Wednesday, October 25, 2023

10/25 WAKE-UP CALL: Militias Staging Attacks


Iran-backed militias are staging attacks as the U.S. supports Israel. Last week, the Tehran-supported groups launched at least a half dozen military drone and rocket attacks, U.S. officials said, after six months of what appeared to be an undeclared truce. In Yemen, Houthis fired five Iranian-provided cruise missiles and launched about 30 drones toward Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Washington would react “swiftly and decisively” if Iran or its proxies attack U.S. personnel. Meanwhile, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said that without additional fuel, its humanitarian aid in Gaza would stop. Six hospitals in the enclave closed due to a lack of fuel, the WHO said. Israel has said it will not let fuel in, fearing Hamas and other militant groups will divert it for military purposes.

➤BLINKEN WARNS IRAN:  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Tuesday that Washington would react “swiftly and decisively” if Iran or its proxy forces attack U.S. personnel after Tehran raised the risk of a larger Middle East conflict in recent days by unleashing the regional militias it has spent years arming. For more than six months, these Iranian-backed militia groups refrained from launching drones or rockets against American troops in Iraq and Syria, as part of what appeared to be an undeclared truce between Tehran and Washington.  That came to an abrupt end when U.S. officials said that Iran-backed groups launched 10 drone and rocket attacks against bases that U.S. troops use in Iraq and another three on a U.S. base in southeast Syria.

➤U-S, RUSSIA PUSH FOR PAUSE IN THE FIGHTING: The United States and Russia led international calls for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, as Israel maintained its bombardment of the enclave where Palestinians are living in harrowing conditions. A total of 704 Palestinians, including 305 children, were killed on Tuesday, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said, a toll the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said was the highest reported in a single day since the conflict began nearly three weeks ago. 

Israel launched the strikes on Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in a rampage that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians. World leaders are now seeking to prevent the conflict from spreading across a region key to global energy supplies. The largest provider of humanitarian support in the Gaza Strip said it would be forced to cease operations in the enclave by Wednesday night if it doesn’t receive fuel, putting desperately needed aid for the strip at risk amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes.

➤AID COULD QUICKLY STOP: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said that without the additional fuel it would be unable to pick up and distribute any incoming aid that enters Gaza, affecting residents across the enclave, including the 600,000 people sheltering at its facilities. The warning comes amid growing international pressure for Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza ahead of a possible ground invasion in response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 in which the group killed 1,400 people and kidnapped at least 222, according to Israeli authorities. Israeli officials asserted on Tuesday that there are large amounts of fuel under Hamas’s control in Gaza, and that additional fuel could be taken by the group’s military wing rather than being used for trucks carrying aid and to generate electricity at hospitals.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed on broader diplomacy "to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding," the White House said.

➤HOSTAGE HAS HARROWING TALE OF SURIVAL: The release of two more hostages and reports that talks were underway involving dozens more captives offered a glimmer of hope Tuesday for the families of more than 200 people held by Hamas since the attack by militants into Israel less than three weeks ago. One of the elderly hostages released Monday, Yocheved Lifshitz, speaking at a hospital in Tel Aviv, said she was swept out of Israel on the back of a motorbike, her legs hanging off one side and her head off the other. Lifshitz said she was hit by Hamas militants, forced to walk for miles through a web of underground tunnels and went through "hell." A video released by Hamas shows Lifshitz shaking hands with one of her captors as she is freed − and saying "shalom," the Hebrew word for peace, tranquility or harmony as well as hello or goodbye.

➤WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA ADDRESSES BACKLASH OVER NOT DENOUNCING HAMAS ATTACK IN ISRAEL: The Writers Guild of America West issued an apology on Tuesday, after the union faced significant backlash for staying silent following the Hamas attack in Israel earlier this month. Explaining their decision, the guild wrote, “We did not, for example, make a comment after Russia invaded Ukraine, nor on terrorist attacks in Somalia, Pakistan or elsewhere. It can be an imprecise science for a labor union to pick and choose where it weighs in on both domestic and world affairs.” They added, “We are American labor leaders, aware of our limitations and humbled by the magnitude of this conflict. However, we understand this has caused tremendous pain and for that we are truly sorry.”

➤EMMER DROPS BID FOR SPEAKER: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer dropped his speaker bid hours after he was narrowly elected as the Republican nominee. The Minnesota congressman’s withdrawal—after drawing criticism from hard-line conservatives and Donald Trump—put the GOP back to square one for the fourth time. The House is frozen until a new speaker is elected; the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, was ousted Oct. 3. An aspiring speaker needs 217 votes on the House floor to win the gavel. The Republicans control the chamber by a 221-212 margin. Democrats continue to vote for their candidate, Hakeem Jeffries of New York.


➤TRUMP LEGAL ADVISER COPS A PLEA: A third former legal adviser to Donald Trump pleaded guilty in the Georgia election-interference case. Jenna Ellis, a member of the former president’s team during his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for no jail time. That could be particularly harmful to Rudy Giuliani, another ex-Trump lawyer who crisscrossed the country with Ellis promoting baseless voter fraud theories. Giuliani, Trump and the other remaining 13 co-defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, including racketeering. Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow noted that none of the plea deals involve that charge: “What that shows is this so-called RICO case is nothing more than a bargaining chip for” the district attorney. A Giuliani representative didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

➤META SUED FOR 'ADDICTIVE' FEATURES: Forty-one states and the District of Columbia sued Meta, alleging it intentionally built its products with addictive features that harm young Facebook and Instagram users. The federal and state suits say the social-media company misled the public about those dangers and marketed its products to users under the age of 13, whom Meta’s policies and federal law bar from the platform. The states want to force the tech giant to change product features they say are problematic. The lawsuits follow failed settlement talks with Meta, according to people familiar with the situation. The company said it is “continuously working to improve young peoples’ experiences” and “disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use,” the states are taking Meta to court.

✞'SHAFT' ACTOR DIES: Richard Roundtree, a trailblazing Black actor who played the private eye John Shaft in the "Shaft" films of the 1970s and also took on dramatic roles dealing with race relations in America, died on Tuesday aged 81, the Hollywood Reporter said, citing his manager. Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, the Reporter said, citing his manager, Patrick McMinn. Roundtree's representatives did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation.

⚾MLB D-BACKS 4 PHILLIES 2: The Arizona Diamondbacks won nine games during a six-week span from early July through mid-August. On Tuesday night, the Diamondbacks won their ninth game of the 2023 postseason -- and became one of the most unlikely World Series teams of all-time. Corbin Carroll snapped out of his slump by collecting three hits and two RBIs as the Diamondbacks advanced to the World Series by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.

The Diamondbacks, who overcame two-games-to-none and three-games-to-two deficits in the NLCS, will visit the American League champion Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. Arizona is seeking its second championship while Texas is looking to win it all for the first time.

⚾BOB MELVIN TO BECOME GIANTS MANAGER AFTER PADRES EXIT, SOURCES CONFIRM: Bob Melvin will leave the San Diego Padres to become the manager of the San Francisco Giants. San Diego granted Melvin permission to interview with the division rival Giants earlier this week, paving the way for the end of a contentious two-year relationship between the Padres and the three-time Manager of the Year.

🏀NBA SCORES: 
  • Denver Nuggets 119 Los Angeles Lakers 107 
  • Phoenix Suns 108 Golden State Warriors 104

🏈CHIEFS' JUSTYN ROSS CHARGED WITH DOMESTIC BATTERY, PROPERTY DAMAGE: Chiefs wide receiver Justyn Ross has been charged with domestic battery and criminal property damage of less than $1,000, court records in Johnson County, Kansas, show. Ross was arrested Monday in Shawnee, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. He pleaded not guilty to both misdemeanor charges during his arraignment hearing Tuesday afternoon, and his bond was set at $2,500 with various conditions, including no contact with the accuser or any witnesses. Ross is due again in court on Dec. 4.

➤ANCIENT LANDSCAPE FORMED BY RIVERS REVEALED DEEP UNDER ANTARCTIC ICE: Researchers said on Tuesday they have detected buried under the continent’s ice sheet a vast ancient landscape, replete with valleys and ridges, apparently shaped by rivers before being engulfed by glaciation long ago. This landscape, located in East Antarctica’s Wilkes Land region bordering the Indian Ocean, covers an area roughly the size of Belgium or the U.S. state of Maryland. The researchers said the landscape appears to date to at least 14 million years ago and perhaps beyond 34 million years ago, when Antarctica entered its deep freeze.



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