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In the dark days after the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel and the ensuing military assault on Gaza, some dared hope the carnage could, in some way, become a catalyst for peace. “Crises can create opportunities,” veteran Israeli peace negotiator Yossi Beilin told NBC News last year. The world had given up on the Israel-Palestinian question, he said, but the horror of Oct. 7 and its aftermath “changed everything,” provoking a worldwide cry that this should never happen again. “There’s definitely room for hope,” Omar Dajani, a former legal adviser to Palestinian negotiation teams, agreed. “So long as we bear in mind that hope and optimism are different things.”One year later, those glimmers of hope have been shredded.

Persons: Yossi Beilin, “ There’s, ” Omar Dajani Organizations: NBC Locations: Israel, Gaza

Left-leaning demonstrators had been preparing for months to march through downtown Milwaukee at the start of the Republican National Convention on Monday. The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday, protest organizers said, would not change those plans. Republican Party leaders said that Mr. Trump would still accept the nomination in person on Thursday. And protesters, a consistent presence at national political conventions, said they would be there, too. Mr. Flores said that his group intended to come “within sight and sound” of Fiserv Forum, the main convention hall.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, ” Omar Flores, Flores Organizations: Republican National Convention, Republicans, Secret Service, Republican Party, Coalition, Organizers, Fiserv Locations: Milwaukee, Pennsylvania

☆ Three Countries Exit West African Bloc, Shaking a Fragile Region
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-10 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Three West African countries have broken away from a 15-member regional bloc that has long ensured free movement of people and goods among its tightly knit economies, further destabilizing an area that is home to nearly 400 million people and threatened by violent insurgents. The leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last weekend announced their “irrevocable and immediate” withdrawal from the bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS. The three countries, all ruled by military leaders friendly to Russia, span more than half of the bloc’s geographic area and are among its most populous. However, they are not the region’s largest economies, and as landlocked nations, all three depend on access to ports in coastal countries for overseas trade. “Our region is facing the risk of disintegration,” Omar Alieu Touray, the president of ECOWAS’s executive arm, said on Sunday.

Persons: ” Omar Alieu Touray Organizations: Economic, West Locations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, West African States, Russia

☆ Israel-Hamas War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Image Six days of hearings began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday. Credit... Peter Dejong/Associated PressThe International Court of Justice in The Hague began hearing arguments on Monday on the legal consequences of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It will not be legally binding on Israel, and the country has ignored such opinions from the court before. The United Nations General Assembly first asked the top U.N. court to consider Israel’s activities in Palestinian territories more than two decades ago. In 2004, the court concluded that a wall that Israel was building around the territories violated international law.

Persons: Peter Dejong, Riyad al, ” Omar Awadallah, Israel, ”, Clive Baldwin Organizations: International Court of Justice, ., Associated, Court of Justice, West Bank, Maliki, Palestinian Foreign Ministry, United Nations, United Nations General Assembly, Governments, Human Rights Watch Locations: The Hague, East Jerusalem, United States, Britain, China, Russia, Israel, Gaza

NEW YORK (AP) — In just four songs on his latest EP, “Live For Me,” Omar Apollo processes death, grief, acceptance and the lack of it — big, traumatic emotions — through intimate, lush sounds. The EP, out Friday, follows Apollo’s 2022 debut album “Ivory” and a 2023 Grammy nomination for best new artist. APOLLO: A lot of the songs I write are emotions that I dealt with or am dealing with at that time. APOLLO: The only thing I can hope for is for (fans) to be inspired in whatever way they choose. I’m up there trying my hardest, sweating, you know, out of breath, just trying to put on a good show.

Persons: ” Omar Apollo, ”, It’s, Sabrina Bahsoon, Daniel Caesar, Montell, “, Doron Langberg, I’ve, SZA, …, ’, you’ve, TESLA, Lil Yachty Organizations: —, Associated Press Locations: London, Indiana

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence got barely a mention at the U.N. General Assembly's convocation of world leaders. Presidents, premiers, monarchs and cabinet ministers convened as governments at various levels are mulling or have already passed AI regulation. And many eyes are on the United Nations as perhaps the only place to tackle the issue at scale. LOTS OF PEOPLE TALKING, BUT PERHAPS A SLOW PROCESSBut if the United Nations has advantages, it also has the challenges of a big-tent, consensus-seeking ethos that often moves slowly. Ideas differ about what a potential global AI body should be: perhaps an expert assessment and fact-establishing panel, akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or a watchdog like the International Atomic Energy Agency?

Persons: Assembly's, it's, Amandeep Gill, António Guterres, Sam Matekane, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Thórdís Kolbrún, Joe Biden, Washington, —, ” Omar Al, “ What’s, James Manyika, ”, Ian Bremmer, Gill, ” “ It’s, it’s, There's, OpenAI, Olatunbosun Tijani, “, Minister Aisén Etcheverry, ” Etcheverry, Rose, Nakasi Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, diplomacy's, Industry, Outsiders, United Nations, Safety, Israel, Assembly, United Arab Emirates, Tech, Google, Eurasia Group, European Union, International Atomic Energy Agency, . Security, New York Public Library, Chilean, Minister, General, Makerere, General Assembly Locations: Namibia, North Macedonia, Argentina, East Timor, ”, Spain, New York, Nigeria, who's, India, Ugandan

☆ Reddit’s fight with its most powerful users enters new phase as blackout continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —After nearly a week of mass protests on Reddit directed at its management, the company’s strategy appears to be simple: power through. That approach was reflected Thursday in a series of media interviews conducted by Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman. In response, some moderators have vowed to put pressure on Reddit’s advertisers and investors. Some 100,000 forums remain open, the company said in a blog post, including 80% of its 5,000 most actively engaged subreddits. In addition, one company administrator said Thursday, Reddit may soon view communities that remain private as an indicator that the moderators of those communities no longer wish to moderate.

Persons: Reddit, Steve Huffman, Huffman, ”, ” Huffman, they’re, Greg Doherty, Omar, ” Omar, “, “ Reddit, They’ve Organizations: CNN, Reddit, Variety, Wynn Las, NPR, NBC News Locations: Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas , Nevada

☆ Temperatures have reached 100 degrees in Siberia amid its 'worst heat wave in history'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Dozens of heat records have fallen in Siberia, as temperatures climbed above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius). Last Saturday, temperatures reached 37.9 degrees Celsius (100.2 Fahrenheit) in Jalturovosk, its hottest day in history, according to the climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks extreme temperatures across the globe. Several all-time heat records were broken on Wednesday, including in Baevo, which reached 39.6 degrees Celsius (103.3 Fahrenheit), and Barnaul, which hit 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 Fahrenheit). Some of these stations have between five and seven decades of temperature recordings, Herrera told CNN. On Wednesday, temperatures of more than 45 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) were recorded in China, 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in Uzbekistan and 41 degrees Celsius (105.8) in Kazakhstan.

Persons: Maximiliano Herrera, Herrera, ”, ” Herrera, ” Omar Baddour, Samantha Burgess, Canada –, It’s Organizations: CNN, Twitter, “ Records, Tomsk, World Meteorological Organization, Northern Locations: Siberia, Jalturovosk, Baevo, Asia, China, India, Northern Hemisphere, Canada, Central Asia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan

☆ Earth Day 2023: The world just failed its annual health checkup
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The WMO’s annual State of the Climate Report, published Friday ahead of Earth Day, is essentially a health checkup for the world. Global sea levels climbed to the highest on record due to melting glaciers and warming oceans, which expand as they heat up. “Communities and countries which have contributed least to climate change suffer disproportionately.”A man uses a hand fan in a park in central Madrid during a heatwave, on August 2, 2022. The hottest year on record, 2016, was the result of a strong El Niño and climate change, said Baddour. “This is really a wake up call that climate change isn’t a future problem, it is a current problem.

As speaker, McCarthy has the authority to choose a chairman and Republican members of the panel. Jeffries, as minority leader, can nominate Democrats to serve on the panel, but McCarthy has the power to reject them. He has specifically targeted Schiff and Swalwell who played a major role in the impeachments of former President Donald Trump. Those actions angered McCarthy and for months he has vowed to block Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence panel. As recently as Jan. 12, McCarthy told reporters he would not seat Schiff and Swalwell who regularly antagonize McCarthy during cable news appearances.

☆ In Peru, protesters pour from remote Andean regions, demand president resign
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

LIMA, Peru — People poured into Peru’s coastal capital, many from remote Andean regions, for a protest Thursday against President Dina Boluarte and in support of her predecessor, whose ouster last month launched deadly unrest and cast the nation into political chaos. The concentration of protesters in Lima also reflects how the capital has started to see more antigovernment demonstrations in recent days. Many protesters say that no dialogue is possible with a government that they say has unleashed so much violence against its citizens. “I think this will only keep growing.”Analysts warn that a failure to listen to demands from protesters could have tragic consequences. “We have to start to think what we want to do with Peru, otherwise this could all blow up,” Cardenas said.

While travel demand is roaring back, many hotels, airlines, cruise operators and airports are still racing to hire and train workers. That means the level of customer service will likely take a hit, industry experts say. One potential bright spot can be found at sea: During the summer, several cruise lines had to cancel voyages due to staffing shortages, but major disruptions have been largely resolved. “It’s highly unlikely your holiday cruise will be canceled due to lack of staffing,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, a Tripadvisor-run travel site. “This year, I moved my annual holiday travel to earlier in December,” said Abby Rhinehart, an educational researcher in Tucson, Arizona.

Airport workers across the country are rallying and walking off the job Thursday to draw attention to their current working conditions and legislation that could improve them. Workers at 15 U.S. airports, including ones in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Phoenix, plan to participate in on-site rallies. Formal strikes — which could disrupt operations — are planned at Boston's Logan International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport. The rallies are in support of the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, introduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. It would set a minimum wage of $15 for airport service workers, as well as ensure the workers have paid time off, holidays, adequate health care and other benefits.

House Democrats swiftly pushed back at Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in response to his threat to strip them of their committee assignments if he is elected as speaker. After Republicans narrowly won back control of the House in the midterm elections, McCarthy this weekend doubled down on his pledge to remove several prominent House Democrats from their committee assignments if he becomes speaker. McCarthy said he would not allow Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., to serve on their committees. “He will adhere to the wishes of the lowest common denominator,” Schiff said when asked about McCarthy’s vow to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee. Removing Democrats from their committee assignments would require a vote of a majority of the House.

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