Biden to visit Israel as war in Gaza sparks humanitarian crisis

TEL AVIV, Israel/GAZA -- US President Joe Biden will make a high stakes visit to Israel on Wednesday to show support for its war on Hamas, after Washington said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to let humanitarian aid reach besieged Gazans. Trucks carrying vital supplies for Gaza reached the Rafah crossing in Egypt, the only access point to the enclave outside of Israel's control. A witness told Reuters some 160 trucks had left the nearby Egyptian town of Al-Arish, where they ha

Oct. 17, 2023

Beyond the neocon debacle to peace in Ukraine

By Jeffrey D. Sachs We are entering the end stage of the 30-year US neocon debacle in Ukraine. The neocon plan to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO has failed. Decisions now by the US and Russia will matter enormously for peace, security, and well-being for the entire world. Four events have shattered the neocon hopes for NATO enlargement eastward, to Ukraine, Georgia and onward. The first is straightforward. Ukraine has been devastated on the battlefield, with tragic and appalli

Oct. 17, 2023

Biden says Hamas must be eliminated, US officials warn war could escalate

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he believes the Hamas militant group must be eliminated but there should be a path to a Palestinian state, after top US officials warned the war between Israel and Hamas could escalate. Biden did not think American troops would be necessary on the ground as Israel has one of the "finest fighting forces," even as American warships headed to the area amid growing clashes on Israel's northern border with Lebanon. Israel unleashed a feroc

Oct. 16, 2023

Palestinians struggle to flee Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Desperate Palestinians scrambled for escape from northern Gaza on Saturday or huddled by the thousands at a hospital in the target zone in hopes it would be spared, as Israel intensified warnings of an imminent offensive by air, ground and sea following Hamas militants’ deadly rampage in Israel a week ago. While workers at an Israeli military base continued efforts through the Jewish Sabbath to identify the more than 1,300 people killed in the Oct. 7 assau

Oct. 15, 2023

Louvre Museum, Versailles Palace evacuated after bomb threats with France on alert

PARIS (AP) — The Louvre Museum in Paris and Versailles Palace evacuated visitors and staff Saturday after receiving bomb threats, police said. The French government started deploying 7,000 troops to increase security around the country after a fatal school stabbing by a suspected Islamic extremist. The evacuations of two of the world's most-visited tourist sites come amid heightened vigilance around France following Friday's school attack, and global tensions linked to the war be

Oct. 15, 2023

A Reuters videographer killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli shelling is laid to rest

KHIAM, Lebanon — A Reuters videographer killed in Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon was laid to rest in his hometown Saturday in a funeral procession attended by hundreds of people. Draped in a Lebanese flag, Issam Abdallah’s body was carried on a stretcher through the streets of the southern town of Khiam, from his family’s home to the local cemetery. Dozens of journalists and Lebanese lawmakers attended the funeral. Abdallah was killed Friday evening near the village of

Oct. 15, 2023

In first call with Palestinian president Abbas, Biden discusses support for humanitarian aid to Gaza

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the leaders to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirmed his support for efforts to protect civilians. The weekend calls in Washington came ahead of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's announcement that the US was moving up a second carrier strike group in support of Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken intensified diplom

Oct. 15, 2023

Thousands flee north Gaza after Israel evacuation warning

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories -- Thousands of Palestinians fled Saturday to southern Gaza seeking refuge after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that nearly a week of fierce bombardment was "just the beginning" as Israel seeks to retaliate against Hamas after their fighters killed more than 1,300 a week ago. Israeli ground forces made

Oct. 14, 2023

US will 'always be there by your side': Blinken in Israel

TEL AVIV -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed on a visit Thursday that the United States will "always" back Israel but said the Palestinians also have "legitimate aspirations" not represented by militant group Hamas. "You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself," Blinken said during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as war raged between Israel and Hamas. "But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will alway

Oct. 12, 2023

Israel forms unity government to oversee war sparked by attack

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a wartime Cabinet to oversee the fight to avenge the gruesome weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel. Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” he said in a televised address. T

Oct. 12, 2023

Israleli strikes flatten entire neighborhoods as Gaza faces imminent blackout

Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip scrambled to find safety Wednesday, as Israeli strikes demolished entire neighborhoods, hospitals ran low on supplies, and a power blackout was expected within hours, further deepening the misery of a war sparked by a deadly mass incursion of Hamas militants . Airstrikes smashed entire city blocks to rubble in the tiny coastal enclave and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris. The bombardment raged on even though militants are holding a

Oct. 11, 2023

Israel pounds Gaza by air; Biden condemns 'evil' Hamas attacks

Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza repeatedly overnight ahead of a possible ground offensive to root out Hamas, while US President Joe Biden described the Palestinian militant group's surprise assault on Israel as 'sheer evil' and issued a warning apparently aimed at its Iranian backers. Israel said dozens of its fighter jets struck more than 200 targets in a neighborhood of Gaza City that it said had been used by Hamas to launch its unprecedented wave of attacks. Israeli troops have k

Oct. 11, 2023

'An act of sheer evil': Biden pledges support for Israel after attack

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden denounced Hamas on Tuesday, calling the attack the Palestinian militant group launched against Israel "an act of sheer evil," and stressed US support for Israel as it mourns the killing of more than 1,000 people. The president also voiced concern for Americans being held hostage by Hamas, an Iranian-backed Islamist group, whose stated purpose, he said, is to "kill Jews." He called for Israel to follow the "law of war" in its re

Oct. 11, 2023

Middle East conflict adds new risks to global economic outlook

DALLAS (Reuters) -- The outbreak of military conflict in the Middle East may leave central bankers battling new inflationary trends as well as deal a blow to economic confidence at a time when they had expressed growing hope about containing the price surge sparked by the pandemic and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The stunning violence in Israel, with thousands killed as fighters from the Hamas movement invaded from their Gaza enclave and Israel responded in force, added the possibilit

Oct. 9, 2023

Death toll from Afghan quakes rises to more than 2,000

ISLAMABAD — Death toll from strong earthquakes that shook western Afghanistan rises to 2,000, said a Taliban spokesman Sunday, in one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades. A powerful magnitude-6.3 earthquake followed by strong aftershocks killed dozens of people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said. Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Culture, said the death toll from the earthquak

Oct. 8, 2023

Israeli forces clash with Hamas gunmen after hundreds killed

Israeli forces clashed with gunmen from the Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday, 24 hours after the militants launched a surprise attack on Israel in which about 500 people were killed in the deadliest day of violence in Israel for 50 years. The biggest incursion into Israel in decades could undermine US-backed efforts to forge regional security alignments that could threaten Palestinian aspirations for statehood and the ambitions of the group's main backer, Iran. Hamas fighters began their a

Oct. 8, 2023

More than 100 dead after earthquakes rattle western Afghanistan

More than 100 people have been killed after several strong earthquakes shook Afghanistan's border region near Iran, the United Nations said on Saturday. In addition, hundreds of houses were destroyed, the UN emergency agency OCHA said. According to unconfirmed reports, the number of deaths could be closer to 320, the statement added. Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority earlier said it feared hundreds of people could be dead after at least eight quakes shook the border

Oct. 8, 2023

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation

    JERUSALEM — Backed by a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, with its prime minister saying the country is now at war with Hamas and vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.” In an assault of startling breadth , Hama

Oct. 8, 2023

5 civilians killed and more than 20 Indian soldiers are missing after flash floods hit Sikkim state

A sudden heavy rainfall triggered flash floods in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, killing five civilians and leaving 23 army soldiers missing Wednesday, the army and news reports said. The flooding occurred along the Teesta River in the Lachen Valley, an army statement said, adding that some army camps and vehicles were submerged under mud and that search efforts were underway. The army said water released from a nearby dam also caused water levels to rise. Five bodies of civilians were

Oct. 4, 2023

Trio wins Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on quantum dots, used in electronics and medical imaging

Three scientists based in the United States won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their work on quantum dots -- tiny particles just a few atoms in diameter that can release very bright colored light and whose applications in everyday life include electronics and medical imaging. Moungi Bawendi, of MIT; Louis Brus, of Columbia University; and Alexei Ekimov, of Nanocrystals Technology, were honored for their work with the particles that “have unique properties and now spread their l

Oct. 4, 2023