Israeli troops launch a new assault into Gaza’s Khan Younis as mediators push for cease-fire talks
By: Wafaa Shurafa:
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops launched a new assault Friday into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, targeting Hamas fighters who the military claims still operate there despite repeated offensives, as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal.
Israeli evacuation orders triggered yet another exodus of Palestinians from the heavily destroyed eastern districts of Khan Younis, where many had just returned less than two weeks ago — after the Israeli military’s last incursion into the city in July.
Thousands fled Thursday, carrying essentials like small gas cylinders, mattresses, tents, backpacks and blankets.
Officials from Israel and the United States have said they believe Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ newly named top leader and one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, could be hiding in tunnels under Khan Younis.
The military said Friday its warplanes struck 30 Hamas targets in the city, including fighters and weapons storage sites. It said troops were searching for Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure while engaging in combat “above and below ground.”
Debby bringing heavy rain, flooding and possible tornadoes northeast into the weekend
By: Makiya Seminera, John Minchillo And Allen G. Breed
LUCAMA, N.C. (AP) — The remnants of Debby picked up the pace Friday, moving north and northeast from the Carolinas and still packing a punch with heavy rains, flash flooding and the threat of tornadoes.
The mid-Atlantic states and parts of New York and New England will see significant rainfall that could cause dangerous flooding into the weekend, said Jon Porter, Accuweather’s chief meteorologist. A tornado watch was in effect until Friday afternoon in parts of Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
The already drenched parts of northern Vermont that were hit by flash flooding twice last month were bracing for the possibility of more on Friday. Flooding that hit the northeastern part of the state on July 30 knocked out bridges, destroyed and damaged homes, and washed away roads in the rural town of Lyndon. It came three weeks after deadly flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. President Joe Biden approved Vermont’s emergency declaration.
By Friday morning, Debby was centred between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Albany, New York, moving northeast at a rapid 37 mph (59 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
3 suspected Houthi attacks target a ship off Yemen, authorities say
By: Jon Gambrell
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.
The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Since November, Houthi attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion of goods that flow annually through the region, while also sparking the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II.
After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”
Japan’s Kishida cancels Asia trip after scientists urge preparations for a possible ‘megaquake’
By: Mari Yamaguchi
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida canceled a planned trip to Central Asia on Friday to lead the government’s response after scientists urged people to prepare for a possible “megaquake” off the country’s southern coast.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first ever “megaquake advisory” on Thursday warning of a possible future major earthquake triggered by the underwater Nankai Trough, after a magnitude 7.1 quake shook just off the eastern coast of Kyushu island earlier in the day. The trough, which runs along Japan’s Pacific coast, was the source of past devastating earthquakes.
Seismologists at the agency held an emergency meeting after Thursday’s quake to analyze whether it had affected the nearby trough and reassessed the risk of a major quake. They urged people to observe high caution levels for about a week.
Thursday’s quake injured 16 people, most of them slightly, and caused no major damage. Tsunami advisories were issued for several areas but lifted hours later.
3rd person in custody over foiled plot targeting now-canceled Taylor Swift shows in Vienna
By: Philipp-moritz Jenne And Stefanie Dazio
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities on Friday announced a third arrest in connection with the foiled conspiracy to attack three now-canceled Taylor Swift concerts, even as disappointed fans charmed Vienna by trading friendship bracelets and singing the pop star’s songs in the streets.
The main suspect, a 19-year-old, planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue — with knives or homemade explosives during the concert on Thursday or Friday. The suspect hoped to “kill as many people as possible,” authorities said.
He was taken into custody on Tuesday, along with a 17-year-old, officials said. Both are Austrian citizens.
The third suspect, an 18-year-old Iraqi citizen, was arrested Thursday evening, the interior minister said at an unrelated news conference Friday.
A 15-year-old was also interrogated but was not arrested. Their names were not released, in line with Austrian privacy rules.
A bus crashes into a pillar of an overpass in Turkey, killing 9 people and injuring 26 others
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A bus traveling between cities in Turkey swerved off a highway and slammed into an overpass pillar Friday, killing nine people on board and injuring at least 26 others, the provincial governor said.
The crash occurred near the town of Polatli, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital, Ankara, Gov. Vasip Sahin told HaberTurk television station. The bus was traveling from Izmir in western Turkey to Agri in the east of the country, he said.
A deputy chief prosecutor was assigned to oversee an investigation into the cause of the crash, which led to the closure of one side of the highway, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
There was no information on the conditions of the injured passengers, who were taken to hospitals in Polatli and Ankara.
Images from the scene showed that the pillar sliced through the front half of the bus, with luggage and other belongings scattered in the twisted wreckage.
Nagasaki marks 79th A-bomb anniversary without U.S. and other ambassadors after excluding Israel
By: Mari Yamaguchi
TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki marked the 79th anniversary of its atomic bombing at the end of World War II at a ceremony Friday eclipsed by the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city’s refusal to invite Israel.
Mayor Shiro Suzuki, in a speech at Nagasaki Peace Park, called for nuclear weapon states and those under their nuclear umbrellas, including Japan, to abolish the weapons.
“You must face up to the reality that the very existence of nuclear weapons poses an increasing threat to humankind, and you must make a brave shift toward the abolition of nuclear weapons,” Suzuki said.
He warned that the world faces “a critical situation” because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accelerating conflicts in the Middle East.
The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.
