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Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, faced off Tuesday night in their first and only debate, sparring over issues like foreign policy, border security, abortion and climate change and introducing themselves and their records to the American people with just five weeks to Election Day. 

Vice presidential debates are traditionally seen as second-tier, but with former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris unlikely to debate again before voters cast their ballots Nov. 5, the stakes were raised for their running mates as they attempted to tackle the most important issues facing the nation. 

CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the debate in New York City Tuesday night, which was filled with more substantive policy discussion than personal jabs on a day that began with nearly 50,000 unionized dockworkers going on strike from Maine to Texas and ended with Iran launching its largest attack on Israel in history, firing nearly 250 ballistic missiles at the Jewish State. 

The first question for Walz and Vance was whether they would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran. 

A visibly shaky Walz had a rough start to the debate, pausing and stumbling over his words as he spoke about the need for ‘steady leadership’ from the White House. Instead of answering the question, Walz took a shot at Trump. 

‘What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,’ Walz said, pointing to Trump’s debate performance against Harris last month.  ‘It’s clear, and the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago. A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.’ 

But Vance, in his first answer, defended Trump, saying Trump ‘delivered stability to the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence.’ 

‘People were afraid of stepping out of line,’ Vance said. ‘Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you needed peace through strength. They needed to recognize that if they got out of line, the United States’ global leadership would put stability and peace back in the world.’ 

As for a preemptive strike, Vance said, ‘It is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are, when they’re fighting the bad guys.’

Walz fired back. He slammed the Trump administration for pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, saying Iran is ‘closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership,’ adding Harris is providing ‘steady leadership.’ 

Vance fired back. 

‘You blame Donald Trump, but who has been the vice president for the last 3½ years? And the answer is, your running mate, not mine,’ Vance said. 

Vance, again defending Trump, said he ‘consistently made the world more secure.’ 

‘Gov. Walz can criticize Donald Trump’s tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world,’ Vance said. ‘Donald Trump has already done it once before.’ 

Vance also urged voters to ask themselves, ‘When was the last time that an American president didn’t have a major conflict break out?’ 

‘The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president,’ Vance said. 

The debate shifted to the ongoing crisis at the southern border, a top issue for voters. 

Vance said he has already been to the border more than ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris, while touting Trump’s plan to secure the border. 

But Walz blasted Trump for his alleged efforts to get Republicans to vote against a border bill. 

‘As soon as it was getting ready to pass and actually tackle this, Donald Trump said no, told [lawmakers] to vote against it, because it gives him a campaign issue,’ Walz said. ‘What would Donald Trump talk about if we actually did some of these things?’

On the same topic, moderators asked Vance whether he and Trump would support family separation as part of Trump’s proposed ‘mass deportation’ should he be elected. 

‘We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost,’ Vance explained. ‘Some of them have been sex trafficking. Some of them, hopefully, are at homes with their families.

‘Some of them have been used as drug trafficking mules. The real family separation policy in this country is, unfortunately, Kamala Harris’ wide open southern border. And I’d ask my fellow Americans to remember when she came into office, she said she was going to do this. Real leadership would be saying, ‘You know what, I screwed up. We’re going to go back to Donald Trump’s border policies.’ I wish that she would do that. It would be good for all of us.’ 

Walz pushed back, saying children have not been used as ‘drug mules’ and defending Harris, saying she was attorney general in California and ‘prosecuted transnational gangs for human trafficking and drugs.’ 

Walz also hit Vance over claims he had made about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, saying he had demonized them.

‘Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed. You’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans,’ Vance said.

At that point, moderators tried to correct Vance, but the GOP vice presidential nominee pushed back, reminding the moderators that they said they would not be fact-checking the candidates.

The moderators said many Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio, have temporary legal status. Vance jumped in to ‘say what’s actually going on.’

While explaining the process and tying it to a Harris-backed process, the moderators spoke over him, sarcastically thanking him for ‘describing the legal process’ before they cut off his microphone as Tim Walz attempted to argue with him.

‘We have so much we have to get to. Thank you so much for explaining the legal process,’ Brennan said before asking O’Donnell to ask the next question.

As for the issue of abortion, another top issue for voters this cycle, Walz maintained that he and Harris are pro-choice, while Vance said Republicans need to ‘do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they, frankly, just don’t trust us.’ 

‘And I think that’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do. I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. I want us to support fertility treatments. I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies,’ Vance said. ‘I want to make it easier for young families to afford a home so they can afford a place to raise that family. And I think there’s so much that we can do on the public policy front just to give women more options right now.’ 

Vance echoed Trump’s view of abortion, supporting the Supreme Court’s decision to return the issue of abortion to the states, while supporting exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. 

‘The proper way to handle this, as messy as democracy sometimes is, is to let voters make these decisions,’ Vance said. ‘Let the individual states make their abortion policy. And I think that’s what makes the most sense in a very big, a very diverse — and let’s be honest — sometimes, a very, very messy and divided country.’ 

Meanwhile, the moderators switched to questions of leadership, pressing Walz on whether he was actually in China for the Tiananmen Square protests as he had previously claimed. 

A visibly nervous Walz attempted to explain the discrepancy, ultimately saying he ‘misspoke’ and was not there until later that year. 

And the question for Vance was about his past criticisms of Trump. 

Vance said, at the time, he disliked Trump because he ‘believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record.’ 

‘Donald Trump delivered for the American people rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans, a secure southern border. A lot of things, frankly, that I didn’t think he’d be able to deliver on. And, yeah, when you screw up, when you misspeak, when you get something wrong and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people about it,’ Vance said. 

Meanwhile, Vance offered his sympathies to Walz during the part of the debate focused on gun violence, when he learned Walz’s son had witnessed a shooting.

Walz said his 17-year-old son ‘witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball.’

‘I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting. I’m sorry about that. Christ, have mercy,’ Vance said.

The two spoke about school shootings and their plans to solve gun violence.

‘We have to make the doors locked better. We have to make the doors stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger, and, of course, we’ve got to increase school resource officers. Because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience,’ Vance said.

Walz said the conversation was a good start but had to go further.

‘Even though we have a high gun ownership rate in the country, there are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference. It’s not infringing on your Second Amendment. And the idea to have some of these weapons out there, it just doesn’t make any sense,’ he said.

Vance was pushed on past comments in which he said he would not have voted to certify the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Vance fired back at the assertion that Trump could pose a ‘threat to democracy,’ saying he believes ‘we actually do have a threat to democracy in this country.’ 

‘But, unfortunately, it’s not the threat to democracy that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to talk about. It is the threat of censorship. It’s Americans casting aside lifelong friendships because of disagreements over politics. It’s big technology companies silencing their fellow citizens,’ Vance said. 

Walz redirected the discussion to Jan. 6, 2021, blasting Trump and Republicans for allegedly denying the events of that day. 

‘I will tell you this, that when this is over, we need to shake hands this election, and the winner needs to be the winner. This has got to stop. It’s tearing our country apart,’ Walz said. 

Vance replied, saying it is ‘really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January the 20th.’ 

‘As we have done for 250 years in this country, we are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election. And, of course, I hope that we win, and I think we’re going to win,’ Vance said. ‘But if Tim Walz is the next vice president, he’ll have my prayers. He’ll have my best wishes, and he’ll have my help whenever he wants it.’ 

But Vance reminded Americans that ‘for years in this country, Democrats protested the results of elections.’ 

‘Hillary Clinton in 2016 said that Donald Trump had the election stolen by Vladimir Putin because the Russians bought like $500,000 worth of Facebook ads. This has been going on for a long time, and if we want to say that we need to respect the results of the election, I’m on board,’ Vance said. ‘But if we want to say, as Tim Walz is saying, that this is just a problem that Republicans have had, I don’t buy that, governor.’

As the debate came to a close, Vance and Walz both promised voters a new direction for the United States. 

‘Kamala Harris is bringing us a new way forward,’ Walz said. ‘She’s bringing us a politics of joy. She’s bringing real solutions for the middle class. And she’s centering you at the heart of that, all the while asking everyone, join this movement. Make your voices heard.’

Vance also gave a message of change to the voters.

‘We need change. We need a new direction. We need a president who has already done this once before and did it well. Please vote for Donald Trump,’ Vance said. ‘And whether you vote for me or vote for Tim Walz, I just want to say I’m so proud to be doing this, and I’m rooting for you.’

Walz entered the debate with better poll numbers than Vance.

According to the latest Fox News national poll, Walz was slightly above water with a 43% favorable rating and a 40% unfavorable rating. Vance stood in negative territory, at 38%-50% favorable/unfavorable.

Heading into the debate, Vance had been talkative, sitting for scores of interviews and taking plenty of questions from reporters on the campaign trail. 

Both running mates get right back on the campaign trail Wednesday in two of the key seven battleground states that will likely determine whether Harris or Trump succeed President Biden in the White House.

Vance holds campaign events in Auburn Hills and Marne, Michigan. And Walz takes part in a campaign bus tour swing through parts of central Pennsylvania, which kicks off at the airport in Harrisburg, the state capital.

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Republican lawmakers and top voices praised Ohio Sen. JD Vance for ‘spitting the cold, hard truths’ as he sparred with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the vice presidential debate in New York City.

‘Senator JD Vance spitting the cold hard TRUTH on the debate stage,’ Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. ‘Total domination and we are only 20 minutes in.’

The debate in New York City on CBS News was Walz and Vance’s only debate prior to the monumental election on Nov. 5.

‘Tim Walz is as radical as they come on the issue of immigration,’ Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X. ‘As governor of Minnesota, he supported free health care, free college tuition, and driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. Innocent Americans have been assaulted & murdered because of this border crisis.’

The debate began with CBS News moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan asking the candidates about their Middle East policy after Iran attacked Israel with a massive missile barrage.

‘Tim Walz’s answer on Israel was incomprehensible. Like Kamala–Walz has no idea what he is talking about,’ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X. ‘Kamala and Walz would make the chaos in the Middle East worse.’

‘Iran rained missiles down on Israel TODAY, 1,350 days into Kamala Harris’ tenure as Vice President, so naturally Tim Walz says it’s Donald Trump’s fault,’ Trump campaign senior adviser Tim Murtaugh wrote on X. 

‘JD knocks it out of the park with first question!!! Tim Walz implodes on first question in presentation, communication, and substance,’ Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on X. 

Republican voices highlighted the Kamala Harris campaign’s immigration policy. Immigration is a top issue for American voters this year, as a record number say the situation at the southern border is a major problem or an outright emergency, according to the latest Fox News national survey. 

‘Law enforcement has been attacked. Deadly fentanyl has taken the lives of thousands of Americans,’ Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott wrote on X. ‘Kamala Harris & Tim Walz support open border policies. They will make the border crisis WORSE.’

‘How can Tim Walz pretend Kamala is tough on the border when she allowed more than 16,000 sex offenders and 13,000 murderers to cross the border?’ Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on X. ‘A vote for Kamala and Tim Walz is a vote for open borders.’

The candidates turned their attention to abortion, with Republicans criticizing Walz’s abortion stance.

‘He is better in our toughest issues than most republicans are on our best issues. I told you so!!!’ Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X. 

‘Democrats always resort to killing babies every time they are losing. And then lie and call it ‘reproductive freedom.’ There is nothing reproductive about abortion,’ Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. ‘Democrats view unwanted babies as a life they can throw away and call it a choice. The truth is motherhood is not something to throw away, neither are babies.’

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Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., met face to face on Tuesday night in New York City for the only vice presidential debate before the election. 

The event covered a variety of subjects ranging from immigration to climate change to abortion as the two lesser known politicians sought to make their introductions to American voters before election day. 

Here are the top moments from the debate: 

1. JD Vance fact-checks CBS News moderators

After CBS News’ Margaret Brennan offered an impromptu fact-check in response to Vance describing cities being overwhelmed by illegal immigration, noting that many Haitians in Springfield, Ohio have been granted a legal status, Vance hit back at her for violating the terms of the debate. 

‘Margaret, the rules were that you are not going to fact-check. And since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,’ he said. ‘So there’s an application called the CBP one app where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand.’

2. In show of compassion, Vance tells Walz he is sorry that his son witnessed a shooting

Vance told Walz that he was sorry to hear that his son had been witness to a shooting, in a moment of civility that was particularly frequent during the vice presidential debate. This civility has also been less and less common during presidential debates, which have proven contentious in recent election cycles. 

‘I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting, and I’m sorry about that,’ the senator told Walz. 

‘I appreciate it,’ Walz said. 

‘Christ have mercy,’ Vance remarked. 

3. Vance says he thinks Walz wants to solve border crisis—but Kamala Harris doesn’t

‘The American citizens have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border. It is a disgrace, Tim,’ Vance said during the debate.

‘And I actually think I agree with you,’ the Ohio senator said, adding, ‘I think you want to solve this problem.’

‘But I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.’ 

4. Walz claims there will be pregnancy registry in Trump-Vance administration but Vance pushes back 

Walz claimed there would be ‘a registry of pregnancies’ under what he said was Trump and Vance’s Project 2025. The Project 2025 is an endeavor of conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.

‘It’s going to make it more difficult, if not impossible, to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access, to infertility treatments,’ he said. 

But Vance denied this claim. ‘No, certainly we won’t,’ he pushed back at the statement. 

5. Walz refers to his frequent note-taking, which was mocked by Trump

Walz referred back to his notes in one answer on Tuesday night, after frequently scribbling down observations during the debate. 

‘I made a note of this,’ he said. 

‘Economists can’t be trusted. Science can’t be trusted. National security folks can’t be trusted,’ he listed, referencing Vance’s skepticism of those heralded as experts. ‘Look, if you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does.’

Even Trump poked fun at the noticeable amount of notes that the Minnesota governor was taking, writing on Truth Social, ‘Walz is taking so many notes – Never seen a Candidate take more! He needs the notes to keep his brain intact.’

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Aboard an aging Boeing 707, thousands of feet above the Red Sea, I don a set of high-tech 3D goggles and stare at the small TV monitor recessed in a bank of retro dials and switches.

Saudi Arabia’s amber desert slides by to my right, Egypt’s coast to my left, then a monstrous F35 fighter jet fills the tiny screen.

I am with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – the first foreign journalist to be taken on a combat mission more than a thousand miles from Israel aboard a fighter jet refuel tanker. 

Israel has been engaged in an escalating war since Hamas’ October 7 attack last year – not just in Gaza, but in Lebanon with Hezbollah, which began attacking Israel October 8; in Yemen with the Houthis, who have launched long-range attacks at Israel’s main population centers; even in the Syrian and Iranian capitals.

Israel’s response to those attacks have killed nearly 42,000 in Gaza and more than 1,000 in Lebanon. Deadly bombing campaigns in Yemen have destroyed critical infrastructure in a war-torn country that has for years been one of the worst humanitarian cases in the world.

Israel’s invitation to join this mission came with no detail about the plane’s destination. As I climb the plane’s rickety steps, I have no idea where I am going or what this IDF flight will reveal about military operations.

Israeli Air Force security regulations are so tight neither I nor Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the IDF spokesman accompanying me, are allowed to bring our cellphones aboard.  Neither am I allowed to bring a camera or photojournalist.

Except for the cockpit, I have access to the more than 50-year-old former commercial airliner, and its commanders, under the condition that they not be named.

Even without a camera, this access is the only up-close opportunity to scrutinize and speak with those on the front lines of Israel’s several-front war.

In its new guise as an Israeli tanker, signs remain of the aircraft’s past life, a reminder of its age. The overhead call buttons depict a woman – sexism long since banished from our skies.

In all other ways, the aircraft is unrecognizable from its heyday carrying fare-paying passengers. The seats are stripped out, its long body fitted with huge, pressurized fuel tanks, essential for Israel to project its firepower.

Flying 1,200 miles (1,500 kilometers), the refueling mission I discover I am joining is the IDF’s longest-range combat mission since a 1985 raid on Tunis.

Shoshani reminds me of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s words to the United Nations General Assembly the day before. “There is no place … that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said, referring to Iran and the wider Middle East.

For more than an hour and half, Israeli F35 fighter jets, each worth more than $100 million, close in behind the 707 tanker, nudging toward its trailing fuel pipe.

The squadron commander, a 15-year refueling veteran, stares through his 3D goggles, merging two camera images. He jockeys the two long levers beside his seat and steers the nozzle toward the gas-hungry fighter jet’s fuel port.

No part of this is easy, he tells me. The biggest challenge, he says, is making sure they load enough fuel, and timing the mission to the minute, so the F35s arrive on target with a full tank at precisely the moment their intelligence tells them it’s the best time to attack.

When he shows me a map of the mission, I realize we are on the way to Hodeidah Port in Yemen, controlled by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.

Shoshani tells me the reason for this mission, is that over the past two weeks the Houthis have fired three long-range missiles, all intercepted near Tel Aviv.

Starting with attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the Houthis say they are acting out of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Their flag bears the phrases: “Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews.” But experts say the popular fight in the name of Gaza’s Palestinians has also helped the group build support in Yemen and gain international acclaim.

The Houthis claim that their most recent attack, launched late Saturday, targeted Netanyahu as he arrived back from New York at Ben Gurion International Airport just outside Tel Aviv.

An impact in this area could have caused huge civilian casualties and is the reason why, 16 hours later, this mission was deployed.

As the last of the F35s decouple from the fuel feed, the squadron commander visibly eases in his seat, pushes back his goggles, and stretches his shoulders. Each jet is on the nozzle for about 3 minutes, requiring intense focus.

We begin circling, waiting for fighter pilots to deliver their payloads. Any attack from the ground could cost them vital fuel as they try to evade being shot down and require a refill to get back to base.

Twenty minutes later we’re headed north, no top-ups needed.

I ask the lead pilot on the tanker, a reservist veteran aviator, about the challenges of such a mission and his feelings when civilians are killed. We don’t want to kill civilians, he tells me, and we use all the intelligence we have to avoid it.

I point to the high death tolls in Gaza and Lebanon from Air Force strikes. We are targeting the Houthis, he tells me, they are firing missiles at our civilians, endangering them.

By the time we land, safely back in southern Israel, news of the strike is out. The Houthi TV channel is showing images of huge plumes of fire and smoke from Hodeidah Port.

The IDF says they targeted “power plants and a seaport in the areas of Ras Issa and Hodeidah,” adding the Houthis use the port to “transfer Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military needs, and thus also oil.”

According to Houthi officials, the F35s I saw being refueled struck a power station and fuel store in Hodeidah, killing a port official and three engineers.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi released a statement after the strike: “We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there with precision.”

“This is not a message; it is an action. An action that carries a message with it,” Halevi said.

On the flight, Shoshani told me the message was for Iran too, a warning that while Israel is bracing for retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in Lebanon, they want the group’s sponsor, Iran, to stay out of the fight.

This embed wasn’t just an object lesson in the lengths Israel will go to to punish its enemies, but real-time evidence that dormant adversaries are emerging from the shadows, and Israel’s war to thwart them is becoming regional.

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The bombs, known colloquially as “bunker busters” for their ability to penetrate deep underground before they detonate, were also fitted with the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) – a precision guidance kit that converts unguided, or “dumb” bombs, into “smart” munitions that can precisely strike a target – according to Ball. On one plane fitted with bombs, pictured taking off in the video, Ball identified at least four as BLU-109s with JDAM kits.

Other types of large bombs may have been used in the operation, Ball added, but only the BLU-190s were visible in the footage. The munitions contain 535 pounds of explosives, significantly less than MK84s, another type of 2,000-pound bomb frequently used by the Israeli military. “BLU-109s give up explosive weight to be able to penetrate targets better than a MK84,” Ball said.

“[It] fits with the strike profile and the penetrating fuze settings and large warhead required to produce that sort of crater,” Bronk said. He added that the combination of BLU-109 bomb and JDAM kit were “what you’d expect for going after a buried, hardened target like that.”

Addressing reporters Saturday, Brig. Gen. Amichai Levin, commander of Israel’s Hatzerim Airbase, said that “dozens of munitions hit the target within seconds with very high precision,” adding that was what was “required to hit this deep underground.”

The Israeli military has repeatedly used 2,000-pound bombs during its deadly campaign in Gaza. Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of such heavy munitions for the huge death toll.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures from the health ministry there. Israel launched its ground offensive and aerial bombardment of the strip in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

The use of 2,000-pound bombs, which are mostly manufactured by the US, can cause high casualty events in part due to the enormous scale of their impact. The weapon’s blast, or lethal fragmentation radius – an area of exposure to injury or death around the target – is up to 365 meters (about 1,198 feet), or the equivalent of 58 soccer fields.

In May, the Biden administration said it had paused a shipment of the bombs to Israel over concerns of their potential use in the Rafah incursion and their risk to civilian harm.

Israel’s strikes in Lebanon continued at pace over the weekend, killing more than 100 people and wounding more than 350 others in the country on Sunday. The Israeli military said it was striking Hezbollah, including in attacks by fighter jets on about 45 targets near a village in southern Lebanon.

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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen denied violating any rules as she and her National Rally party and two dozen others went on trial on Monday, accused of embezzling European Parliament funds, in a case that has the potential to derail her political ambitions.

Arriving at the court in Paris, Le Pen said, “we have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament” and vowed to present “extremely serious and extremely solid arguments″ in the trial.”

The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pen’s political rivals as she is a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027.

It comes as a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives just came into office in the wake of June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial could prevent National Rally lawmakers, including Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in Parliament as they would be busy focusing on the party’s defense.

Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee.

The National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. The National Rally was called National Front at the time.

Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, denies wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven.

“Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition,” she argued in her defense. “You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each person’s skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination.”

If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) each. Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pen’s goal to mount another presidential bid after Macron’s term ends. Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

She served as party president from 2011 to 2021 and now heads the group of RN lawmakers at the French National Assembly.

Despite her denial, her party has already paid back 1 million to the European Parliament, the Parliament’s lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. Of that amount, 330,000 euros were directly linked to Marine Le Pen’s alleged misuse of funds.

A longstanding controversy

The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities about possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front.

Schulz also referred the case to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate probe into the matter.

The European Parliament’s suspicions were further heightened when a 2015 organizational chart showed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party – roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff.

A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to different MEPs than the ones they were actually working for, suggesting a scheme to divert European funds to pay party employees in France.

Alexandre Varault, a spokesperson for the National Rally who was elected to the European Parliament in June, told The Associated Press that Le Pen will attend the first day of the trial, adding that he hopes for the acquittal of all the defendants.

Misuse of public funds alleged

Investigating judges concluded that Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and instructed MEPs to hire individuals holding party positions. These individuals were presented as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality, were allegedly working for the National Rally in various capacities.

The European Parliament’s legal team is seeking 2.7 million euros in compensation for financial and reputational damages. This figure corresponds to the 3.7 million euros allegedly defrauded through the scheme, minus the 1 million euros already paid back.

During the 2014 European elections, the National Front won a record 24 MEP seats, finishing first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the center-right and the Socialists. This surge resulted in a substantial financial windfall for the party, which faced severe financial problems at the time.

An audit of the party’s accounts between 2013 and 2016 revealed that it was running a deficit of 9.1 million euros by the end of 2016. Yet, the party still had a cash balance of 1.7 million euros and had lent 1 million euros to Le Pen’s 2017 presidential campaign, while also holding 87,000 euros in loans to Cotelec, its funding association.

At the time, the party was also indebted to a Russian bank for 9.4 million euros, a loan taken out in 2014 for 6 million euros.

Suspected systemic practice

The investigation uncovered many irregularities involving prominent party members.

Thierry Légier, the long-time bodyguard of Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie, was listed as his parliamentary assistant. But his resume did not reference this role, and he made no mention of it in his 2012 autobiography. Légier admitted during the investigation that he was not interviewed and signed his employment contract without fully understanding his official role.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the National Front from 1972 to 2011, will not appear in court alongside his former colleagues due to health concerns. Now 96, he was deemed unfit to testify by a court in June. He has 11 prior convictions, including for violence against a public official and hate speech.

He has denied wrongdoing during his time as party leader, stating that the “pool” of assistants was common knowledge. “I did not choose which assistants were assigned to me. That was decided by Marine Le Pen and others. I only signed the contracts,” he said.

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The Russian government wants to earmark 32.5% of its spending for defense in 2025, a record amount and up from a reported 28.3% this year, as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine.

The government’s draft budget released Monday proposes spending just under 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion) on national defense. That is about three trillion rubles ($32 billion) more than was set aside for defense in 2024, which was the previous record.

The Ukraine war is Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both sides, with Ukraine getting billions of dollars in help from its Western allies.

Russia’s forces are bigger and better-equipped than Ukraine’s. In recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the United States last week in pursuit of continuing financial and military support as the war approaches its three-year milestone next February.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is also looking at how to sustain his war effort as military spending has placed a huge strain on the Russian economy.

Earlier this month, Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point to 19% to combat high inflation. It held out the prospect of more rate increases to return inflation from the current 9.1% to the bank’s target of 4% in 2025.

According to the draft budget, spending on defense should decline in 2026.

The proposed budget could still change as it goes through three readings in the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament house, and then goes to the Federation Council, the upper house, before the Russian president signs it into law.

Meanwhile, on Monday Putin signed a call-up order for 133,000 conscripts in the autumn military draft, which is a routine number for seasonal conscription campaigns.

In September, he ordered the military to increase the number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million. Overall military personnel would be about 2.4 million.

Overnight, Russia fired missiles and drones at 11 regions in Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, in a 33rd consecutive night of aerial attacks behind the front line and setting a new monthly record in drone barrages.

It was the first time Russians launched more than 1,000 Shahed drones in a month. It was also the first time the Iranian-made drones were used in every aerial attack on each day of the month.

Drone attacks

In Kyiv, multiple explosions and machine gun fire could be heard throughout the night as the Ukrainian capital’s air defenses fought off a drone attack for five hours.

No casualties were reported in Kyiv or elsewhere, though a “critical infrastructure object” caught fire in the southern Mykolaiv region, Gov. Vitalii Kim said, without elaborating.

Russia has increasingly deployed Shahed drones, rather than more expensive missiles, in its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

It launched more than 1,300 Shahed drones at Ukraine in September alone, the highest number of drone attacks in a single month since the war began.

Ukraine, too, has developed a new generation of drones for the battlefield and for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, Russian officials said.

Also Monday, Putin released a video marking the second anniversary of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories and again accused the West of turning Ukraine into “a military base aimed at Russia.”

Putin was speaking to mark the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine after a referendum held in 2022, which was denounced by the West as a sham. Russia also illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Since 2022, Putin said, businesses in the occupied areas are being “actively restored” and hospitals and schools are being rebuilt.

Thousands of Ukrainians have fled from the four regions as a result of Russia’s invasion, but Putin said Russia’s military operation in the country was to defend residents’ “well-being” and the “future for our children and grandchildren.”

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Fans eagerly awaiting the return of Coldplay to India were shocked to find tickets being resold online for as much as $11,000, prompting police to seek a statement from the CEO of the shows’ vendor over allegations of fraud.

The British rock band is playing three shows in Mumbai in January as part of its hugely popular Music Of The Spheres tour, its first concerts in the country since 2016.

Tickets were scheduled to go on sale by the official vendor, BookMyShow (BMS), at 12 p.m. local time on September 22. But for many users, the website and app crashed amid the demand.

When fans were able to get into the virtual queue to buy tickets priced from 2,500 to 35,000 rupees ($30 to $417), they said they were behind hundreds of thousands of users.

Within minutes, the tickets were sold out and reappeared on other platforms for as much as 960,000 rupees ($11,458), sparking anger over the purchase process and the suspected use of bots to scoop up seats. To put that into perspective, the World Bank says India’s current GDP per capita is $2,500 a year.

Amit Vyas, a lawyer and founding partner of Mumbai law firm Vertices Partners, was among fans waiting for tickets on the vendor’s website when he was suddenly locked out.

He filed a complaint with police, alleging the online ticketing platform made tickets available to scalpers and third-party websites for resale on the black market.

On Monday, the founder and CEO of BookMyShow, Ashish Hemjarani, was summoned by Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing for questioning over the alleged black marketing of tickets for the concerts, a Mumbai police official said.

“Scalping is strictly condemned and punishable by law in India. We have filed a complaint with the police authorities and will provide complete support to them in the investigation of this matter,” the vendor said.

Arkatapa Basu, a 26-year-old journalist based in the southern city of Bengaluru, said she was waiting behind 130,000 people to buy tickets when she learned a third show had been added.

When she went to join the third show’s waitlist, she found there were 700,000 people waiting ahead of her. “That’s when I decided to give up,” she said.

Ishaan Jhamb, a 22-year-old engineering student from Delhi, said the tickets being resold were so expensive, he and his friends decided to fly nearly four hours to go see the band in Abu Dhabi instead, because it would be more economical.

The ticket-buying process for big concert events has often drawn angst from buyers globally.

Last month, the British rock band Oasis announced a reunion tour, sparking a frenzy of criticism over Ticketmaster’s so-called dynamic pricing, where businesses adjust prices based on factors such as demand.

Ticketmaster also faced public scrutiny in November 2022 for its handling of the massively popular Taylor Swift Eras Tour, for which the company says there was “historically unprecedented demand.”

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Israel has launched what it called “a limited ground operation” across its northern border into Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, opening a new and dangerous phase in almost a year of war.

The incursion, which Israel’s National Security Cabinet has called the “next phase” of its war with Hezbollah, marks the fourth time that Israeli soldiers have publicly entered Lebanese soil in nearly 50 years, and the first since Israel’s 34-day war in the country in 2006.

Israeli troops laid the groundwork for the incursion in recent days, ramping up airstrikes that have killed hundreds of people, destroyed homes and displaced about 1 million people in Lebanon.

The latest escalation comes after Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday and decimated the leadership of the most powerful paramilitary force in the Middle East.

Here’s what we know.

Extent of incursion unclear

Israeli officials have characterized the incursion into southern Lebanon as limited in scope, saying there will be “no long-term occupation.”

The Israeli military said it was focused on removing “immediate threats” from Lebanese villages along the border, including Hezbollah’s ability to infiltrate northern Israel.

But officials have declined to say how deep Israeli troops would venture into the country or how long the operation is expected to last.

Israeli leaders have hinted that further action would come. On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near the Lebanese border that the assassination of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was “a very important step, but it is not the final one,” and that “we will employ all the capabilities at our disposal.”

While the extent of Israel’s military plans inside Lebanon remain unclear, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become increasingly defiant of international calls for restraint and de-escalation, as well as widespread outrage over growing civilian casualties in Lebanon and Gaza.

Previous military operations initially declared by Israel to be limited in their goals have proved to be anything but.

Examples include Israel’s years-long occupation of southern Lebanon that began in 1982 with the stated aim of a brief and limited mission to destroy the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the country.

More recently, Israel’s military declared a “limited” operation in Rafah, southern Gaza that has left the city in ruins.

What happened ahead of the incursion?

Shortly before the incursion, Israel’s National Security Cabinet approved the “next phase” of its war with Hezbollah, according to Israeli media.

In preparation, the Israeli military launched small raids and artillery fire across the Lebanon border, and sealed off several communities in northern Israel, limiting the movement of civilians there.

The Lebanese army had also evacuated observation posts at the southern border and moved to barracks in the border villages, according to a Lebanese security source.

Meanwhile, Israel’s air force once again bombed the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, predominantly Shia neighborhoods where Hezbollah has a stronghold.

It follows Israeli airstrikes that hit inside Beirut’s city limits early Monday for the first time since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.

Isn’t Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza? Why are Israeli troops now in Lebanon?

Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have been engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation since the war in Gaza began following Hamas’ attack on Israel last October. Hezbollah has said it will not stop striking Israel until a ceasefire is reached in the Palestinian enclave, much of which has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombs and fighting.

In recent weeks, Israel has refocused its military objectives north with a new war aim to return displaced residents to their homes along the Lebanon border. About 60,000 Israeli civilians have been forced from their homes by Hezbollah’s rocket attacks.

What’s unfolded is some of the fiercest fighting between the two longtime foes since the 2006 Lebanon war, which killed 1,100 in the country. Nearly 50 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Last month, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon in a coordinated Israeli attack that killed dozens of people and maimed thousands, including women and children.

Israel has also stepped up a relentless bombing campaign across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure and leadership, but the strikes have also decimated homes and neighborhoods in densely populated areas. Massive airstrikes in southern Beirut have killed a string of Hezbollah leaders, as well as more than 1,000 people.

The Iran question

The latest developments raise questions about how a weakened Hezbollah will respond, and the extent to which its backer Iran could get involved, once more ratcheting up fears of a wider regional war.

Hezbollah is part of an Iran-led alliance spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq that has attacked Israel and its allies since the war with Hamas began.

In a fiery speech on Sunday, Netanyahu said one of Israel’s goals is “changing the balance of power in the region” and that “there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach.”

Killing Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and wiping out the group’s capabilities to launch a large-scale attack on Israel were “necessary” conditions to achieve that goal, he said.

Israel has also ramped up attacks on multiple fronts against other Iran-backed militants, including launching strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen.

But despite the recent Israeli strikes on its proxies, Iran has appeared wary of moving into direct conflict with its longtime enemy, even as their decades-long shadow war has been pushed further into the open. Many observers fear any direct Iranian retaliation could draw the United States further into the conflict.

How has the US reacted?

Attention has focused on how the once-mighty US is increasingly powerless to rein in its ally or to influence other major belligerents in a fast-worsening regional crisis.

The White House on Monday said Israel has the right to defend itself, but warned of the risk of “mission creep” in a ground operation that could ultimately broaden in scope and turn into a longer-term incursion.

President Joe Biden last week unveiled a 21-day ceasefire proposal, backed by other US allies, that was almost immediately rejected by Netanyahu – to the frustration of the White House.

The US is a key provider of Israel’s weapons — it likely supplied the 2,000-pound bombs  used to kill Hezbollah’s leader — but Biden and his advisers have continued to call for a diplomatic resolution.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan on the eve of Communist China’s 75th birthday, as Beijing flexed its military might in the run-up to the national holiday.

At a state banquet celebrating the founding of the People’s Republic on Monday, Xi used his address to underscore his resolve to achieve the “complete reunification of the motherland.”

“It’s an irreversible trend, a cause of righteousness and the common aspiration of the people. No one can stop the march of history,” he told the thousands in attendance at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own, despite having never controlled it, and has vowed to “reunify” with the self-governing democracy, by force if necessary.

But many people on the island view themselves as distinctly Taiwanese and have no desire to be part of Communist China.

The two sides have been ruled by separate governments since 1949, after the end of the Chinese civil war. The communists took power in Beijing and founded the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, while the defeated nationalists fled to Taiwan, moving the seat of the Republic of China from the mainland to Taipei.

Successive Chinese leaders have vowed to one day take control of Taiwan, but Xi, China’s most assertive leader in decades, has ramped up rhetoric and aggression against the democratic island – fueling tension across the strait and raising concerns for a military confrontation.

“Taiwan is China’s sacred territory. Blood is thicker than water, and people on both sides of the strait are connected by blood,” Xi told the banquet attended by more than 3,000 people, including officials, retired party leaders and foreign dignitaries.

He also called for deeper economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and promotion of “spiritual harmony of compatriots on both sides.”

“(We must) resolutely oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities,” Xi said.

Beijing has labeled Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te a “dangerous separatist,” and tensions have ratcheted up since Lai’s inauguration in May, during which he called on China to cease its intimidation of Taiwan.

Taiwan officials say Beijing has intensified military activities around the island in recent months, including drills in May that the Chinese military said were designed to test its ability to “seize power” over the island.

On Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it was on alert after detecting “multiple waves” of missile firing deep in inland China.

The missiles were fired by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force in the inland regions of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Taiwan’s air defense forces have “maintained a high level of vigilance and strengthened their alert.”

It comes just days after China fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean for the first time in 44 years, in a rare public test that analysts said was meant to send a message to the United States and its allies amid heightened regional tensions.

The issue of Taiwan has become a major point of contention between China and the US, which maintains close but informal relations with Taipei and is bound by law to supply the island with weapons to defend itself.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden approved an additional $567 million in military support for Taiwan in the largest aid package America has granted the island. The funding will cover defense articles as well as “military education and training,” the White House said in a statement.

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