John Ashton, 'Beverly Hills Cop' actor, dies at 76

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John Ashton, 'Beverly Hills Cop' actor, dies at 76

2024-09-30 03:14 Last Updated At：03:20

NEW YORK (AP) — John Ashton, the veteran character actor who memorably played the gruff but lovable police detective John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, has died. He was 76.

Ashton died Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, his family announced in a statement released by Ashton's manager, Alan Somers, on Sunday. No cause of death was immediately available.

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ashton was a regular face across TV series and films, including "Midnight Run,” “Little Big League” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

But in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, Ashton played an essential part of an indelible trio. Though Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective following a case in Los Angeles, was the lead, the two local detectives — Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Ashton's Taggart — were Axel's sometimes reluctant, sometimes eager collaborators.

Of the three, Taggart — “Sarge” to Billy — was the more fearful, by-the-book detective. But he would regularly be coaxed into Axel's plans. Ashton co-starred in all four of the films, beginning with the 1984 original and running through the Netflix reboot, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," released earlier this year.

Ashton played a more unscrupulous character in Martin Brest's 1988 buddy comedy “Midnight Run.” He was the rival bounty hunter also pursuing Charles Grodin's wanted accountant in “The Duke" while he's in the custody of Robert De Niro's Jack Walsh.

Speaking in July to Collider, Ashton recalled auditioning with De Niro.

“Bobby started handing me these matches, and I went to grab the matches, and he threw them on the floor and stared at me,” said Ashton. “I looked at the matches, and I looked up, and I said, ‘F—- you,’ and he said, ‘F—- you, too.’ I said, ‘Go —- yourself.’ I know every other actor picked those up and handed it to him, and I found out as soon as I left he went, ‘I want him,’ because he wanted somebody to stand up to him.”

Ashton is survived by his wife, Robin Hoye, of 24 years, two children, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters and a brother.

Israeli airstrikes kill dozens across Lebanon as Hezbollah confirms a 7th top commander was killed

2024-09-30 03:09 Last Updated At：03:10

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday as the Hezbollah militant group sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah confirmed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant group's Central Council, was killed Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.

Hezbollah had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was in charge of his security detail.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes and drones carried out deadly strikes across Lebanon on Sunday. Two consecutive strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the Lebanese health ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47.

The Israeli military said it also carried out another targeted strike on Beirut, but did not immediately provide details.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. The strikes have targeted buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.

In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by The Associated Press, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese health ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south.

Meanwhile, wreckage from the strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. AP journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction.

In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems or fell in open areas.

The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack on Israel. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida.

The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed four people and wounded 40 others.

The Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures ahead of the strikes, emptying oil storages in the ports, according to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office. He said in a post on X platform the strikes won’t stop the rebels’ attacks on shipping routes and on Israel.

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they will try to recover. We’re watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be tough. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”

Kirby, who spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary cease-fire that was floated by the U.S., France and other countries last week as world leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, to his Cabinet. The move expands Netanyahu’s governing coalition and helps entrench the Israeli leader in office.

Under their agreement, Netanyahu said Saar would be given a spot in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees management of the ongoing war.

Saar had hoped to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Netanyahu’s. But a deal to become defense minister fell through after fighting intensified with Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah was also targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the latest strikes. The government estimates around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the AP.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw.

Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

The conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Aamer Madhani in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war