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Suggestive graffiti worries French Jews after Hamas attacks

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Paris police are investigating after dozens of Jewish symbols were painted on buildings in the French capital, local prosecutors said Tuesday, as antisemitic acts continue to spike following Hamas’ attack in southern Israel in early October.Some 60 stars of David were daubed overnight on walls in the city’s 14th district, the prosecutors said in a written statement to POLITICO, prompting them to launch a probe into “property damage aggravated by the circumstance that it is because of origin, race, ethnicity or religion.”The Paris office cautioned, however, that it was not yet known whether the graffiti was hostile in intent.It has “not been established that this star has an anti-Semitic connotation, but this cannot be dismissed out of hand,” the prosecutors stated. “On the other hand, the public prosecutor’s office feels it necessary to investigate the underlying intention of these tags, particularly in view of the geopolitical context...

Ukraine steps up campaign for new weapons as Washington pivots to Israel crisis

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Ukrainian officials and allies in Europe are ramping up their lobbying campaign in the U.S. for new weapons and training, as Washington’s support for the war appears imperiled by new House leadership and a crisis in the Middle East.In the most recent example, a delegation of Ukrainian officials, troops and advisers visited America’s capital late last week to share Kyiv’s latest wish list: U.S. Marine Corps training on conducting ship-to-shore operations; new air defenses to take down the Russian glide bombs that are devastating Ukrainian forces; and the long-range, single-warhead version of the Army Tactical Missile System the Biden administration secretly shipped to Ukraine last month.The representatives who came to the U.S. were aware that they needed to tailor their message to the moment.In an interview, Roman Tychkivskyy, a former Ukrainian marine who now works for Ukraine’s defense ministry, compared Russians to Hamas, the terrorist group that killed 1,400 Israelis in...

UK, US slated to announce AI safety partnership

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

LONDON — London and Washington are to announce a “close collaboration” on AI safety as early as Wednesday, a U.K and U.S. official confirmed to POLITICO. The collaboration is expected to marry new guardrails the White House placed on artificial intelligence development in this week’s executive order (EO) with existing work by the United Kingdom’s “Frontier AI Taskforce.”“We plan to announce close bilateral collaboration with the U.S. safety institute this week,” a U.K. official close to the planning of Britain’s AI safety summit told POLITICO. The person was granted anonymity to talk about the summit, which will take place at Bletchley Park on Nov. 1 and 2. Both countries will be announcing their own version of the institutes as the summit kicks off. In a speech Wednesday in London, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is representing the Biden administration at the summit, will announce the United States AI Safety Institute, which will be housed at the Department o...

A heavily armed man was found dead at a Colorado amusement park. Officials say he may have been planning a devastating attack

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

(CNN) — A man armed with guns and explosive devices was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Colorado amusement park, potentially averting “an attack of devastating proportions,” officials said.The 20-year-old’s body was found in a women’s bathroom Saturday morning before the scheduled opening time of the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said. It appears he entered the park illegally after it had last closed.He was “armed with a semi-automatic rifle and semi-automatic handgun and multiple, loaded magazines for both weapons,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “He was wearing body armor and what appeared to be a ballistic helmet. Additionally multiple improvised explosive devices, (IEDs), were discovered with the suspect and in a vehicle associated with the suspect.”“We are, to say the least, extremely lucky that he did not fulfill whatever plan he may have intentioned,” Garfield County S...

‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ review: Pizza and killer animatronics? On second thought, how about tacos somewhere?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Michael Phillips | Chicago Tribune“Five Nights at Freddy’s” isn’t half as scary as one or two of the parent-vs.-parent brawls I witnessed a few years ago at Chuck E. Cheese’s, but that’s another story, too intense for any storytelling medium.Let’s talk about this story. Video game creator Scott Cawthon’s Chuck E.-inspired 2014 phenomenon takes place in a decrepit Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzajoint, with the requisite ball pit, wonky electrical wiring and smell of death, with a whiff of sheet cake. Its threatening animatronic creatures — a bear, a bunny, a one-pawed fox, a face-eating robo-bird — run the place at night, and are inhabited by the disintegrating bodies and tortured souls of children who … well, spoiler there, a little late on the warning, sorry, moving on.In the game, you take the role of night security guard Mike. You monitor the barely functional surveillance cameras and, once the robot killers come for you, you try to stay alive. There’s a labyrinth of backstory, dripped ou...

True or false: The Tyson Bagent fairy tale has reached the end for the Chicago Bears after Sunday’s shaky performance

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Another week. Another loss. Another set of performance and injury issues to sift through. The Chicago Bears didn’t expect to be approaching the midpoint of their season this way, still unable to win consecutive games and staying far more relevant in the 2024 draft conversation than they are in the 2023 playoff picture.Sunday’s 30-13 blowout to the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., once again confirmed the Bears as a struggling team lacking the playmaking firepower to consistently beat quality opponents.As that latest defeat settles in, Tribune writers Dan Wiederer and Colleen Kane play a game of tTrue or false with four prominent topics.Kane: True or false? After Sunday’s shaky performance against the Chargers, the Tyson Bagent fairy tale is effectively over.Wiederer: Wait. What? Are we being serious here, Chicago? Are we seriously trying to implement a super-speed round for quarterback evaluation that offers only two starts before definiti...

Massachusetts judge takes appeal to governor’s shelter cap under advisement

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

A Suffolk County judge did not make an immediate ruling Tuesday afternoon on a Healey administration plan to cap the number of families in emergency shelter, saying a decision could come Wednesday as the state barrels closer to a capacity limit the governor has outlined.Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a lawsuit last week and requested a preliminary injunction on the self-imposed emergency shelter capacity limit, a move that riled homeless and housing advocates who said it will force some families to live outside as colder weather sets in.But Gov. Maura Healey and the state’s housing department argue Massachusetts has neither the funds, capacity, nor personnel to keep expanding the emergency shelter system through a sweeping network of hotels and motels. State officials projected capacity could be reached as early as Wednesday.In court, Lawyers for Civil Rights Attorney Jacob Love focused on a requirement in the fiscal 2024 state budget that the administration must produce a report fo...

Jacob Lew, former treasury secretary to Obama, confirmed as US ambassador to Israel

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

By MARY CLARE JALONICK (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Jacob Lew as ambassador to Israel, filling the key diplomatic post as the country is fighting a war with Hamas. Lew, a treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, was confirmed 53-43.He has promised to stand side by side with Israel’s leaders as they respond to the militant group’s surprise attack on Oct. 7, telling senators in his confirmation hearing in mid-October that “at this moment, there is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the United States and the state of Israel.” President Joe Biden nominated Lew, who goes by Jack, last month to fill the post left vacant when Tom Nides left as ambassador in July. Democrats say Lew’s wealth of government experience — he also was chief of staff to Obama and White House budget director under Obama and President Bill Clinton — makes him the right person to fill the post at a ...

Extreme heat set to increase heart attack, stroke deaths in US

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Coco Liu | Bloomberg News (TNS)Cardiovascular-related deaths due to extreme heat are expected to nearly triple in the U.S. by mid-century as climate change raises the frequency of very hot days, according to a new study. Older and Black adults are likely to be the most affected.The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and published Monday in the journal Circulation, predicts that the number of heat-related cardiovascular deaths in the contiguous U.S. will increase from an annual average of 1,651 recorded in recent years to 4,320 by mid-century (defined as from 2036 to 2065).Although extreme heat poses a universal threat to health, older and Black adults are expected to be disproportionately impacted because of chronic illness and socio-economic challenges, such as living without air conditioning.Exposure to high temperatures stresses the cardiovascular system, forcing the heart to work harder. That, in turn, increases the odds of having a heart attack, stroke or oth...

Analysis: A new era of vaccines leaves old questions about prices unanswered

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:14:56 GMT

Elisabeth Rosenthal | (TNS) KFF Health NewsThe world is entering a new era of vaccines. Following the success of COVID-19 mRNA shots, scientists have a far greater capacity to tailor shots to a virus’s structure, putting a host of new vaccines on the horizon.The most recent arrivals — as anyone on the airwaves or social media knows — are several new immunizations against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.These shots are welcome since RSV can be dangerous, even deadly, in the very old and very young. But the shots are also expensive — about $300 for those directed at adults, and up to $1,000 for one of the shots, a monoclonal antibody rather than a traditional vaccine, intended for babies. Many older vaccines cost pennies.So their advent is forcing the United States to face anew questions it has long sidestepped: How much should an immunization that will possibly be given — maybe yearly — to millions of Americans cost to be truly valuable? Also, given the U.S. is one of two countri...