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Monday, November 13, 2023

11/13 WAKE-UP CALL: No Way Out, Fighting Rages Near Hospital

The area around Al Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip was slammed by heavy shelling Sunday as the fate of the thousands of patients, staff and civilians seeking shelter there grew more desperate by the hour. Dr. Marwan Abusada, head of surgery at al-Shifa Hospital, said the bombardment has continued unabated for days. He dismissed the Israeli military claims that it had provided an escape route.

“No one can get out. No one can come in," Abusada told Al Jazeera. "People who tried to evacuate the hospital, they were shot at in the streets."

Palestinian officials say thousands of civilians have taken refuge among patients and staff, but Israeli officials accuse Hamas of concealing a command post in the hospital compound. Hamas denies it. The regional directors of three U.N. aid agencies issued a statement urging immediate international action to end the attacks on Gaza hospitals.

Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants intensified in Gaza City, around Al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave's biggest medical facility. Food and water supplies for the thousands of people taking shelter there are dwindling, and two newborns died when the hospital's incubators shut off due to a power outage, doctors there said. Other hospitals in the northern part of the strip reported similarly dire conditions. Israel said it created a safe corridor for pedestrians and vehicles to evacuate Al-Shifa, but doctors said there was no safe way to evacuate. Follow our live coverage of the war here.

➤U-S JETS ATTACK SYRIAN TARGETS: President Biden ordered airstrikes against two facilities in Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards on Sunday.  The strikes, carried out by Air Force F-15E fighter jets are the latest retaliatory attacks for the daily barrage of rocket hits on US forces in Iraq and Syria. The US jets hit structures in Abu Kamal and a safe house in Mayadin - used for weapons and ammunition storage and command and control HQs.  The attacks come four days after US warplanes hit a munitions depot in eastern Syria and the same day five US Army soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in the Mediterranean Sea.

➤3-YEAR OLD AMERICAN AMONG HOSTAGES: A three-year-old American orphan is among the hostages held by Hamas, the White House has revealed. The toddler's parents were slaughtered by the terror group during the October 7 massacre inside Israeli territory that saw 1,200 civilians killed and around 200 people taken hostage including at least nine US nationals. In a call with Qatar's leader Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani on Sunday, Biden 'condemned unequivocally the holding of hostages by Hamas, including many young children, one of whom is a three-year old American citizen toddler, whose parents were killed by Hamas on October 7th.' The White House statement added: 'The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay.' It comes amid warnings from Congress that some of the hostages could be held by other terror factions, raising a nightmare scenario for negotiators. Only four prisoners have been released so far. 

➤MAHER DISAPPOINTED WITH OBAMA: VBill Maher has expressed disappointment with former President Barack Obama's comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Obama said 'nobody's hands are clean' amid the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Maher described such sentiments as a 'moral equivalency'  and admitted to feeling let down by the remarks, describing them as 'not horrible' but unhelpful. Maher argued against the moral equivalency, emphasizing the recent brutal attack by Hamas and drawing a distinction between unintentional collateral damage and the deliberate targeting of civilians. He also highlighted Israel's initiative in allowing a four-hour pause for civilian evacuation, contrasting it with Hamas' actions.

➤5 U-S SOLDIERS DEAD IN CRASH: Five U.S. service members were confirmed to have died when their military aircraft crashed over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Saturday morning during a routine training mission, military officials said Sunday. U.S. European Command (EUCOM) said the aircraft "suffered a mishap" and crashed into the sea during a routine air refueling mission. Search and rescue efforts began immediately, including nearby U.S. military aircraft and ships. All five service members on board the aircraft were determined to have died. An investigation into the crash is underway, though military officials have said that there are no indications of any hostile activity involved.


➤BIDEN-XI TO MEET THIS WEEK:  President Biden and China's Xi Jinping are set to hold their first face-to-face meeting in a year in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, with both saying they want to mend a divisive, rivalrous U.S.-China relationship. The path to the summit has been strewn with diplomatic slights and gamesmanship, according to interviews with current and former officials on both sides, foreign-affairs specialists and others briefed on summit discussions. There have been snubs, skipped meetings and the withholding of goodwill gestures.

➤Z WARNS OF RUSSIAN WINTER CAMPAIGN: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Ukrainians on Sunday to prepare for new waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure as winter approached and said troops were anticipating an onslaught in the eastern theatre of the war. A military spokesman said Russian attacks on the shattered eastern town of Avdiivka had eased in the past day, but were likely to intensify in the coming days. And Ukrainian military intelligence said an explosion killed at least three Russian servicemen in the Russian-occupied southern town of Melitopol, which it described as an "act of revenge" by resistance groups.

➤SCOTT SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN: Tim Scott Suspends Presidential Campaign South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott announced that he had suspended his 2024 presidential campaign Sunday during a Fox News appearance. The senator jumped into the growing Republican primary field in late May, and has focused his campaign largely on bolstering traditional American values, parental rights in education, reducing crime and inflation and securing the southern border. Scott told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy that after months on the campaign trail, voters have told him “not now, Tim.”

➤HALEY SCOFFS AT TRUMP: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley scoffed at former President Donald Trump’s polling dominance in the 2024 Republican presidential race Sunday and said Americans are “getting tired of the drama and the chaos and the negativity.”  “I’ve always said that he was the right president at the right time and I agree with a lot of his policies,” Haley said on “Fox News Sunday.” But she added, “the problem is drama and chaos follows him, whether fairly or not. It is constantly following him and Americans feel it.” BHaley suggested Trump was partly to blame for the GOP’s underperformance in recent elections and said the party has to “pay the price” for the former president’s presence in the party. 


➤10 FREEWAY REMAINS CLOSED IN DTLA, CREWS ASSESSING DAMAGE FROM STORAGE YARD FIRE: A portion of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles remained shut down in both directions Sunday as crews continued to assess the damage caused by a massive fire at a storage yard. More than 100 firefighters battled the fire that broke out early Saturday morning at a storage yard under the freeway in the 1700 block of East 14th Street, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. It would eventually go on to burn 8 acres - the equivalent of six football fields.

➤CONDITION OF VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY OFFICER WOUNDED IN SHOOTING IMPROVES TO STABLE, OFFICIALS SAY: A Virginia State University police officer was in stable condition Sunday after being critically wounded in a shooting near campus, university officials said. The shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. when an on-duty VSU police officer responded to a disturbance at the campus. Authorities initially said the officer had suffered life-threatening injuries. The suspect, who remains at large, ran off campus before shots were fired, injuring the officer.

🦃TURKEY DAY WILL BE MORE EXPENSIVE: Shoppers can expect to pay a pretty penny for their Thanksgiving meal this year. Even with food-at-home inflation slowing to 2.4% since last October, this year's Thanksgiving will not be less expensive. According to Wells Fargo Consumer Thanksgiving report, "There are record price spreads between the wholesale price supermarkets pay versus the retail prices consumers pay – and the difference is impacting some of the most popular holiday dishes, including turkey and ham."


Shoppers can expect to pay a pretty penny for their Thanksgiving meal this year. Even with food-at-home inflation slowing to 2.4% since last October, this year's Thanksgiving will not be less expensive. According to Wells Fargo Consumer Thanksgiving report, "There are record price spreads between the wholesale price supermarkets pay versus the retail prices consumers pay – and the difference is impacting some of the most popular holiday dishes, including turkey and ham."

🏈NFL RAIDERS 16 JETS 12:  Zach Wilson was on the verge of quieting his critics. Then, he fueled them. The Jets’ quarterback had the team in position to pull out a comeback win over the Raiders on Sunday night but an interception by Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane at the Las Vegas 15-yard line with 1:22 left sealed a 16-12 Jets loss. The Jets failed to score a touchdown for the second straight game and their touchdown drought is now 11 quarters. Greg Zuerlein kicked four field goals. The loss drops the Jets to 4-5. You can’t pin this loss all on Wilson, though. The Jets committed eight penalties, seven on offense and every one felt like it negated a big play by the Jets.

🏈NFL COWBOYS 49 GIANTS 17:   Dak Prescott threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another as the Dallas Cowboys steamrolled the New York Giants 49-17 on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.b Prescott completed 26 of 35 passes for 404 yards and was picked off once. He has now thrown for at least 400 yards and four scores three times in his career, marking a Dallas franchise record. Brandin Cooks and CeeDee Lamb carved up the Giants' secondary, with Cooks grabbing nine catches for 173 yards and a touchdown. Lamb finished with 11 receptions for 151 yards and a TD.Rico Dowdle led the Cowboys' rushing attack with 79 yards and a TD on 12 carries. In his first career NFL start, New York quarterback Tommy DeVito threw for 86 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on 14-for-27 passing. He was sacked five times.

🏈NFL BROWNS 33 RAVENS 31:   Dustin Hopkins drilled a game-winning 40-yard field goal as time expired as the Cleveland Browns completed a stunning comeback for a 33-31 victory over the host Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon. Hopkins redeemed himself after missing the point-after following Greg Newsome II's 34-yard pick-6 with 8:16 remaining that pulled Cleveland (6-3) within 31-30. Gus Edwards had provided Baltimore (7-3) with a 31-17 advantage with 11:34 to play when he scored on the ground from 1 yard out, but the Browns responded emphatically.'

🏈NFL LIONS 41 CHARGERS 38:  Riley Patterson made a 41-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Detroit Lions a wild 41-38 win over the host Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in Inglewood, Calif. Jared Goff passed for 333 yards, including a key fourth-down completion on the final drive, and two touchdowns for Detroit (7-2). Amon-Ra St. Brown caught eight passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. David Montgomery rushed for 116 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. Jahmyr Gibbs added 77 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

🏈SAINTS LOSE DEREK CARR, MICHAEL THOMAS TO INJURIES VS VIKINGS: New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr and wide receiver Michael Thomas both exited Sunday's 27-19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings with injuries. Carr was taken off the sideline in a cart late in the third quarter after taking a high and low hit from Vikings defensive linemen Danielle Hunter and Jaquelin Roy. Thomas left the game with a knee injury after participating in only one offensive drive.

🏈SOURCE: STEELERS LB KWON ALEXANDER SUFFERS TORN ACHILLES: The Steelers lost another starting inside linebacker for the season on Sunday when Kwon Alexander suffered a torn Achilles in Pittsburgh's 23-19 victory over the Packers. Alexander sustained the injury in the first quarter.

🏈JIMBO FISHER FIRED: Texas A&M has fired Jimbo Fisher (right), according to multiple reports on Sunday morning, with the head coach getting a huge $75million payout. The news emerges less than 24 hours after the 51-10 win over Mississippi State on Saturday, taking their record for the season to 6-4 and making them bowl eligible. But it clearly was not enough to silence the doubts around Fisher.  The groundwork for Fisher's dismissal was put in place on Thursday after a four hour meeting and ESPN said he was told of his fate on Sunday morning. His buyout stands at around $75m with eight years remaining on his contract.  Furthermore, defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson is expected to step up to replace him for the rest of the season. 


🏈PENN STATE FIRES OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE YURCICH: Penn State fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich on Sunday, a day after the unit struggled in a high-profile loss for the second time this season. Running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle will replace Yurcich as co-offensive coordinators.



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