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Walz’s motorcade involved in a crash on the way to a campaign stop, with a ‘few minor injuries’

Several vehicles in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s motorcade were involved in a minor crash on the way to a campaign stop in Wisconsin on Labor Day, causing some minor injuries, Walz said.  “Some of you might have heard, some of my staff and members of the press that were traveling with us were involved in a traffic accident on the way here today,” Walz said at a Monday campaign event following the crash. “We’ve spoken with the staff. I’m relieved to say that with a few minor injuries, everybody’s going to be okay. So thank you.” He added that Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden, who were campaigning together on Monday, “called to check in, and we certainly appreciate their concern. And I want to express my sincere thanks to the U.S. Secret Service and all the local first responders for their quick reaction to help. So, on behalf of the vice president, myself and our entire campaign, we’re grateful for your work today and every day.”  TIM WALZ ATTEMPTS TO COURT FIREFIGHTERS DURING SPEECH AT BOSTON CONVENTION: ‘WE’LL HAVE YOUR BACK’ Earlier, a reporter in a pool report said a Walz staff member appeared to have a broken arm and was treated by medics at the scene.  The crash happened between vans near the back of the motorcade just before 1 p.m. while they were headed from the airport to LaborFest on Monday.   KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ, ENDORSED BY TEACHERS UNIONS, RECEIVE FAILING GRADE FROM SCHOOL CHOICE GROUP “Everyone else is shaken but appears to be in okay condition,” the pool reporter added. “We were violently thrown forward, as our van slammed into the one in front of us and was hit from behind.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.  The cause of the crash isn’t yet known.  Following his speech at LaborFest, Walz went to a hospital to visit injured staffers.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Walz was speaking to union workers on Monday while Harris campaigned in Pittsburgh and Detroit. 

US says it seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane, citing sanctions breach

US says it seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane, citing sanctions breach

Justice Department says $13m aircraft bought through shell company, ‘smuggled’ out of US for Maduro’s use. United States authorities say they have seized a $13m aircraft allegedly bought for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in violation of sanctions. The Dassault Falcon 900EX was seized in the Dominican Republic on Monday and has been brought to the US state of Florida, according to the US Department of Justice. Maduro was not on board. The seizure comes as the US has increased pressure on Maduro’s government after contested elections in July. In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the aircraft had been “illegally purchased … through a shell company and smuggled out” of the US. Such a transaction would violate sanctions imposed by Washington in 2019 that prohibit US citizens from engaging in sales to individuals acting indirectly or directly on behalf of Maduro’s government. “The department will continue to pursue those who violate our sanctions and export controls to prevent them from using American resources to undermine the national security of the United States,” Garland said in a statement. Matthew Axelrod, the Department of Commerce’s assistant secretary for export enforcement, added: “It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States.” Authorities said the aircraft was purchased from a Florida-based company in late 2022 and early 2023 by a Caribbean-based shell company to evade the sanctions. They said the plane has “flown almost exclusively” to and from a military base in Venezuela and has been used to transport Maduro on foreign visits. Venezuela’s government, in a statement, decried the move as “a repeated criminal practice that cannot be described as anything other than piracy”. Contested elections The US has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and entities since 2005, but the administration of former President Donald Trump vastly expanded the programme in an effort to destabilise Maduro, who replaced socialist President Hugo Chavez when he died in 2013. The sanctions as well as economic mismanagement from the government have been blamed for worsening the country’s overlapping economic and humanitarian crises while fuelling mass migration from the Latin American country. US President Joe Biden’s administration had relaxed some sanctions to try to motivate Maduro to hold free and fair elections this year. However, many of those sanctions were soon reimposed after repeated allegations of violations. Maduro later claimed victory in the July 28 election despite opposition allegations of widespread fraud. Regional leaders and organisations have raised doubts over the outcome while the European Union has rejected the results. Washington has taken a step further, recognising opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the victor. At least 27 people have been killed and 192 have been wounded as weeks of protests have racked the country. Speaking to reporters on background on Monday, a White House National Security Council spokesperson directly connected the plane’s seizure to the election. “Maduro and his representatives have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory and carried out widespread repression to maintain power by force,” the spokesperson said. The seizure of the plane “is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela”, the spokesperson added. Maduro has repeatedly decried the role of the US in Venezuela and, after the elections, said he would call for a “new revolution” if forced to do so by “North American imperialism and fascist criminals”. Adblock test (Why?)

Hamas says Gaza captives will return ‘in coffins’ if Israel continues raids

Hamas says Gaza captives will return ‘in coffins’ if Israel continues raids

Group’s armed wing Qassam Brigades issues statement, two days after bodies of six captives are recovered from a Gaza tunnel by Israeli forces. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas says captives held in Gaza would return to Israel “in coffins” if Israeli military pressure continues, warning that “new instructions” had been given to its fighters guarding the captives in case Israeli troops approach. “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the captives through military pressure instead of reaching a deal means they will go back to their families in coffins. Their families have to choose between receiving them dead or alive,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Monday, two days after the bodies of six captives were recovered by Israel. “Netanyahu and the army are fully responsible for the death of the captives after they intentionally hindered any prisoners’ exchange deal,” it said. The statement from the Qassam Brigades came shortly after Netanyahu said the six captives whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah area had been “executed” by Hamas. “I ask for your forgiveness for not bringing them back alive,” Netanyahu said during a televised news conference earlier on Monday as protests over the deaths continued for a second day in Israel. “We were close, but we didn’t succeed. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this,” he added. Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said the six captives were killed in Israeli air strikes. Families and supporters of Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 hold a rally calling for their release in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2024 [Jack Guez/AFP] Meanwhile, protests in Israel over the deaths of the captives continued with angry demonstrators saying they could have been returned alive if Netanyahu’s government had signed a ceasefire with Hamas. However, political analyst Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that a nationwide strike in Israel on Monday and rising public anger will not make a real difference to end the war in Gaza and free the captives. “It seems that for Netanyahu, the alternative – which is his personal, political and personal life – is more important than the lives of the Israeli captives,” Eldar said, adding that despite a large number of protesters, “the Israeli right and radical right” who support the government “have the upper hand”. “The government and the prime minister are now on the defensive,” Ori Goldberg, an expert on Israeli politics, told Al Jazeera. “This is about momentum now.” Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden also said Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of the captives. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Biden was asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a deal. Biden said, “No.” He did not elaborate. Months of stop-start negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to reach an accord on a Gaza ceasefire proposal laid out by Biden in May. Hamas wants an agreement to end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza while Netanyahu says the war can only end once Hamas is defeated. Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and government adviser, told Al Jazeera that it is Netanyahu who “absolutely has no interest in a hostage deal or ceasefire”. “Those who are shocked and devastated and angered about what happened should not be surprised because this is exactly what the [Israeli] defence minister [Yoav Gallant] and all of us were warning would happen,” Pinkas said. “His [Netanyahu’s] and only his reluctance to engage in a deal is what made all this happen.” Adblock test (Why?)

Palestinian dies an hour after Israel arrests him from occupied West Bank

Palestinian dies an hour after Israel arrests him from occupied West Bank

The 58-year-old man’s body is handed over to the Palestine Red Crescent Society amid intensified Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory. Israeli troops have handed to the Palestinian health authorities the body of a Palestinian man arrested about an hour earlier in the occupied West Bank. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Monday that it had received the body of 58-year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed, who belonged to Kafr Dan village outside Jenin, shortly after he was arrested at dawn on Monday. The director of the Jenin Government Hospital said the body bore signs of beatings and torture. The Israeli military said Abed was detained during “counterterrorism” operations and experienced a “cardiac event” on arrival at a detention facility. He was given initial treatment by medical staff from the military before being transferred to the hospital in Jenin. “[Israel’s army] is aware of reports that the suspect died during his evacuation by the Red Crescent,” the military said in a statement, adding that details of the incident were under review. Israeli military vehicles are stationed along a street as a plume of smoke rises during an ongoing raid in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on September 1, 2024 [Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP] The incident came as the Israeli forces expanded their operations in the flashpoint city of Jenin and the surrounding areas for a sixth day. Bulldozers continued to dig up streets and major thoroughfares to find roadside bombs on Monday. Israel launched the operation, one of the largest in months, last Wednesday, saying Iranian-backed fighter groups were planning to attack civilian targets. Hundreds of Israeli troops backed by drones and helicopters have taken part in the operation, which has caused extensive damage to houses and infrastructure in Jenin and the densely-packed refugee camp adjacent to the city. ‘Collective punishment’ Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Kafr Dan, said the Palestinians in Jenin kept repeating that what has been happening over the past six days is “collective punishment”. “They say Israel wants to show that Palestinians would pay a heavy price for supporting armed fighters – those who pick up arms and try to combat Israeli forces while they are raiding Palestinian homes, refugee camps and cities,” she said. At least 29 Palestinians have been killed in less than a week, with Israel claiming they were members of armed factions including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Another 121 people have been wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities. Late on Sunday, a man was killed in the west of Jenin city. On Monday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said another man was hit in the chest by gunfire in Qabatiya near Jenin. His condition was described as serious. Adblock test (Why?)