Hunter Safety Reimagined: Recademics.com Gains IHEA Approval for Online Course

NoneSubscribe to our newsletter Privacy Policy Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in. Please visit My Account to verify and manage your account. An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link. Support Independent Arts Journalism As an independent publication, we rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, consider becoming a member today . Already a member? Sign in here. We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, please join us as a member . The trailblazing poet, artist, educator, and lifelong activist Nikki Giovanni, known as the “Princess of Black Poetry,” died on Monday, December 9 at a hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was 81. Giovanni’s publicist told local reporters that she passed away after complications related to lung cancer with her wife, Virginia “Ginny” Fowler, by her side. Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, she grew up between her birthplace and Ohio and attended Fisk University, graduating in 1967. In the wake of the death of her grandmother and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the following year, she began writing poetry to process her grief. Giovanni went on to publish over 20 poetry collections and more than a dozen illustrated children’s books, winning numerous prizes including the inaugural Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award in 2002. Her best-known works include her first three poetry collections, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), Black Judgment (1968) and Re: Creation (1970), which drew inspiration from her key role in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ’70s , when Black American intellectuals and artists of various disciplines used their work to celebrate African-American culture and create new community spaces focused on self-determination. It was also during this period that Giovanni had a historic multi-topic conversation with writer James Baldwin for the public television program Soul! Originally filmed in London in 1971, the episode was later transcribed and adapted into the collaborative book A Dialogue (1973) and continues to resonate decades later for its illuminating questions and candid commentary on subjects spanning race, gender, and politics. “An educator, activist, and iconic poet, Nikki Giovanni challenged us to examine love, revolution, and what it means to be human — all while being a beacon of light to anyone who met her, including me,” Joy Bivins, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, told Hyperallergic . Get the latest art news, reviews and opinions from Hyperallergic. Daily Weekly Opportunities “Each of us had our own treasured Nikki Giovanni work that not only lifted our spirits but reminded us to use our own voices to make change,” Bivins said. In 2023, Giovanni was the subject of Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster’s biographical documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project . The poet made headlines earlier this year when she joined the filmmakers and writer Doreen St. Félix in boycotting a scheduled screening and discussion around the film at the Brooklyn Museum to protest the institution and its program partner, PEN America, for their alleged silence on Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestine. “I stand with my producers and understand pain. I hope peace and the prayers for peace will be answered,” Giovanni told Hyperallergic in March. In addition to her poetry and activism, Giovanni is widely recognized for her children’s works, including the illustrated biography Rosa (2005) about Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, whom Giovanni knew personally. She also produced several nonfiction works and essays, edited anthologies, and created multiple audio recordings merging spoken-word poetry with music, such as Truth Is On Its Way (1971), Like a Ripple on a Pond (1973), and The Way I Feel (1975). More recently, Giovanni published Make Me Rain: Poems & Pros e (2020), which celebrates her Black heritage while also delving into the enduring effects of racism and white nationalism. Her final collection of poetry, The Last Book , is slated to be released next year. “My dream was not to publish or to even be a writer: My dream was to discover something no one else had thought of. I guess that’s why I’m a poet. We put things together in ways no one else does,” Giovanni wrote on her website . In addition to her literary contributions, Giovanni held teaching positions at Rutgers University and Queens College before taking a job at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she met Fowler, who became her life partner. The couple later married in 2016. Her commitment to advocacy is what inspired artist Robert Shetterly to paint her portrait for his Americans Who Tell the Truth series (2002–ongoing), which pays tribute to past and present American truthtellers. Shetterly told Hyperallergic that he included her in his project “because of her fearless insistence of telling the truth about racism and misogyny in this country.” “The power and precision of her words were like an arrow into our stubborn, unwoke hearts,” Shetterly said. In addition to Fowler, Giovanni is survived by her only child, Thomas Watson Giovanni, and a granddaughter, according to the New York Times . “We mourn this profound loss and find comfort in the fact that Nikki Giovanni’s incredible words are a legacy that will continue to heal, delight, and inspire generations to come,” Bivins said. We hope you enjoyed this article! Before you keep reading, please consider supporting Hyperallergic ’s journalism during a time when independent, critical reporting is increasingly scarce. Unlike many in the art world, we are not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Our journalism is funded by readers like you , ensuring integrity and independence in our coverage. We strive to offer trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. We spotlight artist-led social movements, uncover overlooked stories, and challenge established norms to make art more inclusive and accessible. With your support, we can continue to provide global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. If you can, please join us as a member today . Millions rely on Hyperallergic for free, reliable information. By becoming a member, you help keep our journalism free, independent, and accessible to all. Thank you for reading. Share Copied to clipboard Mail Bluesky Threads LinkedIn Facebook

I’ve reviewed the best data recovery software you can buy , which often require a costly subscription. However, there are some very good free apps that can help restore your missing files or photos. CCleaner’s Recuva and DMDE are among the best free data recovery apps that let you preview and restore a wide variety of files at no cost. I’ll focus on the free versions, but also cover the more powerful paid apps. Specs Pricing tiers Recuva is a full-featured free data recovery app with only minor limitations. There’s no customer service for free users. The app can’t read virtual drives and you have to check for updates manually. Beyond that, you can use Recuva for free for as long as you like on any Windows computer. There’s not a macOS or Linux version of Recuva and it doesn’t work on mobile devices. Leading solutions like Stellar Data Recovery restrict free file restoration to 1 GB, which might be enough for lots of documents and several photos. However, the free version might not retrieve all your photos and videos since they take up more space. For $25 annually, you can install Recuva Professional on up to three computers and contact support for technical assistance. If you’re unfamiliar with data recovery software and drive technology and formats, technical support could be very important. DMDE also has a free version that’s just as powerful as the paid app. However, it does have some restrictions. You can restore one folder and 4,000 files at a time. Unless you dump all you photos and videos in a single folder or store a huge number of files in one place, you’ll need the paid version. Since only one folder can be restored with the free app, you’ll probably need multiple scans to get back missing files. An annual subscription to DMDE Express costs $20. There’s also a lifetime plan call DMDE Standard that costs just $48. If you subscribe to DMDE Express for more than two years, DMDE Standard is a better bargain. DMDE also has professional plans, starting at $95, that let you install the app on more computers. Features Recuva has a wizard to guide you through data recovery. You select the type of files to restore, but the option of all files seems to make the most sense. Then you get to choose the drive or let the app scan all drives. That can take a long time, so it’s best to select the drive you suspect has missing files. When you start a scan, the app immediately starts listing files that Windows File Explorer won’t show. As the scan continues, more details appear including filename, the folder it’s in, the modification date, size, and more. Recuva also estimates the recoverability of each file and optionally shows a preview. Those are the most valuable details. If image previews look correct and files are rated with excellent recoverability, the app should be able to restore them. In my review of Recuva Professional , I found it to be useful in recovering data from my external hard disk drive (HDD) and my thumb drive. It found 158 of 163 files in the HDD test, which is good, but not great. DMDE is easy to get started with, but some features can be a little confusing. It’s a much more technical app with powerful and dangerous features like disk editing. It’s wise to make sure you understand what will happen before making a change. Basic operation is straightforward. You select a drive, start a scan, and watch the file list appear. DMDE shows the folders in a left sidebar and files to the right. It fills in the filename, size, modification date, and shows an optional preview. The preview is important since DMDE doesn’t give a recoverability estimate. In my review, DMDE Free restored all 55 files in my folder, but none of the images in subfolders. I’d need the paid version to get everything in one pass. As a workaround, I switched to raw recovery, which ignores my folder structure and groups restored files by type. With this trick, I got 162 of 165 files, but with randomly generated numeric filenames. The paid version of DMDE managed to restore all my HDD files, but the first letter of each folder was replaced with an underscore “_” symbol. Solid-state drive (SSD) recovery is almost impossible and neither app could restore a single file in these tests. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro is only app I’ve tested that has successfully undeleted SSD files, which might have been due to lucky timing. Support Recuva has a very limited help center and only offers email support to subscribers. The app has been around for decades, so your best bet is a web search if you need help with the free version. DMDE doesn’t restrict help to paying customers, giving it an edge against Recuva. Support is via email, so it could take up to 24 hours to get a reply. DMDE’s resource center features tutorials, a manual, and an FAQ so you can get answers faster. Popular data recovery apps like Disk Drill Pro offer live chat support, but cost more. Privacy and security There’s no need to upload data to recover files, so your files will remain private. However, if you email support or subscribe, your email address and financial information will be on record. That means cybersecurity is worth considering. I couldn’t find any record of a data breach at DMDE, but the developer of Recuva, CCleaner has had some issues. CCleaner has been hit by three major data breaches , one as recent as 2023. Which data recovery app is right for you? The free versions of Recuva and DMDE are both effective with HDD file recovery. While DMDE restored more data in my tests, it requires multiple passes to get back folders. Recuva is easier to use, but couldn’t find as many missing files. While you could download and run both, HDD scans can be time-consuming, so it’s better to pick one. If you absolutely can’t pay to restore missing files, Recuva has the better free app. However, DMDE’s $20 and Recuva’s $25 annual subscription prices are incredibly affordable. If you’re going to the trouble of scanning and restoring files, it’s worth saving yourself time and effort at such a low cost. If your photos, videos, documents, and other files are worth $20, I’d recommend DMDE Express over Recuva Professional. If you anticipate needing to recover files in the future, a one-time purchase of DMDE Standard costs just $48 to use it on your Windows PC, Mac, or Linux computer forever. That’s why DMDE is high on our list of the best data recovery software . If you need to restore data lost on mobile devices, check out our guides to the best iPhone data recovery apps and Android data recovery apps .Ottawa police search for suspects after robbery at Greenbank Road store

Israeli drone strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital on Tuesday, wounding three medical staff at one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza , the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held despite Israeli forces carrying out several new drone and artillery strikes on Tuesday, killing a shepherd in the country's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel last year in solidarity with Hamas militants who are fighting in the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage . Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians , more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war in Gaza has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times . Here's the Latest: WASHINGTON — U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike Tuesday in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops. The self-defense strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area. Ryder said the attack was not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian jihadi-led rebels taken over the country’s largest city. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic Stage group. CAIRO — Israeli drone strikes hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday, wounding three medical personnel, the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital, located in the town of Beit Lahiya. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In comments released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, Abu Safiya said one of the injured was in critical condition and was undergoing a complex surgery. “The situation has become extremely dangerous,” he said. “We are exhausted by the ongoing violence and atrocities.” Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months as Israeli forces have waged a fierce offensive in the area, saying they are rooting out Hamas militants who regrouped there. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim. Abu Safiya was wounded in his thigh and back by an Israeli drone strike on the hospital last month. TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending a long series of delays. Netanyahu’s lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber. In Tuesday’s decision, judges in the Jerusalem district court said that following a security assessment, his testimony will be moved to the Tel Aviv district court. Israeli media said the session would take place in an underground chamber. His testimony in the trial, which began in 2020, is expected to begin on Dec. 10 and to last at least several weeks. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing. NABATIYEH, Lebanon — In destroyed areas of southern Lebanon, residents clearing away rubble on Tuesday said they didn’t trust Israel to abide by the week-old ceasefire with Hezbollah. “The Israelis are breaching the ceasefire whenever they can because they are not committed,” said Hussein Badreddin, a vegetable seller in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, which was pummeled by Israeli airstrikes over several weeks. “This means that they (can) breach any resolution at any time.” Since it began last Wednesday, the U.S.- and French-brokered 60-day ceasefire has been rattled by near daily Israeli strikes, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them. Imad Yassin, a trader who owns a clothing shop in Nabatiyeh, said Israel was constantly breaching the ceasefire because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the displacement of residents of southern Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy was defeated and the truth is that he is trying to get revenge. Netanyahu is trying to displace us as citizens of southern Lebanon,” Yassin said. They spoke as bulldozers cleared streets strewn with rubble and debris from destroyed buildings. Electricians worked to fix power lines in an effort to restore electricity to the city. Both men were displaced by the war and returned to Nabatiyeh on Wednesday, the day the ceasefire went into effect. Yassin found his clothing shop had been destroyed. He said he would wait to see if the state will dispense compensation funds so that he can repair and reopen his business. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza City on Tuesday, Palestinian medical authorities said. Six people, including two children, who were killed when an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced people Tuesday afternoon in the Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency services. A second strike hit a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood, killing at least three people, the services said. Israeli forces have almost completely isolated northernmost Gaza since early October, saying they’re fighting regrouped Hamas militants there. That has pushed some families south to Gaza City, while hundreds of thousands more live in the territory's center and south in squalid tent camps, where they rely on international aid. JERUSALEM — Israel's military confirmed it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria's army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group. Syrian state media said a drone strike on Tuesday hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person, without saying who was killed. Israel's military said he was Salman Nemer Jomaa, describing him as “Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military,” and that killing him “degrades both Hezbollah’s presence in Syria and Hezbollah’s ongoing force-building efforts.” Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years. Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups. Iran supports both Hezbollah and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, which is currently fighting to push back jihadi-led insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo . TUBAS, West Bank — Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged militants targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press. Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor. “The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.” The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside. The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said. Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state. CAIRO — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war . It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel. The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority . A Palestinian Authority official on Tuesday confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza. It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. A Hamas official said that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the general terms but were still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee. The official said an agreement would be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the talks. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and scores of hostages are returned. He says Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza , with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. No Palestinians have publicly volunteered for such a role, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with the Israeli military. The United States has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. The Israeli government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — Palestinians lined up for bags of flour distributed by the U.N. in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, some of them for the first time in months amid a drop in food aid entering the territory. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, gave out one 25-kilogram flour bag (55 pounds) to each family of 10 at a warehouse in the Nuseirat refugee camp, as well as further south in the city of Khan Younis. Jalal al-Shaer, among the dozens receiving flour at the Nuseirat warehouse, said the bag would last his family of 12 for only two or three days. “The situation for us is very difficult,” said another man in line, Hammad Moawad. “There is no flour, there is no food, prices are high ... We eat bread crumbs.” He said his family hadn’t received a flour allotment in five or six months. COGAT, the Israeli army body in charge of humanitarian affairs, said it facilitated entry of a shipment of 600 tons of flour on Sunday for the World Food Program. Still, the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza since the beginning of October has been at nearly the lowest levels of the 15-month-old war. UNRWA’s senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge told The Associated Press that the flour bags being distributed Tuesday were not enough. “People are getting one bag of flour between an entire family and there is no certainty when they’ll receive the next food,” she said. Wateridge added that UNRWA has been struggling like other humanitarian agencies to provide much needed supplies across the Gaza Strip. The agency this week announced it was stopping delivering aid entering through the main crossing from Israel, Kerem Shalom, because its convoys were being robbed by gangs. UNRWA has blamed Israel in large part for the spread of lawlessness in Gaza. The International Criminal Court is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over accusations of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations and says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war isn't over against Hezbollah and vowed to use "an iron fist" against the Lebanese militant group for any perceived violations of a week-old ceasefire. “At the moment we are in a ceasefire, I note — a ceasefire, not the end of the war," Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting Tuesday. He said the military would retaliate for “any violation — minor or major.” Netanyahu also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his recent demands for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Trump posted on social media Monday that if the hostages are not freed before he takes office in January there would be “HELL TO PAY.” Netanyahu convened Tuesday's meeting in northern Israel, where around 45,000 Israelis had been displaced by the war as of last week, according to the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu said the government was focused on getting them back in their homes and rehabilitating the area. BERLIN — German authorities have arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a member of Hezbollah and working for groups controlled by the militant organization in Germany. Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Fadel R. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the Hannover region on Tuesday. The man is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and is not accused of direct involvement in any violence. Prosecutors said he joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2008 or earlier and took part in leadership training courses in Lebanon. From 2009, he allegedly had leadership duties in two groups controlled by Hezbollah in the Hannover area, organizing appearances by preachers close to the militants. According to prosecutors, he was briefly a correspondent for a Hezbollah media outlet in 2017 and was tasked with coordinating building work at a mosque. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. It is also home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000. BEIRUT — The Lebanese army is looking for more recruits as it beefs up its presence in southern Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Lebanon’s army is a respected national institution that kept to the sidelines during the nearly 14-month conflict. During an initial 60-day truce, thousands of Lebanese troops are supposed to deploy in southern Lebanon, where U.N. peacekeepers also have a presence. Hezbollah militants are to pull back from areas near the border as Israel withdraws its ground forces. The army said those interested in joining up have a one-month period to apply, starting Tuesday. The Lebanese army has about 80,000 troops, with around 5,000 of them deployed in the south. DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s state news agency says a drone strike hit a car in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing one person. The agency did not give further details or say who was killed. It said the attack occurred Tuesday on the road leading to the Damascus International Airport south of the city. The area is known to be home to members of Iran-backed militant groups. Israel is believed to have carried out a number of strikes in the area in recent months as it has battled Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge such strikes. JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister warned that if the shaky ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, Israel will widen its strikes and target the Lebanese state itself. He spoke the day after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes that killed nearly a dozen people. Those strikes came after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were previous Israeli violations. Speaking to troops on the northern border Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said any violations of the agreement would be met with “a maximum response and zero tolerance.” He said if the war resumes, Israel will widen its strikes beyond the areas where Hezbollah’s activities are concentrated, and “there will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.” During the 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which came to an end last week with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Israel largely refrained from striking critical infrastructure or the Lebanese armed forces, who kept to the sidelines . When Israeli strikes killed or wounded Lebanese soldiers, the Israeli military said it was accidental . The ceasefire agreement that took effect last week gives 60 days for Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and for Hezbollah militants to relocate north of the Litani River. The buffer zone is to be patrolled by Lebanese armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Israel has carried out multiple strikes in recent days in response to what it says are violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing homes near the border and violating Lebanon’s airspace. Berri, a Hezbollah ally, had helped mediate the ceasefire. JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians. Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the two deaths and said a third person was moderately wounded. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis, which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for an independent state. BEIRUT — Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon made his first public appearance in Beirut since he was wounded in an attack involving exploding pagers in mid-September. Mojtaba Amani, who returned to Lebanon over the weekend after undergoing treatment in Iran, visited on Tuesday the scene south of Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27. Speaking about the airstrike that destroyed six buildings and killed Nasrallah and others, Amani said Israel should get for its act “the highest medal for sabotage, terrorism, blood and killing civilians.” Amani suffered serious injuries in his face and hands when a pager he was holding exploded in mid-September. The device was one of about 3,000 pagers that exploded simultaneously, killing and wounding many Hezbollah members. A day after the pager attack, a similar attack struck walkie-talkies. In total, the explosions killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, many of them civilians. Last month, a spokesperson for the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pager attack was approved by Netanyahu.For anyone who has ever strapped on a pair of skis, hiked a mountain trail, or spent time enjoying the beautiful landscapes of Eagle County, it’s clear that public lands are the lifeblood of our community. These lands are the foundation for our tourism-based economy, and they’re essential to our quality of life here in the Rockies. So, it’s time we talk about the Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act — an important piece of legislation currently making its way through Congress that deserves our attention, and more importantly, our support. The SHRED Act is designed to ensure that ski areas operating on U.S. Forest Service lands reinvest a portion of their profits back into the public lands they depend on. Specifically, the SHRED Act would require a portion of the fees generated by ski resorts on federal land to be reinvested locally, directly benefitting the Forest Service and the mountain communities that host these resorts. It’s a straightforward concept: reinvest where you recreate. Right now, ski resorts pay fees to the federal government based on their operations on public land, yet these funds are often absorbed into the general federal budget instead of being allocated to the lands and communities that make skiing possible. The SHRED Act changes that by directing these funds back to the U.S. Forest Service in the regions where they were generated, helping address the challenges that come with high visitation and ensuring our public lands are protected for future generations. The challenges facing our local forests aren’t small, and neither are the stakes. Each year, millions of people visit the White River National Forest , which is the busiest in the country. Increased traffic places a strain on resources, contributes to wear and tear on trails and demands more from our local forest service teams, who are often stretched thin. With the SHRED Act, we’d see a greater level of maintenance, protection, and improvement in our forests, which in turn keeps visitors coming back and preserves the natural beauty that defines Eagle County. Beyond environmental protection, this legislation is about creating a more sustainable model for our economy. The SHRED Act’s reinvestment could help support infrastructure improvements, trail maintenance, wildfire mitigation efforts, and educational programs on responsible recreation — critical components for a community that relies heavily on tourism and outdoor recreation for jobs and revenue. This isn’t just a win for our environment — it’s a win for our local economy, workforce, and way of life. The beauty of the SHRED Act lies in its simplicity. We’re not looking at raising taxes or asking residents to bear additional financial burdens. Instead, we’re looking at a system where the people and companies who profit from public lands contribute directly to their upkeep and sustainability. It’s an approach that works for everyone: visitors benefit from well-maintained lands, the local economy benefits from sustainable tourism, and the Forest Service gets the resources it needs to support our beloved landscapes. Given the revenue-generating power of Colorado’s ski industry and the overwhelming draw of our mountain landscapes, it only makes sense to invest a portion of these earnings into the very resources that generate them. This is a rare opportunity for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that respects both economic realities and environmental needs. In a time when national politics can feel polarized, the SHRED Act is a reminder that there are still issues that unite us. Protecting our public lands and supporting our local economies isn’t a partisan issue; it’s a shared goal for everyone who values these spaces. By passing the SHRED Act, Congress can ensure that ski fees make their way back to Eagle County and other mountain communities across the country.The first official trailer for Disney ’s live-action Snow White movie starring Rachel Zegler has dropped, and many have slammed the feature and its star for the “woke” take on the classic tale. Zegler is no stranger to controversy, after previously defending Taylor Swift online , but also for her anti-Donald Trump social media message after the Presidential election. However, her controversies are now following her as backlash grows following the first look at her new film, which is a live-action modern take on the classic fairytale, which Disney first adapted into a 1937 cartoon. Rachel Zegler was almost cut from Snow White because of controversial comment Rachel Zegler apologizes after anti-Trump post after Disney 'received calls' The first trailer for the film dropped Tuesday showing egler in the titular role, Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and a look at the CGI dwarves, However, Zeigler’s portrayal of the princess was quickly slammed. The trailer shows Zeigler’s version of Snow White running into the forest after Gadot’s Evil Queen is revealed to want her dead, and she quickly befriends the seven dwarves who promise to keep her safe. However, unlike the original tale, where Snow White was found by the evil queen in disguise and given a poison apple, it appears much more will happen beyond that, as she returns to the castle grounds to fight back against the Queen on behalf of the kingdom. Fans quickly shared their disappointment on social media, with several commenting negatively. “Where the prince oh I forgot yall removed it to be more woke ok,” one person wrote on Instagram . “What has Snow White been turned into a girl boss? No one like that,” another wrote on X. “Another woke Disney dumpster fire. And this actress is insufferable,” another said. “This is a seaming pile of poo Woke Disney trash,” a third shared. Much of the ire is based off Zegler’s past comments where she bashed the original film’s premise and the fact that Snow White found love with a prince who “stalked” her. Don't miss; Hunger Games star savagely defends Taylor Swift against internet trolls [LATEST] Explosive new Hunger Games trailer released after Rachel Zeler controversy [INSIGHT] Rachel Zegler's meteoric rise and scandal-ridden fall explained [UPDATE] However, the revamp of the character isn’t new, as other takes have already made it into theaters over the years that changed the original story. In addition, Disney’s live-action remakes often give the classic princesses more heroic twists to their characters. The 2017 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast famously saw backlash as Emma Watson’s take became an inventor, whereas the original cartoon showed Belle liking to read, but left her father, Maurice, as the inventor.

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NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction , arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that anything short of immediate dismissal would undermine the transition of power, as well as the “overwhelming national mandate" granted to Trump by voters last month. They also cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges . “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’" Trump’s legal team wrote. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater "that President Biden condemned.” Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated a willingness to delay the sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. In their filing Monday, Trump's attorneys dismissed the idea of holding off sentencing until Trump is out of office as a “ridiculous suggestion.” Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. He says they did not and denies any wrongdoing. The defense filing was signed by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who represented Trump during the trial and have since been selected by the president-elect to fill senior roles at the Justice Department. Taking a swipe at Bragg and New York City, as Trump often did throughout the trial, the filing argues that dismissal would also benefit the public by giving him and “the numerous prosecutors assigned to this case a renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime.” Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to “to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.” Merchan hasn’t yet set a timetable for a decision. He could decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option. An outright dismissal of the New York case would further lift a legal cloud that at one point carried the prospect of derailing Trump’s political future. Last week, special counsel Jack Smith told courts that he was withdrawing both federal cases against Trump — one charging him with hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate, the other with scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost — citing longstanding Justice Department policy that shields a president from indictment while in office. The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial, resulting in a historic verdict that made him the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Prosecutors had cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels. Trump later reimbursed him, and Trump’s company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses — concealing what they really were, prosecutors alleged. Trump has said the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work. A month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts — things they did in the course of running the country — and that prosecutors can’t cite those actions to bolster a case centered on purely personal, unofficial conduct. Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some improper evidence, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form, testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made during his first term. Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s punishments would range from a fine to probation to up to four years in prison — but it’s unlikely he’d spend any time behind bars for a first-time conviction involving charges in the lowest tier of felonies. Because it is a state case, Trump would not be able to pardon himself once he returns to office. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Hegseth meets with moderate Sen. Collins as he lobbies for key votes in the Senate

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Marta's magic helped get the Pride to Saturday's NWSL title game against the Washington SpiritKroger and Albertsons' plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history crumbled Wednesday, with Albertsons pulling out of the $24.6 billion deal and the two companies accusing each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through. Albertsons said it had filed a lawsuit against Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger said the claims were "baseless" and that Albertsons was not entitled to the fee. "After reviewing options, the company determined it is no longer in its best interests to pursue the merger," Kroger said in a statement Wednesday. The bitter breakup came the day after two judges halted the proposed merger in separate court cases. U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson in Oregon issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking the merger until an in-house judge at the Federal Trade Commission could consider the matter. An hour later, Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger. Ferguson ruled that combining Albertsons and Kroger would lessen competition and violate consumer-protection laws. The companies could have appealed the rulings or proceeded to the in-house FTC hearings. Albertsons' decision to pull out of deal instead surprised some industry experts. "I'm in a state of professional and commercial shock that they would take this scorched earth approach," said Burt Flickinger, a longtime analyst and owner of retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group. "The logical thing would have been for Albertsons to let the decision sink in for a day and then meet and see what could be done. But the lawsuit seems to make that a moot issue." Albertsons is unlikely to find another merger partner because it has significant debt and underperforming stores in most of its markets., Flickinger said. Consumers will feel the most immediate impact of the deal's demise, he said, since Albertsons charges 12% to 14% more than Kroger and other grocery rivals. "They had so much debt they had to pay it off it's reflected in their pricing and promotional structure," Flickinger said. Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran testified during the federal hearing in September that his company might consider "structural options" like laying off employees, closing stores and exiting certain markets if the merger with Kroger didn't go through. "I would have to consider that," he said. "It's a dramatically different picture with the merger than without it." But in a statement Wednesday, Sankaran said Albertsons would "start this next chapter in strong financial condition with a track record of positive business performance." In the company's most recent quarter, Albertsons' revenue rose 1% to $18.5 billion and it reported $7.9 billion in debt. Kroger said it would also move forward in a strong financial position, with revenue down slightly to $33.6 billion in its most recent quarter. The company announced a $7.5 billion share buyback program Wednesday after a two-year pause. Kroger and Albertsons first proposed the merger in 2022. They argued that combining would help them better compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, which are gaining an increasing share of U.S. grocery sales. Together, Kroger and Albertsons would control around 13% of the U.S. grocery market. Walmart controls around 22%. Under the merger agreement, Kroger and Albertsons — who compete in 22 states — agreed to sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands. But the Federal Trade Commission and two states — Washington and Colorado — sued to block the merger earlier this year, saying it would raise prices and lower workers' wages by eliminating competition. It also said the divestiture plan was inadequate and that C&S was ill-equipped to take on so many stores. On Wednesday, Albertsons said that Kroger failed to exercise "best efforts" and to take "any and all actions" to secure regulatory approval of the companies' agreed merger transaction. Albertsons said Kroger refused to divest the assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignored regulators' feedback and rejected divestiture buyers that would have been stronger than C&S. "Kroger's self-serving conduct, taken at the expense of Albertsons and the agreed transaction, has harmed Albertsons' shareholders, associates and consumers," said Tom Moriarty, Albertsons' general counsel, in a statement. Kroger said that it disagrees with Albertsons "in the strongest possible terms." It said early Wednesday that Albertsons was responsible for "repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process." Cincinnati, Ohio, based Kroger operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smith's and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw's. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people. Kroger sued the FTC in August in federal court in Ohio, claiming that the federal agency's in-house administrative hearings were unlawful because the FTC was also able to challenge the merger in federal court in Oregon. In paperwork filed Wednesday, the FTC said it expected to update the court on its next steps in that case by Dec. 17. In Colorado, which also sued to block the merger, Attorney General Phil Weiser said Tuesday that he still was awaiting a decision from a state judge. In that case, Colorado also was challenging an allegedly illegal no-poach agreement Kroger and Albertsons made during a 2022 strike. Shares of Albertsons fell 1.5% Wednesday, while Kroger's stock was up 1%.