A funeral was held in Israel on Friday for Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier taken hostage by Hamas in October. The IDF located her body near the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza this week, and the U.S. has evidence that Hamas has been using the hospital complex to hide weapons. The IDF has released a statement saying their national task is to locate the missing and return them home.
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Thousands of earthquakes have struck Iceland this week, causing the evacuation of the town of Grindavik and prompting fears of a volcanic eruption. Residents of Grindavik are now stuck in limbo, awaiting the fate of their homes, and the Icelandic Meteorological Office is closely monitoring the situation. The Blue Lagoon, located in Grindavik, has been closed to visitors until further notice.
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., has filed a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from Congress after a report concluded there is “substantial evidence” Santos violated federal criminal laws. Santos responded to the report, saying he was “deeply disappointed” and will “continue to fight for the truth and justice.” The resolution will now be sent to the full House for consideration, and if approved, Santos would be the first member of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
President Joe Biden has signed a bipartisan short-term spending bill, preventing a potential government shutdown and giving lawmakers more time to sort out their differences over the federal budget. The bill was signed at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco while attending the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and passed the House and Senate by wide bipartisan margins. President Biden has urged Congress to pass a long-term spending bill that would provide more certainty for the federal budget, but it remains to be seen if lawmakers can reach a compromise in the new year.
Christopher Lee McWhorter was executed Thursday in Alabama for his role in the 1993 robbery and shooting death of Edward Lee Williams. His execution was the first in the state since 2019 and the ninth since then, despite his attorneys' efforts to have it stayed due to his mental competency. McWhorter's execution is the latest in a series of executions of inmates convicted of capital murder in Alabama, making it the state with the most executions since 2019.
Elon Musk has been criticized for endorsing an antisemitic social media post, sparking outrage from Jewish leaders and advertisers. The incident has raised questions about the responsibility of tech giants to combat hate speech and the role of social media in promoting bigotry, with many calling on Musk to take responsibility for his words and to unequivocally condemn the antisemitic conspiracy theory he endorsed.
Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend Erica Herman has dropped her $30 million lawsuit against the trust that owns his $54 million Florida mansion. The lawsuit, which was filed in April 2020, alleged that Woods had verbally and physically abused her, and that his agents had sexually harassed her. Herman's attorney stated that she had decided to drop the lawsuit because she wanted to "put this matter behind her and move on with her life," and that she had never accused Woods of sexual harassment or assault.
This article discusses the resurfacing of Osama bin Laden's 2002 "letter to the American people" on TikTok, which prompted The Guardian to remove the document from its website. The letter was written in an attempt to justify the terror attacks against the U.S. and sparked a debate about the implications of sharing bin Laden's words. The Guardian's decision to remove the document has been met with both criticism and praise, raising questions about the power of social media and the responsibility of media outlets to monitor the content they share.