Netanyahu pushes back against new pressure over Gaza and hostages: ‘No one will preach to me’
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pushed back against a new wave of pressure to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested and went on strike and U.S. President Joe Biden said he needed to do more after nearly 11 months of fighting.
In his first public address since Sunday’s mass protests showed many Israelis’ furious response to the discovery of six more dead hostages, Netanyahu said he will continue to insist on a demand jaya78 that has emerged as a major sticking point in talks – continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny it.
Netanyahu called the corridor vital to ensuring Hamas cannot rearm via tunnels. “This is the oxygen of Hamas,” he said.
And he added: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me. … No one will preach to me on this issue.´
Israelis had poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger in what appeared to be the largest protest since the start of the war. The families and much of the public blamed Netanyahu, saying the hostages could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas. A rare general strike was held across the country on Monday.
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Could mass protests in Israel over the hostages persuade Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal?
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israelis were plunged into grief and anger this weekend after the military said six hostages were killed by their captors in Gaza just as troops were closing in on their location. The rage sparked massive protests and a general strike – the most intense domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the start of the war nearly 11 months ago.
Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the mounting number of dead hostages and are calling for a cease-fire agreement to free the remaining roughly 100 captives – even if that means ending the conflict. Sunday’s demonstrations were the largest show of support for a hostage deal since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and kidnapped 250 people.
But Netanyahu has faced fierce pressure to reach a cease-fire agreement before, from key governing partners to top security officials and even Israel´s most important international ally, the U.S. Yet a deal to wind down the war in Gaza remains elusive.
Here´s a look at how the public outcry in Israel could affect Netanyahu´s next moves in the war:
Throughout the war, critics have claimed Netanyahu has put his political survival above all else, including the fate of the hostages. His rule relies on support from two ultranationalist parties that were once at the fringes of Israeli politics but now hold key positions in government.
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As Iran threatens Israel, the danger of Tehran’s long-vaunted missile program remains in question
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – As Iran threatens to attack Israel over the assassination of a Hamas leader in the Iranian capital, its long-vaunted missile program offers one of the few ways for Tehran to strike back directly, but questions loom over just how much of a danger it poses.
The program was behind Iran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel in April, when Iran became the first nation to launch such a barrage since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.
But few of the Iranian projectiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a U.S.-led coalition, while others apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight. Even those that reached Israel appeared to miss their marks.
Now a new report by experts shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests one of Tehran’s most advanced missiles is far less accurate than previously thought.
The April assault showed “some ability to strike Israel,” said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who worked on the analysis. But “if I were supreme leader, I would probably be a little disappointed.”
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The presidential campaigns brace for an intense sprint to Election Day
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) – After a summer of historic tumult, the path to the presidency for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this fall is becoming much clearer.
The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president will devote almost all of their remaining time and resources to just seven states. They will spend hundreds of millions of dollars targeting voters who, in many cases, have just begun to pay attention to the election. And their campaigns will try to focus their messages on three familiar issues – the economy, immigration and abortion – even in the midst of heated debates over character, culture and democracy.
The candidates will debate in one week in what will be their first meeting ever. The nation´s premier swing state, Pennsylvania, begins in-person absentee voting the week after. By the end of the month, early voting will be underway in at least four states with a dozen more to follow by mid-October.
In just 63 days, the final votes will be cast to decide which one of them will lead the world´s most powerful nation.
Privately, at least, both camps acknowledge that victory is no sure thing as they begin the eight-week sprint to Election Day. Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck in most national polls conducted since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign.
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A decision on a major policy shift on marijuana won’t come until after the presidential election
WASHINGTON (AP) – A decision on whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the U.S. won’t come until after the November presidential election, a timeline that raises the chances it could be a potent political issue in the closely contested race.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last week set a hearing date to take comment on the proposed historic change in federal drug policy for Dec. 2.
The hearing date means a final decision could well come in the next administration. While it’s possible it could precede the end of President Joe Biden’s term, issuing it before Inauguration Day “would be pretty expedited,” said cannabis lawyer Brian Vicente.
That could put a new spotlight on the presidential candidates’ positions on marijuana. Vice President Kamala Harris has backed decriminalizing the drug and said it’s “absurd” to have it in the DEA’s Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD. The Democratic nominee’s position has shifted over the years; she once oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalized recreational use for adults in California while running for attorney general in 2010.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, signaled support for a Florida legalization measure on Saturday, following earlier comments that he increasingly agrees that people shouldn’t be jailed for the drug now legal in multiple states, “whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
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Pope opens Asia odyssey with stop in Indonesia to rally Catholics, hail religious freedom tradition
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday at the start of the longest trip of his pontificate, hoping to encourage its Catholic community and celebrate the tradition of interfaith harmony in a country with the world´s largest Muslim population.
After an overnight flight from Rome, Francis was wheeled off the plane in his wheelchair and onto the tarmac for a welcoming ceremony under Jakarta´s perennial hazy, humid and polluted skies.
Two children wearing traditional clothes handed him a bouquet of vegetables, fruits, spices and flowers.
Francis planned to rest for the remainder of the day, given the rigors of an 11-day voyage zigzagging across time zones that will also take him to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. However, the Vatican said the 87-year-old pope met with a group of refugees, migrants and sick people at the Vatican residence in Jakarta.
Outside the residence, he was greeted by well-wishers eager to catch sight of the first pope to visit since St. John Paul II in 1989.
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Congo says at least 129 people died during an attempted jailbreak, most of them in a stampede
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) – An attempted jailbreak in Congo´s main prison in the capital left at least 129 people dead, most of them in a stampede, authorities said Tuesday.
A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were shot dead by “warning” gunshots as they tried to escape from the overcrowded Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa early Monday, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social platform X.
“There are also 59 injured people taken into care by the government, as well as some cases of women raped,” he said, adding that order has been restored at the prison, part of which was burned in the attack.
Makala, Congo´s largest penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds over 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report. The facility has recorded previous jailbreaks, including in 2017 when an attack by a religious sect freed dozens.
Gunfire inside the prison started around midnight on Sunday into Monday morning, residents said. A senior government official earlier said only two deaths were confirmed during the incident, a figure disputed by rights activists.
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Russian leader Putin visits Mongolia and defies an international warrant for his arrest
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Mongolia on Tuesday with no sign that the host country would bow to calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The trip is Putin´s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it issued the warrant about 18 months ago. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant. A spokesperson for Putin said last week that the Kremlin wasn´t worried.
The warrant puts the Mongolian government in a tough spot. Member countries are required by the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued. But Mongolia, a landlocked country bordering Russia, is highly dependent on its much larger neighbor for fuel and some of its electricity. The court lacks a mechanism to enforce its warrants.
The Russian leader was welcomed in the main square in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, by an honor guard dressed in vivid red and blue uniforms styled on those of the personal guard of 13th century ruler Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire.
He and Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa walked up the red-carpeted steps of the Government Palace and bowed before a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the building for their meetings.
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Venezuelan judge issues arrest warrant for opposition’s former presidential candidate
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – A Venezuelan judge on Monday issued an arrest warrant for the opposition´s former presidential candidate Edmundo González as part of a criminal investigation into the results of the highly anticipated July election that both the ruling party and its opponents claim to have won.
The warrant was issued at the request of authorities who accuse González, a former diplomat, of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. The move is the latest escalation of repression against the opposition in the month after election officials declared President Nicolás Maduro had won a third six-year term in office.
Authorities sought the warrant after González failed to appear three times to answer questions from prosecutors. González, 75, has not made any public appearances since the day after the election. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Prosecutors have zeroed in on thousands of tally sheets known as actas – printouts measuring several feet that resemble shopping receipts – that have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Each of the 30,000 electronic voting machines used in the July 28 election printed several copies of the sheets, whose information was also transmitted to the National Electoral Council.
Ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor hours after polls closed, but they did not publish results broken down by voting machine as they had done in previous presidential elections. The National Electoral Council claimed it could not release the detailed information because its website was hacked.
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The Fed welcomes a ‘soft landing’ even if many Americans don’t feel like cheering
WASHINGTON (AP) – When Jerome Powell delivered a high-profile speech last month, the Federal Reserve chair came the closest he ever had to declaring that the inflation surge that gripped the nation for three painful years was now essentially defeated.
And not only that. The Fed’s high interest rates, Powell said, had managed to achieve that goal without causing a widely predicted recession and high unemployment.
Yet most Americans are not in the same celebratory mood about the plummeting of inflation in the face of the high borrowing rates the Fed engineered. Though consumer sentiment is slowly rising, a majority of Americans in some surveys still complain about elevated prices, given that the costs of such necessities as food, gas and housing remain far above where they were before the pandemic erupted in 2020.
The relatively sour mood of the public is creating challenges for Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to succeed President Joe Biden. Despite the fall of inflation and strong job growth, many voters say they’re dissatisfied with the Biden-Harris administration’s economic record – and especially frustrated by high prices.
That disparity points to a striking gap between how economists and policymakers assess the past several years of the economy and how many ordinary Americans do.