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Palestinian gunman kills Israeli in West Bank; soldiers kill motorist
Police reported that violence flared up in the West 'Bank occupied on Sunday after a Palestinian suspected of being a gunman shot and killed an Israeli. Israeli soldiers then killed a Palestinian driver who, according to the military, was attempting to run over them. According to Israeli police and military, the gunman fired from his car at Israelis who were gathered near a spring in the vicinity of the settlement Neve Tzuf near Ramallah. The medics that arrived on the scene of the shooting found a man inside a car with a critical gunshot injury. Police said he was pronounced deceased at the hospital. Police said that the gunman was arrested a few hours after he was located at a Ramallah hospital. The military announced shortly after the shooting that it had "eliminated", a Palestinian driver who attempted to ram soldiers in the West Bank, near the settlement Ganim. It said that no soldiers were injured. It was not immediately able to verify the soldiers' story. The fatal incidents on the eve of the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur were not clearly connected. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that he had instructed security agencies to bolster their forces in the region and conduct arrests. Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, praised the shooting but did not take responsibility for it. Since Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli military offensive against Gaza, violence has increased in the West Bank. West Bank violence has seen a rise in militant settler attacks on Palestinians as well as Israeli military raids on the West Bank and Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
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Ten lions suspected of poisoning found dead at Tanzania wildlife reserve
The area's management authority reported that ten lions were found dead this week in Tanzania's Ngorongoro wildlife reserve. Initial findings suggest they may have been poisoned. The deaths have raised concerns about the conservation of lions within one of Africa's best-known wildlife ecosystems. The poisoning of large carnivores in East Africa is a "recurring" threat. It's often linked to conflicts involving predators and livestock owners. In a late-Saturday statement, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority said that the lions had been discovered on 18 September in Ndutu?area in Endulen Ward of Arusha Region. The authority stated that preliminary findings suggested the animals died after ingesting a poison. It added that they had launched an investigation to identify the cause and those responsible. Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in northern 'Tanzania is one of the top tourist attractions. The area is home to a variety of wildlife, including lions. elephants. buffaloes. and endangered black rhinos. Four suspects were arrested last month in an investigation into the deaths of 18 elephants that occurred across the border in Kenya.
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Sources say that China Rare Earth Group is in negotiations to purchase MP Materials' shareholder Shenghe Resources.
Two sources familiar with the matter said that the state-owned China Rare?Earth?Group was in negotiations to buy Shenghe Resources. This would consolidate Beijing’s control over the rare earth sector, and give Beijing a stake in Washington’s rare Earth play. The deal, if successful, would transfer control of Shenghe’s stakes in foreign companies, including a 3 percent share of US company MP Materials. This firm counts the US Department of Defense, its largest shareholder, after an investment made last year. Shenghe Resources confirmed that it had been made aware of "false reports" in overseas media about a rare earth enterprise group allegedly planning to buy a majority stake in a company, and indirectly own interests in its overseas assets. Shenghe Resources filed a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Sunday. "Upon written request by the company, its controlling shareholder Institute of Multipurpose Utilization of Mineral Resources responded in writing explicitly stating there are no plans for the company's control stake to be transferred to external parties." Sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue said that talks between the two companies began earlier this year. One person said that China Rare Earth Group wanted to acquire a controlling interest. Sources did not know the exact date of announcement or completion. China Rare Earth would gain control of one of the few remaining Chinese rare earth mining companies with private ownership. This would bring to an end a decade-long effort to consolidate this sector under state control. Beijing would also have a tighter grip on elements vital to electric vehicles, windmills, electronics, and the defence sector. This control has been used to great effect by China in its trade dispute with the US. Shenghe purchased Australia's Peak Rare Earths last year. The deal could be affected by the possibility of a state-owned Chinese rare earth company sharing space with the US Department of Defense on a registry of shareholders. Sources did not know what was going to happen with Shenghe's stakes and assets overseas. MP has said that neither Shenghe or the Chinese government have any control over its operations. China Rare Earth Group, and the Ministry of Commerce have not responded to requests for comment. According to one source, a deal would also give Shenghe better acces to the quotas Beijing uses to control supply. Beijing gives quotas to the state-owned companies, and then they are allocated to subsidiaries. China has not made public the quotas set for mining, smelting, and separation. They are closely watched as a barometer of global rare earths supplies. China Rare Earth Group is the largest supplier of rare earth heavy elements in China. It was formed in 2021 following a reorganization between five state-owned rare-earths companies.
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Drones strike oil refinery in Russian Capital, killing two people
Authorities said that two people were killed in one of the largest drone attacks by Ukraine on the Moscow Region and an oil refinery was also hit. This comes as Russia is entering the final day of its parliamentary election. Ukraine and Russia continue to attack each other's infrastructure, despite a Monday announcement by US President Donald Trump that they would stop. Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor, said in his Telegram channel, that the largest Ukrainian drone attacks were thwarted. Russia had downed more than 1,600 unmanned aircraft since Saturday, among them 450 drones headed to Moscow. Sobyanin stated that several drones had reached the premises of a?oil refinery, and one of them hit an apartment. He added that there were "no injuries" in the city. He said: "The unprecedented attack was clearly designed to disrupt the elections." "The enemy failed to achieve that." Witnesses heard explosions in Moscow, and saw smoke plumes billowing out of the site of the Moscow Refinery. It was not immediately clear how much damage had been done to the facility. Ukrainian strikes have knocked out an important part of Russia's refining capacity. This has led to oil shortages and fuel price hikes in many regions, across all 11 time zones. According to the latest data, the Moscow?plant that has been?targeted multiple times processed 11.6 millions metric tons in 2024. It produced 2.9 million tonnes of gasoline and 3.2 million tons diesel. Ukraine has not yet commented on these attacks. Both sides claim they don't target civilians. The governor of the greater Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, stated that in addition to two deaths, 400 people including 70 children were evacuated from a 21 storey apartment building located in the Ramenskoye District and several homes were damaged.
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Three people are killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes, say medics
Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes in Gaza Strip killed at least 3 Palestinians on Saturday. Basir al-Bursh was killed in an air strike near the Jabalia Refugee Camp, a north-east Gaza refugee camp, according to medics and relatives. Munir al-Bursh is the director-general of the health ministry for the territory. Israel's military did not provide any further details about the strikes on Basir al-Bursh or other militants. Hamas, a militant Palestinian group which runs Gaza, has not yet commented. Munir al-Bursh, according to his family and doctors, lost a child?in a December 2023 Israeli airstrike. He was injured in the?attack. Al-Bursh, a father, was seen in video footage obtained by carrying his son, wrapped up in a blanket and accompanied by other mourners, as the ambulance rushed it to hospital. Al-Bursh said in the video: "I was in the tent with him, and he told me, Dad, that they would target us both, you and I together. I said it's fine, we can 'go to heaven together. Al-Bursh added, "He was beaten and martyred when he went outside the tent. May God have mercy on his soul." Al-Bursh, who was a patient at Al Shifa Hospital when mourners paid their respects to Al-Bursh, could barely stand. Civil defence and medics confirmed that a strike in Shejaia east of Gaza City killed a man, while another struck a vehicle in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City killing a person. This brings Saturday's death count to at least 3. The?Israeli army said that the Sheikh Radwan attack targeted a Hamas terrorist. The explosion?turned the vehicle into a mangled wreck. Palestinian authorities claim that more than 73,000 Palestinians have died in Israel's attack on Gaza. The assault was launched after Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 Israelis in southern Israel back in October 2023. The US-brokered ceasefire agreement of last year called for the eventual reconstruction and rebuilding of the territory. However, negotiators failed to agree on terms for Hamas's?disarmament and Israel's withdrawal. According to Gaza's health officials more than 1,300 Palestinians have died in Gaza, mostly civilians. The Israeli military claims that four Israeli soldiers were killed.
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Ravindra, Cricket-New Zealand’s Ravindra is doubtful for the India series following an injury sustained in a promotional shoot
Rachin Ravindra, an all-rounder for New Zealand, dislocated his left shoulder while filming a diving catching during a promotional shoot. This puts him in doubt if he is selected to play next month's Twenty20 series against India. New Zealand Cricket released a statement saying that Ravindra suffered an injury to his right shoulder during a Sky commercial shoot on Wednesday. It said that "Ravindra's return to play will be determined by the progress he makes during his first few weeks of rehabilitation." Ravindra is a 26-year-old left-handed finger-spinner who has played for New Zealand across?115 matches in all formats. He is a versatile 'batter,' who can fit?into either the middle or top order. New Zealand's top run-scorer at the 50-over World Cup 2023, and highest wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup this year where they reached the final. Mike Sandle, New Zealand's performance manager, said: "We are devastated for Rachin." As with all commercial shoots that involve our players, safety measures were in place and agreed upon by all parties. The accident was a bit of an accident and we'll review our procedures in the future. New Zealand will host India in five T20 matches starting October 22. Then, five One-Day Internationals followed by two tests and five T20 matches the following month.
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Trump and Thune discuss bill to reduce data center electricity costs
Donald Trump stated on Friday that he is 'engaging with Republican Senate Majority leader John 'Thune about bringing a bill to the floor to protect households from rising electricity costs tied to the expansion data centers. "Well, I am talking to him about that." Trump said to reporters on Friday: "We'll see what happens." Both parties are facing constituents' growing concerns about rising electricity costs due to the industry’s increasing power demand. The Republican-majority House of Representatives passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417-3 earlier this week. This act would force state utility regulators, to determine whether or not large electricity consumers, such as data centers, are responsible for the incremental costs of building power infrastructure to serve them. The Senate Republicans' attempt to pass the bill quickly failed on Thursday. Senator Martin Heinrich, top Democrat on Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources blocked the 'proposal' after its sponsor, Republican senator Jon Husted requested unanimous consent for a voting without a rolling call. Heinrich stated that the bill was not far enough because it relied on voluntary commitments from states and data centre developers. Trump is a strong supporter of data center development, believing it to be critical for leadership in artificial intelligence. Trump said that data centers are the "oil" of the next 20 to 25 years, and they make people and countries wealthy. According to a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, only 11% of Americans support building an AI data center in their locality.
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Two dead and seven injured after Russian glide bomb strikes apartment in Sumy, Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, along with other officials, said that a Russian glide bomb struck an apartment building on Friday in Sumy, in northern Ukraine, killing two and injuring seven. Three of the injured were in a serious condition. Zelenskiy denounced "absolutely the inhuman strike" on Telegram, the messaging app. He claimed that emergency crews rescued four victims after the attack, and warned that others may still be under rubble. The third and fourth floor were directly?hitted by an aerial blast. He wrote that four people, including a young child, had already been rescued. "There may still be people underneath the rubble." Regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov stated that three of the seven injuries were in a serious state. A 13-year old girl was among the injured. Zelenskiy said that Russian forces had also?hit a clinic in Pavlohrad, a city located centrally, and a logistic centre just outside Kyiv. However, he did not provide any details about casualties. Vitali Karabanov said that an earlier Russian attack on the northeastern Ukrainian town of Balakliia resulted in the deaths of two people and the injuries to two others, Vitali Karabanov was the head?of the city’s military administration. Sumy near the Russian border has been a Russian target frequently in an area where Moscow claims it wants to create a buffer zone. Balakliia in the?Kharkiv Region was taken by Russian forces during the first weeks of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. However, Ukrainian troops later recovered the area in a massive counteroffensive. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the Ukrainian capital Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile earlier in the evening. However, there were no reports of injuries or damage. Both Russia and Ukraine deny that civilians are being targeted in this war.
What are Harris' company views? Friendly to Huge Tech, aggressive in environment battle
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is possibly poised to become the Democratic presidential candidate in the November election. Here are her views and actions connected to some key business topics.
BIG TECH
As a prospect for California attorney general, Harris supposedly assured prospective donors that she was a capitalist. She has generally been seen as relaxing with prominent tech executives and financiers, the local market in her home Bay Area. She participated in the wedding of Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, is the primary legal officer for Uber.
She likewise accepted contributions from Reid Hoffman, a prominent investor and co-founder of Linkedin, as well as billionaire John Doerr and investor Ron Conway. Big tech executives also supported her, consisting of Sheryl Sandberg, then chief operating officer of Facebook, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce.
TECH POLICY
As California attorney general, Harris sued eBay in 2012, alleging anticompetitive hiring practices surrounding a. no-poaching arrangement with Intuit that led to a nearly. $ 4 million settlement in 2014.
Among her signature problems was reducing the circulation. of pornography on social networks, especially revenge porn, a. practice including the posting of explicit pictures without the. subject's authorization. She took credit for a pressure project that. caused Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft. and others taking procedures to remove specific specific. images.
I can not highlight enough how leaders in technology have. stepped up, stated Harris at a news conference then. I'm not. recommending any of them mored than happy to get a call from the AG. saying, 'Be available in, we wish to talk with you.' However they all did. They did.
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
Harris' climate and energy positions are similar to. President Joe Biden's. However throughout her career she has made. clear that clean energy and ecological justice are. top priorities.
When Biden revealed Harris as his running mate in the 2020. race, he highlighted her hard position versus big oil when she. served in crucial roles in California, keeping in mind claims she had. released both as San Francisco's district attorney from 2004 to. 2011 and then as the state's attorney general of the United States until January. 2017, when she ended up being a U.S. senator. As California Attorney. General, Harris won multimillion-dollar settlements with oil. majors Chevron and BP over alleged pollution violations from. underground fuel tank.
She is an advocate of the Biden administration's method to. expand offshore wind energy and other renewables with lease. auctions and aids, striking a contrast with Trump, a fossil. fuel booster who has criticized offshore wind and other tidy. energy technologies.
In 2015, Harris made her launching at global environment. negotiations, revealing a $3 billion commitment to the Green. Environment Fund and making her very first major international speech. concentrated on environment.
As vice president, Harris has likewise been associated with. Epa policy rollouts that dealt with. long-standing environmental justice issues, such as a. multibillion-dollar program to change lead pipes and lead paint. around the nation.
WALL STREET
Harris was understood to be difficult on huge banks as California. Attorney General. She walked away from talks in 2011 in between. large banks and state chief law officers over a settlement that. would require lenders to assist customers harmed by home. foreclosures and predatory financing practices.
Banks later more than quadrupled the money promised to. assistance Californians minimize the quantity they owed on their. home loans.
Under Harris, California introduced a criminal investigation. into Wells Fargo in 2016 in connection with allegations the bank. opened countless unapproved consumer accounts and credit. cards.
A number of significant Wall Street names are reported to be. encouraging of Harris. Semafor reported on Sunday that numerous. Wall Street donors stated they were preparing to contribute to. Harris, saying those expected to contribute included Blair. Effron at Centerview, Jonathan Gray at Blackstone, Peter Orszag. and Ray McGuire at Lazard and Roger Altman at Evercore.
Centerview, Lazard, Evercore and Blackstone were not. immediately available for comment.
PHARMA
Harris has opposed health care market debt consolidation over. issues larger companies would cause higher rates for. consumers.
As California Chief Law Officer, she effectively brought. a number of antitrust suits versus drugmakers, health insurers,. and hospital systems, including starting deal with a landmark. case against Northern California's 24-hospital Sutter Health. system that was ultimately brought by her successor. She. released similar investigations into other large operators in. the state. Focuses consisted of costs of out-of-network care and. mergers at lots of levels of the system, such as physician groups.
She won settlements from market heavyweights consisting of a. $ 23.5 million settlement with McKesson and $241 million from. Quest Diagnostics in a lawsuits alleging inflated drug rates. and unlawful overcharges to California Medicaid system. A. veteran Affordable Care Act supporter, she likewise just recently. pointed to caps on insulin rates as an indication of Biden-Harris. administration policy towards keeping healthcare budget friendly.
EXPERT SYSTEM
As vice president, Harris has been alerted versus the. existential threat of AI and warned tech execs that they have. a moral responsibility to defend against AI's possible dangers.
She backed an AI executive order from Biden that looks for. stronger defenses for consumers, singling out AI-generated. rip-off calls and the impacts of unlabeled AI-generated material.
(source: Reuters)