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Live updates | Biden meets with Israeli leaders as tensions grow after hospital blast in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

President Joe Biden is in Israel on an urgent mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader regional conflict and to encourage the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.The visit on Wednesday comes after hundreds of people were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital a day earlier. The Hamas militant group blamed the blast on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants.The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. That was before the blast at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital hospital on Tuesday night. Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.Intensifyin...

ABB: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

ZURICH (AP) — ZURICH (AP) — ABB Ltd. (ABBNY) on Wednesday reported third-quarter profit of $882 million.The Zurich-based company said it had net income of 47 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, came to 48 cents per share.The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 68 cents per share.The industrial automation company posted revenue of $7.97 billion in the period.ABB shares have increased 20% since the beginning of the year._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ABBNY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ABBNYSource

ASML: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

DR VELDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — DR VELDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — ASML Holding NV (ASML) on Wednesday reported third-quarter net income of $2.06 billion.The Dr Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said it had net income of $5.23 per share.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $5 per share.The equipment supplier to semiconductor makers posted revenue of $7.26 billion in the period.ASML shares have risen 11% since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 55% in the last 12 months._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ASML at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ASMLSource

President Biden speaking after meetings in Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to speak after several diplomatic meetings in Israel on Wednesday, including one with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The goal of the trip is to prevent the war with Hamas from spiraling into an even larger conflict, a challenge that became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East over an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital.Biden was originally scheduled to visit Jordan as well, but his meetings with Arab leaders were called off as he was leaving Washington, costing him an opportunity for the face-to-face conversations that he views as crucial for navigating this fraught moment. Biden’s trip to Jordan canceled after Gaza hospital hit Now Biden's only stop is Israel, which has been preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas' attacks on Oct. 7, which killed 1,400 Israelis.John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, told reporters aboard Air For...

Victoria’s Secret will sell intimate apparel for women with disabilities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

New York (CNN) — Victoria’s Secret, for the first time, has introduced a collection of bras and panties specifically designed to meet the needs of women with disabilities.The retailer announced the launch of the VS & PINK Adaptive line on Tuesday and said the merchandise is now available to customers online and in select stores nationwide.Victoria’s Secret said its adapting offering, priced at $16.50 for panties and $36.95 for bras, is available in popular styles and in a variety of sizes under both its namesake and Pink brands, including Body by Victoria and PINK’s Wear Everywhere.Among the collection’s adaptive features are magnetic closures, sensory-friendly fabric, fully adjustable and convertible front straps and panties specially designed with magnetic side closures.The retailer said it developed the collection in consultation with GAMUT Management, a consulting firm that works with and for people with disabilities.The move by Victoria’s Secret is the latest example o...

Rare compound detected in the ‘Mona Lisa’ reveals a new secret, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

(CNN) — Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, inventor and anatomist, to name just a few of his talents — and now, you can add innovative chemist to the polymath’s many gifts. It turns out the master artist was more experimental with his renowned “Mona Lisa” than previously thought — and was likely the creator of a technique seen in works created a century later, a new study suggests.By using X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, a team of scientists in France and Britain has detected a rare mineral compound within the iconic piece. The finding provides fresh insight into how the work from the early 1500s was painted, according to the study recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.Along with lead white pigment and oil, the compound — known as plumbonacrite — was found in the base layer of the paint. A study published in 2019 had identified the mineral in several 17th-century works by Rembrandt, but researchers had not come across ...

Quartz crystals detected swirling in an exoplanet’s atmosphere

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

(CNN) — Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have for the first time detected tiny quartz crystals containing silica — a common mineral on Earth — within the atmosphere of a blazing hot exoplanet.It’s likely that the nanoparticles of silica, which on Earth appears in beach sands and is used to produce glass, swirl from the clouds of the exoplanet, known as WASP-17b, according to the researchers.First discovered in 2009, WASP-17b is a gas giant planet located 1,300 light-years from Earth. It has a volume more than seven times that of Jupiter, making it one of the largest exoplanets known to astronomers.The researchers detected the the quartz nanoparticles in high-altitude clouds using Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, according to new research published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.“We were thrilled,” said lead study author David Grant, a researcher at the University of Bristol, in a statement. “We knew from Hubble observations that there must be ae...

Germany’s Scholz demands probe into Gaza hospital strike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that an explosion at a Gaza hospital must be investigated “very thoroughly,” after competing claims from Israel and Hamas about who blew up the site, killings hundreds, on Tuesday night.At least 500 people were killed at the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza after a massive blast, according to local health authorities linked to the Hamas militant group. Hamas blamed an Israeli air strike, while the Israeli military said a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants had caused the explosion. Speaking in Cairo on Wednesday, Scholz cautioned that “we still do not know exactly what happened,” and stressed: “It is important that this incident is investigated very thoroughly.”Scholz expressed his condolences to the victims and their families, and said: “Yet this incident also makes it clear: Hamas brought terrible suffering to the citizens of Israel with its horrific terrorist attack on October 7, and as a result, much s...

EU troops storm the beaches as bloc aims to be military player

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

ABOARD THE FRENCH HELICOPTER CARRIER TONNERRE — It’s not yet a European army, but it’s getting close. This week in the south of Spain, the European Union is holding its first live military exercise — an effort to show the world it’s a serious security and defense player that can operate without NATO. Air, land and maritime armed forces from nine EU countries will land on a beach to rescue a fictitious European ally called Seglia that’s asking for help to deal with a rapidly deteriorating security situation caused by a violent extremist group. Spanish troops will play the enemy forces. Until Sunday, armies that don’t speak the same language and don’t use the same military equipment need to work together. About 2,800 personnel are taking part — 1,800 from Spain, 600 from France and 200 from Portugal — as well as 25 aircraft, such as Spain’s Eurofighter Typhoons, and six vessels including assault ships and a French mine hunter. “France was keen to be the...

Firefighters working to contain massive blaze at RI vehicle recycling facility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:53:34 GMT

Fire crews are working to extinguish a large fire that is raging at a vehicle recycling facility in Tiverton, Rhode Island.Witnesses said they could hear explosions and popping sounds coming from the area.Video from the scene showed firefighters using a ladder truck to douse the flames.The cause of the fire remains under investigation.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.