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Almost nothing is guaranteed in life. Certainly not weather, electricity, health, tariffs or eggs. But for more than 50 years, American consumers could count on Southwest Airlines letting them check bags for free.

Dallas-based Southwest is ending the policy in May. Customers are not happy.

“It was the only reason I flew Southwest,” said MaKensey Kaye Alford, a 21-year-old singer and actress who lives near Birmingham, Alabama.

Alford, who is planning to move to New York City later this year, said she would “definitely” consider taking another airline now.

Southwest’s customer-friendly policies have survived recessions, oil price spikes and even the Covid-19 pandemic, winning it years of goodwill and a loyal following, even as it has grown. No other airline carries more people in the United States than Southwest.

Now, the airline with an unrivaled streak of profitability (its almost never posted an annual loss) is under pressure to increase profits as big competitors outpace the airline. So it’s backpedaling off of years of banishing the thought that they would charge customers for bags, adding to other business-model tweaks like assigned seating that give it more in common with all other airlines.

Errol Joseph, 36, a sales consultant who lives in New York and Dallas, said he would now consider flying on Delta Air Lines if the price is the same as Southwest because its planes have seatback screens, unlike Southwest. Joseph added that with baggage policy change, there’s “pretty much no reason to be loyal.”

The bag policy had been around longer than most women were able to get credit cards on their own without a man’s signature. But those days are over. No more freebies, America.

Retailers, restaurants and airlines are among the businesses that have been pulling back on free perks, from complimentary birthday coffees to free package returns, since the pandemic ended.

Increasingly, airline perks are only available for loyalty program members or customers who buy a more expensive ticket.

Delta offers customers free Wi-Fi on board, but only for those who have signed up for its SkyMiles loyalty program. United Airlines is making a similar move, meanwhile, installing equipment on its planes so customers can soon connect to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Wi-Fi for free if they are members of the airline’s MileagePlus program.

It typically takes real financial pressure for companies to return to giveaways, but it’s not unprecedented. Starbucks, for example, got rid of upcharges for dairy alternatives to attract customers to try to reverse a sales slump.

Southwest’s decision pits investors against customers.

Activist hedge fund and, as of last year, big Southwest shareholder Elliott Investment Management has been increasing pressure on the airline to raise its profits as rivals like Delta and United have pulled ahead. Elliott pushed for faster changes at the carrier, which has been long hesitant to change, so it could increase revenue. The firm last year won five board seats in a settlement with Southwest.

In fact, after Southwest unveiled the bag shift and other policy changes, its shares rose close to 9% this week, while Delta, United and American, each fell more than 11%. CEOs of all the carriers raised concerns about weaker-than-expected travel demand, but Southwest bucked the trend, as it expects the changes to add hundreds of millions of dollars to its bottom line.

“Shareholder activism is reshaping LUV into a company that we believe investors will eventually gravitate to,” wrote Seaport Research Partners airline analyst Dan McKenzie in a note Wednesday as he raised his price target on Southwest’s shares to $39 thanks to the policy changes even though “macro backdrop is glum.”

The decision to ditch the two-free-checked bags is part of the airline’s big profit-seeking makeover in which it is shedding other long-standing offerings like open-seating and single-class cabins for seat assignments and pricier extra legroom options.

It will also start offering a no-frills, no-changes basic economy ticket. Flight credits will also soon have expiration dates. Last month, Southwest had its first-ever mass layoff, cutting about 15% of corporate jobs. It has also slashed unprofitable flying.

Air travel hasn’t stood still over the last half century, and while it’s held onto many core tenets, neither has Southwest. It has gradually made changes over the years, starting to sell things like early boarding, for example. And with air travel breaking new records, assigned seating is necessary for both customers and to make the jobs of employees easier, Southwest executives have argued.

Charging for checked bags was something Southwest leaders repeatedly said would cost it more than it could make. (U.S. carriers brought in more than $7 billion in baggage fees in 2023.)

In a presentation at an investor day last September, Southwest said it would gain between $1 billion and $1.5 billion from charging for bags but lose $1.8 billion of market share.

Southwest executives said that’s changed.

Hours after breaking the news to customers, CEO Bob Jordan said at a JPMorgan industry conference on Tuesday that “in contrast to our previous analysis, actual customer booking behavior through our new booking channels such as metasearch, did not show that we are getting the same benefit from our bundled offering with free bags, which has led us to update the assumptions.”

Jordan added that the carrier has new executives with “direct experience implementing bag fees at multiple airlines, and that’s also helped further validate the new assumptions.”

But thousands joined in consumers’ cri de coeur.

Southwest posted on Instagram on Thursday, two days after its bombshell announcement, saying “It’s not like we traded Luka,” a nod to the shocking February trade of Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. As of Friday afternoon, the post, which also included information about the change, got more than 14,000 replies, far more than couple of hundred responses the account usually gets.

“Taking a screen shot of this as it will be the thumbnail for the harvard business review case study of destroying a brand an entire company,” replied Instagram user rappid_exposure.

Frances Frei, a professor of technology and operations management at Harvard Business School, said that, indeed, no other company is likely as studied as Southwest.

“I sure hope this isn’t a case of activist investors coming in and insisting on a set of decisions that they won’t be around to have to endure,” she said. “Great organizations get built over time. It doesn’t take very long to ruin an organization, and I really don’t want this to be an example of that.”

Southwest’s two checked bags-fly-free policy officially ends May 28 but for now the slogan is still found on board, printed on cocktail napkins.

There will be exceptions: Customers who have a Southwest Airlines co-branded credit card can get one bag for free, and customers in its top tiers of service (read: pricier tickets) or its top-tier loyalty program members will get one to two free checked bags.

Whether customers abandon Southwest or are simply reacting to the change remains to be seen.

The CEOs of Delta, United and Spirit this week said they see an opportunity to win over customers who might turn away from Southwest.

Many travelers won’t have a lot of other options, however, with so much consolidation among U.S. carriers and stronghold hubs, though they might have to venture to other airports.

Southwest has a roughly 73% share at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, a more than 83% share in San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, and 89% share in Long Beach, California, according to aviation-data firm Cirium.

The real test, Harvard’s Frei said, will be whether the bag change will slow down Southwest’s operation, with more customers bringing carry-on bags on board to avoid the checked luggage fees.

“I just fear the cost is being underestimated,” she said. “It’s real operational harm to Southwest if they go slower.”

Southwest is already preparing its employees for an onslaught of customer luggage at the gate.

Just after its announcement on Tuesday, Southwest told its employees in a memo that customers will “undoubtedly carry on more luggage than before.”

Gate agents will receive mobile bag-tag printers “reducing the need for string bag tags” and the company will design new carry-on size guides so customers can see if their luggage fits as a carry on, according to a staff memo sent by Justin Jones, EVP of operations, and Adam Decaire, senior vice president of network planning, a copy of which was seen by CNBC.

The airline also plans to speed up retrofits of its Boeing 737-800s and Max aircraft with bigger overhead bins.

Frei said not charging for bags, unlike the Costco $1.50 hot dog, is not a loss leader, something a company sells at a loss just to win over customers who might buy more expensive, and profitable, items.

As much as it’s been beloved by customers, the checked bag policy also had a helped the airline turn planes around faster.

“The reason isn’t because it’s kinder to customers. It’s because it’s a fast turnaround airline,” she said. “If I charge for bags, you will be more likely to carry more luggage on board. And when you carry more luggage on board, I lose my fast turnaround advantage.”

Southwest is confident that it’s prepared for an increase in gate-checked bags and onboard luggage.

“We have a series of work streams that are underway with our with our current operations, to make this not impact our turn times,” COO Andrew Watterson said in an interview.

Time will tell how it shakes out. For now, we have the $1.50 Costco hot dogs.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Flagging global sales and Elon Musk’s increasingly outspoken political activities are combining to rock the value of Tesla.

Shares in the once-trillion-dollar company saw their worst day in five years this week. Year to date, Tesla’s stock has plunged 41% — though it is still up by about 36% over the past 12 months.

On Monday, the stock was down another 5%.

For Musk, Tesla’s shares remain his primary source of paper wealth, though he has also turned his stake in SpaceX into a personal lending tool. But it was proceeds from selling Tesla shares that helped Musk complete his acquisition of Twitter, now known as X.

Musk’s wealth also allowed him to help vault Donald Trump into a second presidential term. Even as Musk’s net worth has diminished as a result of Tesla’s recent share-price declines, data suggests he is in no danger of losing his title as the world’s wealthiest person.

Musk has said on X that he is not concerned about Tesla’s recent drop in value. Still, evidence suggests the company is entering a period of transition.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk’s wealth has propelled him to a global presence that lacks precedent — and has polarized world opinion about the tech entrepreneur in the process. Any weakening of his financial position, therefore, could undercut his influence in the political and tech spaces where he now commands outsize attention.According to Bank of America, Tesla’s European sales plummeted by about 50% in January compared with the same month a year prior.

Some say this is attributable to a growing distaste for Musk, who has begun dabbling in the continent’s politics in the wake of his successful support of Trump’s candidacy last year.

Others note Tesla’s European market is facing increased competition from the Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD, which has telegraphed ambitious plans for expansion on the continent.  

A more decisive blow to Tesla’s near-term fortunes may be emanating from China itself. There, Tesla’s shipments plunged 49% in February from a year earlier, to just 30,688 vehicles, according to official data cited by Bloomberg News. That’s the lowest monthly figure registered since July 2022 — amid the throes of Covid-19 — when it shipped just 28,217 EVs, Bloomberg said.

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The Vatican has released the first photo of Pope Francis since his hospitalization. The photo shows Francis at the chapel in Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

He is seen wearing a stole, a vestment worn to concelebrate Mass.

The Vatican announced on Sunday, for the first time since his hospitalization a month ago, that Francis concelebrated Mass at the chapel in Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

Concelebration means to be among the priests presiding over the Mass. This would mean Francis has gone beyond just participating in Mass or receiving the Eucharist as he has been doing in the past weeks.

The Vatican said the pope continued with his treatments and therapies, worked and did not have any visitors on Sunday.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been battling pneumonia at the hospital in Rome, in what is his longest stay since his election as pope 12 years ago.

Earlier on Sunday, Francis thanked well-wishers for their prayers as he faces what he calls a “period of trial,” in the text of his weekly Angelus prayer that was sent in advance to the press.

Just after 5:30 a.m. ET, dozens of schoolchildren gathered in the hospital piazza to show their support holding up yellow and white balloons — the colors of the Holy See — and shouted out “viva il papa,” outside the hospital.

The children gathered prayed the Angelus together, and then a group of them entered the hospital with balloons and flowers.

“I thank you all for your prayers, and I thank those who assist me with such dedication. I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to ‘Gemelli’ as a sign of closeness. Thank you, dearest children! The Pope loves you and is always waiting to meet you,” the Pontiff said in the text.

“Let us continue to pray for peace, especially in the countries wounded by war: tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the Pope added.

The Pontiff remains in stable condition but still requires medical treatment, the Vatican press office said Saturday.

The need for non-invasive mechanical ventilation — which Francis has been receiving at night — has gradually reduced as he continues high-flow oxygen therapy during the day, the Vatican said.

Despite his hospital stay, the pope has signaled his plans to remain in the post, approving a new three-year reform process for the Catholic church.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

At least 59 people died and around 150 were injured after a fire tore through a nightclub in North Macedonia, with the country’s interior minister blaming pyrotechnics.

Hundreds had gathered at the ‘Pulse’ nightclub in the town of Kochani, east of the capital Skopje, to watch local act DNK perform when the blaze broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski, announced the casualties at a press conference on Sunday, saying on stage effects triggered a blaze that quickly spread.

“The fire was caused by pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert and activated the sprinklers,” he said. “Most likely, sparks caught a part of the ceiling that was made of flammable material, causing the fire to spread to the entire discotheque in a short period of time, creating thick smoke.”

Video from inside the venue shows a band performing as pyrotechnic devices shoot out sparks at the front of the stage.

One concert-goer, 22-year-old Marija Taseva, told local television channel Kanal 5 that as she tried to escape the blaze, she fell to the ground and people ran over her, Reuters reported.

“Everyone was trying to save themselves,” Taseva said, adding that she lost contact with her sister in the chaos. “We can’t find her in any hospital,” she said.

At least 152 people who were injured in the tragedy were taken to hospitals across the country, state media outlet MIA reported, citing the country’s health ministry. Dozens of victims are being treated for second-degree burns on their hands and faces, Vlatko Zahariev, head of the city of Shtip’s hospital said, according to MIA.

Police detained the owner of the nightclub on Sunday morning, MIA reported, as the country’s Justice Minister, Igor Filkov, said that all those involved in the tragedy will be held responsible. Four people are wanted by police in connection to the disaster.

North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said it was a “difficult and very sad day.”

“The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, while the pain of our families, our close ones and our friends is immeasurable,” he wrote on X.

Leaders from across Europe have taken to social media to express their condolences for the disaster, including Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, President of the European Council.

Angela Aggeler, the US ambassador to North Macedonia, also posted about the incident on X, writing Sunday that her “heart breaks” for the victims of the tragedy and offering the US embassy’s assistance and resources.

The disaster is one of the deadliest nightclub fires to have taken place in at least a decade. In 2015, a crowded nightclub in Bucharest, Romania was engulfed in flames after pyrotechnics were set off during a concert, killing 64 people.

Two years earlier, more than 240 people died after a fire broke out at a nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil. Pyrotechnics were also being used inside the club when the fire started.

This story has been updated with additional information.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Paris and London on Monday to seek alliances as he deals with US President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty and economy.

Carney is purposely making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries that shaped Canada’s early existence.

At his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, Carney noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples, French, English and Indigenous, and said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States.”

A senior government official briefed reporters on the plane before picking up Carney in Montreal and said the purpose of the trip is to double down on partnerships on with Canada’s two founding countries. The official said Canada is a “good friend of the United States but we all know what is going on.”

“The Trump factor is the reason for the trip. The Trump factor towers over everything else Carney must deal with,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.

Carney, a former central banker who turned 60 on Sunday, will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday and later travel to London to sit down with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in an effort to diversify trade and perhaps coordinate a response to Trump’s tariffs.

He will also meet with King Charles III, the head of state in Canada. The trip to England is a bit of a homecoming, as Carney is a former governor of the Bank of England, the first noncitizen to be named to the role in the bank’s 300-plus-year history.

Carney then travels to the edge of Canada’s Arctic to “reaffirm Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty” before returning to Ottawa where he’s expected to call an election within days.

Carney has said he’s ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he doesn’t plan to visit Washington at the moment but hopes to have a phone call with the president soon.

Sweeping tariffs of 25% and Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.

Carney’s government is reviewing the purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war.

The governing Liberal Party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war and repeatedly has said Canada should become the 51st state. Now the party and its new leader could come out on top.

Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, said Carney is wise not to visit Trump.

“There’s no point in going to Washington,” Bothwell said. “As (former Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau’s treatment shows, all that results in is a crude attempt by Trump to humiliate his guests.”

Bothwell said that Trump demands respect, “but it’s often a one-way street, asking others to set aside their self-respect to bend to his will.”

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it is absolutely essential that Canada diversify trade amidst the ongoing trade war with the United States. More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the US.

Béland said Arctic sovereignty is also a key issue for Canada.

“President Trump’s aggressive talk about both Canada and Greenland and the apparent rapprochement between Russia, a strong Arctic power, and the United States under Trump have increased anxieties about our control over this remote yet highly strategic region,” Béland said.

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One nationalist influencer called it “truly gratifying.” Another said he was laughing his head off. And a state-media editorial hailed the demise of what it called the “lie factory.”

Chinese nationalists and state media could hardly contain their schadenfreude after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to dismantle Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other US government-funded media organizations that broadcast to authoritarian regimes.

For years, the Chinese government and its propaganda apparatus have relentlessly attacked VOA and RFA for their critical coverage of China, particularly on human rights and religious freedom.

And now, the Trump administration is silencing the very institutions that Beijing has long sought to undermine – at a time when China is spending lavishly to expand the global footprint of its own state media.

In an editorial Monday, the Global Times, a pugnacious Communist Party-run newspaper, denounced VOA as a “lie factory” with an “appalling track record” on China reporting.

From its coverage of alleged human rights abuses in the far western Xinjiang region to reporting on South China Sea disputes, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the coronavirus pandemic and the Chinese economy, “almost every malicious falsehood about China has VOA’s fingerprints all over it,” the editorial claimed.

“As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonizing narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it added.

VOA’s China coverage stretches back decades. During the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, its Chinese-language radio broadcasts became a critical source of uncensored information for the Chinese people. (VOA discontinued its Chinese radio broadcasts in 2011 but its Chinese language website remained online as of Monday.)

RFA, founded in 1996, broadcasts to China in English, Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan-language services, catering to ethnic minorities whose freedoms the Chinese government has long been accused of suppressing.

RFA CEO Bay Fang called the US grant cutoff “a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their influence go unchecked in the information space.”

On Chinese social media, nationalist influencers celebrated the demise of VOA, which has placed all 1,300 staff on administrative leave, and of RFA, which said it may cease operations following the termination of federal grants.

“Voice of America has been paralyzed! And so has Radio Free Asia, which is just as malicious toward China. How truly gratifying!” wrote Hu Xijin, a former editor-in-chief of the Global Times and prominent nationalist commentator.

“Almost all Chinese people know the Voice of America, as it is a symbolic tool of US ideological infiltration into China,” Hu wrote in a post on microblogging site Weibo, where he has nearly 25 million followers. “(I) believe that Chinese people are more than happy to see America’s anti-China ideological stronghold crumble from within, scattering like a flock of startled birds.”

Another nationalist commentator accused VOA and RFA of being “notorious propaganda machines for color revolutions,” referring to protests of the 2000s that toppled governments in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans.

“I’m laughing my head off!” they said.

Others cheered Trump, who during his first term in office was nicknamed “Chuan Jianguo,” or “Trump, the (Chinese) nation builder” by the Chinese internet, in a mocking suggestion that the US president’s isolationist foreign policy and divisive domestic agenda was helping Beijing to overtake Washington on the global stage.

“Thank you, Comrade Chuan Jianguo and Elon Musk, please take care and stay safe,” a Weibo user said on Monday.

Musk, the billionaire adviser to Trump who has been spearheading sweeping cuts to the US government, has used his social media platform X to call for VOA to be shut down.

“This news marks the end of an era,” said another comment on Weibo on Sunday.

The White House defended Trump’s executive order in a statement Saturday, claiming it “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”

But as the US-funded stations dial down, China is busy amplifying its own messages to the world.

Under leader Xi Jinping, China has drastically expanded the reach and influence of its state media outlets as part of its push to gain “discourse power” in a world it sees as unfairly dominated by the Western narrative.

In 2018, Beijing announced the creation of a giant media conglomerate by merging three existing state-run networks aimed at overseas audiences to better combine resources. Its name? Voice of China.

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After months of tension, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would seek to remove the chief of the Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar.

Netanyahu met with Bar and informed him that he would propose his removal to the government this week, the prime minister’s office said on Sunday.

Netanyahu is believed to have majority support in government to remove Bar, but the move could be subject to appeals by Israel’s Supreme Court.

In a statement, Bar said that he intends to fulfill certain responsibilities before leaving his position.

“The duty of trust owed by the head of the Shin Bet is first and foremost to the citizens of Israel – this perception is what underlies all of my actions and decisions,” Bar said, “The Prime Minister’s expectation of a personal duty of trust whose purpose contradicts the public interest is a fundamentally wrong expectation.”

In a video statement released on Sunday, Netanyahu said his “ongoing distrust” of Bar led to this decision.

“At all times, but especially in such an existential war, the prime minister must have full confidence in the head of the Shin Bet,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu added that removing Bar would be necessary for achieving Israel’s war goals in Gaza and “preventing the next disaster.”

The prime minister has frequently criticized the agency, placing blame on its leaders for the security lapses that led to the Hamas October 7, 2023, attacks that killed more than 1,200 people.

Shin Bet, which is in charge of monitoring domestic threats to Israel, conducted an internal investigation that determined that the agency had “failed in its mission” to prevent the attacks.

In its investigation, Shin Bet also leveled implicit criticism at Netanyahu, saying that in the years leading up to its October 7 attack, Hamas was enriched by Qatari payments that were blessed by the Israeli government.

Its report also said that Hamas decided to attack when it did in part because of internal divisions in Israeli society fueled by Netanyahu’s attempts to pass judicial changes, which led to massive protest.

The agency also reportedly opened an investigation recently into members of Netanyahu’s office for inappropriately lobbying on behalf of Qatar – something his office denies.

Netanyahu also removed Bar and the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, from the negotiating team engaging in indirect talks with Hamas.

Opposition politicians criticized Netanyahu and suggested that Bar’s firing would be a politically motivated move.

“For a year and a half, he saw no reason to fire him, but only when the investigation into Qatar’s infiltration of Netanyahu’s office and the funds transferred to his closest aides began, did he suddenly feel an urgent need to fire him immediately,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said.

National Unity Chairman Benny Gantz said it would be a “direct violation of the state’s security and the dismantling of unity in Israeli society for political and personal reasons.”

Several far-right members of the government applauded Netanyahu’s intent to fire Bar on Sunday.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that it is a “necessary step” and that it would have been appropriate for the Shin Bet leader to “take real responsibility and resign on his own initiative more than a year ago.”

Israel’s former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who had disputes with Bar over the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and other issues, asserted that Netanyahu’s decision shows “there is no place in a democratic state for officials who behave politically against me and against elected officials.” Ben Gvir has repeatedly called for Bar’s firing.

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A mother and her daughter hunch down by the windows of their attic as armed men gather outside the gate. They try not to make a sound. But in the video that they furtively recorded of this fraught moment, it’s clear they can barely control their panicked breathing.

Earlier that day, on March 7, the patriarch of the Khalil family had assured them that they were not in danger. The forces aligned with Syria’s new Islamist government who had descended on their village of al-Sanobar were only going after people affiliated with the recently toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad, he reasoned.

“We haven’t done anything wrong,” his relative recalled him saying as they watched fighters storming their neighbors’ home from their windows. Hours later, she said the patriarch was dead, his lifeless body splayed out on the patio next to his son’s corpse.

The killings at the Khalils’ home, recounted through video and survivor testimonies, was one of many similar incidents that played out across Alawite communities in Syria’s coastal region earlier this month.

The attacks against Alawites raise questions about whether interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa can fulfill his promise to rule Syria in an inclusive way, ensuring the protection of minorities, and stop any insurgent factions from becoming a serious threat to the country’s prospects for peace.

The latest cycle of violence began when Assad loyalists staged a bloody ambush on forces aligned with Syria’s new Sunni Islamist government on March 6 in what appeared to be a coordinated attack. It was Syria’s worst violence since Assad was toppled last December and it prompted a deadly reprisal in the Latakia and Tartus provinces that the new government described as an effort to contain remnants of the former autocratic regime.

The state blamed the mass killings on rogue elements. Al-Sharaa set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the killings and has vowed to hold the culprits to account.

‘They called us Alawite dogs’

Human rights watchdog, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), said more than 800 people were killed in attacks following the ambush. Other rights groups say the number is even higher.

Assad loyalists have staged several smaller attacks on government forces since then, according to authorities.

Survivors said the attacks in Pine village began in the early hours of Friday, March 7, a day after the initial ambush by Assadist loyalists was reported.

In the days that followed, another video surfaced on social media showing him singing, with bodies littered behind him. “We’ve come to you. We’ve come to you with the taste of death.”

“The sword of the people of Idlib wants only you,” he sings, referring to the territory in northern Syria that was ruled by al-Sharaa’s now dissolved Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), before the forces wrested control from the old regime and became the de-facto government. HTS fighters now compose most of the country’s General Security forces.

In his Facebook profile picture, the fighter is seen in fatigues embroidered with what appears to be HTS insignia. Three military experts said the patch on his shoulder was consistent with several HTS units, but the photograph was too blurry to determine the specific brigade.

“At first, they went to homes and confiscated mobile phones they were able to find… and then they left the village. Then they returned and ransacked our home. Then they left,” she added between tears. “And then a third time, they entered the house and demanded that all the men step outside.”

“My father and my two brothers. My father was a 75-year-old retired teacher… they shot my father in the head… they shot my brother in the heart.”

She said another brother, who was injured by a bullet to the right side of his body, pretended to be dead while he bled out. As night fell, he attempted to escape. According to the woman, the fighters shot him six times as he limped through the fields.

Her mother was sitting in shock and grief between her dead male relatives when, she said, one armed fighter pulled a gun to her head and called her an “‘Alawite dog.’”

“God’s will saved me,” he added. “I begged them to release my brother, but no one listened.”

Collecting the bodies

Another verified video showed at least 29 bodies in two shallow graves, where an excavator appeared to be refilling one of them with soil.

The villagers said they were still trying to give their loved ones a burial in accordance with Islamic rites.

“Without a doubt, we will give our dead a proper religious burial,” said the survivor whose father and brothers were killed. “But for that we will need to return to the village, and we are too afraid to return.”

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This March 17 will be the ‘yahrzeit’ of Sen. Joe Lieberman’s unexpected death in 2024, a time in Jewish tradition when family members recite the mourners’ kaddish prayer and light candles in memory of their loved one.

Those of us who knew Joe Lieberman continue to mourn his passing and miss his smile and decency.  When we have gathered at memorial services and early screenings of ‘Centered,’ a new documentary which chronicles his life, we always express the wish that there were more leaders like him in today’s harsh political environment. (‘Centered’ will be in Regal Cinemas nationwide on March 18 and 19.)

That yearning for comity was accentuated by the partisan atmosphere in the House of Representatives for President Donald Trump’s recent address to a joint session of Congress. We could debate which party or its leaders are more guilty of polluting the public square these days, but that would defeat the purpose of arguing for better behavior from both sides. The political divide (a worrisome ‘gulf of America’) leaves us inches away from stalemate, and mere feet from chaos. 

While Joe Lieberman can no longer speak up on behalf of civility in politics, he left us plenty of examples:

When he gave the Democratic response to President Ronald Reagan’s last radio address in 1989, Lieberman did not abuse the opportunity to settle political scores. ‘Your love of this country and your fervent devotion to freedom inspired us all,’ the new Democratic senator said of the Republican president.

In 1991, rather than join most Democrats to oppose the use of force after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, Lieberman became the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the resolution authorizing the first (and successful) Gulf War.

Working across the aisle with senators like John McCain, Lieberman advocated for the 9/11 Commission to investigate the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and Arlen Specter for creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

He often joined with Republican Sen. Bob Dole in urging both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to take a more active role in defending Bosnia from Serbian aggression.

And Lieberman collaborated with leaders in both parties to speak out against the plight of inappropriate content in video games, music and television programs, which helped lead to the creation of ratings systems that give parents more power to discern what is best for their children.

Throughout his life, Lieberman’s advocacy of harmony and good will found expression in his fervent support for civil and human rights, from traveling to Mississippi as a student advocating voting rights to his leadership in ending the discriminatory ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in the military and to his commitment to a cleaner environment (the latter two efforts also involved cross-party cooperation).

The senator’s many public expressions of cordiality towards people of either or no political party were matched by his behavior in private. As staffers who worked with him beginning more than 45 years ago, through many crises and controversies (rarely of his own making), we can testify to his humor, equanimity and good will. We never heard him raise his voice, even in the most tense and tumultuous of circumstances.

Joe Lieberman’s calm demeanor should not be mistaken for a milquetoast career, however. In the course of the work cited above, and many more, he was friendly, but forthright; decent, but determined. 

Thanks in good measure to his faith in God and fervent religious beliefs, he had a strong moral compass that almost always pointed him in the right direction for the betterment of society. If he fell short on rare occasions, it was never from base motives or weak principles. He was, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, a ‘repairer of the breach,’ not a source of division.

As nearly lifelong believers in the leadership of Joe Lieberman, we cannot help but feel that America and the world would have been better off if he and Al Gore had succeeded in the 2000 election. But even in the wake of that enormous – and enormously disappointing – setback in his life, Lieberman showed the same kind of grace and optimism that characterized his whole life:

‘America is a great country,’ he said on the floor of the Senate the day after Vice President Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. ‘I do think that every one of us should be grateful this morning that here in America we work out our differences not with civil wars, but with spirited elections.’

‘It is time now for all of us to come together in support of these United States and the shared values that have long sustained us,’ he continued. ‘Psalm 30 assures us that weeping may linger for the night, but in the morning, there are shouts of joy.’

Our sorrow over the loss of Joe Lieberman has lingered through the long night of his absence from our lives and politics – never more than at this yahrzeit of his passing – but we are encouraged by his stirring words and sterling example to find hope for shouts of joy once again..

Jim Kennedy is a former spokesman for Joe Lieberman, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, the Clinton Foundation, Sony Pictures, Sony Corporation of America and News Corp. He publishes occasional columns on Substack.

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The White House released photos of President Donald Trump watching strikes on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on Saturday, as the large-scale U.S. operation against the terrorist group continues. 

‘President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats,’ the White House wrote on X, sharing photos of Trump, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. ‘For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency.’ 

Trump appeared to be dressed in golf attire and was wearing his signature red baseball cap with his name emblazoned on the back while watching video of the strikes on a television screen. 

Another photo showed the president from the front with a black headset on. 

Trump wrote in a Saturday TRUTHSocial post that he had ‘ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.’ 

‘Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,’ Trump said. ‘No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.’ 

U.S. Central Command said Saturday it ‘initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.’ 

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement that Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.  

‘The Secretary informed Russia of U.S. military deterrence operations against the Iran-backed Houthis and emphasized that continued Houthi attacks on U.S. military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,’ Bruce wrote. ‘Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed next steps to follow up on recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia.’ 

The Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen said the strikes killed at least 31 people, according to the Associated Press. 

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the terrorist group said were acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. The attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas cease-fire took hold in Gaza in January. The Houthis then threatened to renew them after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month following the Hamas rejection of a U.S. framework for continuing the cease-fire and hostage releases.

The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis, and the U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the terrorist group, which controls Yemen’s capital of Sanaa and the country’s north. Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the U.S. to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.

Trump said, ‘The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends.’ 

Trump charged that the Houthis ‘have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.’ 

‘Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going,’ he wrote on TRUTHSocial. 

Trump said it has been more than a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden. 

‘The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times. Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,’ Trump wrote. 

‘To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!’ Trump said. 

The president added, ‘To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!’ 

The Houthis have targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 and January of this year, when the ceasefire in Gaza took effect, according to the AP. 

The U.S., Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but Saturday’s operation was conducted solely by the U.S. It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

It comes two weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iranian leaders offering a path to restarting bilateral talks between the countries on Iran’s advancing nuclear program. Trump has said he will not allow it to become operational.

The Trump administration re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this month, after the Biden administration had lifted the group’s designation in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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