News And Current Events

The number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023 has crossed 50,000, according to health officials.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that at least 50,021 Palestinians have been killed and 113,274 wounded since Israel began attacking the besieged territory following an attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed and some 250 were taken captive in the attack in southern Israel.

The death toll is expected to rise as Israeli forces struck the surgical building inside Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis late on Sunday, causing a large fire to break out, the health ministry said.

The Israeli army and intelligence agency Shin Bet in a statement confirmed the attack, claiming their forces targeted “a key” Hamas member at the hospital, one of the largest health facilities in Gaza.

Earlier, medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 46 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks Sunday, mostly in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Israel reignited its war on Gaza after its refusal to enter the second phase of a ceasefire deal it had signed with Hamas in January.

Entering phase 2 would have required Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza – a condition it agreed to in the deal mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. Even during phase 1, which took effect on January 19 and saw the release of captives in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, Israel killed more than 150 Palestinians in Gaza.

Tomas Rivas, 20, and 17-year-old boy charged with murder in Las Cruces mass shooting

https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-mexico-mass-shooting-suspects-arrested-victims-identified

The six year old girl, who was not vaccinated, died from measles as outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico have now reached nearly 320 cases, with two unvaccinated people dead from measles-related causes

https://www.the-express.com/news/health/166912/texas-mom-stands-decision-vaccinate-after-daughter-dies-from-measles

Amid uncertainty as to when part-ceasefire will take effect, Kremlin says it will cover only ‘energy infrastructure’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/21/russia-strikes-ukraine-drones-odesa-ceasefire

A pregnant woman in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who went into labor and needed immediate medical attention was turned away by more than 40 hospitals before giving birth inside an ambulance.

A report was made to 119 at 12:42 a.m. on March 10 that a woman in her 20s, who was 34 weeks pregnant, had gone into labor in Danwon District, Ansan, the Korean Emergency Firefighters Union said Tuesday.

Emergency responders quickly assessed her condition as critical and immediately contacted obstetrics and gynecology departments at hospitals in Seoul, Gyeonggi and South Chungcheong provinces. However, they were repeatedly told that treatment was unavailable. Hospitals reportedly cited reasons such as "obstetric care is unavailable at night" and "no staff is available to handle the case."

Emergency responders desperately called more than 40 hospitals for over an hour. At 1:48 a.m., the 119 control center secured a bed at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang District, Seoul. The ambulance immediately headed there, but the woman's condition deteriorated as she suffered intense labor pains. As a result, emergency responders were forced to perform an emergency delivery. The woman gave birth to a baby boy at 2:11 a.m., approximately an hour and 30 minutes after the initial call.

Both the mother and newborn were admitted to Seoul Medical Center at 2:36 a.m. for follow-up care. Reports indicate that both are in stable condition.

Elon Musk’s X has reportedly regained a $44 billion valuation – the same price the world’s richest person paid to buy the social media site in 2022.

The company formerly known as Twitter was valued at $44 billion in a recent secondary financing round in which investors exchanged existing shares in X, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

A separate report by Bloomberg said X raised nearly $1 billion in new equity from investors – with Musk himself participating in the financing round.

The deal reportedly valued X at approximately $32 billion, alongside roughly $12.5 billion in debt.

The valuation points to a major turnaround for Musk and his handpicked CEO Linda Yaccarino, who have set about remaking X as an “everything app” with loosened content moderation standards and plans for an onsite payment platform.

President Trump promised to address the issue of Ukraine’s missing and abducted children by Russia during a call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, despite the halting of U.S. funding for an investigation into identifying them.

The issue is at the center of an international war crimes arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of his top officials.

“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,” national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a joint statement.

Zelensky, in a statement following the call, said he raised with Trump “the return of Ukrainian children who were taken by Russian forces.”

While Rubio had earlier said the Ukrainians “need to get the children back,” as part of any peace settlement, the Trump administration halted funding for a key U.S. program investigating and identifying children who disappeared from Ukraine into Russia.

“The funding has been cut based on the assessments we have been making regarding a whole host of funding, if it worked within our framework of America’s interest,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a response to a question Wednesday.

Bruce indicated that Trump personally addressing the issue of Ukraine’s children with Zelensky overrides any funding cuts to specific programs.

“I think that’s a pretty good, clear indication that we can still work on issues that matter and make them happen without it being in a certain structure that has existed,” she said.

The investigations were carried out by the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL). In a report presented to the United Nations Security Council in December, the HRL said it identified 314 Ukrainian children placed in a “systematic, Kremlin-directed program of coerced adoption and fostering.”

The New Republic reported that the Trump administration also blocked sharing the HRL’s sensitive data with European law enforcement as part of investigations into Russia’s alleged systematic kidnappings.

A group of bipartisan lawmakers wrote to Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday raising alarm over the Trump administration’s “reduction in American leadership in countering these crimes.”

President Trump proposed a takeover of Ukrainian power plants as a form of protection, suggesting the U.S. could deter Russian attacks, amid a push for a partial ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow covering energy facilities and infrastructure.

Trump made the offer during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.

“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a joint statement following the call.

“He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” they added.

Trump’s push for control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants is reportedly linked to his support for a minerals deal with Ukraine as repayment for American military assistance. The president shelved the deal with Ukraine following an explosive Oval Office meeting late last month. And while Zelensky’s overtures have helped repair U.S. relations that ruptured in the fallout, the minerals deal is currently stalled.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Trump views control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia as important in building out extraction of the war-torn nation’s critical minerals. The power plant is occupied by Russian forces and is on the front line of fighting in the southeastern region of Ukraine.

Harvard University on Monday announced that tuition will be free for students from families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less starting in the 2025-26 academic year.

"Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth," Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said in a statement. "By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University."

The new plan will enable about 86% of U.S. families to qualify for Harvard financial aid and expand the Ivy League college's commitment to providing all undergrads the resources they need to enroll and graduate, according to Garber.

A Brown University assistant professor and doctor was deported over the weekend from Boston to Lebanon after federal agents found photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s supreme leader on her cell phone, a source familiar with the case told CNN.

Following Dr. Rasha Alawieh’s return Thursday from a visit to Lebanon, federal agents at Boston Logan International Airport found the photos, the source familiar said. It was not immediately clear why officers were examining her phone.

The existence of the photos was outlined in a court filing Monday obtained by CNN affiliate WCVB. “In explaining why these multiple photos were deleted by her one to two days before she arrived at Logan Airport, Dr. Alawieh stated that she did not want to give authorities the perception that she supports Hezbollah and the Ayatollah politically or militarily,” the filing reads, per WCVB.

“I think if you listen to one of his sermons, you would know what I mean,” Alawieh allegedly told the agents, according to WCVB’s copy of the filing. “He is a religious, spiritual person. As I said, he has very high value. His teachings are about spirituality and morality.”

Alawieh, 34, acknowledged to federal agents she attended Nasrallah’s February 23 funeral – a public event attended by thousands – during her visit, said the source.

Hong Kong CNN — One nationalist influencer called it “truly gratifying.” Another said he was laughing his head off. And a state-media editorial hailed the demise of what it called the “lie factory.”

For years, the Chinese government and its propaganda apparatus have relentlessly attacked VOA and RFA for their critical coverage of China, particularly on human rights and religious freedom.

Chinese nationalists and state media could hardly contain their schadenfreude after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to dismantle Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other US government-funded media organizations that broadcast to authoritarian regimes.

And now, the Trump administration is silencing the very institutions that Beijing has long sought to undermine – at a time when China is spending lavishly to expand the global footprint of its own state media.

There is “no military solution” to the conflict in Ukraine, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said ahead of high-stakes meetings on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia aimed at repairing a severely damaged relationship that has left embattled Kyiv without Washington’s support.

Ukraine’s delegation, led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will meet Rubio, and other senior White House officials on what is seen as neutral ground in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Ukraine’s position in the talks would be “fully constructive”, said Zelenskyy, its president, on Monday, adding that he hoped for practical outcomes from the negotiations on ending the Russian war in his country.

On his way to Jeddah, Rubio stressed the need to gauge Kyiv’s readiness to make concessions to reach peace.

He told reporters on the plane: “The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things, like the Russians are going to have to do difficult things, to end this conflict or at least pause it in some way, shape or form.

“I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation.

“The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.”

Billionaire entrepreneur and DOGE chief Elon Musk claimed Monday that X went dark as the result of a “massive cyberattack” that originated in the “Ukraine area.”

“We’re not sure exactly what happened,” Musk told Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow about the apparent operation targeting his social media platform.

“But there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system, with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” the world’s richest man added.

Musk, 53, did not immediately provide additional evidence of who may have been responsible. Cybercriminals have been know to create false IP addresses to impersonate computer systems from different parts of the world, a practice known as “spoofing.”

Experts told The Post it was highly improbably that Ukrainian government actors were the perpetrator of such an audacious and far-reaching attack one day before diplomats from Washington and Kyiv meet in Saudi Arabia.

“It makes absolutely no sense for Ukrainian hackers to attack Elon Musk the day before a meeting between the United States and Ukraine in which they are attempting to get the United States to start sharing intelligence again, and provide aid and assistance, working towards a peace agreement that has been in question since the Oval Office visit,” the Atlantic Council’s Alex Plitsas told The Post on Monday.

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S. immigration agents arrested a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, the student workers' labor union said on Sunday.

The student, Mahmoud Khalil at the university's School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents at his university residence on Saturday, the Student Workers of Columbia union said in a statement. His wife is an American citizen, eight months pregnant, according to news reports, and he holds a U.S. permanent residency green card, the union said.

Khalil's detention appears to be one of the first efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfill his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement, which he has called antisemitic. The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and subsequent U.S.-supported Israeli assault on Gaza have led to months of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests that have roiled U.S. college campuses.

Khalil calls it an anti-war movement that includes Jewish students and groups, and he was one of the lead negotiators with school administrators on behalf of pro-Palestinian student protesters, some of whom set up tent encampments on Columbia lawns last year and seized control of an academic building for several hours before Columbia called in police to arrest them. Khalil was not in the group that occupied the building, but was a mediator between Columbia vice provosts and the protesters.

In an interview with Reuters a few hours before his arrest on Saturday about Trump's criticism of student protesters, Khalil said he was concerned that he was being targeted by the government for speaking to the media.

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and sent a letter to its leadership this week suggesting talks with the Islamic Republic, which the West fears is rapidly nearing the capability to make atomic weapons. "I said I hope you're going to negotiate, because it's going to be a lot better for Iran," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network broadcast on Friday.

Iran has not yet received the letter, Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday. There was no immediate response from the foreign ministry in Iran, where it is the weekend, to a request for comment on Trump's remarks. Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he anticipated movement on the issue very soon.

"We're down to final strokes with Iran. That's going to be an interesting time. And we'll see what happens. But we're down to the final moments. Final moments. Can't let them have a nuclear weapon," he said in the Oval Office.

"We have a situation with Iran that something's going to happen very soon... Hopefully we can have a peace deal. You know, I'm not speaking out of strength or weakness. I'm just saying I'd rather see a peace deal than the other, but the other will solve the problem."

Iran's Nour News, affiliated with the country's top security body, dismissed Trump's letter as a "repetitive show" by Washington.

The Argentinean president branded himself as an edgy economic genius to ride a wave of financial discontent to power. Now he’s implicated in one of the biggest scams in history, wiping out over $4 billion in market cap in a few hours, leaving Argentineans wondering if they’ve also been rugged. Argentina’s President Javier Milei has been accused of fraud, and is likely to face impeachment charges, after he promoted a sham cryptocurrency token which allowed a handful of con artists to dupe crypto owners out of hundreds of millions of dollars in a single day. The scam is believed to be the first cryptocurrency “rug-pull” to have been orchestrated with the help of a sitting president. While the exact number of victims is unknown, around 75,000 people are suspected to have been swindled, and a judge has been appointed to investigate after at least 100 criminal complaints were filed against Milei in Argentina in the days since.

Crypto token $LIBRA jumped massively in value after Milei endorsed it on social media on Feb. 14, posting a link to purchase the coin and lauding the “private project” for “encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy, funding small business and Argentine ventures.” Milei went as far as framing the coin as a legitimate investment, writing, “the world wants to invest in Argentina.”

The URL for the $LIBRA token’s official website, vivalalibertadproject.com, was a clear nod to Milei’s campaign slogan, “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” The page, which remains online, says the coin was being launched “in honor of Javier Milei’s libertarian ideas” and was “designed to strengthen the Argentine economy from the ground up by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.”

The token immediately shot up from $0.27 to well over $4, then dropped to less than $0.20 in a matter of hours as a tiny handful of insiders who owned over 80% of the supply dumped their holdings, draining an estimated $280 million from the unsuspecting buyers. While horrified owners discovered they’d been victimized by a classic “pump-and-dump” scheme, Milei promptly deleted his post publicizing the coin.

In their place, Milei published a new message attempting to wash his hands of the matter, insisting he’d merely been “supporting a supposed private enterprise with which I obviously have no connection whatsoever.”

“I was not aware of the details of the project and after having become aware of it I decided not to continue spreading the word (that is why I deleted the tweet),” he wrote.

But a number of social media posts make clear that Milei had previously interacted with at least three of the scheme’s operators, and met with two of them on multiple occasions. Further, the claim that Milei was “not aware of the details of the project” is contradicted by a prior statement he gave to Bloomberg in which he insisted that the project was “real” and involved “pure private financing.”

Just two weeks before the scam’s culmination, Milei uploaded a photo to Instagram showing him posing beside Hayden Mark Davis, one of the creators of the $LIBRA coin. As of publication, the post remains online.

Russian forces executed a missile strike on a Ukrainian military training base – reportedly killing 150 Ukrainian soldiers and 30 Foreign instructors, prompting a full-scale investigation by counterintelligence officials.

Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Mykhailo Drapaty, described the incident as a “terrible consequence of an enemy strike” in a statement on Telegram.