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US rejects Hamas response to new Gaza ceasefire proposal

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US rejects Hamas response to new Gaza ceasefire proposal

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US envoy Steve Witkoff has rejected Hamas’s response to a fresh ceasefire proposal in the Gaza war as “totally unacceptable”.

Hamas had earlier responded positively to the release of a comparable number of Israeli hostages, but raised “clarifications” regarding the overall deal, according to a diplomat briefed on the talks.

The militant group also insisted that its goal was still to permanently end the war, secure a comprehensive Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, and guarantee increased humanitarian aid flows.

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“I received the Hamas response to the United States’ proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward,” Witkoff said in a statement.

“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”

Witkoff’s new proposal called for a 60-day pause in the fighting, the release of half the 58 remaining Israeli hostages, 20 of whom are still alive, and “good faith negotiations” over a permanent halt to the war.

The Trump administration indicated this week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted the terms, although he has consistently rejected ending the fighting before Hamas is completely destroyed.

Netanyahu’s office on Saturday night said that while Israel had accepted the proposal, “Hamas continues to stick to its refusal,” and vowed “to continue operations for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

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The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday confirmed that Hamas’s military chief, Mohammed Sinwar, and several other senior commanders were killed in a May 13 air strike in the city of Khan Younis in south Gaza. According to the IDF, the group was targeted while in a tunnel located below the grounds of the city’s European hospital.

Sinwar took overall command of Hamas’s forces last year, after most of the group’s other top leaders — including his brother, Yahya — were previously killed by Israel.

Also on Saturday, Israel blocked the entry of several Arab foreign ministers to the occupied West Bank, calling it a provocative move aimed at promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli veto came ahead of a visit on Sunday to Ramallah, the administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority, by a high-level delegation including Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister.

It would have been the first official visit by a senior Saudi official to the territory which was seized by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Successive US administrations have sought to normalise relations between the kingdom and Israel.

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Other members of the delegation included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain — all Arab states that have diplomatic ties with Israel.

An Israeli official said with regard to the refusal to allow the Arab delegation into the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority “intended to host . . . a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state . . . [that] would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel”.

“Israel will not co-operate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security,” the official added.

International pressure on Israel has intensified in recent weeks, primarily over its renewed offensive in Gaza and the dire humanitarian conditions in the enclave.

Much of the international community views the West Bank, alongside East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as the basis of a future Palestinian state.

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France and Saudi Arabia are set to host a summit in New York next month on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with several western governments, including the UK, considering recognising a Palestinian state.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said that the denial of entry to the delegation was a “blatant violation of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power” in the West Bank and reflected “the extent of the Israeli government’s arrogance, its disregard for international law and its continued illegitimate measures and policies”.

The Palestinian ambassador in Riyadh told Saudi state news television channel Al-Ekhbariya on Friday that the “rare” visit sought to mobilise support for a two-state solution ahead of the conference in New York.

On Thursday the Israeli government announced the creation of 22 new settlements across the West Bank, the biggest expansion in years of an enterprise that many governments consider illegal.

Israeli ministers described the decision as a “decisive response” to Palestinian militancy and a “strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state”.

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Nearly 500,000 Jewish Israelis have settled in the West Bank over the past five decades. About 3mn Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli military rule and partial autonomy administered by the Palestinian Authority.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah and Andrew England in London

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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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