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Arson engulfs Mississippi synagogue, a congregation once bombed by Ku Klux Klan

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Arson engulfs Mississippi synagogue, a congregation once bombed by Ku Klux Klan

A fire damaged the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss. The fire department said arson was the cause.

Hannah Orlansky/Beth Israel Congregation


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Hannah Orlansky/Beth Israel Congregation

Authorities have charged one person with arson in a fire that badly damaged Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., early Saturday morning. The Jackson Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and the FBI are investigating.

Zach Shemper, Beth Israel Congregation president, said he’s stunned.

“Crazy things happen all over the world and nothing really hits home until it actually hits directly home,” he told Mississippi Public Broadcasting. “When it hits home, it’s just hard. Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my own head around it.”

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Shemper also released a statement saying the synagogue and its 150 families are resilient.

“As Jackson’s only synagogue, Beth Israel is a beloved institution, and it is the fellowship of our neighbors and extended community that will see us through,” he said.

The congregation was founded in 1860, according to Beth Israel’s website. In 1967, local Ku Klux Klan members bombed the place of worship and the home of the rabbi at the time, who had spoken out against racism and segregation. No one was hurt in the civil rights-era bombings or Saturday’s fire.

Charles Felton, Jackson Fire Department chief of fire investigations, told NPR in an interview on Sunday that flames and smoke caused extensive damage and destroyed Beth Israel’s library, where he says the fire was started. The fire was reported to 911 just after 3 a.m.

“All contents in that library are destroyed. There’s not much that can be retrieved from the library area. The other portions of the building do not have actual fire damage, but they have damage as far as smoke and soot,” he said.

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Shemper said the fire destroyed two Torahs, the Jewish sacred texts, and damaged five others. A Torah that survived the Holocaust was protected by a glass display case and was not damaged. The synagogue’s Tree of Life plaque honoring congregants’ meaningful occasions was destroyed. Shemper said the library, administrative offices and the lobby suffered the most damage.

Surveillance video shows a man wearing a hoodie and a mask pouring liquid from a can inside the synagogue, according to Shemper. Felton said Jackson Fire investigators later received information from an area hospital that led them to the suspect, who was arrested Saturday evening.

“There was a suspect possibly burned at a local hospital,” he told NPR. “They did go to the hospital at which point they interviewed the person of interest and that person did confess to having involvement in the fire.”

The Jackson Fire Department’s powers include the authority to charge suspects, according to Felton, who said the department has filed arson charges against the suspect, who authorities have not publicly named. He said federal authorities will make a determination on whether to pursue hate crime charges.

The FBI’s office in Jackson said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and was working with other law enforcement on the investigation.

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Jackson Mayor John Horhn said the city stands with Beth Israel and the Jewish community.

“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” said a statement from the mayor’s office.

Beth Israel is planning to immediately move forward.

“With support from our community, we will rebuild. Beth Israel Congregation has been the Jewish spiritual home in Jackson, Mississippi, for over 160 years,” said Shemper’s statement. “We are devastated but ready to rebuild.”

He said several local churches have offered temporary space for Beth Israel to continue services.

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The attack comes after investigators say a father and son opened fire on Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, last month. Fifteen people were killed and dozens were injured.

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Map: Minor Earthquake Strikes Near San Diego

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Map: Minor Earthquake Strikes Near San Diego

Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown.  All times on the map are Pacific time. The New York Times

A minor earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.5 struck in Southern California on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The temblor happened at 2:06 p.m. Pacific time about 9 miles north of Tecate, Mexico, data from the agency shows.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Pacific time. Shake data is as of Monday, April 6 at 5:08 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, April 6 at 7:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Trump reiterates threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges

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Trump reiterates threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges

President Trump speaks as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (center) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine look on during a news conference at the White House on April 6.

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President Trump repeated threats to Iran during during his Monday press conference, including against Iran’s civilian infrastructure if a deal to end the war is not reached by Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET. Negotiations, he said, must include an open Strait of Hormuz.

“Every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again. I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to, we don’t want that to happen,” Trump told reporters.

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He added: “We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation.”

After days of flip-flopping messaging, vacillating from demanding Iran open the Strait of Hormuz to telling U.S. allies it’s up to them to open it to an Easter Sunday profanity-laced social media post demanding Iran open it, Trump said a successful negotiation would have to include “free traffic of oil.”

“We have to have a deal that’s acceptable to me and part of that deal is going to be, we want free traffic of oil and everything,” he said.

Asked about his mixed messages about the status of the war, and whether it was winding down or ramping up amid his latest threats, he said: “I don’t know. I can’t tell. It depends what they do. This is a critical period. They have a period of, well, till tomorrow, at eight o’clock.”

Trump said he can’t discuss a potential ceasefire, but the U.S. has “an active, willing participant on the other side” of negotiations.

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Asked if he’s concerned that bombing of power plants and bridges would amount to war crimes, Trump said, “No. I hope I don’t have to do it.”

He opened the press conference by describing the successful rescue mission for the downed airman over the weekend.

Trump spent several minutes describing the rescue mission, calling his decision to authorize the rescue as “risky” and “hard.”

“But in the U.S. military. We leave no American behind,” he said. The president claimed Iran “got lucky” when they took out the U.S. fighter jet.

CIA Director John Radcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine all recounted the rescue operation at the press conference — Trump’s first since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran more than a month ago.

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The news conference comes days after Trump formally addressed the nation from the White House last week and said the conflict would end “shortly.” At that address, he criticized other countries, though didn’t name any specifically, and said it was up to others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the route through which 20% of the world’s oil is transported.

Iran’s closure of the strait during the war has led to a jump in gas prices globally, hitting around $4 per gallon last week in the U.S.

The president has also been threatening a surge in strikes on Iran Tuesday, unless the strait is reopened by tomorrow evening.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump said on social media over the weekend, “Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”

The post comes as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have made some progress. A 45-day ceasefire proposal was submitted to the U.S. and Iran on Sunday. On Monday, Trump called the proposal “a significant step.”

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The president has repeatedly said the war would last roughly six weeks. But now, in its sixth week, the timeline on when the war would end and how achievable Trump’s objectives are remain unclear.

For weeks, Trump has been moving the goal posts on the administration’s goals with Iran, including whether the U.S. will remove Iran’s uranium stockpiles. Trump has also suggested that the U.S. could end the war but strike Iran again later if they aim to build up nuclear defenses.

Polling shows that Americans oppose the war in Iran. Even among Republican supporters of the president, his approval rating has dipped. A CNN poll released last week showed that Republicans who strongly approve of Trump’s job performance dropped to 43%, compared to 52% in January.

High costs, including gas prices, remain a top of mind concern for voters heading into the midterm elections in roughly six months. On Monday, Trump said the high prices might last into the summer.

“We’re never going to let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said of Iran. “And if we have to pay a little extra for fuel for a couple of months, and we’ll do that, but we’re never going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

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NASA’s Artemis II crew readies for Monday’s lunar flyby. Here’s what you need to know

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NASA’s Artemis II crew readies for Monday’s lunar flyby. Here’s what you need to know

A photo of NASA’s Orion space capsule taken by a remote camera mounted on one of its solar arrays as it sped towards the moon. The four astronauts will loop around the moon on Monday and also venture farther into space than any humans before.

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The crew of NASA’s Artemis II will make its closest approach to the moon Monday afternoon after launching from Kennedy Space Center last week.

It marks a critical milestone of the agency’s Orion space capsule, sending humans on a mission to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. As the capsule loops around the moon, the astronauts will reach farther into space than humans have ever ventured.

The Orion spacecraft is now in the lunar sphere of influence, meaning the moon’s gravity has more pull on the vehicle than the Earth. At 1:46 p.m. ET, the crew will surpass the record for the farthest distance traveled from Earth by humans, which was set by the Apollo 13 mission at 248,655 statute miles from Earth. At 2:45 p.m., the crew will begin making observations of the surface of the moon during the flyby.

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As the vehicle circles the far side of the moon, communication back to Earth is expected to be blocked for about 40 minutes. At 7:02 p.m., the crew is expected to have reached the mission’s maximum distance from Earth at 252,760 statute miles.

The flyby is scheduled to conclude at 9:20 p.m. and then the crew will be on its way home, with a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, Calif. on Friday at 8:07 p.m.

During the Artemis II flyby, the crew will pass over two previous human lunar landing sites — Apollo 12 and 14.

Lunar science observations

During the lunar flyby, the closest Orion will come to the surface of the moon is 4,070 miles. From that distance the crew will have a unique vantage point of the moon as a full disc — and the ability to take observations never before seen by human eyes.

NASA scientists have identified about 35 geological features for the crew to observe. Working in pairs, they will take photos of the sites and describe them in real time to scientists at Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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“They’re going to be absolutely buzzing,” said Artemis II lunar science lead Kelsey Young on Sunday. The team will be monitoring the observations and providing guidance to the crew.

“The science team will get to work right away, kind of synthesizing those [observations], and then we’ll actually downlink the rest of the descriptions overnight, in advance of a crew conference we’ll have the following morning to continue the science discussion.”

Artemis II has ten science objectives for the flyby. One is to observe color variations on the lunar surface. Changes in color can indicate the composition of the minerals on the surface. These changes are hard to detect with satellite images.

“This is something that human eyes are just incredibly good at teasing out nuances about,” said Young.

Satellites like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, have given scientists a better understanding of the lunar surface. The Artemis II crew’s observations will build on that knowledge.

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“We understand, you know, what it’s made out of. We understand the topography, but we don’t know what the crew are going to see in these specific illumination conditions from a scientific perspective,” said Young. “And that’s exciting.”

NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew traveled towards the Moon on Sunday.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth on Saturday, as the crew traveled towards the Moon.

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NASA via Getty Images/Getty Images North America

The observations will help future landing missions. One target site is a potential future landing area for an uncrewed payload mission. The crew will also get a small glimpse of the lunar south pole — where humans might land as early as 2028.

The mission so far

Artemis II is more than halfway through its slingshot mission around the moon and back. This is a test flight of the Orion space capsule, carrying a human crew for the first time.

“Our mission continues to go incredibly well,” said Lori Glaze, who leads NASA’s Artemis program.

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Tests include manual control of the Orion spacecraft. Mission pilot Victor Glover practiced the maneuverability of the capsule for future rendezvous with lunar landing vehicles.

The crew tested the spacecraft’s life support systems, like the carbon dioxide scrubbers, and donned their space suits midflight — which future astronauts might have to do in an emergency.

The Artemis II mission is also testing the first deep-space toilet. NASA’s Universal Waste Management System is stowed in the floor of Orion and allows the crew to use the bathroom in private. So far, the hardware has had a few hiccups (not having enough water in the bowl and, at a different point, not being able to dump the waste overboard due to a frozen line), but those seem to be resolved.

“We’re continuing to proceed with the mission and the use of the toilet nominally,” said Artemis II flight director Rick Henfling, meaning the crew is allowed to use the onboard lavatory.

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