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International mediators were heading to the Middle East for a high-stakes round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday as they raced to lock down an elusive cease-fire in the Gaza Strip that could defuse tensions ahead of an anticipated attack on Israel by Iran and Hezbollah. The cease-fire talks, which are set to take place in Doha, Qatar, or Cairo, were expected to include top intelligence officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States, as well as the Qatari prime minister. But as of Tuesday, Hamas representatives were not planning to take part. Ahmad Abdul-Hadi, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, said in an interview that doing so would mean going “backward to square one,” and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel of dragging out the negotiations. “Netanyahu is not interested in reaching an agreement that ends the aggression completely, but rather he is deceiving and evading and wants to prolong the war, and even expand it at the regional level,” Mr. Abdul-Hadi said.

Persons: Ahmad Abdul, Hadi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, “ Netanyahu, Mr, Abdul Locations: Gaza, Israel, Iran, Doha, Qatar, Cairo, Egypt, United States, Lebanon

Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, to lead the militant group’s political wing, it announced on Tuesday, consolidating his power over Hamas as it continues to fight Israel in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017, has long been considered a planner of Hamas’s military strategy there. Now, he will also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s previous political leader and a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who had been living in Qatar, was killed in an explosion in Iran last week that has been widely attributed to Israel. A hard-line figure born in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar, 61, is a prime target for Israeli forces and is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath the enclave to avoid Israeli attack.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Israel, Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr Locations: Israel, Gaza, Qatar, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen

Thousands packed Qatar’s largest mosque on Friday for the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, hours after President Biden said his killing could hurt the monthslong effort to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza. Mr. Haniyeh, who was based in the Persian Gulf nation, had been a negotiator in the cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas. His death in an explosion in Iran on Wednesday and the assassination of the Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Tuesday have put the Middle East on edge, bracing for a possible escalation in retaliatory violence. Asked by a reporter on Thursday night whether the killing of Mr. Haniyeh had ruined the prospect of a negotiated cease-fire in Gaza, Mr. Biden said, “It has not helped.”He added that he had a “very direct” conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel earlier that day and had urged him to agree to a deal to stop the war in Gaza and free the remaining people kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Biden, Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr, Mr, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Persian, Israel, Iran, Lebanon

The Israeli announcement confirming the death of Mr. Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, came as thousands of mourners attended the funerals of another Hamas leader and a Hezbollah commander whose assassinations this week have amplified fears of a wider regional war. Mr. Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a compound in southern Gaza on July 13, according to the Israeli military. It said his death had been confirmed by an intelligence assessment, but did not provide further details. 2 Hamas leader in Gaza, he would be the group’s most senior military leader slain by Israeli forces during the offensive in Gaza that has also killed more than 38,000 people, according to the territory’s health officials. Israel began its campaign in the enclave after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 abducted to Gaza.

Persons: Muhammad Deif, Deif, Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Iranian, Gaza

☆ What We Know About the Assassination Attempt Against Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-14 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A man fired “multiple shots” toward the stage during former President Donald J. Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday at around 6:15 p.m., killing one spectator and critically injuring two others, according to the Secret Service. Mr. Trump was rushed off the stage, blood visible around his right ear. An analysis by The New York Times suggested that the gunman had fired eight shots. The Secret Service said its personnel had killed the shooter. identified the man as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mr, Donald Trump, ” Kevin Rojek, Thomas Matthew Crooks Organizations: Secret, Service, Federal Bureau of, Police Department, The New York Times Locations: Butler, Pa, Bethel Park

☆ Angry Birds Take on Drones at New York City Beach
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-13 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One is a distinctive shorebird, slightly smaller than an average sea gull, with a bright orange bill that pries open clams, oysters and other shellfish. The other is a remote-controlled gadget with rotating blades. In the skies above Rockaway Beach in Queens, bird and drone are not, it seems, coexisting in harmony. Just as New Yorkers flock to the beach to escape the sweltering summer heat, American Oystercatchers have taken to attacking a fleet of drones deployed by city officials to scan for sharks and swimmers in distress. The aerial conflict between animal and machine is raising concerns about the safety of the shorebirds, as they aggressively pursue the buzzing drones in defense of their nests, city officials and bird experts said.

Locations: Queens

An Israeli strike killed a top official in charge of ambulance services in the Gaza Strip, local health officials said on Monday, as the Israeli defense minister met with top American officials in Washington about a possible new phase in the Israeli offensive. The official, Hani al-Jafarawi, who was the director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza, was killed in a strike on a health clinic in Gaza City, the Gazan Health Ministry said. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. The meetings in the Washington area by Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, with the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Monday coincided with a potential shift in the military campaign signaled by Israeli officials in recent days.

Persons: Hani al, Muhammad Salah, Israel’s pulverizing, Yoav Gallant, William J, Burns, Antony J, Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu, “, ” Organizations: Gazan Health Ministry, Hamas, Health Ministry Locations: Gaza, Washington, Gaza City, Israel

☆ F.D.A. Authorizes First Menthol-Flavored E-Cigarettes
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it had approved the first menthol-flavored e-cigarettes in the United States, less than two months after the Biden administration delayed a fiercely contested decision on whether to ban traditional menthol cigarettes. said it had authorized four types of menthol-flavored e-cigarettes made by NJOY, part of the tobacco company Altria, making them the first flavored e-cigarettes that can be sold legally in the United States. said that evidence indicated that they could benefit adult smokers who want to transition to a “less harmful product.”Public health groups sharply criticized the decision, warning that e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products were especially appealing to young people. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids pointed out that, according to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, nearly a quarter of high school students who use e-cigarettes use illicit menthol-flavored varieties, which are often easy to find in gas stations and corner stores.

Persons: Biden, NJOY Organizations: Drug Administration, Tobacco, Tobacco Survey Locations: United States

The Israeli military said on Monday that it had paused operations during daylight hours in parts of the southern Gaza Strip, as a new policy announced a day earlier appeared to take hold, along with cautious hopes that it would allow more food and other goods to reach desperate civilians. Aid workers said they hoped that the daily pause in the Israeli offensive would make it less dangerous to deliver vital supplies to areas in central and southern Gaza from Kerem Shalom, a key border crossing between Israel and Gaza, removing one of many obstacles to their beleaguered operations. But aid agencies warned that other restrictions on movement, as well as lawlessness in the territory, would still make it difficult to meet the dire needs of Gazans struggling to survive after eight months of war. With stockpiles in southern Gaza dwindling, “maybe for a couple of weeks they’ll have enough food, but if we cannot have access and sustain that, then that’s going to be a big problem,” said Carl Skau, the deputy director of the World Food Program, an arm of the United Nations that distributes food in Gaza. Food supplies in southern Gaza were “more stabilized a month ago, but we are really concerned now,” said Mr. Skau, who visited Gaza last week.

Persons: ”, Carl Skau, Skau Organizations: Food Program, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Kerem, Israel

Even as the Biden administration renewed its push for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened “very intense”military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Whoever thinks he can hurt us and we will respond by sitting on our hands is making a big mistake,” he said, according to the Israeli government. “We are prepared for very intense action in the north.”Against the backdrop of escalating tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, met on Wednesday with top Qatari and Egyptian officials in the latest effort to broker a deal to end the fighting in Gaza and free the hostages taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Mr. Burns met in Doha with the Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the chief of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, according to an official briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door encounter.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Netanyahu, ”, William J, Burns, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, Abbas Kamel Organizations: Qatari, Egypt’s General Intelligence Service Locations: Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, ”, Doha, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani

After eight months of devastating bombardment by Israeli forces, some Gazans are urging Hamas to accept a cease-fire plan outlined by President Biden, but many remain deeply skeptical that the United States, as Israel’s chief ally, would truly bring an end to the war. “I am hopeful that Hamas will accept this deal,” said Ayman Skeik, a 31-year-old merchant driven out of his home in Gaza City by the fighting. “But I am still scared it would not be achieved.”Like other Gazans, Mr. Skeik, who is now sheltering in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said he had grown frustrated by the long and generally fruitless cease-fire talks. He noted pointedly that months ago, in February, Mr. Biden suggested that a deal was imminent. “The United States used to have a strong word when it wanted to stop any crisis in the world,” Mr. Skeik said.

Persons: President Biden, “, ”, Ayman Skeik, Skeik, Biden, Mr Organizations: Mr, White Locations: United States, Gaza City, Deir al, Gaza, Israel

☆ Retired Navy Admiral Is Arrested on Bribery Charges
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A retired four-star admiral was arrested on Friday on charges that he took part in a bribery scheme while commanding American naval forces in Europe, Russia and most of Africa, the Justice Department said. Federal prosecutors said that Robert P. Burke, 62, of Coconut Creek, Fla., who was once the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer, steered a government contract to a company in exchange for a job at the firm with a yearly base salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options. The two co-chief executives of the company, Yongchul Kim, 50, who is known as Charlie, and Meghan Messenger, 47, both of New York, were also arrested and charged with taking part in the scheme, the Justice Department said. The company, which was not named in federal court documents, provided a work force training pilot program to a small part of the Navy from August 2018 through July 2019 until the Navy terminated its contract in late 2019 and directed it not to contact Admiral Burke, the Justice Department said.

Persons: Robert P, Burke, Yongchul Kim, Charlie, Meghan Messenger, Admiral Burke Organizations: Justice Department, Navy Locations: Europe, Russia, Africa, Coconut, Fla, New York

☆ Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s Mother, Dies at 86
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Michael Levenson | More About Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother and a linchpin of the Obama family who moved into the White House and provided stability and care for the family’s two young daughters during a tumultuous time in Washington, died on Friday. Her death was announced in a statement by Ms. Obama, former President Barack Obama and other members of the family. The statement did not give a cause, or say where she died. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Ms. Robinson was known as a loving, tough-minded matriarch who was never fully comfortable with the trappings of the White House, but who helped care for the Obama girls, Sasha and Malia, while their parents were on the road. “Just show me how to work the washing machine and I’m good,” she would say, the Obamas said in their statement on Friday.

Persons: Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s, Obama, Ms, Barack Obama, Robinson, Sasha, Malia Organizations: White Locations: Washington, Chicago

☆ Teen’s Missing AirPod Leads to Arrest of Driver Accused of Hitting Him
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Lochlan Nicol, 15, of Jensen Beach, Fla., was biking to a gas station and convenience store near his home to buy ice cream last week when a driver heading in the opposite direction suddenly turned into the station and hit him, he said. It was about 10:30 p.m. on May 22, and Lochlan was hit so hard that his head crashed through the rear passenger-side window, breaking his nose, cheekbone and eye socket, and knocking him unconscious. The driver pulled Lochlan out of the road, left him outside the gas station and then drove away, according to Sheriff William D. Snyder of Martin County. What the driver didn’t know was that he had driven away with a tracking device — the AirPod that Lochlan had been wearing, which had been knocked out of his ear and had lodged under a floor mat inside the car, Sheriff Snyder said.

Persons: Lochlan Nicol, Lochlan, William D, Snyder, Sheriff Snyder Locations: Jensen Beach, Fla, Martin County

☆ ‘Bad Breath Rapist’ Is Captured After Nearly 17 Years on the Run
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Massachusetts man who fled during his rape trial in 2007, and was convicted in absentia, had been living for more than a decade with a woman in California who had no idea he was a wanted fugitive, the authorities said. But the man’s hidden past surfaced on Tuesday, when law enforcement agents in Danville, Calif., about 30 miles east of San Francisco, arrested the man, Tuen Kit Lee, 55, who was known as the “bad breath rapist,” the Massachusetts State Police said. Mr. Lee, who had fled just before closing arguments at his trial in Quincy, Mass., had been living with the woman, a flower shop owner, in her multimillion-dollar home in Diablo, a community of about 1,200 residents just outside Danville, the state police said. Chris Tamayo, a senior inspector with U.S. Marshals Service in Northern California, said that Mr. Lee had initially fled to New York and had then taken a bus to San Francisco, where he met the woman who became his companion for the past 10 years.

Persons: Tuen Kit Lee, Lee, Chris Tamayo, Mr Organizations: Massachusetts State Police, U.S . Marshals Service Locations: Massachusetts, California, Danville , Calif, San Francisco, Quincy , Mass, Danville, Northern California, New York

House Republicans used words like “violence,” “hijacking” and “chaos.” They asked the university leaders why so few protesters had been suspended. They showed videos and wielded a document with a bright red “F” grade. The leaders of Northwestern, Rutgers and the University of California, Los Angeles, responded with phrases like “due process,” “appropriate penalties” and “task force.”At the third congressional hearing on campus antisemitism on Thursday, Republicans sharply questioned the university leaders about the pro-Palestinian encampments that student protesters have pitched on their campuses and campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas war. But the university leaders seemed to draw lessons from previous hearings, and sought to avoid enraging either the Republicans on the committee or members of their own institutions. They acknowledged some missteps and promised to do more to combat antisemitism, while also pushing back against some of the accusations leveled against them.

Persons: ” Organizations: Republicans, Northwestern, Rutgers, University of California Locations: Los Angeles, Israel

Spain, Norway and Ireland said on Wednesday that they would recognize an independent Palestinian state, delivering a diplomatic blow to Israel that showed the country’s growing isolation on the world stage more than seven months into its devastating military offensive in the Gaza Strip. In closely coordinated announcements, the leaders of the three countries said that Palestinian independence cannot wait for a negotiated peace deal with Israel’s right-wing government, which largely opposes a two-state solution, has been expanding settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and is continuing to bombard Gaza without either toppling Hamas or bringing home all its hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has also frustrated world leaders — and two members of his war cabinet — with his refusal to establish a postwar plan to govern Gaza, where the health authorities say that more than 35,000 people have been killed. Simon Harris, the Irish prime minister, linked his government’s decision to Ireland’s quest for independence from Britain. “From our own history, we know what it means: Recognition is an act of powerful political and symbolic value,” he said at a news briefing.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, —, Simon Harris, ” Organizations: West Bank Locations: Spain, Norway, Ireland, Israel, Gaza, Britain

☆ How Election Deniers Claimed the Upside-Down Flag
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It has been a widely recognized symbol of distress since the nation’s founding, when sailors turned the American flag upside down to signal that their ships were sinking, on fire or trapped in ice. But over time, the upside-down American flag became a symbol brandished more often by protesters across the political spectrum to signal that they believed the nation itself was in grave peril. After President Biden won the 2020 election, supporters of former President Donald. J. Trump rallied around the inverted flag, displaying it at their homes, on their cars and on social media to show that they believed Mr. Trump’s lie that the election was stolen. At the time, the Supreme Court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case.

Persons: Biden, Donald . J, Trump, Samuel A, Alito Jr Organizations: New York Times Locations: Alexandria, Va

☆ Teen Who Died After Spicy ‘One Chip Challenge’ Had Enlarged Heart
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A 14-year-old whose family said he had eaten a chip made with two of the hottest peppers in the world died of cardiopulmonary arrest, according to a medical examiner’s report released on Thursday, which noted that he had eaten a spicy substance and had an enlarged heart. The report found that the teenager, Harris Wolobah of Worcester, Mass., died on Sept. 1 of “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of recent ingestion of food substance with high capsaicin concentration in a person with cardiomegaly and myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery.”Capsaicin is the chemical compound found in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation. Cardiomegaly is commonly known as an enlarged heart. And myocardial bridging refers to a coronary artery that passes through a band of heart muscle instead of lying on top of it. The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the manner of death “could not be determined.” Examples of the manner of death in other cases include “natural,” “accident” and “homicide.”

Persons: Harris Wolobah, ” Organizations: Massachusetts, Medical Locations: Worcester

Israeli leaders declared on Thursday that they would not be deterred by President Biden’s threat to withhold more arms shipments if the military launched a major assault on densely populated areas of Rafah in southern Gaza. Defiant and at times disdainful of the Biden administration’s stance, their comments made clear the widening rift between Israel and the United States over the war and the prospect of a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where about a million Palestinians are sheltering. And they came as high-level negotiations aimed at reaching a cease-fire and hostage deal were derailed — at least for the moment — amid anger by some of the participants over a military incursion into Rafah by Israeli forces earlier this week. After that incursion, Mr. Biden said the United States, Israel’s closest ally, would not ship more weapons that could be fired into crowded sections of Rafah. On Thursday, an Israeli military spokesman said his nation had enough munitions on hand to proceed with its plans.

Persons: Biden’s, Biden Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, United States

If we really care about solving for antisemitism, and I believe this deeply, it’s not about having gotcha moments. And we’ve got to figure out how do we unpack all of it at the same time. But the ultimate answer for antisemitism is to teach, to expose young people to the Jewish community so that they understand our common humanity. This, this convening for too many people across America in education feels like the ultimate gotcha moment. It doesn’t sound like people are actually trying to solve for something that I believe we should be doing everything we can to solve for.

Persons: it’s, we’ve Locations: America

International humanitarian officials said the military operation had halted the flow of aid from Egypt into Gaza, exacerbating extreme hunger and privation in the besieged territory. “The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” said Dr. Suhaib Hems, the head of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, adding that 27 bodies and 150 wounded people had been brought to his facility since Israeli tanks entered the city. The Israeli military said it had killed about 20 people in Rafah, describing the dead as Hamas militants. Hamas said it had fired on Israeli soldiers on Tuesday at another vital aid crossing, near Kerem Shalom, along Gaza’s southern border with Israel. The Israeli military said that four mortar shells and two rockets had been launched toward Kerem Shalom from Rafah but that no injuries or damage were reported.

Persons: ”, Suhaib Hems Organizations: International, Kuwait Hospital Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Kerem Shalom, Israel, Shalom

Israeli warplanes pounded targets in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Monday as the military told about 110,000 people sheltering there to evacuate. Many people began to leave, fearing that Israel was moving ahead with its long-planned invasion of Rafah, despite stiff international pressure. A military spokesman would not say when troops might enter the crowded city, but described the evacuation as part of Israel’s plans to dismantle Hamas and to free hostages taken on Oct. 7. Hours after the evacuation order, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, issued a statement that the group had accepted a new cease-fire proposal from Qatar and Egypt, which have acted as intermediaries in peace talks. The group and Israeli officials said it was not referring to the proposal that Israel recently agreed to, leaving the conflict unresolved.

Persons: Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, “, Ismail Haniyeh Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Qatar, Egypt, Israel

☆ Sam Ash Music Stores to Close After 100 Years In Business
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Sam Ash, the family-owned chain of music stores that supplied countless beginners and working musicians with guitars, drums and other instruments, is closing all of it locations after 100 years in business, it announced this week. Derek Ash, whose great-grandparents, Sam and Rose Ash, opened the first Sam Ash store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in 1924, said the company’s 42 locations could not compete in the era of online shopping. In March, Sam Ash announced it was closing 18 locations, with the hope of buying the company time to survive, Mr. Ash said. But he said that closing all the stores ended up being a “necessity.”“A lot of this has been the move to online shopping,” Mr. Ash, the company’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview. “There are so many choices, and to maintain a store with that much selection is very difficult.”

Persons: Sam Ash, Derek Ash, Rose Ash, Ash, Mr, ” Locations: Brownsville, Brooklyn

The police killed an armed student after an active shooter had been reported near a middle school in Mount Horeb, Wis., on Wednesday, the authorities said. “This could have been a far worse tragedy,” Mr. Kaul said. The authorities did not identify the person killed, but they said the student was a male, and a minor, who attended a Mount Horeb Area School District school. Officers with the Mount Horeb Police Department fired shots at the armed student, Mr. Kaul said. It was unclear whether the student fired back at the officers.

Persons: Josh Kaul, ” Mr, Kaul Organizations: Mount Horeb Area, District, Mount Horeb Police Department Locations: Mount Horeb, Wis, Wisconsin

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