Afghanistan denies permission to Vistara’s Frankfurt-bound plane to use airspace after bomb threat
There was no immediate comment from the airline on the matter. Nearly 100 flights have received bomb threats this week but they turned out to be hoaxes.
Israel ‘demolished’ watchtower in latest attack on UN Lebanon peacekeepers
UNIFIL says Israeli forces ‘deliberately’ damaged one of its positions in southern Lebanon. United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon have said the Israeli army “deliberately” damaged one of their positions in southern Lebanon, in the latest incident reported by the force that remains deployed in all of its positions. An Israeli “army bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position” in southern Lebanon, the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, adding that its forces remain in all positions “despite the pressure being exerted”. “We remind the [Israeli forces] and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” the statement said. It called on Israel to stop breaching UN positions, which is considered “a flagrant violation of international law”. Israel had recently claimed that the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was attacking Israel from positions located in close proximity to posts of the UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon – an accusation that Hezbollah denies. On Wednesday, UNIFIL said that an Israeli tank had fired on one of its watchtowers in southern Lebanon. This came after UN peacekeepers in Lebanon had come under fire several times days before, with at least four soldiers injured. Last week UNIFIL said two Israeli tanks “destroyed” the main gate at one of its positions in southern Lebanon and “forcibly entered the position”. Israel has fired on several front-line UNIFIL positions since it launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon in early October, claiming it aims to dismantle the infrastructure of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese group that has been trading fire with the Israeli army in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s strikes have been widely condemned, including by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said that attacks against UN peacekeepers were a violation of international law and “may constitute a war crime”. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he demands Guterres get UNIFIL troops out of “combat zones”, alleging that their presence was providing a “human shield” for Hezbollah. But the UN maintains that the mission – with members from 50 countries – is not going anywhere. UNIFIL has monitored the border region between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. More than 10,000 troops from more than 50 countries have been deployed to the mission. Netanyahu has been pushing for the removal of UN peacekeepers as Israel escalates its attacks in southern Lebanon. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump visits McDonald’s as Harris speaks to churchgoers in swing state push
United States presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spent the day rallying supporters in battleground states that will be critical in deciding who wins the White House, a little more than two weeks from Election Day. Former Republican President Trump made his push for voters in the state of Pennsylvania on Sunday while US Vice President Harris, a Democrat, spent the day in Georgia. At a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia, an employee showed Trump – a well-known fan of fast food – how to dunk baskets of fries in oil, salt them and put them into boxes using a scoop. “It requires great expertise, actually, to do it right and to do it fast,” Trump said, putting away his suit jacket and wearing an apron over his shirt and tie. “I like this job,” he added. The visit came as Trump has tried to counter Harris’s accounts of working at the fast-food chain while in college, an experience that Trump has claimed – without offering evidence – never happened. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle said the McDonald’s stop was a “photo op” that allowed him to “needle” Harris over the issue. “It really gave him a chance to just go after her in that way,” Lavelle said. Harris looks on as Stevie Wonder sings Happy Birthday to her during a service at a church in Jonesboro, Georgia, October 20 [Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters] For her part, Harris, who marked her 60th birthday on Sunday, participated in two worship services outside of Atlanta. At Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro, Georgia, music icon Stevie Wonder performed, singing his hit Higher Ground and a version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. He also sang Happy Birthday to Harris. Earlier, the Democratic candidate spoke at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, where she drew a sharp contrast to the harsh and divisive rhetoric of the current political climate. “At this point across our nation, what we do see are some trying to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” Harris said, without mentioning Trump by name. “At this moment, our country is at a crossroads and where we go is up to us.” Democrats have long sought to portray Trump as a threat to democracy, particularly after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that the 2020 contest, which the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden, was marred by widespread fraud. On Sunday, the ex-president told reporters in Pennsylvania that he would respect the results of next month’s vote “if it’s a fair election”. Experts have raised concerns that Trump is laying the groundwork to contest the November election results should he lose to Harris. Recent polls suggest the two presidential candidates are neck-and-neck as Election Day nears, with the race expected to come down to how they fare in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, among others. Later on Sunday, Trump held a town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was then expected to attend a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Harris said she would campaign on Monday with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney – a staunch Trump critic – in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Adblock test (Why?)
Priest shot dead in southern Mexico after leaving Sunday service
Community remembers Marcelo Perez as outspoken champion of Indigenous, labour rights in Mexican state of Chiapas. A priest known for his activism in defence of Indigenous and labour rights in Mexico has been killed after leaving church services, local authorities said. Catholic priest Marcelo Perez was returning home from church on Sunday when two men on a motorcycle pulled alongside his vehicle and shot him, prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said. “Father Marcelo has been a symbol of resistance and has stood alongside the communities of Chiapas for decades, defending the dignity and rights of the people and working toward true peace,” the Jesuits, Perez’s religious order, said in a statement. The killing comes amid a period of heightened violence in the southern state, which recorded about 500 murders between January and August this year. Along with the rights of Indigenous people and farmworkers, the Jesuits said Perez was also a vocal critic of organised criminal groups. “This region doesn’t just suffer from murders, but also forced recruitment (into criminal groups), kidnappings, threats and ransacking of its natural resources,” the religious order said. Mexican human rights activists and environmental defenders have long condemned violent harassment and intimidation by criminal groups and state security forces. Perez was himself a member of the Tzotzil Indigenous peoples and had served the community in Chiapas for two decades, developing a reputation as someone who could help settle disputes, especially over land. “We will collaborate with all the authorities so his death doesn’t go unpunished and those guilty face the courts,” Chipas Governor Rutilio Escandon said in a social media post, calling the assassination “cowardly”. But in Mexico, accountability for murder is the exception rather than the rule, with about 95 percent of all homicides going unsolved. Rights activists and Indigenous land defenders face high levels of violence and intimidation in Mexico. A 2023 Amnesty International report found that those groups face high levels of criminalisation and persecution as part of a “broader strategy of disincentivizing and dismantling advocacy for land, territorial and environmental rights”. The rights group also said Mexico “ranks among the countries with the highest number of murders of environmental defenders”. On Sunday, the United Nations human rights office in Mexico said “several national and international organizations had publicly warned about the growing number of threats, attacks and acts of criminalization against” Perez, the priest. It said those threats “have intensified in recent years due to his tireless work in favor of justice and the rights of Indigenous peoples”. Adblock test (Why?)
J-K terror: Doctor, 5 labourers killed as terrorists open fire at construction site in Ganderbal
The terrorists had attacked a camp where workers of a private company were working on an under-construction tunnel in the Gund area, as per official reports.
Elon Musk to upgrade security after left-wing magazine labels him ‘Public Enemy No. 2’
Elon Musk said Sunday he planned to upgrade his security after a left-wing German magazine labeled him an enemy of the people. Musk held a town hall discussion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday in support of former President Donald Trump’s candidacy. While talking to the crowd, Musk commented on the heightened political atmosphere as the nation approached the November presidential election. He noted he was recently on the cover of Der Spiegel, which labeled him “Public Enemy No. 2” – the first being Trump. “I’m like, enemy number 2 of what? Uh, democracy? I mean I’m pro-democracy. I’m literally trying to uphold the Constitution and ensure we have a free and fair election,” Musk said, eliciting applause from the crowd. ELON GOES ON CAMPAIGN BLITZ AGAINST GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS, VOWS TO REVEAL BIZARRE ALLEGED SCHEMES “I’m definitely upgrading my security. Guess I better cancel that open-car parade,” Musk said, a seeming nod to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The SpaceX CEO said he was a “little shook” by the “level of vitriolic hatred on the left.” ELON MUSK KICKS OFF DAILY MILLION-DOLLAR GIVEAWAY FOR SIGNERS OF PRO-TRUMP PETITION “They claim they’re tolerant. And yet, they’re incredibly intolerant and spewing hate,” Musk said. “Whereas on the right I see people who tend to regard people on the left as, well, misguided. But they don’t hate them… but the amount of hate coming from the left is like, wow, next level.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Der Spiegel for a response. Former President Trump has survived two assassination attempts – one during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, and another around two months later while he was playing a round of golf at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Musk officially endorsed Trump over the summer, when the 45th president survived the first assassination attempt, and has since joined the campaign trail in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania to rally support and encourage people to vote. Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Vance takes faith approach after Harris mocked pro-life protesters at rally: ‘Jesus is King’
An attendee at Sen. JD Vance’s Wisconsin rally shouted “Jesus is King!” during his speech on Sunday afternoon, with Vance echoing the attendee and repeating the same phrase – a different approach than Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to take last week. Vance shared that, while he doesn’t talk about his faith often, he returned to his faith as a young man and is a devout Christian. He said he was baptized in 2019. “I say this as a Christian, as a person who was baptized for the first time just a few years ago. There is something really bizarre with Kamala Harris’ anti-Christian rhetoric and anti-Christian approach to public policy,” Vance explained. This comes after Vice President Kamala Harris seemingly told two Christian students at her Wisconsin rally last week that they were “at the wrong rally” when they shouted “Jesus is Lord” and “Christ is King.” PRO-LIFE PROTESTERS SPEAK OUT AFTER ALLEGEDLY BEING MOCKED, PUSHED AT HARRIS RALLY: ‘WE DID GOD’S WORK’ As he continued speaking about faith and politics, he was interrupted by an attendee who shouted “Jesus is King.” “That’s right. Jesus is King,” Vance responds. Vance then addressed a viral video of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wearing a Harris-Walz campaign hat while feeding Doritos to a kneeling podcast host in what some critics said made a mockery of a sacred Christian rite. “I don’t think that we’ve seen anything like this in modern American politics,” Vance said. “Gretchen Whitmer does this really bizarre thing where she acts like she’s given somebody communion, but it’s a Dorito. And of course, Gretchen Whitmer isn’t like a minister of anything except for, you know, a church I don’t necessarily want to talk about, but think about how sacrilegious that is and think about how offensive that is to every person.” “Frankly, whether you’re a person of Christian faith or not, Donald Trump and I are going to fight for your right to live your values, because that’s what the First Amendment protects. And I think whether you’re a Christian, a Catholic or any other faith or no faith at all, when you see an American leader, when you see a surrogate of Kamala Harris insulting people of the Christian faith, I think that we should say to every single one of those people, you’re fired. We’re not giving you any more power,” Vance continued. CATHOLICS HOLD ‘ROSARY RALLY’ OUTSIDE GRETCHEN WHITMER’S HOUSE AFTER DORITOS VIDEO SPARKS BACKLASH Whitmer has since apologized for the video and emphasized that the video was not meant to mock people of faith. Vance continued speaking about the support the Trump administration has for religious people, unlike the Harris campaign, he said. “There are a lot of Catholics. So I think rightfully feel abandoned by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s leadership. And they’re just looking for somebody to protect their rights and make this country an affordable and decent place to raise a family,” Vance said during his rally in Waukesha. “And that’s all I think that’s true of a lot of Catholics. It’s true of non-Catholics, too. But we cannot have an American government that is persecuting Christians for living their faith. We should be rewarding people and encouraging people to live their faith.” Vance’s comments come after two pro-life Wisconsin college students insisted that they were doing “God’s work” by attending Harris’ rally on their university’s campus and shouting pro-life, Christian messages last week. GRETCHEN WHITMER APOLOGIZES FOR DORITOS VIDEO CRITICS SAY MOCKED CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT In video footage of the rally, the student’s voices are heard shouting the phrases. Harris, pausing her speech, turned her attention to them, and said, “You guys are at the wrong rally.” She continued as the crowd roared, “I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street” – referring to Trump’s rally. Luke Polaske, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse junior, shared a vivid account of the incident from his perspective, stating that he and fellow UW-La Crosse junior Grant Beth were approximately 20 to 30 yards away from Harris in the small venue. In detailing the encounter, he described his perceived interaction with the vice president. “There’s a lot of controversy that says she wasn’t talking to us or [that] we left. We didn’t get kicked out. Well, I can speak on Grant and I’s behalf,” Polaske said. “On video, Grant’s getting pushed and shoved, and there’s about five seconds before she tells us to go to a small rally down the street. You can see on the video, she waves. She was actually waving to me. I took this cross off my neck that I wear and, as we were getting asked to leave, I held it up in the air and waved at her and pointed at her, and she looked directly in the eye, kind of gave me an evil smirk.” “I just want to clear that up and confirm that she 100% was talking to us.” Fox News Digital reached out to Kamala Harris’ campaign for comment and did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.
Heavy showers lash Mumbai, IMD issues yellow and red alert in THESE areas for next two days, check details
For most districts in Maharashtra, the IMD issued a yellow alert, warning of thunderstorms, lightning, and moderate rainfall with gusty winds
What Donald Trump said he’s getting Kamala Harris for her birthday
Former President Trump, who spent part of his afternoon serving food from a drive-thru window at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, wished Vice President Kamala Harris a Happy Birthday, joking that he might get her flowers and fries. Trump made a stop in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon to operate the fry cooker and serve McDonald’s orders to customers going through the drive-thru. He even told customers as he handed them their food that the order was on him. Throughout the afternoon, the former president and current presidential candidate would talk with people standing on the other side of the drive-thru lane, some of whom consisted of members of the press and photographers. As Trump wrapped up his time serving up Big Macs and fries, he took several questions from the press pool, including one person who mentioned it was the vice president’s birthday today. TRUMP TEASES HE WILL ‘DO EVERYTHING’ WHILE WORKING BEHIND MCDONALD’S COUNTER IN CRUCIAL SWING STATE “It’s Kamala’s Birthday?” Trump replied. “She’s 60 years old? Yes, I would say, ‘Happy Birthday, Kamala.’“ “She’s turning 60? I think I’ll get her some flowers. Maybe I’ll get her some fries… give her some McDonald’s fries,” he added. “Happy Birthday, Kamala. Happy Birthday.” Fox News Digital has reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment. CRUNCH TIME: HARRIS TEAMING UP WITH OBAMAS NEXT WEEK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL With just over two weeks to go until Election Day, Trump remains locked in a tight presidential race with Harris and continues to claim the Vice President never worked at McDonald’s. Harris is campaigning to succeed President Biden in the White House and has spotlighted her middle-class upbringing and her time working at McDonald’s while working on her undergraduate degree in the 1980s. While on the Howard Stern show earlier this month, the radio show host asked Harris about her time working at McDonald’s. CAMPAIGN BATTLE BETWEEN THE BILLIONAIRES: MARK CUBAN AND ELON MUSK HIT THE TRAIL FOR HARRIS AND TRUMP “I mean, I was doing the fries, and you got to watch the timer, and it’s, it’s hard work,” Harris told Stern. “But honestly, Howard, I will say in all seriousness, the point about McDonald’s for me is… I was a college kid, and it was spending money. “There were people who were working there, [and] that was the source of their family’s income…and that’s the thing that I think that’s my takeaway about that experience, as much as anything, which is we still got a lot of work to do to make sure that folks cannot just get by, but get ahead,” Harris said. But Trump claims she is not telling the truth about working in the fast-food industry. He told “Fox and Friends” on Friday he was going to go work at McDonald’s on Sunday “because she lied.” “You don’t think she ever worked in McDonald’s?” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked. “I know she didn’t. We checked it out,” Trump said. “They said she never worked here.” Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Arab Americans sour on Democrats amid war in Middle East: Activist says Trump outreach has been ‘surreal’
An old adage suggests that foreign policy doesn’t decide elections. “It’s the economy, stupid,” Clinton campaign strategist James Carville famously proclaimed in the lead-up to the 1992 elections. But this year’s nail-biter presidential election could come down, in part, to war in the Middle East – and whether Vice President Kamala Harris can recapture support from the historically Democratic Arab-American community. And according to activists in swing states, the Trump team is seizing on Arab Americans’ sour feelings about the Biden-Harris administration. “For Democrats, outreach is pretty null towards the grassroots,” Samraa Luqman, a Dearborn-based Arab-American activist told Fox News Digital. “The Republicans’ outreach has been like nothing I have ever seen,” said Luqman, who wrote in Bernie Sanders in 2020 and is now voting for former President Donald Trump. “The people that are surrounding the president have been in communication with grassroots organizers, local leaders, people like myself,” she went on. “I’m really not somebody on the national stage. . . . And yet, here I am with access” to those like Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence, and Massad Boulos, father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany. Grenell, who may well find himself in a Cabinet-level job if Trump is elected, and Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman, have been leading the outreach to Arab American communities in swing states and “they’ve gotten progressives like myself on board to say that this is the right person for the job at this time, considering the alternative.” For Luqman — who supports Medicare for all and student debt forgiveness – hers is a vote of protest more than an enthusiasm for Trump. “It’s really become an issue about genocide and how to hold administrations accountable for it, simply because we cannot reward an administration for genocide.” To Luqman and Palestinian supporters in the U.S., President Joe Biden’s criticisms of Israel’s offensive campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon ring hollow when the U.S. continues to provide aid without conditions to the war effort. NETANYAHU HITS BIDEN ADMIN, SAYS ISRAEL – NOT US – WILL DECIDE HOW TO HANDLE IRAN Biden is a “completely owned dog to Bibi,” said Luqman, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump, she said, “is not.” “Trump is a wild card, and we saw him sour on Bibi towards the end of his presidency.” “Perhaps he would say his America-first policy means that we are going to keep our billions at home,” she went on. “Perhaps he would say, you know, the whole ‘peace through strength’ . . . I told you to do something, and you didn’t do it, then possibly withholding the military aid would come next.” As for what Trump might do better, “It really comes down to personality.” Michigan, which Biden narrowly won in 2020, is a crucial battleground state this election. It has the second-highest population of Arab American residents – north of 300,000. Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes in 2016 over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and then lost the state four years later by nearly 154,000 votes to Biden. And while Arab Americans also historically favor Democrats, new polling suggests that could change. Of likely voters in the community, Arab Americans favor Trump over Harris 46% to 42%, according to new polling by the Arab American Institute. “This is a shift that started several years ago, around 2022, when there was sexually explicit material in books in public school libraries, and the community felt, you know, [they wanted] to assert parental rights. They did not want their children exposed to these at whatever age it was,” said Luqman. “I’m not one of those people that was in those buckets. I am very liberal. But once Oct. 7 happened, that solidified support for Republicans among some people within this community.” Last month, Democratic Mayor Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck, Michigan, a town where 60% are believed to be Muslim Americans, announced his endorsement of Trump. AS GAZA WAR DRAGS PAST 1 YEAR MARK, HOPE FADES FOR A DEAL TO BRING HOSTAGES HOME SOON Biden won 60% of the Arab American vote in 2020, but support from that community has cratered since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. The National Uncommitted and Abandon Biden movement launched a campaign calling on voters to cast uncommitted ballots in swing state primaries to send a message to Democrats, and more than a million did so. Trump has said that for a Jewish American not to vote for him “shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” His campaign frequently suggests that Harris favors the Palestinian cause over the Israelis. But in April, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt “Israel is absolutely losing the PR war,” and criticized the images being shown of Gaza in ruins. “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory,” Trump said, without directly answering whether he was “100 percent with Israel.” Trump recently said that a post-war Gaza could be “better than Monaco.” “It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything,” he told Hewitt earlier this month. “They never took advantage of it. You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place,” he said. Trump has blamed the current unrest in the Middle East on Harris and Biden for loosening sanctions on Iran, thus emboldening its proxies to carry out the attack last year. But his growing support among Arab Americans is a stark shift from the post 9/11 years and comes despite a history of anti-Muslim remarks and a travel ban on people from Muslim-majority nations in his first presidential administration. And it’s a reflection of how Harris refusing to put any daylight between herself and Biden could be damaging. After Luqman’s efforts to get the party to abandon Biden, “I think I could have considered possibly voting