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Airstrikes hit Gaza as Israel says it doesn't plan to control life there after destroying Hamas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip early Friday, hitting areas where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town near the border with Lebanon, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.Amid the fighting, Israel’s defense minister said the country did not have plans to maintain control over civilians in Gaza after its war against the Hamas militant group.Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s comments to lawmakers were the first time a top Israeli official discussed its long-term plans for Gaza. Gallant said Israel expected a three-phase war, starting with airstrikes and ground maneuvers. It anticipates then defeating pockets of resistance, and finally, ceasing Israel's “responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip.”Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Khan Youni, a town in the territory's south, and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the local Nasser Hospital. The ho...

Why Buy CBD Capsules Over Other Hemp Extracts? — The Pros & Cons Of CBD Pills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

CBD capsules may not get as much press as CBD oils, but they are one of the largest product categories in the hemp industry. Chances are, if a hemp brand offers CBD edibles and tinctures, it will make one line of CBD softgels. While CBD capsules may not have the best absorption rates, they still have many attractive traits worth mentioning.Why Buy CBD Capsules Over CBD Oil?The biggest disadvantage of using CBD capsules over CBD oils is that you’ll absorb less CBD. Like edibles, CBD capsules have to go through your liver before they enter your bloodstream. This means you’ll always absorb less CBD than the posted milligram count on your product’s lab test results.By contrast, if you take a CBD oil sublingually (i.e., under the tongue), you should feel CBD’s effects in a few minutes. The tongue’s sublingual glands can absorb compounds directly into our bloodstream, which means you’ll enjoy the highest possible CBD absorption using this method.Since you’re getting “less” CBD with capsul...

How To Master Q4 and Optimize Your Online Sales Strategy for a Successful Year-End

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

Photo Source: Adobe StockAs we approach the final quarter of the year, many businesses will be looking to optimize their strategies in all departments. Whether you need to increase sales in Q4 to reach your yearly goals or if you are just looking to meet your quarterly goals, there’s plenty to strategize over in the final months of the year.“Quarter four sales strategies should start ramping up toward the beginning of quarter three. If you want to finish the year strong, you have to start planning early,” reports Anthony Siskos, COO of HypeBlvd.If you are looking to master your end-of-year sales strategy, keep reading to find out how to prepare for a successful year-end.Why Is Q4 So Important?While every quarter is important, quarter four carries some extra weight for businesses. There is often more emphasis put on the final quarter because it’s the time of year when you either achieve or fail at your yearly goals.“Quarter four sales strategies should include enough action to ...

Review: ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ masterfully weaves a complex but satisfying sequel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

It’s remarkable to watch a spider build a web. Timelapse videos show an arachnid creating a structure that doesn’t resemble the unique netting at first, but as it sets anchor points and creates bridge lines, a familiar shape begins to form. By the end of the footage, you see an amazing feat of engineering.In a similar way, that’s how “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” develops. It floods players with a firehose of Spidey content in the beginning. Peter Parker and Miles Morales team up in an epic battle against an enraged and enormous Sandman. It tosses in the villain Kraven for good measure as he turns New York City into his hunting ground.Meanwhile in their personal lives, Miles has to write his college essay and be Spider-Man at the same time while Peter tries to hold a job, so he can keep the home aunt May left him. He ends up fired on his first day on the job as a teacher, but luckily, his childhood friend, Harry Osborn, offers him a plum job at the Emil...

Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Grace Hui, Archbishop Mitty golf

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

Archbishop Mitty High golfer Grace Hui is the Bay Area News Group’s high school girls athlete of the week. (Courtesy of Archbishop Mitty) Archbishop Mitty golfer Grace Hui is the Bay Area News Group’s girls athlete of the week for Oct. 9-14 after she received 35.37% of the vote by the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Leland water polo player Tasaria Kilpatrick (29.73%) finished second.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Hui, a senior, was the medalist in both of Mitty’s victories during the week. She shot an even-par 36 against Presentation and a 6-under par against St. Francis.To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email [email protected] by Monday, Oct. 23, at 11 a.m. Please include stats and team results.We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches/team statisticians for consideration.Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News & East Bay Times websites and in the print edition of the Mercury News a...

Bay Area campuses rife with tension over the Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

As the war between Israel and Hamas rages, students across the Bay Area have become tangled in its ideological crossfire. And as the death toll in the Middle East mounts, the vitriol across American campuses has too, with threats, discrimination and online harassment popping up at universities from coast to coast.It has grown so contentious that two University of California, Berkeley, professors from opposites sides of the conflict felt compelled to plead with students on a campus that was the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement to stop the harassment.“We are two professors on this campus who disagree, vehemently. But we have always treated one another with respect and dignity,” wrote the two professors — one Palestinian, and the other Israeli — in a message to the student body last Thursday. “We love this campus with its diverse communities and all of our students and are heartbroken to hear of incidents of near violence between students in recent days.”Students and ...

Kyle Shanahan gets another look at Vikings’ Cousins, with Purdy firmly entrenched

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

SANTA CLARA — When the 49ers visit the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, there will be a familiar face at quarterback.He’ll calmly go through his progressions, likely complete a high percentage of his passes and run his offense with precision and poise.Well, two familiar faces actually. Because the 49ers’ Brock Purdy and Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins were both initially schooled in how to play quarterback in the NFL by Kyle Shanahan.One of the worst-kept secrets in the NFL is that Shanahan carried a torch for Cousins since their days together in Washington. Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for his father Mike Shanahan, and Cousins was a fourth-round draft pick out of Michigan State overshadowed by Robert Griffin III, the No. 2 pick in the draft behind Andrew Luck.Kyle joined his father’s staff in 2010, with Donovan McNabb starting over Rex Grossman the first year and Grossman starting over John Beck in 2011 with Washington going 11-21 over th...

Federal judge strikes down decades-old California ban on assault weapons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

By Taylor Romine | CNNA federal judge has overturned a decades-old California law banning assault weapons, calling the restriction “extreme” and unconstitutional.US District Judge Roger T. Benitez ruled Thursday the ban impedes on residents’ Second Amendment rights and has no historical precedent, as is required by a landmark Supreme Court decision last year that changed the test courts are to use when determining the constitutionality of firearms regulations.Benitez relied on a similar argument when he struck down California’s ban on high-capacity magazines last month.The state argued the law aims to prevent mass shooters from gaining access to assault weapons. But Benitez countered many of the banned firearms are also commonly used by “law-abiding” citizens for self-defense.“California’s answer to the criminal misuse of a few is to disarm its many good residents. That knee-jerk reaction is constitutionally untenable, just as it was 250 years ago,” Benitez wrote in his decision.The...

Police: Driver who crashed into Chinese consulate in San Francisco tried to stab a responding officer before being fatally shot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

By Veronica Miracle and Aya Elamroussi | CNNThe driver who crashed a blue Honda sedan into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco last week was armed with a knife and had a loaded crossbow in his car before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said Thursday.Zhanyuan Yang, 31, rammed into the lobby area of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China on October 9 just after 3 p.m. local time, San Francisco Police said last week. At the time, police said there were no other injuries.On Thursday, the San Francisco Police Department held a town hall where it addressed details about how the attack on the consulate unfolded. Officials played 911 calls and body camera footage of responding police officers.One video shows an officer arriving at the scene and running into a building inside of which appears a blue sedan has crashed. As the officer makes his way farther into the building, the camera moves closer to a man dressed in a blue T-shirt and pants while covering hi...

Plans for thousands of homes on San Jose golf course get county boost

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:20 GMT

SAN JOSE — Santa Clara County’s adoption of its own blueprint for future housing development gives a big boost to a fledgling concept that could replace a San Jose golf course with thousands of homes.The prospect for wide-ranging housing development and other uses such as retail and open spaces — effectively a new neighborhood — is being contemplated at the long-shuttered Pleasant Hills Golf Course site in east San Jose.San Jose’s Pleasant Hills Golf Course at the northeast corner of South White Road and Tully Road, aerial view, November 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)Santa Clara County in recent days adopted a housing element for the years 2023 through 2031.California’s quest to spur the creation of more residences throughout the state has obliged numerous local agencies to pass housing elements — a bureaucratic term for blueprints that local jurisdictions must craft for residential development within their borders.Tucked away...