North America

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his record governing the nation for four years without any new wars, and criticized President Joe Biden’s foreign policy as the world watches a war that has already claimed 2,300 lives unfold in Gaza, ignited by Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Trump and other Republicans have tried to lay blame on the Biden administration, particularly citing the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen assets to Iran, a supporter of Hamas. Administration officials insist that money has not been spent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned the weekend attack by Hamas militants on Israel as the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust as the number of U.S. citizens killed in the fighting ticked up to at least 22.

“This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty — not just hate, but pure cruelty — against the Jewish people,” Biden told Jewish leaders gathered at the White House.

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of betraying him just before the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in 2020, breaking from the Republican presidential primary field’s uniform support of Israel as it responds to Hamas’ deadly attack.

Trump’s comments at a West Palm Beach, Florida, rally on Wednesday were quickly denounced by one of Netanyahu’s allies and by several Republicans who oppose Trump, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 rival.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans using financial statements that a court has since deemed fraudulent, a retired bank official testified Wednesday at the former president’s New York civil fraud trial.

Trump’s “statements of financial condition” were key to his approval for a $125 million loan in 2011 for his golf resort in Doral, Florida, and a $107 million loan in 2012 for his Chicago hotel and condo skyscraper, former Deutsche Bank risk management officer Nicholas Haigh testified.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic shipwreck has cancelled plans to retrieve more artifacts from the site because the leader of the upcoming expedition died in the Titan submersible implosion, according to documents filed in a U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

The decision could impact a looming court battle between the company and the U.S. government, which has been trying to stop the 2024 mission. U.S. attorneys have said the firm’s original plans to enter the ship’s hull would violate a federal law that treats the wreck as a gravesite.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With his walker positioned on the mound, Rep. Steve Scalise threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Washington Nationals ballpark, a breathtaking comeback for the Republican congressman who just months earlier was fighting for his life after a gunman had opened fire on lawmakers at their own charity baseball game practice.

11 October 2023; MEMO: UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, warned Wednesday against the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories spreading, and voiced alarm at reports of escalating attacks from Lebanon, Anadolu Agency reports.

12 October 2023; MEMO: The White House retracted statements by President Joe Biden in which he expressed his dismay at what he described as violent images of an attack by fighters from the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades on Israeli children.

Biden said during his meeting with leaders of the Jewish community at the White House: “I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”

10 October 2023; AA: Three major labor strikes in the US have put the auto, health and entertainment industries in jeopardy of coming to a halt as union leaders continue to negotiate with corporate America.

"This is an unprecedented wave of labor strikes and labor protests," said Professor Kent Wong, director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Labor Center. "There is tremendous economic insecurity among the working class."

9 October 2023; MEMO: The Mexican Air Force will conduct two rescue missions in Israel to bring back the Mexican nationals stranded in Israel, said the Mexican President on Monday., Anadolu Agency reports.

The first plane took off on Monday morning for Israel, and it is expected to repatriate up to 142 Mexicans.

Mexico’s government is currently in direct communication with the Mexican ambassadors in Israel and Palestine to take requests from Mexicans seeking to leave the conflict area.