Israel is further escalating its war on Lebanon, carrying out its heaviest airstrikes so far on Beirut overnight in the densely populated southern suburbs. Lebanon’s health minister said Thursday at least 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including at least 127 children, most of them in the past two weeks. More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced.

Abortion was a main focus of Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. The Ohio senator tried to soften the Republican ticket’s position and repeated Donald Trump’s claim that states are best equipped to decide on reproductive health access, while Walz highlighted that state differences on abortion have already contributed to the deaths of pregnant people following the end of Roe v. Wade.