Three Palestinian Students Shot and Injured Near University of Vermont, Say Police

Three young men of Palestinian descent who were in Burlington for a Thanksgiving holiday gathering were shot and injured — one seriously — near the University of Vermont, police said Sunday. Authorities said the attack may have been a hate crime.

The shootings occurred at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday near the UVM campus, according to Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad. He said police are searching for the shooter.

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Two of the men are in stable condition and the other suffered “much more serious injuries,” Murad said in a news release Sunday. The three, all age 20, were visiting the home of one of the victim’s relatives and were walking when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun.

“Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled,” Murad said in a news release. “All three victims were struck, two in their torsos and one in the lower extremities.”

Murad said all three men are of Palestinian descent. Two are U.S. citizens and one is a legal resident. Two of the men were wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves.

Murad said there is no additional information to suggest the suspect’s motive.

The families of Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ahmed—the young men injured—have since released a joint statement. “As parents, we are devastated by the horrific news that our children were targeted and shot in Burlington, VT. At this time, our primary concern is their full recovery and that they receive the critical medical support they need to survive. We are extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of our children,” they said.

“We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice.”

Meanwhile, Police Chief Murad said in the news release: “My deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families.”

“In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime. And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”

He added, “The fact is that we don’t yet know as much as we want to right now. But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less.”

Before Murad issued his news release, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee released a statement Sunday saying that the victims were Palestinian American college students and that there is “reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab.”

The ADC said a man shouted and harassed the victims, who were conversing in Arabic, then proceeded to shoot them.

The FBI said it is aware of the shootings.

“If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,” Sarah Ruane, an FBI spokesperson based in Albany, New York, said in a statement.

The White House said that President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and will continue to receive updates as law enforcement gathers more information.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction of the person or people responsible for the shootings, the organization said in a statement.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent, denounced the attack. “It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT. Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation,” Sanders said in statement. “My thoughts are with them and their families.”

Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions are escalating in the United States as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war. A fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was back on track Sunday as the militants freed more hostages in a third set of releases under a four-day cease-fire deal.

source https://time.com/6339781/three-palestinian-students-shot-injured-vermont/

Biden Says Four-Year-Old American Girl Is Among Hostages Released From Gaza

Another 17 people were freed by Hamas on Sunday in the third day of hostage releases, including the first with U.S. citizenship: a four-year-old girl whose parents were killed in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Abigail Edan, one of three hostages with American citizenship, was initially in the hands of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Hamas militants killed her parents at their home on the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border.

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“One of our fellow Americans, a little girl named Abigail turned 4 years old—she spent her birthday, that birthday and at least 50 days before that held hostage by Hamas,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in Nantucket, the Massachusetts island where he spent the holidays. “She’s free and she’s in Israel now.”

“What she endured is unthinkable,” he added.

The total number of people released to the care of the Red Cross included 13 Israelis, three foreign nationals and an individual carrying a Russian passport, in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners, said Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari. Unlike the previous two nights, the hostages were released in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. 

“Based on information that was received from the Red Cross, 14 Israeli hostages and three foreign national hostages have been transferred to the Red Cross,” said the Israel Defense Forces.

The foreign nationals were from Thailand, according to Qatar. Earlier, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he had “reason to believe” at least one American citizen would be among those released.

Talks are continuing to extend the four-day cease-fire as more humanitarian aid trucks headed into Gaza on Sunday, including northern areas.  

“We are making every effort to return our hostages, and we will return them all,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.  

The prime minister office said earlier it had received a list of names of abductees whom Hamas was due to hand over on Sunday. The Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza freed a total of 26 Israelis, some with dual nationalities, as well as 14 Thai nationals and one Filipino citizen on Friday and Saturday. 

The releases made in several stages are key to a deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt that’s brought a pause of fighting in the more than six-week war, and allowed the flow of further humanitarian aid into besieged Gaza. 

Separately on Sunday, Hamas said it would release a dual Israeli-Russian hostage “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause.” That individual appears to have been counted among the 14 Israeli detainees. 

Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation, told Al-Jazeera TV that work continues at the political level to extend the current truce, which has been scheduled to run for four days. 

An hours-long delay to Saturday’s releases, blamed by Hamas on Israel, underscored the shakiness of the short-term truce. Hamas is designated by the U.S. and European Union as a terrorist group. The militants infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting about 240 others.

Israel has unleashed its military might on the small, crowded Gaza Strip since the attack. At least 15,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The four-day truce is contingent on Hamas releasing a total of 50 hostages and Israel freeing 150 women and minors held in the nation’s prisons.

source https://time.com/6339753/american-hostage-abigail-edan-released-gaza-ceasefire/

Curfew Set in Sierra Leone After Gunmen Attack Military Barracks and Detention Centers

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone’s president declared a nationwide curfew Sunday after gunmen attacked the military’s main and largest barracks in the West African nation’s capital and then overran detention centers, including a major prison.

The attack raised fears of a breakdown of order amid a surge of coups in the region.

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The detention centers, including the Pademba Road Prisons — holding more than 2,000 inmates — were attacked just as security forces fought to restore calm during sustained shootouts at the Wilberforce military barracks, according to Information Minister Chernor Bah.

“The prisons were overrun (and) some prisoners were abducted by the assailants while many others were released,” Bah said. Security forces managed to “push back” the assailants to the outskirts of the city where fighting continues, he added.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio earlier declared a nationwide curfew in response to the attacks.

An Associated Press journalist in the capital said that gunshots were still heard in the city hours after the government assured residents of calm, although it wasn’t clear who was behind the exchange of fire, nor if any arrests were made.

“The security forces are making progress in the operation to defeat and apprehend those responsible for today’s attacks,” Bah said. “The government remains in control and on top of the situation.”

The president and the country’s Ministry of Information and Education also both said that the government and security forces are in control of the situation, trying to dismiss fears of a possible escalation of violence in the country whose population of 8 million people is among the poorest in the world, having some of the lowest scores on the U.N. Human Development Index.

No details were immediately given about the gunmen or the reason for the attack, which comes months after Bio was reelected for a second term in a disputed vote in which the main opposition party accused the electoral commission of rigging the results.

Videos posted online showed soldiers patrolling Freetown’s empty streets and captured the loud blasts of gunshots at dawn. The AP couldn’t immediately verify the authenticity of the videos.

West Africa’s regional economic bloc ECOWAS — of which Sierra Leone is a member — described the incident as a plot “to acquire arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order” in the country. The bloc has in recent months tried to reverse the surge in coups in West and Central Africa, which has recorded eight military takeovers since 2020, the latest in Niger and Gabon this year.

“ECOWAS reiterates its zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government,” the bloc said in a statement.

Bio was reelected in Sierra Leone’s fifth presidential election since the end of a brutal 11-year civil war — more than two decades ago — which left tens of thousands of people dead and destroyed the country’s economy.

He continues to face criticism because of debilitating economic conditions. Nearly 60% of Sierra Leone’s population is facing poverty, with the youth unemployment rate being one of the highest in West Africa.

Two months after Bio won the disputed vote, police said they arrested several people, including senior military officers planning to use protests “to undermine peace” in the country.

A protest against the government in August last year resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people, including six police officers.

source https://time.com/6339724/sierra-leone-gunmen-attacks-curfew/

Killing of Female Student Sparks Mass Protests in Italian Cities

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Italy’s biggest cities to voice outrage at violence against women days after the violent murder of a young student stunned the nation.

Italians gathered in Rome, Milan and other cities in support of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, amid shock and anger after a 22 year-old university student from the Venice area, Giulia Cecchettin, was killed shortly before her graduation. Her former boyfriend and alleged murderer was on Saturday extradited from Germany where he had fled, according to a report by Italian news agency Ansa. 

“I want to tell Italian women that they’re not alone,” Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female prime minister, said in a Facebook post. In 2022, 106 women in Italy fell victim to femicide, up from 104 in 2021, according to estimates by the Italian national institute of statistics. More than 3,000 women are killed each year in Europe by partners or family members, the European Commission said in a statement on Friday. 

“Globally, the rights of women and girls have faced threats, reductions, or complete elimination, significantly impeding progress achieved over decades,” European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said according to a statement. European Union President Ursula von der Leyen called for a law to combat violence against women in a post on social media platform X.

source https://time.com/6339635/female-student-murder-giulia-cecchettin-italy-protests/

Derek Chauvin Has Reportedly Been Stabbed in Federal Prison. Here’s What to Know

Derek Chauvin, a former police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was reportedly seriously injured after being stabbed by another inmate at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday, sources told the Associated Press and other news outlets.

Chauvin is serving two sentences for murdering Floyd and violating his civil rights after being caught on camera in 2020 kneeling on the handcuffed man’s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeated that he couldn’t breathe.

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What do we know about the stabbing in Derek Chauvin’s prison?

The AP reported, according to an anonymous source, that Chauvin was stabbed and seriously injured on Friday afternoon inside FCI Tucson, a medium security federal correctional institution. Unnamed sources have since reported the same to other news outlets including ABC News and NBC News.

In a statement shared with the AP and the New York Times, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed an incarcerated person, who they did not identify, was assaulted around 12:30 p.m. local time and hospitalized after staff performed “life-saving measures.”

Visiting at the facility has been suspended, the prison’s website said on Saturday.

TIME reached out by email to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and by phone to the public information officer at FCI Tucson early Saturday for information. 

Who is Derek Chauvin?

Chauvin is a white former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on the neck of Floyd, a Black city resident who had been accused of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store, before Floyd died. 

The video sparked the largest racial justice protests across the country since the Civil Rights Movement, criticizing racially disproportionate fatal police shootings of Black Americans and seeking racial justice in all areas of society, inspiring similar actions around the world.

Chauvin and three other police officers who watched the incident—Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao—were fired the next day. Three days after that, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, which was later revised to second-degree murder.

In 2021, Chauvin was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. Chauvin also pled guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and in 2022, was sentenced to a 21-year federal sentence.

Chauvin arrived at FCI Tucson in August 2022 from a Minnesota state prison, where he was largely held in solitary confinement for his own protection, his attorney wrote in court filings last year, the AP reported.

Chauvin has appealed his conviction on the grounds that the jury was biased and based on the judge’s past rulings. A Minnesota appellate court upheld his conviction and rejected his right to a new trial in April. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined on Nov. 20 to hear his appeal, Reuters reported.

His fellow former officers were sentenced to between 2.5 and 3.5 years in prison for depriving Floyd his right to medical care, with two additionally convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin.

source https://time.com/6339595/derek-chauvin-prison-stabbing-reports/

Sean Combs Accused of Sexual Abuse by Two More Women

NEW YORK — Two more women have come forward to accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse, one week after the music mogul settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse.

Both of the new suits were filed Thursday on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.

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The filings detail acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community.

One of the accusers, Joi Dickerson, said she was a 19-year-old student at Syracuse University when she agreed to meet Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in 1991. After their date, Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then brought her home and sexually assaulted her, according to the filing.

Without her knowledge, Combs videotaped the assault and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the suit alleges. The public exposure sent Dickerson into a “tailspin,” contributing to severe depression that landed her in the hospital and forced her to drop out of college.

In a separate lawsuit filed Thursday, an unnamed woman accused Combs and an R&B singer, Aaron Hall, of sexually assaulting her and a friend, then beating her several days later.

The woman — identified only as Jane Doe — said that she and her roommate returned to Hall’s home with him and Combs after a music industry event in 1990 or 1991. The accuser said she was coerced into having sex with Combs. Afterward, as she was getting dressed, “Hall barged into the room, pinned her down and forced Jane Doe to have sex with him,” the suit states.

When the victim later spoke to her friend, who is also not named, she learned that her friend “had been forced to have sex with Combs and Hall in another room,” according to the suit. “Upon information and belief, when Combs finished with Jane Doe, he and Hall switched, and they commenced assaulting Jane Doe’s friend,” the suit states.

A few days later, an “irate” Combs allegedly showed up at the home of the two women in an attempt to stop them from speaking out about the abuse. He then choked the woman identified as Jane Doe until she passed out, the suit states.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations, accusing the two women of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.

An email inquiry to Hall was not returned.

Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney for the unnamed accuser, said his client was in the process of securing medical documents and witness statements to support her suit, which was filed late Thursday “in an effort to preserve the statute of limitations.”

The suit brought by Dickerson notes that the victim filed police reports in New York and New Jersey after the abuse. Inquiries to the New York City Police Department were not immediately returned. It was not clear which other jurisdictions the reports may have been filed.

After the filmed assault, Dickerson said she approached friends in the music industry asking them to confirm the existence of the “revenge porn” tape, but was rebuffed by those who were “terrified that Combs would retaliate against them and that they would lose future business and music opportunities.”

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson has done.

In years after the alleged assaults, Combs, now 54, would found his own label, Bad Boys Records, helping to produce Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls on his way to becoming one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives in the genre’s history.

The pair of lawsuits follow a separate set of explosive allegations made last week by Cassie Ventura, who said that Combs subjected her to a pattern of abuse during their yearslong relationship, which began in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37.

Among the allegations, Ventura said Combs plied her with drugs, subjected her to “savage” beatings, and forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and filmed them. When she tried to end the relationship in 2018, Combs raped her, she alleged.

The lawsuit was settled one day after it was filed for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement shared by her lawyers, Ventura said she wanted to resolve this matter “on terms that I have some level of control.”

Combs said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”

TIME has contacted representatives of Sean Combs for comment.

source https://time.com/6339524/sean-combs-new-sexual-assault-allegations/

What to Know About the Release of Hostages and Prisoners Amid the Gaza Ceasefire

In the most significant development in the weekslong Israel-Hamas war, Hamas released 13 hostages to Israel, according to Israeli media reports, and 12 Thai hostages, in a separate deal, as confirmed by Thai government officials.

The Times of Israel reported around 4:30 p.m. local time that 13 Israeli hostages were transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross and on their way to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, according to an Israeli official. Just before 5 p.m., hostages were transferred to the Egyptians, Israeli TV stations, as cited by Sky News, reported.

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Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin also said on X (formerly Twitter) just before 4 p.m. that 12 Thai hostages had been released by Hamas. The Egyptian government helped negotiate the deal.

The Red Cross later announced that 24 hostages had been released, contrasting earlier reports of 25. “We are relieved to confirm the safe release of 24 hostages,” a social media post said. “We have facilitated this release by transporting them from Gaza to the Rafah border, marking the real-life impact of our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties.”

Israel Defense Forces will bring the released hostages to Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel for an initial reception and medical check-up before they go to a hospital to meet their families, the Times of Israel reported.

The IDF and Israel Foreign Ministry said earlier on Friday that they were ready to receive hostages with medical care and supplies, sharing pictures and a video on social media of toys, toiletries, blankets and clothes.

Meanwhile, Dr. Majed Al Ansari, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the release of Palestinian prisoners on Friday. “We also confirm the release of 39 women and children detained in Israeli jails, thus upholding the commitment of the first day of the agreement,” he said, in a social media post.

Under the deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt, Hamas and Israel agreed to exchange 50 hostages for 150 prisoners, stop fighting for four days and allow more aid to enter the besieged Gaza Strip. It was not immediately clear Friday if, or when, the total numbers agreed upon would be released.

Even more on both sides could be freed. According to the Jerusalem Post, an additional three Palestinians from a list of 300 published by the Israeli government will be released for every additional hostage Hamas releases. The release of every ten more will result in another day of respite from the fighting, the Israeli government said.

Hamas took an estimated 240 people hostage in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The militant group released four before Friday—an American mother and daughter on Oct. 20 and two Israeli women on Oct. 23, both for “humanitarian reasons,” according to the militant group.

The 150 Palestinian prisoners are a fraction of the estimated number being held by Israel. Israeli nonprofit organization HaMoked reported that the Israel Prison Service was holding 6,704 Palestinian prisoners on security grounds as of November, a jump from 5,192 in October, based on government data. That includes a record-high number held in administrative detention, without a trial or charges, the group said.

More than 40% of the Palestinian prisoners on Israel’s list to potentially be released were under the age of 18. Their alleged offenses ranged from throwing stones to attempted murder.

source https://time.com/6339462/hamas-hostages-israel-palestinian-prisoners/