Gas stations along the Southeast coast are being slammed by panic buying and long lines amid the shutdown of the biggest oil pipeline in the US from a crippling cyberattack believed to be orchestrated by a Russia-based criminal group.

The closure of the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline, which carries more than 100 million gallons of fuel from Texas to New Jersey each day, has stretched into its fifth day.

It sparked wild scenes of panic buying across Georgia, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina — with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp even declaring states of emergency in their areas. Kemp also issued an executive order suspending Georgia's gas tax through Saturday to help offset the costs of higher fuel prices.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY GAS AND THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DOESN'T HAVE GAS!! WHAT IN THE 2021 IS GOING ON !!" one panicked driver tweeted.

Yasheeka Wiggin told CBS News that the "unbelievable" lines in Marion, S.C., left her thinking "it was a catastrophe coming!"

"I've seen all these cars waiting and I was like, 'OMG. I have to fill my tank up!'" Wiggin told the network.

Many motorists took to social media to share shocking scenes of massive lines at gas stations — often just to find no gas left.

Others shared images of panic-buyers filling up several gas canisters at once, with memes comparing it to the rush to buy toilet paper at the start of the coronavirus lockdown last year.

Tallahassee Democrat journalist Alicia Devine posted video of an "insane" line of cars waiting for gas in the Florida state capital — one of the few she found that even had any.

"I've visited five gas stations this morning and the Costco one is the first to have gas," she wrote.

"A Costco employee just told a car trying to get in line 'you'll have to find the end of the line. I don't know where that is.'"

In South Carolina, Greg Suskin of WSOC9 posted a video of cars waiting at a gas station that had completely run dry, saying that "people here told me they'd been to other stations and found the same."

When he finally found some, he said a station worker stuck an "out of gas" sign on his pump as he got the very last of its supply.

"Everyone's panicking," Citi Stop gas station worker Jessica Alcocer told the Citizen Times of the store in Asheville, N.C., that ran out Monday afternoon.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) said that the biggest problem was actually panic buyers draining supplies.

"People hear something and panic," Tiffany Wright, spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas, told the Citizen Times, insisting supplies were otherwise normal.

Still, one TikToker wrote, "They will try telling you that there is no gas shortage. NC, SC, FL, AL, AR, TN, KY, GA, and VA disagree."

[...]

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Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside her husband, Bill, in New York City and soon after said she was furious at the relationship between the two men, according to people familiar with the situation.

The previously unreported meeting occurred at Epstein's Upper East Side mansion in September 2013, on the same day the couple accepted the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award at The Pierre hotel and were photographed alongside then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The meeting would prove a turning point for Gates' relationship with Epstein, the people familiar with the matter say, as Melinda told friends after the encounter how uncomfortable she was in the company of the wealthy sex offender and how she wanted nothing to do with him.

Gates' friendship with Epstein — who for years was accused of molesting scores of underage girls — still haunts Melinda, according to friends of the couple who spoke to The Daily Beast this week in light of the pair's divorce announcement, which had been weeks in the making.

[...]

One associate in the technology world who's attended the same events as Epstein, including a TED conference in Monterey, California, was surprised Gates had considered cultivating philanthropic ties with the late pedophile.

"I can't make the claim that so many are claiming," the person told The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, referring to people in Epstein's orbit who've said they had no suspicions of Epstein's abuse. "If you ask Bill Gates, he'll say, 'Oh I had absolutely no idea he wasn't up to anything of the highest moral character.' But I seriously doubted Epstein's moral character."

"The people around him," the person added, referring to Epstein, "had a varying spectrum of what they knew and what they didn't know and how they rationalized it."

This person wasn't surprised that Melinda Gates was put off by Epstein, saying "a lot of people were uncomfortable with Epstein, completely independent of his" sexual misconduct. "He just was an obnoxious guy. He almost made a point of having bad manners, not paying attention at dinner... I could see how anybody, even without suspicions, would not want to be around him."
[...]

Epstein also reportedly had a habit of bragging that he was an unofficial adviser to Bill Gates — a claim the Microsoft founder's representatives denied. One Times report indicates Epstein claimed to be a tax consultant for the tech magnate.

After his initial meeting with the financier, the billionaire philanthropist told Gates Foundation staff in an email: "His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me." Asked about this message, Gates' spokeswoman said he "was referring only to the unique decor" at Epstein's Manhattan mansion and "Epstein's habit of spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet Mr. Gates."

The rapport between Gates and Epstein seems to have fizzled in the fall of 2014, sometime after Gates donated $2 million to MIT's Media Lab. The lab's former director Joi Ito, in an internal email unearthed by The New Yorker, claimed Epstein facilitated that donation. As the Times investigation noted: "Mr. Epstein complained to an acquaintance at the end of 2014 that Mr. Gates had stopped talking to him, according to a person familiar with the discussion."

State Department spokesperson Ned Price began his Monday press conference by condemning Hamas for launching rockets at Israel.

"This is an unacceptable escalation. While we urge deescalation on all sides, we also recognize Israel's legitimate right to defend its people and its territory."

Said Arikat, Washington Bureau Chief for al-Quds, had a very direct follow-up question: "Do Palestinians have a right to self-defense?"

"Broadly speaking Said, we believe in the concept of self-defense. We believe it applies to any state," responded Price.

The AP's Matt Lee took note of this assertion and had an inquiry later in the press conference. Price had said that any state has a right to self-defense. Does the Biden administration view Palestine as a state? If they do not, was Price saying Palestinians don't have a right to self-defense?

When pressed on this, Price suggested it was complicated. "I'm not in the position to debate the legalities from up here. Our message is one of deescalation."

Later in the press conference Price was asked about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) referring to the situation in Sheikh Jarrah as ethnic cleansing. "That's not [terminology] we've used before," he said. "That's not something that our analysis supports."

In light of the tension and violence, Israeli security officials have chosen to restrict access to the Temple Mount for Jews on Monday, with a statement saying that "the Israel Police will continue to allow freedom of worship but will not allow riots."

The decision has sparked an angry reaction from Israeli right-wingers, with Otzma Yehudit party chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir lamenting that "violence and bullying have won," and even blaming the authorities and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for policies representing "harm to the Jews."

Complicating things further are the right-wingers' plans to hold the customary Flag Parade celebrating the "reunification" of the city - a mass event that usually proceeds into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

At least 305 people have been injured, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, with as skirmishes continue - including tear gas attacks.

Authorities say that order has now been restored at the Temple Mount. According to reports, Israeli forces withdrew from the compound in the afternoon, allowing Palestinians who were sheltered inside the mosque to leave. Some worshippers were photographed cleaning up debris following the skirmish.

Those who stayed behind to help clean up in the aftermath of the violence collected piles of stun grenades, tear gas canisters, rocks, chairs, and other items that were used during the battle.

A spokesman for Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the "brutal storming" of the mosque, claiming it undermined peace efforts and presented a "new challenge to the international community."

The European Union's delegation to the Palestinians released a statement saying the bloc was "extremely concerned" by ongoing clashes in the Old City and urged all sides to refrain from violence.

An Israeli motorist plowed into a Palestinian youth near Lion's Gate in East Jerusalem, reportedly after his car was attacked by a mob amid ongoing unrest in the city. CCTV footage shows a group of people chasing after a white automobile.

© AFP/Mahmud Hams

Twenty Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes, including nine children, Gaza's Ministry of Health has said, after rockets fired from the territory towards Jerusalem were reportedly met with Israeli counterstrikes. Some of the scores injured were also treated at the Beit Hanoun Hospital in the north of Gaza, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

© Reuters/Reuters TV
Israelis gather at the Western Wall, blaze in the background

Smoke rose above Jerusalem's Temple Mount as a tree outside the Al Aqsa Mosque went up in flames on Monday. Police said the fire at Al Aqsa was the result of "fireworks being fired at the Temple Mount plaza."

The mosque has not sustained any damage from the blaze, according to eyewitnesses.

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