In the news today: Maine residents stay locked inside their homes for a second day; how Gaza’s Ministry of Health calculates the war’s death toll; and US fighter jets strike Iran-linked sites in Syria. Also, Game 1 of the World Series begins tonight. | Law enforcement walks with a police dog outside a property in Bowdoin, Maine, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) |
Fearful Maine residents stay in homes a second night as police and FBI hunt shooting suspect |
Hundreds of heavily armed police and FBI agents searched intensely for Robert Card, an Army reservist authorities say fatally shot 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in the worst mass killing in state history. Several homes were being searched and every lead pursued in the hunt. Read more.
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Much of Thursday’s search focused on a property belonging to one of Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin. Card and anyone else inside were repeatedly ordered to surrender but hours later, after repeated announcements and a search, authorities moved off — and it was still unclear whether Card had ever been at the location, state police said.
Schools, doctors’ offices and grocery stores remained closed, and people stayed behind locked doors in cities as far as 50 miles from the scenes of the shootings. Maine’s largest city, Portland, closed its public buildings, while Canada Border Services Agency issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers stationed along the U.S. border.
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The attacks stunned a state of only 1.3 million people that has one of the country’s lowest homicide rates: 29 killings in all of 2022. The shootings mark the 36th mass killing in the United States this year.
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How Gaza’s Ministry of Health calculates the war’s death toll |
With Israel besieging and bombing the Palestinian territory at a scale never seen before, arriving at a death toll isn’t easy. Yet the Gaza-based Ministry of Health — an agency in the Hamas-controlled government — continues to tally casualty numbers. It released its first detailed report on the fatalities, the total being 7,028 Palestinians killed, including 2,913 minors. Read more.
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The ministry is the only official source for Gaza casualties. Israel has sealed Gaza’s borders, barring foreign journalists and humanitarian workers. The AP is among a small number of international news organizations with teams in Gaza and while those journalists can’t do a comprehensive count, they’ve viewed large numbers of bodies at the sites of airstrikes, morgues and funerals.
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The United Nations and other international institutions and experts, as well as Palestinian authorities in the West Bank — rivals of Hamas — say the Gaza ministry has long made a good-faith effort to account for the dead under the most difficult conditions. In previous wars, the ministry’s counts have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies.
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US fighter jets strike Iran-linked sites in Syria in retaliation for attacks on US troops |
The airstrikes, launched early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria, were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week. The Pentagon says there have now been at least 19 attacks in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, including three new ones on Thursday. Read more.
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The strikes reflect the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the airstrikes will have a significant impact on the ability of Iranian proxy groups to continue to attack American forces. Asked what groups were targeted, the official said there are several that have different names, but the U.S. holds Tehran responsible for funding, arming and directing the proxies.
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On Oct. 27, 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord. In the image above, Begin, left, and Sayed Ahmed Marei, Sadat's personal aide and representative, pose with the medal in Oslo. (AP Photo) A look at what else happened in history on October 27 |
An immersive installation ball pit called "Hyperstellar" by Hyperstudio. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) |
The latest exhibition from the Balloon Museum awakens childlike wonder
Premiering in Rome in 2020, the Balloon Museum has toured through Europe with its curation focused on inflatable art. Its limited run in New York City at Pier 36 lasts until Jan. 14. |
WATCH: This Mexican workshop is keeping Day of the Dead traditions alive One Mexican paper workshop is maintaining artisanal history by making Day of the Dead paper decorations by hand. |
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Sarah
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