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The lobby of the Galilee Medical Center in northern Israel is mostly empty and silent. The roar of warplanes and intermittent thunder of artillery replaced the sounds of doctors, orderlies and patients at this major hospital near the Lebanese border.Almost all hospital staff and patients went into hiding.To reach the hospital's nerve center these days requires navigating 15-foot-high concrete barricades and multiple armored doors, then descending several floors into a labyrinthine underground complex.That's where thousands of patients and hospital workers have been for the past six months as attacks have intensified between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, just six miles to the north.The underground operation at the Galilee Medical Cent...

In the 10 years since drugmaker Gilead launched a breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C, a wave of new therapies have been used to cure millions of people around the world from the blood-borne virus.Today, 15 countries, including Egypt, Canada and Australia, are on track to eliminate hepatitis C within this decade, according to the Center for Disease Analysis Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Each pursued a dogged national screening and treatment campaign.But the arsenal of drugs, which have brought tens of billions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies, has not brought the United States any closer to eradicating the disease.Spread through the blood including intravenous drug use, hepatitis C causes inflammation of the liver, although people may not show symptoms for years. Only a ...

Landing by helicopter at the women's prison where the Vatican has set up its pavilion for the Venice Biennale international art exhibition, Pope Francis on Sunday told the women detained there that they had a "special place in my heart."“Thank you,” a woman shouted. Others applauded.Many women had participated with artists in creating works hung throughout the prison for the exhibition, titled “With My Eyes.” Francis, the first Pope to visit – albeit briefly – a Venice Biennale, stated that it is “fundamental” that the prison system “offers prisoners tools and spaces for human, spiritual, cultural and professional growth, creating the conditions for their healthy reintegration."“Not to isolate dignity, but to give new possibilities,” Francis said to applause.Over the decades, countri...

A Baltimore-area high school athletic director was arrested Thursday after using artificial intelligence software, police said, to produce a racist and anti-Semitic audio clip in which he impersonated the school's principal.Dazhon Darien, the athletic director at Pikesville High School, fabricated the recording — including a rant about "ungrateful black kids who can't get out of a paper bag" — in an attempt to smear the principal, Eric Eiswert, according to the department Baltimore County Police Department.The fake recording, which was posted to Instagram in mid-January, spread quickly, upsetting public schools in Baltimore County, which is the 22nd largest school district in the nation and serves more than 100,000 students. As the district investigated, Mr. Eiswert, who denied ma...

Hamas said on Saturday it is reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a move that comes amid efforts to break the deadlock in talks between the armed group and Israel.The statement came as anticipation grew of an Israeli invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million people have been displaced. Humanitarian groups have warned that such an offensive would have catastrophic consequences for civilians.In a statement, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, said the group had received an Israeli response to a proposal delivered to Egyptian and Qatari mediators two weeks ago. Al-Hayya did not provide any details included in the Israeli proposal, but said Hamas would respond after the group finished studying it.On Friday, a delegation of Egypt...

Penny Simkin, a childbirth educator and author often described as the "mother of the doula movement," died April 11 at her home in Seattle. She was 85 years old.The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his daughter, Linny Simkin.Ms. Simkin, a physical therapist turned birth educator, has been a pioneer in helping women have a better experience during and after childbirth. Doula is the Greek word for “handmaid” and was adopted several decades ago by alternative birth professionals to refer to someone who supports mothers during labor. In books, seminars and training organizations, Ms. Simkin has helped popularize that role and has worked as a doula herself.Doulas are not medical professionals; their role is to provide comfort to women in the delivery room and postpartum care at home. Such...

There is a locked door on the eastbound platform of Chancery Lane station on the London Underground. The door is unpretentious, sturdy and white.Behind it is a wide set of stairs leading to a labyrinth of tunnels about a mile long built in the 1940s that were initially intended to serve as a World War II shelter and later used for espionage, storage of 400 tons of documents government and telecommunications. Services.Welcome to the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels, located approximately 100 feet below street level in central London, extending beneath the Underground's Central Line. They may soon be entering a new chapter: Angus Murray, the owner of the complex, who bought the tunnels last summer, has applied for a building permit from the local authorities together with the architecture fi...

One afternoon last month, Chad Nedohin, a part-time pastor and staunch supporter of Donald J. Trump, donned a pirate costume, set up his microphone and said a prayer.Nedohin was opening his latest live stream on the right-wing video site Rumble, where he has about 1,400 followers who share devotion to Trump Media & Technology Group, the former president's social media company.“Faith comes from listening, that is, hearing the good news about Christ,” said Mr. Nedohin, 40, his face framed by fake dreadlocks under a pirate-style hat.Nedohin and his viewers were awaiting the results of a merger vote that would determine whether Trump's company could start selling shares on Wall Street. Soon the news on Trump Media arrived via an audio feed: it would be made public.Mr. Nedohin raised h...

Under intense international scrutiny, Israel has accelerated the flow of aid into Gaza this month, but aid groups say more is needed as severe hunger grips the enclave, particularly in the devastated north.Israel's efforts - which include opening new aid routes - have been recognized in the past week by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks appear to be reaching Gaza, especially in the north, where experts have been warning for weeks that famine is imminent.The increase in aid levels is a good sign, but it is too early to say that the looming famine is no longer a risk, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the United Nations World Food Programme.“This can't happen just for a day or a week: it has to happen every single day for the foreseeable fu...

Federal regulators said Friday they had not yet discovered live avian influenza virus in the first batch of milk samples tested at retail, a reassuring indication that milk on store shelves remains safe despite an outbreak of the virus among dairy cows.In an online update, the Food and Drug Administration said that an initial series of tests looking for live viruses, not just genetic fragments, suggests that the pasteurization process was actually neutralizing the pathogen.“These findings reaffirm our assessment that the commercial supply of milk is safe,” the FDA wrote in the update, adding that testing efforts were ongoing.Officials also tested formula for infants and toddlers, which incorporates powdered dairy products, and did not find the virus, the agency wrote.The FDA launched a nat...