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Israel bombed a building that was part of the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on Monday, killing seven people, including Gen. Mohamad Reza Zahedi, who oversaw Iran's covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon, and two other senior generals.For centuries, diplomatic posts have been afforded special protections. Diplomats gain immunity from prosecution in the host country, and embassy buildings are often seen as a sanctuary for their nation's citizens: the host country's police cannot enter them without permission from diplomatic staff, and they often become sanctuaries for wartime expatriates.So attacks on diplomatic offices carry particular weight, both in the law and in the popular imagination. But in this case, experts say, Israel can probably argue that its actio...

When I temporarily switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week, I was preparing myself for a world of pain. I've only owned Apple phones since I bought the first-generation iPhone in 2007. And, like many, I've purchased other Apple products that go well together, including AirPods, an Apple Watch, and an iPad.That kind of loyalty is the basis of an antitrust case against Apple brought by the Justice Department, which accused the company of using monopoly control over the iPhone to harm competitors and dissuade customers from switching to other phones. To test this theory, I decided to briefly part with my iPhone.I was initially surprised by how easy it was to transfer my iPhone data to an Android smartphone made by Google. By simply installing an app created by Google ...

Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43, known as Zomi, was the Australian worker killed on Monday. She began volunteering for World Central Kitchen in 2018 and was hired the following year, according to her former partner, Josh Phelps.Their last exchange of messages occurred on Sunday, shortly before she and the humanitarian convoy departed central Gaza. She sent her some photos of their time together delivering food on a reservation in South Dakota. She responded with a heart emoji.The next day, he found out she had been killed.“Wherever she needed to go, she was willing to go,” he said. "She was following her dreams of making a life around the world."Damian Sobol of Poland has been described as “the Michael Jordan of humanitarian work” by a former colleague, Noah Sims, a chef from North Georgia who h...

La forma altamente letale di influenza aviaria che circola in tutto il mondo dal 2021 ha ucciso decine di milioni di uccelli, costretto gli allevatori di pollame negli Stati Uniti a macellare interi branchi e provocato un breve ma allarmante aumento del prezzo delle uova.Più recentemente, ha infettato mucche da latte in diversi stati e almeno una persona in Texas che ha avuto uno stretto contatto con gli animali, hanno detto i funzionari questa settimana.L’epidemia, a quanto pare, si sta rivelando particolarmente costosa per i contribuenti americani.L’anno scorso, il Dipartimento dell’Agricoltura ha pagato ai produttori di pollame più di mezzo miliardo di dollari per i tacchini, i polli e le galline ovaiole che erano stati costretti a uccidere dopo che il ceppo influenzale H5N1 era stato r...

President Biden spoke with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, on Tuesday morning in a call that aimed to address a range of combative and cooperative issues as the United States grapples with wars and other global crises, U.S. and Chinese officials said .According to a White House summary of the call, topics raised by Biden included combating narcotics production, conflict in the Middle East, North Korea's nuclear program and China's support for Russia during the war in Ukraine.Biden intended the speech to be a "check-in" rather than a discussion with concrete outcomes, said a senior administration official, who spoke to a small group of reporters Monday evening on condition of anonymity, as is customary for such people. Washington briefing. But it was a crucial signal during a cruc...

michael barbaroFrom The New York Times. I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.For millions of Americans, the past four years have been a national trauma. Today: As Joe Biden prepares to take the oath of office and become the 46th president of the United States, some of his supporters are filled with hope, some with concern, but all with relief. It’s Wednesday, January 20.brian keaneThere he is.michael barbaroHey, Brian.brian keaneHey, Michael. How’s it going? It’s been a long year, huh?michael barbaroHas it ever.brian keaneBoy, oh, boy.michael barbaroWell, Brian, I’m sure you remember the last time that we talked.brian keaneYeah.michael barbaroAnd let me refresh your — let me refresh our listeners’ memory. Because you surely remember it. It was right before Super Tuesday in the middle of ...

Tesla appeared to have lost control of the market it effectively created after reporting a stunning drop in quarterly sales on Tuesday, raising new questions about Elon Musk's leadership of the company.The sales decline caught investors by surprise as rivals such as China's BYD and South Korea's Kia and Hyundai reported increases in electric vehicle sales, suggesting that slowing overall demand for battery-powered models was not the only explanation of Tesla's problems.Tesla pioneered the electric vehicle market with the Model 3 sedan and Model Y sport-utility vehicle, proving that battery-powered cars could be attractive, practical and profitable. The cars have revolutionized the automotive industry and forced established automakers to develop their own electric models.Bu...

Current and former U.S. officials expressed fears Tuesday that Israel's airstrikes against the Iranian embassy in Syria could escalate hostilities in the region and provoke retaliatory attacks against Israel and its American ally.Officials said Monday's attack, which killed three Iranian Quds Force generals and four other officers, dealt a major blow to the force, external military service and intelligence services of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.Ralph Goff, a former senior CIA official who served in the Middle East, called the Israeli attack “incredibly reckless.”“The result will just be an escalation on the part of Iran and its proxies, which is very dangerous” for American troops in the region who could be targeted in retaliatory attacks by Tehran's proxies, Goff sa...

The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that hospitals must obtain written informed consent from patients before undergoing sensitive tests — such as pelvic and prostate exams — especially if the patients will be under anesthesia.A New York Times investigation in 2020 found that hospitals, doctors and doctors-in-training sometimes conducted pelvic exams on women under anesthesia, even when such exams were not medically necessary and when the patient had not authorized them. Sometimes these exams were performed only for the educational benefit of medical trainees.On Monday, the secretary of Health and Human Services, along with senior officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the department's Office for Civil Rights, sent a letter to teaching hos...

A young student fatally shot a 12-year-old and wounded two others at a school in Finland on Tuesday, police said, a rare act of violence by a child in a country that changed its gun laws after previous school shootings, but where firearm ownership remains widespread.Police said they arrested a suspect, also 12 years old, who had a gun, about an hour after arriving at the Viertola school in the town of Vantaa, about 10 miles north of Helsinki.“The Vantaa shooting incident is deeply distressing,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said this on X.Finland tightened its gun laws after two school shootings, in 2007 and 2008, in which 20 people, including the perpetrators, died. Those shootings inspired a heated debate over firearms legislation in a country of hunters and gun enthusiasts. A law introdu...