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Israel army orders villagers to evacuate Lebanon border as tensions rise with Hezbollah

Israel army orders villagers to evacuate Lebanon border as tensions rise with Hezbollah

(CTN News) – Hostility between the Israel army and Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon has prompted Israeli authorities to order the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israeli civilians.

14 communities have received evacuation orders in the last 24 hours, while 28 others have gotten similar orders in the previous week. The impacted populations have reacted in a variety of ways to these evacuations.

During the evacuation, some people expressed displeasure and cynicism about their safety. This large-scale exodus reflects the palpable fear and worry gripping the region as military tensions rise.

Another journalist was assassinated.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian population in Gaza mourned the death of photojournalist Rushdi Sarraj, who was killed in an Israeli attack on his home.

Sarraj was honoured for his remarkable photographic abilities and imaginative narrative, which shed light on the hardships that the Gazans suffered as a result of conflict and a long-standing siege.

Colleagues paid tribute to him, including renowned international photojournalist Wissam Nassar. Ali Jadallah, a Palestinian photojournalist with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, posted an image of Sarraj’s alleged body bag, confirming his untimely death.

Earlier, Israeli soldiers struck the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after increasing airstrikes on Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion.

According to Al Jazeera, the airstrike targeted a mosque connected with the Jenin Brigade, which Israel has designated as an “underground terrorist group.”

According to Israeli officials, the Al-Ansar mosque was affiliated with the Jenin Brigade, which Israel termed a “underground terrorist group” and added that they were “neutralized,” without specifying how many people were killed or their identities.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the director of the Red Crescent in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, one person was slain and three others were injured in the strike.

Since October 7, when Hamas fighters broke into Israel and killed at least 1,400 people, the majority of whom were civilians, dozens of individuals have been martyred in the West Bank by Israeli military or settlers.

Meanwhile, in retaliation, Israel has unleashed a major assault on the Gaza Strip, killing over 4,651 Palestinians, largely civilians, including over 1,000 children, according to the Gaza health ministry. According to Al Jazeera correspondent Sara Khairat, the air strike caught people off guard, but it appears that more may be on the way.

“Eyewitness spoke to us and said they saw an F-fighter jet in the sky, they heard it and then the Israeli army came out to confirm it was an air strike,” said Khairat, who called from Ramallah at the time.

According to her, the mosque was the location of a two-day Israeli siege in July, during which Israeli soldiers discovered a network of tunnels and captured equipment, drones, and ammunition.

Israel army orders villagers to evacuate Lebanon border as tensions rise with Hezbollah

Following the attack, some locals got text messages on their phones telling them not to work with the Jenin Brigade, one of the West Bank’s largest and most popular factions.

According to Al Jazeera, the warnings also advised parents to keep their children inside. Unconfirmed allegations say an Israeli officer called neighbours and told them to hand over their “youngsters” to the police by 7 a.m.

Jenin, a Palestinian camp in Israel, has been under Israeli attack since 2002, with incidents such as the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year.

However, with Israel’s most recent incursions, Palestinians in Jenin are being reintroduced to airborne terror in densely populated areas, displacing refugees who were previously displaced in Gaza.

This shows the persistent Israeli hostility and the need for more effective approaches to these concerns.

The United States is sending more air defence systems to the Middle East

In response to recent attacks on US troops in the region, the US will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system and more Patriot air defence missile system battalions to the Middle East, the Pentagon announced on Saturday.

In recent weeks, the United States has sent a substantial amount of naval strength to the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, support ships, and approximately 2,000 Marines.

According to Reuters, Washington is on high alert for activity by Iran-backed groups as regional tensions rise amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Following detailed discussions with President (Joe) Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East Region, today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defence posture in the region,” Lloyd Austin, the deputy secretary of defence, said in a statement.

Austin stated that he was preparing to deploy additional troops but did not specify how many. The Pentagon has already placed 2,000 troops on high alert in case they are called to deploy to the region.

“These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for US forces in the region, and assist in the defence of Israel,” he said. The deployments come two years after Biden’s government withdrew air defence systems from the Middle East, citing lower tensions with Iran as the reason.

Israel promises to step up its attacks on Gaza.

Israel has cut off the supply of food, water, fuel, and electricity, while the UN claims that over 40% of all housing has been damaged or destroyed, citing local authorities.

According to military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel would increase its bombardment to decrease the risks to its forces when it begins a land invasion.

“From today, we are increasing the strikes and minimising the danger,” declared the prime minister. “We will increase the attacks and therefore I called on Gaza City residents to continue moving south for their safety.”

Israel has advised more than one million Gaza inhabitants to flee to the south for their safety, and the UN estimates that more than half of the enclave’s population is now internally displaced.

Israel army orders villagers to evacuate Lebanon border as tensions rise with Hezbollah

However, bombing has continued in the southern sections of the Strip, with Hamas officials reporting nine martyrs in an attack in Khan Younis overnight. Hundreds of thousands of residents are thought to be trapped in and around Gaza City in the north, unable or unable to evacuate.

Fears of a larger regional war have been raised as a result of the fighting, and Washington has stated that it will deploy defence batteries and extra Patriot battalions to protect US forces.

The Pentagon reportedly stated that it was telling additional troops to “prepare to deploy orders,” but did not indicate how many or when they may be sent.

Israel army orders villagers to evacuate Lebanon border as tensions rise with Hezbollah

Qatar is still negotiating the release of hostages.

Israeli forces have gathered near the Gaza border, and commanders visited frontline units on Saturday to motivate troops. “We will enter Gaza,” said Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi during a visit to one Israeli brigade.

“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there — but we are also preparing for them,” Halevi went on to say. During a ground invasion, Israeli forces will encounter various challenges, including Hamas tunnels and booby traps in a densely populated urban setting.

Another complicating factor is the safety of the more than 200 detainees held by Hamas. After mediation from Qatar, two American hostages were released on Friday evening, with others expected to be released “very soon.”

“We are on a path that will very soon lead to the release of the hostages, particularly civilians,” Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry, told the German daily Welt am Sonntag on Saturday.

“We are currently working on an agreement under which all civilian hostages will be initially released,” he went on to say. On Saturday, food, water, and medicine crossed the border from Egypt into Gaza, despite US pressure. Following that, the border was blocked, and UN officials cautioned that much more was required.

“Gaza was in a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities,” five UN agencies stated in a joint statement. “It is now disastrous. “The entire world must do more.”

During a peace summit in Egypt, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire “to end this godawful nightmare.”

Even though Arab summit delegates issued their statement condemning international leaders, Western diplomats expected a firm denunciation of Hamas, therefore the summit ended without a joint proclamation. Residents in Gaza said they were unsure where to go or how to safeguard their family.

“Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this could be possible,” Rami Abu Wazna said, standing in central Gaza’s Al-Zahra area, marvelling at the devastation.

when of the extent of the bombing, basic procedures have been rendered inoperable, with the UN claiming that 40 unidentified remains were buried in a mass grave in Gaza City on Saturday when cold storage ran out before they could be identified.

Across the border, at Israel’s Kibbutz Beeri, where Hamas fighters killed 10% of the population, funeral preparations were beginning on Sunday. Residents, according to Romy Gold, 70, are still struggling to fathom the severity of their experience.

“Around us whole families were shot or butchered or burned alive,” he told the AFP news agency. He, like many others, feels that a ground invasion of Gaza “cannot come soon enough.” Something must be done.”

“We need some kind of assurance that it will not happen again,” he told reporters.

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Gaza, Syria, and the West Bank are struck as Israel fights Hamas on other front

Gaza, Syria, and the West Bank are struck as Israel fights Hamas on other fronts

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

shkreli

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.

Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.

Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.

Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.

shkreli

He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.

shkreli

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.

“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.

Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.

SOURCE | AP

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