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Seven rabbis and peace activists were arrested Friday near the Gaza border after attempting to bring food supplies into the territory, according to two participants and the group that organized the operation.The detainees were part of a group of about 30 Israeli and US rabbis and activists who were stopped by police officers as they tried to reach the Erez crossing, a major transit point between Israel and northern Gaza.Organized by Rabbis for Ceasefire, a US-based peace movement, the effort was aimed at building support for a truce and highlighting growing reports of starvation in Gaza. A global authority on food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, has predicted an imminent famine in northern Gaza, the area of ​​the territory closest to Erez.The protes...

The Biden administration said Friday it was delaying a decision on whether to ban menthol cigarettes, effectively quashing a proposal that has divided Black American voters and fueled millions of dollars in lobbying campaigns by the tobacco industry in this presidential election year.The White House has faced considerable resistance from cigarette companies that stand to lose billions of dollars if they can no longer sell menthol cigarettes. Opponents took to the airwaves to warn of increased cartel trafficking along the border due to the smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes and police violence against Black residents if a ban were in place.Such efforts have posed risks for President Biden, whose support among Black voters has at times declined in recent months.Some of Biden's top heal...

The past week has seen a growing wave of protest encampments and other demonstrations on college campuses across the United States, many of which have been met by mass arrests and other violent police action, as well as intense scrutiny from part of the media. And the demonstrations continue to spread.But protests on campuses abroad have been sporadic and smaller, and none have sparked a broader student movement.In Britain, for example, small groups of students temporarily occupied university buildings on the campuses of the University of Manchester and the University of Glasgow. But they never produced national news or sparked a growing wave of demonstrations.The wave of protest could still spread to foreign universities. There were some early signs of that this week. Students set up ...

The federal government's top auto safety agency said Friday it was investigating Tesla's recall of its Autopilot driver-assist system because regulators were concerned the company hadn't done enough to ensure drivers remained alert while using technology.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted on its website that it is reviewing Tesla's December recall of two million vehicles, which covered nearly all of the cars the company had produced in the United States since 2012. The the safety agency said. had concerns about accidents that occurred after the recall and the results of preliminary tests of the recalled vehicles.The agency also released an analysis that found that from January 2018 to August 2023, there were at least 29 fatal crashe...

Before Israel's invasion of Gaza last year, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Reqeb worked at one of the largest hospitals in the Palestinian territory and ran a private clinic, caring for women during their pregnancies.He now lives in a plastic tent in Rafah, a Palestinian border city where about half of Gaza's population has sought refuge, and treats patients for free in another tent. Living under Israeli bombardment, with shortages of food and clean water, the pregnant women he serves struggle to find safety and basic nutrition, not to mention prenatal care.Since the Israeli army began bombing Gaza six months ago following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, its forces have destroyed entire hospitals, hit ambulances and killed or arrested hundreds of health workers. According to aid groups, Israe...

At least three women were infected with HIV during "vampire facial" cosmetic procedures at an unlicensed spa in Albuquerque, federal officials said Thursday. It is the first time HIV transmission through cosmetic injection services has been documented, they said.The three were part of a group of five people who shared very similar HIV strains, four of whom had undergone a procedure called platelet-rich plasma microneedling at the spa. The fifth individual, a man, had a sexual relationship with one of the women.Investigators do not yet know the precise origin of the contamination. A 2018 HIV diagnosis in a client who reported having no behavioral risk factors led to a public health investigation when the woman said she received a cosmetic needle treatment, called platelet-rich plasma fac...

Tony Probst's passion for the Titanic is unshakable.Since the mid-1990s, he has amassed hundreds of artifacts dating back to the ship's maiden voyage in 1912, including a plaque on a lifeboat, porcelain, sheet music and a number of personal documents.“I believe I am the only person on planet Earth who has all the necessary documents for an individual to board the Titanic,” Mr. Probst, 64, said proudly this week.His collection is sometimes displayed in the audio and video store he runs with his children in California's Bay Area, but he has also visited notable spaces, including the National Geographic Museum in Washington; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California; and the Titanic museums in Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.Mr. ...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YoutubeOn Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill that would force the sale of TikTok or ban the app outright. We explain how this all came to pass, when just a few weeks ago it seemed unlikely this would happen, and what legal challenges the law will face next. So let's check out Tesla's dismal year and what's next for the company after this week's dismal quarterly earnings report. Finally, to boldly support technology where technology has never been supported before: Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab try to fix a chip malfunction from 15 billion miles away.Guests:Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at The VergeTodd Barber, propulsion engineer at Jet Propulsion LabAdditional reading:Credits“H...

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...