PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — France’s TotalEnergies and U.S. hydrocarbon company APA Corp. plan to invest $10 billion to extract oil off the coast of Suriname in a historic investment for the South American country, officials announced Tuesday.
The first oil is expected by mid-2028, with an anticipated production of 220,000 barrels per day, according to TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, who flew to Suriname to personally announce the investment, the country’s largest to date.
The so-called GranMorgu project focuses on an offshore area believed to contain some 700 million barrels of oil. It is adjacent to a successful ExxonMobil project in waters belonging to neighboring Guyana.
“Today is a historic day for Suriname,” said a jubilant President Chan Santokhi, calling it “a day that will determine our future.”
TotalEnergies will partner with APA Corp, a holding company for Apache Corporation, a Texas-based hydrocarbon exploration business, and Staatsolie, the local national oil producer representing the Surinamese government.
Staatsolie plans to issue bonds in 2025 to finance its participation, since it is entitled to a 20% stake under the production sharing contract. The company secured an initial $175 million payment and is now in talks with banks and planning a bond offer to complete a second payment, Jagesar said.
Santokhi said the anticipated revenue from the project would be used to raise the standard of living in Suriname, a country of more than 640,000 people with a poverty rate of 18%, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
“This is a game-changer,” he said.
Suriname holds $3.5 billion in debt and is undergoing a three-year, $688 IMF restructuring program that led to austerity measures and sparked violent protests last year.
Annand Jagesar, CEO of Staatsolie, said that the oil exploration deal means that “Suriname will never be the same.”
But he warned of potential poor governance, noting how Venezuela had plenty of reserves but still struggled economically since it did not develop other resources and was oil dependent.
TotalEnergies has pledged to develop its project responsibly, utilizing advanced technologies to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
The remains of exploded pagers are seen in Beirut's southern suburbs Sept 18, 2024, after hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Sept. 17, 2024, killing at least nine people. (AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- The unassuming pager took its place in the annals of Israeli covert operations history in September, when thousands of the credit card-sized devices served as tiny Trojan horses for explosive charges as they were held by likely Hezbollah operatives.
The pager detonations in Lebanon and Syria on Sept. 17 were followed by the explosion -- around 24 hours later -- of walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah as a communications network after its beepers were compromised.
The attacks, which killed 37 people and wounded 2,931 according to Lebanese authorities, were several years in the making, a source told ABC News.
"The disruption and damage they wrought was unprecedented in the history of the resistance in Lebanon," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah -- himself killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Sept. 27 -- said.
Sources confirmed to ABC News that Israel was responsible for the pager explosions.
Israel -- which rarely confirms or denies responsibility for covert operations or attacks on foreign soil -- offered no confirmation of responsibility for the attacks. President Isaac Herzog even told Sky News he "rejects out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation."
Orna Mizrahi of the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Israel told ABC News that the communication devices operations stand out due to "the amount of people that were eliminated."
"We don't call it assassination; we call it elimination," said Mizrahi, who previously served in the Israel Defense Forces' Military Intelligence Research Division and in the prime minister's office as deputy national security adviser for foreign policy.
The attacks represent a world-first, Mizrahi said.
"It's a real invention," she said.
As to the criticism of the mass detonation of the devices, Mizrahi responded: "The terrorists are the only ones that used them. So, it is like a bullet in the hand of your enemy. But it wasn't a bullet. It was something that was exploding in their hands."
The operation drew on a long history of audacious -- though not always successful or discriminate -- covert Israeli targeted killings all over the Middle East. Though Israel generally does not confirm involvement in such operations, top Israeli officials have made clear their position against what they deem to be threats to national security.
As Israel's outgoing spy chief Yossi Cohen said in 2021 regarding reported targeted killings in Iran: "If the man constitutes a capability that endangers the citizens of Israel, he must stop existing."
Mizrahi said those conducting such "elimination" operations usually do so based on one or more of three criteria. The target might be a "very important terrorist" with significant influence and capabilities, she said.
The target may be a long-standing one, with plans put in place and those executing them waiting for the right moment to strike, Mizrahi added.
Or, the eventual target may be identified as part of an imminent attack "and you want to intercept it and to stop it," she added.
"It's always people that are from what we understand is a terror organization, that are threatening Israel or in the midst of launching some kind of attack against Israel," Mizrahi said.
"We don't eliminate people just like that," she added, noting that Israeli forces will "usually" want to ensure "there is very little collateral damage, not too many civilians."
Past operations have been abandoned due to the likelihood of civilian casualties, Mizrahi said.
"When you are in a war, you cannot be so cautious," she added.
A bloody history
Within years of the country's bloody, but ultimately successful, War of Independence in 1948, Israel's clandestine services were waging assassination campaigns against the many surrounding forces and states deemed threats to the young nation's survival.
Its military and intelligence services were staffed by many who participated in the Jewish insurgency against the entity known as Mandatory Palestine, the British-run territory designated by the League of Nations in the aftermath of World War II.
In 1956, for example, parcel bombs were used to kill Egyptian military officials Col. Mustafa Hafez and Lt. Col. Salah Mustafa in Egypt and Jordan, respectively, both of whom organized Palestinian militant raids into Israel.
As Israeli identity and policy were forged in the crucible of war, insurgency and terrorism, the country's clandestine operations took on greater ingenuity and complexity -- though direct methods of killing have remained in regular use through the nation's 76 years, spanning the technological spectrum from shootings to airstrikes.
September's explosions in Lebanon will go down as one of the most unusual attacks in Israeli -- or wider international covert operations -- history, given the delivery method of the explosives, the number of those killed or wounded and the intimate access to Hezbollah it demonstrated.
But it was not the first time Israel sought to turn everyday items into weapons. In 1972, for example, Palestine Liberation Organization cadre Bassam Abu Sharif -- a former senior advisor to PLO chief Yasser Arafat -- lost four fingers plus the use of one ear and one eye when a book sent to him by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, exploded in his hands in Beirut. Israel never officially took responsibility.
The killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Palestinian Black September militant group set in motion a brutal and sprawling revenge campaign -- known as Operation Wrath of God -- that would see Mossad operatives turn unassuming items into weapons.
Mossad's long-established policy of public silence meant it never claimed even the most sophisticated assassinations credited to the agency. But David Kimche, the former deputy head of Mossad, explained of the retaliation campaign: "The aim was not so much revenge but mainly to make them frightened."
"We wanted to make them look over their shoulders and feel that we are upon them. And therefore, we tried not to do things by just shooting a guy in the street -- that's easy," he said.
Mahmoud Hamshari -- the PLO's representative in Paris -- for example, died of wounds sustained in his Paris apartment in December 1972, when Mossad agents detonated explosives packed into the base of his telephone.
Hussein Al Bashir, a representative of Palestinian group Fatah, was killed the following month in Cyprus by a bomb concealed in his hotel bed.
Death by communication device was a common theme in the years after Hamshari's killing.
In 1996, for example, internal security agency Shin Bet tricked Yahya Ayyash -- an infamous Hamas bombmaker accused of killing dozens of Israelis -- into accepting a call using a cellphone given to him by a Palestinian collaborator. The phone detonated as he held it to his head, killing him instantly.
Samih Malabi, a member of Fatah's Tanzim militant wing, was also killed by an exploding cellphone in 2000.
Another three Palestinians and alleged militants -- Osama Fatih al-Jawabra, Iyad Mohammed Hardan and Muhammad Ishteiwi Abayat -- were killed by explosions in phone booths in 2001 and 2002.
Among one of the highest profile assassinations was a joint Mossad-CIA operation targeting Imad Mughniyah -- Hezbollah's international operations chief -- who was killed in a suburb of Damascus in 2008. Neither Mossad nor the CIA ever took credit publicly.
A bomb concealed in a car's spare tire exploded as Mughniyah walked past. It was detonated remotely by agents in Tel Aviv, using operatives on the ground in the Syrian capital to guide the plot's final execution, according to a Washington Post report citing five former U.S. intelligence officials.
In Iran, too, the hand of Israeli intelligence is credited with several high-profile killings. Israel was behind a rash of assassinations of nuclear scientists between 2007 and 2012 -- often using magnetic car bombs or via drive-by shootings, according to Iran.
So, too, was it responsible for the killing of the alleged head of Iran's nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, reportedly assassinated on a highway outside Tehran by a remote-controlled machine gun in 2020.
Israel's highest-profile recent killing -- that of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July -- reportedly relied not on an innocuous item but on deep penetration of enemy security networks.
Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted in a guesthouse he often used when visiting the Iranian capital.
The operation bypassed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' protection of the building, emplacing the device two months before Haniyeh's visit, according to reporting in the The New York Times citing five anonymous Middle Eastern officials.
Blowback and civilian casualties
For all their ingenuity, Israel's targeted killings also brought civilian casualties, political embarrassment and diplomatic blowback.
It remains unclear how many civilians were among the thousands injured in the recent device explosions in Lebanon and Syria. At least two children were among the dead. Additional civilians were killed in the subsequent Beirut airstrike that assassinated Hezbollah operations chief Ibrahim Aqil and 14 other members, Lebanese authorities said.
Among the most infamous bungled efforts was Israel's attempted assassination of Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal in Jordan in 1997. Mossad agents using fake Canadian passports poisoned Mashaal outside of Hamas' office in the capital Amman by holding a device to his ear.
Several agents were subsequently captured and, as Mashaal's condition deteriorated, Jordan's King Hussein -- with the backing of then President Bill Clinton -- pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into providing the antidote and saving Mashaal's life.
Israel's Wrath of God operations from 1972 onwards caused several notable civilian casualties. The commando squads hunting Palestinian militant leaders in Beirut in April 1973 killed two Lebanese police officers and one Italian citizen in their search for targets. Among them was Black September operations leader Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, whose wife was also killed.
In July 1973, Mossad brought chaos to the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer in their search for Black September operations chief Ali Hassan Salameh.
Ahmed Bouchiki, a Moroccan waiter, was shot dead after agents falsely identified him as Salameh. Five Mossad agents were eventually convicted of the killing, and not returned to Israel until 1975.
A follow-up effort took place at a house in the southern Spanish city of Tarifa. Mossad agents reportedly killed a security guard but did not locate Salameh.
Israel finally killed Salameh in Beirut in 1979, detonating a bomb attached to a parked car as his convoy passed. Salameh died shortly after in hospital.
As well as his four bodyguards, the blast killed four bystanders and injured 16 more. Among the dead were a British student and a German nun.
The Michael Kors Store on Rodeo Drive on Feb. 23, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Fg/bauer-griffin/GC Images via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) -- The Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal judge in New York to block the $8.5 billion merger of Tapestry, the company behind Coach, Kate Spade, and Capri, which controls Michael Kors.
In April, the FTC sued to block the sale, arguing that these brands dominate what's known as the "accessible luxury" market and that if they combined, consumers would suffer by paying higher prices.
"This has to be the first time the focus of a federal court hearing turned to a $279 Kate Spade tote described as 'colorful, joyful, feminine, green and white seen on Emily in Paris," ABC News senior investigative reporter and correspondent Aaron Katersky said on Good Morning America Tuesday.
Tapestry argues the FTC is ignoring the reality of a marketplace, in which consumers have a lot of choices, suggesting it takes a mere stroll through Bloomingdale's or Macy's to see Gucci, Kors and Calvin Klein bags fighting for attention.
Michael Kors himself testified last month during a hearing, telling the judge there's already plenty of competition for handbags, noting that he learned about one brand when he saw a photo of pop superstar Taylor Swift wearing an Aupen bag similar to those made by Kate Spade.
Kors also testified his handbags have "reached a point of brand fatigue" and a lawyer arguing in favor of the merger said it would revitalize the Michael Kors brand, so consumers have yet another choice. The goal, he said, is to sell more handbags to consumers.
The judge took these arguments under advisement and could rule at any time.
In this photo released by Israel Aircraft Industries, an Arrow II anti-missile missile is successfully launched December 2, 2005 from an unnamed military base in central Israel. (IAI via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- Israel’s layered missile defense system was once again put to the test on Tuesday as Iran launched more than 200 ballistic missiles at Israel.
The Iron Dome air defense system garners most of the attention because it is used to bring down frequent incoming unguided short-range rocket systems fired at Israel by both Hezbollah and Hamas.
But targeting guided ballistic missiles that travel at higher altitudes, longer ranges, and faster speeds requires different intercept systems that are specifically designed to bring down ballistic missiles.
David’s Sling and the Arrow 2 and 3 are Israel’s two other home-grown air defense systems that are capable of bringing down medium-range and long-range ballistic missiles.
Both systems along with the Iron Dome were utilized during Iran’s attack on Israel last April when 99% of the more than 300 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles launched by Iran were intercepted.
David’s Sling is designed to target medium and long-range missiles and has a range of 25 to 186 miles and produced by Raytheon and Rafael, the same Israel defense contractor that makes the Iron Dome.
The two-stage missile has no warhead, it destroys incoming ballistic missiles with the sheer force of impact, making it what is known as a “hit- to- kill” which has been characterized as hitting a bullet with a bullet given the high velocities involved.
The Arrow 2 and 3 systems are capable of handling much longer-range missiles like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) that will likely travel at altitudes beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, a capability similar to the U.S. military’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) air defense system.
The Arrow 3 system is believed to have a range of 1,500 miles and can reach an altitude of 100 miles.
The Arrow 2 is designed to explode near a missile to bring down an incoming missile, but the Arrow 3 is a hit-to-kill missile.
The Arrow 2 system was used most recently to shoot down long-range missiles fired at Israel by the Houthi militant group in Yemen, supposedly in support of Hamas and Hezbollah in their wars with Israel.
TYLER — The City of Tyler Police Department is seeking stuffed animals for children “going through tough times.” They are accepting donations of new or gently used stuffed animals. According to our news partner KETK, the police department says they use the stuffed animals to comfort children in times of need. People can drop off their donations at the Faulkner Park or Ferguson police stations.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977.
Workers began walking picket lines early Tuesday, picketing near ports all along the East Coast. Workers outside the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle and chanted, “No work without a fair contract.”
A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers alike as the holiday shopping season — along with a tight presidential election — approaches.
What are the issues in the dockworkers strike?
The International Longshoremen’s Association is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 U.S. ports. Those ports handle roughly half of the nations’ cargo from ships.
The contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, expired Tuesday. Some progress was reported in talks late Monday, but the union went on strike anyway.
The union’s opening offer was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.
Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The alliance also said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options.
Which ports are affected?
While any port can handle any type of goods, some ports are specialized to handle goods for a particular industry. The ports affected by the shutdown include Baltimore and Brunswick, Georgia, the top two busiest auto ports; Philadelphia, which gives priority to fruits and vegetables; and New Orleans, which handles coffee, mainly from South America and Southeast Asia, various chemicals from Mexico and North Europe, and wood products such as plywood from Asia and South America.
Other major ports affected include Boston; New York/New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and Houston.
Can the government intervene?
If a strike were deemed a danger to U.S. economic health, President Joe Biden could, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period. This would suspend the strike.
But Biden, during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, said “no” when asked if he planned to intervene to plan a potential work stoppage impacting East Coast ports.
“Because it’s collective bargaining, I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” Biden said.
How will this affect consumers?
The strike could last weeks — or months. If the strike is resolved within a few weeks, consumers probably wouldn’t notice any major shortages of retail goods. But a strike that persists for more than a month would likely cause a shortage of some consumer products, although most holiday retail goods have already arrived from overseas. Shoppers could see higher prices on a vast array of goods, from fruit and vegetables to cars.
Businesses are making contingency plans
Since the major supply chain disruption in 2021 caused by pandemic bottlenecks, retailers have adapted to supply chain disrupters being “the new norm,” said Rick Haase, owner of a mini-chain of Patina gift shops in and around the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
“The best approach for Patina has been to secure orders early and have the goods in our warehouse and back rooms to ensure we are in stock on key goods,” Haase said.
Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun, a Boca Raton, Florida-based maker of such toys as Care Bears and Lincoln Logs, has been monitoring the port situation for months and planned for it by shifting all of its container shipments to the West Coast ports, primarily Los Angeles and Long Beach, away from ports in New York and Newark, New Jersey. But he said the shift added anywhere from 10% to 20% extra costs that his company will have to absorb. He noted that Basic Fun’s prices for the next 10 months are locked in with retailers, but he could see raising prices during the second half of 2025 if the strike is prolonged.
Daniel Vasquez, who owns Dynamic Auto Movers in Miami, which specializes in importing and exporting vehicles, increased inventory, specifically for vehicles that take longer to ship, in anticipation of a strike.
He has also stopped relying on one port or shipping partner and has expanded his relationship with smaller ports and shipping companies that can bypass congested areas.
How will a strike affect holiday shopping?
Jonathan Gold, vice president of the supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said the strike arrives with the supply network continuing to face challenges from Houthi attacks on commercial shipping that have essentially shut down the use of the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
The uncertainty over the supply chain is taking place at the peak of the holiday shipping season for retailers, which traditionally runs from July through early November. Many big retailers, anticipating a strike, started shipping their goods to U.S. distribution centers in June, and Gold said that the majority of products ordered are already in the U.S.
But retailers will have a hard time replenishing items and are incurring extra warehouse costs to store goods longer. Gold also noted that carriers are already announcing surcharges on containers to address potential disruptions.
Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of The Toy Association, the nation’s leading toy trade group, noted that a strike would happen at an extremely critical time for toy sellers and makers — up to 60% of a toy company’s annual sales come during the fourth quarter.
The holiday shipping window for the toy industry is anywhere from six to eight weeks and started in July, though some toy companies tried to ship earlier or add more toys to shipments, Ahearn said.
“It hits many ways,” he said. “From a consumer perspective, it starts with delays in availability and then starts to surface as product shortages within toys. At retail for the toy industry, it results in potentially higher prices based on scarcity and increased costs.”
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls more than three decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening.
Garcia Glenn White was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the December 1989 killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were found in their Houston apartment.
White, 61, was the sixth inmate put to death in the U.S. in the last 11 days. His execution took place shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, rejected three last-ditch appeals.
Asked by a warden if he had any statement, White repeatedly apologized in his final words to witnesses looking on.
“I would like to apologize for all the wrong I have done, and for the pain I’ve caused,” he said from the death chamber, shortly before the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing into his arms.
He said he took responsibility for the slayings, regretted his actions and was praying for prison officials, officers and “for my brothers and sisters behind these walls.”
In a loud and strong voice he began singing a hymn, “I Trust in God,” singing several verses with the refrain: “I trust in God, my savior of the world, the one who never failed.” Then he urged family and friends to to “just keep pushing forward, keep loving one another,” and ended by thanking prison officials and officers “for treating us like human beings.”
As the drugs began taking effect, he exhaled softly several times then began sounds like snores, several of them loud. He burped, snored quietly once and gulped. Seventeen minutes later he was pronounced dead.
Testimony showed that White went to the girls’ Houston home to smoke crack with their mother, Bonita, who also was fatally stabbed. When the girls came out of their room to see what happened, White attacked them. Evidence showed White broke down the locked door of the girls’ bedroom. Authorities said he was later tied to the deaths of a grocery store owner and another woman.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who witnessed White’s death, lamented that it took some 30 years to carry out the jury’s death verdict as multiple appeals in White’s case worked through the courts.
“The suffering of surviving (victims’) family members is just unspeakable,” she said. “At least it’s over.”
White’s lawyers had unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution after lower courts previously rejected petitions for a stay. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday denied White’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant him a 30-day reprieve.
His lawyers argued that Texas’ top criminal appeals court has refused “to accept medical evidence and strong factual backing” showing White is intellectually disabled.
The Supreme Court in 2002 barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in deciding how to determine such disabilities. Justices have wrestled with how much discretion to allow.
White’s lawyers also accused the Texas appeals court of not allowing his defense team to present evidence that could spare him a death sentence, including DNA evidence that another man also was at the crime scene and scientific evidence that would show White was “likely suffering from a cocaine induced psychotic break during his actions.”
White’s lawyers also argued he is entitled to a new review of his death sentence, alleging the Texas appeals court has created a new scheme for sentencing in capital punishment cases after a recent Supreme Court ruling in another Texas death row case.
Patrick McCann, one of White’s attorneys, said Tuesday that his client has spent his entire time in prison “working to be a better human being.”
The deaths of the twin girls and their mother went unsolved for about six years until White confessed to the killings after he was arrested in connection with the July 1995 death of grocery store owner Hai Van Pham, who was fatally beaten during a robbery at his business. Police said White also confessed to fatally beating another woman, Greta Williams, in 1989.
(LONDON) -- Iran launched missiles at Israel on Tuesday in an attack it said was retaliation for a wave of assassinations carried out by Israel over the last several weeks targeting Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon.
Iran has also said the attacks were for Israel's extensive attacks on Hezbollah, the destruction in Gaza as well as the assassinations of key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Hezbollah has clashed with Israel for decades, going back to Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon in 1978, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York City-based independent think tank.
Hezbollah and Israel have repeatedly attacked each other, trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border for months.
Tuesday’s strike marks the latest development in an intensifying series of attacks in the region.
Here’s a look at the timeline of the recent conflict:
On Oct. 8, 2023, Israel invaded the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. The invasion was in retaliation for Hamas' terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, where Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and around 250 others were taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.
Hezbollah then began renewed attacks on Israel in opposition to the Gaza invasion, and since Oct. 8, the two sides have been trading attacks with increased intensity in recent months.
In Gaza, about 41,638 people have been killed amid Israeli attacks on the region, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks against Israel until the Israel Defense Forces withdraw from Gaza.
Hezbollah controls much of the Shiite-majority areas of Lebanon, including parts of the capital, Beirut. Iran has long been known to provide support, training and weapons to the group.
The IDF said that its special operations teams have been operating in southern Lebanon since November. Hezbollah has denied this and says the IDF has not crossed Lebanon's border.
Cease-fire negotiations to end Israel's ongoing war in Gaza and return Israeli hostages have stalled after repeated attempts by the U.S. and others to mediate a deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined a cease-fire proposal concerning its operations in Lebanon.
The conflict intensified with the detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in Lebanon and Syria. Thousands of people were injured and dozens were killed across Lebanon and Syria by remotely detonated pagers on Sept. 17, according to Lebanese officials. ABC News sources confirmed it was an Israeli covert operation.
The Israeli military also ramped up its airstrikes in Lebanon in recent weeks, including striking thousands of apparent Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and killing more than 1030 people and injuring thousands more,according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Israeli officials said they believe about 30 top Hezbollah leaders have been killed.
On Sept. 26, 2024, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City that Iran "will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon."
Araghchi also warned that Israel's "crimes will not go unpunished" and said the Middle East region "risks full-scale conflict" if the U.N. Security Council does not "act now to halt Israel's war and enforce an immediate ceasefire."
On Sept. 30, the IDF announced it had begun a ground incursion into Lebanon. The IDF described the operations as "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon."
On Oct. 1, Iran launched missiles into Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the missile attack was retaliation for different assassinations carried out by Israel.
President Joe Biden said on Oct. 1 that the U.S. is prepared to help Israel defend against the Iranian missile attack.
ABC News' Meredith Deliso, Matt Gutman, Nadine El-Bawab, Emily Shapiro, David Brennan, and Julia Reinstein contributed to this report.
HOUSTON (AP) — An attorney said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee said he expects lawsuits to be filed within the next month, with most expected to be filed in New York and Los Angeles. Buzbee described the victims as 60 males and 60 females, and that 25 were minors at the time of the alleged misconduct. One individual alleged he was 9 years old when he was abused, Buzbee said. The allegations cover a period from 1991 to this year.
“This type of sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation should never happen in the United States or anywhere else. This should have never been allowed to go on for so long. This conduct has created a mass of individuals who are injured, scared and scarred,” Buzbee said at a news conference.
Following the announcement of the accusations in Texas, an attorney for Combs said the performer “cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.”
“That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court if and when claims are filed and served, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”
Buzbee said more than 3,280 individuals contacted his firm and alleged they were victimized by Combs and that after vetting the allegations, his firm decided to represent 120 people. Other cases are still being reviewed. He said some of his clients have spoken with the FBI.
The individuals that Buzbee’s firm is representing are from more than 25 states, with the majority from California, New York, Georgia and Florida.
The abuse that’s being alleged took place mostly at parties held in New York, California and Florida where individuals were given drinks that were laced with drugs, Buzbee said.
Some of the alleged conduct took place at auditions where “many times, especially young people, people wanting to break into the industry were coerced into this type of conduct in the promise of being made a star,” Buzbee said.
Combs, 54, has been locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since pleading not guilty Sept. 17 to federal charges that he used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak Offs.”
Other alleged victims have already filed lawsuits against Combs that include allegations of sexual assault.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
Combs is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112. He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.
Buzbee has also represented women who accused NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and misconduct.
(DURHAM, N.C.) -- As hospitals and health care facilities work to get back up and running after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida's Big Bend, affecting several states, the medical supply chain could be at risk.
Baxter International, a health care and medical technology company, announced this week that it must close its largest plant in North Carolina due to flooding and destruction caused by the hurricane.
The plant, located in North Cove, 60 miles northeast of Asheville, primarily manufactures IV fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions, according to Baxter. It is the largest manufacturer of such solutions in the U.S., employing more than 2,500 people, the company said.
"Our hearts and thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Helene," José Almeida, chair, president and CEO of Baxter, said in a statement. "The safety of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we operate remains our utmost concern, and we are committed to helping ensure a reliable supply of products to patients."
"Remediation efforts are already underway, and we will spare no resource – human or financial – to resume production and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need," the statement continued.
Baxter said it implemented a hurricane preparedness plan ahead of Helene, which included evacuation plans for staff and moving products to higher ground or to secure storage. However, heavy rainfall and storm surge "triggered a levee breach," which led to flooding in the facility.
Among those impacted by the Baxter plant closing is Duke University Health System (DUHS), in Durham, North Carolina, according to William Trophi, DUHS interim president vice president of supply chain.
"[Baxter has] published their action items, and they have announced to us that they're putting a hold on all distribution for 48 hours to understand what they have in their supply line, and then they're going to be setting up pretty strict allocations based on prior usage to make sure that everyone is getting their fair share based on their volume and their needs," he told ABC News.
Trophi said DUHS and Duke University have not seen major disruption to their supply chain following Helene's landfall, but notes there may be delays in the future if the Baxter plant closure lasts for several weeks, if more plants close, and depending on how long the dockworkers' strike on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast lasts.
"What we're doing internally is we're looking at conservation models, so similar with our IV solutions, we're going to look at what can we be doing differently to treat our patients in a safe, effective manner to conserve IV solutions," he said. "And we'll start to look at other high, critical, sensitive items that could be impacted by this, and look at what can we be doing differently to conserve the way in which we treat our patients in a safe, effective manner."
Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer for the Boston-based Mass General Brigham health care system, told ABC News that facilities typically begin stockpiling and taking inventory of supplies prior to a natural disaster. After the event has happened, health care centers will work to identify what products are affected by supply chain issues and which patients are using the products.
In the case of the Baxter plant, the products are primarily used by kidney patients, cardiac patients and urologic patients, Biddinger said, adding that hospitals and other health care facilities will typically try to conserve as much of the affected product as possible, and will also investigate any alternatives or substitutions for the product.
"If the shortage is so severe that we just can't continue with normal usage, even with conservation, then we have to start a process of allocating across our clinical services, of course, prioritizing lifesaving care and emergency care, and then going down our list for more scheduled or more elective kinds of procedures," Biddinger said.
Samantha Penta, an associate professor of emergency management and homeland security at the University at Albany in New York, said one really important factor to consider when understanding the implications of Hurricane Helene is just how large the affected area is.
"We're not just talking about a couple of counties. We're not even just talking about one state. This has affected multiple states very significantly," she told ABC News. "One of the things that organizations, in general, including hospitals, long-term care facilities and like – really, anything in the health care sector – does, is you can rely on neighboring facilities."
Penta said if health care facilities need to send patients to a neighboring facility because they're running low on supplies or space, or if their facility is damaged, they typically can do so. The same holds true if one facility is running low on supplies; another facility might send them some of their reserves as part of a mutual aid agreement.
But in the case of Helene, "effectively, the people who need help, their neighbors are also being affected. So, any given hospital, the closest hospitals to them, are likely dealing with the same issues," Penta said. "That further complicates it, because things have to come from even farther away, whether that's working within a network or ordering from different vendors."
Over the weekend, North Carolina became the latest state to have a public health emergency declared by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in response to Hurricane Helene.
The HHS's Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response deployed about 200 personnel to the state, including Health Care Situational Assessment teams to evaluate the storm's impact on health care facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis centers, and Disaster Medical Assistance teams to help state and local health workers provide care.
(NEW YORK) -- Oil prices climbed more than 3% on Tuesday in the immediate aftermath of an Iranian missile attack on Israel.
The spike in prices is expected to push up the price of U.S. gasoline, experts told ABC News.
Drivers could face a price increase of between 10 and 15 cents per gallon, experts estimated. The national average price of a gallon of gas currently stands at $3.20, AAA data showed.
A further escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran could send oil and gas prices significantly higher, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston.
“Clearly this will have a huge impact on gas prices,” Krishnamoorti told ABC News. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Iran said the attack on Tuesday was retaliation for a wave of assassinations carried out by Israel over the last several weeks targeting Hezbollah leaders. Israel will have a "significant response" to Iran's attack, an Israeli official told ABC News.
While sanctions have constrained Iranian oil output in recent years, the nation asserts control over the passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about 15% of global oil supply.
Passage through the Suez Canal, another important shipping route for crude oil, could be impacted by further attacks, as happened with Yemen-based Houthi attacks on freight ships earlier in the war, Krishnamoorti said.
Despite a recent uptick, the price of oil stands well below a 2022 peak reached when the blazing-hot economic rebound from the pandemic collided with a supply shortage imposed by the Russia-Ukraine war. Gas prices, meanwhile, have plummeted in recent months.
The U.S. set a record for crude oil production in 2023, averaging 12.9 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a federal agency.
The surge in U.S. production would help limit the impact of a possible supply disruption, though oil prices are set on a global market, where a major supply shock could not be entirely accounted for with U.S. oil output, Timothy Fitzgerald, a professor of business economics at the University of Tennessee who studies the petroleum industry, told ABC News.
“This is less troubling than it would’ve been a generation ago,” Fitzgerald said. “Today, we export more crude oil than we import.”
If both sides deescalate, the price of crude oil could quickly drop back to where it stood before the Iranian attack on Tuesday, Fitzgerald added.
“There would be no lasting importance of that,” Fitzgerald said.
The rise in oil prices comes at a relatively quiet period in the U.S. gasoline market. Drivers have enjoyed a sharp decline in gasoline prices over recent months, in part due to sluggish demand for gas as the busy summer traveling season has given way to an autumn slowdown.
Still, a regional war in the Middle East could upend the market and spike prices, experts said.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina condemned Iran's missile attack on Israel, calling it a "breaking point" on Tuesday and urging President Joe Biden's administration to respond.
Graham called for oil refineries to be "hit and hit hard" and said his prayers are "with the people of Israel."
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are monitoring the Iranian attack from the White House Situation Room. Biden directed the U.S. military to aid Israel's defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles.
ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
(TEL AVIV, Israel) -- At least seven people were killed and eight others injured in a stabbing and shooting attack Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, Israel, according to the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Police Spokesperson's Unit suspects terror as a motive in the incident. Both of the two alleged attackers have been killed, the unit said.
The two suspected terrorists started the killing on the city's light rail system and continued on foot before they were killed by the Municipal Security Patrol and citizens present using personal firearms, according to police.
Large police forces are present and conducting extensive searches for any additional threats.
The incident took place on Yerushalayim Street in Tel Aviv.
The attack took place just prior to a large missile launch from Iran into Israel. About 180 missiles were launched at multiple targets in Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Most of the missiles were intercepted, but "several hits were identified, and the damage is being assessed," an Israeli security official said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ATHENS – Our news partners at KETK report a wanted man is behind bars for being in possession of a stolen pickup and a large amount of suspected methamphetamine, the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office said. The sheriff’s office said investigators conducted a traffic stop at around 2:45 p.m. on Monday at the 700 block of West College Street on a pickup reported stolen out of Gun Barrel City. “Investigators made contact with the driver, Matthew Schark who was also the suspect in the theft of the pickup,” HCSO said. After Schark was taken into custody for possession of the stolen vehicle, the sheriff’s office said investigators searched the truck and discovered several packages of suspected methamphetamine. Continue reading Wanted East Texas man found with meth, stolen truck
HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the driver of the SUV that investigators believe caused the Deer Park pipeline fire earlier this month has been identified as a 51-year-old La Porte man, according to a Deer Park news release. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Jonathan McEvoy as the driver of the 2022 Lexus NX350 that struck an above-ground pipeline valve earlier this month, leading to a fire that burned for more than three days and prompted evacuations in the immediate area. Investigators utilized a technique called radiography comparison to identify McEvoy’s remains, according to the release. A police spokesperson said investigators were left with only a partial skeleton by the time the flames subsided.
Radiography comparison, according to a study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, is a technique that uses x-ray scans of skeletal remains to identify them. Similar to a fingerprint, an individual’s bone structure is unique and can be used even in advanced states of decomposition to determine identity. The events that lead up to McEvoy’s death are still under investigation, according to the City of Deer Park Police Department. Chad Richard, who witnessed the crash, told ABC13 that he and his wife watched as the SUV McEvoy’s remains were found in veered wildly through a chain link face and into the valve. His wife, Sherry Richard, said the vehicle caught their eye after they saw it was moving suspiciously slow. “It caught our eye because the car was moving so slow as we passed it,” Sherry Richard said.
HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports the state of California filed a lawsuit Monday against Houston-based oil giant ExxonMobil alleging the company engaged in a decades-long strategy to deceive consumers about the proliferation of plastic-based materials, according to a news release. California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Exxon of lying to consumers about the effectiveness of recycling plastics. Exxon, Bonta said, led consumers to believe recycling would stem the tide of plastics pollution while doing nothing to limit its production. Bonta said he is seeking to hold Exxon, which is California’s largest producer of polymer-based materials, financially accountable for the ongoing pollution crisis. “For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said in the release. “ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”
The company recently began touting a new disposal technique called advanced recycling, Banta said. Advanced recycling, a process which uses heat to break down plastic waste, is nowhere near as effective as Exxon claims, Banta said. Among other concerns, the process cannot handle large amounts of waste and would ultimately only offset plastic waste by 1% of the company’s current output, according to the release. A spokesperson for Exxon, however, said California’s recycling infrastructure was the problem, not advanced recycling. “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others,” the spokesperson said. “The first step would be to acknowledge what their counterparts across the U.S. know: advanced recycling works. To date, we’ve processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into usable raw materials, keeping it out of landfills.”
