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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your worldwide news update.
Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire into Sunday, with Israeli warplanes carrying out the most intense bombardment in almost a year of conflict across Lebanon's south and Hezbollah firing rockets deep into northern Israel. Reuters correspondent Lauren Anthony has more. The escalating attacks come less than 48 hours after an Israeli airstrike targeting Hezbollah commanders in a suburb of the Lebanese capital. The Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday that the death toll from that strike had risen to at least 45. Friday's strike inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks last week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded. The death toll in those attacks, widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, has risen to at least 39, with more than 3,000 injured. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Reuters correspondent Lauren Anthony. Russia has launched new strikes in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that hit high-rise apartment buildings, officials said. The Saturday night attacks left at least 21 wounded. Kharkiv's City Council said 18 buildings were damaged. The second largest city has been a frequent target of Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike and urged Kyiv's Western allies to send more weapons to help it, quote, "protect lives and ensure safety." He said that "Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities." Moscow said on Sunday a firefighter was killed and two others were injured by a Ukrainian drone in the Russia-occupied Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine. This is VOA News. Sri Lanka elected a new president on Sunday after a second round of counting, the first time a recount has ever decided the result in such an election. Reuters correspondent Fiona Jones reports. Sri Lanka elected its new president on Sunday, the Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The public put faith in his pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades. Dissanayake led from start to finish during the counting of ballots, polling over 42 percent of the votes. That's despite not having any political lineage like some of his rivals in the presidential election. He knocked out incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to become Sri Lanka's 10th president. Reuters correspondent Fiona Jones. U.S. lawmakers from both major political parties have called for cooling the nation's heated political rhetoric six weeks before the November 5 presidential election. This follows a second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. VOA's Arash Arabasadi has this story. The Secret Service recently acknowledged failures in securing Trump at the first attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, in which a bullet hit his ear. Now the formation of a bipartisan task force to investigate those attempts and what's driving this wave of political violence, with both leaders speaking Sunday. Task force leader and Republican Representative Mike Kelly on ABC's "This Week": "You got to be careful of what you say and how you say it." Task force leader and Democratic Representative Jason Crowe on ABC's "This Week": "There is no place in our American society whether you're Republican and Democrat for anybody ever to take actions into their own hands and to resort to violence." Early voting is already underway in some states ahead of the November 5 election. Arash Arabasadi, VOA News. The U.N. General Assembly approved a blueprint on Sunday to bring the world's increasingly divided nations together to tackle 21st century challenges from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty. The 42-page "Pact [of] for the Future" challenges leaders of the 193 U.N. member nations to turn promises into real actions that make a difference to the lives of the world's more than 8 billion people. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA New(s). |