Israeli military warns several Lebanese communities near the border to evacuate
JERUSALEM (AP) 鈥� The Israeli military on Tuesday warned nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities to evacuate, hours after launching what it said was a limited ground incursion against the Hezbollah militant group.
The warning, posted by the Israeli military's Arabic spokesman on the social media platform X, specified around two dozen communities in southern Lebanon and asked people to evacuate north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border.
That is farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a U.N.-declared zone that was intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after they fought to a monthlong stalemate in the 2006 war.
The army had earlier warned people not to travel south of the Litani, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the border. The border region, which has largely emptied out over the past year as the two sides have traded fire.
An Israeli military official said the troops were within walking distance of the border, focused on villages hundreds of meters (yards) from Israel. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said there had been no clashes yet with Hezbollah fighters on the ground.
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A former hostage fought for her own life in Gaza. A year on, she fights for her husband's freedom
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) 鈥� As a hostage in Gaza, Aviva Siegel found herself begging for food and water. Since her release, she has found herself begging for her husband to be set free from his own ongoing captivity.
Siegel has come to embody the disaster that befell Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Armed Hamas militants snatched her from her home and thrust her into Gaza鈥檚 web of tunnels. Released during a brief cease-fire in November, she returned to find her community destroyed and became one of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by conflict. She has emerged as a prominent voice in the struggle to free the remaining hostages, fighting tirelessly for her husband鈥檚 release.
But as her ordeal reaches the one-year mark, Israel鈥檚 attention is focused not on the plight of the hostages and their families, but on fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. It's the latest diversion to chip away at Siegel's hope that she may reunite with her husband of 43 years anytime soon.
鈥淭he hostages, they are being left to die. To die slowly. How can I handle that? I just don鈥檛 know how to handle it anymore,鈥� she said, sitting beside a poster of her husband, Keith, a 65-year-old American Israeli originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Her torment is all the more acute because she knows firsthand what her husband is enduring.
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Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike, a standoff risking new shortages
PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥� Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.
The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen鈥檚 Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.
Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting 鈥淣o work without a fair contract.鈥�
The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: 鈥淎utomation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.鈥�
Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesn鈥檛 allow automation of their jobs.
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Biden plans survey of devastation in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) 鈥� President Joe Biden was set to survey the devastation in the mountains of Western North Carolina on Wednesday, where exhausted emergency workers continued to work around-the-clock to clear roads, restore power and cellphone service, and reach people left stranded by Hurricane Helene. The storm killed at least 133 people and hundreds more were still unaccounted for on Monday night, four days after Helene initially made landfall.
Meanwhile, election officials across the South were making emergency preparations to ensure displaced residents would be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Officials in the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville said their water system suffered 鈥渃atastrophic鈥� damage that could take weeks to fully repair. Government officials, aid groups and volunteers were working to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the town and surrounding mountain communities. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.
The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed.
Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation.
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School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and more than 20 are feared dead, officials say
BANGKOK (AP) 鈥� A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday, with more than 20 of those on board feared dead, officials and rescuers said.
The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province for a school trip in Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi provinces, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene.
Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it stood on the side of the road. Bodies were still inside the bus hours after the fire.
The students on the bus were reported to be in elementary and junior high school.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the number of fatalities because they had not finished investigating the scene. He said the driver survived but appeared to have fled and could not yet be found.
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Japan鈥檚 parliament elects Shigeru Ishiba, newly elected governing party leader, as prime minister
TOKYO (AP) 鈥� Japan鈥檚 parliament on Tuesday elected Shigeru Ishiba, head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, as the country鈥檚 new prime minister.
Ishiba was chosen as the party's leader on Friday to replace Fumio Kishida, who then stepped down earlier on Tuesday to pave the way. Ishiba stood and bowed as he was nominated in the lower house, the more powerful of the two chambers of parliament, before leaving for the Prime Minister's Office to form his Cabinet.
Ishiba will hold a news conference later Tuesday to announce his Cabinet and some of his policy priorities.
Kishida took office in 2021 but left so his party could have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals. Ishiba said he plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 so his new administration can have 鈥渢he people's judgement鈥� as soon as possible.
Ishiba appointed to his Cabinet two former defense ministers with whom he has worked closely 鈥� Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief 鈥� underscoring his emphasis on defense and security policies.
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Walz and Vance will meet in their first and possibly only vice presidential debate
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Tim Walz and JD Vance will meet for their first and possibly only vice presidential debate Tuesday, in what could be the last debate for both campaigns to argue their case before the election.
The debate in New York hosted by CBS News will give Vance, a Republican freshman senator from Ohio, and Walz, a two-term Democratic governor of Minnesota, the chance to introduce themselves, make the case for their running mates, and go on the attack against the opposing ticket.
Tuesday's matchup could have an outsized impact. Polls have shown Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump locked in a close contest, giving added weight to anything that can sway voters on the margins, including the impression left by the vice presidential candidates. It also might be the last debate of the campaign, with the Harris and Trump teams failing to agree on another meeting.
The role of a presidential running mate is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their proxy on stage. Both Vance and Walz have embraced that role.
Vance's occasionally confrontational news interviews and appearances on the campaign trail have underscored why Trump picked him for the Republican ticket despite his past biting criticisms of the former president, including once suggesting Trump would be 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Hitler.鈥�
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China marks 75 years of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger
BEIJING (AP) 鈥� China is marking the 75th year of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger over the massive state.
No festivities have been announced for the occasion Tuesday, save for a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, with an honor guard marching from the entrance of the sprawling palace that in past centuries was the home of Chinese emperors. The entirely state-controlled media ran constant reports on China's economic progress and social stability, with no mention of challenges ranging from a declining birth rate to the disruption in supply chains that has harmed the largely export-driven economy.
Commemorations were also held in the former British colony of Hong Kong and Portugal's former territory of Macao, both of which returned to Chinese sovereignty in the late 1990s in a key indication of Beijing's determination to overcome what it has called a 鈥淐entury of Humiliation.鈥�
In recent decades, China has mounted military parades and displays of the country's economic might only at the turn of decades, such as for the 60th and 70th anniversaries.
The world鈥檚 second largest economy has struggled to regain momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Pete Rose, baseball鈥檚 banned hits leader, has died at age 83
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Pete Rose, baseball鈥檚 career hits leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic achievements and Hall of Fame dreams by gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83.
Stephanie Wheatley, a spokesperson for Clark County in Nevada, confirmed on behalf of the medical examiner that Rose died Monday. Wheatley said his cause and manner of death had not yet been determined. Over the weekend, he had appeared at an autograph show in Nashville with former teammates Tony Perez, George Foster and Dave Concepcion.
For fans who came of age in the 1960s and 鈥�70s, no player was more exciting than the Cincinnati Reds鈥� No. 14, 鈥淐harlie Hustle,鈥� the brash superstar with the shaggy hair, puggish nose and muscular forearms. At the dawn of artificial surfaces, divisional play and free agency, Rose was old school, a conscious, dirt-stained throwback to baseball鈥檚 early days. Millions could never forget him crouched and scowling at the plate, running full speed to first even after drawing a walk, or sprinting for the next base and diving headfirst into the bag.
Major League Baseball, which banished him in 1989, issued a brief statement expressing condolences and noting his 鈥済reatness, grit and determination on the field of play.鈥� Reds principal owner and managing partner Bob Castellini said in a statement that Rose was 鈥渙ne of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen鈥� and added: "We must never forget what he accomplished.鈥�
Longtime Reds teammate and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench posted his reaction to Rose's death in a social media post, saying: 鈥淢y heart is sad. I loved you Peter Edward. You made all of us better. No matter the life we led. No one can replace you.鈥�
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AP PHOTOS: A blind pianist from Nagaland says music is 'one thing that has kept me alive'
KOHIMA, India (AP) 鈥� Takosangba Pongen had his vision for 14 years. He has been blind for the past 13. But in front of a piano, nobody can tell.
鈥淧laying the piano transports me to another dimension. After losing my vision, music has been one thing that has kept me alive. It opened a window to see the world. It gives me energy and hope to go forward,鈥� he said.
On Sunday night, he performed for a crowd at the Brillante Piano Festival in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Pongen, 27, plays by ear. He is self taught, with help from YouTube tutorials that he began in 2020. He said he would like to be a professional musician someday but that finding an institute that teaches the visually impaired has been a challenge.
He first noticed problems with his sight when he couldn't read what his schoolteacher was writing on the blackboard. Then he recalls having difficulty seeing small glass marbles as he played with his siblings. Surgery made the problem worse. By 14, he was blind.
The Associated Press
