Business News
October 18, 2024AP Sports
October 18, 2024AP- News
October 18, 2024
Israel and Hamas signal they are no closer to ending Gaza war after Sinwar’s death
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas has confirmed that its leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and reiterated its stance that hostages the militant group took from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin said a day earlier that his country’s military will keep fighting until the hostages are released and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming. The stands taken by the two sides signal, at least publicly, that they have not moved any closer to ending their conflict, even as some world leaders view Sinwar’s killing as a turning point that could unlock stalled cease-fire negotiations.
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader and a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, is dead at 61
BEIRUT (AP) — Yahya Sinwar has been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. He was 61. He was Hamas’ top leader and a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the longest, deadliest and most destructive war in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Gaza, no figure loomed larger in determining the war’s trajectory than Sinwar. He was a rarely seen veteran militant who learned Hebrew over years spent in Israeli prisons and who carefully studied his enemy. He worked on bringing Hamas closer to the Iran-led alliance after it moved away following the start of Syria’s conflict in 2011. His death came in what appeared to be a chance front-line encounter with Israeli troops. Israel announced the death Thursday. A Hamas official confirmed it Friday.
Russia flaunts its many doomsday weapons to keep the West from ramping up support for Ukraine
This year has seen President Vladimir Putin repeatedly brandish the nuclear sword, reminding everyone that Russia has the world’s largest atomic arsenal in order to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine. He ordered his military to hold drills involving battlefield nuclear weapons with ally Belarus. He announced Russia will start producing ground-based intermediate range missiles that were outlawed by a now-defunct U.S.-Soviet treaty in 1987. And last month, he lowered the threshold for using that arsenal by revising the country’s nuclear doctrine. Putin is relying on those thousands of warheads and hundreds of missiles that carry them as an enormous doomsday machine to discourage what he sees as threats to Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Right-wing influencers hyped anti-Ukraine videos made by a TV producer also funded by Russian media
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ben Swann, a self-described independent journalist who promotes conspiracy theories, owns a company that’s been paid millions of dollars in recent years by Russian state media. Through a separate company, he’s produced a series of online videos critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that have been heavily promoted by conservative influencers. The creation of “Zelenskyy Unmasked” and its spread reveal how widely Russia-backed talking points are traveling on social media. It’s a trend that concerns current and former U.S. intelligence officials and disinformation experts. An investigation by The Associated Press into the series provides insights into the shadowy and profitable world of political influencers who are not required to disclose who is paying them.
What’s a ‘Jezebel spirit’? Some Christians use the term to paint Kamala Harris with a demonic brush
Christian nationalist leaders are telling followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit.” The term has deeply racist and misogynistic roots that is setting off alarm bells for religious and political scholars. It is inspired by the biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who persecuted prophets and was punished with a horrible death. The term “Jezebel” was also used during slavery and throughout U.S. history to describe Black women, casting them as overtly sexual and untrustworthy. Scholars say the term is coded language to communicate that the person – a woman, usually a Democrat, Black or multiracial – is not Christian and not an acceptable candidate
A murder trial begins in a small Indiana town in the killings of two teenage girls
DELPHI, Ind. (AP) — A murder trial is underway in Indiana in the killings of two teenage girls. Fifty-two-year-old Richard Allen is charged in the killings of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. He was arrested in October 2022. More than five years had passed since the girls were killed as true-crime enthusiasts speculated about clues. Allen was there all along, working as a pharmacy technician in the same small town of Delphi. A prosecutor told jurors the evidence would include images showing both girls with their throats cut. A defense lawyer said there’s plenty of reasonable doubt. If convicted, Allen could face up to 130 years in prison.
US to probe Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ system after pedestrian killed in low visibility conditions
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday with the company reporting four crashes after Teslas entered areas of low visibility including sun glare, fog and airborne dust. The agency said that in addition to the pedestrian’s death, another crash involved an injury.
Reba McEntire finds a new on-screen family in NBC’s ‘Happy’s Place’
NEW YORK (AP) — Reba McEntire finds herself behind the bar in her latest return to network TV, making a series that’s a nicely calibrated cocktail of drama and comedy. NBC’s “Happy’s Place” — premiering Friday — finds McEntire’s character, Bobbie, inheriting a Tennessee tavern from her recently-passed father and finding out in the first episode that he had a second family. Even more alarming is the fact that her dad left ownership of the bar to both Bobbie and her sister, Isabella, who’s played by Belissa Escobedo. Adding to the tension is that the two women are divided by a generation or two.