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Israel blocks Canadian delegation from visiting occupied West Bank

Israel on Tuesday blocked a private Canadian delegation that included six members of Parliament from entering the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli Embassy in Canada said the group was denied entry because of its links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a nongovernmental organization that Israel lists as a terror group.

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How a Syrian Australian Muslim shop owner became a national hero

Like many Australians strolling at Bondi Beach on long, warm summer evenings, Ahmed al Ahmed just wanted a cup of coffee with a friend. Around him, a bloody massacre erupted as two gunmen targeted Jews during Hanukkah festivities at a park close to the shore.

Soon al Ahmed was creeping, bent over, between two parked cars, before barreling directly toward one of the unsuspecting shooters. In footage that has been viewed millions of times around the world, the 44-year-old father can be seen tackling one of the gunmen, wrestling the man's shotgun from his grip and turning it on the attacker.

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Trump expands travel ban and restrictions to include an additional 20 countries

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was expanding travel restrictions to an additional 20 countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and emigrate to the U.S.

The Trump administration included five more countries as well as people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority to the list of countries facing a full ban on travel to the U.S. and imposed new limits on 15 other countries.

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Trump orders blockade of all 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.

Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

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Accused gunman in Bondi Beach shooting charged with 15 counts of murder

An accused gunman in Sydney's Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.

Two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and more than 20 other people are still being treated in hospitals. All of those killed by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish.

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As reefs vanish, assisted coral fertilization offers hope in the Dominican Republic

Oxygen tank strapped to his back, Michael del Rosario moves his fins delicately as he glides along an underwater nursery just off the Dominican Republic coast, proudly showing off the "coral babies" growing on metal structures that look like large spiders. The conservationist enthusiastically points a finger to trace around the largest corals, just starting to reveal their vibrant colors.

Del Rosario helped plant these tiny animals in the nursery after they were conceived in an assisted reproduction laboratory run by the marine conservation organization Fundemar. In a process something like in vitro fertilization, coral egg and sperm are joined to form a new individual.

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Cooper Flagg becomes youngest player to score 42 points but laments Mavericks' overtime loss to Jazz

Cooper Flagg scored the most points by an 18-year-old in NBA history, but he couldn't enjoy the accomplishment because it came in a loss.

Flagg had 42 points — topping the previous mark of 37 set by LeBron James on Dec. 13, 2003 — in a 140-133 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

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Driver who rammed through crowd at Liverpool football parade sentenced to over 20 years

A driver who injured more than 130 people when he plowed his car into a crowd of football fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League championship was sentenced to over 20 years in prison Tuesday.

Paul Doyle rammed his minivan through a sea of fans on May 26 and halted after a bystander got in the vehicle and forced it into park. It came to a stop atop bodies.

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Americans like artificial Christmas trees even though few are made in US and prices are up

On a recent December day, Mark Latino and a handful of his workers spun sheets of vinyl into tinsel for Christmas tree branches. They worked on a custom-made machine that's nearly a century old, churning out strands of bright silver tinsel along its 35-foot (10-meter) length.

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How a Trump Media deal with a crypto firm exposes potential conflicts of interest

Crypto.com was under siege.

For more than a year, the firm had been investigated by President Joe Biden's Democratic administration, part of an aggressive push to regulate the largely unregulated cryptocurrency industry. Financial regulators had told the company that enforcement action was likely.

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