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The Gaza Hospital Explosion: Uncovering the Knowns and Unknowns
(CTN NEWS) – A day following a devastating explosion that tore through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, triggering protests in the region, the United States has released its own assessment regarding the cause of the destruction.
Israel has presented evidence suggesting that a misfire by the militant group Islamic Jihad was responsible for the blast.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden supported this explanation, citing US intelligence.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council later stated that their analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts, and open-source information indicated that Israel is not to blame.
However, Palestinian officials and several Arab leaders continue to accuse Israel of targeting the hospital during its ongoing airstrikes in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad, a rival group to Hamas, has denied any involvement in the incident.
It is estimated that hundreds of people lost their lives in the attack, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza.
Images of the devastating aftermath have led to protests throughout the region.
Here is what we currently know and what remains uncertain.
What Happened At The Hospital?
CNN has geolocated a video capturing the moment of the explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
In the video, the sky suddenly lights up as a powerful explosion erupts on the hospital premises, unleashing a towering plume of fire and smoke into the atmosphere.
Within the hospital building, chaos ensues. Dr. Fadel Na’eem, the head of the orthopedic department, recounts performing surgery when a thunderous blast rocked the hospital.
Panic spread rapidly as hospital staff rushed into the operating room, shouting for assistance and reporting numerous casualties.
In a recorded video statement to CNN, Dr. Na’eem expressed his astonishment, saying, “I had just completed one surgery, and suddenly, we heard a massive explosion.
We initially believed it was outside the hospital because we never anticipated that they would target the hospital.”
After leaving the theater, Dr. Na’eem encountered a scene of immense horror. He described it as follows: “Many people were beheaded, and there was a massive fire everywhere.”
The medical team worked tirelessly to attend to the wounded and those on the brink of death, but the scale of the devastation was simply overwhelming.
The number of casualties was so substantial that their efforts seemed futile.
While it is challenging to independently verify the exact number of casualties resulting from the explosion, the tragedy was starkly evident in images circulating on social media.
Photographs and videos depicted young children, covered in dust, being rushed for medical care to treat their injuries. Lifeless bodies were scattered on the ground.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported a death toll exceeding 400.
What The Israelis & Palestinians Have Said
On Tuesday evening, Palestinian officials placed blame on Israel for the hospital attack.
However, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Jonathan Conricus stated on Wednesday that the initial evidence strongly suggests that the incident could not have been caused by an Israeli bomb.
Israel’s intelligence indicates that a “failed rocket launch” by the Islamist militant group, the Islamic Jihad, was responsible for the explosion.
The Islamic Jihad movement firmly rejected these allegations as “false and baseless.”
In an additional development, the IDF released audio recordings that purportedly captured a conversation between two Hamas operatives discussing a rocket launch near the hospital, particularly from a cemetery.
According to the IDF’s translation of the conversation, one of the alleged operatives mentioned, “They are saying that the shrapnel of the missile is local shrapnel and not like the Israeli shrapnel.”
On Tuesday, the IDF presented imagery it claims as evidence that the hospital’s destruction could not have resulted from an airstrike.
They pointed to the absence of visible craters or significant damage to buildings that would typically occur from such an attack.
Additionally, an official video shared on the State of Israel’s social media account on Tuesday night was presented as proof that the hospital was hit by outgoing rocket fire from militants.
However, discrepancies arose regarding the timestamp on the video, which did not align with the explosion’s actual timing. As a result, the tweet was later edited to remove the video.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lior Haiat, informed CNN that they initially believed the video was from an official source, but upon further investigation, they learned it had been sourced from elsewhere.
Consequently, the video was taken down.
On Wednesday, officials in Gaza asserted that the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital sustained damage from two Israeli shells four days prior, following which the IDF supposedly warned the hospital’s management to evacuate.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for their response to this claim.
What US Intelligence Suggests
The US government’s current assessment, as conveyed by the US National Security Council (NSC), absolves Israel of responsibility for the hospital explosion.
During a significant visit to Israel, President Biden informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the damage at the hospital “appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”
However, he acknowledged that there are uncertainties surrounding the incident that need to be addressed.
On Wednesday, the NSC further emphasized its assessment, stating that intelligence indicates some Palestinian militants in Gaza believed the explosion resulted from an accidental rocket or missile launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and they were still investigating the incident.
US intelligence has gathered initial evidence supporting the theory that the hospital strike resulted from a rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
This evidence includes blast analysis suggesting a ground explosion rather than an airstrike, with no single crater indicating a bomb.
Instead, extensive fire damage and scattered debris consistent with an explosion originating from ground level were observed, according to sources.
It’s important to note that the blast analysis is just one aspect under scrutiny by the intelligence community, which has intensified its intelligence collection efforts in the region.
How Has The World Reacted?
Numerous countries have expressed shock and sorrow over the loss of life at the hospital and have called for caution in assigning blame until a thorough investigation clarifies the circumstances.
The United Nations has emphasized the need for a meticulous inquiry, recognizing that until independent investigators have the opportunity to comprehensively examine the incident, the exact cause of the blast remains uncertain.
Israel has shared intelligence related to the Gaza hospital explosion with the United States, as confirmed by an Israeli official and another source with knowledge of the matter.
Conversely, several Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, have issued statements condemning Israel and accusing its military of being responsible for the hospital bombing.
Simultaneously, widespread protests have erupted in various locations, with demonstrators in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, and Tunisia rallying while chanting anti-Israel slogans.
Protests have also rocked the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
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A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.
The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.
This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.
The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.
In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.
Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened
“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.
Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.
Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.
In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.
An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.
Enforcement efforts Questioned
By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.
“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).
The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.
The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.
“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.
Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem
Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.
“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.
Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.
Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.
“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.
“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.
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Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.
Pixa Bay
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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