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Manhunt underway for suspect in shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO

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Manhunt underway for suspect in shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO – CBS News


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An unidentified gunman shot and killed the CEO of America’s largest health care insurer Wednesday morning in New York City. Police are searching for a suspect in what officials are calling a “brazen, targeted attack” on UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson. CBS News crime and public safety senior coordinating producer Anna Schecter has the latest.

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Syrian insurgents have reached the suburbs of Damascus in swiftly moving offensive

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Syrian insurgents have reached the suburbs of Damascus as part of a rapidly moving offensive that has seen them take over some of Syria’s largest cities, opposition activists and a rebel commander said Saturday.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents are now active in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. He added that opposition fighters on Saturday were also marching from eastern Syria toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces have started carrying out the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. He added that insurgents were headed from southern Syria toward Damascus.

Syria Opposition
Residents leave the city carrying their belongings in the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.

Ghaith Alsayed / AP


The redeployment away from the provinces of Daraa and Sweida came as Syria’s military sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts.

The rapid advances by insurgents is a stunning reversal of fortunes for Syria’s President Bashar Assad, who appears to be largely on his own, with erstwhile allies preoccupied with other conflicts.

His chief international backer, Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine, and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up his forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran, meanwhile, has seen its proxies across the region degraded by Israeli regular airstrikes.

How the conflict reignited

Thousands of people were fleeing from the area amid the dramatic escalation in the civil war, which had simmered without major advances by either side for years until the rebels mounted a shock offensive about two weeks ago.

The rebels took complete control of another city, Hama, and about a week after they began a sweeping raid across the north of the country. The first major prize in their offensive was seizing control of Aleppo a week ago, which was long Syria’s second most populous city. 

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani told CNN in an exclusive interview Thursday from Syria that the aim of the offensive is to overthrow Assad’s government.

The Britain-based Observatory said Syrian troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces and are sending reinforcements to Homs, where a battle is looming. If the insurgents capture Homs, they would cut the link between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where the president enjoys wide support.

The Syrian army said in a statement Saturday that it has carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists.” The army said it is setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south.

Since Syria’s conflict broke out in March 2011, the Syrian government has been referring to opposition gunmen as terrorists.

In the gas-rich nation of Qatar, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey were scheduled to meet to discuss the situation in Syria. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels seeking to overthrow Assad.

Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process.

After the fall of the cities of Daraa and Sweida early Saturday, Syrian government forces remain in control of five provincial capitals — Damascus, Homs and Quneitra, as well as Latakia and Tartus on the Mediterranean cost.

Tartus is home to the only Russian naval base outside the former Soviet Union while Latakia is home to a major Russian air base.

On Friday, U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured wide parts of the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq as well as the provincial capital that carries the same name. The capture of areas in Deir el-Zour is a blow to Iran’s influence in the region as the area is the gateway to the corridor linking the Mediterranean to Iran, a supply line for Iran-backed fighters, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

With the capture of a main border crossing with Iraq by the SDF and after opposition fighters took control of the Naseeb border crossing to Jordan in southern Syria, the Syrian government’s only gateway to the outside world is the Masnaa border crossing with Lebanon.



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“The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood on the inspiration for her surprising new work

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“The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood on the inspiration for her surprising new work – CBS News


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Margaret Atwood is best known as the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and over a dozen other novels, but she decided to branch out for her latest release. “Paper Boat” is a compilation of 60 years’ worth of poems, written over the course of her career. Michelle Miller has more.

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Saturday Sessions: David Shaw performs “When You Love Somebody”

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Saturday Sessions: David Shaw performs “When You Love Somebody” – CBS News


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Acclaimed singer-songwriter David Shaw might be best known as the frontman for “The Revivalists,” but his 2021 self-titled solo album was a hit with fans and critics alike. This past year, he released his second solo effort “Take A Look Inside.” The intensely personal relationship focuses on life, relationships and fatherhood. Now, from “Take A Look Inside,” here is David Shaw with “When You Love Somebody.”

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