Author: Tyson Holmes

Israel is set to send a delegation to Cairo for talks with Hamas on a new ceasefire proposal aimed at securing the release of hostages held in Gaza as the conflict lingers on for nearly seven months now. The delegation, composed of security officials, will depart on Tuesday to discuss the deal with Egyptian brokers, an Israeli government source told Xinhua. A Hamas delegation left Egypt after the talks and will “return with a written response” to the latest truce proposal, according to Egyptian sources quoted by Al-Qahera News, a site also linked to Egyptian intelligence services. Abdul Latif al-Qanou,…

China’s foreign policy is either amazingly adept, delicately threading the needle of friendship with both Russia and the U.S., in effect eating its cake and keeping it too, or it’s putting at risk its relationship with the U.S. in a way that will be hard to repair, depending on who you ask.  China’s pro-Putin policy has arguably caused it as much diplomatic harm as the spy balloon, South China Sea spats, espionage crackdowns, alleged human rights abuses and de-risking put together. It’s not that the U.S. is highly principled in its foreign policy, far from it. After all, the imprimatur…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today signed legislation that will further bolster New York City’s life sciences and biotech sectors by offering a tax incentive for growing biotech companies to create jobs in New York City. The new law builds on significant progress the Adams administration has made to create and attract accessible jobs in life sciences and delivers on a key recommendation to invest in the sector from Mayor Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s “New’ New York: Making New York Work for Everyone” plan. “Employing more than 20,000 New Yorkers and counting, biotech and life sciences…

Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer who has cultivated an identity as a bipartisan consensus builder over three terms in Congress, announced on Monday that she will run for Virginia governor in 2025 instead of seeking reelection next year. Spanberger, 44, made the announcement in a campaign video, pledging to work to lower prescription drug prices, grow the middle class and ease inflation. Spanberger also vowed to focus on recruiting and retaining teachers “and stopping extremists from shredding women’s reproductive rights.” “Our country and our Commonwealth are facing fundamental threats to our rights, our freedoms, and to…

United Airlines has announced the launch of the first direct air link between Faro and New York/Newark (USA) on May 24, 2024. “The new flight will make it easy for U.S. customers to visit Portugal’s Algarve region, home to some of the country’s most scenic beaches and striking historic sites,” the American airline says in a statement released this Thursday. The flight will operate four times a week on a Boeing 757-200, featuring a total of 176 seats – 16 flat-bed seats in United Polaris business class and 160 in economy, including 42 Economy Plus seats with “added legroom and…

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will not be getting help with his legal bills from many of the big-money donors who financed his 2008 campaign for president, according to people familiar with the matter. Giuliani was beloved by several business titans when he was mayor of New York City, who supported his 2008 presidential campaign that raised more than $60 million, according to those familiar with the matter and data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets. Yet, many of the donors who backed the former mayor in 2008 are opting not to help him pay for his growing legal bills as…

Winners from the 2023 Dairy Products Competition were recently announced, with a Capital Region-based dairy farm taking home the gold for best chocolate milk in the state. Dygert Farms Creamery was named the best chocolate milk in the state. Winners were honored at the 2023 NYS fair on Thursday. The Dairy Products Competition looks at New York’s dairy industry to celebrate the best dairy producers and processors the state has to offer with gold or silver honors, as well as an award of excellence. Dygert Farms Creamery is located at 243 Dygert Rd, Palatine Bridge. “Coming from a family of…

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Virginia International Yeager Airport is installing computed tomography (CT) X-ray scanners at the security checkpoint. The two new CT scanners screen carry-on items at the checkpoint and generate a 3-D image of the contents of carry-on bags. The technology creates a clear image of a bag’s contents that the system can automatically detect explosives and other threat items by shooting hundreds of images with an X-ray camera spinning around the conveyor belt to provide TSA officers with the 3-D views of the contents of a carry-on bag. A TSA officer can view the 3-D…

An MTA employee was fired after he was allegedly caught hundreds of miles away, flying to his home in Florida when he was supposed to be on the job in the New York City subway, an investigation revealed. The transit authority’s inspector general said Tuesday that the worker took multiple flights to his second home in the Sunshine State between Jan. 2021 and June 2022 while he was supposed to be overseeing elevator inspections. He was also found to not swipe his identification at the end of his shift, and would later falsely report when he left for the day…

Columbia County, Ga., approved a contract of up to $375 million in bonds for the construction of a new Augusta (Ga.) University Health hospital, after the health system completes its merger with Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health, The Augusta Chronicle reported July 20. AU Health got a certificate of need to build the hospital in 2014 and has already begun construction using capital funds. Wellstar and Augusta University announced the merger in March 2023 and expect to officially close the deal this summer. Through the contract, Columbia County has an obligation to backstop 20 percent of the bond but will not…