AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Israelis, scarred and battling on multiple fronts, mark a year since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israelis were holding vigils and somber ceremonies on Monday to mark a year since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, which sparked the war in Gaza and scarred Israelis indelibly.

The surprise cross-border attack, which caught Israel unprepared on a major Jewish holiday, shattered Israelis’ sense of security and shook their faith in their leaders and their military.

Its aftershocks still ripple one year later. The war in Gaza rages on, Israel is fighting a new war against Hezbollah, which began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, and an escalating conflict with Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — threatens to drag the region into a far more dangerous conflagration.

In Gaza, which is still buckling under the weight of the ongoing war, no formal commemorative event is planned. The massive destruction and displacement are a constant reminder of the retaliatory Israeli assault on the territory, which has no end in sight.

Israelis were expected to flock to ceremonies, cemeteries and memorial sites around the country, remembering the hundreds of victims, the dozens of hostages still in captivity and the soldiers wounded or killed trying to save them.

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Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.

A year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.

Israel’s military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from “fallen projectiles” was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.

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Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli crowds rally across the world on the eve of Oct. 7 anniversary

PARIS (AP) — Crowds were participating in pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests and memorial events across Europe, North Africa and Asia on Sunday on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Sunday’s events followed massive rallies that took place Saturday in several European cities, including London, Berlin, Paris and Rome. Other events are scheduled through the week, with an expected peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.

At a march in Berlin, near the Brandenburg Gate, hundreds of pro-Israeli demonstrators set off up the famed Unter den Linden behind a banner that read “Against all antisemitism,” accompanied by a police escort.

With many Israeli flags waving over head, some Jewish leaders led a song about “shalom” — peace — while marchers chanted “Free Gaza from Hamas!” and “Bring them home,” referring to hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

Thousands gathered in Paris for a Jewish memorial event featuring speakers and artists paying tribute to those killed in the Oct. 7 attack and stand with those still in captivity.

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US disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response as a ‘truly dangerous narrative’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene — spread most prominently by Donald Trump — are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance.

“It’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” said Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.

Republicans, led by the former president, have helped foster a frenzy of misinformation over the past week among the communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a number of false claims, including that Washington is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.

Trump accused FEMA of spending all its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally, while other critics assert that the government spends too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.

“FEMA absolutely has enough money for Helene response right now,” Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery said. He noted that Congress recently replenished the agency with $20 billion, and about $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects.

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Hurricane Milton is growing stronger as it blows toward Florida’s Tampa Bay region

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Milton quickly intensified Sunday and is on track to become a major hurricane with the Tampa Bay area in its sights, putting Florida on edge and triggering evacuation orders along a coast still reeling from Helene’s devastation.

While forecast models vary, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230 people.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard by Milton — “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.”

Hurricane Milton was centered about 815 miles (1,310 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa on Sunday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kmh), the National Hurricane Center said.

“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”

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Harris talks abortion and more on ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast as Democratic ticket steps up interviews

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris opened a media blitz by the Democratic ticket on Sunday by appearing on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast about abortion, sexual abuse and other issues that resonate with women, working in some digs at her GOP opponent along the way.

In the roughly 40-minute interview, taped last week, the Democratic presidential nominee spoke about the grit it takes to be a woman seeking public office, the toughness her mother instilled in her and the importance of reproductive rights in this election.

The program is the most-listened-to podcast for women and it has millions of fans tuning in for talk about relationships, sex, mental health and women’s empowerment. The discussion with Harris was on the tame side for the show, with the vice president keeping her message focused, in part, on the value of ignoring people who have doubted her.

“I don’t hear no. I urge all the ‘Daddy Gang,’ don’t hear no, just don’t hear it,” she said. “I think it’s really important not to let other people define you.”

The interview was part of a broader media outreach effort by Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as the Democrats seek to boost their support in the final 30 days of the campaign against Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance.

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How important is Wisconsin? Trump’s now visited 4 times in 8 days

JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump on Sunday visited Wisconsin for the fourth time in eight days as his campaign showers attention on a pivotal state where Republicans fret about his ability to match Democrats’ enthusiasm and turnout machine.

“They say that Wisconsin is probably the toughest of the swing states to win,” Trump said in his opening remarks at an airplane hangar in a rural Juneau where the overflow crowd spilled out on to the tarmac. “I don’t think so.”

Voters in Wisconsin are already casting absentee ballots and in-person early voting begins Oct. 22. Trump stood on stage for nearly two hours, touching the third rail of Wisconsin politics by overlapping with a Green Bay Packers game, drawing derision from Democrats. But that didn’t stop thousands of people from sticking with Trump as he urged supporters to begin to vote by mail and early, when the time comes, so they turn out “in record numbers.”

“If we win Wisconsin, we win the presidency,” Trump said.

Wisconsin is perennially tight in presidential elections but has gone for the Republicans just once in the past 40 years, when Trump won the state in 2016. A win in November could make it impossible for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to take the White House.

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Over 6,000 people in Haiti leave their homes after gang attack killed dozens

SAINT-MARC, Haiti (AP) — Nearly 6,300 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of an attack in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members that killed at least 70 people, according to the U.N.’s migration agency.

Nearly 90% of the displaced are staying with relatives in host families, while 12% have found refuge in other sites including a school, the International Organization for Migration said in a report last week.

The attack in Pont-Sondé happened in the early hours of Thursday morning, and many left in the middle of the night.

Gang members “came in shooting and breaking into the houses to steal and burn. I just had time to grab my children and run in the dark,” said 60-year-old Sonise Mirano on Sunday, who was camping with hundreds of people in a park in the nearby coastal city of Saint-Marc.

Bodies lay strewn on the streets of Pont-Sondé following the attack in the Artibonite region, many of them killed by a shot to the head, Bertide Harace, spokeswoman for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite, told Magik 9 radio station on Friday.

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More Black and Latina women are leading unions — and transforming how they work

Women make up roughly half of U.S. labor union membership, but representation in top level union leadership positions has lagged, even in female-dominated industries and particularly for women of color.

But Black and Latina women are starting to gain ground, landing top positions at some of the biggest unions in the U.S. That has translated into wins at the bargaining table that focus more attention on family-friendly benefits like parental leave and health care coverage, as well as protections against sexual harassment.

Often when people think about unions, “they think of a white guy in a hard hat. But in fact, studies show that about two-thirds of working people who are covered by a union contract are women and/or people of color,” said Georgetown University labor historian Lane Windham.

Indeed, hospitality union UNITE HERE’s membership is majority women and people of color. And last month, more than 12,000 of them across six states went on strike to push for wage increases, fair workloads and more affordable health care under the leadership of Gwen Mills, who in June became the first woman to be elected union president in its 130-year history.

Data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that Black and Latina women experience a particularly wide gender pay gap. They also face intersectional headwinds of both racism and sexism in their careers, making them even more attuned to inequities in the workplace and motivating them to increasingly step up the fight as union leaders.

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LeBron and son Bronny James play together for the first time in a preseason game for the Lakers

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — LeBron James and his son, Bronny, made NBA history Sunday night when they played together for the first time during the Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason game against Phoenix.

LeBron and Bronny are the first father and son to play in any NBA game at the same time, let alone on the same team. The James family’s remarkable moment coincidentally happened on Bronny’s 20th birthday.

Bronny James entered the game as a substitute to begin the second quarter, joining his father on the court out of the timeout. The crowd at Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley cheered at the mention of Bronny’s name.

LeBron James is beginning his record-tying 22nd season in the NBA, while LeBron James Jr. — known to all as Bronny — was the Lakers’ second-round draft pick this summer. After recovering from cardiac arrest over a year ago, Bronny played just one season at Southern California before entering the draft and joining the Lakers.

Things weren’t immediately smooth for the James family: Bronny committed two turnovers and LeBron made another in their first two minutes together. Shortly after LeBron hit a 3-pointer moments later, LeBron got the ball to Bronny and set a screen for his son’s 3-point attempt, but Bronny missed.

The Associated Press