Latest News headlines for Wednesday January 3, 2024 – The leader identified as Saleh Arouri, previously second in command in Hamas and the head of Hamas in the West Bank, reportedly fell victim to a strike.

Lebanese Security Services reported six casualties in the strike, which Hamas attributed to Israel. While the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson declined to comment on the incident, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari emphasized Israel’s preparedness, stating, “I want to be clear we are focused on the fight against Hamas.”

Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, resigned from her position on Tuesday after just six months in the role.

Gay faced sharp public scrutiny over her handling of antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war and accusations of plagiarism in some of her past academic writings. She announced her decision to resign in a letter addressed to the Harvard community, expressing, “It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president.”

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday recommended a six-month term of imprisonment for a man central to a right-wing conspiracy theory about the January 6th, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol — an attack that he has admitted to joining.

Ray Epps, scheduled for sentencing next Tuesday, previously pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on restricted grounds. Epps, a onetime Donald Trump supporter from Arizona, became the focus of a conspiracy theory alleging he was an undercover government agent inciting the Capitol attack.

Senator Robert Menendez faces additional allegations of wrongdoing contained in a superseding indictment returned Tuesday in New York.

The superseding indictment accuses Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty to all prior counts, of making positive comments about Qatar in exchange for items of value, including luxury wristwatches. According to the new indictment, the luxury wristwatches Menendez was allegedly offered were valued between $10,000 and $24,000.

A driver fleeing an early New Year’s Day dispute struck seven pedestrians and injured one police officer before crashing on a New York City sidewalk in midtown Manhattan, according to police.

The driver, Mohamed Alaouie, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, faces charges including three counts of attempted murder, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a controlled substance, leaving an accident with a serious injury, and driving while intoxicated, as stated by the police on Tuesday.

A man was found dead inside an airplane engine Monday night at Salt Lake City International Airport after police say he breached an emergency exit door, walked onto the tarmac, and climbed inside the jet’s engine.

Officers found 30-year-old Kyler Efinger, of Park City, unconscious inside an engine mounted to the wing of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers, the Salt Lake City Police Department announced Tuesday. The plane had been sitting on a de-icing pad, and its engines were rotating. Efinger was a ticketed passenger with a boarding pass to Denver, according to the police.

The woman who was pinned under a food truck when a driver fleeing police plowed into pedestrians in midtown Manhattan early on New Year’s Day has been identified as an actor who has appeared in films such as “Black Panther” and “The Color Purple.”

Actor and stunt performer Carrie Bernans suffered broken bones and chipped teeth and is in a great deal of pain following the crash near Penn Station on Monday, her mother posted to Instagram. None of the injuries were life-threatening, police said. The driver was arrested on charges including attempted murder.

A 16-year-old boy “mistakenly boarded” a Frontier Airlines flight in Tampa on December 22nd, expecting to land in Cleveland, the airline said in a statement.

Instead, he ended up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The flights were boarding one after the other at the same gate, and the passenger boarded the San Juan-bound flight, which was departing first, Jennifer F. de la Cruz, a spokesperson from the airline stated. The passenger was “immediately flown back to Tampa on the same aircraft and accommodated on a flight to Cleveland the following day,” said the airline.

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