Unbiased headline news for Thursday February 29, 2024 – Aid convoys transporting food reached northern Gaza this week, as reported by Israeli officials on Wednesday. This marks the first significant delivery to the devastated and isolated area in a month. The United Nations has issued warnings about worsening starvation among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive. International calls for a cease-fire have intensified, with the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar actively working to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas for a temporary halt in fighting and the release of hostages seized during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
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In a recent ruling, a New York appeals court determined that former President Donald Trump must pay the entire bond amount equivalent to the $454 million civil fraud judgment against him. This decision follows Trump’s offer to pay a $100 million bond while requesting the court to temporarily pause the penalty. Trump’s legal team argued that the $355 million penalty, along with additional interest, was deemed “exorbitant and punitive.” The total sum, including interest, amounts to approximately $454 million.
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The Justice Department is currently investigating the door plug blowout incident on a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. Sources familiar with the situation confirmed that the door plug detached a few minutes after takeoff from Portland International Airport, leading to an emergency landing. The probe will not only address the specific Alaska Airlines case but also examine whether Boeing violated its deferred prosecution agreement from 2021.
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Hunter Biden, on Wednesday, denounced the GOP-led impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden, labeling it a “political charade.” He reiterated that he had “never” involved his father in his professional matters. Hunter Biden engaged in a six-hour exchange with Republican lawmakers, who have focused on him in their quest to find potential wrongdoing by the president. However, the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have yet to present conclusive evidence linking President Biden to his family’s business arrangements.
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Border-protection officials have announced that a new system for resupplying Coast Guard vessels at sea is not only cutting costs but also enhancing national security. Collaborating with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Air and Marine Operations groups, several federal partners implemented a new airborne deployable delivery system. This system allows Coast Guard vessels and other ships to stay on patrol instead of returning to port for resupplying.
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Jocelyn Dor, a Haitian national residing in the United States, has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for participating in the smuggling of 24 firearms to his native country. A resident of Orlando, Florida, Dor was a member of the infamous Haitian 400 Mawozo criminal gang, responsible for the kidnapping of 17 missionaries in 2021. U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates handed down a 60-month prison sentence and three years of supervised release.
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South Korea’s fertility rate, already the lowest globally, experienced a further decline in 2023, according to the country’s statistics agency. The fertility rate, measuring the number of expected babies per woman in her lifetime, reached just 0.65 in the October-December quarter. This figure represents a 0.05 decrease from the same period the previous year, raising concerns about the impact on economic growth and the strain on pensions and social welfare programs.
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Ivan Cantu, a Texas man who had long claimed his conviction was based on false testimony and questionable evidence, was executed on Wednesday. Cantu, convicted over 20 years ago for fatally shooting two people, including his cousin James Mosqueda and Mosqueda’s girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. In his final words, the 50-year-old inmate maintained his innocence.
