Israel stepped up its bombardment of Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city, while massing tanks and troops on its outskirts. Israel has ordered civilians to leave nearly two dozen neighborhoods there, but they have few places to go. As Congress considers a military aid package that would send Israel $14.3 billion, some Biden allies in the Senate are insisting that Israel's military reduce Palestinian civilian casualties. |
Sen. Bernie Sanders says "the blank-check approach must end." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) |
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2. AMBASSADOR SPY SCANDAL |
The former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, was charged with acting as a covert Cuban agent for more than 40 years, including the entire time he climbed the American diplomatic ranks. The Justice Department didn't say what, if any, sensitive information Rocha, now 73, passed to the Cuban government, which has been under a U.S. embargo for more than six decades. The Spy Who… Actually, It's Not Yet Clear What He Did. |
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In opening arguments at the actor's assault trial, Manhattan prosecutors accused Majors of breaking his then-girlfriend's finger and hitting her in the head last March when she confronted him over a romantic text from another woman. Majors' attorney, who said he was the one assaulted, said the case was a revenge plot to kill the 34-year-old's career after big breaks in Creed III and Marvel's superhero films. He faces up to a year in prison if convicted. |
Majors arrives at the Manhattan court Monday. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) |
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Divers found the remains of five more U.S. airmen whose helicopter-airplane hybrid crashed last week during a training mission off Japan. Remains have not been found for two of the eight crew members on the V-22 Osprey. The U.S. has continued flying Ospreys in Japan despite that country's request to ground them until the troubled hybrid aircraft is proven safe. SURPRISE ERUPTION: Also overseas, more than 20 climbers are presumed dead but 50 more have been rescued after a volcano unexpectedly erupted in Indonesia. Mount Marapi sent thick columns of ash nearly 10,000 feet high while hot ash blanketed villages and towns across several miles. |
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The Treasury Department launched a new effort to cut off the money fueling the global trade in fentanyl by tracking bank records and flows of money, especially bitcoin, to detect trafficking. It's the Biden administration's latest effort to stop illegal imports of the synthetic opioid, a group of drugs that killed 58,000 people in 2020 and 71,000 more in 2021. |
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6. BITCOIN IS … SURGING AGAIN? |
Bitcoin started 2023 having lost more than three-fourths of its value, but cooling inflation and an expected stamp of legitimacy from regulators have pushed its price past $41,000 for the first time since April 2022. The first exchange-traded fund based on cryptocurrency prices could be approved as soon as next month, making it easy for anyone with a brokerage account to put their money on a still very volatile asset. |
We're with Rory on this one. (Giphy) |
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It's not as good as cheaper college costs, but the new streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will at least save students and parents a little time when it's released later this month. Financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz explained what else is new in the 2024-25 form, when to expect college aid decisions, and how to appeal for more aid. |
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8. ORGANIZING YOUR CLOSET |
Yesterday we talked about shopping your own closet for potential holiday party outfits. But you can't shop your own closet if you can't find anything in it, so we turned to professional organizer Michele Goldsmith, who showed us the start-to-finish process of emptying, editing, sorting and labeling an entire closet. It was so satisfying. |
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To paraphrase one of SNL's all-time greats, the AP's best-of list has everything: Big feelings, R&B moms, elderly swagger, God-spying rats and experimental fluting. |
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Hitting a wall with your current strength routine? Try these exercises where you literally use a wall. |
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Oxford University Press has chosen rizz as its word of the year. For our readers over 30: It's a shortened form of charisma that means "the ability attract a romantic or sexual partner." To rizz up someone means "to attract, seduce, or chat [them] up." Now that you know what it means, you might be tempted to use rizz in a conversation. Under no circumstances should you do this. Youths, please do not laugh at us. Someday this will be you. |
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