ISrael StrikeS targetS in Syria after attack
A missile launched from Syria was fired into southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, it said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria.
The incident, marking the most serious violence between Israel and Syria in years, pointed to likely Iranian involvement. Iran, which maintains troops and proxies in Syria, has accused Israel of a series of attacks on its nuclear facilities, including sabotage at its Natanz nuclear facility on April 11, and vowed revenge.
The Israeli army said it deployed a missile-defense system but could not confirm if the incoming missile was intercepted, although it said there had been no damage. The air raid sirens were sounded in Abu Krinat, a village just a few miles from Dimona, the Negev desert town where Israel’s nuclear reactor is.
Phone scammers talk woman into handing over about $33 million. Callers who said they were investigators from mainland China led a wealthy 90-year-old Hong Kong woman to believe she was the subject of a money-laundering investigation. She began transferring money to bank accounts she did not own. In the end, according to Hong Kong police, the unidentified woman deposited $32.8 million into accounts controlled by grifters.
A 19-year-old university student, identified by his family name, Wong, was arrested in connection with the crime, Hong Kong police said Tuesday.
Manhattan DA to stop prosecuting prostitution, part of nationwide shift. The Manhattan district attorney’s office announced Wednesday it no longer will prosecute prostitution and unlicensed massage, putting the weight of one of the most highprofile law enforcement offices in the United States behind the growing movement to change the criminal justice system’s approach to sex work.
The district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., asked a judge Wednesday morning to dismiss 914 open cases involving prostitution and unlicensed massage, along with 5,080 cases in which the charge was loitering for the purposes of prostitution. The office will continue to prosecute other crimes related to prostitution, including patronizing sex workers, promoting prostitution and sex trafficking.
Indonesian navy submarine goes missing with 53 people on board. An Indonesian navy submarine disappeared about 3 a.m. Wednesday off the island of Bali in the Pacific Ocean.
By evening the Ministry of Defense tracked down one possible sign of the missing vessel, which carried 53 people: a broad oil slick in the area where the submarine began its dive.
The oil slick could be evidence of the submarine’s distress from a crack in the hull, the navy said.
Two Indonesian navy ships are using sonar to search for the missing vessel.
One of the ships was deployed this year to search for the flight recorders of an Indonesian jet that crashed in January.
Ohio medical marijuana dispensaries may double.
Thenumberof medical marijuana dispensaries in Ohio will more than double to 130 dispensaries if all the additional 73 licenses allocated by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy are awarded this year.
“It’s about time,” said Lorrie Callahan, a West Milton resident who uses medical marijuana to ease her multiple sclerosis symptoms. “I’m thrilled beyond words, because that’s saying they’re actually listening to the patients.”
A 16-county region that includes Montgomery County could gain 17 new dispensaries based on the state’s updated method that allocates one for every 1,200 patients within each of the 31 Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program dispensary districts.