Ceasefire reached in Gaza after two days of heavy fire
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck Islamic Jihad targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday while the militant group rained scores of rockets into Israel for a second straight day as the heaviest round of fighting in months. The death toll rose to 32 Palestinians, including a 7-year-old boy and two other minors.
The dead included six Palestinians from a single family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike at their house in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, early Thursday, the health ministry said. It was the deadliest incident since the beginning of the current fighting.
Islamic Jihad at 3:30 a.m. GMT Thursday announced a cease-fire had been reached. Spokesman Musab al-Berim said the Egyptian-brokered deal went into effect at 530 a.m. (0330 GMT).
He said the cease-fire was based on a list of demands presented by his group late Wednesday, including a halt to Israeli targeted killings of the group’s leaders. The fighting broke out early Tuesday after Israel killed a senior commander of the militant group. The rare targeted killing by Israel sparked the heaviest fighting with Gaza militants since May. Islamic Jihad fired some 400 rockets toward Israel, while Israel responded with scores of airstrikes.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which rarely acknowledges unofficial deals with militant groups.
Diplomats accuse Trump as impeachment hits Americans’ TVs
WASHINGTON — On Day One of extraordinary public impeachment hearings, the top American diplomat in Ukraine revealed new evidence that President Donald Trump was overheard asking about political “investigations” that he later demanded from Ukraine in exchange for military aid.
The revelation came as House Democrats pressed their case for Trump’s impeachment before the American people after weeks of closed-door interviews.
Wednesday’s account from a pair of career diplomats was a striking though complicated one that Democrats say reveals a president abusing his office, and the power of American foreign policy, for personal political gain.
“The matter is as simple and as terrible as that,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, as he opened the daylong hearing. “Our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency but the future of the presidency itself.”
Career diplomat William Taylor, the charge d’affaires in Kyiv, offered new testimony that Trump was overheard asking on the phone about “the investigations” of Democrats that he wanted Ukraine to pursue that are central to the impeachment inquiry.
Disney Plus hits 10M subscribers in 1 day
NEW YORK — Disney Plus says it hit more than 10 million sign-ups on its first day of launch, far exceeding expectations.
Disney’s mix of Marvel and Star Wars movies and shows, classic animated films and new series appears to be a hit out of the gate after its launch on Tuesday.
Disney has invested billions in its streaming service, which costs $7 a month or $70 a year after a 7-day free trial. Customers of some Verizon wireless and home-internet plans were offered a year free.
Disney didn’t break down where the subscriptions came from or if they were free or paid monthly or yearly. Some analysts thought it would take Disney a year to reach 10 million subscribers.
Netflix has garnered 158 million subscribers since launching its streaming platform in 2007.
Clashes rock Bolivia as new interim leader challenged
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Renewed clashes rocked Bolivia’s capital Wednesday as the woman who claimed the presidency, a second-tier lawmaker thrust into the post because of a power vacuum, faced challenges to her leadership from supporters of the ousted Evo Morales.
A day after Jeanine Añez assumed power, violent clashes broke out between rock-throwing Morales’ backers and police in riot gear, who fired volleys of tear gas to disperse the large crowd of protesters as fighter jets flew low overhead in a show of force.
Opposition was also building in Congress, where lawmakers loyal to Morales were mounting a challenge to Añez’s legitimacy by trying to hold new sessions that would undermine her claim to the presidency. The sessions — dismissed as invalid by Añez’s faction — added to the political uncertainty following the resignation of Morales, the nation’s first indigenous leader, after nearly 14 years in power.
In the streets, angry demonstrators tore off corrugated sheets of metal and wooden planks from construction sites to use as weapons, and some set off sticks of dynamite. Many along flooded the streets of the capital and its sister city of El Alto, a Morales stronghold, waving the multicolored indigenous flag and chanting, “Now, civil war!”
“We don’t want any dictators. This lady has stepped on us — that’s why we’re so mad,” said Paulina Luchampe. “We’re going to fight with our brothers and sisters until Evo Morales is back. We ask for his return. He needs to put the house in order.”
From wire sources
