Woman and two children among 10 killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon has killed at least 10 Syrian nationals. The strike early Saturday in Wadi al-Kfour in the Nabatieh province is among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah militant group and Israeli military started trading strikes on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah maintains that it will stop it attacks once a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip. Among the dead are a woman and her two children. Five others were wounded, of whom two are in critical condition, the ministry said. An Israeli military spokesperson said the strike in the southern province targeted a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah.
Aid groups in Gaza aim to avert a polio outbreak with a surge of vaccinations
CAIRO (AP) — The threat of polio is rising fast in Gaza, prompting aid groups to call for an urgent pause in the war so they can ramp up vaccinations and head off a full-blown outbreak. One case has been confirmed and others are suspected. Polio had been eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago, but vaccinations plunged after the war began 10 months ago. Now, the territory is a breeding ground for the virus. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into tent camps lacking clean water or proper disposal of sewage. Health authorities are preparing to vaccinate 640,000 children in the coming weeks.
Ukrainian forces left a path of destruction in the Kursk operation. AP visited a seized Russian town
SUDZHA, Russia (AP) — A trail of destruction lies in the path that Ukrainian forces carved on their risky incursion into Russia, blasting through the border and into the Russian town of Sudzha. Associated Press journalists traveled on Friday on a Ukrainian government-organized trip to the town. Artillery fire has blown chunks out of a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin in a central square. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday the town was fully under his troops’ control. Ukrainian forces overran one Russian settlement after another in the surprise operation that Kyiv hopes will change the dynamic of the 2 ½-year-old conflict. Sudzha is the biggest town to fall since the attack began on Aug. 6.
The pro-Palestinian ‘uncommitted’ movement is at an impasse with top Democrats as the DNC begins
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Supporters of the “uncommitted” protest-vote movement sparked by dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could play a large role in the Democratic National Convention, with raucous protests expected outside and potentially inside the Chicago arena. Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign have spent weeks meeting with people involved in the movement in hopes of alleviating tensions. The meetings included a previously unreported sit-down between Harris and the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan. Many of the leaders in the “uncommitted” movement have expressed cautious optimism towards Harris’ campaign. But they maintain that she and the campaign have not met their demands before the convention, which include multiple speaking slots for movement members.
As political convention comes to Chicago, residents, leaders and activists vie for the spotlight
CHICAGO (AP) — As the American city that has hosted more political conventions than any other, Chicago has pretty much seen it all. Presidential candidates have been made official in Chicago more than two dozen times since Abraham Lincoln in 1860, including the infamous 1968 convention where police clashed with protesters and Bill Clinton’s 1996 renomination. Now the nation’s third-largest city is back on the global political stage as it hosts the Democratic National Convention starting Monday, with city leaders, residents and activists each hoping to claim time in the spotlight and shape the city’s reputation.
Strategist who ran DeSantis’ ill-fated bid is working with Musk to help organize voters for Trump
Donald Trump’s campaign is largely leaving paid canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts to outside groups like America PAC, funded in part by Elon Musk. To run the group, Musk has turned to veterans of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential bid. DeSantis’ old campaign manager, Generra Peck, has close ties to Musk, according to people familiar with the matter. She is said to have overruled internal objections to have DeSantis launch his campaign by holding a conversation with Musk on what was then still called Twitter. The platform crashed repeatedly, spoiling the start of his campaign. That experience underscores the risks of the Trump campaign outsourcing a core function to a coterie of untested groups that operate independently.
Congo’s humanitarian crisis helped mpox spiral again into a global health emergency
GOMA, Congo (AP) — A humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo is contributing to mpox outbreaks there and elsewhere in Africa that have been deemed a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. Congo has recorded more than 96% of the world’s mpox cases this year, and the new variant that was discovered in the country’s east this year has been detected in four other African countries where mpox was never reported before. Sweden reported its first case this week. One expert says the Congo crisis, where millions have been displaced by conflict and are out of the reach of health services, has almost every possible complication when it comes to stopping an outbreak.
What to know as thousands protest sexual violence in India
NEW DELHI (AP) — Anger at the Indian government’s failure to deter rising violence against women has fueled protests by medics and women’s groups across Indian cities after a trainee doctor was raped and killed last week. On Saturday, medical workers began a countrywide strike. Police discovered the bloodied body of a 31-year-old trainee doctor on Aug. 9 at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in eastern Kolkata city. A police volunteer working at the hospital has been detained in connection with the crime. The protests — mostly led by women — demand a safer working environment.
‘Shoot me up with a big one’: A timeline of the last days of Matthew Perry
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The arrest of five people in the overdose death of Matthew Perry has revealed key details about the final days of the “Friends” star, most of them spent in the throes of an addiction to the surgical anesthetic ketamine. According to court documents, about a month before his death Perry met with a doctor who began providing him with an illegal supply of ketamine. As the weeks passed Perry’s assistant bought increasing amounts for the actor from the doctor and later a street dealer. On Oct. 28, after telling his assistant to shoot him up with a “big one,” Perry died from an overdose at age 54.
Hurricane Ernesto lashes Bermuda as wealthy British territory closes down
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Ernesto has started to pound Bermuda with heavy winds and rain after officials on the tiny British territory in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean opened shelters and closed government offices. The Category 2 storm was located 95 miles south-southwest of Bermuda on Friday. It had maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour and was moving northeast at 13 miles per hour. Ernesto’s large eye will likely be very near or over Bermuda early Saturday morning. Tropical storm conditions including strong winds and life-threatening floods began Friday and are expected to continue through Saturday night.
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