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Last call from Israel festival attack: ‘I heard only gunshots, screams and Arabic’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

ASHKELON, Israel — Near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, terror and confusion reign. As POLITICO arrives at the cataclysmic scene, parents hunt desperately for their missing children and demand retribution against the Hamas terrorists who perpetrated a bloodbath of monstrous proportions. Israel has been in a state of emergency since Iranian-backed Hamas militants stormed out of the Gaza Strip at dawn on Saturday and unleashed a lethal assault on civilians, leaving more than 700 Israelis confirmed dead and 2,150 wounded.It was the “largest civilian massacre” in Israeli history, army spokesman Doron Spielman tells POLITICO. Sunday morning, we fly aboard a Ryanair jet from Berlin into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on one of the few commercial flights to Israel that has not been canceled. Typically vibrant and bustling, the city — which has come under fire from Palestinian rocket attacks — has been turned into a ghost town. Driving south from Tel Aviv toward ...

Israel intensifies its strikes and vows to besiege Gaza as it scours south for Hamas fighters

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters, guarded breaches in its border fence and pounded the Gaza Strip from the air on Monday as it vowed to lay total siege to the impoverished, Hamas-ruled territory in the wake of an unprecedented weekend incursion.More than two days after Hamas launched its surprise attack from Gaza, the military said the fighting had largely died down for now. Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence apparatus was caught completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades.Israel formally declared war on Sunday, portending greater fighting ahead, and a possible ground assault into Gaza — a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy “the military and governing capabilities” of the militant group, which is deeply rooted in Gaza.As Israel hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza and its tan...

Police investigating shooting in Chelsea that left person hospitalized

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

Police are investigating a shooting in Chelsea overnight that left one person hospitalized.Officers responding to a reported shooting in the area of 89 Congress St. around 11 p.m. Sunday assisted in transporting a person to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, according to the Chelsea Police Department.No additional information was immediately available.https://twitter.com/CityofChelseaPD/status/1711218864694911163This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Seasonable Stuff

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

Fall is in full force as crisp, dry air swept in yesterday and has some staying power this week. That means quite a few days featuring highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Rain chances are limited this workweek too with just a few brief spot showers tomorrow. By the time the weekend arrives, you guessed it, the next rain chance arrives too. Saturday afternoon, into Sunday looks like the highest rain risk with a chilly ocean breeze kicking in.

Nobel economics prize goes to Harvard professor for advancing the understanding of the workplace gender gap

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel economics prize was awarded Monday to Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender gap in the labor market.The announcement went a tiny step to closing the Nobel committee’s own gender gap: Goldin is just the third woman to win the prize out of 93 economics laureates.She has studied 200 years of women’s participation in the workplace, showing that despite continued economic growth, women’s pay did not continuously catch up to men’s and a divide still exists despite women gaining higher levels of education than men.“Understanding women’s role in the labor market is important for society. Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research, we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.Goldin does not offer solutions, but her resear...

Pedestrian suffers life-threatening injuries after being struck in Peabody

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

An investigation is underway in Peabody after a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.Officers responding to a report of a pedestrian struck on Summit Street around 8 p.m. assisted in rushing the victim to Salem Hospital. Peabody police and the State Police Accident Reconstruction Section are investigating the incident.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Four things we learned from the Orioles’ second straight home loss to the Rangers in the ALDS

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

Asked whether receiving a day off Monday will help the Orioles reset ahead of their third playoff game, catcher Adley Rutschman answered honestly. He doesn’t know — he hasn’t been in this situation before.“We’re going to see,” he said. “This is my first time doing this postseason thing.”The young Orioles saw growing pains in their first two postseason games, dropping both to the Rangers at home to go down 2-0 in the best-of-five American League Division Series. If they want to keep their memorable season alive, they’ll need to win three straight games, including two in Texas starting Tuesday, to do so.Here’s what we learned from a long Sunday at Oriole Park.A 2-0 deficit comes quick when the little things go wrongThe Orioles did a lot of the big things right this past weekend. They did not commit an error. They struck out 16 hitters Saturday, a franchise record for a nine-inning postseason game. They racked up 14 ...

Five things we learned from the Ravens’ 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

The Ravens had every chance to blow out the Pittsburgh Steelers and instead came home with a stunning 17-10 loss thanks to late turnovers from Lamar Jackson, inexplicable drops from his pass catchers and a critical lapse on special teams.Here are five things we learned from the game.This was a disaster we’ll rememberWhere to start?Jackson is the franchise player, and he failed in the clutch, short-arming a pass to Odell Beckham Jr. in the end zone when the Ravens had a golden chance to capitalize on a Steelers special teams fumble. A touchdown or even a field goal might have put Pittsburgh away. Instead, Jackson’s interception fed into the Steelers’ go-ahead touchdown drive. He had time to answer that blow. Instead, he fumbled for the seventh time this season.But Jackson would never have been in position to flub the game away had his receivers simply caught the beautiful passes he threw over the first three quarters. The Ravens shared their disgrace in this resp...

Gates Foundation funding $40 million effort to help develop mRNA vaccines in Africa in coming years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A $40 million investment will help several African manufacturers produce new messenger RNA vaccines on the continent where people were last in line to receive jabs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Monday.While it could still take at least three more years before any of the vaccines are approved and on the market, the foundation said that its mRNA investment marks an important step forward in improving vaccine equity. “Whether it’s for local diseases in Africa like Rift Valley (fever) or for global diseases like TB, mRNA looks like a very promising approach,” Bill Gates told The Associated Press on Sunday after visiting one of the facilities involved, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal. “And so it allows us to bring in lots of African capabilities to work on these vaccines, and then this can be scaled up.” The announcement comes as the foundation opens its annual three-day Grand Challenges event, which brings to...

Nobel economics prize goes to professor for advancing the understanding of the workplace gender gap

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:54 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel economics prize was awarded Monday to Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender gap in the labor market.The announcement went a tiny step to closing the Nobel committee’s own gender gap: Goldin is just the third woman to win the prize out of 93 economics laureates.She has studied 200 years of women’s participation in the workplace, showing that despite continued economic growth, women’s pay did not continuously catch up to men’s and a divide still exists despite women gaining higher levels of education than men.“Understanding women’s role in the labor market is important for society. Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research, we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.Goldin does not offer solutions, but her resear...