ZEITA, West Bank – Two Israeli airstrikes within the West Bank killed nine Palestinian militants on Saturday, the Israeli army said, as violence flared again within the Israeli-occupied territory and tensions rose over the War within the Gaza Strip and a possible regional escalation.

Talks on a ceasefire in Gaza continued, and an Israeli delegation led by the Mossad chief made a transient visit to Cairo, an Egyptian official said. The United States urged Israel to seize the chance for a post-shock ceasefire. Killing of Hamas political leader in Iran, for which Tehran blames Israel.

That killing, and Israel's killing of a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, have left the region on tenterhooks in anticipation of retaliatory strikes against Israel on one or each fronts after Iran and its proxies announced moves. Hamas said its command had begun talks to elect a brand new leader.

In the northern West Bank, the Israeli army said its forces first attacked a vehicle in a rural area outside the town of Tulkarem early Saturday morning, killing the five occupants. The army said they were on their solution to perform an attack. Hamas identified all five as militant members of the group, including a neighborhood commander.

According to an Associated Press journalist and witnesses, the explosion occurred along a road connecting the Palestinian villages of Zeita and Qaffin.

“We arrived at the site and found a young man martyred here on the street with half of his face missing,” said Taiser Abdullah, a resident of Zeita. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said 4 bodies were “burned and charred beyond recognition.”

Later Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed 4 more Palestinian militants within the Tulkarem area shortly after they opened fire on Israeli troops. Further information was not immediately available.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas within the Gaza Strip began in October, over 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire within the West Bank, in response to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most of them were killed in Israeli attacks and violent protests. Tulkarem is usually raided by Israeli forces and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are energetic there.

Concerns a few comprehensive regional war are high following the attacks in Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early Wednesday and top Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut the evening before.

Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, vowed retaliation against Israel. Israel said it killed Shukur but neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in Haniyeh's death. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said He said the killing was carried out by a short-range missile and accused the USA of supporting the attack.

The Pentagon said late Friday, US military relocates fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintains an aircraft carrier within the region. The US embassy in Lebanon urged residents wishing to go away the country to “book any available ticket,” noting that several airlines had suspended or canceled flights. The British government urged its residents in Lebanon to “leave the country immediately.” Jordan did the identical.

President Joe Biden said Thursday he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the chance for a ceasefire with Hamas, adding that Haniyeh's killing “did not help” efforts to barter an end to the war. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities.

An Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea arrived in Cairo at noon on Saturday, an Egyptian official said. The delegation, which also included Ronan Bar, head of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency, was scheduled to satisfy with Abbas Kamel, head of Egyptian intelligence, for talks on the Philadelphia Corridor along the border with Egypt and the Rafah border crossing, the official said.

The delegation left Cairo hours later and there was no news, said the Egyptian official, who has direct knowledge of the ceasefire talks within the Gaza Strip and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to transient reporters.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. Netanyahu's office said late Friday that he had instructed the negotiating delegation to go away for Cairo on Saturday or Sunday.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister spoke on the phone along with his counterparts in Iran and Lebanon concerning the “dangerous” escalation within the region.

As protesters in various countries mark the three hundredth anniversary of the war in Gaza and express their support for the Palestinians, the death toll within the Gaza Strip is approaching 40,000. At least 39,550 people have been killed within the nearly 10 months since Hamas' brutal onslaught. Attack on Israel on October 7This is in response to information from the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count. Israel accuses Hamas of embedding itself within the civilian population and endangering them.

In Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, witnesses told the AP on Saturday that an Israeli attack on a college killed an unknown number of individuals. The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas command center.

Families of hostages kidnapped on October 7 and others demonstrated again in Israel on Saturday night, demanding an agreement to finish the war. “Most of the military objectives have been achieved, there is no reason to continue this war,” said one protester, Naama Weinberg.

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Jeffery reported from Ramallah within the West Bank. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.

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More coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Originally published: August 3, 2024 at 2:52 pm

Jason Bolton turned on Tesla's controversial “Autopilot” system while driving his Model 3 from his home in Fresno to a business meeting within the Bay Area. But just as he reached the highest of Route 152, the system failed and the automobile crashed fatally, in line with a lawsuit filed against Tesla by his wife and two daughters.

The 2023 black sedan fell onto its roof after which rolled over on its wheels, in line with the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court by Bolton's widow, Linda, and their daughters, Rowan and Willow. Photos attached to the lawsuit show the automobile's roof being dented and the windshield and windows blown out.

Bolton, a 49-year-old advantages administrator, “suffered gruesome and ultimately fatal injuries” within the July 2023 accident, the wrongful death lawsuit says.

The family claims within the lawsuit that the electrical automobile maker released the “Autopilot” system when it was not ready for public use out of greed for profit and a “blind pursuit of market dominance.” Tesla, led by CEO Elon Musk, used “deceptive marketing tactics” to “intentionally misrepresent” the capabilities and limitations of its technology and “manipulate consumers into believing that ('Autopilot') enables hands-free driving.”

The lawsuit accuses Tesla of “incredible disregard for basic ethical principles and consumer safety.”

The lawsuit follows quite a few lawsuits and state and federal investigations related to the “Autopilot” system, which doesn’t mechanically steer a automobile. The basic system provides cruise control and steering assistance. An advanced version includes navigation and automatic lane changes and exits.

Tesla didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment on the lawsuit and the regulatory investigation. Owner's manuals advise Autopilot users to maintain their hands on the wheel in any respect times and to “pay attention to road conditions, surrounding traffic and other road users.”

In April, on the eve of a jury trial that may take a detailed have a look at the Autopilot system, Tesla reached an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of Apple engineer Walter Huang, a married father of two from Foster City who died on Highway 101 in Mountain View in 2018 after Autopilot sent his Tesla Model X compact SUV right into a freeway guardrail. Federal investigators had alleged Huang's “over-reliance” on Autopilot while he was distracted, likely by a game on his phone. His family's lawyers have noted that there isn’t a clear finding that he was playing a game.

At the center of the Autopilot lawsuits and investigations are questions on whether Tesla's marketing and the name “Autopilot” encourage drivers to drive with their hands off the wheel and their attention averted from the road. The system's ability to detect stationary emergency vehicles and take appropriate motion has also been called into query.

A 2019 survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that Tesla's Autopilot—greater than another manufacturer's driver-assist systems—causes drivers to overestimate the system's capabilities: 48% said they thought it was secure to make use of the system hands-free.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has been investigating Autopilot since August 2021, initially looking into 17 incidents through which a Tesla using Autopilot collided with a parked emergency vehicle on a highway. In 2022, the agency said it had expanded the investigation “to examine the extent to which Autopilot and related Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of driver oversight.”

In March 2023, the agency announced it had opened a special investigation right into a fatal accident the previous month through which a Tesla Model S sedan collided with a Contra Costa County Fire Department ladder truck. The driver of the Tesla was killed, a passenger was seriously injured, and 4 firefighters suffered minor injuries.

In 2022, the California Department of Motor Vehicles filed an administrative criticism alleging that Tesla misleadingly advertised “Autopilot” and its “fully autonomous driving system” in a way that contradicted its own warnings that these features required lively driver supervision.

Tesla recalled nearly all of its 2 million vehicles within the U.S. in December after federal authorities spent two years investigating about 1,000 crashes that occurred while using Autopilot. The recall was for an over-the-air software update designed to present drivers more warnings in the event that they were inattentive while using Autopilot's Autosteer feature.

Originally published: July 19, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.

MEXICO CITY – It's so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from trees.

At least 83 of the medium-sized primates known for his or her roaring calls have been found dead within the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by local residents, including five who were taken to a neighborhood vet who fought to avoid wasting them.

“They arrived in critical condition, with dehydration and fever,” said Dr. Sergio Valenzuela. “They were limp like rags. It was heat stroke.”

While Mexico's brutal heat wave since March has been linked to the deaths of at the least 26 people, veterinarians and rescuers say it has killed dozens, maybe even tons of, of howler monkeys.

In the town of Tecolutilla, Tabasco, the primary dead monkeys appeared on Friday when a volunteer fire and rescue team arrived with five of the animals behind a truck.

Howler monkeys are often quite intimidating, muscular and may grow as much as 60 centimeters tall, with tails just as long. They are equipped with large jaws and fearsome teeth and fangs. But most of all, they’re known for his or her lion-like roar, which doesn’t reflect their size.

“They (the volunteers) asked for help, they asked if I could examine some of the animals they had in their truck,” Valenzuela said Monday. “They said they didn't have any money and asked if I could do it for free.”

The vet puts ice on her limp little hands and feet and hooks her as much as IV fluids of electrolytes.

So far, the monkeys seem like on the mend. Once listless and straightforward to handle, they are actually in cages in Valenzuela's office. “They're recovering. They're aggressive… they're biting again,” he said, noting that this can be a healthy sign for the normally stealthy creatures.

Most aren’t so lucky. Wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo counted about 83 of the dead or dying animals on the bottom under trees. The die-off began around May 5 and peaked over the weekend.

“They fell like apples from trees,” Pozo said. “They were severely dehydrated and died within minutes.” Already weakened, Pozo says falls from dozens of meters cause additional damage, often killing the monkeys.

Pozo attributes the deaths to a “synergy” of things, including intense heat, drought, wildfires and deforestation, that deprive the monkeys of water, shade and the fruits they eat.

For the people of the steamy, swampy, jungle-covered state of Tabasco, the howler monkey is a treasured, symbolic species; Locals say the monkeys tell them the time of day by howling at dawn and dusk.

Pozo said local people – whom he knows through his work with the group Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta – have tried to assist the monkeys they see on their farms. But he notes that could possibly be a double-edged sword.

“They fell from the trees and people were moved and they went to help the animals, they provided water and fruit for them,” Pozo said. “They want to take care of them, especially the baby monkeys, and adopt them.”

“But no, the truth is that babies are very delicate, they cannot be in a house where there are dogs or cats because they carry pathogens that can be potentially fatal to howler monkeys,” he said, stressing that they need to be rehabilitated and released into the wild.

Pozo's group has arrange a special sanctuary for monkeys – it currently houses five monkeys, but birds and reptiles are also affected – and is attempting to assemble a team of specialised veterinarians to offer the primates the care they need.

The federal government belatedly acknowledged the issue on Monday, when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he had heard about it on social media. He congratulated Valenzuela on his efforts and said the federal government would attempt to support the work.

López Obrador acknowledged the warmth problem – “I've never felt it so bad” – but he also faces many human problems.

As of May 9, at the least nine cities in Mexico had set temperature records, with Ciudad Victoria within the border state of Tamaulipas reaching a blistering 117 F (47 C).

With below-average rainfall across much of the country thus far this 12 months, lakes and dams are drying up, water supplies are running low and authorities have needed to truck in water for everybody from hospitals to firefighters. Low water levels at dams have led to power outages in some parts of the country.

Consumers are also feeling the pressure. On Monday, the national supermarket chain OXXO – the biggest within the country – announced that it could limit the acquisition of ice cream to simply two or three bags per customer in some stores.

“In times of high temperatures, OXXO is taking measures to ensure product supplies to our customers,” parent company FEMSA said in an announcement. “Restrictions on the sale of packaged ice cream are intended to ensure that a larger number of customers can purchase this product.”

But for the monkeys it's not about comfort, but about life or death.

“This is a sentinel species,” Pozo said, referring to the canary-in-the-coal-mine effect through which one species can say so much about an ecosystem. “It tells us something about what’s happening with climate change.”