Hamas says Gaza cease-fire talks haven’t paused and claims military chief survived Israeli strike
By: Wafaa Shurafa And Melanie Lidman
MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that Gaza cease-fire talks were ongoing and the group’s military commander was in good health, a day after the Israeli military targeted Mohammed Deif with a massive airstrike that local health officials said killed at least 90 people, including children.
Deif’s condition was still unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night “there still isn’t absolute certainty” he was killed. Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told journalists Israel attacked a compound where Deif “was hiding” but added: “It’s still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide.”
Hamas representatives gave no evidence to back up their assertion about the health of a chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. His killing would mark the highest profile assassination of any Hamas leader by Israel since the war began.
Deif has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and has been in hiding for years.
In prime-time address, Biden asks Americans to reject political violence and ‘cool it down
By: Will Weissert And Zeke Miller
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday urged Americans to reject political violence and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully, saying the upcoming presidential election will be a “time of testing” in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
In a prime-time national address from the Oval Office, Biden said political passions can run high but “we must never descend into violence.” The president said his party and the Republicans can compete forcefully over different policy visions — but must do it in a civil fashion.
Biden spoke for six minutes in his third address to the nation since Saturday evening’s attack by a shooter that left Trump with a bloodied ear, killed one rally goer and seriously injured two others. His warning came hours after FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said agents have seen increasingly violent rhetoric online since the attack at the Trump rally.
Biden sharply condemned the attack, but indicated he plans to continue to press his campaign agenda and has “no doubt” Republicans will do the same when they open the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
He emphasized that said those disagreements must remain peaceful.
Two suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike ships in the Red Sea
By: Michael Wakin
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted ships in the Red Sea on Monday, as a new U.S. aircraft carrier approached the region to provide security for the key international trade route that has been under assault since the Israel-Hamas war erupted nine months ago.
The captain of the first targeted ship reported being attacked by three small vessels off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said, adding that two of the vessels were crewed and another uncrewed.
The “reported unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and the 2 manned small craft fired at the vessel,” the UKMTO reported. ”The vessel conducted self-protection measures, after 15 minutes the small craft aborted the attack.”
The captain later reported two separate waves of missile attacks, approximately 45 minutes apart, that exploded in close proximity to the vessel.
Later on Monday, in a separate incident also off the coast of Al Hudaydah, a vessel reported being attacked by a suspected uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicle, which “impacted on the port side causing some damage and light smoke,” the UKMTO reported.
8 civilians wounded in 2 coordinated suicide attacks near a military facility in northwest Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle and at least one of his accomplices exploded his vest near the outer wall of a military facility in northwestern Pakistan early Monday, wounding eight civilians and damaging nearby homes, a local police official said.
Tahir Khan said security forces quickly responded to the “coordinated attack” and foiled an attempt by the insurgents to enter the sprawling military facility in the city of Bannu which mainly houses offices of the military and homes of security forces. He also said army helicopters and ground forces were still reaching the area to track more militants.
Local authorities said several soldiers were also wounded in the attacks.
There was no immediate comment from the government or military.
Rescuers in Nepal recover 11 bodies after a landslide swept 2 buses full of people into a river
By: Binaj Gurubcharya
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers in Nepal have recovered a total of 11 bodies from the river that two buses full of people were swept into by a landslide, officials said Monday.
Rescuers found the bodies in different spots along the riverbanks as they searched for the missing buses and some 50 people who were on board.
Government administrator Khima Nanda Bhusal said seven bodies were identified and relatives contacted. Three of the dead are Indians and the remaining four are Nepali nationals.
He said four more bodies were also recovered from the river, but because they haven’t been identified, it was unclear if they had been on board the buses.
The buses were on the key highway connecting Nepal’s capital to southern parts of the country when they were swept away Friday morning near Simaltal, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Kathmandu. Three people were ejected from the buses and were being treated in a nearby hospital.
The first body was recovered Sunday some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from where the buses fell. Other bodies were recovered from as far as near the border with India. Two of them were found in Tribeni, more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the landslide site, officials said.
At least 5 killed in bombing targeting a busy café in the Somali capital, police say
By: Omar Faruk
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A bombing outside a café Sunday in the Somali capital of Mogadishu killed at least five people, police said.
Some people were watching the European soccer final between Spain and England on a screen inside the café when a car loaded with explosives blew up outside, said Maj. Abdifitah Aden Hassa, spokesman for Somali police. He told reporters that at least 20 other people were injured in the attack.
Pictures posted online and purporting to be from the scene showed a fire burning outside the café in the aftermath of the explosion.
Most of the victims were in the street at the time of the explosion, he said.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.
The collapse of a school in northern Nigeria leaves 22 students dead, officials say
By: By Dyepkazah Shibayan
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A two-story school collapsed during morning classes Friday in north-central Nigeria, killing 22 students and sending rescuers on a frantic search for more than 100 people trapped in the rubble, authorities said.
The Saints Academy college in Plateau state’s Busa Buji community collapsed shortly after students, many of whom were 15 years old or younger, arrived for classes.
A total of 154 students were initially trapped in the rubble, but Plateau police spokesperson Alfred Alabo later said 132 of them had been rescued and were being treated for injuries in various hospitals. He said 22 students died. An earlier report by local media had said at least 12 people were killed.
Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris from the part of the building that had caved in.
35 people die in a storm that brought heavy rainfall to eastern Afghanistan, Taliban official says
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A storm that brought heavy rainfall to eastern Afghanistan killed at least 35 people on Monday, a Taliban official said.
Many others were injured across Nangarhar province, according to Sediqullah Quraishi, provincial director of the information and culture department.
Among the dead were five members of the same family who were killed when the roof of their house collapsed in Surkh Rod district, Quraishi said. Four other family members were injured.
He said there are women and children among those killed and injured, and the weather has destroyed many properties and crops in different parts of the province,
Earlier, the World Food Program said the exceptionally heavy rains in Afghanistan had killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan on May 10 and May 11. Survivors have been left with no home, no land and no source of livelihood, WFP said.
