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Israeli military orders another mass evacuation in southern Gaza

GAZA (AP) – The Israeli military has ordered another mass evacuation in large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire. Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier this year.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the 10-month-old war.

Gaza faces a severe humanitarian crisis with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to crucial medical, food and other supplies. The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll in the territory is nearing 40,000.

Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed July 31 in Iran by a presumed Israeli strike. Retaliation has been expected. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call to do everything in his power to avoid a new military escalation that he said would do lasting damage to regional stability.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet over the weekend that Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies.


Interim leader Muhammad Yunus takes helm in Bangladesh, to seek peace and prepare elections

By: Julhas Alam

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim government Thursday after an uprising prompted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and flee to India.

The key tasks for Yunus now are restoring peace in Bangladesh and preparing for new elections following weeks of violence in which student activists led an uprising against what was considered Hasina’s increasingly autocratic 15-year rule.

Bangladesh’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus for his role as chief advisor, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in presence of foreign diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka. No representatives of Hasina’s party were present. 

Sixteen other people have been included in the interim Cabinet with members drawn mainly from civil society and including two of the student protest leaders. 


Tornado death raises Tropical Storm Debby toll to 7 as heavy rains keep falling

By: Makiya Seminera And John Minchillo

LUCAMA, N.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby spawned damaging tornadoes that killed one person, flooded a town and temporarily shut down part of Interstate 95 early Thursday as it blew into North Carolina after making a second landfall overnight.

The storm was expected to churn up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of flooding rain this weekend.

Debby wasn’t done flooding parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina, and an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain is possible as the storm moves north, raising concerns of flash floods in mountainous areas of Virginia and West Virginia. 

Debby also could bring more tornadoes Thursday in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, forecasters said. At least three tornadoes were reported overnight in North Carolina, including one around 3 a.m. that damaged at least four houses, a church and a school in Wilson County east of Raleigh, county officials said. 

One person died in a home damaged by the tornado in Lucama, North Carolina, Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann said in an email. No further details on the person were immediately provided.


Russia says fighting continues in Ukrainian incursion into Kursk region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops are fighting Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region on the third day of one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday. 

A ministry statement said the Russian military and border guards have blocked Ukrainian forces from advancing deeper into the Kursk region in southwest Russia and that the army is attacking Ukrainian combatants who are trying to advance on the area from Ukraine’s Sumy region. 

Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 10 kilometres (6 miles) into Russian territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, but that information hasn’t been confirmed. Ukrainian officials haven’t commented on the scope of the operation around the town of Sudzha.

The region’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on conditions in Kursk by video link on Thursday. Smirnov said that the region plans to equip gas stations with electronic warfare units and to provide them with unspecified armoured defence.


Powerful quake hits off Japan’s coast, causing minor injuries and prompting new concerns

By: Mari Yamaguchi

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off southern Japan on Thursday, causing mostly minor injuries but raising the level of concern over possible major quakes stemming from an undersea trough east of the coast.

Officials said nine people were injured on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, but the injuries were mostly minor, there were no reports of serious damage and tsunami advisories for the quake were later lifted. 

However, the quake prompted seismologists to hold an emergency meeting in which they reassessed and raised the level of risk of major quakes associated with the Nankai Trough east of southern Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said that Thursday’s quake registered magnitude 7.1 and was centred in waters off the eastern coast of Kyushu at a depth of about 30 kilometres (about 19 miles) below sea surface.

The quake most strongly shook Nichinan city and nearby areas in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu island.


Britain remains alert for further unrest, even after anti-racism campaigners face down far right

By: Danica Kirka

LONDON (AP) — British authorities said Thursday they were preparing for the possibility of further unrest, even as they applauded the efforts of anti-racism campaigners and police who largely stifled a threatened wave of far-right demonstrations overnight.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer sounded the note of caution after a week of anti-immigrant violence that has scarred communities from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. Starmer spoke to reporters at a mosque in Solihull, near Birmingham, where demonstrators shut down a shopping centre on Sunday.

Police across the U.K. had braced for widespread disorder on Wednesday night after far-right activists circulated a list of more than 100 sites they planned to target, including the offices of immigration lawyers and others offering services to migrants. 

But those demonstrations failed to materialize as police and counter-protesters filled the streets.


Death toll rises to 156 as weeks of heavy monsoon rains wreak havoc in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The death toll from nearly six weeks of monsoon rains and flash floods across Pakistan has risen to 156, officials said Thursday, as downpours continued in much of the country, inundating some villages and causing landslides.

More than 1,800 homes have been damaged since July 1, when the monsoon rains began, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Orchards in remote areas of the southwestern Baluchistan province have also been damaged, and rains flooded many streets in the eastern city of Lahore.

Pakistan is in the middle of the annual monsoon season, which runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters blame climate change for heavy rains in recent years. 

In 2022, when climate-induced downpours swelled rivers and inundated at one point one-third of the country, killing 1,739 people and causing $30 billion in damage.

This monsoon season, the Pakistan-administered portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has also been battered by rains, causing landslides.


Suspects in foiled attack on Taylor Swift shows were inspired by Islamic State group, officials say

By: Philipp-moritz Jenne, Stefanie Dazio And Kirsten Grieshaber

VIENNA (AP) — Both suspects in a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift shows in Vienna appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, Austrian authorities said Thursday, and investigators found bomb-making materials at one of their homes. Officials said one of the two confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”

Three sold-out concerts were cancelled a day earlier because of the plot, devastating Swifties from across the globe. 

Concert organizers said they stood behind their decision, saying they expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside, where authorities said the suspects planned to strike.

Officials told reporters that the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, began working on his attack plans in July, and just a few weeks ago uploaded to the internet an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group. He planned to use knives or homemade explosives.

Associated Press

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