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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your worldwide news update.
Israel extended evacuation warnings in Lebanon Thursday. AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports. The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate the city of Nabatieh and other communities in southern Lebanon that are north of the U.N.-declared buffer zone. The move is a sign that Israel may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week inside Lebanon against Hezbollah. Nabatieh is a provincial capital north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the U.N. Security Council after the 2006 war in a resolution that both sides accused the other of violating. The warning came after Israel struck an apartment building in central Beirut, killing several civilian health and rescue workers just moments from the U.N. headquarters. Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad called the strike a war crime. Residents reported a sulfur like smell following the strike in Beirut, and Lebanon's state-run national news agency without providing evidence accused Israel of using phosphorus bombs, which would be a violation of international law. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comments. I'm Karen Chammas. Israel is also weighing its options for retaliation against its arch foe Iran, which launched its largest ever assault on Israel on Tuesday. U.S. President Joe Biden was asked by reporters Thursday if he would support Israel striking Iran's oil facilities. "We're discussing that." The comments added to a surge in global oil prices and rising Middle East tensions have raised traders' worries about potential supply disruptions, but Biden added, "There's nothing gonna happen today." The president on Wednesday said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites. This is VOA News. A provincial governor in the Democratic Republic of Congo said at least 78 people drowned when a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern Congo on Thursday. Relatives sobbed on shore as victims were placed in body bags and carried away. It was not clear how many people were still missing and regional officials gave contrasting death tolls. The governor of South Kivu province said the death toll was 78 and that 278 had been on board. The governor of neighboring North Kivu province said 58 people had survived the accident and that 28 people were confirmed dead so far. Most hospitals in the Khartoum area of Sudan have been destroyed or evacuated as fighting in the capital continues. VOA gained rare access to a hospital still operating in the area. Henry Wilkins reports. ??? was injured in crossfire in Sudan's Khartoum area in early September. "The bullets were all over my body, my hands, my stomach and my legs. I lost a lot of blood. Both my legs got shot. Both of them are broken. Also one toe was amputated on this foot and two toes were amputated on the other foot." She is a patient at the Al Nao Hospital, one of only handful of hospitals still operating in Khartoum, the capital city ripped apart in Sudan's civil war. Human rights lawyers say that both sides in the conflict, the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, are responsible for the destruction of hospitals. Rights groups say military use of hospitals is banned under international law. Henry Wilkins, VOA News, Omdurman, Sudan. Dockworkers striking at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports could soon disrupt that most electable of American culinary classics: the hamburger. Reuters correspondent Lisa Bernhard has more. With more than 50 container ships already anchored or loitering off dozens of ports, a beef shortage in the U.S. could come in as soon as a week, according to food industry insiders. The port strike, which stretches from Maine to Texas, also blocks shipments of everything from automobiles to Guatemalan bananas, Italian wine to Spanish olive oil. Seafood imports and chicken exports are also being disrupted. President Joe Biden on Thursday said he believed progress was being made in the contract dispute between the International Longshoremen's Association union and their employers. Reuters correspondent Lisa Bernhard. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News. |