|
This is VOA News. I'm Joe Ramsey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he is ready to press forward with Israel's war against Hamas terrorists. AP correspondent Ben Thomas reports. Trying to bolster U.S. support, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a fiery speech to Congress, saying Hamas could end the war in Gaza today by surrendering, disarming and releasing all hostages. "But if they don't, Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas's military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home. That's what total victory means and we will settle for nothing less." I'm Ben Thomas. Police used pepper spray on some of the thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress. Shortly before Netanyahu began speaking, U.S. Capitol Police said some protesters had become violent. Protests were peaceful for the first few hours until about a half hour before the speech, when demonstrators began a march and faced a blockade from police who used pepper spray, injuring some protesters. U.S. President Joe Biden will say he is "passing the torch to a new generation" as he explains his abrupt departure from the 2024 presidential race to Americans for the first time on Wednesday night in a White House address, capping over 50 years of politics. The 81-year-old Biden rejected weeks of pressure from Democrats to step aside after a disastrous debate performance on June 27, saying at one point only the "Lord Almighty" could convince him to go. This is VOA News. The 20-year-old gunman who tried to kill former U.S. President Donald Trump did an online search of the John F. Kennedy assassination around the time he began to focus attention on the Republican presidential candidate, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday. Reuters correspondent Alex Cohen has more. That's according to FBI Director Christopher Wray, who testified before Congress Wednesday about the agency's investigation into Thomas Crooks. "On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, 'How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?'" Wray said Crooks fired at least eight rounds from his rooftop position, wounding the Republican presidential candidate in the ear at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one rally attendee and wounding two others. In terms of a motive, Wray said investigators are digging hard but have yet to come up with anything. He described the shooter as a "loner" and said there was no evidence at this point that anyone else was involved. Reuters correspondent Alex Cohen. A plane crashed on Wednesday just after taking off from Nepal's capital, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot, who was the lone survivor. Civil Aviation authorities say all the people aboard the plane were Nepali, except for one passenger who was a Yemeni national. Police say authorities have pulled all 18 bodies from the wreckage at Kathmandu's main Airport. A trainload of diesel fuel has arrived in Malawi for the first time in 21 years, and officials say it signals the end of fuel shortages. Lameck Masina reports from Blantyre. Clement Kanyama is the chief executive officer for the National Oil Company of Malawi. He was speaking Tuesday as local television broadcast images of (the) train, carrying 580,000 liters of fuel as it was arriving in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital. "This is an organized form of transport with fixed routes and schedules contributing to (the) speedy delivery of this goods." Kanyama said the shift is also a cost cutting measure for the country, which has long transported (the) fuel by road. Lameck Masina, VOA News, Blantyre. The Olympic men's soccer tournament got off to a violent and chaotic start on Wednesday, with Morocco's shocking 2-1 win against two-time gold medalist Argentina. Some Morocco fans crashed the pitch to protest a late goal by Argentina at the opening match of the Paris Olympics men's soccer tournament. It was an angry and bizarre scene that left the game suspended for nearly two hours, with only minutes remaining. I'm Joe Ramsey. |