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Israelis Leave Turkey After Gaza Hospital Bombing Sparks Protests

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El Al, Israel’s main airline, arranged two flights to bring Israelis back from Turkey after Israel issued a travel warning for its citizens visiting Turkey, local media reported.

According to NAN, two Israeli flights left Istanbul and bounded for Tel Aviv on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the report said, showing pictures of Israelis departing from Istanbul’s airport.

Israel’s National Security Council raised on Wednesday the travel warning for Türkiye to the highest level of four, citing “terrorist threats against Israelis”.

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READ ALSO: What We Know About Gaza Hospital Strike — Israeli-Palenstine Groups

“It urged all Israelis in Turkey to “leave as soon as possible”.

El Al said it would operate special free flights for Israelis in Turkey, adding that it would allow Israelis who traveled independently from Turkey to Greece to fly from Athens to Israel for free.

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Tens of thousands have joined protests across Turkey since a Tuesday attack on a hospital in Gaza caused heavy casualties.

About 471 people were killed when a rocket hit the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

READ ALSO: Moroccans Stage Protest Against Israel’s War In Gaza

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It said Israel carried out the airstrikes, while the Israeli military blamed the Islamic Jihad group for the “failed shooting” that targeted Israel.

The attack on the hospital has prompted widespread protests in Middle Eastern countries.

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UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

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A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

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Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

READ ALSO:UK Set To Announce Recognition Of Palestinian State

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“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

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These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

READ ALSO:Kenya Court Seeks UK Citizen’s Arrest Over Mother’s Murder

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

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They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

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Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

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Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

READ ALSO:PICTORIAL: NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine, Opioid Shipments Meant For US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland

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A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

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Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

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United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

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We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

READ ALSO:Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

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The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

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READ ALSO:Trump Slams Harvard With New Restrictions On Funds

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

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Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

READ ALSO:Judge Throws Out Trump’s $15bn ‘Rage’ Lawsuit Against New York Times

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

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“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.

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