World
Lawmakers hold moment of silence for slain Omer Neutra as thousands mourn in hometown synagogue
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night held a moment of silence for American-Israeli Omer Neutra who was determined this week to have been killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, after it was believed that he had been alive for more than a year.
Neutra, 21 years old, was a tank platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and was among the first to respond to the Hamas attack that ultimately killed some 1,200 people and initially saw the abduction of more than 250 men, women and children.
His parents, Orna and Ronen, who spoke with Fox News Digital just days prior to the tragic development, believed their son was still alive after the IDF had long assessed that he, along with Nimrod Cohen, another soldier from his tank, were taken hostage into Gaza and remained alive.
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“For 420 days Omer’s parents and his brother Daniel have done everything they can with the love and support of hundreds of thousands of others to free their son from captivity,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who represents the Neutra family’s district, said from the House floor. “Every day they soldiered on through alternating deep sorrow and brief bursts of hopefulness. They went from crushing anxiety to steely determination.
“Just a few days ago we learned that this courageous young man, this bright light, this courageous idealist, made the ultimate sacrifice,” Suozzi continued. “Omer had not been alive for the last 422 days, he was murdered on Oct. 7.”
Footage from the attack on Omer’s tank showed the commander, as well as three others, Shaked Dahan, Oz Daniel and Nimrod Cohen being pulled from the military vehicle by Hamas terrorists and being taken captive.
Daniel and Dahan had previously been assessed to have been killed following the attack, and according to the IDF, intelligence now suggests Omer, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, was also killed on Oct. 7. 2023.
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The Israeli military has not said how they came by this new information and the fate of Cohen remains unknown.
In a memorial service held for Omer on Tuesday in the Long Island synagogue where he reportedly celebrated his bar mitzvah years earlier, Omer’s father Ronen, said the news had left them “breathless and empty.”
“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy,” Orna said through tears, according to reports. “With the hope and love of so many, we kept going and going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet, pushing any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence.”
“Now things are clear,” she said to the reported 1,500 attendees at the service. “But not as we’d hoped.”
Onra and Ronen have described their son as loving, a good friend and an athlete, but they also highlighted his ability to lead and how his actions on Oct. 7, 2023 saved lives.
Omer’s body is believed to still be held by Hamas along with the six other American hostages, only three of whom are still assessed by the IDF to be alive at this time, including Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s body was recovered after he, along with five others, were discovered to have been murdered by Hamas in the tunnels in Gaza in August.
There are still 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza following the recovery of Itai Svirski’s body on Wednesday, an Israeli hostage taken during the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023.
The IDF confirmed he “was murdered in captivity by his captors, and his body was held hostage in the Gaza Strip.”
World
Video: How Global Conflicts Helped Reignite Syria’s Civil War
Rebels launched sweeping assaults against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in northwestern Syria, taking control of large portions of territory, including much of the city of Aleppo. Carlotta Gall, a senior correspondent for The New York Times, explains how events beyond Syria’s borders lit the fuse for renewed fighting.
World
The world’s tallest snowman, measuring 122 feet, built by residents in Bethel, Maine
The snowwoman may be melted but the record still stands.
The residents of Bethel, Maine, have been proud holders of the same world record for about 25 years.
Currently, according to Guinness World Records, the tallest snowperson ever built was completed on Feb. 26, 2008 in Bethel.
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The snowwoman, Olympia, took about a month to complete. The residents of Bethel were no strangers to the tall order of creating a gigantic snowperson like the one they made in 2008, as they broke their own record.
The first record-breaking snowperson created in Bethel was made in 1999. The first snowman, Angus King of the Mountain, was named after the governor of Maine at the time, Angus King.
In 2008, the residents of Bethel got together to break their existing record.
When Olympia was complete, the snow structure measured 122 feet and 1 inch tall, according to Guinness World Records.
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The snowwoman, named after a Maine U.S. senator at the time, Olympia Snowe, was made using a whopping 13 million pounds of snow.
In a video on the Guinness World Record’s page regarding the record, large construction trucks can be seen carrying piles of snow, with cranes lifting the snow to the top of the chilly creation.
Accessories of the snowwoman included eyelashes made of skis, a nose made from chicken wire and painted cheesecloth and lips created with red car tires.
The buttons of the snowwoman were made using three truck tires, and the arms were made of 30-foot-tall spruce trees.
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Even though the snowwoman has since melted, the title still stands in Bethel, according to Guinness World Records.
Though Guinness World Records still regards the Olympia snowwoman that stood in Bethel as the world’s tallest snowperson, others have attempted to take the title.
In February 2020, the record was seemingly broken by a snowman created called Riesi in Donnersbachwald, Austria.
At the time, several outlets shared the news that the record had been broken, as the snowman built in Austria was a couple feet taller than Olympia.
Today, the official Guinness World Record website states Olympia as the record holder.
According to the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce’s website, the snowman built in Austria had been disqualified for an unknown reason.
The Bethel Chamber of Commerce was simply told, “if it’s in the book, you still have the record,” the Chamber of Commerce’s website states.
World
France's Macron to appoint new PM 'in coming days' and vows to stay on
Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation after lawmakers voted to oust the government this week.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will appoint a new prime minister “in the coming days” and vowed to finish his term following the government’s collapse.
Macron reiterated that he still has 30 months as president amid calls for his resignation following a no-confidence vote against the government in the lower house of parliament.
“The mandate that you have democratically entrusted to me is a five-year mandate, and I will exercise it fully until its end,” the president said, adding that he is responsible for the functioning of the institutions and country.
Macron also hit out at the political parties that voted to topple the government in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday, rejecting claims that he was responsible for what’s quickly become a political crisis.
“I know that some people are tempted to hold me responsible for this situation… but I will never take responsibility (for the actions) of others, and in particular of the lawmakers who consciously chose to bring down the budget and the government of France a few days before Christmas,” Macron said, adding that MPs on the far right and left chose to create “disorder”.
French president defends earlier decision to hold snap elections
The French president defended his call for snap elections in June and July this year after the European elections, calling the decision “inevitable” after the far-right National Rally topped the poll.
Macron added this decision was “not understood” and that he was aware many have criticised him for it, but he said the action gave the people “back their voice,” which he saw as necessary.
The leftist coalition the New Popular Front (NFP) came first in the second round of those legislative elections, but without an absolute majority.
Left-wing lawmakers had called on Macron to appoint their pick for prime minister, civil servant Lucie Castets, but he instead appointed former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier a mere three months ago.
“No party, no coalition presented to the voters can claim to have the majority,” Macron said on Thursday.
“This situation requires a new political organisation. It is unprecedented, but that is how it is,” he added.
What next?
Macron said that he will take responsibility for forming a government that represents the political forces, adding that the new prime minister “will form a streamlined government at your service”.
A temporary law will be tabled in mid-December to allow for the continuity of public services, the president said, adding that he hoped a majority would pass it.
A new budget will then be the priority of the next government and prepared at the beginning of next year, he said.
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