Broad bows out with match-winning wicket as England draw Ashes
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A teenage girl who says she discovered a camera in an airplane bathroom is suing American Airlines
A teenage girl and her parents are suing American Airlines, saying that a flight attendant secretly filmed her using an airplane toilet
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'She just doesn't have it': Internet slams 'RHOBH' star Erika Jayne over 'disgusting' Las Vegas show
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Niger junta's 3-year transition plan is a 'provocation,' says West African regional bloc
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Former Wisconsin GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel is running for the state Supreme Court
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Who is Caleb Rogers? Las Vegas police officer facing charges for stealing $164,000 in three casino robberies
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2023-07-11 02:22
3 murderers freed in Australia after court ruled out holding migrants indefinitely, minister says
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Moves at a small border village hike Israel-Hezbollah tensions at a time of regional jitters
The little village of Ghajar has been a sore point between Israel and Lebanon for years, split in two by the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. But after a long period of calm, the dispute has begun to heat up again. Israel has been building a wall around the half of the village in Lebanese territory, triggering condemnation from the Lebanese militiant force Hezbollah, accusing Israel of moving to annex the site. A recent exchange of fire in the area raised alarm that the dispute could trigger violence. The growing tensions over Ghajar add to the jitters along the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought a destructive 34-day war in the summer of 2006. The two sides have studiously avoided outright battle ever since, despite frequent flare-ups of tension -- but each constantly says a new conflict could erupt at any time. The dispute over a small village in the green hills where Lebanon, Israel and Syria meet brings a new point of worry amid broader unrest. The West Bank has seen increased bloodshed the past week, with a major two-day offensive that Israel says targeted Palestinian militants. Within Israel, moves by the hard-right government to overhaul the judicial system have sparked large anti-government protests. “This is Lebanese land, not Israeli,” said Lebanese shepherd Ali Yassin Diab, pointing to the half of Ghajar being enclosed by the Israeli wall as he grazed his sheep and goats nearby. Members of the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL watched from a distance. Yassin used to take his herds to drink at a pond there. He now has to buy water for his sheep. The village’s division is an unusual byproduct of the decades of conflict between Israel and its neighbors. Ghajar was once part of Syria but was captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war as part of Syria’s Golan Heights, which Israel occupied and later annexed, with little world recognition. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ghajar’s population expanded north into nearby Lebanese territory, held by Israel in its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, U.N. surveyors delineating temporary borders ruled that Ghajar’s northern part was in Lebanon, its southern part in the Golan, dividing it in two. Six years later, Israeli troops moved into the northern part of Ghajar during the Israel-Hezbollah war. They have occupied it since, preventing people from entering it from Lebanon. Under the truce that ended the 2006 fighting, Israel agreed to withdraw from Ghajar, but it wanted to clinch an arrangement to keep Hezbollah from entering the village. Most of Ghajar’s around 3,000 residents hold Israeli nationality — some of them alongside Lebanese — and they largely identify as Syrians. Last year, Israel started erecting a concrete wall around the northern part of the village. It also began encouraging Israeli tourism to the village. In apparent reply to the near finishing of the wall, Hezbollah set up two tents nearby, including one in the area of Chebaa Farms, which both Israel and Lebanon claim as its territory. It is not clear what is inside the tents. Israel filed a complaint with the United Nations, claiming the tents were several dozen meters (yards) inside of Israeli territory. Hezbollah says the tents are in Lebanese territory. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told the AP that Israel has turned to UNIFIL and “other countries” to resolve the situation but did not identify the countries and did not immediately comment on the wall in Ghajar. On Monday, UNIFIL’s commander relayed an Israeli request to Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and parliament speaker to remove the tent. They responded that Israel should withdraw its troops from the Lebanese part of Ghajar, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Wednesday night that Israel cordoned off Ghajar before Hezbollah set up its tents. “Over the past days, it became clear that they (Israel) have annexed it,” Nasrallah said. He added: “The land of Ghajar will not be left for Israel, and certainly not Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba,” another border area claimed by both countries. A female resident of Ghajar, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said the villagers consider themselves Syrian but their main concern “is to stay in Ghajar, in this village, living in peace and security. No matter under who rules.” “There is a (border) line that was drawn by the United Nations. Why are they allowed to cross it while we as Lebanese citizens cannot?” Mohammed Rammal, the mayor of the nearby Lebanese border village of Oddeissi, said of Israel’s presence in Ghajar. Last week, an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon near Ghajar, with some fragments landing in Lebanon and others inside Israeli territory. Israel fired shells on the outskirts of the nearby village of Kfar Chouba. On Wednesday, an explosion elsewhere near the border slightly wounded at least three Hezbollah members. Nasrallah said the case is still under investigation. Late last month, Hezbollah said it shot down an Israel drone flying over a village in southern Lebanon. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden’s special envoy for energy, Amos Hochstein, during which they discussed “regional issues,” according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Some Israeli media said Netanyahu and Hochstein, who helped last year broker a maritime border deal between Israel and Lebanon, discussed tensions along the border with Lebanon. “We continue to monitor and engage with authorities in Lebanon and Israel on the issue of Ghajar,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel said. She added that UNFIL has repeatedly called on Israel to stop its works north of the line and that Israel’s occupation of northern Ghajar violates the U.N. Security council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. During a tour by an Associated Press team near Ghajar this week, more patrols by U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese army along the border were visible. Residents in nearby villages appeared defiant and going on with life as usual during the summer season, when many expatriates come to spend time with their families. In Lebanese media, many analysts say neither side wants a new war. But Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater warned that the situation is very dangerous as Israel and Hezbollah are on alert. “Whoever fires the first shot will bear the responsibility for the consequences,” he said. ___ AP correspondent Josef Federman contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa Stock market today: Asian shares buoyed by Wall Street's winning week as inflation eases For a group of Ukrainian women, painting is a form of therapy to help them cope with loss
2023-07-14 14:57
British girl ‘awake and watching TV’ after France stabbing – as Macron hails ‘backpack hero’ for facing attacker
A British three-year-old girl who was stabbed in a playground attack in France was awake and watching television on Friday Emmanuel Macron said – as he also praised the heroism of a young Catholic pilgrim who fended off the knifeman with a backpack. The French president said he had heard “positive” news about the four children – aged between 22 months and three years old – injured in the attack in a lakeside park in Annecy. Two men in their 70s were also injured. Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte, visited three of the children and their families in hospital in Grenoble about 100km (62 miles) from Annecy. The British girl who received surgery, named as Ettie, had “woken up” and was “watching TV”, said President Macron. According to Agence-France Presse, he added: “Doctors are optimistic” suggesting that “everything is going the right way”. A Dutch toddler – who was being treated in Geneva – and two French cousins aged two and three, were also said to be in a stable condition. Mr and Ms Macron later travelled to Annecy, where they sat at the bedside of one of the injured men, who was both knifed and wounded by a shot that police fired as they detained the suspected attacker. Mr Macron said he is regaining consciousness. The second injured adult was discharged from a hospital and was among dozens of people that Mr Macron met and thanked, his left elbow still bandaged. “The first thing doctors told me ... is that these children were saved by the swiftness of the collective intervention,” Mr Macron said. “Thank you immeasurably for your courage.” One of those was Henri, 24, a Catholic pilgrim who is on a nine-month walking and hitchhiking tour of France’s cathedrals and happened to be in the Alpine town of Annecy when the attack occurred. French media hailed Henri as “the hero with a backpack” after he was shown in a video using a weighty backpack he was carrying to swing at the assailant and fend off his blade. “You experienced very hard moments, traumatising,” Mr Macron said. “I am very proud of you.” Henri had a heavy backpack and was holding another in his hand when the attacker slashed at him. Henri continued to harass him, pursuing the man inside a playground – where he stabbed a child in a stroller – and then out of the park again, carrying his backpacks. Henri appeared to hurl one at the assailant at one point and then pick it up again to take another swing. Henri said he was powered by his Catholic faith. “When you know that you’re loved by God and that he saved our lives, you can act without thinking too much about your own [life] to try and save those of the children,” he told French broadcaster BFMTV. Henri asked Mr Macron to be invited to the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris next year, following repairs to the cathedral damaged in a fire in 2019. “I’ll take care of it personally,” the French leader replied. The management graduate said to BFMTV that that he was not the only civilian who put themselves in harm’s way. He had “acted like any French person would”, he said. “Many other people intervened in whatever way they could. I saw a park employee try to hit the attacker with his big plastic spade.” Henri’s father, Francois, said he believed that his son’s dogged pursuit helped dissuade the attacker from stabbing more victims before police wrestled him to the ground. “He took a lot of risks – when he wasn’t armed, with just his backpacks,” the father said. “He didn’t stop running after him for many minutes, to stop him from coming back and massacring the kids even more ... Really very courageous.” Francois asked that their last name not be published, expressing concerns about their family being thrust suddenly and inadvertently into the public eye at a time of shock and outrage in France provoked by the attack. Henri had posted on Instagram in late May about being two months into a nine-month pilgrimage which would see him walk and hitchhike across France, having started in Provence. Many flocked to his social media pages to hail his courage, with one person writing: “May God bless you. You did what you could at that moment, you did not give up, you did not run. You are an angel.” “Bravo for your courage and bravery, you saved lives today, you can be proud of yourself my friend,” wrote one commenter, while another said: “France has a hero tonight, a humble hero.” Many of the hundreds who wrote to share their thanks and “deep respect” for his “incredible” bravery called for him to be awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit, while others living across France offered to host him as he continues his pilgrimage. The suspect – a Syrian man with refugee status in Sweden – has had his custody extended and is due to undergo a psychiatric assessment. The 31-year-old is thought to have been living homeless in Annecy and recently had an asylum claim rejected in France, thanks to already holding the status in Sweden. On that French application he said he was a “Syrian Christian”. No terrorist motive is suspected. Commenting on the suggestion that the suspect in Thursday’s attacks also identifies as a Christian, Henri said it was “profoundly unchristian to attack the vulnerable”. A mass was held in Annecy Cathedral in tribute to the victims and their families later on Friday, church authorities said. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More ‘You are an angel’: France hails ‘backpack hero’ who confronted knifeman in ‘unspeakable’ Annecy attack Everything we know about suspected France playground attacker after toddlers stabbed British girl injured in Annecy stabbing was on holiday at time of attack British girl injured in Annecy stabbing was on holiday at time of attack France hails ‘backpack hero’ who confronted knifeman in ‘unspeakable’ Annecy attack Annecy locals attend mass as Mayor says injured children are ‘stable’
2023-06-10 07:25
Factbox-What is the OceanGate submersible and how does it work?
An international search and rescue operation is under way in a remote patch of the Atlantic Ocean after
2023-06-22 00:55
Taliban use stun guns, fire hoses and gunfire to break up Afghan women protesting beauty salon ban
Afghan women protesting a beauty salon ban say the Taliban used stun guns, fire hoses and gun shots into the air to break up their demonstration
2023-07-29 00:22
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