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The main UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Gaza said Israel had taken steps to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, but warned that much more needed to be done to meet the huge need in the area.Israel has announced efforts to increase the flow of aid to Gaza, including by opening an additional border crossing and accepting shipments at a nearby port. But the United Nations has warned with growing urgency that a famine is imminent and that deliveries are still below the level needed to stop the spread of hunger.Aid coordinator Sigrid Kaag said in a Security Council briefing on Wednesday that while Israel has made efforts to increase the entry and distribution of aid, “further definitive and urgent steps are needed to set the course for a sustained flow of aid." hu...

Federal regulators discovered fragments of the avian influenza virus in about 20 percent of retail milk samples analyzed in a nationally representative study, the Food and Drug Administration said in an online update Thursday.Samples from parts of the country known to have dairy farms infected with the virus were more likely to test positive, the agency said. Regulators have said there is no evidence that this milk poses a danger to consumers or that live virus is present in the milk on store shelves, an assessment that public health experts agree with.But finding traces of the virus in such a high percentage of samples from across the country is the strongest sign yet that the avian flu outbreak in dairy cows is larger than the official count of 33 infected herds in eight states.“That su...

A wave of political unrest hit Spain on Thursday as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly considered resigning from his post after a judge agreed to investigate his wife over allegations that he and other officials denounced as a campaign politically driven defamation.The judge's decision to take over the case - which was brought by a self-styled anti-corruption group based on online news reports of alleged influence peddling - prompted Mr Sánchez supporters will unite behind him and prosecutors will move quickly Thursday to try to get the case dismissed.Mr. Sánchez, whose political survival skills have amazed both his supporters and detractors for years, wrote in a public letter on Wednesday that the allegations against his wife, Begoña Gómez, were false and amounted to harassment. ...

On Thursday, Alphabet, Google's parent company, reported strong revenue growth in its latest quarter from its search engine and video platform, YouTube, as its market-leading position in online advertising continued to reap rewards despite the recent fluctuations in the industry.Alphabet reported quarterly sales of $80.5 billion, up 15% from a year earlier and above analysts' estimate of $78.8 billion. Profit rose 36% to $23.7 billion. Analysts expected $18.9 billion.Alphabet announced that for the first time it will give shareholders a dividend of 20 cents per share, to be paid on June 17. The company's board of directors also approved a $70 billion stock repurchase program. Alphabet shares rallied 13% in after-hours trading.The digital advertising industry has had its ups...

Sheppie Abramowitz, a seasoned political insider who became a powerful ally for refugees around the world, died April 7 in Washington. He was 88 years old.Her death was confirmed by her son, Michael Abramowitz, who said his mother died at Sibley Memorial Hospital, due to an infection and an aortic aneurysm.For more than five decades, Abramowitz has been active in movements to resolve refugee crises – in Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey and Kosovo. With a steady, persuasive and unusually effective hand, she used her intimate knowledge of government officials, logistics and the struggles of those fleeing war and oppressive governments to secure real relief.She was the wife of a diplomat — her husband, Morton I. Abramowitz, was a U.S. ambassador — and became his humanitarian assistant, putting her...

Antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the United States. This is due, in part, to the fact that the number of people diagnosed with depression and anxiety is rising and prescriptions have increased sharply in some age groups during the pandemic.Despite the prevalence of these drugs, some patients have "significant misconceptions" about how the drugs work, said Dr. Andrew J. Gerber, a psychiatrist and president and medical director of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut.About 80% of antidepressants are prescribed by primary care physicians who have not had extensive training in the management of mental illnesses.Dr. Paul Nestadt, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said patients tell him, "'You know, doctor, I'...

The Moulin Rouge's bright red windmill has been a ubiquitous sign atop the famous cabaret venue for more than a century.But on Thursday, Parisians woke up to an alarming sight: the windmill's blades bent and fell to the ground after breaking loose and falling overnight.Footage circulated in local media on Thursday showed the blades tangled on the ground in front of the building. Three letters from the illuminated “Moulin Rouge” sign also appear to have fallen.Firefighters were called to the scene after 2 a.m., a Paris fire brigade spokeswoman said, and examined the structure to make sure nothing else threatened to fall. With the area secured and with no injuries, firefighters quickly left. The workers were clean up debris Thursday morning.A Moulin Rouge spokeswoman said via text...

The idea triggered a full-scale revolt on the Google campus.Six years ago, the Silicon Valley giant signed a small, $9 million contract to put the skills of a few of its most innovative developers to the task of building an artificial intelligence tool that would help the military detect potential targets on the battlefield using drone footage.Engineers and other Google employees argued that the company should have nothing to do with Project Maven, even if it was designed to help the military discern between civilians and militants.The uproar forced the company to back out, but Project Maven didn’t die — it just moved to other contractors. Now, it has grown into an ambitious experiment being tested on the front lines in Ukraine, forming a key component of the U.S. military’s effort to funn...

On a Monday morning last month, tech executives, engineers and sales representatives from Amazon, Google, TikTok and other companies endured a three-hour traffic jam as their cars crawled toward a mammoth conference at an event space in the desert, 50 miles outside Riyadh.The lure: billions of dollars in Saudi money as the kingdom seeks to build a tech industry to complement its oil dominance.To bypass the congestion, frustrated eventgoers drove onto the highway shoulder, kicking up plumes of desert sand as they sped past those following traffic rules. A lucky few took advantage of a special freeway exit dedicated to “V.V.I.P.s” — very, very important people.“To the Future,” a sign read on the approach to the event, called Leap.More than 200,000 people converged at the conference, includin...

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the sale of an antibiotic to treat urinary tract infections in women, giving U.S. health care providers a powerful new tool to fight a common infection that is increasingly resistant to the existing suite of antimicrobial drugs .The drug, pivmecillinam, has been used in Europe for more than 40 years, where it is often first-line therapy for women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections, meaning the infection is confined to the bladder and has not reached the kidneys. The drug will be marketed in the United States as Pivya and will be made available by prescription to women aged 18 and older.It's the first time in two decades that the FDA has approved a new antibiotic for urinary tract infections, which affect 30 million Americ...