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Israel vows to hit back against Iran and Houthis after airport attack

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Israel vows to hit back against Iran and Houthis after airport attack

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would hit back against the Houthis and Iran after a missile fired by the Tehran-backed militants landed near Israel’s main international airport.

The attack, which injured four people, disrupted flights and left a large crater near a car park within the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport, came as Israel issued call-ups to thousands of reservists in preparation for ratcheting up its offensive in Gaza.

Footage posted on social media showed a huge plume of smoke and dust rising from the site of the missile strike, as well as access roads strewn with debris hurled into the air by the impact.

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“I cannot disclose all the details. It’s not ‘bang’ and we’re done — but there will be bangs,” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on social media, pledging to respond against the Houthis for the strike.

After US President Donald Trump warned he would hold Tehran responsible for further attacks by the Houthis, Netanyahu added that Israel would also respond against Iran: “Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Sunday’s missile launch was the latest of dozens of salvos that the Houthis have fired at Israel since it invaded Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack. While most have been intercepted, some have slipped through Israel’s air defences, and the Houthis have continued to fire even as the US has bombed hundreds of targets in Yemen in a bid to force them to stop.

Netanyahu was due to discuss both how to respond to the strike on the airport and Israel’s next steps in its war with Hamas in Gaza with officials later on Sunday.

The call-ups of reservists, which the military said would allow it to “go deeper” into Gaza, mark the latest escalation of Israel’s operations in the Palestinian enclave since it broke a fragile ceasefire with Hamas two months ago.

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The missile fired from Yemen left a large crater near a car park within the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport © Nir Elias/Reuters

Since then, Israel has cut off supplies of food, fuel, medicine and aid to Gaza’s 2.1mn population, exacerbating extreme hunger and malnourishment in the territory, and driving prices for fruit and vegetables to exorbitant levels in the few places where they can still be obtained.

Israeli forces have also seized swaths of land along Gaza’s borders, as well as in other areas, such as around the southern town of Rafah, and in the Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza.

However, far-right ministers on whom Netanyahu’s coalition depends for its majority have been demanding that the government order a far bigger operation in the shattered territory, where Hamas is still holding 59 Israeli hostages — fewer than half of whom are still thought to be alive.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister, said last month that the government would have “no right to exist” if it did not defeat Hamas, occupy Gaza, install a “temporary military government”, free the hostages and implement US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace Gaza’s entire population — an idea widely regarded as ethnic cleansing.

However, a majority of Israelis want a deal to end the war, and last month numerous reservists signed petitions calling for the government to do a deal with Hamas to end the fighting and free the hostages.

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Netanyahu said last week that while bringing home the hostages was a “very important goal” in the war, the “ultimate goal is the victory over our enemies”.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 52,500 people, according to Palestinian officials. During Hamas’s October 7 attack, militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 hostage.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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