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HeadlinesOctober 02, 2024

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Netanyahu Vows to Retaliate After Iran Fires Hundreds of Missiles at Israel

Oct 02, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate after Iran fired at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in response to repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the assassination of several Hezbollah leaders. Video posted online shows some of the missiles striking at or near the Nevatim Airbase, which houses Israel’s U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. Israel says the only death from the attacks was a Palestinian man who was killed by falling debris in the occupied West Bank.

At the White House, President Biden responded by saying the United States will help Israel “exact severe consequences.” On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said U.S. forces had aided Israel in thwarting Iran’s attack.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder: “During the attack, the U.S. military coordinated closely with the Israeli Defense Forces to help defend Israel. U.S. Navy destroyers deployed to the Middle East region supported the defense of Israel by firing approximately a dozen interceptors against the incoming Iranian missiles.”

7 Killed, 16 Wounded in Shooting and Stabbing Attack in Tel Aviv

Oct 02, 2024

In Tel Aviv, Israeli police said at least seven people died in a shooting and stabbing attack on Tuesday. Israeli authorities claimed the attack was carried out by two people from the occupied West Bank — one was shot dead, the other was seriously wounded.

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Hezbollah Says Its Fighters Repelled Israeli Troops Invading Southern Lebanon

Oct 02, 2024

In Lebanon, Hezbollah says its fighters have repelled incursions by Israeli forces attempting to invade southern Lebanon. Israeli media reports at least two Israeli soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded near the Lebanese border town of Odaisseh. Meanwhile, Israel’s military ordered more residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate their homes. The U.N. says more than 1 million people across Lebanon have been uprooted by Israel’s assault.

Israel Bombs Gaza School and Orphanage, Killing Displaced Palestinians

Oct 02, 2024

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials say Israeli attacks have killed 79 Palestinians and wounded more than 80 others over the past 24 hours. In one strike, Israeli fighter jets bombed a school turned shelter in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood, killing at least 13 people, including children. Israeli forces also bombed the al-Amal orphanage west of Gaza City, killing six Palestinians and wounding many others.

In Vice-Presidential Debate with Tim Walz, JD Vance Refuses to Say Trump Lost 2020 Election

Oct 02, 2024

Here in New York, vice-presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance faced off in their first and only debate ahead of November’s election. The two clashed when Walz questioned Vance about Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Gov. Tim Walz: “He is still saying he didn’t lose the election. I would just add to that: Did he lose the 2020 election?”

Sen. JD Vance: “Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”

Gov. Tim Walz: “That is a damning” —

Sen. JD Vance: “Has she tried to” —

Gov. Tim Walz: “That is a damning nonanswer.”

Vance took aim at Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s record on border security, while Walz condemned Donald Trump over abortion rights.

Their sparring over abortion came as a new law took effect in Louisiana that reclassifies the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol, listing them as “controlled dangerous substances.” The first-of-its-kind measure in the country makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, to possess the medications without a prescription.

Russian Attack on Kherson Market Kills 6 as Ukraine Loses More Territory in Donbas

Oct 02, 2024
Image Credit: Kherson Regional State Administration

In Ukraine, authorities have declared a day of mourning in the southern city of Kherson, where a Russian attack on a market killed six people and wounded more than 10 others. Elsewhere, at least one person was killed and 32 injured when Russia bombed residential buildings and infrastructure in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have taken control of the city of Vuhledar along with two more frontline villages. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top prosecutor says he’s investigating the murder of 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war, alleging they were summarily executed after they surrendered to Russian forces on the eastern front.

NATO’s New Secretary General Warns China over Aiding Russia in Ukraine

Oct 02, 2024

In Brussels, Belgium, former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was sworn in as secretary general of NATO on Tuesday. In his inaugural speech, Rutte pledged to shore up Western support to Ukraine and warned China over its growing ties with Russia.

Mark Rutte: “Through its support for Russia’s military industry, China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine. China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation.”

Biden Approves Record $567 Million Military Aid Package to Taiwan

Oct 02, 2024

The White House has approved an additional $567 million in U.S. military aid to Taiwan — the largest such aid package ever. Its approval came as Chinese authorities led celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke from Beijing.

President Xi Jinping: “Taiwan is a sacred territory of China, and the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are connected by blood, which is thicker than water.”

President Xi warned against “separatist activities” in Taiwan and said its reunification with China was inevitable.

Claudia Sheinbaum Inaugurated as Mexico’s First Female President

Oct 02, 2024

Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president Tuesday, pledging her six-year term will be a “time for transformation.” Sheinbaum has vowed to strengthen women’s rights in Mexico, which has one of the highest rates of femicides; to expand access to public healthcare and education; and other social reforms that have been bolstered by the ruling Morena party. Sheinbaum received the baton of power from Indigenous and Afro-Mexican women, who joined Sheinbaum on stage as she addressed thousands of supporters gathered in Mexico City’s Zócalo Square.

President Claudia Sheinbaum: “I am certain that power is honesty and humility, that our thinking is Mexican humanism, that our nation and people are great. And I am certain we are the only option that represents well-being and progress with justice.”

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6 Tennessee Plastics Workers Presumed Dead After Being Swept Away by Hurricane Helene Floodwaters

Oct 02, 2024
Image Credit: USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

Here in the United States, the death toll from Hurricane Helene has surpassed 166 people across six states, with hundreds still missing more than five days after the storm triggered devastating floods and landslides. Massive power outages continue to impact over 1.3 million customers. In eastern Tennessee, at least six plastic factory workers are missing and presumed dead after floodwaters swelled around their workplace, trapping the group of predominantly Latinx workers who, for hours, clung to the back of a semi-truck before they were swept away by the deluge. Some family members report the employer, Impact Plastics, told the workers not to evacuate and threatened to fire anyone who left ahead of the storm. This is Robert Jarvis, one of the survivors.

WCYB reporter: “What would you say to the company?”

Robert Jarvis: “Why did you make us work that day? Why? We shouldn’t have worked. We shouldn’t have been there. None of us should have been there. And that’s what I should have said to them.”

Texas Prisoner Garcia Glen White Put to Death in 6th U.S. Execution in Less Than 2 Weeks

Oct 02, 2024

The state of Texas has put another prisoner to death. On Tuesday, 61-year-old Garcia Glen White was strapped to a gurney in the state penitentiary in Huntsville and injected with a single, lethal dose of the drug pentobarbital. It was the sixth execution carried out in the United States in the last 11 days.

Department of Justice Says Violence and Sexual Assault Are Rampant in Georgia Prisons

Oct 02, 2024

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice has found violence and sexual assault are rife in prisons across Georgia, constituting cruel and unusual punishment for the state’s estimated 50,000 incarcerated people. The scathing report by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division found Georgia fails to protect people in custody from extreme violence inside 34 state prisons, as well as four prisons run by for-profit corporate contractors. It also found an unconstitutional risk of harm from sexual violence at these prisons, including widespread sexual assaults of LBGTQ+ people. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Kristen Clarke: “In America, time in prison should not be a sentence to death, torture or rape. We can’t turn a blind eye to the wretched conditions and wanton violence unfolding in these institutions. The people incarcerated in these jails and prisons are our neighbors, siblings, children, parents, family members and friends.”

U.S. to Open Cold Case Civil Rights Investigation into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Oct 02, 2024

The Justice Department has announced a federal investigation into the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, after Oklahoma’s Supreme Court in June dismissed a lawsuit brought by two elderly survivors. No one has ever been charged over the murders of an estimated 300 Black people who were killed when a white mob burned down what was known as “Black Wall Street,” the thriving African American neighborhood of Greenwood. The Justice Department will probe the killings under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which gives the federal government the power to reopen civil rights-related cold cases.

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