Michelle Obama endorses Kamala Harris in fiery speech at Michigan rally, ‘We need a grown-up in the White House’

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Michelle Obama endorsed Kamala Harris while speaking at a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Saturday evening, October 26, saying “we need a grown-up in the White House.” Michelle’s appearance at the rally was the latest in a series of high-profile appearances at the vice president’s rallies, including Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland.

‘Kamala Harris will honor your commitment to the ideals we all share’

At the recent rally, Michelle said Harris is held to a higher standard than former president Donald Trump. "We are holding Kamala to a higher standard than her opponent. We expect her to be intelligent and articulate and to prove time and time again,” she said. "But with Trump, we expect nothing at all. No understanding of policy. No ability to put together a coherant argument. Instead, too many people are willing to write off his mean-spirited antics.”

Michelle added, "I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little frustrated if we ignore Trump's incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every stage."

Michelle also blasted Trump for how he has behaved on the campaign trail so far. "His erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a predator found liable for sexual abuse. So I am praying that we consider the decades of sacrifice and struggle by all of our ancestors,” she said.

"We have to ask ourselves 'is a vote for Trump or no vote at all how we honor their lives?' That surely doesn't sound like freedom to me,” she continued. 

She added, "I hope you will forgive me if I am worried we will blow this opportunity to turn the page on this ugliness for once and for all. He will not think about you once he gets into the Oval Office and that will have consequences for all of us. Kamala Harris will honor your commitment to the ideals we all share."

Israel says it eliminated 3 top Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon

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Israel on Sunday said it eliminated three commanders of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.“The Commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil Area, Ahmed Jafar Maatouk, was eliminated in an IAF strike. A day later, the IAF also eliminated his successor and Hezbollah's head of artillery in the Bint Jbeil area,” the Israel Defence Forces said in an X post.

“These three terrorists directed and carried out numerous terrorist attacks from the Bint Jbeil area including launching anti-tank missiles toward Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon,” the IDF added.

Israel continues to pound Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Israel on Sunday bombarded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, a day after its airstrikes on Iran. According to an AFP report, the Israeli military said it killed 70 Hezbollah fighters and struck 120 targets in southern Lebanon and carried out "precision strikes" on weapons factories and storage facilities in the Iran-backed group's southern Beirut stronghold over the past day.

Smoke hung over the suburbs of Beirut after overnight strikes, which came after the Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings.

The Lebanese news agency reported bombing in the southern cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh.

The war has left at least 1,615 people dead in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.

Th Israeli military said four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, bringing to 36 the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of ground operations on September 30.

In another development, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at a military base in northern Israel, a day after it declared several areas in the region a "legitimate target" due to the presence of Israeli troops.

The Iran-backed group said it targeted a "military industries base north of Haifa... with a large rocket salvo", after it issued an evacuation warning on Saturday for large swathes of northern Israel.

North Korea claims ‘troop deployment to Russia’ conforms to international law

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North Korea said Friday that any troop deployment to Russia would be in line with international law, state media reported, but stopped short of confirming it had sent soldiers.

"If there is such a thing that the world media is talking about, I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law," said Kim Jong Gyu, vice foreign minister in charge of Russian Affairs, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Seoul and Washington have accused the nuclear-armed North Korea of sending thousands of troops to Russia, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying they could be sent into battle as early as Sunday.

Seoul, which has long accused the North of sending vast shipments of weapons to Russia, has pointed to videos circulating online which appear to show North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms at military bases in the Far East.

North Korea's representatives at the United Nations have dismissed the claims.

In the first mention of the issue in North Korean state media, vice foreign minister Kim Jong Gyu said he had "heeded the rumour of the dispatch of Korean People's Army troops to Russia".

North Korea's Foreign Ministry "does not directly engage in the things of the Ministry of National Defence, and does not feel the need to confirm it separately," he said.

Were it to exist, "it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law," he said.

"There will evidently exist forces which want to describe it as illegal one," Kim added.

South Korea has slammed the deployment of troops, calling on Russia to stop "illegal cooperation" with Pyongyang, and warned it would review its stance on providing weapons directly to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Domestic policy bars Seoul from selling weaponry into active conflict zones, but the country -- a top arms exporter -- has already sold billions of dollars of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of Kyiv.

Israel strike on Gaza school-turned-shelter kills 17, hospital says

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An Israeli airstrike on a school building in central Gaza has killed at least 17 people, according to a local hospital.

Al-Awda hospital told AFP and Reuters that the strike on Thursday hit the Al-Shuhada school in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The Hamas-run government media office reported the same death toll and said the school was being used as a shelter for displaced people.

Videos from the scene, verified by the BBC, show wounded children being carried out in the arms of men.

Israel said it had targeted a Hamas command centre at the site "used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks" against Israel and its troops.

The government media office said "thousands of displaced people” were using the school as a shelter when the strike hit, “most of them children and women".

Nine children were among the 17 killed, with more than 52 injured, the media office added.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, also told AFP that 17 people were killed and dozens wounded.

In recent weeks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has hit several buildings being used as shelters across Gaza, saying it was targeting Hamas personnel and infrastructure.

Israel does not allow international media organisations - including the BBC - independent access to Gaza, making it difficult to verify facts on the ground, so we rely on information from video footage and testimonies, as well as Israeli and Hamas official statements.

In northern Gaza, the IDF has been intensifying a weeks-long offensive against what it said were Hamas fighters who had regrouped there.

At least 650 people have been killed since the new offensive in the north began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Israeli military said it was facilitating evacuations of civilians while it continued “operating against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.

But residents unwilling or unable to comply with Israeli evacuation orders are said to be living in increasingly desperate conditions, with food and other essential supplies running out.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that during the first three weeks of October, Israeli authorities permitted only four out of 70 coordinated aid missions to north Gaza.

The US warned Israel last week to urgently boost aid or risk having some military assistance cut off.

Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, said that trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies had been transferred to the north over the past week.

OCHA said earlier this week that humanitarian access remains restricted.

The final stage of an emergency polio vaccination campaign in the area has been postponed by UN agencies because of intense Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access.

The last phase of the two-stage rollout - prompted by Gaza’s first case of polio in 25 years, which left a baby boy paralyzed - was due to begin on Wednesday.

Almost 120,000 children in northern Gaza had been expected to receive a second dose of the oral polio vaccine.

News Source: BBC News