National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG
Iran hits Israel with salvo of ballistic missiles; Israel vows ‘painful response’ | 1 Oct 2024 | Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a “painful response” against its enemy. Alarms sounded across Israel and explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley after Israelis piled into bomb shelters. Reporters on state television lay flat on the ground during live broadcasts. Israeli army radio said nearly 200 missiles had been launched into Israel from Iran. Israel’s military later sounded the all-clear and said residents were free to leave their shelters. But Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the attack would have consequences, as did Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon. “As we have previously made clear to the international community, any enemy that attacks Israel should expect a painful response,” Danon said in a statement.
Israeli airspace is closed amid Iran attack, as Jordan, Iraq also shut their airspace | 1 Oct 2024 | The Airports Authority announces that all flights arriving and departing from Ben Gurion airport are suspended amid a massive missile attack from Iran. Israel’s Aviation Authority says Israel’s airspace is closed. Flights are redirected to alternative destinations outside of Israel. Jordan and Iraq also announce that their airspace was temporarily closed. Reuters reporters say they witnessed several interceptions in Jordanian airspace.
IDF says it intercepted ‘a large number’ of the 180 ballistic missiles launched from Iran | 1 Oct 2024 | The IDF says that it intercepted “a large number” of the 180 ballistic missiles launched by Iran at Israel this evening. Israel’s air defenses were “effective,” the IDF says. The U.S. also participated in the defense of Israel, both by detecting the threat from Iran and intercepting some of the missiles, according to the military. The IDF says there are “isolated” impacts in central Israel and several more impacts in southern Israel. There is no damage to the “competence” of the Israeli Air Force in the attack, and the IAF’s planes, air defenses, and air traffic control are operating normally, according to the military.
Six murdered in Jaffa terror shooting, many more wounded –Nine Israelis wounded in varying degrees –Two terrorists shot dead by security forces | 1 Oct 2024 | Six people were murdered and at least nine wounded, as well as a dog, in a shooting terror attack in Jaffa, in central Israel, on Tuesday evening, Magen David Adom reported. At least four people were reported critically wounded. The shooting occurred near a light rail station in the central Israeli city. Two terrorists who were observed exiting the train were shot dead by security forces.
NATO member calls for use of force against Israel –Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the UN to stop the Jewish state’s war in Gaza | 1 Oct 2024 | The United Nations should approve the use of armed force to stop Israel’s war in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. He sharply criticized the Israeli operation in the Palestinian enclave and the ongoing airstrikes on Lebanon. Almost a million Lebanese civilians have been displaced due to Israeli attacks, Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara. At least 1,300 people have been killed in just over a week, according to the Lebanese authorities. “Standing up for Palestine and Lebanon means standing up for humanity, for peace, for the culture of coexistence of different faiths,” the Turkish leader said.
Israeli airstrikes kill at least 37 in Gaza, Palestinian medics say | 1 Oct 2024 | Israeli airstrikes killed at least 37 people in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said and fighting ramped up, as the Israeli military said it had been targeting command centres used by its Islamist militant foe Hamas. Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat, one of the enclave’s eight historic refugee camps. There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli army on the two strikes. Another strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killed at least seven people, medics added.
U.S. secretly approved Lebanon escalation – Politico –Washington gave Israel the green light to mount an offensive, in contrast to its public calls for a ceasefire, sources have claimed | 1 Oct 2024 | The US government quietly approved Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, despite publicly urging the Jewish state and militant group Hezbollah to seek a ceasefire, Politico has reported, citing insider sources. Israel has waged a week-long bombing campaign in Lebanon, assassinating most of the Hezbollah leadership, and is in the process of what it describes as a “limited incursion” into its northern neighbor. Over 1,000 people, including many civilians, have been killed and over one million displaced… Joe Biden on Monday reiterated his public calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, telling reporters at the White House: “I’m comfortable with them stopping.”
Israel goes in: IDF confirms boots on the ground in southern Lebanon as bombs rain down from the sky –Netanyahu issues stark warning to Iran | 30 Sept 2024 | The Israeli military last night confirmed its troops had launched a long-awaited ground invasion of Lebanon, as fears mount that the escalation could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war. After a day of ratcheting tensions in the war-torn region, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that it had begun “localised and targeted raids” against Hezbollah enemies in southern Lebanon. “These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the military added. The IDF said that its incursion, dubbed “Operation Northern Arrows,” will continue “according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas.” Amid the increased violence, Syrian state-run media also confirmed that one of its television presenters was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Damascus.
North Carolina reeling from devastating Helene as death toll climbs: ‘Never seen anything quite like this’ | 1 Oct 2024 | North Carolina residents are detailing how their communities have been “decimated” by Hurricane Helene’s historic storm surge as hundreds remain unaccounted for. Swannanoa resident Zach Dasher said his town, located just 10 miles east of hard-hit Asheville, endured “complete devastation” as the death toll from the storm continues to climb. “Our little town here has just been absolutely decimated,” Dasher told Fox & Friends First on Tuesday. “I’m talking about not only have the buildings gone on one side of the road, the ground that the building sat on is no longer there. It’s complete devastation. Lots of people lost their lives. Folks from our church that were helping rescue people out of the floods, they saw people lose their lives…I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” he continued.
Death toll triples in Asheville area after Hurricane Helene guts North Carolina: ‘There were bodies in the trees’ | 30 Sept 2024 | The death toll from catastrophic flooding in the Asheville area of western North Carolina more than tripled on Monday to at least 40 — as survivors in remote mountain towns described seeing the bodies of victims stuck in trees. Nationwide, there have been at least 133 fatalities from Hurricane Helene, which has cut a path of death and destruction across the Southeast since making landfall last Thursday. “There were bodies in trees. They were finding bodies under rubble,” said Alyssa Hudson, whose home of Black Mountain — a village of 8,400 people about 12 miles from Asheville — was all but destroyed. The rains smashed the mountains of Buncombe County, which contains Asheville, washing away whole communities in floodwaters and mudslides. Roadways were buried or dissolved altogether, leaving victims cut off from rescue crews.
Asheville, N.C., cut off from world; damage estimated $100B in South | 29 Sept 2024 | Asheville and other parts of western North Carolina were cut off from the world this weekend, with no roads open into or out of the most populous city in the region and electricity and cell towers limited or inoperable. Fatalities from the storm Helene in the South were more than five dozen, and the Buncombe County numbers — where Asheville is county seat — were not included due to trouble reaching next of kin, said the Emergency Services director. Nearby Spruce Pine collected 24 inches of rain between Tuesday and Saturday, dwarfing the 11-plus in metro Atlanta in a 48-hour period that eclipsed records dating to 1878. Helene, a Category 4 hurricane when it hit the Big Bend of Florida on Thursday night, is forecast to leave behind between 95 billion and 110 billion in damage and economic loss.
8 migrant workers accused of looting in flood-ravaged Tennessee following Hurricane Helene – sheriff’s office | 30 Sept 2024 | A group of migrant workers allegedly looted properties in a washed-out part of Tennessee following the fury of Hurricane Helene on Saturday, according to a local sheriff’s office. The eight men were captured by authorities in Washington County where devastating flooding wiped away homes and led to water rescues. The suspects are accused of looting in one of the county’s flood zones, the county sheriff’s office said. Three alleged criminals — Jesus Leodan Garcia-Peneda, 51, Josue Berardo Ortis-Valdez, 30, and Ersy Leonel Ortis-Valdez, 33 — were charged with burglary.
‘A historic strike is underway at U.S. ports – and the impact on global supply chains could be huge –“We see the dominoes fall in multiple stages now.” | 1 Oct 2024 | A massive dockworker strike at seaports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts is expected to wreak havoc on global supply chains and the economy, with American consumers likely to notice shortages of popular products if the work stoppage lasts for a long time. Workers at ports stretching from Maine to Texas went on strike early Tuesday in a dispute over wages and automation. The action, which is likely to have severe consequences on ships carrying billions of dollars of cargo, is the first by the International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA, union in nearly half a century. Ocean supply chains have already been hit hard this year by conflict in the Red Sea, a lengthy drought affecting the Panama Canal, and the Baltimore bridge collapse. Even so, Peter Sand, chief analyst at ocean freight rate intelligence platform Xeneta, has said that given more than 40% of total “containerized goods” enter the U.S. via ports on the East and Gulf coast, “the stakes could not be higher.”
California Governor Signs Law to Ban Local Voter ID Requirements | 30 Sept 2024 | California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill into law on Thursday that bars local governments from enacting laws to require residents to show a valid form of identification in order to vote. The law is a direct response to a ballot initiative approved by voters in the coastal California city of Huntington Beach. In March, 53.4% of residents voted to adopt a ballot measure that requires all residents who want to cast a ballot in municipal elections to show a valid ID. But the measure runs afoul of [insane] state law and, after it passed, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D) sued the city to block officials from enforcing it.
NY ballot measure aimed at protecting abortion could allow illegal migrants to vote, critics say: ‘Trojan horse of epic proportions’ | 30 Sept 2024 | A proposed referendum on New York’s ballot aimed at protecting abortion rights could give illegal migrants the right to vote, according to a lawyer spearheading opposition to it. Westchester County-based constitutional lawyer Bobbi Anne Cox said Proposition 1, aka the Equal Rights Amendment, is being promoted as enshrining the right to an abortion in the state constitution. But she said that since the sloppily crafted proposed referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot…potentially allows for a host of serious other consequences, too.
Famous Pittsburgh sandwich shop faces boycott over its treatment of JD Vance during campaign stop | 29 Sept 2024 | A well-known Pittsburgh sandwich store is now facing calls for a boycott after it turned vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance away from its doors. On Saturday afternoon, Senator Vance tried to make a campaign stop at Primanti Bros in North Versailles, but he was rebuffed by staff who said they had not been given advanced notice. Store bosses did so even as multiple customers inside the store asked for Vance to be allowed inside so they could chat with him. After being denied entry, Vance reportedly ended up speaking with people in the parking lot outside. But the Vance supporters who filled Primanti Bros were furious with the way the restaurant had treated the vice presidential candidate. Footage taken inside the 90-year-old business showed many of Vance’s supporters apparently calling for a boycott. In one video, a woman said that a manager had told the senator and his team that they would “call the police if [Vance] comes out [of his car].” “The kitchen crew’s running out because everyone’s cancelling their orders,” she said.