AP News Digest 6 p.m.

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. Find the AP’s top photos of the day in Today’s Photo Collection. For up-to-the-minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan in AP Newsroom.

————————————————-

WEEKEND COVERAGE

————————————————-

For weekend stories, please click here for the Weekend Lookahead digest.

——————————

NEW & DEVELOPING

——————————

Adds: ELECTION 2024-BIDEN MIDEAST; ELECTION 2024-BIDEN; ELECTION 2024-TRUMP-KEMP; HURRICANE HELENE-WATER INFRASTRUCTURE; FRANCE RAPE TRIAL; HAITI-GANG ATTACK; SALMAN RUSHDIE ATTACK; HURRICANE HELENE-BEES; THE AMERICANS-LOVE AND POLITICS

——————————

ONLY ON AP

——————————

CYBERSECURITY-IRONNET — IronNet, a cybersecurity startup, had promised it would combat hackers using a unique blend of expertise and software. Helmed by a former director of the National Security Agency, the firm went public in 2021, and its value shot past $3 billion. Then it collapsed. The firm declared bankruptcy last year, leaving behind a trail of bitter investors and former employees who remain angry at the company and say it misled them about its financial health and potential. By Alan Suderman. SENT: 2,420 words, photos.

——————————

TOP STORIES

——————————

MIDEAST-WARS — Israel carried out another series of punishing airstrikes Friday, hitting suburban Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing the Israeli bombardment of the Hezbollah militant group. By Bassem Mroue. SENT: 1,010 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: ELECTION 2024-BIDEN MIDEAST — Biden says he doesn’t know whether Israel is holding up peace deal to influence 2024 US election; MIDEAST WARS-THE LATEST;IRAN-ISRAEL — Iranian supreme leader praises missile attack on Israel; MIDEAST WARS-UNITED STATES-HOUTHIS — US and Britain launch airstrikes by fighter jets and ships on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels; MIDEAST TENSIONS-US FLIGHTS — US arranges flights to bring Americans out of Lebanon as others seek escape (all sent).

Click here for more on the AP’s plans for the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of the war in Gaza. Find a selection of related photos in the Mideast Tensions Photo Collection on AP Newsroom.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-WEST-BANK-STRIKE – Relatives say an Israeli airstrike on a West Bank cafe that the military said targeted Palestinian militants also killed a family of four, including two young children. The strike slammed into a three-story building in the Tulkarem refugee camp late Thursday, setting it on fire and destroying a popular cafe. The territory’s Health Ministry said it killed at least 18 Palestinians. By Nasser Nasser and Aref Tufaha. SENT: 720 words, photos, video.

MIDEAST-WAR-ANNIVERSARY-SHAKEN-ISRAELIS — One year after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants, survivors reflect on that day’s lingering toll. They hid in bedrooms, bomb shelters, safe rooms and even beneath trees as Hamas militants poured across the border. In the aftermath, they’ve mourned loved ones, struggled with anxiety, suffered survivor’s guilt and questioned whether they will ever return home to places that still bear the scars of their ordeal. By Leo Correa and Melanie Lidman. SENT: 1,450 words, photos, video.

HURRICANE HELENE — The search for victims of Hurricane Helene is dragging into its second week. With at least 215 dead, lack of phone service and electricity continues to hinder efforts to contact the unaccounted for. That means search crews must trudge through the mountains to learn whether residents listed as missing are safe. By Jeff Amy. SENT: 610 words, photos, video, audio. WITH: HURRICANE HELENE-WATER INFRASTRUCTURE — Thousands are still without water a week after Helene hit; HURRICANE HELENE-BEES — North Carolina is distributing Benadryl and EpiPens as yellow jackets swarm from Helene flooding; HURRICANE-HELENE-SPORTS — A deadly hurricane is the latest disruption for young athletes who already have endured a pandemic; HURRICANE-HELENE-SPORTS-DONATIONS — Amid Hurricane Helene’s destruction, sports organizations launch relief efforts to aid storm victims (both sent). WITH: FEMA-NATURAL-DISASTERS-EXPLAINER — A look at what FEMA does. UPCOMING: 530 words, photos by 3 p.m.

HURRICANE-HELENE-TAMPA-BAY — Hurricane Helene’s storm surge struck Florida fast and hard when it slammed into Gulf Coast communities near St. Petersburg. Longtime residents had never seen anything like the 8-foot wall of water that pushed ashore, and that was the problem. Because the Sept. 26 storm surge was unprecedented, many people living near the beaches ignored mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind, thinking the warnings were exaggerated. By David Fischer and Terry Spencer. SENT: 1,350 words, photos, audio.

ELECTION 2024 — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are trying to get the upper hand with working-class voters in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. Harris is visiting the union stronghold of Flint, Michigan, while Trump is heading to Georgia and North Carolina. By Chris Megerian. SENT: 970 words, photos, video, audio. With ELECTION 2024-TRUMP KEMP — Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp use hurricane recovery to make first appearance together; ELECTION 2024-BIDEN — Biden talks election, economy and Middle East in surprise news briefing. (sent)

PORT STRIKE — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract. SENT: 980 words, photos, audio.

——————————————————

SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

——————————————————

CIVILIZATION-SHAWNEE-VIDEO-GAME – The chief of the Shawnee Tribe grew up playing video games, including hundreds of hours colonizing a distant planet in the 1999 title Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. So when that same game studio approached the tribal nation with a proposal to make a playable character out of their historical leader Tecumseh in the upcoming game Civilization 7, Chief Ben Barnes felt a rush of excitement. SENT: 1,300 words, photos, video.

BRAZIL-TRANSGENDER CANDIDATES — Nearly 1,000 transgender politicians are running Sunday in every one of Brazil’s 26 states. The number of transgender politicians has tripled since the last elections. It’s a momentous social change that’s been accompanied by violence in Latin America’s most populous nation. Transgender Europe says more trans people were murdered in Brazil last year than in any other country in the world. By Eleonore Hughes and Hannah-Kathryn Valles. SENT: 910 words, photos, video.

IMMIGRATION-MIGRANT-WOMEN-JOBS — As record numbers of South Americans come to the U.S. seeking better economic opportunities, many are landing in communities that are unprepared for them, and sometimes outright hostile. Many migrants have also been unprepared for the realities of their new home. By Bianca Vazquez Toness. SENT: 2,190 words, photos. An abridged version of 1,120 words is also available.

——————————

MORE NEWS

——————————

SCI-SOLAR-STORMS — Solar storms may cause faint auroras across fringes of the northern United States this weekend. SENT: 170 words, photo.

OFFICER-KILLED-GIRLFRIEND — Karen Read seeks delay in wrongful death lawsuit until her trial on murder and other charges is done. SENT: 600 words, photo.

——————————————————

WASHINGTON/POLITICS

——————————————————

ELECTION 2024-TRUMP-THREATS — Donald Trump is returning to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for a rally at the site where a gunman opened fire in July, grazing his ear. The fallout from the attack and one that followed has dramatically reshaped his campaign, including where he can hold rallies. SENT: 1,020 words, photos.

TRUMP-CAPITOL RIOT-PENCE — Days before rioters roamed the halls of the U.S. Capitol threatening to “hang Mike Pence,” Donald Trump told his vice president that people were going to “hate your guts” if he failed to stop the 2020 election certification. The exchanges between the two are detailed in special prosecutor Jack Smith’s court filing this week. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.

ELECTION 2024-HOUSE-OPEN SEATS — After a tumultuous and unproductive session of Congress, nearly 50 House members have decided either to not seek reelection or to run for a higher office. That leaves vacancies in several tight races that could tilt control of Congress to either party. SENT: 1,190 words, photos.

ELECTION 2024-CALIFORNIA-VOTERS-CRIME — Ten years ago, 3.7 million Californians voted for a landmark measure that made many nonviolent crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies. They hoped it would lead to a more equitable criminal justice system. Now they are blaming it for a litany of problems. SENT: 1,150 words, photos.

ELECTION-2024-ABORTION-FUNDS — Abortion rights groups have outraised opponents by a nearly 8-to-1 margin in campaigns for ballot measures across the U.S. this year. But the advantage doesn’t show in ad buys in Florida, which has the most expensive campaign of nine states where voters are considering whether to enshrine abortion rights. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

SUPREME-COURT-METHANE-EMISSIONS — The Supreme Court left in place two Biden administration environmental regulations aimed at reducing industry emissions of planet-warming methane and toxic mercury. SENT: 420 words, photos. WITH: SUPREME-COURT-MEXICO-GUNS-LAWSUIT — Supreme Court will weigh Mexico’s $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers; SUPREME-COURT-DISCRIMINATION-LAWSUIT —Supreme Court will hear an Ohio woman’s claim she lost out on jobs because she is straight. (both sent).

THE AMERICANS-LOVE AND POLITICS — A photo essay on a U.S. couple divided by politics. SENT: 575 words, photos.

————————-

NATIONAL

————————

REL-PITTSBURGH-JEWS-GRIM-OCTOBER — Jewish communities everywhere reacted with horror at last year’s Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, but the approaching one-year commemoration of the assault hits home particularly hard in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, which already marks a grim anniversary each October. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.

SALMAN RUSHDIE ATTACK —Jurors who will be picked for the trial of a man who severely injured author Salman Rushdie in a knife attack likely won’t hear about the fatwa that authorities have said motivated him to act. SENT: 340 words, photos.

—————————————

INTERNATIONAL

—————————————

FRANCE RAPE TRIAL — A French judge in the trial of dozens of men accused of raping an unconscious woman whose now former husband had repeatedly drugged her so that he and others could assault her has decided to allow the public to see some of the video recordings of the alleged rapes.

HAITI-GANG ATTACK — The U.N. human rights office says the tally of victims killed in a brutal attack on a small town in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members has risen to at least 70. SENT: 520 words.

SENEGAL-LANGUAGE - For decades Senegal, a former French colony in West Africa, has been touted as the bastion of the French language in the region. Leopold Senghor, the country’s first president and a poet, is considered one of the founding fathers of the concept of Francophonie, a global alliance of French-speaking countries. But many say a shift is underway. SENT: 830 words, photos.

——————————————

HOW TO REACH US

——————————————

The Nerve Center can be reached at 800-845-8450, ext. 1600. For photos, ext. 1900. For graphics and interactives, ext. 7636. Expanded AP content can be obtained from AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 844-777-2006.

A man runs for cover as a smoke raises in the background following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

New York Mets' Pete Alonso reacts after hitting a three-run home run during the ninth inning of Game 3 of a National League wild card baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

A police officer covers a topless activist of the Femen feminist group protesting against Russia-Iran military cooperation in front of the Iran Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Midtjylland's Denil Castillo, left, and Maccabi Tel Aviv's Stav Lemkin jump for the ball during the Europa League opening phase soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Midtjylland, at the Partizan stadium, in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Visitors watch the audiovisual presentation Ocean Odyssey, projected on the walls of a former steelworks at the Phoenix des Lumieres exhibition in Dortmund, Germany, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel carried out another series of punishing airstrikes Friday, hitting suburban Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing the Israeli bombardment of the Hezbollah militant group.

The overnight blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. Additional strikes sent people running for cover in streets littered with rubble in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, where at least one building was leveled and cars were burned out.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah's central intelligence headquarters around midnight. It did not say who it was aiming for or if any militants were killed in that strike, but it claimed to have killed 100 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area. Some 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel escalated its strikes in late September aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries' shared border.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched about 100 rockets into Israel on Friday, the Israel military said.

The Israeli military also said that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.

Thursday’s strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing — the first time it has been cut off since Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire almost a year ago.

Israel said it targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border. It said fighter jets had struck a tunnel used to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into Lebanon.

Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry through Syria from Iran, its main backer.

Associated Press video footage showed two huge craters on each side of the road. People got out of cars, unable to pass, carrying bags of their possessions as they crossed on foot. More than 250,000 Syrians and 82,000 Lebanese have fled across the border into Syria during the escalation of the past two weeks. There are a half-dozen crossings between the two countries, and most remain open.

Israel launched its ground escalation in Lebanon on Tuesday, and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip along the border. Israel has vowed to put an end to Hezbollah fire into northern Israel, after nearly a year of exchanges between the two sides that drove tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border. Israeli strikes over the past two weeks killed some of Hezbollah’s key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

On Thursday, Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon, including areas beyond the buffer zone declared by the United Nations after Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.

Israeli Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Friday that the ground operations were limited, aimed at rooting out Hezbollah militants and making the border safe for northern residents of Israel to return to their homes,

“First of all, our mission is to make sure they’re (Hezbollah) not there," Shoshani said. "Afterwards we will talk about how we make sure they don’t come back.”

Nine Israeli troops have been killed in close fighting in the area, which is saturated with arms and explosives, the military said.

Two more soldiers were killed and two were severely wounded by a drone attack in northern Israel, military officials said.

An umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it carried out three drone strikes Friday in northern Israel. In recent months, the group has regularly claimed drone strikes launched at Israel, but the strikes have rarely landed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was in Beirut on Friday to meet Lebanese officials, warned that if Israel carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran would retaliate more powerfully than it did this week when it launched at least 180 missiles into Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.

The missile barrage amid a series of rapidly escalating attacks has threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Araghchi said after meeting Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri.

In the Iranian capital, Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led Friday prayers and delivered a speech in which he praised the country’s missile strikes on Israel and said Iran was prepared to conduct more strikes if needed.

He spoke to thousands of people at Tehran’s main prayer site, the Mosalla mosque, which was decorated with a huge Palestinian flag.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which the militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Since then, Israel's campaign in Gaza in retaliation has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, just over half them women and children, according to local health officials.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out its deadliest strike in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war began, hitting a cafe in the Tulkarem refugee camp. At least 18 Palestinians were killed, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Relatives said a family of four, including two children, were among the dead. The Israeli military said several Hamas militants were killed, including the group's leader in the camp.

The Israeli military said Friday that militants in Gaza fired two rockets into Israeli territory, the first time Israel has seen rocket fire from the territory in a month.

The military said one of the rockets was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and the other fell in an open area near a kibbutz across the border from Gaza.

Syrians carry their luggage as they cross on foot into Syria through a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike to cut the road between the Lebanese and the Syrian checkpoints, at the Masnaa crossing, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Samer Husseini)

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile towards southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Displaced people sit at a vocational training center run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in the southern town of Sebline, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Displaced children play games on their mobile phone at a vocational training center run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in the southern town of Sebline, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A displaced woman sits with her daughter at a vocational training center run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in the southern town of Sebline, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A girl carries her belongings crossing on foot into Syria through a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike to cut the road between the Lebanese and the Syrian checkpoints, at the Masnaa crossing, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Samer Husseini)

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, second right, Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, right, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, second left, and President Masoud Pezeshkian read Quran in a ceremony commemorating slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, second left, meets with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

People check damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man runs for cover as a smoke raises in the background following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man documents the damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A photographer runs for cover as a smoke raises in the background following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents run for cover following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

A man runs for cover as a smoke raises in the background following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames and smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames and smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)