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Hamas explained: The group that attacked Israel

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

The U.S. State Department describes Hamas as a terrorist organization Its primary goal is to eliminate Israel and create a Palestinian country in its place.While organized in the 80’s, Hamas rose to power in 2007 after winning elections in the Gaza strip.“Well initially, they were supported because they were seen as pious, they were seen as that they were going to uphold Islamic values, that they were going to be less corrupt than the Palestinian authority,” said Eric lob, professor at FIU.Lob said since then, Hamas has been running Gaza with an iron fist, which makes it hard to gauge how much support they actually have in the region.“Everyday Palestinian civilians who live there, some may support their military actions against Israel but others pay the price,” he said. “A lot of civilians as we are seeing today, as hundreds are killed and thousands are injured or dislocated within Gaza with really nowhere to go, ultimately they pay the price for ...

Bruins start youth movement up the middle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

With the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci and the departure of Tomas Nosek, the Bruins desperately needed young centermen to step up in training camp and they did just that.Now comes the real test.Both Matthew Poitras and John Beecher made the B’s opening night roster, and they unequivocally earned their spots. Judging from the lines at Monday’s Garden practice, Poitras will center a third line between Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic while Beecher will be on a fourth line between Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town to kick off the Centennial season.While it seemed like the 19-year-old Poitras, the big story of the camp, had cemented his spot when he scored the game-winner in the B’s final preseason game at Madison Square Garden, it wasn’t quite as clear for Beecher. While he remained in camp after the final preseason tilt, Patrick Brown skated in the fourth-line center spot last Friday and it seemed like the B...

Orioles’ Dean Kremer to start Game 3 of ALDS with family in Israel ‘in back of my head’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

As Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer steps on the mound for the biggest game of his life Tuesday night, he said the safety of his family in Israel will be “in the back of my head.”Kremer, a dual Israeli American citizen, said his family is “OK” as the war between Israel and Hamas extended to a third day Monday with a death toll of more than 1,500.“Obviously, it’s a very sad situation,” Kremer said during a news conference Monday afternoon after he was announced as Baltimore’s starter for Game 3 of the American League Division Series. “A lot of things are being brought to light. But everybody’s OK right now.”After an attack by Hamas, a militant group that governs the Gaza Strip in Palestine, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched airstrikes on the enclave that’s home to more than 2.1 million people. Hamas on Monday responded to the retaliatory strikes by threatening to kill captured Israelis.Kremer, 27, ...

Franklin stays unbeaten with 4-2 win at Concord-Carlisle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

CONCORD – Even in a tale of two halves between Div. 1 title contenders, the No. 4 Franklin field hockey team got the best of both Monday afternoon en route to a 4-2 nonleague win over No. 12 Concord-Carlisle.A hot start set the tone for the Panthers (9-0-1), as Raena Crandall’s fourth hat trick of the year included scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes as part of a 3-1 first half. They almost needed every bit of it with the comeback intensity the Patriots (9-2-1) showed out of the break, but Franklin’s defense allowed just one goal off 12 second-half corners to withstand the furious rally.To experience both ends of a dominant half and still come through either way, against an opponent of that caliber, is a huge marker for the Panthers as they remain the only unbeaten team left in Div. 1.“I think it’s a big confidence-builder … this is a big W,” said Franklin head coach Michelle Hess. “Playing teams like this helps us to see that, ‘Yeah, we can hang with these, the super teams of t...

‘It is personal:’ Hundreds in Boston gather in solidarity with Israel

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

The impassioned Jewish community in Boston came out in the hundreds Monday afternoon to support Israel after the escalating brutality in the region over the weekend.“We have family who are hiding in shelters,” said Rabbi Marcia Plumb, standing in a Israeli flag among the sea of blue and white across the sunny Boston Common. “We have friends and family who are now fighting terrorists. We know people who’ve been kidnapped. So it’s personal. It is personal.”The rally, “Gathering in Solidarity With Israel Under Fire,” led by various Jewish organizations in the region gathered at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common at noon Monday.The gathering, featuring speeches from Jewish community and elected leaders, aimed to demonstrate “solidarity with Israel and against terrorism, after the Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel Saturday, in which at least 600 Israelis were murdered and more than 2,000 wounded.”“On Saturday morn...

Palestinians gather in Toronto, Vancouver for rally, more demonstrations expected

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

TORONTO — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators spilled onto streets in several Canadian cities on Thanksgiving Day while the prime minister and Opposition leader spoke at a vigil at a Jewish community centre, following a weekend of deadly fighting in the Middle East.Protesters gathered at Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto city hall on Monday afternoon, many draped in or waving Palestinian flags as the crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,”in a demonstration that was denounced by the city’s mayor. One sign read, “Occupation is a crime, resistance is a response.”The gathering came after Hamas militants out of Gaza launched an attack on Israel on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of fighters to infiltrate the heavily fortified border by air, land and sea. The attack has been called the deadliest on Israel in years, with the incursion and counteroffensive killing hundreds on both sides and injuring thous...

San Francisco police fire gun at Chinese consulate where vehicle crashed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A vehicle crashed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday, prompting a massive response from police and fire personnel.The San Francisco Police Department also said in a statement that an officer or officers had fired their guns at the site of the crash but provided no other immediate details.A heavy police presence descended on the area and the department urged the public to avoid the area. Television cameras showed a vehicle that had crashed into the building.The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China is on a major street across from the city’s Japantown neighborhood.The Associated Press

Russia claims `neo-Nazis’ were at wake for Ukrainian soldier in village struck by missile killing 52

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador claimed Monday that alleged “neo-Nazis” and men of military age were at the wake for a Ukrainian soldier in a village café that was hit by a missile strike last week, killing 52 people.Vassily Nebenzia told a U.N. Security Council meeting called by Ukraine that the soldier was “a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist,” with “a lot of neo-Nazi accomplices attending.”In Thursday’s strike by a Russian Iskander ballistic missile, the village of Hroza in the northeastern Kharkiv region, lost over 15% of its 300 population. The café, which had reopened for the wake, was obliterated, and whole families perished.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied last Friday that Russia was responsible for the Hroza attack. He insisted, as Moscow has in the past, that the Russian military doesn’t target civilians and civilian facilities.Nebenzia reiterated that the Russian military doesn’t target civilians and civilian facilities. “We remind that if the Kyiv r...

Lawsuit alleges famous child-trafficking opponent sexually abused women who posed as his wife

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

Five women on Monday sued the founder of an anti-child-trafficking group that inspired a popular movie this year, alleging he sexually manipulated, abused and harassed them on overseas trips designed to lure and catch child sex traffickers.Tim Ballard’s life story and work with Operation Underground Railroad inspired “Sound of Freedom,” a 2023 film popular with conservative moviegoers. He recently resigned from the group amid sexual abuse and harassment allegations he has denied.Ballard’s prominence as an opponent of child sex trafficking got him invited to the White House under President Donald Trump. Previously a special adviser to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, Ballard was appointed to a White House anti-human-trafficking board in 2019.The complaints against Ballard center on a “couple’s ruse” he allegedly engaged in with Operation Underground Railroad women who he persuaded to pose as his wife to fool child sex traffickers into thinking he was a legitima...

Brett Favre’s deposition in Mississippi’s welfare scandal is rescheduled for December

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:24 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The deposition hearing in the civil lawsuit against retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre surrounding Mississippi’s welfare scandal has been pushed back at the request of the athlete’s attorneys, a court document shows.Favre is set to answer questions under oath about misspending federal welfare money in Mississippi, where about $77 million in public funds intended to help some of the nation’s poorest people were used to fund pet projects Favre and other well-connected people are accused of supporting with the money. The Pro Football Hall of Famer is among more than three dozen defendants in a lawsuit the state Human Services director filed to recover some of the welfare money. Favre has denied wrongdoing, sued the state auditor who investigated the misspending for defamation and said he paid back misspent welfare funds. A notice of deposition filed in Hinds County Circuit Court by attorneys for Mississippi’s Department of Human Services said Favre wa...