Zionist Terror Against Lebanese Population Goes On

 

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September 24, 2024

	By Justin Porter

Good morning. We’re covering Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and a new presidential election poll.

Plus, vintage soccer jerseys and the memories they preserve.

Tyre, in southern Lebanon, after Israeli airstrikes yesterday. Aziz Taher/Reuters

Israeli airstrikes killed hundreds in Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon killed nearly 500, including dozens of women and children, and injured more than 1,000 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It was the deadliest day of Israeli attacks there since at least 2006, when Israel last fought a war with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group. Follow live updates.

The strikes were Israel’s latest attempt to break Hezbollah’s resolve. They followed clandestine operations last week that blew up the wireless devices of Hezbollah members and killed at least 37 people. The Israeli military said that its air force had struck about 1,600 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon yesterday, adding that it would continue to do so. Here’s a map of the strikes.

So far, Israel has failed to force Hezbollah to pull back from the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah launched its own barrage at Israel yesterday, most of which was intercepted by Israel’s antimissile defense system. Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue their attacks until Israel and Hamas agree to a cease-fire in Gaza.

Evacuations: Thousands of Lebanese families have been displaced, some of whose cars and vehicles were struck as they tried to flee, according to Lebanon’s health minister. Israeli strikes also hit ambulances and fire trucks as they raced to respond.

Gaza: Israeli forces struck a school building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in central Gaza, killing a couple and their daughter and wounding several other people, according to Palestinian officials.

U.S. response: The Pentagon announced it would send dozens of U.S. troopsto the Middle East to protect the thousands of Americans stationed there.

Donald Trump in Mosinee, Wis., this month. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

New poll results are the best for Trump in weeks

The latest New York Times/Siena College polls of Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina find Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in all three states. It’s further evidence that in a sharply divided nation, the 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the tightest in history.

“We’re getting to the point in the election cycle where we’re starting to get a lot of polls — enough that it will occasionally start to feel as if the polls are swinging from left to right and back, every day,” writes our chief political analyst, Nate Cohn. “This is one of those days.”

If Trump wins those states, he won’t need many more. But in one sign of how these contests remain up for grabs, about 15 percent of voters in these states described themselves as undecided or not definitely decided. Read more of Nate’s analysis of Trump’s best poll results in weeks.

More on the U.S. election Americans head to the polls in less than seven weeks. Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s governor’s race, insisted that he will remain in the race, even after most of his staff resigned following a report linking him to disturbing comments on a pornographic website. Federal prosecutors will pursue a charge of attempted assassination against the man accused of lurking with a gun where Trump was golfing in Florida last week. They revealed he had reconnoitered the golf course for a month before his apparent attempt. Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we’ll find the answers. Stay up to date: See our poll tracker. Listen to “The Run-Up” podcast. Sign up for the On Politics newsletter.

David Dee Delgado/Reuters

Pressure mounts on Biden before annual U.N. meeting

President Biden will be under increasing pressure this week to loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons when global leaders meet today at the United Nations for their annual gathering.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, will come with what he calls a victory plan for Biden to examine. Key European leaders are pushing hard for Biden to allow him to use longer-range weapons supplied by NATO countries to hit farther inside Russia. Biden has been reluctant to give Ukraine permission to do so, careful not to escalate the war and risk a direct conflict between Moscow and the NATO alliance.

MORE TOP NEWS

Riccardo Antimiani/EPA, via Shutterstock

The Vatican: Pope Francis canceled appointments yesterday because of a mild flu before his travels to Belgium and Luxembourg later this week. United Arab Emirates: The White House hosted Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the U.A.E.’s ruler, to discuss Gaza, the war in Sudan and artificial intelligence. China: A U.S. congressional report argued that Beijing had exploited its ties with American universities to advance its military’s technology, and that further guardrails were needed. Italy: A man smashed a porcelain sculpture by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at a new exhibition in Bologna. California: The state’s attorney general sued Exxon Mobil, accusing the oil giant of overhyping the promise of recycling and spawning a plastic-pollution crisis. Germany: The center-left party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz scored a narrow victory over the far-right ethnonationalist party, Alternative für Deutschland, in a state election. Japan: A Russian military patrol plane breached airspace off the country’s northwestern coast three times, prompting Japan’s military to use a signal flare to deter it. Australia: In a rare case of legal action tied to rising prices, the government sued the grocery store giants Woolworths and Coles over what regulators described as fake discounts.

SPORTS NEWS

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Premier League: The bad blood between Manchester City and Arsenal goes to the top of both clubs. Highlights: Watch a brilliant back-heel goal by Sunderland’s 17-year-old soccer wunderkind, Chris Rigg. Formula One: Max Verstappen protested being punished by the F.I.A. for swearing.

MORNING READ

Doug Bierton’s company, Classic Football Shirts, owns about a million soccer jerseys at any given time. Jack Roe for The New York Times

Vintage soccer jerseys have become a streetwear staple and a target of major investors. But their real value, a few obsessed collectors told Rory Smith, lies in the memories and the stories they conjure.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Animal instinct: A 2-year-old Siamese cat who disappeared in Yellowstone made a 800-mile trek home to California. His owners have no idea how. Superager shark: Scientists mapped the genome of the Greenland shark, hoping to learn how it can live for up to 400 years. Food for thought: When Keith Lee, a restaurant reviewer, tastes takeout in his car, he sometimes offends whole cities in the process.

ARTS AND IDEAS

The Greek island of Sifnos. Louisa Gouliamaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Tourism’s next battlefront: running water

As a prolonged heat wave scorched Greece in mid-June, residents in the small island of Sifnos faced a reality they long expected and feared: Their taps ran dry. For 10 days, homes and vacation rentals lacked fresh running water.

Water scarcity is becoming the next battleground in overtourism, as residents in popular vacation destinations grapple with the impact of climate change and compete with tourists to get their share of a dwindling supply. The situation is particularly alarming on the Greek islands, many of which do not have the infrastructure to absorb tens of thousands of tourists.

But governments dependent on tourism dollars are fearful of deterring visitors, making them reluctant to impose restrictions on hotels and restaurants. In Sicily, for example, the local authorities have admitted to prioritizing water supply to hotels. Earlier this year in Barcelona, only residents, not tourists, faced water restrictions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Con Poulos for The New York Times

Cook: This lemony white bean soup is brightened by lemon and herbs and packed with hearty greens.

Read: Sally Rooney’s latest novel, “Intermezzo,” which comes out today, considers love in its various permutations.

Give: Wirecutter has pulled the best of its tested products for 25 gifts guaranteed to delight for years.

Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Justin

Reach Justin and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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