JERUSALEM (AP) — An incoming attack by more than 300 Iranian drones and ballistic missiles was the latest challenge to Israel’s air defense system, which already has been working overtime to cope with incoming rocket, drone and missile attacks throughout the six-month war against Hamas. Israel’s defense system with assistance from the U.S. and Britain is credited with preventing serious damage or casualties. Here’s a closer look at Israel’s multilayered air-defense system: The Arrow: This system developed with the U.S. is designed to intercept long-range missiles, including the types of ballis ..read more

By RICK RYCROFT (Associated Press) SYDNEY (AP) — A man stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center Saturday before he was fatally shot, police said, with hundreds fleeing the chaotic scene, many weeping as they carried their children. Eight people, including a 9-month-old, were injured. New South Wales police said they believed a 40-year-old man was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city’s eastern suburbs and not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach. They said they were not able to name him until a formal ..read more

By AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press) WASHINGTON — China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a U.S. assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90% of Russia’s microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70% of Russia’s approximately $900 million in mach ..read more

LONDON — Nobel prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs, who proposed the existence of the so-called “God particle” that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang, has died at age 94, the University of Edinburgh said Tuesday. The university, where Higgs was emeritus professor, said he died Monday following a short illness. Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle, which came to be known as the Higgs boson, in 1964. He theorized that there must be a sub-atomic particle of certain dimension that would explain how other particles — and therefore all the stars and planets in the univer ..read more

By WAFAA SHURAFA and KAREEM CHEHAYEB (Associated Press) DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned. One toddler died from a brain injury caused by an Israeli strike that fractured his skull. His cousin, an infant, is still fighting for her life with part of her face blown off by the same strike. An unrelated 10-year-old boy screamed out in pain for his parents, not knowing that they were killed in the strik ..read more

JOCOTENANGO, Guatemala — On a quiet cobblestone street in a town 90 minutes outside of Guatemala City, class was in session for hundreds of young Guatemalans on a Monday morning. Children in kindergarten through ninth grade moved through the open-air courtyard of the free private school for disadvantaged students, which is run by a global nonprofit group based in Denver. Painted on the wall by its entrance were the Spanish words, “La escuela, la esperanza” — or “The school, the hope.” More than 1,900 miles north of the School of Hope, Denver city officials and residents have grappled for more ..read more

The number of migrants staying in Denver shelters dipped below 1,000 for the first time in six months this week, leading city officials to consolidate hotel shelters amid a period of respite. Sarah Plastino, Denver’s recently hired newcomer program manager, called the dip in numbers a “turning point for the city” during a lull in seasonal migration patterns, which could ramp up in the spring. On Thursday afternoon, 941 migrants were staying in city shelters, according to city data. “Two months ago, that looked really different — we’re at our high and we were in the throes of an emergency respo ..read more

By JAMEY KEATEN (Associated Press) GENEVA — Illegal profits from forced labor worldwide have risen to the “obscene” amount of $236 billion per year, the U.N. labor agency reported Tuesday, with sexual exploitation to blame for three-fourths of the take from a business that deprives migrants of money they can send home, swipes jobs from legal workers, and allows the criminals behind it to dodge taxes. The International Labor Organization said the tally for 2021, the most recent year covered in the painstaking international study, marked an increase of 37%, or $64 billion, compared with its last ..read more

LONDON — Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported — the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago. The newspaper published a short clip late Monday that appeared to show William and Kate smiling as they walked together, carrying shopping bags. It said the footage was taken on Saturday in Windsor, west of London. The Sun quoted Nelson Silva, who said he filmed the video, as saying, “Kate looked happy and relaxed. They look happy just to be able to go to a shop ..read more

By The Associated Press President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened, issuing another blunt warning to the West just days ahead of an election in which he’s all but certain to secure another six-year term. The Russian leader has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since invading Ukraine in February 2022. The most recent such threat came in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he warned the West that deepening its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclea ..read more