U.s. Soldier Accused In Iraq Killings Expected To Plead Guilty

8212; Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company announced Thursday. Such encryption means that no one other than the sender and the recipient — not even Meta — can decipher people’s messages. Encrypted chats, first introduced as an optional feature in Messenger in 2016, will now be the standard for all users going forward, according to Messenger head Loredana Crisan. “This has taken years to deliver because we’ve taken our time to get this right,” Crisan wrote in a blog post.

By Joan Nathan, The New York Times For the members of New York’s Aleppan Jewish community, the tinier the meat- or cheese-filled pastry, the better the cook. At Hanukkah, which this year begins Thursday evening, they take as much pride in their distinctive tradition of using two candles rather than one to light the menorah — representing both the miracle of light and the welcome they received from Syrians after fleeing the Inquisition — as they do in those small meat- or cheese-filled pastries. Rachel Harary Gindi, 92, who was born into this close-knit community, based in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, remembers her mother gathering with her friends to make sambousek, served at holidays.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press) JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has offered strong support to Israel in its war against the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. But the allies are increasingly at odds over what will happen to Gaza once the war winds down. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, this week announced that Israel would retain an open-ended security presence in Gaza.

Gaku Homma requires one thing from customers when they walk through Domo Japanese Country Restaurant’s recently reopened doors: patience. At 73 years old, the chef is still constantly on his feet, cooking, cleaning dishes and greeting guests. “I am happy to be back here, but I am busy,” he said. Homma reopened Domo, at 1365 Osage St., last month after a year hiatus, but with a smaller menu, limited hours and only four people on staff, two up front and two in the kitchen; that’s compared to the nearly 30 he had before the closure. “My hands can only hold so much,” Homma said. Domo closed temporarily in 2021 after a 40-second TikTok video of the restaurant’s beautiful outdoor gardens went viral and led to hundreds of people forming lines around the restaurant, overwhelming Homma and his staff.

The countdown is officially on to, well, the countdown. Denver is brimming with New Year’s Eve events, whether you want to attend an all-inclusive soiree, a concert or a casual party. And the holiday falling on a weekend this year makes it even more worthwhile to celebrate. Here are 15 places to say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024.

A documentary series on the Love Has Won cult, which was based in Colorado until its leader died in 2021, is bringing increased attention to its bizarre teachings about 5D ascensions, galactic communications from Robin Williams and the dangerous use of colloidal silver to cure diseases. But a group working to expose the cult’s falsehoods and rescue those trapped in it says the documentary fell short in debunking the myths and explaining how dangerous cults truly are. Amanda Ray, whose brother escaped Love Has Won after becoming entangled in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, said there were missed opportunities to show how abusive Amy Carlson, who led Love Has Won and called herself Mother God, was toward her followers. RELATED: A primer on Love Has Won, the Colorado cult featured in HBO’s new docu-series “It really was a documentary that shared the stories of the current followers just a few weeks after Amy passed,” Ray said.