All posts tagged: unclear

Israel strikes Beirut suburb, Nasrallah’s fate unclear after Friday’s massive attack

Israel strikes Beirut suburb, Nasrallah’s fate unclear after Friday’s massive attack

Published by Sam

Residents check the damaged in the aftermath of overnight Israeli bombardment in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on September 28, 2024. Anwar Amro | Afp | Getty Images Israel launched airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas of Lebanon on Saturday, a day after carrying out a massive attack on Hezbollah’s headquarters that appeared to be aimed at killing its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The fate of Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed group for 32 years, remains unclear, with Hezbollah yet to issue any statement on his status. Reuters journalists heard more than 20 airstrikes in Beirut before dawn on Saturday and more after sunrise. Smoke could be seen rising over the city’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh. Thousands of people have fled the area since Friday’s attack, congregating in squares, parks and sidewalks in downtown Beirut and seaside areas. “They want to destroy Dahiyeh, they want to destroy all of us,” said Sari, a man in his 30s who gave only his first name, referring to the suburb he had fled after an …

Israel Pushes Deeper Into Rafah, but Gaza Exit Plan Remains Unclear

Israel Pushes Deeper Into Rafah, but Gaza Exit Plan Remains Unclear

Published by Sam

The Israeli military said on Friday that its forces had advanced into central Rafah, pushing even more deeply into the southern Gaza city despite an international backlash and pressure from allies to scale back the latest offensive and agree to a cease-fire. Israeli special forces were engaging in “intelligence-based targeted raids” in central Rafah, the Israeli military said in a statement. It added that troops were performing “focused and low-intensity operations” in the city. On Wednesday, the military announced that it had established “operational control” over the border zone with Egypt, an eight-mile-long strip known as the Philadelphi Corridor on the outskirts of Rafah. Commercially available satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs on Thursday showed that the Israeli military had set up positions in parts of central Rafah, while military vehicles and tanks could be seen as far as the outskirts of the Tel al-Sultan area in western Rafah. As the fighting raged in Gaza, President Biden said Friday in Washington that it was time to end the war and bring about a cease-fire. “At …

Oh dear! Baby gear! Why are the manuals so unclear? : Shots

Oh dear! Baby gear! Why are the manuals so unclear? : Shots

Published by skeptic

Instructions for a fingernail filing gadget for infants says, “Stay away from children.” It’s enough to make a new parent holler. Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images Instructions for a fingernail filing gadget for infants says, “Stay away from children.” It’s enough to make a new parent holler. Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images Since becoming a father a few months ago, I’ve been nursing a grudge against something tiny, seemingly inconsequential, and often discarded: instructional manuals. Parenthood requires a lot of gadgetry to maintain a kid’s health and welfare. Those gadgets require puzzling over booklets, decoding inscrutable pictographs, and wondering whether warnings can be safely ignored or are actually disclosing a hazard. To give an example, my daughter, typically a cooing little marsupial, quickly discovered babyhood’s superpower: Infants emerge from the womb with talon-strength fingernails. She wasn’t afraid to use them, against either her parents or herself. So we purchased a pistachio-green, hand-held mani-pedi device. That was the easy part. The difficulty came when we consulted the manual, a palm-sized, two-page document. The …

A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, cause is unclear

A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, cause is unclear

Published by skeptic

Security was tight around a military base in southwestern Cambodia on Sunday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses. Guards sought to keep media away from the site in Kompong Speu province. Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was “deeply shocked” when he received the news of the blast in the province’s Chbar Mon district. It was not immediately clear what caused it. A villager living nearby told The Associated Press on Sunday that he trembled after hearing the blast because he had never before experienced such a loud explosion. “When the explosion happened, I was fixing my house with some construction workers,” said Chim Sothea. “Suddenly there was a loud explosion, causing my house to shake and breaking tiles on my roof. They fell down but luckily they didn’t fall inside the house.” Images from the scene showed several badly damaged buildings on the base, at least one with its roof blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in …

140,000 People Did Their Taxes With the Free IRS Direct File Pilot. but Program’s Future Is Unclear

140,000 People Did Their Taxes With the Free IRS Direct File Pilot. but Program’s Future Is Unclear

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS said Friday that more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes through its new direct file pilot program and participants saved roughly $5.6 million in fees they would have otherwise spent with commercial tax preparation companies. The government pilot program, rolled out this tax season in 12 states, allows people with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS for free. Those using the program claimed more than $90 million in refunds, the IRS said. But despite what IRS and Treasury Department officials said was a successful rollout, they aren’t saying yet whether the program will be available next year for more taxpayers. They say they need to evaluate the data on whether building out the program is feasible. “We will take time to analyze the data and collect feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders before making a decision about direct file’s future,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said on a call with reporters. The program, which became available to the public on March 8, cost …

Congressional leaders hope to avoid a shutdown. Ukraine aid is still unclear

Congressional leaders hope to avoid a shutdown. Ukraine aid is still unclear

Published by skeptic

President Biden and Vice President Harris met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other top congressional leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss government funding and Ukraine aid. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images President Biden and Vice President Harris met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other top congressional leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss government funding and Ukraine aid. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images Congressional leaders emerged from an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday saying they were optimistic that they could reach a deal before a Friday deadline to avert a partial government shutdown. But the leaders appeared to remain divided on Ukraine funding, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., insisting that addressing the situation at the border needed to be the top priority. “My purpose was to express what I believe is the obvious truth, and that is that we must take care of America’s needs first,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting. The hourlong meeting focused on three contentious issues that have roiled Congress: …

The Ring car camera appears to be finished, doomed by an unclear target market

The Ring car camera appears to be finished, doomed by an unclear target market

Published by skeptic

Once upon a time, gadgets knew what they were truly for. Toaster? Brown thy bread. Smartphone? Connect thy user. But the Ring Car Camera? Ever since its launch it found itself in a bit of an identity crisis. After three and a half years, Amazon’s page for the camera now says that “we don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock”. Which, given that Amazon bought Ring back in 2018, is a pretty solid indicator that the bell has tolled for this little gadget. (The news was previously reported by The Verge.) The decision won’t have come as much of a surprise to anyone following this vertical. At its core, the Ring Car Camera promised more than mere surveillance; it aimed to be an always-connected sentinel on wheels—an extension of the home security ecosystem into the automotive space. However, the question of “Who is it for?” lingered like a persistent fog. Was it for the security-conscious homeowner, the tech-savvy car enthusiast, or perhaps a broader demographic altogether? This ambiguity in target …

‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Fate Unclear Amid 5 Million Write-Down at Warners

‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Fate Unclear Amid $115 Million Write-Down at Warners

Published by Sam

Those following the saga of Coyote vs. Acme waited with bated breath Friday for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s earnings report to hint at any signs of the animated film’s fate. The feature became the most talked about movie in town on Nov. 10, when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Warners intended to scrap the movie. The outcry from filmmakers on social media was swift, and Warners soon reversed course, and decided to allow director Dave Green to shop the film to other buyers — something Green had been preparing to do when Warners surprised him by scrapping the film. Green ultimately showed the film to multiple buyers, with at least one bid coming in at around $40 million, according to one source. Friday brought no definitive news on Coyote vs. Acme‘s future, but there are troubling signs for those rooting for its release. As part of an earnings filing, Warner Bros. Discovery said it wrote off $115 million in content due to abandoning films in the third quarter of 2023 as part of a …

Alexei Navalny’s team confirms his death, but unclear where his body is

Alexei Navalny’s team confirms his death, but unclear where his body is

Published by skeptic

A woman touches a photo of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP hide caption toggle caption Dmitri Lovetsky/AP A woman touches a photo of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition leader had died at a remote Arctic penal colony, saying he was “murdered,” but it was unclear where his body was as his family and friends searched for answers. Navalny’s death at age 47 has deprived the Russian opposition of its most well-known and inspiring politician less than a month before an election that will give President Vladimir Putin another six years in power. Although neither the imprisoned anti-corruption crusader nor other Kremlin critics were in position to challenge Putin for the presidency, the loss of Navalny was a crushing blow to Russians who had pinned their future hopes on Putin’s seemingly indefatigable foe. It also …

Unclear how Zelenskiy’s removal of military commander will improve Ukraine’s position | Ukraine

Unclear how Zelenskiy’s removal of military commander will improve Ukraine’s position | Ukraine

Published by skeptic

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to replace his most senior military commander may solve a political problem, but it is not clear how it can improve Ukraine’s weakening position on the battlefield. It was clear that the outgoing Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi had lost the confidence of the Ukrainian leader, who had come to be wary of the general’s popularity and saw him as a political threat. By refusing to resign when asked by the president last week, Zaluzhnyi had created an untenable situation at the top. Eight days later, Zaluzhnyi has recognised reality, as Zelenskiy has made it clear he wants a change of leadership after the failed summer counteroffensive. His choice of Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, however, currently commander of land forces, is not seen as a radical departure. “Syrskyi is close to the president,” said Oleksiy Goncharenko, an opposition Ukrainian MP close to Zaluzhnyi. “And the most important thing for Zelenskiy is that he thinks that Syrskyi is absolutely not a political person. That is his most valuable characteristic.” While Zaluzhnyi came of age …