Hezbollah confirms a 7th top commander was killed in Israeli strikes in recent days
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike. The announcement came as the Lebanese militant group is reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place. If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.
Hundreds of fleeing families sleep on beaches and streets after Israel’s strikes shake Beirut
BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of families displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs after the area was pummeled overnight by the heaviest Israeli airstrikes in nearly a year of limited conflict are sleeping in public squares and beaches or in their cars in the city center. Many had made a fruitless circuit around overflowing shelters set up in schools. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, lines of people could be seen early in the morning making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry. The U.N. says the number of people displaced by the conflict has more than doubled in a week, with over 211,000 now displaced.
At least 64 dead after Helene’s deadly march across the Southeast
PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Massive rains brought by Hurricane Helene have left many people stranded or homeless as the cleanup begins from the monster tempest that killed at least 64 people. Helene has caused billions of dollars in destruction across a wide swath of the southeast U.S. More than 3 million customers were without power Saturday, and some face a continued threat of floods. Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. Deaths from the storm have occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
In Alabama, Trump goes from the dark rhetoric of his campaign to adulation of college football fans
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Donald Trump attended the highly anticipated Alabama-Georgia college football matchup. Fans in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, gave him a rousing welcome. His visit Saturday evening came hours after he railed against immigrants in a small Wisconsin town. His supporters, especially white cultural conservatives, hear in that rhetoric an optimistic patriotism. A number of Alabama fans sported stickers and buttons that read: “They’re eating the Dawgs!” That was a joke on Trump’s false claim about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
Austrians vote as a far-right party hopes for its first national election win
VIENNA (AP) — Austrians are voting in a national election that the far-right Freedom Party is hoping to win for the first time. It is tapping into voters’ anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns following recent gains for the hard right elsewhere in Europe. Herbert Kickl, who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to become Austria’s new chancellor. But to achieve that, he would need a coalition partner to command a majority in the lower house of parliament. And a win isn’t certain, with recent polls pointing to a close race. Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer has called on Austrians not to “leave the country to the radicals.”
At least 129 are dead in floods and landslides in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers in Nepal have recovered dozens of bodies from buses and other vehicles that were buried in landslides near the capital Kathmandu, as the death toll from flooding rose to at least 129 with dozens missing. The weather improved on Sunday following three days of monsoon rains, and rescue and clean-up efforts are underway. Kathmandu remained cut off as three highways out of the city were blocked by landslides. The government announced the closure of schools and colleges across Nepal for the next three days.
Pope wraps troubled visit to Belgium by praising victims and demanding abusers be judged
BRUSSELS (AP) — Pope Francis demands that sexually abusive clergy be judged and their bishops stop covering up their crimes. He ended a troubled visit to Belgium by praising the courage of survivors of a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility. Francis told some 30,000 people at Belgium’s sports stadium that ”evil must be brought out into the open.” He drew applause repeatedly as the crowd took in what he was saying. Francis deviated from his prepared homily to respond to the meeting he held with 17 abuse survivors where he heard first-hand of the trauma they endured and the tone deaf response of the church when they reported the crimes.
Hospital clowns bring joy to young Ukrainian cancer patients who survived Russian missile attack
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two months after Russia bombed Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, some of the young cancer patients who survived the strike are having their spirits bolstered by hospital clowns. At Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv, an initiative called the “Bureau of Smiles and Support” is going into the wards, cheering up the young cancer patients who survived the strike and returned to continue treatment. The founders and volunteer clowns from Bureau of Smiles and Support initiative tell about the challenges and motivation of their work, highly appreciated by medical personnel and parents of the children undergoing treatment.
Climate change and harsh weather in France bring challenges to Chablis wine country
LIGNORELLES, France (AP) — Unusually wet conditions across France have wreaked havoc on many wine-growing regions this year after years of challenges to vineyards and wine quality caused by drought and heat. A fungal disease called mildew combined with episodes of frost and hail have reduced overall production. The French ministry of agriculture estimates that it amounts to 39.3 million hectoliters. That’s below both 2023 levels and the average for the past five years. The picking lasted just nine days at the Lavantureux estate in the Chablis wine country. That’s about half the usual time. Winemaker David Lavantureux told The Associated Press that “this is my most difficult year.”
Maya Rudolph as Harris and Dana Carvey as Biden open the 50th season of ‘Saturday Night Live’
NEW YORK (AP) — Maya Rudolph playing Vice President Kamala Harris has led a parade of returning cast members at the opening of the 50th season of “Saturday Night Live.” Harris has done her impression at a mock rally and brought out ex-cast member Andy Samberg playing her husband Doug Emhoff and another former “SNL” star, Dana Carvey, to play President Joe Biden. Harris and Carvey jointly delivered the “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night” that launched season 50. “Designing Women” and “Hacks” star Jean Smart hosted for the first time. She says in her monologue this was the first Saturday in 50 years that fit her schedule.
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