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Netanyahu acknowledges ‘tragic mistake’ after Rafah strike kills dozens of Palestinians

By: Tia Goldenberg And Samy Magdy

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people.

The mistake only added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israel’s military had earlier said that it launched an investigation into civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants. Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.”

“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.


At least 21 dead in Memorial Day weekend storms that devastated several US states

By: Bruce Schreiner And Julio Cortez

Location: Valley View

(AP) – A series of powerful storms swept over the central and southern U.S. over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 21 people and leaving a wide trail of destroyed homes, businesses and power outages.

The destructive storms caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and were just north of an oppressive, early season heat wave setting records from south Texas to Florida.

Forecasters said the severe weather could shift to the East Coast later Monday and warned millions of people outdoors for the holiday to watch the skies.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who earlier declared a state of emergency, and at a Monday press conference that four people had died in four different counties.

“We know that there are at least four families this morning that have suffered the loss of a loved one less than 24 hours ago that are hurting,” Beshear said. “And we ought to rally around them and do everything we can to carry them.”

The death toll of 21 also included seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, from a Saturday tornado that tore through a mobile home park, officials said, and eight deaths across Arkansas.

Two people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, which is east of Tulsa, authorities said. The injured included guests at an outdoor wedding.


Tropical storm floods villages, blows away thatched roofs and cuts power in Bangladesh and India

By: Julhas Alam

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Tropical storm Remal flooded coastal villages, blew away thatched roofs and left hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday in southern Bangladesh and eastern India. At least 10 people died in Bangladesh.

About 3.7 million people across the coast were affected, said Bangladesh’s junior minister for Disaster Management and Relief, Mohibbur Rahman. More than 35,000 homes were completely destroyed and nearly 115,000 were partially damaged.

He said at least 10 people died in Bangladesh, but Dhaka-based Somoy TV reported at least a dozen people had died and two others were missing in a boat capsizing.

Dozens of Bangladesh villages were flooded after protective embankments either washed away or were damaged by the storm surge, TV stations reported. Nearly 800,000 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas in Bangladesh on Sunday and housed in 9,000 cyclone shelters.

Remal weakened considerably after making landfall in Bangladesh’s Patuakhali district early in the morning with sustained winds of 111 kilometres (69 miles) per hour. India’s Meteorological Department said it was likely to weaken further throughout the day, but warned of heavy showers over Assam and other northeastern states for the next two days. 

Bangladesh experienced incessant rains on Monday, and the intensity of precipitation in the capital, Dhaka, increased in the evening with strong winds battering the city. Many roads in Dhaka were submerged, while life in the country’s second largest city, Chattogram, was severely disrupted.


Closing arguments, jury instructions and maybe a verdict? Major week looms in Trump hush money trial

By: Eric Tucker

WASHINGTON (AP) — The testimony in Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial is all wrapped up after more than four weeks and nearly two dozen witnesses, meaning the case heads into the pivotal final stretch of closing arguments, jury deliberations and possibly a verdict.

It’s impossible to say how long all of that will take, but in a landmark trial that’s already featured its fair share of memorable moments, this week could easily be the most important.

Starting Tuesday morning, prosecutors and defence lawyers will have their final opportunity to address the jury in closing arguments expected to last for much of the day, if not all of it.

The arguments don’t count as evidence in the case charging Trump with falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election to a porn star who alleged she had a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. They’ll instead function as hourslong recaps of the key points the lawyers want to leave jurors with before the panel disappears behind closed doors for deliberations. 


7 Pakistani soldiers, 23 militants killed in separate shootouts during raids along the Afghan border

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s security forces were conducting several raids in the country’s volatile northwest, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, when shootouts ensued leaving seven soldiers and 23 militants dead, the army said Monday.

The first exchange of fire occurred overnight on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing six militants and two army officers who “embraced martyrdom,” according to a statement by Pakistan’s military. 

A second shootout happened during another security operation on Monday in the district of Tank, leaving 10 militants dead, the statement said, adding that five soldiers and seven militants were also killed during a separate fire exchange in the district of Khyber.

The military provided no further details, but previous operations in the area targeted members of the Pakistani Taliban who have started regrouping in the northwestern region in recent years. 

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are a separate group but allies of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout.

Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then.


Suspect identified in stabbings at a Massachusetts theatre and a McDonald’s

BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts individual will be arraigned Tuesday on multiple charges including assault with the intent to murder after six people, including four girls at a movie theatre, were stabbed in separate attacks, officials said.

Jared Ravizza, 26, of Chilmark, a town on Martha’s Vineyard, was arrested Saturday night after a police pursuit. 

Police said a person entered AMC Braintree 10 south of Boston at about 6 p.m. Saturday and went into one of the theatres without paying. 

The girls, ages 9 to 17, were inside the theatre when the individual suddenly attacked them “without saying anything and without any warning” before running out, the Braintree Police Department said in a news release. 

The four suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospitals.

Video footage showed the suspect’s vehicle and a license plate, and that information was broadcast to law enforcement, police said. 

State police found the vehicle another 20 miles (32.19 kilometres) south, in Sandwich, and unsuccessfully attempted to pull it over. The vehicle later crashed.

Ravizza, the driver, was taken into custody shortly afterward and was being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. 

It was not immediately known if they have an attorney who can speak on their behalf. No phone listing could be found in Ravizza’s name.


North Korea says its attempt to put another spy satellite into orbit has failed

By: Hyung-jin Kim, Kim Tong-hyung And Mari Yamaguchi

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean rocket carrying its second spy satellite exploded midair on Monday, state media reported, after its neighbours strongly rebuked its planned launch. 

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it launched a spy satellite aboard a new rocket at its main northwestern space centre. But KCNA said the rocket blew up during a first-stage flight soon after liftoff due to a suspected engine problem. 

Earlier Monday, North Korea had notified Japan’s coast guard about its plans to launch “a satellite rocket,” with a warning to exercise caution in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the main Philippine island of Luzon during a launch window from Monday through June 3.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it detected a launch trajectory believed to be of a spy satellite fired from the North’s main space centre at 10:44 p.m. on Monday. Four minutes later, many fragments were spotted in the waters, it said. 

Japanese Prime Minister’s Office earlier issued a missile alert for the island of Okinawa following North Korea’s launch. The alert was lifted soon after. 

Japan’s NHK public television earlier reported that an image captured by a camera in northeastern China showed an orange light in the sky and then an apparent explosion a moment later.

Associated Press

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