Palestinians perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa amid tight Israeli curbs
Israeli authorities barred Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for the 12th consecutive Friday. According to Anadolu Agency, the Israeli police set up barriers at the entrances to the Old City and allowed only the elderly to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli police also set up checkpoints at the outer gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – Islam’s third holiest site. Hundreds of people performed Friday prayers in the streets near the Old City, after they were prevented from reaching the mosque. A large number of Israeli forces were also deployed in the Wadi al-Joz neighbourhood near the Old City, and prevented worshipers from reaching the mosque, witnesses added. Israeli forces sprayed “skunk water” and used tear gas canisters against worshippers, the Wafa news agency reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Abortion debate creates ‘new era’ for state supreme court races in 2024, with big spending expected
CHICAGO (AP) — The 2024 elections will be dominated by the presidential contest and the battle for control of Congress, but another series of races is shaping up to be just as consequential. Crucial battles over abortion, gerrymandering, voting rights and other issues will take center stage in next year’s elections for state supreme court seats — 80 of them in 33 states. NATIONAL ARCHIVES SETTLES WITH MARCH FOR LIFE VISITORS TOLD TO REMOVE PRO-LIFE CLOTHING The races have emerged as some of the most hotly contested and costliest contests on the ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the consitutional right to an abortion. The decision shifted the abortion debate to states, creating a “new era” in state supreme court elections, said Douglas Keith, senior counsel in the judiciary program at the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks spending in judicial races. “We have seen attention on state supreme court elections like never before and money in these races like never before,” Keith said. Heated court races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2023 handed victories to Democrats and saw tens of millions of dollars in TV ads, offering a preview of 2024. They’re also prompting groups to consider investing in states they would not previously have considered. ABORTION AND GERRYMANDERING TOP ISSUES At least 38 lawsuits have been filed challenging abortion bans in 23 states, according to the Brennan Center. Many of those are expected to end up before state supreme courts. The ACLU is watching cases challenging abortion restrictions in Wyoming, Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska, Georgia and Montana. “After Roe v. Wade was overturned, we had to turn to state courts and state constitutions as the critical backstop to protecting access to abortion,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “And the stakes are unbelievably high in each of these cases in each of these states.” The ACLU was among major spenders on behalf of Democrats in this year’s state supreme court contests in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Another big player in recent court races has been the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has said its focus is mainly on redistricting, or the drawing of political district boundaries. The group called state supreme courts the “last line of defense against far-left national groups,” but didn’t say how much it intends to spend on next year’s races or which states it’s focusing on. In Ohio, Democrats are expected to cast state supreme court races as an extension of the November election in which voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution. The state has more than 30 abortion restrictions in place that could be challenged now that the amendment has passed. “The state supreme court is going to be the ultimate arbiter of the meaning of the new constitutional amendment that the people voted for and organized around,” said Jessie Hill, law professor at Case Western Reserve University and a consultant for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights. “That is a huge amount of power.” With three seats up for a vote and a current Republican majority of 4-3, Democrats have an opportunity to flip the majority of the court while Republicans will try to expand their control. Hill said the “very high-stakes election” will serve as another test of the salience of the abortion issue in turning out voters. “We saw an incredible number of voters come out to vote on that amendment and an incredible amount of investment in those campaigns,” Hill added. “I think we’ll see a similar attention and investment in Ohio come next year.” Redistricting also is likely to be a main focus in the state’s supreme court races, given the court will have realigned politically since it issued a series of rulings finding Ohio’s congressional and legislative maps unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans, said David Niven, political science professor at the University of Cincinnati. He expects millions of dollars to be spent on those campaigns. “There’s often little conversation about these races, but they are just so utterly consequential in very tangible, practical ways that touch voters’ everyday lives,” he said. MAP BROADENS FOR CONSEQUENTIAL RACES Pending legislative and congressional redistricting cases also could play a role in North Carolina. Republicans in North Carolina are looking to expand their majority two years after the court flipped from Democratic control in the 2022 election. That flip to a 5-2 GOP majority led to dramatic reversals in 2023 on rulings made by the previous court, which had struck down a 2018 photo voter identification law as well as district maps for the General Assembly and the state’s congressional delegation. Groups on both sides also are expected to focus on Michigan, where Democrats hold a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court. Candidates run without political affiliations listed on the ballot, though they’re nominated by political parties. Two incumbents — one Democrat, one Republican — will be up for election in 2024. The court recently kept former President Donald Trump on the state’s ballot, denying a liberal group’s request to kick him off. It is currently weighing a high-profile case over a Republican legislative maneuver that gutted a minimum wage hike backed by voters. 2023 RACES A PREVIEW In Wisconsin, abortion played a dominant role in the 2023 court race, with Democrats flipping the court to a 4-3 majority in a campaign that shattered previous national records for spending in state supreme court elections. Liberal-leaning Justice Janet Protasiewicz defeated former Justice Dan Kelly, who previously worked for Republicans and had support from the state’s leading anti-abortion groups. Protasiewicz was targeted with impeachment threats this year over comments she made on the campaign trail about redistricting as Republicans argued she had prejudged what then was an expected case on the state’s heavily gerrymandered state legislative districts. Experts say the controversy is an example of how more money and attention have changed the dynamics of many state supreme court races to be increasingly partisan. Democrats in
Michael Cohen admits to inadvertently citing fake cases generated by AI in legal motion
Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s onetime fixer and lawyer, admitted in a filing unsealed Friday that he inadvertently gave his lawyer fake legal case citations generated by artificial intelligence in connection with a motion to end his supervised release early. U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman previously called the citations into question, writing earlier this month, “In the letter brief, Mr. Cohen asserts that, “[a]s recently as 2022, there have been District Court decisions, affirmed by the Second Circuit Court, granting early termination of supervised release.” Furman added, “As far as the Court can tell, none of these cases exist.” Cohen said in his sworn declaration released Friday that he had found the phony citations through Google Bard, an AI service that he said he thought was a “supercharged” search engine. RITE AID BANNED FROM USING AI FACIAL RECOGNITION OVER LACK OF CONSUMER PROTECTIONS “As a non-lawyer, I have not kept up with emerging trends (and related risks) in legal technology and did not realize that Google Bard was a generative text service that, like Chat-GPT, could show citations and descriptions that looked real but actually were not,” Cohen said. “Instead, I understood it to be a super-charged search engine and had repeatedly used it in other contexts to (successfully) find accurate information online.” ELON MUSK REPORTEDLY WARNED THAT AI COULD DESTROY HUMAN COLONY ON MARS: REPORT In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, spending more than a year in prison before he was put on supervised release. He was also disbarred as a lawyer. “It did not occur to me then and remains surprising to me now—that Mr. Schwartz would drop the cases into his submission wholesale without even confirming that they existed,” he added, citing his lawyer David Schwartz. “I deeply regret any problems Mr. Schwartz’s filing may have caused.” He said Schwartz’s alleged mistake was “a product of inadvertence, not any intent to deceive.” E. Danya Perry, who represents Cohen and discovered the citations were fake, told the judge, “Mr. Cohen engaged in no misconduct and should not suffer any collateral damage from Mr. Schwartz’s misstep.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In an unrelated case earlier this month, two lawyers were fined $5,000 for citing fake cases generated by AI. Perry didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Speaker’s Lobby: Legislation on college sports relegated to the JV
There are college football teams that are going somewhere in their quest for a national title. Think Michigan, Alabama, Washington and Texas. And then there are those who aren’t. Kent State, Vanderbilt, Akron and the University of Louisiana-Monroe. They were among the worst Division I college football teams in 2023. Legislation is kind of like football teams. Some bills are headed to the Sugar Bowl. Other bills struggle like Kent State, bound for political oblivion. RILEY GAINES HITS BACK AT ‘SQUAD; DEM CALLING HER TESTIMONY ’TRANSPHOBIC’: YOU’RE A ‘MISOGYNIST’ So where does legislation fall to regulate how intercollegiate athletes use their name, image and likeness (NIL)? Bills to govern NILs are kind of the “mid-majors” of legislation. They aren’t the Big Ten or the SEC. It’s a little bit like the Mid-American Conference or Atlantic Ten. The bill may become law. It may not. And this is what worries some when it comes to Congress legislating NILs. The rules are clear on the field for NCAA sports. But things are vague when it comes to regulating NILs as student-athletes monetize themselves. The NCAA — being the NCAA — found itself unable to establish a nationwide criterion to address NILs. So it asked Congress to get involved. “There’s got to be rules so that you don’t have just the wild west,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “It’s going to take bipartisan agreement, and we’re not there yet. But we’re making real progress.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., was the head football coach at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. He also backs legislation to craft a uniform NIL system. “I really don’t want to get involved in it being a former coach,” said Tuberville. “But I see now where you got 50 states are all doing something different.” Tuberville is pushing for equity among athletes who play different sports. There are issues surrounding programs of different sizes. There’s little equality among schools that play in different states. Some state legislatures have passed laws inducing athletes to come play in their states because of NIL incentives. NCAA President and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, endorses Tuberville’s bill. Tuberville’s plan would dock athletes for entering the transfer portal to switch schools. Student-athletes previously had to sit out a year when changing programs. “You just can’t up and leave. You got to pay a price for that if you do that,” Tuberville argued when discussing his legislation. Power conference schools can now lure top athletes to secure even bigger paydays. It’s reminiscent of free agency in the pros. But not everyone is pushing for congressional intervention. “I’m reluctant to say Congress should be involved in it,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “It’s not like we improve a hell of a lot of things that we do around here.” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said some of his colleagues consider themselves “to be an expert on everything,” adding they often have “more zeal than wisdom.” Kennedy is leery of Congress infusing itself into college sports. “I have warned the athletic directors in the NCAA, be very, very careful before you ask Congress to get involved. Because Congress has a tendency to micromanage,” said Kennedy. CONGRESS’ FIGHT OVER IMMIGRATION REFORM COULD LAST A WHILE Individual universities have tried to help students manage how they market themselves. But schools can only do so much. Maribeth Kuzmeski is a marketing professor at Oklahoma State University. She never worked with the athletic department until NILs came on the scene. Kuzmeski says the school launched a class on financial literacy and contract law for student-athletes. She also serves on what Oklahoma State calls the “brand squad” to promote student-athletes and the university. “We serve them with helping with their brand, finding deals and opportunities for them and being able to help NILs in particular at Oklahoma State become more successful,” said Kuzmeski. Kuzmeski said at first “we really thought the deals were going to come to us.” But instead, Oklahoma State began marketing its athletes and wrapping up NILs. The school got students and entire teams to do events with local pizza parlors and sign autographs. Still, universities are limited when it comes to managing NILs. “The NCAA has not been able to do this. And I believe that Congress is the only ones that will be able to level this playing field,” said Kuzmeski. Others share Kuzmeski’s hope that Congress will take action. Kaley Mudge is a softball outfielder at Florida State. “It feels like there are members of Congress that are really passionate about this,” said Mudge. But she added that lawmakers appear to have placed legislation for NILs “on the back burner” amid the crush of other priorities. BIDEN WILL TALK BORDER IF REPUBLICANS TALK SOMETHING ELSE FIRST Consider that Congress only approved 30-plus bills in 2023 that President Biden signed into law. The number was only 22 in the middle of last week. Congress could barely pass two bills to avoid government shutdowns and a plan to lift the debt ceiling. The same will be true in 2024. We haven’t even gotten into the internecine political battles over funding for Israel, Ukraine and border security. So legislating on NILs? A “mid-major” bill? This thing may qualify as “Division III.” That disappoints someone like Mudge who reaped substantial benefits through her NIL — making money on the side to pay for a degree in nursing. Mudge knows there’s no long-term staying power in softball. But she can establish a career as a nurse. “NIL is becoming more of a ‘How can I save this money in the future?’ than just ‘How can I get as much money as I want right now?’” observed Mudge. Still, some lawmakers say all the money in college sports just disgusts them. North Dakota’s Kevin Cramer isn’t involved in writing any of the legislation to set NIL criteria. However, he says the concentration on bankrolls and marketing turns him off to college sports. “The idea of it becoming a profession,
DNA TV Show: PM Modi to launch projects worth 15,700 crores in Ayodhya
The preparations for the PM’s visit are extensive, with Ayodhya beautifully decorated with flowers along the roadshow route.
Texas 2023: Our 25 most engaging stories this year
We came up with an “engagement score” to determine our most engaging stories of the year.
Fox News Politics: The year of ‘stop Trump’
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. What’s Happening? – Dem blasts decision to remove Trump from ballot – DOJ threatens to sue Texas – Haley walks back on slavery comment – COLD BLOODED: Biden admin targets refrigerators, freezers Former President Trump faced unprecedented legal challenges as a frontrunner candidate of a major political party, and the year is ending with various state officials throwing fresh obstacles against his re-election. In the last remaining business hours before 2024, Maine’s secretary of state moved to block Trump from the GOP primary ballot. Colorado also recently moved to block Trump from its primary ballot, but backed off pending the GOP’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. ‘NOT THE SECOND COMING’: Biden was ‘not certain’ about Carter’s re-election chances, floated replacing him: ‘That man’s in trouble’ …Read more BORDER BATTLE: DOJ threatens to sue Texas over anti-illegal immigration law; Abbott prepared for Supreme Court fight …Read more FISCAL HELL: Freedom Caucus warns GOP leaders against spending ‘agreement’ with Dems as shutdown deadline looms …Read more GOLDEN STATE WIN: California secretary of state leaves Trump on the ballot after calls to remove him …Read more RECORD TURNOUT?: Iowa GOP chair predicts ‘potential for a record turnout’ in 2024 caucuses as new voters ‘surge’ …Read more ‘SUPER SCARY’: Former WH comms director admits 2024 looks ‘really scary’ for President Biden …Read more SQUEEZED: Don Lemon hits Haley walking back slavery comment after previous clash: ‘Didn’t offer me that same grace’ …Read more DEMOCRATS DENIED: Hochul vetoes Democrat-backed bill changing state campaign financing program …Read more ELECTION PROPOSALS: Arkansas group advocating for paper ballots resubmits proposal to state attorney general …Read more AMNESTY ON THE TABLE?: US-Mexico migration meeting included talks on ‘regularizing’ illegal immigrants living in US …Read more HARVARD BLUE: All but 3 of more than 100 high dollar donations from Harvard employees go to Democrats: report …Read more WHAT IS SWATTING?: What is ‘swatting,’ the ‘criminal harassment’ that has targeted three Republican lawmakers since Christmas? …Read more BUCKEYE BATTLE: Riley Gaines puts heat on Republican Ohio governor to sign trans bill …Read more BACK TO SCHOOL: Key moments that defined education in America in 2023 …Read more FOLDING: New Hampshire casino faces shutdown following alleged COVID-19 relief fund fraud by state senator …Read more ‘WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED’: Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones becomes latest victim of ‘swatting’ incident: ‘I will not be intimidated’ Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Biden admin unveils string of eco regulations in latest appliance crackdown targeting fridges, freezers
The Biden administration unveiled environmental regulations Friday targeting multiple popular home and commercial appliances in an action that will impact millions of Americans, but which federal officials said would help curb carbon emissions. The Department of Energy (DOE) both finalized new energy efficiency standards for residential refrigerators and freezers, and proposed standards for commercial fans and blowers. Overall, the agency said the actions would eliminate 420 million metric tons of “dangerous carbon dioxide emissions” over the next three decades and save households and businesses $5 billion a year on utility bills. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to lowering utility costs for working families, which is helping to simultaneously strengthen energy independence and combat the climate crisis,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “DOE will continue to move quickly in 2024 — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — to update and strengthen outdated energy efficiency standards, which is critical to innovation, more consumer options, and healthier communities,” she continued. BIDEN ADMIN LAUNCHED AN AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TARGETING HOME APPLIANCES WITH ECO REGULATIONS IN 2023 DOE’s standards for refrigerators and freezers will be implemented between 2029 and 2030, and mark the first update to standards impacting those appliances in more than a decade. According to the announcement, the updated standards, which will take less efficient but cheaper models off the market, will in 30 years remove the amount of emissions generated by the combined annual emissions of 12.7 million homes. And the standards targeting fans and blowers are the first-ever federal regulations targeting those appliances. DOE said that proposal “follows the lead” of efficiency standards established by California and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 318 million metric tons in the next 30 years. BIDEN ADMIN AIMS TO PUSH TOWNS, CITIES TO ADOPT GREEN ENERGY BUILDING CODES: ‘VERY SUSPICIOUS’ “Refrigerator standard are much like dishwashers and clothes washers, where there’ve been so many standards over the decades that we’re either at the point of diminishing returns or negative returns,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. “And there is a tendency for the agency’s own analysis to inflate the benefits.” “Consumers are perfectly capable of making these decisions on their own, including consumers who want to buy extra efficient refrigerators or other models,” he continued. “What these standards do is they force that choice on everyone, whether it makes sense for them or not. And we know from history that, in some cases, these standards raise the upfront cost more than you’re likely to earn back in the form of energy savings.” In addition to potentially increasing upfront costs for consumers purchasing new appliances, Lieberman said the new efficiency standards may harm product performance. For example, he said new standards for dishwashers have led to cycles taking as much as twice as long to finish. According to DOE, meanwhile, the standards mean the administration proposed or finalized a grand total of 30 such regulations in 2023 as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and “underscore the administration’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.” The agency projects that its regulations introduced since early 2021 will provide nearly $1 trillion in consumer savings and curb emissions by 2.5 billion metric tons. DOE also pledged to continue moving forward with more such regulations in 2024. WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS STRICT HYDROGEN REGULATIONS IN VICTORY FOR ENVIRONMENTALISTS Experts, including Lieberman, have repeatedly warned over the last 12 months that the Biden administration’s energy efficiency actions will ultimately harm consumers and drive prices higher since manufacturers will be forced to adopt newer technologies to achieve the standards. In April, Lieberman led a comment letter alongside more than 15 other consumer organizations, arguing DOE’s efficiency standards for stovetops proposed in February “almost certainly compromise some of the features that gas stove users want, and all for the sake of saving an insignificant amount of energy.” According to the agency’s analysis, those standards would effectively ban half of all available stoves. In the months after DOE released its proposed stovetop regulations, it proposed regulations in February for clothes washers and refrigerators that it said would reduce emissions by 233 million metric tons; finalized standards for air conditioners in March; proposed regulations cracking down on dishwashers in May; issued a proposal targeting water heaters in July; and proposed standards for furnaces in September. “They are trying to reshape the place that you live to make it look like the home they would like you to live in,” O.H. Skinner, the Alliance For Consumers’ executive director, told Fox News Digital in October. “They’re really trying to impose what are progressive preferences from places in coastal enclaves and make it so that everyone has to live like that. And that affects you every day.” “What’s crucial is to understand this administration isn’t just tweaking regulations. They’re doing things that effectively ban whole categories of things that exist on the market,” Skinner continued. “Almost all of these decisions, as you work through it, are influenced by the overall climate agenda and the green agenda and the desire for us to change our lives.” Environmentalists have long argued in favor of appliance and energy efficiency regulations given their high use of electricity and natural gas. Green energy groups have called for the electrification of homes and businesses, reducing reliance on natural gas and simultaneously replacing current fossil fuel-fired power with alternatives like wind and solar. According to federal data, the commercial and residential sector accounts for 30% of total end-use carbon emissions in the U.S., the largest share of any sector including industry, transportation and agriculture.
US opioid crisis: Hope for new approach as naloxone machines spread in 2023
Washington, DC – It was a hot summer day in July when Shekita McBroom received a phone call from a local hair salon. The stylist on the other end of the line urgently needed a resupply — not of hair dye or shampoo, but of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Commonly known by the brand name Narcan, naloxone is a life-saving medication, often taken as a nasal spray to counteract the symptoms of opioid consumption. That a hair salon had a backroom supply of the drug came as no surprise, though, to McBroom, a community advocate in Washington, DC, who campaigns to prevent overdoses. If anything, she would like to see naloxone available more widely — including through vending machines. “I try to connect people with more supply because they don’t always know where to find it,” she told Al Jazeera. But with vending machines, she sees a convenient solution: a quick and easy way to dispense emergency care at all hours of the day, in neighbourhoods where services might otherwise be limited. More and more communities in the United States are adopting that approach. In 2023, there has been a boom in vending machines dispensing overdose reversal drugs for free — as well as fentanyl testing strips, clean needles and other “harm reduction” items. Community advocate Shekita McBroom helps to connect people in the community with Narcan, in an effort to prevent overdoses [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera] US ‘behind everyone’ in adopting method Washington, DC, was among several cities to launch a vending machine programme this year. It currently has seven vending machines overseen by two local community health organisations. Four of those machines, overseen by the Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc, dispensed 204 packages of Narcan from October to November. That meant, on an average day, about three boxes of Narcan, each containing two doses, made their way to those in need. “We’ve been surprised at the amount of activity that the machines actually can get,” said Angela Wood, the group’s chief operating officer. She pointed out that the vending machines do not require users to produce any personal information — or even interact with a real person, thereby reducing the potential for stigma. “It’s a way for people to gain access to these products in their own time, in their own way, without having to fully engage with a programme,” she told Al Jazeera. Chicago likewise introduced a pilot programme for naloxone vending machines in November, and New York City opened its first machine in Brooklyn in June. There were also advances on the state level. West Virginia, Wisconsin, Vermont, Missouri, Kansas and Connecticut all either unveiled or approved deployments of the vending machines this year. Even tribal governments have embraced the strategy. In April, the Pala Band of Mission Indians installed what it described as the first naloxone vending machine on tribal land in the US. Four months later, the Tulalip reservation in Washington state set up its own machine. The spread of the vending machines has been dramatic, according to Rebecca Stewart, an assistant professor at the Penn Center for Mental Health who studies substance abuse treatment. “They’re really popping up all over the country,” she said. The trend began in the US only five years ago, in 2017, with a vending machine programme in Nevada. But as Stewart pointed out, similar programmes had already existed for years in Europe, Australia and even Puerto Rico. “The United States is sort of behind everyone in this aspect,” she said. “In terms of harm reduction vending machines, these have been implemented for decades all over the world. And so these implementations in the United States are just beginning.” Four of the seven naloxone vending machines in Washington, DC, dispensed 204 packages of the medication over two months alone [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera] Escaping the ‘moral hazard’ argument One of the biggest hurdles to adopting the vending machines has traditionally been public opinion. Stewart said many Americans — including politicians and policymakers — feared that the vending machines would encourage drug use by making the practice safer. She calls it the “moral hazard” argument. Even this year, officials echoed that line of thinking. Kentucky installed its first naloxone vending machine in 2022, but some local politicians remain opposed to their expansion into neighbouring counties. “You’re basically promoting and enabling the people that’s got the problem with the drugs instead of maybe trying to help them get off the drugs,” Nelson County Judge-Executive Tim Hutchins told the TV news station WHAS11 in February. Still, overdose deaths continue to rise in the US. Every year since 2021, more than 100,000 people have died from drug overdoses — double what was recorded in 2015. The majority of those overdose deaths have been linked to opioids, with experts blaming the emergence of synthetics like fentanyl for sending the death toll skyrocketing. Ryan Hampton, an activist and organiser who focuses on addiction, sees the increase in vending machines as evidence of the immediacy of the opioid crisis. He fears the US continues to overlook “harm reduction” strategies as a tool to bring the death rate down. The term “harm reduction” is used broadly to describe methods that can help prevent overdoses or other knock-on effects of drug use, like disease transmission through needle sharing. “For too long, harm reduction has been a stigmatised strategy,” Hampton said. Instead, he explained that the US has invested more in a “prevention/interdiction” model that discourages drug use in the first place. The result, he added, has been few resources dedicated to stopping overdoses and other drug-related harms. “What is being invested by no means meets the demand for the services or the scale for what’s needed right now,” he said. “With the toxic drug supply that we’re faced with, harm reduction has to be a mechanism that we deploy in every setting that we can, whether that be in vending machines or community care settings.” For her part, Stewart has noticed a shift away from perceptions that naloxone is
Tens of thousands forced to flee again as Israel expands Gaza offensive
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to flee again towards the south after Israel intensified assaults in the centre of the besieged enclave killing more than 180 people in the past 24 hours. The Israeli army on Friday said in a post on X that it was “expanding the operation in the Khan Younis area” of Gaza, previously sheltering hundreds of thousands of people displaced from the north – initially the focus of Israel’s ground assault. Israeli shelling near El Amal hospital in Khan Younis killed 41 people over the past two days, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday, adding that the casualties in repeated Israeli attacks near the facility include “displaced persons seeking shelter”. The UN humanitarian office said an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already-teeming southern border city of Rafah in recent days following the intensification of fighting around both Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis to its south. Earlier this week, Israeli forces ordered Palestinians out of the crowded central districts of Bureij, Maghazi and Nuseirat, as tanks advanced from the north and east. Attacks on those areas have intensified in recent days, with many residents fleeing to the already-crowded Deir el-Balah, pitching makeshift tents made from sheets of plastic on whatever open ground they could find. “We suffered a lot. We had the whole night without shelter, under rain and it was cold, we were with our kids and elderly women,” Um Hamdi, a woman cooking porridge over an open woodfire, surrounded by children, told the news agency Reuters. Nearby, grey-bearded Abdel Nasser Awadallah stood inside a wooden frame set up to be wrapped in plastic to make a tent, and spoke of the family he had lost. “I buried my children, a child 16-year-old, another one aged 18. Something I really can’t believe, I buried my children at 6:00am while their bodies were still warm. Also my nephew was two years old, I buried him, I buried my wife,” he said. ‘Death or displacement’ Addressing the UN Security Council on Friday, the Palestinian UN envoy Majed Bamya said the widescale destruction of Gaza by Israeli operations has made it clear their sole goal is forced displacement. “They want to make sure that Palestinians in Gaza have no homes to return to,” he said. “They want to make sure they have no life to return.” “They want to make sure that life in Gaza is no longer possible, with one aim, what they call ‘voluntary migration’ … the codename for forced displacement. These are the options for Palestinians: Destruction or displacement, death or displacement,” he said. On Christmas Eve, the Maghazi refugee camp witnessed one of the deadliest attacks since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7. While the official number of those who were killed stands at 90, residents of the camp near Deir el-Balah told Al Jazeera that in reality, the figure is much higher as entire residential blocks were wiped out. Israel issued a rare apology on Thursday for killing civilians in the massive air raid that triggered one of the biggest exoduses of the war so far, saying the munitions used were not appropriate for a packed refugee camp and that the high death toll “could have been avoided”. Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli attacks, shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, December 29, 2023. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Rafah hit ahead of Egypt talks The UN says more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, and many are now fleeing for the third or fourth time. Many now live in cramped shelters in the 365sq km (141sq miles) of land or in makeshift tents around the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt – which has also not been immune from Israeli attacks. Rafah was hit by new air raids on Friday as Egypt prepared to host a high-level Hamas delegation for talks to try and end the nearly 12-week war that has devastated the besieged Palestinian territory. Reuters journalists at the scene of one air raid that obliterated a building in Rafah saw the head of a buried toddler sticking out of the rubble. The child screamed as a rescue worker shielded his head with a hand, while another swung a sledgehammer at a chisel, trying to break up a slab of concrete to free him. Neighbour Sanad Abu Tabet said the two-storey house had been crowded with displaced people. After morning broke, relatives came to collect the dead wrapped up in white shrouds. Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza have killed at least 21,507 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Egypt has taken more of a leading role in pushing for a ceasefire, including introducing a plan to end the fighting. It includes captive and prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas. Egypt’s State Information Services chief Dia Rashwan said the plan was “intended to bring together the views of all parties concerned, with the aim of ending the shedding of Palestinian blood”. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Thursday that the group will not release more Israeli captives without a “complete and full ceasing of aggressive activities against our people through negotiations that are aligned with our people’s interest”. #Gaza – Israeli soldiers fired at an aid convoy as it returned from Northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli Army – our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage – aid workers should never be a target.@UNRWA — Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) December 29, 2023 UN convoy comes under fire The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA), Thomas White, said on Friday that a UN aid convoy had come under fire by the Israeli military on Thursday. While there