geneva_convenience

The Israeli military spokesperson announced, under the "permitted to publish" clause, that two soldiers from the Golani Brigade, Battalion 13, were killed when a drone launched from Iraq exploded in a military base in the Golan.

The Israeli Army Radio said there was no prior warning to the soldiers as an (Iraqi) drone exploded inside a base, killing two soldiers and wounding 24 others from the Golani Brigade, detailing that the drone entered the Golan Heights airspace on Wednesday night coming from Iraq.The radars failed to detect it, it maintained

Last week, ProPublica detailed how the government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded in the spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza and that weapons sales should be halted.

The records and interviews also show that the pressure to keep the arms pipeline moving also comes from the U.S. military contractors who make the weapons. Lobbyists for those companies have routinely pressed lawmakers and State Department officials behind the scenes to approve shipments both to Israel and other controversial allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia.

When one company executive pushed his former subordinate at the department for a valuable sale, the government official reminded him that strategizing over the deal might violate federal lobbying laws, emails show.

In one previously unreported memo from November, a group of experts across multiple bureaus said they had not been consulted before several policy decisions about arms transfers immediately after Oct. 7 and that there was no effective vetting process in place to evaluate the repercussions of those sales.

That memo, too, seemed to have little impact. In the early stages of the war, State Department staff worked overtime, often after hours and through weekends, to process Israeli requests for more arms. Some in the agency have thought the efforts showed an inappropriate amount of attention on Israel.

The Israelis, however, felt different. In late December, just before Christmas, staff in the arms transfers bureau walked into their Washington, D.C., office and found something unusual waiting for them: cases of wine from a winery in the Negev Desert, along with personalized letters on each bottle.

The gifts were courtesy of the Israeli embassy.

U.S. dock workers and port operators reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a crippling three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the two sides said Thursday.

The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, including a worker on the picket line who heard the announcement. That would raise average wages to about $63 an hour from $39 an hour over the life of the contract.

The deal ends the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century, which blocked unloading of container ships from Maine to Texas and threatened shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts, triggering a backlog of anchored ships outside major ports.

Russia has urged its citizens to leave Israel immediately, following the escalating military tensions with both Hezbollah and Iran.

Yesterday, Anatoly Viktorov, Moscow’s ambassador to Tel Aviv, recommended that Russian nationals depart Israel without delay.

“We advise our citizens currently in Israel to seriously consider leaving the area,” Viktorov added.

Oct 3 (Reuters) - A self-driving Tesla carrying a passenger for Uber rammed into an SUV at an intersection in suburban Las Vegas in April, an accident that sparked new concerns that a growing stable of self-styled "robotaxis" is exploiting a regulatory gray area in U.S. cities, putting lives at risk.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk aims to show off plans for a robotaxi, or self-driving car used for ride-hailing services, on Oct. 10, and he has long contemplated a Tesla-run taxi network of autonomous vehicles owned by individuals.

Do-it-yourself versions, however, are already proliferating, according to 11 ride-hail drivers who use Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Many say the software, which costs $99 per month, has limitations, but that they use it because it helps reduce drivers' stress and therefore allows them to work longer hours and earn more money.

Yoon, who posts YouTube videos under the banner "Project Robotaxi," was in the driver's seat of his Tesla, hands off the wheel, when it entered the intersection in a suburban part of Las Vegas, according to footage from inside the car. The Tesla on FSD navigated the vehicle at 46 mph (74 kph) and did not initially register a sport-utility vehicle crossing the road in front of Yoon. At the last moment, Yoon took control and turned the car into a deflected hit, the footage shows.

"It's not perfect, it'll make mistakes, it will probably continue to make mistakes," Yoon said in a post-crash video. Yoon and his passenger suffered minor injuries and the car was totaled, he said.

Yoon discussed using FSD with Reuters before he publicly posted videos of the accident but did not respond to requests for comment afterward.

KYIV, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Russian forces launched a major drone attack overnight on 15 Ukrainian regions, causing damage to energy infrastructure and residential buildings, authorities said on Thursday.

The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 78 out of 105 Russian drones during the assault, with 23 more likely impacted by active electronic jamming.

The drones damaged power lines and substations' equipment in the Kyiv, Odesa and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in the past 24 hours, Ukraine's energy ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

The attacks caused temporary disruption of railway services in the southern Odesa region as well as power cuts for households, it said.

Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said power had been restored to more than 3,000 consumers in his region following the overnight attack, though a further 2,000 people remained without power.

Authorities said they had downed around 15 drones over Kyiv and its surroundings during an air alert that lasted over five hours. The central Ukrainian regions of Poltava, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad all reported minor damage to property.

Satellite images show the damage to the Israeli occupation's Nevatim air base in southern occupied Palestine, which is one of the most important and largest strategic air bases in "Israel", as a result of Iran's True Promise 2 operation.

Satellite images published by the Associated Press (AP) showed the damage to the Israeli occupation's Nevatim air base in southern occupied Palestine after it was targeted by a massive barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles as part of Operation True Promise 2.

Historically, the base was established in 1947 on the ruins of a runway built by the British occupation and used by the zionist Sherut Avir air force belonging to the Haganah terrorist organization which ethnically cleansed Palestine during the Nakba of 1948 alongside other zionist terror organizations, while the base was renovated in 1983 with funding from the United States.

Iran's Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that 90% of the missiles launched in the operation struck their targets, stressing that the attack was carried out within the framework of the right of legitimate defense and in accordance with international laws.

TOKYO (AP) — An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights, Japanese officials said.

No one was hurt, and there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan, Land and Transport Ministry officials said.

An investigation by the Self-Defense Forces and police confirmed the explosion was caused by a 500-pound U.S. bomb and there was no further danger. Officials were determining what caused its sudden detonation.

Lebanon foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN that Nasrallah had agreed to a 21-day ceasefire with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days before his death. The temporary ceasefire was called for by US President Joe Biden, France President Emmanuel Macron, and other allies on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month.

Habib said, "We agreed completely. Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire but (after) consulting with Hezbollah. The (Lebanese House) Speaker Mr Nabih Berri consulted with Hezbollah and we informed the Americans and the French about what happened. And they told us that Mr Netanyahu also agreed on the statement that was issued by both (US and French) presidents (Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron)...They told us that Mr Netanyahu agreed on this and so we also got the agreement of Hezbollah on that and you know what happened since then."

Following the Hezbollah leader’s death, Iranian authorities are thoroughly investigating possible infiltration within its ranks, including the Revolutionary Guards to senior security officials. They have focused on those who travel abroad or have relatives outside of Iran. As per reports, Tehran grew suspicious of certain members of the Guards who have been travelling to Lebanon. One of these members reportedly asked about Nasrallah’s whereabouts and how long he would remain in those particular locations.

Following Operation True Promise II on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Baqeri stated that Iran exercised self-restraint after the Israeli murder of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh but ran out of patience following its assassination of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.

Iran had targeted military infrastructure including the Mossad intelligence agency, the Nevatim Air Base, Hatzor Air Base, radar installations and groupings of Israeli tanks, despite having the option of launching a much broader attack, he added.

“We had the capability to attack the regime’s economic infrastructure, but we only targeted military bases,” the top general stressed.

“If the Zionist regime, which has reached madness, was not controlled by the United States and Europe, and sought to either continue its atrocities or take action against our territorial integrity and sovereignty, tonight’s operation would be repeated with multiple magnitude and all of their infrastructures would be struck,” he cautioned.