Elections

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, has sustained blow after blow over the past few weeks, as Israeli strikes killed several of the group’s longtime military and political leaders.On Saturday, Israel said it had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s decades-long leader, in a massive airstrike in Beirut that destroyed four residential buildings. Israel has also killed three leaders of Hezbollah’s top military decision-making body, the Jihad Council: Fuad Shukr, Ali Karaki and Ibrahim Aqeel.Above is a look at the organization’s remaining leadership. More

In the immediate days after the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Israeli intelligence officials feared a pre-emptive strike was imminent from another longtime enemy, Hezbollah. They frantically prepared to stop it with plans to strike and kill Hassan Nasrallah, the powerful Hezbollah leader who the Israelis knew would be in a bunker in Beirut.But when Israel informed the White House of its plans, alarmed administration officials discounted the imminent Hezbollah strike. President Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told him that killing Mr. Nasrallah would set off a regional war and asked him to hold his fire, current and former senior American and Israeli officials said.On Saturday, Israel announced that it had killed Mr. Nasrallah after warplanes dropped more than 80 bombs on four apartment buildings in Lebanon, where the Hezbollah leader of more than three decades had gone to meet his top lieutenants. Mr. Biden was not informed ahead of time, aggravating the White House.Smoke rose over buildings in Beirut after Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesBut the more salient outcome for both Israel and the United States was how successfully Israeli intelligence had pinpointed Mr. Nasrallah’s location and penetrated Hezbollah’s inner circle. In a matter of weeks, Israel has decimated the senior and midlevel ranks of Hezbollah and left the group reeling.That success is a direct result of the country’s decision to devote far more intelligence resources in targeting Hezbollah after its 2006 war with the Iran-backed terrorist group. It was a defining moment for Israeli intelligence. The Israeli army and the intelligence agencies failed to score a decisive victory in that 34-day conflict, which ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire and allowed Hezbollah, despite heavy losses, to regroup and prepare for the next war with Israel.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The death, which was reported on Friday, is only the fifth fatal human rabies case in Minnesota since 1975, health officials said.A patient who was exposed to a bat in western Minnesota this year died from rabies this week, becoming the fifth person since 1975 to die from the treatable disease in the state, health officials said on Friday.The Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement that it was still investigating the death, and did not explicitly say that a bat had caused the rabies but confirmed that the patient was exposed to a bat in July.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the patient’s rabies diagnosis earlier this month. The Minnesota Department of Health said there was not a public health risk.Fewer than 10 rabies deaths are reported annually in the United States, according to the C.D.C., and 70 percent of those deaths are attributed to exposure to bats.Previous human cases in Minnesota — all of which were fatal — were recorded in 1917, 1964, 1975, 2000, 2007 and 2021, according to the department.“If left untreated, rabies is almost always fatal,” the department said. “Rabies treatment has proven to be nearly 100 percent effective at preventing the disease after an exposure, but it must be started before symptoms of rabies appear.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

A video published by the Israeli military showed that planes it said were used in the attack that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday night carried 2,000-pound bombs, according to munitions experts and a New York Times analysis.The video showed eight planes fitted with at least 15 2,000-pound bombs, including the American-manufactured BLU-109 with a JDAM kit, a precision guidance system that attaches to bombs, according to Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician. These bombs, a type of munition known as bunker busters, can penetrate underground before detonating.Wes Bryant, a former U.S. Air Force targeting specialist who also reviewed the video, agreed with the analysis. In text messages with The Times, he said the bombs were “exactly what I would expect” to be used in what Israel has said was an attack on Mr. Nasrallah in Hezbollah’s underground headquarters.In May, the Biden administration announced it had paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel because of concerns over civilian safety in Gaza.The video, published Saturday on the Israeli military’s official Telegram channel with the caption “Israeli Air Force Fighter Jets Involved in the Elimination of Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah’s Central Headquarters in Lebanon,” shows at least eight planes in a row armed with 2,000-pound bombs. Some are too far away to clearly identify the exact model, but the closer planes are seen armed with BLU-109 bombs. That model of bomb is also identifiable when the video shows two planes taking off, with one plane carrying six of those munitions. Then the video shows a plane returning at dusk to the Israeli air base without any bombs.Israel Defense Forces via Telegram More

Donald Trump and Tim Walz are attending college games on Saturday that will draw plenty of viewers in the swing states of Michigan and Georgia.For college football fans, they are temples of the sport: the University of Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Big House at the University of Michigan.But to the presidential campaigns, they are this Saturday’s soundstages: ready-made stops for former President Donald J. Trump and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic nominee for vice president, to try to prove their Everyman mettle to any battleground-state voters who might be in the stands or watching from afar.“College football in the fall is the only place where you can find 100,000 potential voters in one location and you don’t have to pay for it,” said Angi Horn, a Republican strategist and Alabama football loyalist.“To pay for the amount of coverage and publicity and a crowd like that would cost millions,” she added. “They’re getting it for free — and you get to see a really good football game.”Mr. Trump is headed to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the second-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, the gridiron pride of the neighboring swing state, will meet the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide. Mr. Walz is scheduled to visit Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, trawling for votes in one of the country’s biggest battlegrounds as the 12th-ranked Michigan Wolverines, last season’s national champions, host Minnesota’s Golden Gophers.Mr. Trump and Mr. Walz cannot reliably assume they will be Saturday’s star attractions as the campaigns encroach on a sport that is a cultural mainstay and surpasses Washington for ancient feuds and partisan obsessives. But their visits have been designed to invite a crush of local news coverage and social media posts and, their allies hope, cameos during national broadcasts that will soak up viewers in Michigan and Georgia.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Disasters in the small Himalayan nation have become more frequent as the effects of climate change increase.At least 66 people have died and 69 were missing in Nepal after incessant monsoon rains unleashed flooding and landslides across the small Himalayan nation, which has been increasingly pummeled by the effects of climate change.Rescue operations were underway for thousands of people, Nepali officials said on Saturday. At least 60 have been injured, and the death toll was expected to rise, the officials said.More than half of the dead were from the Kathmandu Valley, which includes Kathmandu, the capital. Highways into the city were closed.Binod Ghimire, a senior superintendent of police, said that more than 5,000 police personnel equipped with helicopters, rafts, ropes and vehicles had been deployed for rescue operations.Rescuers have evacuated more than 3,000 people, but flooding victims complained of delays. A video circulating on social media showed people who were swept away by the floods after waiting on the roof of a hut for hours.Many parts of the country were without power. “Several districts are disconnected from communication, so we are struggling to compile loss of lives and properties,” said Dan Bahadur Karki, a spokesman for the Nepal Police.The authorities asked people to stay indoors if possible. The rainfall was expected to stop by Sunday.The flood disaster occurred just as Nepalis were preparing to celebrate the Hindu festival of Dashain, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday. Hindu devotees travel for days to far-flung villages to obtain the blessings of their elders.Nepal, with a population of about 30 million, is the fourth-most-vulnerable country to climate change, according to UNICEF. In recent years, the frequency of disasters — including the bursting of glacial lakes as temperatures rise — has increased, claiming more lives.Local news media, citing the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, recently reported that 225 people have died and 49 have gone missing in disasters related to the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. More

Christian Louboutin enlisted the French Olympic synchronized swimming team to introduce his new Miss Z stilettos at Paris Fashion Week.Christian Louboutin made a splash at Paris Fashion Week on Friday night: He staged “Paris is Louboutining,” a synchronized swimming spectacle at the Piscine Molitor.The Art Deco pool, designed by Lucien Pollet in 1929, was transformed into a watery burlesque that would sink Esther Williams with envy. Mr. Louboutin enlisted the photographer and music video director David LaChapelle for art direction, Blanca Li for choreography, a troupe of 14 dancers and 15 members from the French Olympic artistic swimming team for an underwater performance done entirely in his new Miss Z stilettos. The musician LP sang on the pool deck.Even before the Paris Olympics, Mr. Louboutin had been taken with the idea of using athletes to present his collection. He envisioned something surprising, “where you would not expect athletes and you would not expect shoes,” Mr. Louboutin said before the show. “I thought, basically, swimming.”Known for his slick red-leather-soled shoes, Mr. Louboutin also has a love of dance, camp and glamour. His first job was at the Folies Bergère, and he got his start designing shoes for showgirls. He has collaborated with Crazy Horse, Paris’s tastefully nude cabaret, and staged his Loubi shows, the dance and music presentations he orchestrates to showcase new collections, with various choreographers and performers.“Paris is Louboutining” took the concept to another level. The entire revue was fabulously over the top, beginning with its title, a play on the documentary “Paris Is Burning.”Members of the Olympic swim team slid down a giant mule …via Christian Louboutin… and into the pool for their synchronized performance.via Christian LouboutinWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

He was the first Black African to head a major international organization, but complaints about his tenure led the U.S. and Britain to pull out of it.Amadou Mahtar M’Bow, a Senegalese civil servant and politician who became the first Black African to head a major international organization when he was elected director general of UNESCO — but whose contested tenure there led the United States and Britain to pull out — died on Tuesday in Dakar, Senegal. He was 103.His death, at a hospital, was announced on the website of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which was established to promote international cooperation in those domains.Mr. M’Bow, a rare survivor among the continent’s first generation of independence leaders, had served as Senegal’s education and culture minister when he rose to the top post at UNESCO in 1974. Over the next 13 years he turned the agency into a spearhead for grievances in the developing world and the Soviet bloc, mainly over Western cultural dominance, while entrenching himself behind a phalanx of handpicked bureaucrats at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.His resistance to Western influences, as well as accusations of misspending and nepotism, contributed to decisions by President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to pull their countries out of UNESCO in disgust, the U.S. in 1984 and Britain in 1985. Britain rejoined in 1997, the United States in 2003.The withdrawal by the U.S. was particularly disastrous for UNESCO, as American contributions had provided a quarter of its budget. For years afterward, the agency was seen by critics as the poster child for U.N. bloat and politicization.Criticism of Mr. M’Bow centered on his promotion of what came to be known as a “new world information order,” a vague body of recommendations that many in the West regarded as a threat to freedom of the press, while its advocates saw it as an attempt to break the perceived Western monopoly on the reporting and dissemination of news.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More