Indigenous boarding school system was ‘a sin on our soul’ – National
Politics

Biden says U.S. Indigenous boarding school system was ‘a sin on our soul’ – National

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first presidential visit to Indian Country. “It’s a sin on our soul,” said Biden, his voice full of anger and emotion. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.”It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to recognize one of the “most horrific chapters” in the national story. Biden spoke of the abuses and deaths of Native children that resulted from the federal government’s policies, noting that “while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing” and that great nations “must know the good,...
Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia? | World News
Business

Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia? | World News

While North Korea has been supplying weapons to Russia for some time, the arrival of troops is a major escalation in its involvement in the war of Ukraine. The first official evidence of large numbers of North Korean troops entering Russia was provided by the South Korean government, who last week published a press release outlining the increasingly close military cooperation between the two states. Image: A map of sites in the Russian far east linked to the reported presence of North Korean soldiers According to the press release, an initial contingent of 1,500 North Korean special forces troops were transported on Russian naval ships to the port city of Vladivostok.The South Koreans provided two high-resolution satellite...
Guadeloupe entirely without power, authorities blame striking workers
World News

Guadeloupe entirely without power, authorities blame striking workers

A street in the city of Point-a-Pitre on the French Caribbean island of Guaedloupe in April. Photo: AFP / CEDRICK-ISHAM CALVADOS France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe was entirely without power on Friday, with authorities blaming striking workers for the outage. Workers at the territory's thermal power station in the industrial zone of Jarry entered the command room "and caused an emergency shutdown of all the engines", the Guadeloupe prefecture said in a statement. Restored electricity supply for the 230,000 affected households was expected at 8am - 3pm local time - at best. Police intervened and the archipelago's prefect had "requisitioned" staff to bring the station back up to speed, it said. The French government has mobilised "services and operators" to bring power back as soon...
Big earnings disappointments spoiled the stock market party this week
Business

Big earnings disappointments spoiled the stock market party this week

A torrent of big-name earnings hit the stock market this week — and the majority did not live up to analysts' muted expectations. Of the S & P 500 companies that have reported so far, about 74% of companies have beaten earnings expectations . But their blended earnings growth rate, which includes the reports already out and estimates for those on the docket, is 3.4%, falling short of the 4.2% estimate. The growth rate of just the companies that have posted so far is 3.1%, according to FactSet. Aside from electric vehicle maker Tesla , tobacco company Philip Morris and cloud-based IT service manager ServiceNow , this week was especially rough for most of the approximately 110 companies that posted earnings. Of the 20 largest companies that reported, shares of 13 ended in the red. Take a...
Chinese hackers targeted Donald Trump and JD Vance’s phones
World News

Chinese hackers targeted Donald Trump and JD Vance’s phones

Photo: CLIVE MASON/Getty Images via AFP Chinese hackers who tapped into Verizon's system were targeting phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The newspaper said investigators were working to determine what communications, if any, were taken. The Trump campaign was made aware this week that Trump and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, it added. The campaign did not confirm that Trump's and Vance's phones were targeted. Steven Cheung, the campaign's communications director, said the former president's Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris has ...
Elon Musk and Putin talks ramped up during Twitter takeover: WSJ
Business

Elon Musk and Putin talks ramped up during Twitter takeover: WSJ

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has engaged in secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, according to reporting published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.Citing "several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials," the Journal reported that conversations between Putin and Musk, a Republican megadonor and Pentagon contractor, took place while Russia was waging a brutal war on Ukraine, a top U.S. ally. Topics ranged from business to personal and geopolitical issues.In one instance, Putin pressured Musk to direct SpaceX to withold Starlink, its powerful satellite internet communications service, from Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Journal reported, citing two people briefed on the request. Beijing is a crucial ally to the Kreml...
Northern Irish man jailed for sexual extortion of girls on ‘industrial scale’
World News

Northern Irish man jailed for sexual extortion of girls on ‘industrial scale’

By Amanda Ferguson, Reuters Alexander McCartney was given a life sentence in a Belfast court. Photo: PSNI / AFP A Northern Irish man was given a life sentence for the mass online child sexual abuse and blackmail of young girls around the world, with police saying one incident led to a 12-year-old American girl and her father taking their own lives. Belfast Crown Court heard that 26-year-old computer science student Alexander McCartney, operating from the bedroom of his family home, groomed victims on messaging sites including Snapchat and Instagram by making them believe they were talking online to a teenage girl of similar age. He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online with others ...
Corneal blindness leading cause of concern for eye health in India, say experts
Health

Corneal blindness leading cause of concern for eye health in India, say experts

Corneal blindness is on the rise in India, with the country seeing an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 new cases every year, claimed Dr. Smit Bavaria, Cataract Surgeon, Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Mumbai, on Thursday. October is observed as Blindness Awareness Month every year to highlight the issues faced by blind and visually challenged people, and raise awareness about preventable factors leading to the condition. Addressing a press conference on this important issue, Dr. Bavaria stated, “The causes of corneal blindness have shifted in recent years from infectious diseases like keratitis to eye trauma and other eye complications, but the burden remains substantial, especially in rural areas where access to eye care is limited.” What is corneal blindness? Corneal blindness refers to the da...
Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris
Business

Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

The Washington Post Building at One Franklin Square Building on June 5, 2024 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik | Getty ImagesThe Washington Post said Friday that it will not endorse a candidate in the presidential election this year, breaking decades of tradition, and sparking immediate criticism of the decision.The newspaper also Friday published an article by two staff reporters saying that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP nominee Donald Trump in the election."The decision not to publish was made by The Post's owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos," The Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the events.Trump, while president, had been critical of Bezos and the Post. The newspaper in 2016 and again in 2020 endorsed Trump's el...