Author: Reporter

A barren moonscape: Residents fear Gaza will remain uninhabitable when the war finally ends

Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells. Nearly 1 million Palestinians have fled the north, including its urban center, Gaza City, as ground combat intensified. When the war ends, any relief will quickly be overshadowed by dread as displaced families come to terms with the scale of the calamity and what it means for their future. Where would they live? Who would eventually run...

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Left Behind: Families of some unreleased hostages in Gaza face the enduring nightmare of waiting

Ofri Bibas Levy has been haunted by nightmares since October 7, when her brother, sister-in-law, and their two young children were snatched by Hamas militants from their homes and dragged into the Gaza Strip. In those dreams she sees her captive relatives, all except for her brother Yarden. That subconscious omission may reflect her ordeal: Out of the Israeli hostages, only women and children are expected to be among the 50 people released during a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that started on November 24. All of the Israeli men, and many women, will remain captive in Gaza...

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FBI says thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to help fund weapons program in North Korea

Thousands of information technology workers contracting with U.S. companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said. The Justice Department said on October 18 that IT workers dispatched and contracted by North Korea to work remotely with companies in St. Louis and elsewhere in the U.S. have been using false identities to get the jobs. The money they earned was funneled to the North Korean weapons program, FBI leaders said at a news conference in St. Louis. Court documents...

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Why China supports sanctions of North Korea’s nuclear program while actively working against them

Chinese middlemen launder the proceeds of North Korean hackers’ cyber heists while Chinese ships deliver sanctioned North Korean goods to Chinese ports. Chinese companies help North Koreans workers — from cheap laborers to well-paid IT specialists — find work abroad. A Beijing art gallery even boasts of North Korean artists working 12-hour days in its heavily surveilled compound, churning out paintings of idyllic visions of life under communism that each sell for thousands of dollars. That is all part of what international authorities say is a growing mountain of evidence that shows Beijing is helping cash-strapped North Korea evade...

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Ukraine sheds Russian-imposed tradition by officially moving Christmas Day holiday to December 25

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 28 signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to December 25 from January 7, the day when the Russian Orthodox Church observes it. The explanatory note attached to the law said its goal is to “abandon the Russian heritage,” including that of “imposing the celebration of Christmas” on Jan. 7. It cited Ukrainians’ “relentless, successful struggle for their identity” and “the desire of all Ukrainians to live their lives with their own traditions, holidays,” fueled by Russia’s 17-month-old aggression against the country. Last year, some Ukrainians already observed Christmas on December...

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The next flashpoint: How Russia is scheming to destabilize NATO’s eastern border with Belarus

Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbors ratchet up. Those tensions between Poland — a NATO and European Union country — and Belarus, which is Russia’s ally in its war on Ukraine, have been building up in recent months on the border. Here is why: ORIGINS OF THE TENSIONS Poland has been backing the Belarusian opposition ever since the 2020 presidential elections, where pro-Russian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in a vote that Poland and the wider Western community saw as...

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