Heavy Israeli bombardment in Gaza City forces medical facilities to close as thousands flee

By: Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Heavy Israeli bombardment shook Gaza City on Tuesday as thousands of fleeing Palestinians searched for shelter and medical facilities were forced to shut down in the latest offensive in the territory’s north.

Israel’s new ground assault in Gaza’s largest city is its latest effort to battle Hamas militants regrouping in areas the army previously said had been largely cleared.

Much of Gaza City and urban areas around it have been flattened or left a shattered landscape after nine months of fighting. Much of the population fled earlier in the war, but several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in the north.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike in Syria Tuesday killed a former personal bodyguard of the Hezbollah leader, an official with the Lebanese militant group said.

The news came hours after an Israeli drone strike on a car in Syria near the Syria-Lebanon border was reported by a war monitor and by pro-government radio Sham FM. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Beryl leaves hot misery in its wake as the still-dangerous storm churns over the U.S. interior

By: Mark Vancleave and Juan A. Lozano

HOUSTON (AP) — Many of the millions left without power when Hurricane Beryl crashed into Texas, killing several people and unleashing flooding, now face days without air conditioning as dangerous heat threatens the region Tuesday.

More than 2.3 million homes and businesses around Houston lacked electricity Tuesday morning, down from a peak of over 2.7 million on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us. 

Beryl has been blamed for at least seven deaths — one in Louisiana and six in Texas, officials said.

The storm weakened after making landfall, and late Tuesday morning it was a post-tropical cyclone centred over northeastern Arkansas, moving northeast with maximum sustained winds near 30 mph (48 kph), the weather service said. 

The storm is forecast to bring heavy rains and possible flash flooding from the lower and mid-Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes into Wednesday, the weather service said.

Putin hosts India’s prime minister to deepen ties, but Ukraine looms over their relationship

By: Emma Burrows and Krutika Pathi

MOSCOW (AP) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, seeking to deepen the relationship between the two nuclear powers at a time when NATO leaders gathered in Washington and Russia launched deadly missile attacks in Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital.

“Our relationship is one of a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” Putin told Modi, who made his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces in 2022.

Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become more complicated, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine. Modi did not attend last week’s summit in Kazakhstan of a security organization founded by Moscow and Beijing.

Migrant raft crashes into rocks and sinks off Turkish coast, killing 7. Nineteen others are rescued

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A life raft carrying migrants crashed into rocks off Turkey’s Aegean coastal town of Cesme on Tuesday, killing seven people on board, the Turkish coast guard said.

One person was rescued from the sea by a fishing boat which then alerted the coast guard. Eighteen others, including children, were rescued from the small island of Karaada near Cesme.

Search and rescue efforts were continuing for one missing person, the coast guard said in a statement.

The coast guard said the survivors told them they were put in a life raft and left to drift by Greek authorities at a location close to Turkish territorial waters. It said the raft then struck rocks and sank.

Turkey regularly accuses Greece of engaging in “pushbacks,” or summary deportations of migrants without access to asylum procedures required by international law. Greece denies sending newly arrived migrants back to Turkey.

The rescued migrants were in good health, according to the coast guard statement.

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targets a ship in the Gulf of Aden

By: Michael Wakin

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, the latest assault blamed on the group on the crucial maritime trade route. 

The captain of the ship reported an explosion in close proximity to the vessel off the coast of Nishtun, Yemen, close to the country’s border with Oman, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. The ship, whose name and flag were not released, and all crew are safe, the UKMTO said in a warning to mariners.

The explosion took place in the farthest reaches of the waterway earlier targeted by the rebels, the centre said. 

It did not elaborate on what caused the explosion, though the Houthis have been known to use drones and missiles as well as bomb-carrying drone boats.

The Houthis did not immediately comment. 

NYC prosecutors intend to bring new sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein ahead of retrial

By: Philip Marcelo

NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors said Tuesday that they intend to bring new sexual assault charges against Harvey Weinstein as they anticipate a November retrial for the disgraced media mogul.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said in court that prosecutors are actively pursuing claims of rape that occurred in Manhattan within the statute of limitations.

She said some potential survivors that were not ready to step forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial have indicated they are now willing to testify.

But when pressed by the judge, Blumberg said prosecutors have not yet brought their findings to a grand jury. She also said she could not provide the court a timeline for when their investigation will be complete.