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White House pauses shipment of some weapons to Israel

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The White House last week paused a shipment of weapons to Israel, as Israeli leaders closed in on a decision to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official said Tuesday. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday in testimony to Congress that “we paused one shipment of high payload munitions.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s military announced Tuesday the launch of “targeted strikes” against Hamas in Rafah, which Israel has said is Hamas’ last stronghold, after Israel’s War Cabinet approved a military operation in the city. 

The U.S. has long held that Israel shouldn’t launch such a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million people are taking shelter after fleeing other parts of Gaza. But the United States’ concerns in discussions with Israel about addressing humanitarian needs in Rafah and how to approach Hamas have not been sufficiently addressed, the senior administration official said. When Israeli leaders appeared close to a decision on Rafah, the Biden administration began to review upcoming transfers of weapons that could be used in Rafah, and as a result, paused one shipment last week, the official said. 

That stalled shipment contains 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, the former of which the Biden administration was particularly concerned could do severe damage in urban areas, the official said. The senior administration official said the U.S. hasn’t yet decided how to proceed on this particular shipment. 

News of the weapons pause comes after days of the administration downplaying the possibility that it delayed a shipment. 

Israeli tanks on Tuesday took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border near Egypt, as Israel’s operation continues. That means Gaza’s two key aid corridors are shut. 

The senior administration official said the paused shipment has nothing to do with the funding for Israel Congress passed last month. 

Israel has long been threatening a ground assault on Rafah, and confirmed the beginning of the Rafah operation after Israel said a cease-fire proposal Hamas agreed to is “far from meeting Israel’s core demands.” 

Cease-fire talks are continuing in the Middle East and CIA director Bill Burns is in Israel Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The United States’ decision to pause the weapons shipment — and a senior administration official’s willingness to share the reasoning for the pause — point to the Biden administration’s growing concern over how Israel’s actions are harming Palestinian civilians. 



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News details emerge about Utah mother, 3 young children killed at their home

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A Utah mother who police believe was shot and killed by her husband along with three of their children was a refugee who fled violence in Myanmar and dreamed of thriving with her family in the U.S., relatives said Thursday.

Police believe the husband killed his family before shooting himself, and a teenage son was badly wounded.

The bodies of Bu Meh, 38, along with her daughters Kristina Ree, 8, and Nyay Meh, 2, and son Boe Reh, 11, were found in their home in West Valley City, a Salt Lake City suburb, on Tuesday. A handgun was found under the father Dae Reh, 42, leading police to believe this was a murder-suicide, but no evidence of a motive has been released.

One child, 17-year-old Sha Reh, survived being shot in the head and is hospitalized with a severe brain injury, police said.

Bu Meh, a member of Myanmar’s Karenni ethnic minority, fled what her relatives described as ethnic cleansing in the Southeast Asian nation about 10 years ago. She and her small family lived for a time in a refugee camp in Thailand, then came to the United States “with little more than the clothing on their backs,” the family said in a statement.

She taught herself English, learned new skills and worked hard to support her growing family, achieving a way of life “far beyond the nightmare of her former country or the refugee camp,” the family said.

“For reasons that we cannot comprehend, her husband robbed her and their children of that security and their very lives,” her family said.

Police believe the shooting happened over the weekend.

Police initially went to the home Monday night after a relative asked them to check on the family but did not find any sign of an emergency that would allow them to enter the home. The relative went to the home Tuesday, saw Sha Reh wounded in the garage and called police, who found the bodies inside the home.

In their statement, relatives called Sha Reh their hero and said he faces a “long and complex road to recovery.” An online fundraiser is collecting donations to pay for his care and to help him go to college.

“After moving into their own home and finally enjoying a level of prosperity far beyond the nightmare of their former country or the refugee camp in Thailand in which they lived for a season, and for reasons that we cannot comprehend,” the family wrote, “her husband robbed her and their children of that security and their very lives.”

Neighbors hadn’t reported any gunshots in the area over the weekend, police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said at a news conference Wednesday. The family had no previous reports of domestic violence or other disturbances.

One neighbor spoke to CBS affiliate KUTV about the shock they felt.

“How can a father shoot his children?” neighbor Mike Webster told the station. “I just can’t grasp for that concept at all. I can just see that poor little two-year-old looking at her daddy.”

This Utah case is the 38th mass killing in the United States this year. At least 165 people have died this year in U.S. mass killings, which are defined by the FBI as cases in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer.

Mark Barden, whose child was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, urged Utah lawmakers to pass Red Flag laws after the incident in Utah, KUTV reported.

“When it is recognized that an individual is in crisis, measures to safely and temporarily remove firearms from their possession are proven to save lives,” Barden said.





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Two journalists killed in northern Syria

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A journalists’ association says two journalists working for Kurdish media outlets were killed in northern Syria while covering fighting between Turkish-backed fighters and Syrian Kurdish militia.

The Turkey-based Dicle-Firat Journalists Association said Friday that Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin were killed Thursday when their vehicle was reportedly targeted by a Turkish drone on a road near the Tishrin Dam.

Tishrin Dam, located some 56 miles east of Aleppo, has been the scene of clashes between the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF, and the Turkey-backed opposition forces.


Former U.S. ambassador to Turkey says Trump is exaggerating the country’s influence on Syria

04:34

There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.

Bianet, a news website dedicated to human rights issues, said Bilgin was a reporter for the Kurdish Hawar News Agency, while Dastan worked as a freelance journalist for the Firat News Agency, which is associated with the militant group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because its main component is a group aligned to the PKK.

The group has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Turkish state since the 1980s in pursuit of its objective of securing autonomy for Kurds in the country.



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Stuffing stockings with skincare? Here’s what experts say kids should (and shouldn’t) be using.

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Skin care is all the rage for teens and tweens these days. But if you’re hunting for last-minute skincare stocking stuffers, be aware that experts warn some products could cause more harm than good.

Dr. Sheilagh Maguiness, a dermatologist and president of Society for Pediatric Dermatology told CBS News earlier this year it’s important to look for age-appropriate products for young skin. 

“What’s not good about caring for your skin, washing your face, wanting to establish good healthy skin care habits early? That’s great,” Maguiness said. “But what’s not great is the fact that some of the products that are being marketed to tweens and teens are not necessarily good or appropriate for their skin.”

So if you’re deciding on skincare gifts, here’s what’s safe and what’s best to skip. 

Safe: Cleanser and sun protection 

Using a gentle cleanser once or twice a day to wash your face is a great first step for those around age 11 or 12, Maguiness said.

“Even tweens could wash their face twice a day; as young as 8, that would be just fine,” she said. 

After washing your face in the morning, Maguiness suggests applying a sunscreen with SPF 30 or greater. Then in the evening, swap that out for a gentle moisturizer.

“The only preventative product that you need in an arsenal at any age is sunscreen,” she said. “It is the No. 1 thing you can do to prevent your skin from aging and to prevent, even more importantly, the risk for skin cancer down the line.”

Skip: Harsh ingredients

Some harsh ingredients for young people to avoid include alpha and beta hydroxy acids (AHA and BHA), alcohol, highly fragranced products, and retinols and retinoids, plastic surgeon Dr. Smita Ramanadham, told CBS New York earlier this year. 

“The biggest category to really avoid are those anti-aging products,” she said. “Young skin just does not need it. Young skin has collagen, elastin, it is hydrated, so we don’t need to add these extra ingredients that are really going to irritate and cause inflammation.”

Maguiness said she sees young girls come into her clinic with bags of unnecessary and potentially risky products.

“They’re actually damaging their skin barrier. They’re drying themselves out. They’re getting irritant dermatitis,” she said. “They’re using products that really just aren’t appropriate for the type of skin that they have.”



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