Latest news with #ex-Marine
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US distances itself from Gaza food delivery group amid questions over leadership and funding
After a rollout trumpeted by US officials, the US- and Israeli-backed effort that claimed it would return large-scale food deliveries to Gaza was born an orphan, with questions growing over its leadership, sources of funding and ties to Israeli officials and private US security contractors. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had said it would securely provide food supplies to the Gaza Strip, ending an Israeli blockade that UN officials say have led to the brink of a famine. Instead, early reports and leaked video of its operations that began this week have depicted a scene of chaos, with crowds storming a distribution site and Israeli military officials confirming they had fired 'warning shots' to restore order. Gaza health officials said at least one civilian had been killed and 48 injured in the incident. In a statement, GHF downplayed the episode, claimed there had been no casualties, and said it had distributed 14,550 food boxes, or 840,262 meals, according to its own calculations. But GHF had no experience distributing food in a famine zone, and as of Wednesday, its leadership remained opaque, if not deliberately obscure. A number of executives and board members have refuted links to the group or stepped down, including Jake Wood, the ex-Marine who previously headed the group. When he resigned on Sunday, he said that it 'is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon'. The group named John Acree, a former senior official at USAID, as its interim executive director. Both a Geneva-based company and a Delaware-based company tied to the organisation are reportedly being dissolved, a GHF spokesperson told an investigative Israeli media outlet, increasing speculation over its initiators and sources of funding. The New York Times has reported that the idea for the group came from 'Israeli officials in the earliest weeks of the war' as a way to undermine Hamas. And the US state department has also distanced itself from GHF's operations, with a spokesperson saying she could not speak to the group's chaotic rollout or what plans could be made to extend aid to hundreds of thousands more people in Gaza who would not receive aid. 'This is not a state department effort. We don't have a plan,' Tammy Bruce, the state department spokesperson, said during a briefing on Tuesday when asked about plans to extend aid deliveries to those in the north of the Gaza Strip. 'I'm not going to speculate or to say what they should or should not do.' She added that any questions about the group's work should be addressed solely to the group. 'The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has an email,' Bruce said. 'You can – they should be reached out to, and that's what I'd recommend regarding plans to expand, plans to make assessments of what's worked and what hasn't at this point and what changes they might make. And what the goal is – clearly the goal is to reach as many people as possible.' But when contacted by the Guardian, the group said it couldn't provide a representative for an interview and did not immediately respond to inquiries about its current leadership, where it was registered or its links to US security contractors. The group did defend its food distribution, denying Palestinian crowds had been fired upon or that anyone had been injured at its distribution sites. A statement sent to the Guardian from GHF said that under its protocol 'for a brief moment the GHF team intentionally relaxed its security protocols to safeguard against crowd reactions to finally receiving food'. The group in part blamed the 'pressure' on the distribution site due to 'acute hunger and Hamas-imposed blockades, which create dangerous conditions outside the gates'. The statement did not address Israel's role in preventing deliveries of aid. 'Unfortunately, there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail,' the group said. The UN and other humanitarian organisations have refused to work with GHF, arguing that doing so would compromise efforts to reach civilians in all conflict zones, and put at risk both their teams and local people. 'Yesterday, we saw tens of thousands of desperate people under fire, storming a militarized distribution point established on the rubble of their homes,' said Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Others have described the effort as an attempt to use deliveries of aid as a political weapon. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, said that the bloc opposed the 'privatisation of the distribution of humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid cannot be weaponized.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
JFK hearing revives cover-up talk; Geraldo, Ross Coulthart respond
(NewsNation) — A House panel hearing last week featured testimony calling into question the official explanation that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Geraldo Rivera and Ross Coulthart, two journalists who appear regularly on NewsNation, offer their take on whether there is cause for concern or whether skeptics are going down the same dead end. Wednesday's hearing of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets was the second devoted to the opaqueness surrounding Kennedy's death. Declassified: The JFK Assassination At the meeting, witnesses to the assassination or its immediate aftermath expressed doubts about the Warren Commission's conclusion, and lawmakers heard allegations about tainted medical files, fake X-rays and lost bullet fragments. Media veteran Rivera, a NewsNation correspondent-at-large, said it's simple enough for him: Oswald, an ex-Marine sharpshooter with an ax to grind, acted alone. 'Lee Harvey Oswald was a low-down, dirty communist,' he said. 'The only thing in his life he ever did well was the assassination. He was a marksman. He was a sharpshooter.' Rivera insists that if there were a viable alternative explanation, it would have surfaced long ago. 'If it had been something other than the Warren Commission finding — that Lee Harvey Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald alone killed John Kennedy — we would know it by now,' he said. 'I am unconvinced by all this recent testimony. And it always seems to me that the congresspeople involved are always the most eager to get on TV, and they make news by outrageous or outlandish or unprovable claims.' Witnesses accuse CIA of obstructing JFK investigations Coulthart, host of the 'Reality Check' podcast, said the case is worth re-examining. He said he was intrigued by last week's testimony, including remarks from a surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital who received the mortally wounded Kennedy. Coulthart noted the physician said the president's wounds appeared as if they came from the front of Kennedy, not from behind, where Oswald was believed to be in the Texas Book Depository. 'I just think the media is locked into a cycle of denial, that it's such an incomprehensible thing to contemplate the possibility that a president was killed in a coup d'état in 1963, and that's what we're talking about,' Coulthart told 'NewsNation Prime' on Saturday. Coulthart said the CIA may still be withholding certain files in the Kennedy assassination. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered the release of thousands of documents on Kennedy's death, but many observers said there was little new information included and no smoking gun that would solidify a different premise. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Hero' 8-year-old son of retired NYPD officer succumbs to rare brain cancer
The 8-year old son of retired NYPD Lt. Eric Dym has died after touching the hearts of those who learned of his courageous battle against brain cancer. 'Derek fought so hard,' his broken-hearted dad told The Post. 'This cancer is just a monster.' The boy, who loved Minecraft, swimming, and art, died peacefully on May 1 — 14 months after being diagnosed with DMG Glioma, an aggressive cancer which strikes about 300 children a year in the US. 'We always thought if anybody could beat it, it would be Derek,' said Dym, an ex-Marine and co-host of a New York City-based podcast on policing. The youngster's brave struggle — 'he never complained,' Dym said — sparked an overwhelming response. A GoFundMe campaign raised nearly $600,000 to help the family pay expenses. The cancer started with headaches, striking while Dym, his wife Luiza, Derek and daughter Ellie, 3, were living in Bali after selling their home to travel through Asia on the adventure of a lifetime. Leaving everything behind, the Dyms rushed to LA, the closest US city with a children's hospital. While they stayed in an RV, Derek underwent radiation and oral chemotherapy for the tumor, which could not be surgically removed because of its location in the brain. On their own, the Dyms also purchased costly alternative treatments such as a sound-therapy machine and a device using low-frequency electric fields aimed at destroying cancer cells. But Derek's condition steadily worsened. He entered hospice on March 5, and Laguna Beach police officers escorted the family to an apartment where Derek could get comfort care at home. 'We were fighting two parallels. For one, we knew it wasn't curable. And the other was that doctors aren't God, and we were hoping for a miracle, so we weren't going to give up.' Derek fell into 'a deep sleep' on Easter Sunday, Dym said. Little sister Ellie kept asking, 'When's he going to play? When's he going to start talking? When's he going to walk again?' Dym said. Derek did not wake up. 'We told her that Derek went to live with God, and she said she wants to go live with God, too.' 'I'll always remember YOU as my hero,' Dym said of his son on X. 'Until we meet again, I will only have good memories.'
New York Post
03-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
‘Hero' 8-year-old son of retired NYPD officer succumbs to rare brain cancer
The 8-year old son of retired NYPD Lt. Eric Dym has died after touching the hearts of those who learned of his courageous battle against brain cancer. 'Derek fought so hard,' his broken-hearted dad told The Post. 'This cancer is just a monster.' The boy, who loved Minecraft, swimming, and art, died peacefully on May 1 — 14 months after being diagnosed with DMG Glioma, an aggressive cancer which strikes about 300 children a year in the US. Advertisement 4 Derek Dym, the 8-year-old son of retired NYPD Lt. Eric Dym, has died after a 14-month battle with brain cancer. Gofundme 'We always thought if anybody could beat it, it would be Derek,' said Dym, an ex-Marine and co-host of a New York City-based podcast on policing. The youngster's brave struggle — 'he never complained,' Dym said — sparked an overwhelming response. A GoFundMe campaign raised nearly $600,000 to help the family pay expenses. Advertisement The cancer started with headaches, striking while Dym, his wife Luiza, Derek and daughter Ellie, 3, were living in Bali after selling their home to travel through Asia on the adventure of a lifetime. Leaving everything behind, the Dyms rushed to LA, the closest US city with a children's hospital. 4 Eric Dym, wife Luiza, son Derek, 8, and daughter Ellie, 3, lived in an RV near Children's Hospital Los Angeles during the boy's treatment. Courtesy of Eric Dym While they stayed in an RV, Derek underwent radiation and oral chemotherapy for the tumor, which could not be surgically removed because of its location in the brain. Advertisement On their own, the Dyms also purchased costly alternative treatments such as a sound-therapy machine and a device using low-frequency electric fields aimed at destroying cancer cells. But Derek's condition steadily worsened. 4 NYPD Lt. Eric Dym in Times Square, shortly before he retired in 2022, with son Derek and daughter Ellie. Courtesy of Eric Dym He entered hospice on March 5, and Laguna Beach police officers escorted the family to an apartment where Derek could get comfort care at home. Advertisement 'We were fighting two parallels. For one, we knew it wasn't curable. And the other was that doctors aren't God, and we were hoping for a miracle, so we weren't going to give up.' Derek fell into 'a deep sleep' on Easter Sunday, Dym said. 4 Friends of the Dym family created this tribute to Derek after he passed away. Credit Courtesy Eric Dym Little sister Ellie kept asking, 'When's he going to play? When's he going to start talking? When's he going to walk again?' Dym said. Derek did not wake up. 'We told her that Derek went to live with God, and she said she wants to go live with God, too.' 'I'll always remember YOU as my hero,' Dym said of his son on X. 'Until we meet again, I will only have good memories.'
The Star
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Russian court adds extra year to sentence of US citizen jailed for attacking law enforcement, RIA says
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, who serves a sentence for attacking a police officer and is accused of assaulting a prison official, attends a court hearing in Voronezh, Russia October 7, 2024. REUTERS/Vladimir Lavrov/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Thursday added an extra year to the sentence of Robert Gilman, a U.S. citizen and ex-Marine imprisoned in Russia for repeatedly assaulting law enforcement officers and a prison official, state news agency RIA reported. RIA cited the press service of the court in Voronezh, the southern Russian city where Gilman is incarcerated, as saying that an extra year had been added to his sentence, which it said is now eight years and one month. RIA did not give a reason for the extra year being added. Neither Gilman nor his legal team could be reached for comment. In October 2024, Gilman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years and one month in prison for assaulting a prison official and a state investigator while imprisoned for a 2022 drunken assault on a police officer, for which he received a 3.5 year sentence. During his second trial, RIA cited Gilman as telling the court that he had been forced to use violence after the prison inspector had caused pain to his genitalia and after the investigator had insulted his father. Russian media have previously cited Gilman's lawyers as saying that he originally came to Russia to study and obtain citizenship. Gilman is one of around 10 U.S. nationals behind bars in Russia. A prisoner swap earlier this month freed Kseniya Karelina, a dual Russian-U.S. citizen and Los Angeles spa worker, who had been serving a 12-year sentence for treason for donating just over $50 to a New York-based charity providing humanitarian support to Ukraine. (Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Felix Light, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
