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Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas, was killed in an airstrike in Tehran within the early hours of Wednesday morning, the group mentioned, simply hours after Israel claimed it had killed a high Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Hamas blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s dying, which one official described as a “grave escalation”. It mentioned he was focused at “his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
The twin assassinations are heavy blows to Hamas and Hezbollah, but additionally elevate the stakes for Iran, which backs each teams. They may gasoline rising fears that the battle in Gaza may escalate right into a broader regional battle.
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What has Israel mentioned? The Israeli army declined to touch upon Haniyeh’s dying. Israel vowed to kill all Hamas leaders after the 7 October assaults and its intelligence providers have a historical past of covert assaults inside Iran, principally concentrating on scientists from the Iranian nuclear programme.
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How has Hamas reacted? Haniyeh’s killing was “a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals”, a Hamas official informed Reuters. US officers have for months been main a world diplomatic effort to stop the battle in Gaza escalating right into a broader and much more harmful regional battle.
JD Vance writes glowing foreword to Undertaking 2025 chief’s upcoming guide
JD Vance endorses the concepts of Kevin Roberts, architect of Undertaking 2025, as a “fundamentally Christian view of culture and economics” and a “surprising – even jarring” path ahead for conservatives, the Republican vice-presidential nominee writes within the foreword of Roberts’ upcoming guide.
The foreword was obtained and revealed in full by the New Republic on Tuesday. Roberts’ guide is out in September. Its title was watered down just lately to take away references to “burning down” Washington.
The Trump marketing campaign has tried to distance the previous president from Undertaking 2025, a conservative roadmap for a second Trump time period that features coverage concepts unpopular with the voters Trump must win. On Tuesday, it was introduced that Paul Dans, the chief of Undertaking 2025, was stepping down from his function amid an influence wrestle over potential authorities staffing if Trump wins in November.
However Vance’s ties to Roberts, just like the foreword, make it tougher for Trump to make the case he doesn’t know what the undertaking is.
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Listed below are the features Vance praised: On two topics particularly, Vance praises the way in which Roberts lays out the stakes and his objectives: reining in massive tech firms and specializing in a Christian view of the household.
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How are issues going with the Kamala Harris marketing campaign? A Zoom name meant to rally “white dudes” in assist of Kamala Harris’s run for the White Home raised greater than $4m from about 190,000 individuals, together with a number of Hollywood stars, within the newest success for her nascent bid for president.
Kyiv hit by heavy assault from Russian drones
Russia launched waves of drones on Kyiv in what the capital’s army administration mentioned was one of many largest assaults of its form concentrating on Ukraine.
Kyiv and most of central and japanese Ukraine had been beneath air raid alert from Tuesday night time. Air defence methods round Kyiv opened fireplace, mentioned Serhiy Popko, the top of Kyiv’s army administration. “According to the operational report at this moment, there are no casualties or damage in Kyiv.”
The Ukrainian army mentioned on Wednesday morning that greater than 30 Russian drones had been destroyed.
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What’s the state of affairs on the frontlines? Russia’s defence ministry mentioned on Tuesday its forces had captured the settlement of Pivdenne within the Donetsk area of japanese Ukraine. Ukrainian army bloggers mentioned areas round Toretsk had been gripped by heavy preventing with Russian troopers making an attempt to infiltrate in small teams.
In different information …
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Far-right rioters attacked police and a mosque in Southport, UK, after a stabbing assault killed three youngsters, as misinformation unfold on-line falsely suggesting the attacker was Muslim. The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemned “thuggery” and mentioned rioters would “feel the full force of the law”.
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Kari Lake, the far-right firebrand and favourite of Donald Trump, gained Arizona’s Republican Senate main.
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As protests over Venezuela’s disputed presidential election unfold throughout the nation, opposition supporters have targeted their fury on president Nicolás Maduro’s political mentor, Hugo Chávez.
Stat of the day: Not less than 973 Native American youngsters died in authorities boarding colleges, inquiry finds
Not less than 973 Native American youngsters died within the US authorities’s abusive boarding faculty system, an official investigation discovered. “The federal government took deliberate and strategic action through boarding school policies to isolate children from their families, deny them their identities, and steal from them the languages, cultures and connections that are foundational to Native people,” mentioned the inside secretary, Deb Haaland.
Don’t miss this: Simone Biles leads USA to ladies’s gymnastics group gold at Paris Olympics
Simone Biles has gained her fifth Olympic gold medal after anchoring the US to a commanding win within the ladies’s gymnastics group closing on Tuesday in Paris. Performing to a soundtrack opening with Taylor Swift’s Prepared for It?, Biles scored 14.666, and the group erupted in applause. “I think we all had something to prove from Tokyo,” Biles mentioned. “And tonight we did just that.”
Local weather examine: Violent floods in Vermont destroy properties as two dozen rescued by boat
Vermont was hit with violent floods on Tuesday, caving in roads, crushing automobiles and pushing properties off their foundations after thunderstorms and torrential rain. The floods, almost three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl, led to dramatic boat rescues.
Final Factor: Intruder alert! Curious foxes break into the Melbourne metro tunnel
Two four-legged intruders visited the Melbourne metro tunnel this month. They had been detected by the intruder detection system, and a “quick toot” from one of many take a look at trains ensured that the foxes made it out safely from the tunnel.
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