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Small Business Lifestyle

Israeli strike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers [Video]

An Israeli airstrike on a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed five people including employees of World Central Kitchen, and the charity said it was urgently seeking more details after Israel’s military said it targeted a WCK worker who was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war.WCK said it was heartbroken by the airstrike and that it had no knowledge anyone in the car had alleged ties to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, saying it was working with incomplete information. It said it was pausing operations in Gaza.The charity’s work in Gaza was temporarily suspended earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers, most of them foreigners.The Israeli military in a statement said the alleged Oct. 7 attacker had taken part in the assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz, and it asked senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify” how he had come to work for the charity.The violence in Gaza raged even as a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to hold, despite sporadic episodes that have tested its fragility.The strike on the vehicle highlighted what aid agencies call the dangerous work of delivering aid in Gaza, where the war has displaced much of the 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.Palestinian health official Muneer Alboursh confirmed the strike.At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, a woman held up an employee badge bearing the WCK logo, the word contractor and the name of a man said to have been killed. Belongings burned phones, a watch and stickers with the WCK logo lay on the hospital floor.Nazmi Ahmed said his nephew worked for WCK for the past year. He said he was driving to the charity’s kitchens and warehouses.Today, he went out as usual to work … and was targeted without prior warning and without any reason, Ahmed said.In April, a strike on a WCK aid convoy killed seven workers three British citizens, Polish and Australian nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian. The Israeli military called the strike a mistake.That strike prompted an international outcry and the brief suspension of aid to Gaza by several groups, including WCK. Another Palestinian WCK worker was killed in August by shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike, the group said.Another Israeli airstrike Saturday hit a car near a food distribution point in Khan Younis, killing 13 people including children. Nasser hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies.They were distributing aid, vegetables, and we saw the missile landing, said witness Rami Al-Sori. A woman sat on the ground and wept.Ceasefire appears to holdEfforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have faltered repeatedly. But the U.S.- and France-brokered deal for Lebanon appears to be holding after it took effect on Wednesday.On Saturday, Israel’s military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities, Hezbollah or activists monitoring the conflict there. Israeli aircraft have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing violations, several times since the truce.The Israeli strike in Syria came as insurgents breached the country’s largest city, Aleppo, in a shock offensive that brought fresh uncertainty to the region.The truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah calls for an initial two-month ceasefire in which the militants are to withdraw north of Lebanon’s Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced, streamed south to their homes, despite warnings by the Israeli and Lebanese militaries to stay away from certain areas.Day by day, we will return to our normal lives, said Mustafa Badawi, a cafe owner in Tyre.The toll of conflictsLebanons state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike on the village of Rub Thalatheen killed two people and wounded two others. It said another strike hit a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun, and Lebanons Health Ministry said three were wounded, including a 7-year-old.Israel’s military said it had been operating to distance suspects in the region, without elaborating. Israel says it reserves the right to strike against any perceived violations.Israel has made returning the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis home the goal of the war. But Israelis have been apprehensive about returning.No, it will not be like before, said one Israeli evacuee, Lavie Eini.Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its assault on southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah kept up cross-border fire for nearly a year until Israel escalated with an attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. It then launched an intense aerial bombardment campaign that killed Hezbollah leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, and launched a ground invasion in early October.More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel over half of them civilians as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.Hamas October 2023 attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostage.On Saturday, Hamas released a video of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Speaking under duress, Alexander referred to being held for 420 days and mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus recent $5 million offer for the hostages’ return. The prime minister is supposed to protect his soldiers and citizens, and you abandoned us, Alexander said.Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister spoke with Alexander’s family after the release of the brutal psychological warfare video that held an important and exciting sign of life.Israels retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count but say over half the dead were women and children.___Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Mroue reported from Beirut. Mohammad Jahjouh in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, contributed.

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Small Business Lifestyle

Basement Flooding City of Toronto [Video]

It is essential that homeowners take steps to help protect their home from basement flooding. While the City of Toronto is working to improve its complex system of underground pipes, sewers and catchbasins, these improvements alone cannot completely protect a home from basement flooding.

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Small Business Lifestyle

Trump Cabinet picks, appointees targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks [Video]

A number of President-elect Donald Trump’s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.Last night and this morning, several of President Trumps Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.She said the attacks ranged from bomb threats to swatting, in which attackers initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses. The tactic has become a popular one in recent years.Leavitt said law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted and Trump and his transition team are grateful.Among those targeted were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trumps pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations; Matt Gaetz, Trumps initial pick to serve as attorney general; and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.Susie Wiles, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general whom Trump has chosen as Gaetz’s replacement, were also targeted, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation continues. Wiles and Bondi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The FBI said in a statement that it was aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees” and was investigating with its law enforcement partners.The FBI added: “We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma said President Joe Biden had been briefed and the White House is in touch with federal law enforcement and Trump’s transition team.Biden continues to monitor the situation closely,” Sharma said, adding the president and his administration condemn threats of political violence.Stefanik’s office said that, on Wednesday morning, she, her husband, and their 3-year-old son were driving home from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence in Saratoga County.Her office said New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism.The New York State Police said a team was dispatched to sweep Stefaniks home on Wednesday morning in response to the bomb threat but did not locate any explosive devices. The agency directed further questions to the FBI.Zeldin said in a social media post that he and his family had been threatened.A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message, he wrote on X. My family and I were not home at the time and are safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops.Police in Suffolk County, Long Island, said emergency officers responded to a bomb threat Wednesday morning at an address listed in public records as Zeldins home and were checking the property.In Florida, the Okaloosa County sheriffs office said on Facebook that it received notification of a bomb threat referencing former Congressman Matt Gaetzs supposed mailbox at a home in the Niceville area” around 9 a.m. Wednesday.While a family member resides at the address, the office said, Gaetz is NOT a resident. No threatening devices were found.Gaetz was Trumps initial pick to serve as attorney general, but he withdrew from consideration after allegations that he paid women for sex and slept with underage women. Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.The threats follow a political campaign marked by disturbing and unprecedented violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the then-candidate in the ear with a bullet and killing one of his supporters. The Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a perimeter fence while Trump was golfing.Public figures across the political spectrum have been targeted in recent years by hoax bomb threats and false reports of shootings at their homes.About a year ago the FBI responded to an uptick in such incidents at the homes of public officials, state capitols and courthouses across the country around the holidays. Many were locked down and evacuated in early January after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found and no one was hurt.Some of those targeted last year were Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.In Wus case, a male caller told police he had shot his own wife and tied another man up. When police and EMT responders arrived at the address given by the caller, they quickly realized it was the Boston mayors home. Wu, a Democrat, has also been targeted by many swatting calls since she took office in 2021.The judges overseeing the civil fraud case against Trump in New York and the criminal election interference case against him in Washington were both targeted earlier this year. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who recently abandoned the two criminal cases he brought against Trump, was also the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day last year.Earlier this year, schools, government buildings and the homes of city officials in Springfield, Ohio, received a string of hoax bomb threats after Trump falsely accused members of Springfields Haitian community of abducting and eating cats and dogs.And in 2022, a slew of historically Black colleges and universities nationwide were targeted with dozens of bomb threats, with the vast majority arriving during the celebration of Black History Month.The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Wednesday that anytime a member of Congress is the victim of a swatting’ incident, we work closely with our local and federal law enforcement partners. The force declined to provide further details, in part to minimize the risk of copy-cats.Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the threats dangerous and unhinged.This year, there was not just one but TWO assassination attempts on President Trump,” he wrote on X. Now some of his Cabinet nominees and their families are facing bomb threats. He added: It is not who we are in America.___ Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.