The Guardian – Hezbollah vows to strike back at Israel after deadly pager attacks
The Guardian tops with Hezbollah vowing to retaliate against Israel who it blames for a number of pager explosions across Lebanon and Syria which killed at least nine people.
Israel put explosives in thousands of pagers Hezbollah imported, reports say
Israel planted explosives inside thousands of pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s unprecedented attack in Lebanon, according to sources cited by Reuters and US media.
The operation, which the Lebanese group blamed on Israel’s spy agency the Mossad, marked a major security breach. Thousands of pagers detonated across Lebanon and also in Syria, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others, including the group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut. Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, said a young girl was among the dead, and that more than 200 people had critical injuries.
Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind the blasts. It said it was carrying out a “security and scientific investigation” into the causes of the blasts and Israel would receive “its fair punishment”. The Lebanese information minister, Ziad Makary, condemned the attack as an “Israeli aggression”. The Israeli military has not commented directly on the blasts but said senior commanders had held a situational assessment “focusing on readiness in both offence and defence in all arenas”.
Starmer’s £100,000 in tickets and gifts more than any other recent party leader
Keir Starmer has declared more free tickets and gifts than other major party leaders in recent times, with his total now topping £100,000 after recent support for his lifestyle from Labour donor Waheed Alli.
The prime minister has accepted almost 40 sets of free tickets during his time as Labour leader, mostly to football matches but also £4,000 of hospitality at a Taylor Swift concert and £698 of Coldplay tickets in Manchester.
He was criticised this week for the scale of gifts given to him by Lord Alli, who paid for work clothing worth £12,000, accommodation valued at more than £20,000 and glasses valued at £2,485 – especially since the donor was temporarily given a pass to No 10 after the election.
Angela Eagle, a minister, struggled to defend the prime minister’s decision to accept so many freebies when pressed on Times Radio on Tuesday. Asked why he shouldn’t buy his own glasses, given his salary, Eagle said: “I’m afraid I’m not responsible for decisions the prime minister makes.”
Dominique Pélicot tells French trial: ‘I am a rapist,’ as he returns to dock
A 71-year-old French man accused of drugging his wife so that he and dozens of strangers could sexually assault her at her home has told a court that he admitted the charges and was a rapist.
“I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” Dominique Pélicot said, quietly and calmly, as he looked across the courtroom at the 50 other men who are also on trial accused of raping his wife in her own bed while she was drugged and in a state akin to a “deep coma”.
Pélicot, a retired estate agent, is accused of drugging Gisèle Pélicot with sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication, then recruiting dozens of men online to allegedly rape her in the couple’s home in a southern French village between 2011 and 2020.
Giving evidence for the first time after several days of ill health, Pélicot said of the other accused men, aged between 26 and 74: “They all knew.” He said they were aware they were being invited to rape his wife.
“I am guilty of what I did,” he said. “I say to my wife, my children, my grandchildren … I regret what I’ve done and I ask for forgiveness, even if it’s unforgivable.” Of his wife, to whom he was married for 50 years but who has now divorced him, he said: “She did not deserve this.”
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 18 September 2024.
Wednesday’s front pages are heavily dominated by international news, with the latest from the Middle East featured as many of the leads. At least 9 people have died, and around 3000 people injured after pages belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across the country. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack and says they will enact revenge.
Several front pages lead on domestic stories, with the backlash to the sentencing of Huw Edwards a popular topic. The former BBC presenter was handed a suspended sentence despite being found guilty of child sex images.