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Houston native among seven astronauts spending the holidays onboard the International Space Station // Houston native Loral O’Hara celebrated Thanksgiving by donning turkey socks onboard the International Space Station.
The socks, a gift her family, turn her feet into three-toed turkey legs. O’Hara and two other members of the space station’s seven-person crew spoke to reporters this week about their time aboard the station and spending the holidays some 250 miles above Earth.
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Republican Senator Tuberville says he will release some military holds -US media // Republican U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, who has blocked hundreds of military promotions for months to protest the Pentagon's payment of abortion-related travel costs, said on Tuesday he would lift his hold on some of them.
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Design for Next Minnesota State Seal Selected // (KNSI) - The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota has been chosen. The State Emblems Redesign Commission unanimously voted to move forward with design...
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US charges ex-ambassador with spying for Cuba over decades // The United States on Monday charged a former ambassador to Bolivia with spying for Cuba for over 40 years, in what the Justice Department described as one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent.
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US woman killed in shark attack in Bahamas // An American woman died after she was attacked by a shark while paddle boarding in The Bahamas on Monday, police said.
The woman, who was in her 40s and visiting from Boston, was with a male relative when the attack occurred near a resort in western New Providence, according to police, who added that the pair were rescued by a lifeguard.
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War risk insurance rates edge up after surge in Red Sea ship attacks // War risk insurance premiums edged up for Red Sea voyages after three vessels were attacked in the area on Sunday and fears grow over worsening perils for commercial shipping, maritime and insurance sources said on Monday.
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Houston-Australia team to use Antarctica's climate for space research // A new Houston-Australian partnership is looking to use the extreme conditions of Antarctica to advance health research as astronauts prepare for trips to the moon and Mars.
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North Dakota Governor Burgum exits 2024 presidential race // Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota who struggled to find his footing in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, ended his campaign on Monday.
Burgum, 67, was a successful software executive and investor before his political career and largely self financed his candidacy. On the stump, he portrayed himself as a traditional, business-minded conservative but was often lost amid the clatter surrounding former President Donald Trump.
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Disability lawsuit lands Howard Hughes Medical Institute in court //
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Fed, with rates at a peak, now looks at a hold and an eventual pivot lower // U.S. Federal Reserve officials appear on track to end the year with interest rate hikes as a thing of the past but with a coming challenge over when and how to signal a turn to rate cuts that investors, politicians and the public may demand before the central bank is ready.
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What to watch at COP28 on Monday // Monday is finance day at COP28, which means more funding is likely to be announced for the climate cause.
If that sounds familiar, that is because world leaders and the private sector have spent much of the first few days of this year's U.N. climate summit talking about boosting finance for climate action and disaster support.
#World#Climate
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Congress sets precedent by expelling Rep. George Santos // Rep. George Santos, a New York Republican who won election last fall on what was later revealed to be a largely fabricated biography, today became only the sixth member of the House of Representatives ever to be expelled from Congress.
He’s also the first member to be expelled who did not support the Confederacy or get convicted in court. Following the release of a damning report from the GOP-led House Ethics committee last month, nearly half of Republicans joined with all but a handful of their Democratic colleagues to oust Mr. Santos Friday morning. Notably, all members of the Republican leadership, including the new House speaker, voted against Mr. Santos’ expulsion. It requires a two-thirds House vote to expel a member.
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Is cryptocurrency enabling Hamas? Efforts to halt terror funding revive. // The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has pushed into the limelight an issue that’s been seething on the back burner for nearly a decade: the funding networks for terrorism.
Now, U.S. and other Western government watchdogs, legislators, and others have refocused on the problem. And especially on terrorists’ use of digital money – or cryptocurrency – that can be flashed around the world without the scrutiny of banks or regulators.
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Everything she did made history: Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy // Although the United States was founded, as John Adams once said, to be “a government of laws and not of men,” for more than two centuries it was almost exclusively men who wrote and interpreted those laws.
That was until Sandra Day O’Connor, raised on a remote cattle ranch in the rural Southwest, joined the United States Supreme Court.
Beyond shattering that glass ceiling, Justice O’Connor – who died Friday – left an indelible mark on American law and American society. For a time considered the most powerful woman in the country, she used her cautious and pragmatic approach to cases to shape the law on major issues ranging from abortion and affirmative action to executive branch war powers and the 2000 presidential election.
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Renewed Gaza fighting stretches into second day after Israel-Hamas truce collapses // U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said too many innocent Palestinians had been killed in Gaza as Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded the enclave on Saturday following the collapse of a truce with Hamas militants.
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US appeals court says Trump must face lawsuits over US Capitol attack // A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled that Donald Trump must face civil lawsuits over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters, rejecting the former president's claim that he is immune.
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Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor dies at 93 -Supreme Court // Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, whose centrist views and shrewd negotiating skills allowed her to steer the nation’s law for much of her quarter-century tenure, died on Friday at the age of 93, the court said.
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Gaza negotiators try to get Israel, Hamas to agree to extend truce again // Israel's warplanes pounded Gaza on Friday after talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamas collapsed, sending wounded and dead Palestinians into hospitals and forcing hundreds to flee in the streets.
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In Greece, iconic olive crop becomes a climate change front line // The olive tree, according to Greek mythology, was created by Athena, the goddess of wisdom, as a gift to the people of her namesake city, Athens. Olives and olive oil have become synonymous with Greece, and are credited, in part, with fueling the rise of Greek civilization.
But despite a history spanning thousands of years, these culinary pillars of Greek identity are under threat. Small farmers expect this year’s harvest season, which got underway in November, to be one of the worst years on record, thanks to climate change and the irregular seasonal shifts it has wrought upon the flowering process and fruit development.
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How 20th-century laws of war apply amid 21st-century crises // If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already aware that Monitor writers around the world strive not just to report the news but also to convey the human stories underneath – and the human values that so often animate them.
Now, however, two major international crises – the war in Gaza, and a surge in migrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia desperately trying to enter Europe – are underscoring what might be called a values paradox.
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