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A man injured three people Saturday in a stabbing attack at the major Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, another nerve-rattling security incident in the Olympic host city before the Summer Games open in six months.
Paris police said officers quickly detained the attacker who used a sharp weapon in the assault at around 8 a.m. One of the people injured was in a serious condition; the other two were more lightly hurt.
Full StoryThe U.S. military overnight launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend.
The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC's Quds Force, the Guard's expeditionary unit that handles Tehran's relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.
Full StoryHamas officials said that the group is studying a proposed cease-fire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but the militants appeared to rule out some key components.
Hamas remains committed to its initial demands for a permanent cease-fire, the group's top political leader Ismail Haniyeh and a senior Beirut-based official, Osama Hamdan, said. Hamdan also said the group seeks the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held for acts related to the conflict with Israel, including those serving life sentences.
Full StoryThe U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend, officials told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and other top U.S. leaders have been warning for days that the U.S. would strike back at the militias, and they made it clear that it wouldn't be just one hit, but would be a "tiered response" over time. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations not yet made public.
Full StoryWhen Mark Zuckerberg turned at a Senate hearing to address the parents of children exploited, bullied or driven to self harm via social media, it felt like a time-worn convention had sprung back to life.
"I'm sorry for everything you've been through," the Meta CEO said Wednesday. "No one should go through what you and your families have suffered." Then he returned to corporate mode, noting Meta's continued investments in "industrywide" efforts to protect children.
Full StoryNorwegian authorities issued several warnings for landslides and avalanches in southern Norway Friday as bad weather continued to hammer the Scandinavian country. In the northern part of the country, officials said roads might be closed at short notice.
Flights to and from the airport in Tromsoe, a city in the Arctic, resumed Friday after some 200 passengers had to sleep there because of Norway's most powerful storm since 1992.
Full StoryClimate activist Greta Thunberg spoke defiantly about her mission outside court Thursday on the first day of her trial for refusing to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year.
Thunberg, 21, was among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after preventing access to a hotel during the Energy Intelligence Forum, attended by some of the industry's top executives.
Full StoryLocal buses, trams and subway trains were canceled in much of Germany on Friday as transport employees walked off the job in the country's third transport-related strike in two weeks.
The Ver.di service workers' union called for a "warning strike," a common tactic in German contract negotiations, on Monday. Its deputy chair, Christine Behle, said that "the time has now come to exert more pressure on employers" as talks on new pay contracts for about 90,000 people employed by over 130 local transport operators have failed to make progress.
Full StoryMarkets in China sank Friday despite a fresh flurry of measures to help prop up the ailing property sector, as the International Monetary Fund forecast that the Chinese economy will continue to slow in coming years.
The report by the IMF forecast that the economy would expand at a 4.6% annual pace this year, down from 5.2% in 2023. It put growth in 2028 at 3.4%. It noted that housing starts had fallen more than 60% from pre-pandemic levels after a crackdown on excessive borrowing that began in 2020.
Full StoryFrench farmers were gradually lifting their roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country on Friday, a day after the French government offered over 400 million euros ($436 million) in various measures meant to answer their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and unfair competition from abroad.
On major highways around the French capital, protesters took down tents, cleaned up the road and set fire to straw bales that they were using as barricades. Convoys of tractors were leaving the sites in a peaceful and orderly manner amid a large police deployment meant to ensure the security of operations.
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