The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the assault.

Frances Sharples walked through the glass doors of her credit union, ready to make the worst decision of her life. She had a script from the man promising to save the retirement account she built over decades as a science adviser to the U.S. government, including in the White House. He told her to transfer more than $600,000 — and to keep her cellphone on so he could listen to her. If anyone asked whether she was put up to it, she was to reply: “No, absolutely not,” according to her hand-scrawled notes. No one did. She handed the clerk the routing number, walked back to her dented 2005 Honda and returned home. “Now I’m good,” she told herself. “Now, I’m safe.” The doctorate daughter of a plumber from Queens had made a life advising the federal government on stem cells, new energy technologies and the effects of biological weapons. Despite a history of meticulousness, Sharples was victimized by a global network of online criminals, including a man with a gentle Indian accent who helped make off with much of her life savings. The government she served for more than four decades is compounding her pain. The Internal Revenue Service told Sharples, 73, she had to pay hefty taxes on the stolen money, which the federal government considers income. Tax specialists said someone in Sharples’s position could face a six-figure bill. The story of how Sharples was hit twice — first by an international criminal network, then by the U.S. tax code — underscores the nation’s vulnerability to global cybercrime and points to inconsistencies in the treatment of fraud victims, law enforcement and tax experts said.

Doctors working for health insurers can rule on 10,000 or more requests for care a year. At least a dozen were hired by major insurance companies after being disciplined by state medical boards or making multiple or outsized malpractice payments.

No other state spends less on school infrastructure per student than Idaho. As a result, many students, especially those in rural districts, deal with leaking ceilings, freezing classrooms and discolored drinking water. Some students have to miss school when the power or heat goes out. School districts often can’t build or repair buildings because Idaho is one of only two states that require two-thirds of voters to approve a bond. Some districts have held bond elections several times only to see them fail despite having support from a majority of voters. But the Legislature has been reluctant to make significant investments in facilities. Administrators say they don’t know how they’ll keep their schools running and worry that public officials don’t understand how bad the problems are. Idaho hasn’t done an official assessment of school building conditions in 30 years. The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica tried to fill this gap with the help of people who know the system best. We surveyed all 115 public school district superintendents, and 91% responded. Every superintendent who responded said they have at least one facilities problem that poses a significant challenge, and 78% told us they have five or more. Then, we went to communities across the state. Thirty-nine schools took us on tours, often led by district maintenance directors. We also collected stories and photographs from 233 students, parents, educators and others, who described how the conditions affect their lives.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has drawn fire from progressives over his fierce support for Israel and broken with immigration advocates with his support for curtailing migration.

The Shrewsbury representative also faces calls to resign over her boasts about meeting with an alt-right troll who shits on the floor House Minority Leader Crystal Quade has removed a St. Louis-area representative of her committee assignments over her association with a notorious alt-right troll. State Representative Sarah Unsicker (D-Shrewsbury) has faced calls to resign from her fellow Democrats after an odd series of tweets this past week, including most notably a tweet boasting about sharing "basil lemonade" in Webster Groves with Charles Johnson. Johnson has been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League as a Holocaust denier and has a history of using the n-word in tweets. (He's claimed he did so to study the site's algorithms.) Johnson also sued to have Michael Brown's juvenile records released and was banned from Twitter for asking for donations to "take out" activist DeRay Mckesson, although Twitter is now called X and Johnson is back on it. On Monday, Unsicker boasted that she went "very public" with the fact that she's "friends with some of their boogeyman" — "their" meaning St. Louis Twitter/X. She also posted a photo with Johnson, writing, "I'm an adult and capable of choosing my friendships. (Unsicker has not responded to an email from the RFT asking if she is friends with Johnson.)

In a rebuke to Obama’s effort to normalize relations with Cuba, Biden is sticking with Trump’s policy even as a Cuban migrant crisis racks the border. As one of his final foreign policy acts as president, in January 2021 Donald Trump added Cuba to the list of “State Sponsors of Terror,” reversing the Obama administration’s 2015 determination that the designation was no longer appropriate. The incoming Biden administration pledged to Congress it would start the process of overturning Trump’s redesignation, which by statute requires a six-month review process. Yet in a private briefing last week on Capitol Hill, State Department official Eric Jacobstein stunned members of Congress by telling them that the department has not even begun the review process, according to three sources in the room. In the briefing, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., inquired as to the status of the review. In order to remove Cuba from the list, statute requires at least a six-month review period. The news that the State Department had not even launched the review came as a surprise to McGovern and others in the room, and meant that the delisting couldn’t occur before mid-2024 at the earliest. McGovern pressed Jacobstein, noting that Congress had previously been assured that a review was underway. Jacobstein, according to sources in the room, said that perhaps there had been some misunderstanding around a different review of sanctions policies that State was undertaking.

Almost half of the munitions Israel has used in Gaza since the war began have been unguided bombs, a U.S. intelligence assessment has found, a ratio that some arms experts say helps explain the conflict’s enormous civilian death toll.

Leather was one of the most important materials of nomadic Scythians, used for clothing, shoes, and quivers, amongst other objects. However, our knowledge regarding the specific animal species used in Scythian leather production remains limited. In this first systematic study, we used palaeoproteomics methods to analyse the species in 45 samples of leather and two fur objects recovered from 18 burials excavated at 14 different Scythian sites in southern Ukraine. Our results demonstrate that Scythians primarily used domesticated species such as sheep, goat, cattle, and horse for the production of leather, while the furs were made of wild animals such as fox, squirrel and feline species. The surprise discovery is the presence of two human skin samples, which for the first time provide direct evidence of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ claim that Scythians used the skin of their dead enemies to manufacture leather trophy items, such as quiver covers. We argue that leather manufacture is not incompatible with a nomadic lifestyle and that Scythians possessed sophisticated leather production technologies that ensured stable supply of this essential material.

A planned ban on the operation of wild animal cafes, set to take effect from Thursday, is drawing complaints from both cafe owners and animal rights activists. Cafe owners are crying foul that the ban will force them to close their businesses, leaving animals with no place to go, while animal activists are advocating for a broader ban on animal exhibits. Wild animal cafes, where visitors can see and touch animals such as raccoons and meerkats, have grown increasingly popular in Korea in recent years. But in response to criticisms that animals are distressed from exposure to customers and suffer from poor management, the Ministry of Environment has decided to prohibit the operation of such establishments. Under the amendment to the Wildlife Protection and Management Act approved at the Cabinet meeting on Dec. 5, beginning from Thursday, it will be illegal to exhibit wild animals in facilities not registered as zoos or aquariums. In other words, owners of wild animal cafes should either re-register their establishments as zoos or cease operations. To minimize confusion, the government has implemented a four-year grace period until Dec. 13, 2027, during which time wild animal cafes are technically allowed to operate without having to face penalties. But the authorities noted that touching the animals or climbing on top of them will be immediately banned from Thursday, with violators subject to a 1.5 million won ($1,140) fine.

Hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on what was sold as a revolution in transparency and accountability. Instead, police departments routinely refuse to release footage — even when officers kill.

Benjamin Reese's bond was set at $2,500 for the terroristic threat charge and $5,000 for the charge of cruelty to children. Reese has since bonded out.

Amazon's Twitch announced changes to its policies under which certain types of sexual content that were prohibited will now be allowed.

Any creatures existing in those conditions would have lived and died in the blink of an eye, their entire history lasting less than a second — but to them, it would have been a lifetime.

As 2023 comes to an end, there is a growing sense of panic in Europe. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has been preoccupied with integrating the country — widely seen as a geopolitical necessity — and with the internal reform required to make that possible. But over the course of this year, as the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled, tensions among member states have increased. As members have disagreed on issues such as climate policy and the war in Gaza, the unity around supporting Ukraine has shown signs of cracking, too. With no end to the war in sight, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has stepped up efforts to limit the bloc’s backing of Ukraine; the election of Robert Fico in Slovakia has given him another ally in the cause. In an even bigger shock last month, Geert Wilders’s far-right party became the biggest force in the Dutch parliament. Whether or not Mr. Wilders can form a government, his strong showing may lead to further disruption in Europe, on Ukraine and much else. European elites are right to worry. But the focus on divisions within the bloc obscures a much more disturbing development taking place beneath the surface: a coming together of the center right and the far right, especially on questions around identity, immigration and Islam. With European parliamentary elections next year, this convergence is bringing into clearer view the possibility of something like a far-right European Union. Until recently, such a thing would have seemed unthinkable. Now it’s distinctly plausible.

After breaking trains simply because an independent repair shop had worked on them, NEWAG is now demanding that trains fixed by hackers be removed from service.

Federal officials issued their first guidelines on preparing morel mushrooms after a deadly food poisoning outbreak in Montana, noting the toxins in the delicacy aren't fully understood.

Armed police are said to have smashed a drug ring run by SAS soldiers, with two arrested at a farmhouse in Herefordshire. "For years they've turned a blind eye to all the lucrative moonlighting SAS troops get up to on their downtime. "Finally, it would appear this complacency has slapped them in the face. They need to tighten up – the reputation of the SAS is being tarnished at the moment." The news comes amid claims that the SAS carried out unlawful killings in Afghanistan and Iraq.

She said her diagnosis was unexpected. “It’s really weird, because I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life.”

André Braugher has died. The two-time Emmy-winning star of series including Homicide: Life on the Street, Men of a Certain Age and Brooklyn Nine-Nine was 61.