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The House on Thursday passed a bill that would impose sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court, launching a frontal attack on the court by rebuking its move to charge top Israeli leaders with war crimes over their offensive against Hamas in Gaza.The bill requires the president to freeze real estate assets and deny visas to all aliens who have materially or financially contributed to the court's efforts to "investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute a protected person." Protected persons are defined as all current and former military and government officials of the United States and its allies who have not consented to the court's jurisdiction, such as Israel.The measure is one of several pushed through the House by Republicans last year, but it died in the Democratic-led S...

Richard M. Cohen, an outspoken, award-winning television news producer whose career was ultimately derailed by the ravages of multiple sclerosis, which he wrote about in a best-selling memoir, died Dec. 24 in Sleepy Hollow, New York, a village in Westchester county. He was 76 years old.His wife, former "Today" host Meredith Vieira, said his death, at a hospital, was caused by acute respiratory failure.Cohen spent more than 20 years in the news business, working with luminaries such as Ted Koppel at ABC and Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather at CBS. But he took on a different topic when he wrote a memoir — and articles for HuffPost, The New York Times and other media — about managing MS, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system.Mr. Cohen was diagnosed with MS in 1973, when he was 25...

The founder of the website used by Dominique Pelicot to invite dozens of men to rape his wife after drugging her was indicted Thursday in France on myriad charges, including some linked to that case.If found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 7.5 million euros, or about $7.7 million.The site's founder, Isaac Steidl, 44, was released from prison Thursday. The investigating judge's office said he was placed under "judicial control", had to pay bail of 100,000 euros and was barred from leaving France.The website he created in 2003, called coco.fr, became famous in France during the trial of Mr Pelicot and 50 other men, who were all found guilty last month, mainly of raping his now ex-wife of Mr. Pelicot, Gisèle, while she was heavily sedated.One of the charges again...

When the Supreme Court considers arguments on Friday on whether protecting national security requires selling or shutting down TikTok, the justices will be working in the shadow of three First Amendment precedents, all influenced by the climate of their times and how much the justices they trusted the government.During the Cold War and Vietnam era, the court refused to give credence to government claims that national security required limiting what newspapers could publish and what Americans could read. More recently, however, the Court has deferred to Congress' judgment that the fight against terrorism justifies making certain types of speech a crime.The court will most likely act quickly, as TikTok faces a January 19 deadline under a law enacted in April by bipartisan majorities. The bil...

An Israeli drone strike killed three cousins, including two children, in the West Bank on Wednesday, according to Palestinian officials and a family member, as growing violence threatens to further destabilize the Israeli-occupied territory.The attack hit the courtyard of the cousins' house in the town of Tamoun, said Ahmed Asad, Palestinian governor of the Tubas region. He identified the dead as two young children, Rida Basharat and Hamza Basharat; and Adham Basharat, a junior.Israeli soldiers seized the three shortly after the airstrike, leaving it unclear whether they were alive or dead, Asad said. Israeli officials later informed their Palestinian counterparts that the three had been killed, he added.The Palestinian Authority's Civil Affairs section, which handles coordination with Isr...

Water fluoridation is widely regarded as one of the great public health successes of the 20th century, credited with large reductions in tooth decay. But there has been growing controversy among scientists over whether fluoride may be linked to lower IQ scores in children.A comprehensive federal analysis of results from previous studies, published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, added to these concerns. He found a significant inverse relationship between exposure levels and cognitive function in children.Higher fluoride exposures were linked to lower IQ scores, researchers working for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences concluded.None of the studies included in the analysis were conducted in the United States, where recommended levels of fluoridation in drinking water are...

Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist arrested last month in Iran while on a reporting trip, was released and was returning to Italy on Wednesday, the Italian government said in a statement.Ms. Sala, who had a journalist's visa, was arrested on December 19 on charges of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but officials provided no further details."The plane bringing journalist Cecilia Sala home took off a few minutes ago from Tehran," the Italian government announced on Wednesday morning, adding that "thanks to intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels, our compatriot has been released by the Iranian authorities."Ms Sala, 29, was held for 20 days and told her family she was kept in an isolation cell, with only two blankets and constant light.Fars, a news agency aff...

Taiwan is investigating whether a China-linked vessel was responsible for damaging one of the undersea cables connecting Taiwan to the Internet, the latest reminder of how vulnerable Taiwan's critical infrastructure is to damage from China.The incident comes as anxiety grows in Europe over alleged acts of sabotage, including those targeting undersea communications cables. Two fiber optic cables under the Baltic Sea were severed in November, prompting authorities in Sweden, Finland and Lithuania to stop a Chinese-flagged commercial vessel in the area for weeks over its possible involvement.In Taiwan, communications were quickly diverted after the damage was detected and no major disruptions occurred. The island's main telecommunications provider, Chunghwa Telecom, received notification Frid...

President-elect Donald J. Trump said Tuesday that "all hell will break loose in the Middle East" if hostages held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day, repeating the threat four times during a wide-ranging news conference at his headquarters. Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida.“If they don't come back when I take office, all hell will break loose in the Middle East,” he told reporters. “And it won't be good for Hamas, and frankly it won't be good for anyone. All hell will break loose. I don't have to say anything else, but that's how it is."Trump has not said what actions he might take if the hostages are not released before he takes office. And he declined to provide details about what he or his advisers are doing in the days leading up to the inauguration. Officials say about 100 host...

Snakes like these are giants. Black mambas can stretch up to 14 feet, and the longest king cobra ever recorded was 19 feet.Puff adders are small, by contrast, up to six inches short and no longer than six feet, but very thick. They have long, retractable fangs that can deliver venom to muscles.Their venom destroys blood clotting factors and victims die a slow, gruesome death, bleeding into the brain, eyes and mouth.Identifying the attacker can help personalize treatment. But many people never see the snake that bites them, or if they do, they can't identify it. To the untrained eye, venomous snakes may appear indistinguishable from harmless ones.The names don't make it any easier. Green mambas are green, but black mambas are light gray to dark brown; they are so called because the inside o...