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Khloé Kardashian Goes Off on ‘Despicable’ Tristan Thompson Whose Cheating ‘Demolished’ Their Love

Khloé Kardashian’s heartbreaking reaction to Tristan Thompson cheating on her once again has been revealed as her family’s reality cameras rolled.

During Thursday’s season finale of The Kardashians, Khloé, 37, finally learned the truth about Tristan’s paternity scandal after her sister Kim Kardashian uncovered his legal papers last episode.

The NBA player fathered a child with Maralee Nichols in December 2021. At the time of the child’s conception, he was still in a relationship with Khloé. (The pair had been in an on-again, off-again relationship since 2016 and welcomed daughter True in 2018.)

“I find out what Tristan is doing with the rest of the world,” Khloé told the cameras in a confessional. “A courtesy would be not doing it. But fine, if you do it, you’re not even gonna be a f—ing heads up before the rest of the world? It’s just an additional slap in my face. It’s humiliating, I’m embarrassed.”

“I’m replaying every event, every grand gesture, every trip, every date… all of that was a lie,” she continued. “I feel just not really in my own body, these things are just happening and I’m going through the motions. But when things happen to you a few times, you do kinda become immune to them, which is really sad.”

tirstan thompson and khloe kardashian

Jerritt Clark/Getty ; Vivien Killilea/Getty Tristan Thompson and Khloé Kardashian

RELATED: Khloé Kardashian Admits She’s ‘Uncomfortable’ Watching Tristan Thompson’s Paternity Drama Unfold

In another confessional, Khloé revealed more about the state of her heartbreak. “Everything is an act of betrayal, everything is a lie. It’s manipulation, it’s deceit. Did Tristan have every opportunity to tell me? Yes. Was Tristan going to tell me if there wasn’t a baby involved? Absolutely not. And that shows a lot about his character. The entire thing is despicable.”

“There’s nothing that can be said or done that will make me feel better,” she added. “All of the work, the energy, the conversations, all of those bricks that we were laying down [for] this foundation — all for it to just [have] a tornado go through and everything to be demolished.”

While Khloé spent some time alone processing the devastating news, her family gathered for a meeting, in which they shared their fury and disappointment over Tristan’s actions.

“Khloé is the strongest girl I know, but sometimes the strongest girl you know isn’t so strong all the time and I don’t want her to get to a place that she doesn’t have anybody to talk to because she feels like she needs to be strong,” said Kris Jenner. “She keeps recovering and forgiving for the sake of her daughter.”

“It’s such a lack of respect. This is somebody whose got a pattern of bad behavior, somebody whose lied to her since June,” Kris, 66, continued. “This is not something that can be undone. If he’s in this pattern, why does she have to keep suffering? That’s what breaks my heart.”

“The lack of honesty is what does it for me. It’s way less hurtful to say the truth than to find out on the internet,” Kourtney Kardashian noted, adding in a confessional that “we’ve given Tristan so many chances [and] I feel super disappointed.”

Kim, 41, was also angered, telling her family, “I’m exhausted of taking the high road… half of me wants to just put [him] on blast.”

Khloe Kardashian, Tristan Thompson

Jerritt Clark/Getty Images Tristan Thompson, Khloe Kardashian

Later in the episode, Khloé felt ready to talk about the situation and met up with Kim. During their conversation, Khloé disclosed how it’s “f—ed” up that society often “blames” women in instances where their partner cheats.

“There’s no compassion,” Khloé said. “There’s just no sense of humanity.”

Her comments infuriated Kim, who went on to angrily slam all the the “f—ing trolls on the internet that make Khloé feel like the biggest piece of s—” in a confessional.

“I will find each and every one of you, and not threaten you on TV, but it’s wrong. It’s so wrong,” the KKW Beauty founder said. “Because you guys don’t understand that when you have a child, you’ll do anything to try and make it work. And I’m so proud of who Khloé is that she wanted to give her relationship a second chance, even after [Tristan] dogged her and embarrassed the s— out of her.”

RELATED: Khloé Kardashian Wants Tristan Thompson to ‘Be Happy,’ Says There Are ‘Many Good Sides to Him’

Though still heartbroken, Khloé revealed to Kim at the end of the episode that she did reach out to Tristan following the news but not much got accomplished, as “it was more yelling on my end.”

“There’s not much to talk about in my opinion,” she said. “It’s disgusting. We’re all over it. I didn’t buy tickets to this f—ing circus, but somehow I’m watching all these clowns act out in front of me. I want a refund, return to sender, I don’t want to be at this show.”

“Somehow these clowns keep coming back in this f—ing clown car, and no matter what he says, nothing’s gonna give me the answers that I’m looking for or the closure,” she said.

khloe kardashian, true thompson

BACKGRID Khloé Kardashian and True

RELATED: Khloé Kardashian Says She Doesn’t ‘Feel Lonely’ as a Single Mom: ‘I’m Obsessed with My Girl’

Khloé also noted that she intends on keeping things as normal as possible for their daughter.

“True FaceTimes him every night. I don’t speak, he talks to True,” she explained. “And True will never know anything’s wrong in my book, ever. I’ve done this before. I know how to do it.”

After Kim pointed out how Tristan vowed to “go to therapy” and “start fixing myself,” she noted, “If that were me, and I was really trying to redeem myself and trying to be a better person, I would definitely just keep my d— in my pants.”

“You would think!” Khloé exclaimed. “You either wear a condom, get a vasectomy, or you don’t f— random people that you meet in other states. It’s not rocket science.”

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In a confessional, Kim added of her sister: “She’s gonna miss her best friend. She’s gonna miss the thought of, and hope of, them coming together and it’s gonna be an adjustment, especially when you have kids. You have no choice but to take the high road, even if it kills you.”

Despite everything, Khloé said she was “grateful for the clarity.”

“I feel vindicated in a way because I kept saying, ‘Guys, something’s not right here,'” she recalled, adding in a confessional, “I will push through anything and everything, just like I have in the past.”

Season 1 of The Kardashians is now streaming on Hulu.

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Johnny Depp trial: Actor’s attorney says Marilyn Manson video ‘demolished’ Amber Heard’s abuse claims

Johnny Depp’s attorney has claimed that video taken by Marilyn Manson “demolished” Amber Heard’s allegations that she was abused by her ex-husband.

Testimony from Adam Waldman, who has worked on and off on Mr Depp’s legal team since October 2016, was played in court on Thursday during the former couple’s high-stakes defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia.

Mr Waldman, who is at the centre of Ms Heard’s counterclaim after he called her abuse allegations “fake” and “a hoax”, gave video testimony back in February after being subpoenaed by the Aquaman actress’s legal team.

The attorney, who was banned from Twitter for violating its privacy policy, insisted that he has “seen things that show [Ms Heard’s] statements to be false”.

Mr Waldman testified that he believed that pictures and videos that rock star Mr Manson sent to him help to disprove Ms Heard’s accusations about one alleged violent incident that took place on Thanksgiving 2013.

“As to that incident – Thanksgiving, perhaps 2013 – I think those videos and photographs demolished her claim,” he testified.

Mr Waldman appears to be referring to video from Thanksgiving 2015 which was played during Mr Depp’s UK libel case against The Sun newspaper – which he lost.

In the UK case, the court was shown footage of Mr Manson, Ms Heard’s father David and Mr Depp’s son Jack joking around at the gathering in Los Angeles.

In the video, Mr Manson joked that Ms Heard’s father was “a monster” before David began chasing Jack.

Mr Depp’s legal team claimed at the UK case that the video showed “a happy family event” – and so cast doubt on Ms Heard’s version of events from that day.

Ms Heard has claimed that the couple got into a fight that day, where Mr Depp ripped her shirt, threw her across the room and hurled glass at her.

Mr Waldman also cited several witnesses who he said testified that they had not seen injuries on Ms Heard’s face between 21 and 27 May 2016.

Ms Heard alleges that Mr Depp violently abused her on 21 May. The incident came two days before she filed for divorce and six days before she filed for a domestic violence restraining order.

Mr Waldman has previously accused Ms Heard of faking the scene of the abuse that night, saying in a 2020 media interview that it “was an ambush, a hoax”.

Mr Waldman’s comments accusing Ms Heard of staging “a hoax” are a focus of Ms Heard’s counterclaim in the defamation trial.

Mr Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she penned for The Washington Post where she described herself as a “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is not named in the article, which is titled “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.

However Mr Depp claims that it falsely implies that he is a domestic abuser – something that he strongly denies – and that it has left him struggling to land roles in Hollywood. He is suing for $50m.

Ms Heard is countersuing for $100m, accusing Mr Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.

Her defamation counterclaim was initially filed over Mr Waldman’s comments where he accused Ms Heard of lying about the domestic violence she said she suffered at the hands of Mr Depp, branding her accusations “fake”, a “sexual violence hoax” and an “ambush”.

Mr Waldman was later reportedly dropped from Mr Depp’s legal team but is now back working as his counsel.

Mr Manson was mentioned earlier on in the defamation trial, when Mr Depp testified that he had taken drugs with the rock star.

The Pirates actor told the court that he once gave Mr Manson a pill so that he would stop talking so much.

This comes at a time that Mr Manson is also suing his ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood for defamation after she accused him of raping and abusing her during their relationship.

Ms Wood came forward with the allegations last year. Several other women then also came forward with the accusations.

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This Indian man’s house was demolished in Khargone because he is Muslim, he says

“In the blink of an eye, my home was demolished,” said the 45-year-old fruit seller, whose kitchen, fruit cart, and cattle shed have ​all been destroyed. “While I stood there watching… (the police) just walked away.”

Scraps of wood, rusty metal and garbage line the sandy pavement outside his home, where his four young children play.

His home was one of several properties in Khargone city’s Chhoti Mohan Talkies neighborhood, in India’s central Madhya Pradesh state, ​that he says were demolished by authorities following violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims that broke out on April 10 — the day of the Hindu festival Ram Navami.

Experts say the demolitions are the tip of a far deeper problem and that this is only the latest in a string of attacks on the country’s Muslim population, fueled in part by the ​ascendance of India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

They argue that Muslims in BJP-run Madhya Pradesh have been disproportionately punished following the violence, raising fears that members of the country’s ​largest minority religion — about 200 million of India’s 1.3 billion population are Muslim — are being persecuted under the BJP.

They point to similar problems in the capital New Delhi, where ​witnesses told CNN that authorities began demolishing shops and other structures in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Jahangirpuri on Wednesday, days after violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims broke out following Hanuman Jayanti, a celebration of the birthday of the Hindu god Hanuman.

For Baig, there is an extra sense of injustice.

Baig said he and his neighbors were nowhere near the scene of the clashes.

“I don’t know what is happening in my country,” said Baig, who ​says he has lived in the property for more than 30 years. “But all I can say is that I’m paying the price of being a Muslim.”

‘My shops were demolished because I am Muslim’

The communal violence in Khargone erupted after groups of Hindu men carrying saffron flags — a color associated with Hinduism that has in recent years become increasingly politicized — marched through Muslim-majority neighborhoods on Ram Navami, a festival that celebrates the birth of the revered Hindu god, Lord Ram.
The details of the clashes are disputed. Violent skirmishes between Hindus and Muslims erupted, with some men throwing stones and holding weapons in the air, according to video from local news outlets. Houses and cars were set on fire, and at least one person died ​– a Muslim man — in the clashes, state police told reporters. A curfew was imposed in the city to quell the violence on April 10, and some restrictions were lifted after 11 days, they said. The government said they have set aside a cumulative sum of $131,000 for families affected by the violence.

But it is the scenes of state officials bulldozing properties that gained the most attention, with activists and citizens decrying the move as unjust and unlawful.

Dr. Tameezuddin Shaikh was at home on April 11 when he received a phone call from a friend informing him that authorities were bulldozing his son’s medical shop in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Talab Chowk in Khargone.

“I was stunned,” said Shaikh, who ​says he often provides free services to impoverished and marginalized families. “There was a curfew imposed in the city and I had not been given any notice warning of any illegality. I live far away from my medical store, and with the curfew imposed, there was no way that we could go and stop the demolitions.”

About a dozen shops in Talab Chowk were demolished by Khargone authorities, according to Shaikh.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra ​described the state’s actions ​as a form of revenge, telling reporters on April 11: “From the homes where stones were pelted, we will turn those homes to a pile of stones.” He offered no proof the ​residents whose homes were destroyed had been linked to the violence.

Shaikh said neither he nor his son were involved in the violence. And he has served the local community from that shop for more than five decades without an issue, he added.

“I’m a respected name in Khargone, having served people all my life,” he said. “But all the medicines and everything in my clinic worth over 10 lakh rupees ($13,000) turned to rubble.”

Muslim group Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has filed a petition in India’s Supreme Court, urging an intervention into the demolitions, and calling them a “violation” of India’s constitution.

According to lawyer and activist Kawalpreet Kaur, district officers “cannot take the law into their own hands and cannot be the adjudicating authority.”

“They cannot decide who is a criminal,” she said.

Rahul Verma, a fellow from the Centre for Policy Research, said the demolitions in Madhya Pradesh were “unprecedented.”

“It’s not a job of the municipal office to give punishment to people who might be involved in ​stone-pelting or violence,” he said.

Ayub Khan, a resident of the Aurangpura Square neighborhood, about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) from Talab Chowk, lost seven shops when authorities demolished them a day after the violence.

Khan ​says he lost more than $26,000 in the destruction, and now faces the daunting task of rebuilding without sufficient money. He plans to file a petition against state officials in the country’s Supreme Court.

“The demolished shops had stood there for over 70 years and we never received a single (government) notice,” he said. “Indeed my shops were demolished because I am a Muslim who refused to bend before BJP leaders. The way the district administration is targeting Muslims after the violence in Khargone, it’s evident that they hate a particular community.”​

CNN contacted the secretary for Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister, Secretary Home Minister, Khargone’s District Collector and the police, but did not receive a response.

Support for the Hindu right

Tensions between Indian Hindus and Muslims have ​been flashpoints for decades — even before India gained its independence from the British. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP swept to power in 2014, promising economic reform and development, experts feared his rise could signal an ideological shift ​away from the nation’s secular ​norms to​ward those of a Hindu-nationalist state.

The BJP has its roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu group that counts Modi among its members and adheres to Hindutva ideology — which seeks to make India the land of the Hindus.

Analysts and activists feared Modi’s election would leave India’s Muslims — about 14% of the country’s population — vulnerable to exploitation.

According to Debasish Roy Chowdhury, co-author of “To Kill A Democracy: India’s Passage to Despotism,” the “demonstrable subjugation and domination of Muslims through their constant humiliation and disempowerment” is “central” to the BJP’s Hindutva project.

“It charges the party’s Hindu-right voter base, as well as helps enlist more supporters by constantly polarizing voters on the basis of religious identity through a relentless campaign of hate,” he said.

And according to Chowdhury, Hindu vigilante groups are “increasingly allowed more leeway.”

Over the last eight years, several BJP-run states have imposed new laws that critics say are rooted in Hindutva ideology. At the same time, reports of violence and hate-speech against Muslims have increasingly made headlines across the country.

The most controversial new laws are in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath. The state has introduced laws to protect cows, an animal considered sacred to Hindus, from slaughter, and made it increasingly difficult to transport cattle. It has also introduced an anti-conversion bill, which makes it harder for interfaith couples to marry or for people to convert to Islam or Christianity.
Most recently, the BJP-ruled southern state of Karnataka banned Muslim girls from wearing ​religious headscarves in classrooms, prompting several to challenge the decision in the ​state’s top court — a battle they ultimately lost.

According to Muslim author and journalist Rana Ayyub, Muslims are “made to feel like victims in their own country.”

“From what I see in India right now, I feel for my Muslims,” she said. “I feel for my brother each time he goes for Namaz (prayers) wearing a skullcap during the month of (Ramadan).”

And the demolition of Muslim-owned properties during Ramadan, according to Ayyub is “demonizing and demoralizing.”

“It’s like (state authorities) are doing it purposefully,” she said. “They’re trying to tell us that (during) a month that is sacrosanct for Muslims, ‘we are going to humiliate your beliefs and your system’.”

The future

Baig continues to live in a small room in his home — the only one spared demolition — with his wife, children and ailing father.

They have no running water or electricity. Food is running out, ​he says, and with his livelihood destroyed Baig does not know how he can afford to feed his family.

“With temperatures touching 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit), we are struggling to soothe our crying children,” his wife Parveen said.

Meanwhile, Khargone district officials have posted ​numerous photos and videos to their official social media, showing police patrolling the streets and bulldozing more properties.
“Do not let harmony become divided,” read a tweet from Tuesday. “Create an atmosphere of peace and harmony.”

But Baig ​believes that the very institutions in place to protect him and his family betray​ed him by destroying their home.

“I want to ask the government, how can a man who struggles to make ends meet, but feeds his family by working hard each day, have the means to indulge in (violent) activities?” ​Baig asked.



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Palestinian family home demolished in sensitive East Jerusalem neighborhood

The Jerusalem municipality said the eviction had been carried out following district court approval and would mean a school for local children with special needs could be built on the site.

The large operation began on Monday when Israeli police and municipality workers, backed up by dozens of heavily armed Israeli special forces, moved in with a bulldozer and other heavy machinery.

A metal and glass structure housing a nursery selling plants was demolished while the family, along with supporters, stood on the roof their house in a show of defiance.

At one point, family patriarch Mahmoud Salhiyeh threatened to set light to a gas canister and burn down the house, where he lived with his wife and five children.

The eviction operation appeared to have been halted Monday evening, before being resumed in the early hours of Wednesday with the family’s removal, and the destruction of the remaining buildings on the site.

“They arrived around three o’clock in the morning, cut the electricity and surrounded the house, raiding it and detaining all members who were in the house,” an eyewitness told CNN.

In a statement, the Jerusalem municipality said that “a number of people were arrested for questioning on suspicion of violating a court order, violent fortification and disturbing public order.”

“Since the evacuation order was issued in 2017, members of the family living in the illegal buildings were given countless opportunities to hand over the land with consent, but unfortunately they refused to do so, even after meetings and repeated dialog attempts by the Jerusalem municipality,” the statement added.

Sheikh Jarrah is one of several neighborhoods in East Jerusalem where buildings housing Palestinian families and businesses face the threat of demolition or evacuation.

In some cases, authorities say the buildings were illegally constructed or face expropriation orders. In others, the ownership of the land is challenged by Jewish organizations in decades-long court cases.

The threat of what appeared to be imminent expulsion for several families living less than 200 meters away from the Salhiyeh family triggered weeks of protests last spring and was followed soon after by an 11-day war between militants in Gaza and the Israeli army.

In those Sheikh Jarrah cases, which are separate from the Salhiyeh family case, the houses are built on land handed over to the families in the 1950s by Jordan, which had control of the eastern part of the city between 1948 and 1967.

Jewish groups in those cases say the land was originally theirs and are using an Israeli restitution law that allows them to get it back. Palestinians who lost homes in the fighting that accompanied the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 do not enjoy the same legal recourse.

Beyond the individual legal contexts that tend to characterize the different cases, the issue of land ownership more generally remains among the most sensitive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the cases in East Jerusalem are perhaps currently the most sensitive of all.

“The policy of the government and the municipality in East Jerusalem is a policy of expropriation, demolition and arrests, mainly in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. The continuous demolition and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes has not stopped since 1967, Ahmad Tibi, an Arab lawmaker in the Israeli parliament, tweeted Wednesday.

The European Union mission in Jerusalem, which led a delegation of diplomats in a show of support for the family Monday, had called on authorities to de-escalate the situation saying such demolitions undermined the prospects for peace.

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Surfside News: Search Resumes After Remainder of Condo Is Demolished

Credit…Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Four more bodies were found at the site of a collapsed condominium building in Surfside, Fla., on Monday, after rescue crews resumed their search following the demolition of the remainder of the building, officials said, bringing the death toll to 28.

The search effort had been halted for much of the weekend amid growing worries about the building’s stability, particularly with the approach of a tropical storm. The still-standing portion of Champlain Towers South was leveled in a controlled explosion at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, as anguished families continued to await news of the more than 100 people missing since the building collapsed 11 days ago.

At a news briefing Monday evening, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said lightning as Tropical Storm Elsa approached caused temporary pauses in the search effort. She said rescuers have been able to safely search all sections of the debris pile.

Earlier Monday, Ms. Levine Cava said the demolition was “executed exactly as planned.”

“There is hope that there are voids that will allow us to continue the search and rescue operation,” said Ms. Levine Cava.

Video
The portion of Champlain Towers South left standing after a deadly collapse was brought down Sunday night amid concerns over its stability as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches Florida.CreditCredit…Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Rescue teams have begun searching through areas closest to where the remaining building structure had stood, which were not previously accessible. Search teams can now also use heavy equipment to remove debris.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said that concerns about the remaining part of the building left few options but demolition. Residents of the building who survived fled with whatever they had with them and had not been permitted to enter the teetering structure. Passports, wedding rings, cherished photos were left behind.

“At the end of the day, that building is too unsafe to let people go back in,” Mr. DeSantis said. “I know there’s a lot of people who were able to get out, fortunately, who have things there. We’re very sensitive to that. But I don’t think that there’s any way you could let someone go back up into that building given the shape that it’s in now.”

Mr. DeSantis said that while Surfside was not expected to see the worst of Tropical Storm Elsa, the town could still experience strong winds and heavy rain. Tornado warnings were issued for portions of Miami-Dade County on Monday evening.

Credit…Orlando Barria/EPA, via Shutterstock

As Tropical Storm Elsa approached Florida, officials said they hoped the brunt of the storm would spare Surfside, the site of the building collapse. They cautioned residents closer to the storm’s predicted path, west of the Miami area, to prepare for heavy rain and possible power outages.

Elsa was expected to pass near the Florida Keys early Tuesday and then move near or over portions of the west coast of Florida, the National Hurricane Center said Monday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said officials were continuing to monitor the storm’s path.

“Obviously, these tracks can change,” he said.

Tropical storm conditions were expected in parts of the Florida Keys by late Monday, and Elsa could dump up to 6 inches of rain over parts of Florida, which could result in flooding, the center said.

Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, was the first victim identified in the condo collapse. She was the mother of Jonah Handler, a 15-year-old boy who was pulled alive from the rubble in a dramatic rescue as he begged rescuers, “Please don’t leave me.”

Antonio Lozano, 83, and Gladys Lozano, 79, were confirmed dead by Mr. Lozano’s nephew, Phil Ferro, the chief meteorologist on WSVN Channel 7 in Miami. Mr. Ferro wrote on Instagram: “They were such beautiful people. May they rest in peace.”

Luis Andres Bermudez, 26, lived with his mother, Ana Ortiz, 46, and stepfather, Frank Kleiman, 55. Mr. Bermudez’s father confirmed his son’s death on social media, writing in Spanish: “My Luiyo. You gave me everything … I will miss you all of my life. We’ll see each other soon. I will never leave you alone.”

Manuel LaFont, 54, was a businessman who worked with Latin American companies. His former wife, Adriana LaFont, described him as “the best dad.” Mr. LaFont’s son, 10, and daughter, 13, were with Ms. LaFont when the building collapsed.

Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, was in South Florida visiting Mr. LaFont, a close friend of his father’s. He was studying economics at Vanderbilt University and had been a decathlon athlete at his high school. An image of him is on a mural outside the school’s athletic facility.

Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74, were from Venezuela and had recently moved to Surfside, according to Chabadinfo.com, which said they were active in the Orthodox Jewish community in greater Chicago, where one of their daughters lives.

Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, lived with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and their two daughters, Lucia Guara, 10, and Emma Guara, 4. Mr. Guara was remembered as a kind and generous man, a godfather to twins and a fan of hard rock music.

Hilda Noriega, 92, was a longtime resident of Champlain Towers South who enjoyed traveling and whose family described her “unconditional love.” Hours before the collapse, she attended a celebration with relatives.

Michael David Altman, 50, came from Costa Rica to the United States as a child, and was an avid racquetball player as a youth. “He was a warm man. He conquered a lot of obstacles in his life and always came out on top,” his son, Nicholas, told The Miami Herald.

Also killed in the collapse were Claudio Bonnefoy, 85, and Maria Obias-Bonnefoy, 69; Graciela Cattarossi, 48; Magaly Elena Delgado, 80; Bonnie Epstein, 56, and David Epstein, 58; Gonzalo Torre, 81; and the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter, whom the authorities declined to name.

Credit…Giulia Heyward/The New York Times

Florida’s high-rise building regulations have long been among the strictest in the nation. But after parts of Champlain Towers South tumbled down on June 24, killing at least 24 people and leaving 121 unaccounted for, evidence has mounted that those rules have been enforced unevenly by local governments, and sometimes not at all.

Miami-Dade County officials said last week that they were prioritizing reviews of 24 multistory buildings that either had failed major structural or electrical inspections required after 40 years or had not submitted the reports in the first place. But the county’s own records show that 17 of those cases had been open for a year or more. Two cases were against properties owned by the county itself. The oldest case had sat unresolved since 2008.

The city of North Miami Beach had tried and failed for years to bring a 10-story condo building within its borders, Crestview Towers, into compliance with the 40-year recertification requirements. When the building’s condo association finally submitted the required paperwork last week, about nine years late, it documented critical safety concerns, a city spokesman said. Officials evacuated the building on Friday.

Meanwhile, the same local governments were pursuing a haphazard approach to identifying other potentially unsafe buildings across the region, with the age and height criteria that would prompt added scrutiny varying from one place to the next. At least one local government, the village of Key Biscayne, was opting to conduct no extra inspections at all, an official there said.

Even if building auditors focus only on towers of 10 stories or more that were built in the 1970s and 1980s, the task would still be daunting. An analysis of property records by The New York Times shows that at least 270 such buildings dot the skylines of Miami-Dade County’s cities, villages and towns, with dozens more in the county’s unincorporated reaches.

Credit…Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

As rescue crews continue to comb through the remains of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, federal officials have brought in support from across the globe — including an elite team of Israeli search-and-rescue officers trained to respond to building collapses.

Along with urban search-and-rescue task forces activated from across the country and a similar elite team from Mexico, more than a dozen Israeli officers have been working to dig through the rubble left from the collapse and provide emotional support to the families waiting in agonizing limbo for word of their loved ones.

In interviews, four of the officers, their combat boots still coated in gray dust from the rubble, described an emotional process to help confront what they said was the most complicated search-and-rescue operation they have been a part of. After arriving June 27 and going straight to the site, they have spent hours interviewing more than 100 families and condo employees to help construct a map of the towers.

The unit, sent by the Israel Defense Forces, helped construct 3-D models of the apartments, in part to help guide the rescue teams through the rubble. One model resembled a game of Tetris: different-colored and shaped blocks stacked together to form apartment units, with rescuers focusing on the bedrooms.

“It’s a very rare disaster,” said Yuval Klein, 42, an officer with the rescue unit. “It’s just a mountain of concrete, broken down into small pieces, and bits and scraps of personal items of a house, you know? Suitcases, clothes, books, pages, everything, everything a person has in his house.”

Mr. Klein is among the officers who have not only visited the rubble, but have had to press families and apartment staff for every minute detail about the apartment and their loved ones: Where was the bed located? What were items specific to the apartment, and where were they? Which direction did they sleep? What color was the carpet?

“It’s a story — each house as a story, and that’s what you see inside the rubble,” said Tal Levy Diamenshtien, who works with Mr. Klein. “You see stories. You see dolls. You see parts of life.”

Members of the Israeli team have also briefed the families repeatedly, and have been among the officials available to answer questions and comfort those who are grieving.

The officials said they were impressed by the scope of manpower and technology sent to the site. The weather conditions in Florida — with intense heat and thunderstorms that took officers by surprise — have only exacerbated the complexities.

“You see the great power of this nation,” said Golan Vach, the commander of the Israeli National Rescue Unit. He described watching rescuers using shirts from their fire departments to help cover victims they had found, in order to protect the bodies as they recovered them from the rubble.

“When you see the United States flag and the department flag — it means a lot. It means there’s a contract between you citizens and us,” he added. “If something happens, we’ll be there for you. I think the families need to know that.”



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Remaining portion of Florida condo demolished

The precarious, remaining portion of a collapsed Florida condo building was demolished Sunday night — clearing the way for rescue teams to resume their search for any possible survivors.

The timing of the demolition of the unstable structure was announced just hours earlier by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who said bringing the building down is necessary for work to continue at the site.

At about 10:30 p.m., the rigged explosives were set off, leveling the building and leaving behind a cloud of dust and debris over the area.

Over 24 people are confirmed dead from the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside — and 121 people remain missing.

The decision to demolish the Surfside building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below and preventing them from operating in some areas.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

Rescuers will await the “all-clear” after the demolition and then immediately get back to work, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a briefing earlier Sunday.

“We are standing by. We are ready to go in, no matter the time of night,” Cava said.

Residents in the area were cautioned on Sunday to keep windows and doors closed to avoid having dust from the demolition enter their homes.

With Post wires

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