Author: Earnest Clark

Our hearts are heavy today. Jill and I are devastated and outraged to learn of the death of Omer Neutra, an American citizen, whose body Hamas has apparently been holding since they killed him during their brutal terrorist attack October 7. Omer was just 21 years old when he was taken by Hamas. He was serving as a tank commander in an Israel Defense Forces unit that was among the first to respond to Hamas’s campaign of cruelty— risking his life to save the lives of others. A Long Island native, Omer planned to return to the United States for…

Washington 9 November (30). Whatever feelings about Trump, and you’re not alone in your view that he’s been a polarizing figure. Whether people support or oppose him, there’s no denying that he’s left a lasting imprint on American politics, often evoking comparisons to historical figures like Hitler but more like Mussolini, sometimes for his strongman persona and authoritarian rhetoric, rather than direct parallels to Hitler. This is a leftist narrative. From a policy standpoint, many critics, argue that Trump’s approach has often seemed shallow or reactionary, with an emphasis on rhetoric over substantive, long-term solutions. His style, which can be…

Likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers consistently said former President Donald Trump is the candidate who best embodies a range of qualities they’re looking for in 2024, which helps explain his commanding lead in the new NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll. A majority or a plurality of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers choose Trump over the rest of the GOP field when asked which candidates best embody eight different attributes related to foreign and domestic policy. Trump’s highest-rated quality is as the candidate who would be most feared by U.S. enemies, with a whopping 77% saying Trump is that candidate, including 59% of those likely caucusgoers…

Russian President Vladimir Putin began his end-of-year news conference Thursday vowing that his goals in Ukraine remain the same and that there would be no peace until they’re achieved. The Russian president, who has held power for nearly 24 years and announced recently he is running for reelection, was greeted with applause as he arrived in the hall in central Moscow. This year, ordinary citizens have the chance to phone in questions along with those asked by journalists, and Russians have been submitting questions for Putin for two weeks. It is the first time Putin, who has heavily limited his interaction…

CAIRO/UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Hunger was worsening among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip, aid agencies said, as the United Nations General Assembly prepared to vote on Tuesday on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the two-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas. Hundreds more civilians have died in Israel’s assault on Gaza since the U.S. on Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge or food in the densely populated coastal enclave. The U.N. World Food Programme has…

US President Joe Biden is running for re-election next year, but national opinion polls and weak job approval ratings suggest voters may not be keen to re-nominate him. Mr Biden, 80, formally announced his 2024 re-election bid in April, telling voters the country is in a pivotal moment and he needs more time to “finish this job”. The Democratic Party faithful, including elected leaders and top donors, are backing him up – but many voters still need convincing he is the best candidate the party has. Significant numbers of Democrats have called for other options, expressing concern over Mr Biden’s…

Maryanne Trump Barry, the eldest sister of ex-President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 86, US media reports. She was found dead at about 04:00 EST (09:00 GMT) on Monday morning in her New York City apartment, according to ABC News. Her cause of death has not yet been revealed. Mrs Barry served as a federal judge in New Jersey from 1983 until her retirement in 2019. She is the third of Mr Trump’s four siblings to have passed away. A spokesman for the former president did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment. Sources told…

The US has sent roughly 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran last year to Ukraine, its military has said. The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, says the rounds were confiscated from a ship bound for Yemen in December. Ukraine’s Western allies recently warned that their production lines were struggling to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine was using ammunition. Centcom says the Iranian rounds were transferred to Ukraine on Monday. It added the ammunition was 7.62mm calibre used in Soviet-era rifles and light machine-guns. While the number is significant, it represents a small percentage of the…

Golden prairies and winding rivers of a Minnesota state park also hold the secret burial sites of Dakota people who died as the United States failed to fulfill treaties with Native Americans more than a century ago. Now their descendants are getting the land back. The state is taking the rare step of transferring the park with a fraught history back to a Dakota tribe, trying to make amends for events that led to a war and the largest mass hanging in US history. “It’s a place of holocaust. Our people starved to death there,” said Kevin Jensvold, chairman of the Upper…

The United States recorded its highest number of suicides last year, with more than 49,000 people taking their own lives in 2022, according to newly released government data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted new data on Thursday suggesting suicides were becoming more common in the US than at any time since World War II. US suicides steadily rose from the early 2000s until 2018, when the national rate hit its highest level since 1941. That year saw about 48,300 suicide deaths – or 14.2 for every 100,000 Americans. The rate fell slightly in 2019 and dropped again in…