Israel says more strikes are coming against a Hezbollah-run financial institution
BEIRUT (AP) — Israel said late Monday it planned to carry out more strikes in Lebanon against a Hezbollah-run financial institution that it targeted the night before and which it says uses customers' deposits to finance attacks against Israel.
At least 15 branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan were hit late Sunday in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it.
The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes, and there were no reports of casualties.
Associated Press journalists witnessed strikes late Monday in the coastal region of Ouzai, near Beirut’s airport, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an airstrike near Beirut’s largest public hospital killed four, including a child, and wounded 24. It was the first strike on the Lebanese capital in 10 days.
Israeli ground forces invaded Lebanon earlier this month. The military said it aims to push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to their homes nearby after more than a year of cross-border rocket and drone attacks. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes.
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Biden is 'deeply concerned' about the release of secret documents on Israel's possible attack plans
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned” about the unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel's preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, a White House spokesman said Monday.
The Biden administration is still not certain if the classified information was leaked or hacked, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. Officials don’t have any indication at this point of "additional documents like this finding their way into the public domain,” he said.
Kirby added that the Pentagon is investigating. U.S. officials on Saturday had confirmed an investigation by the administration.
“We’re deeply concerned, and the president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain. That is not supposed to happen, and it’s unacceptable when it does,” Kirby said.
The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” an intelligence alliance comprised of the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
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What is the Hezbollah-linked financial institution Israel is targeting in Lebanon?
BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military has carried out a wave of airstrikes targeting branches of a financial institution affiliated with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, saying the quasi-banking system is being used to fund the militant group's military wing.
The strikes destroyed more than a dozen branches of al-Qard al-Hasan across Lebanon Sunday night, and came two weeks after an airstrike killed the man who many referred to as Hezbollah’s “finance minister.”
After assassinating most of Hezbollah’s top political and military commanders, including the group’s longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and pummeling its communities with devastating airstrikes, Israel says it is now going after the Shiite group’s funders and financial institutions in an attempt to further disrupt it and its base of support.
Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts along the border with Lebanon a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage. Hezbollah said that by launching attacks along the Lebanon-Israel border it was backing up its Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Qard al-Hasan is officially a non-profit charity institution operating outside the Lebanese financial system, and one of the tools by which Hezbollah entrenches its support among the country’s Shiite population.
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Trump makes more debunked claims about FEMA as he surveys storm damage in North Carolina
SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — Surveying storm damage in North Carolina, former President Donald Trump on Monday blasted federal emergency responders whose work has been stymied by armed harassment and a deluge of misinformation, but he said he was not concerned that the aftermath of Hurricane Helene would affect election results in the battleground state.
Trump was asked whether it was helpful to criticize hurricane relief workers after the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently paused work in the area because of reports they could be targeted by militia. He responded by again assailing the agency and repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally. That claim was debunked weeks ago by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who stood behind Trump as he spoke.
“Well, I think you have to let people know how they’re doing," Trump told reporters in Swannanoa, outside Asheville. “If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that, too, because I think they should be rewarded. ... If they’re doing a poor job, we’re supposed to not say it?”
Trump's campaign and that of his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, are ramping up their campaigns in the final two weeks before Election Day.
Trump had three stops in North Carolina on Monday. After the Asheville area, he held a rally across the state in Greenville and spoke at a faith leaders event in Concord, where he appealed to Christian voters by repeating his criticism of transgender athletes playing on women's sports teams and his proposal to conduct a large-scale deportation operation. Trump said that during his administration, he fought for Christians “like no president has ever fought before.”
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Peru’s ex-president Toledo gets more than 20 years in prison in case linked to corruption scandal
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo on Monday was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which became synonymous with corruption across Latin America, where it paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and others.
Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for allowing the construction of a highway in the South American country. The National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice in the capital, Lima, imposed the sentence after years of legal wrangling, including a dispute over whether Toledo, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the United States.
Judge Inés Rojas said Toledo’s victims were Peruvians who “trusted” him as their president. Rojas explained that in that role, Toledo was “in charge of managing public finances” and responsible for “protecting and ensuring the correct” use of resources. Instead, she said, he “defrauded the state.”
She added that Toledo “had the duty to act with absolute neutrality, protect and preserve the assets of the state, avoiding their abuse or exploitation,” but he did not do so.
Odebrecht, which built some of Latin America’s most crucial infrastructure projects, admitted to U.S. authorities in 2016 to having bought government contracts throughout the region with generous bribes. The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice spun probes in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.
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Teen in custody after 5 found dead in shooting at home in Washington state, police say
FALL CITY, WASH. (AP) — Law enforcement officials found five people killed in a shooting inside a home southeast of Seattle on Monday morning and took a teenager into custody, police said.
Several people called 911 around 5 a.m. to report a shooting in Fall City, Washington, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mike Mellis said at a media briefing Monday afternoon.
Arriving deputies immediately took one teen into custody while another teenager who had been hurt was taken to a Seattle hospital, Mellis said. Both teens live at the house, Mellis said.
Deputies entering the home found the bodies of five people, he said. Two were adults and three were described by Mellis as young teenagers. No names have been released yet.
“Once bodies were discovered, clearly we understand that this is a hugely significant crime scene,” he said.
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Oscar leaves at least 6 dead in Cuba as a massive blackout halts activities and triggers protests
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's capital remained largely paralyzed on Monday and the rest of the island braced for the fourth night of a massive blackout that has generated a handful of small protests and a stern government warning that any unrest will be punished.
Hurricane Oscar made landfall Sunday before crossing the island’s eastern coast as a tropical storm Monday with winds and heavy rain, leaving at least 6 dead after a night that saw protests by several dozen people in urban neighborhoods like Santos Suárez and central Havana.
Some banged pots and pans in the streets, while others demonstrated from their balconies. Protesters who said they have no water blocked at least one street with garbage.
“The country has completely halted,” said homemaker Mayde Quiñones, 55. She cares for her mother-in-law, who is in her 80s. “This hurts everyone, but the elderly most of all."
The Cuban government has a low tolerance for civil disobedience and President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on national television Sunday that “we're not going to allow any vandalism, or let anyone disturb people's tranquility."
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Eyewitness video captures frantic efforts to save lives after deadly collapse of dock walkway
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The metal gangway where dozens of people waited to board a ferry boat made a loud, creaking noise before snapping in the middle amid panicked cries from those sent plunging into the water. Some clung desperately to the railing, while others began to float away with the tidal current.
“There was no time for anyone to get off,” said Icy White, who watched from about 30 feet away at the ferry dock on Sapelo Island. “It took seconds.”
White’s family was among hundreds visiting the isolated Georgia barrier island Saturday for a fall festival spotlighting the history and culture of its tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants. The celebration gave way to tragedy when the gangway collapsed, sending seven visitors to their deaths.
White of Atlanta recorded video of the immediate aftermath on her cellphone and shared it with The Associated Press. It shows tourists and island residents jumping into action to rescue imperiled strangers and render aid to the injured in a remote location with few trained first responders initially on-site.
“There was no EMS that was there,” said Darrel Jenkins, White’s cousin. “We were the EMS.”
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Initial report shows Liam Payne had cocaine in his system when he died, says Argentine official
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An initial toxicology report for ex-One Direction singer Liam Payne, who died last week after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, showed that he had cocaine in his system after his death, an Argentine official said.
The final toxicology results are not expected to be made public for some weeks. But the preliminary toxicology report of the wildly famous boy band star, handed to local prosecutors on Monday, suggested evidence of exposure to cocaine, the official said, stressing that these initial results don't offer an accurate reading of just how much was circulating in his blood when he died.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists. The preliminary report was widely reported in local media on Monday.
Argentina's public prosecution is investigating the case — which is not uncommon when a death is sudden or unexpected.
Payne's autopsy concluded that the traumatic injuries that caused his death were consistent with his three-story fall from the hotel window. Prosecutors have ruled out anyone else being involved.
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Yankees and Dodgers meet in World Series for 12th time in matchup of Broadway and Hollywood
NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway vs. Hollywood. Subway vs. Freeway. Judge vs. Ohtani.
New York neighbors who became cross-country rivals, the Yankees and Dodgers renew their starry struggle in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.
“I've always had that sense being here that there’s that underlying, craving for that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday. “The stars will be out. The eyeballs will be watching and, hopefully, we can deliver on a great Series.”
Two of baseball’s most successful teams face each other starting Friday at Dodger Stadium, the Yankees coming off their 41st American League pennant and the Dodgers their 25th National League championship. New York is seeking its 28th World Series title but first since 2009, the Dodgers their eighth and second in a five-year span.
“When you’re playing for the Dodgers and playing for the Yankees, it better feel different,” LA manager Dave Roberts said at Yankee Stadium last June. “If not, you better do something different for a profession.”
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