A high-ranking Washington D.C. police captain was ambushed and shot in the head just blocks from his station Monday in a carjacking attempt that has reignited concerns over the nation’s capital’s unchecked crime wave. The Metropolitan Police Department’s 4th District commander, whose name has not been released, was driving his personal vehicle to work around 12:10 p.m. when he noticed a car operating erratically in the Northwest D.C. neighborhood. After following the suspicious vehicle, one of its occupants shockingly opened fire on the 27-year veteran officer in what police are investigating as a bungled carjacking attempt. The attempted assassination occurred…
Author: Phil Donel
In an impassioned interview marking his fifth anniversary as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a desperate call for Western allies to accelerate military aid and get more directly involved in the war against Russia’s invasion. Speaking to Reuters in Kyiv on Monday, Zelenskyy said the situation on Ukraine’s frontlines was “one of the most difficult” periods since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. He expressed frustration that key decisions by allies on stepped-up support were coming a year too late as his forces face renewed Russian offensives in the east and northeast. “Every decision to which we, then later everyone…
Britain says it is making major progress on a new directed-energy weapon that can detect, track and disable an entire swarm of hostile drones using radio frequency pulses – at a cost of just $0.12 per shot. The Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon system aims to provide an affordable, highly automated air defense capability against the growing threat posed by small unmanned aerial vehicles and loitering munitions on the modern battlefield. In a press release on Thursday, the UK’s Ministry of Defencetouted the RFDEW’s ability to neutralize multiple drone threats simultaneously at ranges up to 1,000 meters, or 0.6 miles,…
The Biden campaign has agreed to a vice presidential debate between incumbent Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-named running mate, setting the stage for a potential showdown ahead of the 2024 election. In a statement on Wednesday, a Biden campaign official confirmed they have accepted an invitation from CBS News to have Harris participate in a televised debate against the Republican vice presidential nominee. However, the date remains undecided, with the network proposing either July 23 or August 13 as possibilities. “The campaign official said all of the guidelines sent for the presidential debates would apply to the vice presidential…
A California school district has agreed to pay $360,000 to settle a lawsuit from a former teacher who was fired last year after refusing to follow policies regarding transgender or gender-nonconforming students, citing her Christian beliefs. Jessica Tapia, who taught P.E. at Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, claimed in her wrongful termination suit that her free speech and religious rights were violated. She had refused to use students’ preferred pronouns, allow them in locker rooms matching their gender identity, or withhold information about a child’s gender identity from parents. Under the settlement signed Tuesday, the Jurupa Unified School…
According to confidential work by United Nations sanctions monitors seen by Reuters, North Korea laundered $147.5 million through the virtual currency platform Tornado Cash in March after stealing it last year from a cryptocurrency exchange. The monitors informed a UN Security Council sanctions committee in a document submitted on Friday that they had been investigating 97 suspected North Korean cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies between 2017 and 2024, valued at around $3.6 billion. This included an attack late last year where $147.5 million was stolen from HTX cryptocurrency exchange before being laundered in March through Tornado Cash, as cited by crypto…
The S&P 500 index closed at a record high of 5,308.15 on Wednesday, May 17th, 2024. This marked the first time the broad market index ended a trading session above 5,300. The S&P 500’s 1.17% gain was driven by economic data that came in below economists’ expectations. The Nasdaq Composite also reached a new record close of 16,742.39, up 1.40% on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 349.89 points, or 0.88%, to close at 39,908.00 – another all-time high. For 2024 year-to-date, this represents the 23rd record close for the S&P 500, the 18th for the Dow,…
For the past three years, the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning Tampa Bay has celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month each June with a bright display of rainbow lights. But this year, the rainbow lights will be replaced with red, white and blue. The Florida Department of Transportation announced the 1,800 LED lighting system on the cable-stayed bridge will display only red, white and blue lights nightly from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The extended patriotic display is intended to commemorate the state’s new “Freedom Summer” tax holiday eliminating sales tax on admissions to parks, museums and outdoor recreation venues in July.…
The Biden administration is considering resettling Palestinian refugees through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. On February 14, 2024, the White House ordered the Department of Homeland Security to defer the removal of Palestinians currently in the U.S. under the Deferred Enforced Departure program for 18 months until August 13, 2025. If Palestinian refugee resettlement moves forward, the U.S. would provide flights and those admitted would need to pass medical and security screening. Approved refugees could receive benefits like housing assistance, health care, job training, and a path to permanent residency and citizenship after a certain period. The DED order allows…
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has significantly revised downward its reported casualty figures for the ongoing conflict in Gaza. In updates published on May 6th and May 8th, OCHA cut its estimate of the number of children killed from over 14,500 deaths to 7,797 deaths. It also lowered its tally of women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths. The sharp reductions in OCHA’s death toll figures were first reported by The Jerusalem Post on May 11th. The newspaper noted that OCHA had previously been citing casualty numbers provided by the Hamas-controlled Government…