Explosion shakes Beirut stronghold

Explosion shakes Beirut stronghold

BEIRUT

People in southern Beirut say a large explosion has shaken a Hezbollah stronghold and triggered a fire.

The nature of the blast early today was not immediately clear. Some residents said it may have been caused by an Israeli drone that went down in the area.

Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon regularly and have struck inside neighboring Syria from Lebanese airspace on numerous occasions.

A few hours earlier, late Saturday, the Israeli military attacked targets near Syria’s capital of Damascus in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity in the region.

Residents of the Beirut district rocked by the explosion say the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group sealed off the area.

Crowds fill streets to back president

BUENOS AIRES

Tens of thousands of Argentines have jammed streets in the capital and other cities to show support for conservative President Mauricio Macri, who is facing a tough fight heading into general elections in October in a country beset with economic struggles.

Chanting “We can be better” and “Let’s go together,” a crowd that greatly exceeded expectations swelled outside the presidential palace in Buenos Aires just two weeks after a left-leaning presidential ticket turned in a far stronger showing than Macri’s slate in political party primary voting.

An emotional Macri emerged on a balcony of the Casa Rosada to acknowledge his supporters, who responded to calls on social media to get out in the streets.

Married only minutes, couple killed in crash

ORANGE, Texas

Police say a Texas newlywed couple still wearing tuxedo and wedding dress was killed in a crash with a truck as their vehicle tried to exit the driveway of the Justice of the Peace.

Orange, Texas, police say 19-year-old Harley Morgan and 20-year-old Rhiannon Boudreaux were pronounced dead at the scene Friday by the same judge who married them.

They were hit by a truck towing a trailer carrying a tractor. The force was so great that witnesses said the car flipped multiple times before coming to rest in a ditch.

The mother of the groom, LaShawna Morgan, told the Beaumont Enterprise, “They hadn’t even been married for five minutes.”

Families of the couple were following them and witnessed the crash.

N. Korea tests new rocket launcher

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a test-firing of what it calls “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher.”

The Korean Central News Agency says Saturday’s weapons test was successful and cited Kim as saying the rocket launcher is “indeed a great weapon.”

The report likely referred to the projectile launches that South Korea detected Saturday morning.

South Korea’s military said North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast and that they flew about 236 miles at the maximum altitude of 60 miles.

North Korea has been pushing to develop powerful multiple rocket launch systems, whose projectiles show missile-like flight distance and trajectory.

The latest launches were the seventh weapons test by North Korea in a month.

Associated Press