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Missouri Supreme Court puts abortion rights back on the ballot [Video]

Missouri voters will make their voices heard on abortion rights this November.A decision handed down by the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a decision that led to Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s decertification of Amendment 3 on Monday.The decision should be the deciding factor on whether or not Missourians will get to vote on the amendment. If passed, it would provide constitutional protection for abortion in the state.The ruling came just hours ahead of a deadline to place measures on November’s absentee ballots before printing at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. In decertifying the amendment, Ashcroft cited a lower court’s ruling on a suit that was issued late Friday out of Cole County, saying the amendment was invalid because it did not include which laws would be repealed if passed.Backers of the amendment took issue with that argument because laws would be superseded and overlap with current law if voters approve the amendment this fall also at issue today is whether the secretary of state has the authority to decertify an initiative petition from the ballot after he already certified it. The Missouri Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in this case starting at 8:30 a.m. this morning and, ultimately, sided with backers of the amendment. The state’s high court did not side with a motion to hold the secretary of state in contempt for the decertification.”Respondent Ashcroft certified the petition as sufficient prior to that deadline, and any action taken to change that decision weeks after the statutory deadline expired is a nullity and of no effect,” the court said in its ruling. There are a few protestors still outside the Missouri Supreme Court building. Earlier this morning, backers of the amendment and several pro-life groups argued over the lower court’s ruling. Missouri banned most abortions immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. There is an exception for medical emergencies, but almost no abortions have occurred at Missouri facilities since then.

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Home Based Business

Israel releases video of a Gaza tunnel where it says Hamas militants killed 6 hostages

The Israeli military on Tuesday released video footage of a Gaza tunnel where it says six hostages were recently killed by Hamas. The video shows a low, narrow passageway deep underground that had no bathroom and poor ventilation.The discovery of the hostages bodies last month has sparked a mass outpouring of anger in Israel and the release of the new video could add to the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining hostages held by Hamas home.Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday the footage of the Gaza tunnel had been shown to the hostages families, and that it was very hard for them to see how their loved ones survived in those conditions.Hagari revealed the video in a nationally televised press conference after visiting the tunnel himself. He said the tunnel was reached by a shaft buried under a child’s bedroom in a home in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The tunnel was about 70 feet underground and stretched about 130 yards.In the video, a hunched-over Hagari, unable to stand upright in the narrow arched passageway, describes the conditions as extremely humid and difficult to breathe. He showed bottles of urine, a bucket that appeared to have served as a makeshift toilet, a chess board and ammunition for an automatic rifle believed to have been used by the captors.They were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions, where there’s no air to breathe, where you cannot stand,” he said.The six included Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a native of Berkeley, California, whose parents led a high-profile global campaign seeking his release. Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. In April, Hamas issued a video that showed him alive, sparking protests in Israel. The army identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.Three of the six including Goldberg-Polin had reportedly been scheduled to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal discussed in July, further fueling anger when they were found dead.The Hostages Families Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages, said in a statement that time is running out and called for an immediate deal to return those kidnapped.Every day that passes is a danger to their lives, hanging by a thread, at the mercy of terrorists capable of the worst crimes against humanity, the group said.Pathology tests on the bodies of the six, who were found by the military in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, Aug. 31, showed they had been killed sometime on the night of Aug. 29, Hagari told reporters.Hagari said Israeli soldiers found evidence indicating the hostages and at least two captors had been there for more than a few days. Mattresses, clothes, assault rifle magazines and shells were also found, as was some food, mainly energy bars and tuna. There were blood stains on the floor, he said.The day before the bodies were found, Hagari said, the army had killed two militants trying to run away from a complex of tunnels near where the hostages were found. There was a probability that the two had been those who killed the hostages, he said. DNA tests were being carried out to verify this, he added.Hamas kidnapped about 250 people during the Oct. 7 attack. More than 100 were released during a brief cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces, while Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages who had escaped captivity in December. Israeli authorities say 101 hostages remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead.Shai Dickman, the cousin of Gat, one of the hostages who was found dead in the tunnel, told Israel’s Channel 13 TV that the government should move immediately to reach a deal to bring home the remaining hostages.There are still people living like this, she said, holding back tears. If there had been a deal on time, Carmel would be sitting here.Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants. But negotiations on a cease-fire have failed to produce any deal.___Melzer contributed from Nahariya, Israel.

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Home Based Business

The Rundown: Highlights as sparks begin to fly on Day 2 of the latest Google antitrust trial [Video]

If youre reading this, youll be aware that a battle to shape the future of the online advertising industry formally began in a courtroom in the District of Eastern Virginia this week, as the U.S. Department of Justice locks horns with Googles online display ad business.