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Killer Mike was detained at the 66th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon, shortly after winning three of the four rap categories in the pre-show telecast about two hours earlier.

An LAPD source tells Rolling Stone that Render was cuffed and detained after an alleged “physical altercation” inside the arena involving a third party. “Somebody complains, obviously we have to do something about it,” the source said. Render was questioned, the source said, adding that any possible arrest depends on the result of the investigation and whether the third party wants to press charges.

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Video captured by The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner showed Render, being taken away in handcuffs. Gardner reported that an official said the arrest was related to an unspecified misdemeanor that didn’t have to do with any happenings during the Grammys on Sunday. (A rep for Killer Mike did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)

The detainment came shortly after the rapper had gone to the press area fielding questions about his win — elated to have been recognized after more than 20 years into his hip-hop career. “It feels absolutely grand,” Render said. “If it feels like some people are reaching the finish line first, don’t worry. Just keep running your race. The only thing stopping you is your imagination. It’s our responsibility to be grand in every action.”

Sunday’s award marked the first time Render had won a Grammy for his solo work. His first win came more than two decades ago for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group alongside Outkast for “The Whole World.” Prior to 2024, he was last nominated in 2018 for Best Rap Song for “Chase Me,” the Run the Jewels collaboration with Danger Mouse and Big Boi. Render did not address the incident on social media following the detainment, but proclaimed “Thank God” and “Dreams come true – It’s a sweep!”

Ironically, Mike’s father served as a policeman in Atlanta. In 2014, he told The Fader that his father wanted him and his siblings to be “good citizens,” but he didn’t want them to join the police force.

Mike also referenced his father in 2020, during an emotional press conference amid intense protests in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s police killings.

“I’m the son of an Atlanta City Police Officer. My cousin is an Atlanta City Police Officer…I got a lot of love and respect for police officers,” he said standing alongside then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and rapper T.I. Mike, along with T.I. also made polarizing pleas for Atlanta residents to stop looting and burning area establishments.

He noted, “I’m duty bound to be here to simply say that it is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. It is your duty to fortify your own house so that you may be a house of refuge in times of organization.”

Mike has frequently discussed the failings of the police system in his music, in interviews, and a 2014 op-ed about the Ferguson uprising,” where he wrote “I will never take a day off policing the people we pay and keep a public trust with. I will use my camera, my pen, my pad and my network to do my part, to make sure that American will no longer fear their government. or it’s employees.  They work for us — not the other way around.

This is not the first time an artist has been arrested on the site of an awards show. In 2006, Yaasin Bey was arrested by the NYPD after a guerilla-style street performance. He traveled to Radio City Music Hall, where the MTV Video Music Awards were taking place, and performed “Katrina Clap,” a remix of UTP’s “Nolia Clap” that spoke on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Though Bey’s then-publicist claimed he had a permit to perform, he was still arrested after a crowd gathered around the flatbed truck he was performing on.

Additional reporting by Nancy Dillon and Tomás Mier. This is a developing story…

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By Ellen Zhang and Marius Zaharia

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – When Kris Lin, who owns a lighting factory in China, received this year’s first order from a close overseas client, he faced a distressing choice: take it at a loss, or tell workers not to come back after the Lunar New Year.

“It was impossible for me to lose this order,” said Lin, who plans to re-start his factory in the eastern city of Taizhou at around half its capacity after the Feb. 10-17 holiday break.

“I could have lost this client forever, and it would have endangered livelihoods for so many people. If we delay resuming production, people might start doubting our business. If rumours spread, it affects the decisions of our suppliers.”

Prolonged factory deflation is threatening the survival of smaller Chinese exporters who are locked in relentless price wars for shrinking business as higher interest rates abroad and rising trade protectionism squeeze demand.

Producer prices have been falling for 15 straight months, crushing profit margins to the point where industrial output and jobs are now at risk and compounding China’s economic woes, which include a property crisis and debt crunch.

About 180 million people work in export-related jobs, commerce ministry data from 2022 shows.

Raymond Yeung, chief China economist at ANZ, says fixing deflation should be a higher policy priority than reaching the expected growth target of around 5% for this year.

“Companies cut product prices, then staff salaries. Then consumers won’t buy – this could be a vicious cycle,” he said.

Profits at China’s industrial firms fell 2.3% last year, adding to the 4% drop in COVID-hit 2022. An official survey showed manufacturing activity contracting for a fourth straight month in January, while export orders shrank for a 10th month.

For Lin, that has meant the $1.5 million order his client placed was 25% below a similar one last year. It was 10% below production cost.

Story continues

Sluggish exports mean policymakers need to pull other levers to reach their growth target, increasing the urgency of stimulating household consumption, analysts say.

“The more ‘rebalanced’ growth is, the faster that downward pressure on prices and margins will dissipate,” said Louis Kuijs, Asia-Pacific chief economist at S&P Global.

‘RAT RACE’

China has been funnelling financial resources into the manufacturing sector, rather than consumers, exacerbating overcapacity and deflation concerns, even in booming higher-end sectors, such as electric vehicles.

An executive at an automotive moulds factory from the eastern Zhejiang province, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, expects the firm’s output and exports to rise, but earnings to fall, describing the intensifying competition in the industry as a “rat race.”

As China’s central bank unleashes liquidity into the financial system to spur growth, banks are chasing factories with cheap loan offers.

But squeezed out by bigger rivals, smaller firms are unwilling to take on loans to finance new business, in what economists see as a broken link in China’s increasingly inefficient monetary policy.

Investment by private companies, which according to state officials provide 80% of urban jobs, dropped 0.4% last year, while state investment rose 6.4%.

“Many bank managers call me and they sound very anxious when they can’t lend money,” said Miao Yujie, an e-commerce clothing exporter.

Even after halving his workforce to about 20 people last year, he cannot turn a profit as bigger firms elbow him out of the market.

“But you only need to borrow when you want to expand,” said Miao, adding he mulls closing his business.

THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT

China also went through a deflationary scare in 2015, when it faced overcapacity in primary industries, such as steel, dominated by state-owned enterprises. Authorities downsized these companies to reduce supply and accelerated infrastructure and property construction to boost demand.

“This time it’s more of a private sector surplus,” said Hwabao Trust economist Nie Wen, singling out electronics, chemicals and machinery makers. These firms employ large numbers of people, a sensitive spot for China’s policymakers.

“It is therefore difficult to shrink supply, so more effort should be made on the demand side this year,” Nie said.

Factory owners say the pressure to cut jobs is intense, even if some are reluctant to do so.

Yang Bingben, whose company makes industrial-use valves in the eastern city of Wenzhou, said he had thought of shutting down the business, but keeps it running as he feels indebted to his workers, most of whom are close to retirement age.

Still, he doesn’t know how long the factory can survive.

“This year will be the best of the next decade,” Yang said.

(Additional reporting by Qiaoyi Li; Graphic by Kripa Jayaram; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Jen Psaki discusses the Republican National Committee facing the worst cash crunch in a decade ahead of the 2024 presidential race and Donald Trump spending $55 million in donor money on legal fees in 2023. Psaki says, “Trump is not only cannibalizing the RNC’s message about the early vote and wasting their money, he’s cannibalizing would-be RNC donors for his personal legal bills… But that’s what you get when a party is tied to the conspiracies and vindictiveness of a single man.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday ticked through a list of reasons he says a second Donald Trump presidency would be a “nightmare” for the country as he urged Nevada Democrats to vote for him in the state’s presidential primary this week and for his party at large in November.

Biden opened a campaign swing with a fundraiser where he focused on Trump’s ample history of provocative statements — his description of Jan. 6 rioters as “hostages,” his musing about a former top military officer deserving execution, his branding of fallen soldiers as “suckers” and “losers,” his wish to be a Day One “dictator,” his vow to supporters that “I am your retribution,” and more.

Then it was on to a community center in a predominantly Black section of Las Vegas, where he told his crowd of several hundred that “you’re the reason we’ll make Donald Trump a loser again.”

Biden said the stakes were huge when he took on Trump in 2020 — “what made America America, I thought, was at risk’ — and they are even larger now as a likely rematch looms.

He told donors at the private home in Henderson, Nevada, that if they came to Washington, he’d show them the White House dining room table where Trump, according to ex-aides, sat transfixed for hours in front of the TV as the rioters he’d fired up with his rhetoric stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We have to keep the White House,” he said., “We must keep the Senate” and win back the House.

Accomplish that, he said, and “we can say we saved American democracy.”

He was equally blunt in talking up his record at his subsequent rally where he implored voters to “imagine the nightmare of Donald Trump.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded in kind, saying Biden “has been a nightmare for this country in just three short years in the White House, and no amount of gaslighting will make Americans forget about all the misery and destruction he has brought.”

In Tuesday’s Nevada Democratic presidential primary, Biden faces only token opposition from author Marianne Williamson and a few relatively unknown challengers. He won Nevada in November 2020 by fewer than 3 percentage points. But he came to Nevada to rouse voters for the fall campaign as well.

The state known largely for its casino and hospitality industries is synonymous with split-ticket, hard-to-predict results. It has a transient, working-class population and large Latino, Filipino and Chinese American and Black communities . Nevada has a stark rural-urban divide, with more than 88% of active registered voters — and much of its political power — in the two most populous counties, which include the Las Vegas and Reno metro areas.

In 2022, Democrats successfully defended their Senate seat and lost the governor’s office. The six constitutional officers elected statewide are split evenly among Democrats and Republicans.

The narrow victory of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto helped Democrats party keep control of the Senate for the remainder of Biden’s current term.

Working in Biden’s favor this year is the vast Democratic operation built by the late Sen. Harry Reid. The “Reid Machine” has for years trained operatives and retained organizers and is partially why, despite Nevada’s status as a purple state, Democrats have won every presidential election here since 2008.

But early signs show Biden could have more ground to make up than in past races. Voters are largely dissatisfied with the likely Biden-Trump rematch. A New York Times/Siena poll from November put Biden’s approval rating at 36% in Nevada.

“I know from my reelection, the issues that matter to Nevadans are still those kitchen table issues,” Cortez Masto said in an interview.

Biden has built his reelection campaign around the theme that Trump presents a dire threat to U.S. democracy and its founding values. The president also has championed the defense of abortion rights, recently holding his first big campaign rally, in Virginia, where the issue energized Democrats who won control of the state’s House of Delegates.

Biden also promotes his handling of the economy, arguing that his policies have created millions of jobs, combated climate change and improved American competitiveness overseas. But polls suggest many voters aren’t giving his administration credit.

The Democratic National Committee recently announced a six-figure ad buy in Nevada and South Carolina, where Biden won the leadoff primary Saturday. The ads are meant to boost enthusiasm among Black, Asian American and Latino voters statewide, including radio, television and digital ads in Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog, and a billboard in Las Vegas’ Chinatown.

As early voting began a week ago in Nevada, Trump asserted without evidence during a campaign rally in Las Vegas that he was the victim of the Biden administration’s weaponizing law enforcement against him. Trump has been indicted four times and faces 91 felonies.

Dan Lee, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said that for Biden, “the map says he has to hold on to Nevada.”

The Republican presidential primary is also Tuesday but the state GOP is holding caucuses on Thursday to allocate delegates. Trump is competing in the caucuses; rival Nikki Haley opted to stay on the nonbinding primary ballot.

___

Stern reported from Reno, Nevada. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Stern on X: @gabestern326

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said “the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path” in a “60 Minutes” interview with Scott Pelley released Sunday.

“The U.S. federal government’s on an unsustainable fiscal path. And that just means that the debt is growing faster than the economy. So, it is unsustainable. I don’t think that’s at all controversial,” Powell said when asked if the national debt is a danger to the economy.

The U.S. national debt topped $34 trillion for the first time ever in early January, just over three months after surpassing the $33 trillion mark, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury.

Congress has punted on spending deadlines three times since the end of September as it grapples with how to fund the government amid tensions about the ballooning national debt.

Under the latest stopgap measure passed in January, funding for four federal agencies will expire on March 1. Funding for the rest of the government is set to run out on March 8.

President Biden and House Republicans faced off on the borrowing limit last spring, ultimately averting disaster days before the U.S. was set to default. But Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+” in August, citing the increasing burden of the national debt and repeated partisan standoffs over the debt limit.

Despite the Fed chair’s long-term worries about the national debt, he said members of the central bank’s rate-setting panel believe “the economy’s in a good place.”

The economy has been growing quickly, clocking in at an annual rate of 3.3 percent during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the latest data released by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Inflation has also fallen drastically from its 9 percent peak in summer 2022 to 3.4 percent in December, according to the latest consumer price index (CPI). The Fed hiked interest rates from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent in June 2023, and they have held rates steady at subsequent meetings.

Top Fed officials have signaled rate cuts on the horizon in 2024 but declined to cut rates following the January meeting last Wednesday, as expected. What was less expected was Powell’s suggestion that March rate cuts were off the table at a press conference following the announcement, a position he doubled down on during his “60 Minutes” interview.

“I would say, and I did say yesterday, that I think it’s not likely that this committee will reach that level of confidence in time for the March meeting, which is in seven weeks,” Powell said.

“The kinds of things that would make us want to move sooner would be if we saw weakness in the labor market or if we saw inflation really persuasively coming down,” he added.

Powell and the Fed have taken heat from both sides of the political spectrum for their decision to keep interest rates at their highest level in more than two decades.

Former President Trump accused Powell of being “political” and suggested the Republican appointee would cut rates to help Democrats during the upcoming election during a Fox Business interview on “Mornings with Maria” that aired Sunday.

Some Senate Democrats also urged the Fed chair to cut rates ahead of last Wednesday’s meeting.

“As the Fed weighs its next steps in the new year, we urge you to consider the effects of your interest rate decisions on the housing market and to reverse the troubling rate hikes that have put affordable housing out of reach for too many,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote in a letter to Powell last Sunday.

But Powell pushed back on any implication that politics would play a role in the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates in the coming months.

“We do not consider politics in our decisions. We never do. And we never will,” Powell said. “Integrity is priceless. And at the end, that’s all you have.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

You can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your pathogens.

A review of dozens of published studies into the mechanisms behind neurological diseases has collected strong evidence that people who frequently pick their noses are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The new report, compiled and written by researchers at Western Sydney University, was published in the journal Biomolecules late last year.

“Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease might be partially caused by viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens entering the brain through the nose and the olfactory system,” they wrote in the report.

Chronic nose-picking, medically known as rhinotillexomania, introduces germs into the sensitive nasal cavity that cause inflammation in the brain, which has been linked to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Over 6 million people are living with the neurodegenerative disease, predominantly affecting those age 65 and older.

Scientists still aren’t precisely sure what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but in the brains of patients they have observed a buildup of a protein called tau, which is associated with the body’s immune response.

When immune cells are triggered by invasions too frequently, researchers believe that stress on the body, in the form of inflammation, can lead to various diseases.

Authors of the latest report showed support for this theory, suggesting that shifts in the nasal environment caused by an overgrowth of germs could be the source of chronic, mild brain infections.

Such infections can exist seemingly without symptoms on the outside but may cause inflammation below the surface, leaving behind harmful plaques of protein that contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

A variety of common pathogens have been found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, such as the bacteria that cause pneumonia, the herpes virus, the coronavirus and the cat-derived parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

With prevention in mind, researchers urged for regular hand-washing.

They wrote, “One of the lessons learned from COVID-19 is the value of hand hygiene through frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitizers, and we suggest these routine hygienic procedures be mandatory routine procedures for the incurable nose-picker.”

Part of the reason so many lottery winners and heirs blow their windfalls shortly after getting rich is that they never learned the skills to manage, guard and grow that kind of money. The other reason is that they never had to sweat, sacrifice and risk to grow the fortunes that fell in their laps.

Grant Cardone: Passive Income Is the Key To Building Wealth — Here’s My No. 1 Tip
Find Out: How To Get Cash Back on Your Everyday Purchases

But self-made millionaires know just how hard it is to build riches worth seven figures — and they’re in no rush to return to where they started. Toiling your way to wealth tends to breed financial discipline, which means passing on things that you might want and can afford. That’s how you turn a small fortune into a large one.

Sponsored: Owe the IRS $10K or more? Schedule a FREE consultation to see if you qualify for tax relief.

A Millionaire Guards His Wealth After Almost Losing It All

Brian Crane is the founder and CEO of Spread Great Ideas, a multi-million dollar fund that invests capital “and sweat equity” into digital businesses and e-commerce brands. He’s helped launch four multi-million-dollar companies, including Archives.com, which Ancestry.com acquired for $100 million three years after its launch.

His hard work paid off, and he’s now a self-made millionaire — but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his lifestyle.

“I learned the hard way very early in my entrepreneurship journey that splurging without the correct checks and balances can make one a pauper,” said Crane. “When I sold my first company in my late 20s, I made some foolish investment decisions that brought me close to bankruptcy. I am lucky that I learned fast.”

Here are the things he doesn’t splurge on to ensure he doesn’t repeat his early career mistakes and risk all that he’s worked so hard to build.

Check Out: 7 Things the Middle Class Spends Money on That Hurts Their Chances of Being Rich

Designer Luxury Brands

Movie, music and sports stars are infamous for squandering their fortunes on shiny things and status symbols that social media influencers peddle without mentioning that they’re depreciating assets.

Story continues

Crane wants nothing to do with any of it. His favorite status symbol is one you can’t wear, drive or fly — a bulging bank account.

“With truckloads of money, you may be enticed to buy the flashiest, trendiest stuff, whether apparel or cars,” he said. “Know and understand the importance of quality and cost. Remember that when you put depreciation costs into effect, the luxury brands can punch a hole in your pocket, which you could have used to buy quality apparel from a cheaper store. Extravagance may look good to the eyes, but you can do better by putting the same money into more appropriate investments.”

Mansions

The ultimate status symbol is an opulent house tricked out with premium décor and pricey tech. But giant houses come with giant bills — and they can be very hard to sell once the nouveau riche realize they’re in over their heads.

“Most millionaires invest in luxury houses, only to find a way to flip them at a higher cost or rent it away and make some side money from the asset,” said Crane. “There is no point in splurging on huge houses if you are never going to use the eleventh bedroom or bathroom. The truly rich people become rich not by splurging but by investing in profitable, money-making assets that give them favorable returns over time.”

Ultra-Luxe Leisure and Entertainment

The recklessly rich all share a proclivity for two things that advertise their wealth. The first is stuff — high-end designer bags, apparel and accessories, fast cars, fancy houses and the rest, like the kind that Crane described.

The second is the good life, which you can watch influencers living and faking all day long on social media.

“Eating from gold-plated cutlery may look good on Instagram, but splurging to maintain your appearance and leisurely activities can waste resources,” said Crane. “High-end entertainment, like going on costly offshore vacations, eating from the choicest restaurants or splurging on private jet travel, may look good in magazines, but the rags-to-riches millionaire always keeps a check on what he puts money on.”

He concluded, “In today’s world, where you can have the same experiences for a lot less, wasting money on these fleeting moments must be avoided.”

Another Avoids Little Luxuries That Add Up Over Time

Jared Bauman has nearly 20 years of experience in business management and digital marketing. His company, 201 Creative, counts corporations like Disney and Universal among its clients, and Bauman — who has started and sold several businesses — is an in-demand speaker.

He’s also a millionaire, and, like Crane, he shuns flashy advertisements of personal wealth. “Luxury cars and watches are fleeting status symbols I avoid,” he said.

But saying no to the obvious, big-ticket extravagance is the easy part. The true test of his financial discipline is in day-to-day life, when it comes time to say no to the affordable splurges that bleed you slowly over time.

“Overpriced coffee shops are an indulgence I skip,” said Bauman. “At the end of the day, I steer clear of anything that depletes my savings without providing real, lasting personal value. The habits that got me here keep me grounded while still enjoying the important things.”

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: 4 Things To Stop Buying That Are a Waste of Money

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams

DOHA/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian gunmen kept up attacks against Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza Strip’s two main cities, weeks after they were overrun by troops and tanks, in a sign Hamas still maintains some control ahead of any potential truce.

Nearly four months into the war triggered by the Palestinian Islamist group’s deadly cross-border rampage in Israel, there was persistent fighting in Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave, and in Khan Younis to the south.

At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 17 of Hamas’ 24 combat battalions had been dismantled. The rest, he said, were mostly in the southern Gaza Strip – including Rafah, on the enclave’s Egyptian border.

“We’ll take care of them, too,” he said, according to a statement from his office. Hamas does not publish its losses.

The prospect of a push into Rafah has piled pressure on the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have fled their homes elsewhere and are sheltering there. It also worries Cairo, which has said it will not admit any influx of Palestinian refugees in what it describes a bid to prevent any permanent dispossession.

An Israeli official told Reuters, however, that the military would coordinate with Egypt, and seek ways of evacuating most of the displaced people northward, ahead of any Rafah ground sweep.

Palestinians reported Israeli tank shelling and air strikes there, including one that killed two girls in a house.

As mourners bade farewell to the dead children, a relative, Mohammed Kaloub, said the air strike hit a room full of women and children in Rafah’s al-Salam neighborhood.

“There is no safe place in Gaza, from the wire fence to the wire fence (borders from north to south), there is no safe place,” he told Reuters.

Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in separate Israeli air strikes on Deir Al-Balah areas in the central Gaza Strip. Deir Al-Balah is the second city in the enclave where Israel has not yet deployed tanks.

After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza City in the past few weeks that enabled some residents to return and pick through the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. Netanyahu described these on Sunday as “mopping-up operations”.

Before dawn on Sunday, air strikes destroyed several multi-storey buildings, including an Egyptian-funded housing project, residents said. The military said it killed seven Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza and seized weaponry. Israel’s Army Radio said troops in the area were trying to penetrate two Hamas bunkers, a mission it said could take two weeks amid clashes at the sites.

“Gaza City is being wiped out,” one resident who asked not to be named told Reuters. “The (Israeli) pull-out was a ruse.”

‘NEUTRALISING’ TUNNELS

In Khan Younis, overnight Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians, medics said. Residents reported street fighting raging in western and southern areas of the city, where Israel said a soldier was killed in a Palestinian attack on Saturday.

Troops in Khan Younis seized a Hamas compound and killed several gunmen, the military said. Netanyahu said Israeli forces in the city were “neutralising” Hamas tunnels that run throughout Gaza, enabling gunmen to hole up and launch ambushes.

“This demands more time yet,” he told his ministers.

Gaza health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians in their tallies, said on Sunday more than 27,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since the war began. They say that 70% of those killed have been women and children. Thousands more are feared lost amid the ruins.

Israel says it has killed some 10,000 gunmen in its campaign to annihilate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack by the group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction. In the rampage, 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 130 hostages are still in Gaza, and their possible release by Hamas is among issues under discussion in Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated negotiations, that are backed by the United States, to secure a truce.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war. Israel rules that out but is open to a temporary truce.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne in a meeting on Sunday that Sisi’s office said emphasized Egypt’s collaborative efforts to establish a ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Tala Ramadan in DubaiEditing by Frances Kerry)

February is here, and the funny signs just keep on rolling in. So let’s take a moment and enjoy the best of the week, courtesy of r/funnysigns:

1.“Is anyone curious about what ‘more’ is?”

2.“Brilliant!”

3.“I’ll have the soup and salad, please.”

4.“Everything happens for a reason…”

5.“I really like this sign.”

6.“You are the solution to my problems.”

7.“That car is a beast!”

8.“The most useful sign.”

9.“Words (pics) to live by.”

10.“Take care of the beer like a baby.”

11.“Great advice.”

12.“Is that a sign or a philosophical statement?”

13.“Funny bar sign.”

14.“Always use the stairs.”

15.“His bark is bigger than his bite.”

16.“Don’t wet the dry.”

17.“You really should.”

18.“Obvious sign?”

19.“This sign is so right.”

Don’t miss last week’s funniest signs:

18 Funny Signs This Week That Made Me Laugh More Than Any Male Comedian I’ve Ever Paid To See

New York City will soon launch a $53 million pilot program to hand out pre-paid credit cards to migrant families housed in hotels, according to a report.

The New York Post, citing city records, reported that 500 migrant families at the Roosevelt Hotel will receive pre-paid cards to help them buy food. The program is intended to replace the current food service provided there, the Post reported.

“Not only will this provide families with the ability to purchase fresh food for their culturally relevant diets and the baby supplies of their choosing, but the pilot program is expected to save New York City more than $600,000 per month, or more than $7.2 million annually,” a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the paper in a statement.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ILLEGAL MIGRANT FLIPS MIDDLE FINGERS AFTER BEING CHARGED WITH ATTACKING NYPD IN TIMES SQUARE

The pre-paid cards may only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores. Migrants eligible for the program must sign an affidavit stating they will only spend the funds on food and baby supplies, or else they would lose access to the funds, the report said.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The amount available to each migrant family depends on their size and how much income they are receiving, according to the contract reviewed by the Post. A family of four might be provided nearly $1,000 each month, or $35 per day for food, the Post reported. The cards are replenished every 28 days.

New Jersey company Mobility Capital Finance has partnered with the city to run the program.

NEW YORK REPUBLICAN CALLS ON HOCHUL, ADAMS TO DENOUNCE BIDEN’S BORDER POLICY AMID MIGRANT CRISIS IN BIG APPLE

“MoCaFi looks forward to partnering with New York City to disburse funds for asylum seekers to purchase fresh, hot food,” MoCaFi CEO and founder Wole Coaxum told the Post. “MoCaFi’s goal is to expand access to financial resources for individuals excluded from banking, such as asylum seekers, while helping the local economy.”

City officials said that if the pilot program is a success with the initial 500 migrant families, it will be expanded to all migrant families staying in hotels, which is 15,000 currently.

More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, overwhelming city resources as officials have struggled to find housing for them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused asylum-seekers to New York and other cities in an effort to assist them in traveling to sanctuary jurisdictions and also highlight the crisis that border communities face on a daily basis.

NYPD IMPOUNDS 80 UNLICENSED MIGRANT MOPEDS FROM OUTSIDE ROOSEVELT AND WATSON HOTEL SHELTERS

Mayor Adams has decried the arrivals as a humanitarian crisis and said that providing food and housing for the migrants will cost the city about $12 billion over three years.

In October, the mayor traveled to Latin America on a tour to dissuade potential migrants in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador from attempting to come to the city, saying the city is “at capacity.”

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Critics, however, have said that New York City’s sanctuary policies and handouts to migrants will only encourage more immigration.

“If I were promoting an event and wanted to attract the biggest possible crowd without worrying about losing money, I’d make admission free and give everyone complimentary pizza and beer,” Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, a Tennessee Republican and former WWE wrestler, posted on X, commenting on the New York Post report. “That’s kinda immigration policy right now.”

Original article source: New York City to hand out $53 million in pre-paid credit cards to migrant families: report