Palestinians returning to Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal find an unrecognizable city
deir al-balah, Gaza Strip — Stunned palestinians found their home city unrecognizable monday as they filtered in to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left by israeli troops who withdrew from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis a day earlier after months of fighting and bombardment.
With thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged, families tried to find their homes along streets bulldozed down to the dirt, surrounded by landscapes of rubble and debris that were once blocks of apartments and businesses. On other blocks, buildings still stood but were gutted shells, scorched and full of holes, with partially shattered upper floors dangling off precipitously.
The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of the world’s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people. it also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza’s southernmost town of rafah, where half of Gaza’s uprooted population is now crowded, if israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.
israeli prime minister Benjamin netanyahu escalated his pledge to take the offensive to rafah, declaring in a video statement monday, “it will happen. There is a date,” without elaborating. He spoke as israeli negotiators were in Cairo discussing international efforts to broker a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
magdy abu Sahrour was shocked to see his house in Khan Younis flattened.
Broken record: March is 10th straight month to be hottest on record, scientists say
WASHINGTON — For the
10th consecutive month, earth in march set a new monthly record for global heat — with both air temperatures and the world’s oceans hitting an all-time high for the month, the european union climate agency Copernicus said.
march 2024 averaged 14.14 degrees Celsius (57.9 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record from 2016 by a tenth of a degree, according to
Copernicus data. and it was 1.68 degrees C (3 degrees F) warmer than in the late 1800s, the base used for temperatures before the burning of fossil fuels began growing rapidly.
Since last June, the globe has broken heat records each month, with marine heat waves across large areas of the globe’s oceans contributing.
Scientists say the record-breaking heat during this time wasn’t entirely surprising due to a strong el nino, a climatic condition that warms the central pacific and changes global weather patterns.
“But its combination with the non-natural marine heat waves made these records so breathtaking,” said Woodwell Climate research Center scientist Jennifer Francis.
From overcapacity to Tiktok, the issues covered during Janet Yellen’s trip to China
Beijing — u.s. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her team are leaving China and returning to Washington after trying to tackle the major questions of the day between the countries. Here’s a look at what she tried to accomplish, what was achieved, and where things stand for the world’s two
largest economies:
Yellen said she wanted to go into the u.s.-china talks to address a major Biden administration complaint that Beijing’s economic model and trade practices put american companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage by producing highly subsidized solar products, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries at a loss, dominating the global market.
Chinese government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged solar panel and ev makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb. She calls this overcapacity.
Throughout the week of meetings, she talked about the risks that come from one nation maintaining nearly all production capacity in these industries, the threat it poses to other nations’ industries and how a massive rapid increase in exports from one country can have big impacts on the global economy.
ultimately, the two sides agreed to hold “intensive exchanges” on more balanced economic growth, according to a u.s. statement issued after Yellen and Chinese Vice premier He lifeng held extended meetings over two days in the southern city of Guangzhou. it was not immediately clear when and where the talks would take place.
Conservative Christians praise Trump’s anti-abortion record but say he’s stopped short of the goal
For conservative, anti-abortion Christians, former president donald Trump delivered in four years what no other republican before him had been able to do: a conservative majority u.s. Supreme Court that would go on to overturn roe v. Wade, a Holy Grail of the movement.
With abortion rights now controlled by each state, rather than legalized nationwide by the 1973 court ruling, Trump made clear monday that he would not be leading the push for a federal abortion ban as he vies for his second term in the Oval Office. Some anti-abortion religious leaders criticized his approach, while others gave thanks for Trump’s past anti-abortion wins and vowed to keep pressing for federal restrictions.
“roe is done. The opportunity to protect life is at hand,” Brent leatherwood, who leads the Southern Baptist Convention’s political arm, said in a statement.
Candidates who profess the anti-abortion views of the voters they’re wooing “should be articulating a robust vision for establishing a true culture of life where babies are saved, mothers are served, and families are supported,” he said. “anything short of that is not a serious attempt to court pro-life voters.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to The associated press’ request for comment. But in the video posted monday on his Truth Social site, Trump backed the patchwork of state abortion laws that followed the 2022 Supreme Court decision upending federal abortion protections. Trump took credit for the outcome, a historic ruling celebrated by his evangelical base.