Monday morning news: August 12, 2024

MARK MELLINGER, NEWS ANCHOR: Israel expands evacuation orders » Israel is ordering more evacuations in and around the Gaza Strip’s second largest city, Khan Younis.

The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, says Hamas has been launching attacks from a humanitarian zone there.

This comes on the heels of an Israeli air strike over the weekend that killed at least 80 Palestinians sheltering inside a school in northern Gaza, drawing criticism from the U.N. Human Rights Office. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari….

HAGARI: We took numerous steps to mitigate the risk to civilians, including using aerial surveillance prior to the strike.

Israel targeted the building because it says a top Islamic Jihad commander was inside. The IDF says Hamas and other militants are routinely hiding among civilians in Gaza and launching attacks from neighborhoods.

Meantime, Hamas is pushing back on calls to resume cease-fire talks this week. Instead, it’s urging mediators from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar to submit a plan for implementing points already agreed upon last month.

Zelenskyy acknowledges incursion into Russia » Ukraine’s president acknowledges his country has launched a significant military operation into Russia’s Kursk region.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

That’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressing Ukrainians over the weekend. He says Ukraine is trying to "push the war out into the aggressor’s territory."

This surprise attack is the largest such incursion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began more than two years ago. It’s caught Russian forces off guard and even led to evacuations.

Some military experts think the goal could be to divert Russian forces from eastern Ukraine and strengthen Ukraine’s hand in future negotiations.

Biden admits Democrat pressure forced him out » President Biden says concerns from within his party led him to drop his bid for reelection.

BIDEN: What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in their races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would have been the topic.

Biden talking to CBS News Sunday Morning, his first interview since he dropped out of the presidential race last month.

The president says his campaign’s central theme of maintaining democracy is still critical. He also says the replacement ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is a great team—adding he’ll be campaigning with them to help defeat Donald Trump.

Harris agrees with Trump: No taxes on tips » Speaking of the vice president, she now agrees with former President Trump on one issue: no taxes on tips.

HARRIS: Raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

That’s Harris during a rally in Las Vegas this weekend.

Not long after, Trump launched a barrage of criticism at the vice president on social media, saying she has no imagination and played copycat on his ‘no taxes on tips’ idea.

The latest New York Times poll shows continued momentum for Harris, currently putting her ahead of Trump in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Gas prices way down » If it seems like going to the gas pump lately isn’t as much of a drain on your wallet, it’s not just your imagination.

Trilby Lundberg of The Lundberg Survey says…

LUNDBERG: We have a six-cent drop in the past two weeks to $3.53 for regular.

That’s the U.S.’s new national average for a gallon of regular unleaded, which Lundberg says is down 37 cents from this same time last year.

She chalks up the change in price to an oil refinery in the Midwest coming back online after bad weather shut it down.

SOUND: [Fireworks]

Olympics closing ceremony » Fireworks lit up the night sky outside the Stade de France in Paris.

The Summer Olympics wrapped up with a star-studded closing ceremony.

Tom Cruise pulled off a daredevil stunt, and music icons from California like Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed, all in a nod to L.A., which will host the next Summer Olympics in 2028.

By the way, the U.S. and China tied for the most gold medals this year, with 40 apiece. But the U.S. easily won the overall medal count with 126.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: This week’s Legal Docket plus the Monday Moneybeat.

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