International
Three Israelis killed during attack on West Bank-Jordan border crossing
Three Israelis killed during attack on West Bank-Jordan border crossing
ALLENBY CROSSING, West Bank: Three Israelis were shot and killed Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said, in what appeared to be an attack linked to the 11-month-old war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed him in a shootout. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said the three Israelis were all men in their 50s.
Relatives identified the gunman as Maher al-Jazi, a retired Jordanian soldier from Athroh, a town in the impoverished area of Maan.
Jordan is investigating the shooting, its state-run Petra News Agency reported. The Western-allied Arab country made peace with Israel in 1994 but is deeply critical of its policies toward the Palestinians. Jordan has a large Palestinian population and has seen mass protests against Israel over the war in Gaza.
The Allenby crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and international tourists, as well as for cargo shipments. The crossing has seen few security incidents over the years, but in 2014 Israeli security guards shot and killed a Jordanian judge who they said had attacked them.
Authorities in Israel and Jordan said the crossing was closed until further notice. Israel later announced the closure of both of its land crossings with Jordan, near Beit Shean in the north and Eilat in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and linked it to Israel’s larger conflict with Iran and allied militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel has launched near-daily military arrest raids into dense Palestinian residential areas, and there has been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
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Also on Sunday, loved ones mourned Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American-Turkish woman who was shot dead on Friday in the West Bank. She had been demonstrating against Israeli settlements there. The White House has said it was “deeply disturbed” and called on Israel to investigate, while her family seeks an independent investigation. Her body remained at a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus.
In Gaza, meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed five people, including two women, two children and a senior official in the Civil Defense — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.
The Civil Defense said the strike targeted the home of its deputy director for northern Gaza, Mohammed Morsi, in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The army says it tries to avoid harming civilians and only targets militants.
Another Israeli strike hit the Eid family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp and killed at least two girls, according to an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies and witnesses. First responders were looking for others under the rubble.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages inside Gaza are believed to be dead.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire and the return of the hostages, but the negotiations have repeatedly bogged down.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but maintained control over its airspace, coastline and most of its land crossings. Along with Egypt, it imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
Three Israelis killed during attack on West Bank-Jordan border crossing
ARAB NEWS
International
American govt approves Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip to restore vision
American govt approves Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip to restore vision
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that Neuralink, his brain-chip startup company, has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an experimental implant device that will “enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see”.
“The Blindsight device from Neuralink will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see. Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time,” the tech billionaire tweeted early Wednesday.
In the tweet on X (formerly Twitter), Musk posted a photo of Geordi La Forge, a character from the sci-fi TV series Star Trek, who is blind from birth but uses different technological devices that allows him to see.
“To set expectations correctly, the vision will first be at low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential to be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet, or even radar wavelengths, like Geordi La Forge”.
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Co-founded by Elon Musk in 2016, Neuralink specialises in developing innovative brain-computer interfaces to transform treatments for neurological disorders.
Neuralink’s technology includes a brain implant that reads neural signals and wirelessly transmits them to external devices, including computers and mobile devices.
Business World reported that Neuralink is also developing an implant that enables paralysed individuals to control digital devices with their thoughts.
Neuralink is also reported to be conducting a clinical trial with three participants to evaluate the device’s effectiveness in aiding individuals with spinal cord injuries.
In August 2024, it was widely reported that Neuralink successfully implanted its brain-computer interface in a second patient, who is now able to control video games and create 3D designs using just their thoughts.
American govt approves Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip to restore vision
International
Major US labour union declines to endorse Harris, Trump
Major US labour union declines to endorse Harris, Trump
One of America’s most influential labour unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has declined to issue a US presidential endorsement for the first time since 1996.
The union, which boasts some 1.3 million members across the US and Canada, said it had received “few commitments on top Teamsters issues” from either Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump.
It also claimed that polling of its rank-and-file members found “no definitive support” for either candidate, though two of its recent polls indicated lopsided support for Trump.
The move is a major blow to the Harris campaign’s efforts to win over working-class voters with less than 50 days before election night.
An endorsement had the potential to mobilise thousands of Teamsters who live, work and vote in the crucial battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Shortly after the announcement, some Teamsters regional councils representing more than half a million members in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and California, said they would be endorsing Harris.
In a statement, the Harris campaign touted its support from “the overwhelming majority of organised labour” and noted that many Teamsters locals have gotten behind her candidacy.
“While Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice-President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labour for her entire career,” campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said.
The union’s rank-and-file – a coalition of members that includes freight drivers, warehouse workers and airline pilots – has long been considered politically diverse.
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General President Sean O’Brien has sought to build inroads with Republicans since he took over leadership of the executive board in 2022.
He has reached out to more populist figures within the party, such as US senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and JD Vance of Ohio, who is now Trump’s running mate.
Mr O’Brien also met privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January, shortly before the former president attended a roundtable with the union’s board at its headquarters in Washington DC.
Following that meeting, Trump said he believed he had a “good shot” at receiving the union’s endorsement.
The board also met with President Joe Biden before he stepped aside as the Democratic nominee, as well as third-party candidates Robert F Kennedy Jr and Cornel West.
But the union alarmed Democrats when it made its first financial contribution to their opponents in years, donating $45,000 (£34,000) – the maximum allowed contribution – each to both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in February.
Mr O’Brien also became the first Teamsters boss ever to address the Republican National Convention (RNC).
Invited to deliver a prime-time address at the event in Milwaukee, the union head praised Trump as “one tough SOB” but declined to endorse him.
He also later criticised Trump and top campaign surrogate and billionaire businessman Elon Musk over comments in which the two discussed firing workers who threaten to go on strike.
After his decision to speak at the RNC, Mr O’Brien did not receive an invitation from Democrats to address their party convention last month.
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The party instead invited rank-and-file members to represent the organisation and to speak from the convention stage.
Some members of the Teamsters have expressed anger with Mr O’Brien over his right-wing outreach.
Last month, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and six union locals defied national leadership by endorsing Harris on their own and urging members to get behind her.
On Monday, Harris met with the Teamsters board in a long-delayed roundtable that lasted an hour and a half.
A New York Times report described the sit-down as “sometimes tense”, but a Teamsters spokesperson disputed this characterisation when asked by the BBC.
During their meeting, the Times added, Harris told Teamsters leaders: “I’m confident I’m going to win this. I want your endorsement, but if I don’t get it, I will treat you exactly as if I had gotten your endorsement.”
Speaking to reporters after Harris had made her pitch, Mr O’Brien noted that “there wasn’t a whole lot of difference” between the answers she and her predecessor, Biden, had provided.
Biden has routinely touted himself as “the most pro-labour president ever”, pointing to policies that have made it easier for US workers to organise and that have prioritised union labour for federal government projects.
Last September, he made history as the first US president to walk a picket line, when he joined the United Autoworkers in Michigan in a strike against the Big Three US auto companies: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
The Biden administration also shored up the Teamsters pension fund to the tune of $36bn, which it says prevented cuts to the retirement incomes of over 600,000 members.
Mr O’Brien and other leaders have also acknowledged on several occasions that Biden has been “great for unions”.
But before he dropped out in July, some reports suggested that the Teamsters did not plan to endorse Biden’s bid for re-election.
Correction: An earlier version of this story was updated to reflect that the Teamsters are the fourth largest, not the largest, US union.
On Wednesday, ahead of its announcement that it would not endorse Harris or Trump, the union released polling data for its members.
In an electronic poll conducted after the RNC, rank-and-file Teamsters voted 59.6% for the union to endorse Trump compared to 34% for Harris.
A separate poll, commissioned in the past week, found Teamsters again backing Trump by a lopsided margin – 58% to 31%.
In spite of those results, the union said in a statement that its “extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump”.
The Trump campaign quickly lauded the poll numbers on Wednesday.
“While the Teamsters Executive Board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear – they want President Trump back in the White House,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Major US labour union declines to endorse Harris, Trump
BBC
International
20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Explosions in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon were apparently a second wave of detonations of electronic devices, state media said on Wednesday.
The report said walkie-talkies and even solar equipment were targeted a day after hundreds of pagers blew up.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 were wounded, the Health Ministry said.
A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded.
Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl.
The new blasts hit a country thrown into confusion and anger after Tuesday’s pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members that caused civilian casualties, too.
At least 12 people were killed, including two children, and about 2,800 people were wounded as hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded wherever they happened to be — in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes.
Wednesday’s blasts caused fires, injuries and a state of hysteria because some of the devices were being carried by security personnel during the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the pager explosions on Tuesday.
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Explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of Beirut and several areas in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
Many were injured outside hospitals where the wounded from Tuesday’s bombings were being treated. Several of the wounded were transferred to Baalbek hospitals.
Some devices exploded with their carriers in front of the American University Hospital in Beirut.
Four cars containing devices exploded in the town of Aabbassiyeh in the south, three people were injured when a device exploded in a car in Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and parked cars exploded in Nabatieh because there were wireless devices in them.
Ambulances rushed everywhere, and Hezbollah supporters went out on motorcycles searching for victims after abandoning all their communication devices.
The Lebanese Army Command asked citizens “not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to make way for the arrival of medical teams.”
According to initial information, the devices that exploded on Wednesday are Icom V82 models, bought in the deal for pagers last spring.
Panic increased when information circulated on social media about the explosion of solar panels connected to internet devices. There were also claims that computers exploded.
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A Hezbollah member in a video clip that showed a room with shrapnel damage, said: “This was because of the device’s battery. I removed it from the device and put it aside. Look what happened.”
Footage showed fires in residential apartments in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the south, and casualties during funeral ceremonies after their devices exploded.
The Axios website reported that “Israel blew up thousands of wireless communication devices used by Hezbollah elements in a second wave.”
In the first wave of bombings, it appeared that small amounts of explosives had been hidden in the thousands of pagers delivered to Hezbollah and then remotely detonated.
The reports of further electronic devices exploding suggested even greater infiltration of boobytraps into Lebanon’s supply chain.
It also deepens concerns over the attacks in which hundreds of devices exploded in public areas, often with many bystanders, with no certainty of who was holding the rigged devices.
20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
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