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Spaniards packing water guns blame impact of mass tourism for housing crunch

Spaniards packing water guns blame impact of mass tourism for housing crunch

Yahoo8 hours ago

Protesters used water pistols against unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona on Sunday as demonstrators marched to demand a re-think of an economic model they believe is fueling a housing crunch and erasing the character of the Spanish city. (AP video shot by: German Martinez and Hernan Munoz)

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Iran renews missile attacks on Israel, hitting several buildings and wounding dozens of people
Iran renews missile attacks on Israel, hitting several buildings and wounding dozens of people

The Hill

time2 hours ago

  • The Hill

Iran renews missile attacks on Israel, hitting several buildings and wounding dozens of people

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Iran launched a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country as emergency services reported projectiles striking and shrapnel falling in Israel's north and center, wounding at least 67 people. Powerful explosions, likely from Israel's defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn, ushering in a fourth day of open warfare between the regional foes. Plumes of black smoke rose into the sky over the major coastal city. Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, blowing out windows and heavily damaging multiple apartments. There was no immediate word on the number of casualties from that strike as rescuers searched through the ruins. Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it was treating 67 wounded people evacuated from four different places hit by missile strikes. It said most of the people were in moderate or mild condition. Iranian state TV said the country fired at least 100 missiles at Israel, signaling that it had no intention of yielding to international calls for de-escalation as it pressed on with its retaliation for Israel's surprise attack Friday on Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program and military leadership. The latest salvo comes after a weekend of escalating tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and Iran that raised fears of a wider, more dangerous regional war. Iran on Sunday said Israel struck oil refineries, killed the intelligence chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and hit population centers in intensive aerial attacks that raised the death toll from Israel's campaign to 224 people. Health authorities also reported that 1,277 were wounded, without distinguishing between military officials and civilians. Israel said Iran had fired over 270 missiles since Friday, 22 of which slipped through the country's sophisticated multi-tiered air defenses and caused havoc in residential suburbs, killing 14 people and wounding 390 others as of late Sunday.

Friends say Minnesota shooting suspect was deeply religious and conservative
Friends say Minnesota shooting suspect was deeply religious and conservative

Boston Globe

time2 hours ago

  • Boston Globe

Friends say Minnesota shooting suspect was deeply religious and conservative

Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were shot earlier by the same gunman at their home nearby but survived. Advertisement Friends and former colleagues interviewed by AP described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for President Donald Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota where voters don't list party affiliation. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Near the scene at Hortman's home, authorities say they found an SUV made to look like those used by law enforcement. Inside they found fliers for a local anti-Trump 'No Kings' rally scheduled for Saturday and a notebook with names of other lawmakers. The list also included the names of abortion rights advocates and health care officials, according to two law enforcement officials who could not discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. Advertisement Both Hortman and Hoffman were defenders of abortion rights at the state legislature. Suspect not believed to have made any public threats before attacks, official says Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a briefing on Sunday that Boelter is not believed to have made any public threats before the attacks. Evans asked the public not to speculate on a motivation for the attacks. 'We often want easy answers for complex problems,' he told reporters. 'Those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation.' Friends told the AP that they knew Boelter was religious and conservative, but that he didn't talk about politics often and didn't seem extreme. 'He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs,' said Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years. A glimpse of suspect's beliefs on abortion during a trip to Africa Boelter, who worked as a security contractor, gave a glimpse of his beliefs on abortion during a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. While there, Boelter served as an evangelical pastor, telling people he had first found Jesus as a teenager. 'The churches are so messed up, they don't know abortion is wrong in many churches,' he said, according to an online recording of one sermon from February 2023. Still, in three lengthy sermons reviewed by the AP, he only mentioned abortion once, focusing more on his love of God and what he saw as the moral decay in his native country. He appears to have hidden his more strident beliefs from his friends back home. 'He never talked to me about abortion,' Schroeder said. 'It seemed to be just that he was a conservative Republican who naturally followed Trump.' Advertisement A married father with five children, Boelter and his wife own a sprawling 3,800-square-foot house on a large rural lot about an hour from downtown Minneapolis that the couple bought in 2023 for more than a half-million dollars. Seeking to reinvent himself He worked for decades in managerial roles for food and beverage manufacturers before seeking to reinvent himself in middle age, according to resumes and a video he posted online. After getting an undergraduate degree in international relations in his 20s, Boelter went back to school and earned a master's degree and then a doctorate in leadership studies in 2016 from Cardinal Stritch University, a private Catholic college in Wisconsin that has since shut down. While living in Wisconsin, records show Boelter and his wife Jenny founded a nonprofit corporation called Revoformation Ministries, listing themselves as the president and secretary. After moving to Minnesota about a decade ago, Boelter volunteered for a position on a state workforce development board, first appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and later by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. He served through 2023. In that position, he may have crossed paths with one of his alleged victims. Hoffman served on the same board, though authorities said it was not immediately clear how much the two men may have interacted. Launching a security firm Records show Boelter and his wife started a security firm in 2018. A website for Praetorian Guard Security Services lists Boelter's wife as the president and CEO while he is listed as the director of security patrols. The company's homepage says it provides armed security for property and events and features a photo of an SUV painted in a two-tone black and silver pattern similar to a police vehicle, with a light bar across the roof and 'Praetorian' painted across the doors. Another photo shows a man in black tactical gear with a military-style helmet and a ballistic vest with the company's name across the front. Advertisement In an online resume, Boelter also billed himself as a security contractor who worked oversees in the Middle East and Africa. On his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he told Chris Fuller, a friend, that he had founded several companies focused on farming and fishing on the Congo River, as well as in transportation and tractor sales. 'It has been a very fun and rewarding experience and I only wished I had done something like this 10 years ago,' he wrote in a message shared with the AP. But once he returned home in 2023, there were signs that Boelter was struggling financially. That August, he began working for a transport service for a funeral home, mostly picking up bodies of those who had died in assisted living facilities — a job he described as he needed to do to pay bills. Tim Koch, the owner of Metro First Call, said Boelter 'voluntarily left' that position about four months ago. 'This is devastating news for all involved,' Koch said, declining to elaborate on the reasons for Boelter's departure, citing the ongoing law enforcement investigation. Boelter had also started spending some nights away from his family, renting a room in a modest house in northern Minneapolis shared by friends. Heavily armed police executed a search warrant on the home Saturday. 'I'm going to be gone for awhile' In the hours before Saturday's shootings, Boelter texted two roommates to tell them he loved them and that 'I'm going to be gone for a while,' according to Schroeder, who was forwarded the text and read it to the AP. Advertisement 'May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn't gone this way,' Boelter wrote. 'I don't want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don't know anything about this. But I love you guys and I'm sorry for the trouble this has caused.' Associated Press writer Mike Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington. Contact AP's global investigative team at Investigative@ or

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