Author: Reporter

Ofri Bibas Levy has been haunted by nightmares since October 7, when her brother, sister-in-law, and their two young children were snatched by Hamas militants from their homes and dragged into the Gaza Strip. In those dreams she sees her captive relatives, all except for her brother Yarden. That subconscious omission may reflect her ordeal: Out of the Israeli hostages, only women and children are expected to be among the 50 people released during a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that started on November 24. All of the Israeli men, and many women, will remain captive in Gaza...

Thousands of information technology workers contracting with U.S. companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said. The Justice Department said on October 18 that IT workers dispatched and contracted by North Korea to work remotely with companies in St. Louis and elsewhere in the U.S. have been using false identities to get the jobs. The money they earned was funneled to the North Korean weapons program, FBI leaders said at a news conference in St. Louis. Court documents...

Chinese middlemen launder the proceeds of North Korean hackers’ cyber heists while Chinese ships deliver sanctioned North Korean goods to Chinese ports. Chinese companies help North Koreans workers — from cheap laborers to well-paid IT specialists — find work abroad. A Beijing art gallery even boasts of North Korean artists working 12-hour days in its heavily surveilled compound, churning out paintings of idyllic visions of life under communism that each sell for thousands of dollars. That is all part of what international authorities say is a growing mountain of evidence that shows Beijing is helping cash-strapped North Korea evade...

Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbors ratchet up. Those tensions between Poland — a NATO and European Union country — and Belarus, which is Russia’s ally in its war on Ukraine, have been building up in recent months on the border. Here is why: ORIGINS OF THE TENSIONS Poland has been backing the Belarusian opposition ever since the 2020 presidential elections, where pro-Russian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in a vote that Poland and the wider Western community saw as...

It is the season of giving thanks. And it turns out humans have been doing it for a long, long time. As more researchers dig into the science of gratitude, they have found the feeling likely played a key role in helping our ancestors band together and survive. That legacy continues today, as being in the mood for gratitude shapes who we are as a species and how we connect with the people around us. “This is something that is part of our human DNA,” said Sarah Schnitker, a psychologist at Baylor University. “It is a glue, in a...