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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your worldwide news update.
The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli airstrike Monday hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon, killing at least 21 people. It came a day after Israel's military said a Lebanon-based Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others, the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago. Israel's air defenses have performed well during the past year of war, having intercepted thousands of rockets and missiles. But at times, the systems have struggled against the drone threat which presents unique challenges. AP correspondent Joe Fetterman has more from Jerusalem. Drones are unlike rockets they fly on different flight paths. They can move in different directions. During their flight, they tend to go lower to the ground. They are slower and smaller than rockets and missiles. Taken together, this can make them much harder to detect. In fact, sometimes they're even mistaken as birds. Israel's defense minister says that the country is aware of this problem. He says people are working on a solution and he is promising a solution in the near future. AP correspondent Joe Fetterman. A top official with UNICEF says more than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks. He warns of a lost generation in the small country, grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war. UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian actions told the AP Monday that more than 100 children have been killed and over 800 wounded in the three weeks since Israel escalated its campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group, including launching a ground invasion. This is VOA News. Russia says it captured a southern Ukraine village in a push before winter comes. AP correspondent Charles De Ledesma reports. Russia says it's captured the city of Levadne in southern Ukraine. Levadne, in the Zaporizhia region, was seized by the Russians early on during the full-scale invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, but it was recaptured by Ukrainian forces during a counter-offensive in the summer of 2023. Though Russia's gains have been incremental, its steady forward movement is slowly adding up as the Ukrainians are pushed backward. I'm Charles De Ledesma. Canada and India have expelled each other's diplomats in an escalating dispute. AP correspondent Julie Walker reports. In tit-for-tat moves, Canada and India each expelled six diplomats Monday as part of an escalating dispute over last year's assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, which notified India that its ambassador was a person of interest in the assassination. India has rejected the accusation as absurd. Brigitte Gauvin, Assistant Commissioner Royal Canadian Mounted Police: "We're not here to speak specifically about the Nijjar homicide. But we wanna draw your attention and inform the public of the breadth of criminal activity that is occurring in Canada, which is a grave concern to our public safety. And what I can tell you, though, as a result of those investigations, we have uncovered connections to the government of India." The RCMP also says they have evidence leaking agents of the government of India to violent crimes committed in Canada. I'm Julie Walker. A NASA spacecraft is rocketing towards Jupiter's moon, Europa. AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports. "Three, two, one, ignition. And liftoff. Liftoff. Falcon Heavy with Europa Clipper." Scientists are almost certain a deep global ocean exists beneath Europa. If there is water, there could be life. Laurie Leshin is director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. "Even though it's a robot we're sending out into space, it's a very human endeavor to want to explore the unknown and especially to wanna understand where life came from, [where] how we originated, whether there could be other life out there." Europa Clipper won't be looking for life. It has no life detectors. But the spacecraft will zero in on the ingredients necessary to sustain life. All this will have to wait, though. It's going to take five and a half years to reach Jupiter. I'm Ed Donahue. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News |