World
Pumpkin weighing 2,471 pounds wins California contest
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A Minnesota horticulture teacher remained the reigning champion Monday of an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California where his massive gourds have won the top prize four years in a row.
Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, beat his closest competitor by 6 pounds (2.7 kilograms) to clinch the victory at the 51st World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
His winning gourd came in at 2,471 pounds (1,121 kilograms), falling short of the world record he set last year with a pumpkin weighing 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms).
Gienger, 44, said that as he has done in the past, he focused on having healthy soil and well-fed plants but that a cold fall with record-breaking rain likely impacted his pumpkin’s growth.
“We had really, really tough weather and somehow, some way, I kept on working,” Gienger said. “I had to work for this one, and we got it done at the end, but it wasn’t by much.”
Gienger and his family drove his gargantuan gourd for 35 hours to California.
He said the giant pumpkin’s next stop will be in Southern California, where a team of professional carvers will do a 3D carve on it at a Halloween event.
World
UNIFIL ignored Hezbollah terror build up for 18 years, Israel's UN ambassador says
JERUSALEM – Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon on Sunday accused the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) of failing to enforce its mission to prevent the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah from establishing military outposts on the border with Israel.
Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon has revealed a military outpost about a mere 300 yards north of the border with the Jewish state that is filled with explosives and mines, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Hezbollah terrorists are using UNIFIL outposts as hiding places and as places of ambushes. The U.N.’s insistence on keeping the UNIFIL soldiers in the line of fire is incomprehensible,” said Danon.
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He added “For 18 years, UNIFIL personnel ignored the Hezbollah bases along the border and did not report any Resolution 1701 violations, which states that only the Lebanese army is allowed to operate in the area.”
Danon continued that “While the IDF is working against the terrorist organization Hezbollah, we requested that UNIFIL forces move five kilometers (approx 3.1 miles) north of the border in order to stay out of the line of fire. Unfortunately, at this time, this request has not been accepted.”
The U.S. and other world powers passed Resolution 1701 at the United Nations Security Council in 2006 to aid the Lebanese Armed Forces in assuming military control over the region, replacing Hezbollah, between the Litani River and the southern border in Lebanon. The goal of the 2006 UNIFIL mandate was to prevent a third war between Israel and the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah. Israel fought Hezbollah in 1982 and in the summer of 2006.
Hezbollah’s decision to join Hamas’ war on Israel a day after the Sunni terrorist movement Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 revealed to Israeli war planners and counter-terrorism experts UNIFIL had failed its mission.
Hamas slaughtered nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, including over 30 Americans. A lethal Hezbollah drone attack on Sunday murdered four IDF soldiers and wounded nearly 60 Israelis.
Hezbollah’s massive military buildup of its presence on Israel’s northern border since the 2006 war has caused an Israeli government re-examination of the clear and present danger of the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist movement following Hamas’ invasion of Israel’s southern border on Oct. 7.
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The IDF said in a statement that “Over the past month, approximately 25 rockets and missiles have been launched at Israeli communities and IDF troops from Hezbollah’s terrorist compounds embedded near UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon, exploiting their proximity to U.N. forces. One of the attacks resulted in the deaths of two IDF soldiers. Hezbollah uses compounds located above and below ground to carry out terrorist attacks against the State of Israel.”
UNIFIL issued a statement on Sunday, announcing, “Early this morning, peacekeepers at a U.N. position in Ramyah observed three platoons of IDF soldiers crossing the Blue Line into Lebanon. At around 4:30 a.m., while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position. They requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights. The tanks left about 45 minutes later after UNIFIL protested through our liaison mechanism, saying that IDF presence was putting peacekeepers in danger.”
UNIFIL added “peacekeepers at the same position reported the firing of several rounds 100 meters north, which emitted smoke. Despite putting on protective masks, fifteen peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions, after the smoke entered the camp. The peacekeepers are receiving treatment.”
Danon said “The details of the incident involving UNIFIL soldiers in southern Lebanon are currently being investigated. In the coming days, we will continue to promote a dialogue on this issue with the relevant parties at the UN.”
When Fox News Digital approached UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti for a comment about Danon’s criticism, Tenenti did not immediately respond.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on UNIFIL to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon because they are being used as “human shields” to advance the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah war machinery.
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Speaking in Hebrew, Netanyahu told the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, “It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat.”
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said “Against the backdrop of the ongoing hostilities in southern Lebanon and despite attacks that have hit United Nations positions, injuring a number of peacekeepers in the past several days, UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all positions and the U.N. flag continues to fly.”
Dujarric added that “The Secretary-General reiterates that the safety and security of U.N. personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of U.N. premises must be respected at all times without qualification. In a deeply worrying incident that occurred today, the entrance door of a U.N. position was deliberately breached by IDF armored vehicles.”
The U.N. chief called “on all parties, including the IDF, to refrain from any and all actions that put our peacekeepers at risk. The Secretary-General takes the opportunity to reiterate the call for a cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”
Guterres did not address that the Hezbollah tunnel shafts discovered by the IDF were located a mere 300 feet away from a UNIFIL peacekeeping observation post, as well as the presence of other Hezbollah military installations in a zone that was required by UNSC 1701 to be free from Hezbollah explosives and armaments. The elaborate Hezbollah tunnels were found west of the Lebanese village of Labbouneh.
The United Nations Security Council will once again discuss the situation in Lebanon later on Monday.
World
France’s Marine Le Pen questioned in court at EU embezzlement trial
Marine Le Pen and her RN party have been accused of using European Parliament money to pay staff in France between 2004 and 2016.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has strongly denied committing any wrongdoing at a Paris court as she and her National Rally (RN) party stand trial over the suspected embezzlement of European Parliament funds.
The nine-week trial is a critical juncture for Le Pen, expected to be a strong contender in France’s next presidential election in 2027. A guilty verdict could significantly affect her political career and aspirations.
Le Pen, 56, took to the stand on Monday in the first of three expected days of testimony in the trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations began.
Le Pen, the RN itself, and 24 others – including party officials, employees, and former lawmakers – have all been accused of using European Parliament money to pay staff in France.
The party leader and her co-defendants have denied the charges, saying the money was used legitimately.
In court, Le Pen argued that she believed a European Parliament member’s role was as much to push their party’s politics in France as it was to work on legislation in Brussels.
“I’m telling you very clearly: I absolutely don’t feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegal move,” she said.
She detailed her vision of the role that MEPs play, including various examples such as meeting with voters and attending major events.
“The aide works for his MEP and [therefore] can work for his MEP for the benefit of the party,” she explained.
“I believe it’s a mistake from the European Parliament not to perceive it this way,” she added.
The judge presiding over the case said she was unsatisfied with Le Pen’s answers.
‘Fake jobs’
The European Parliament has estimated the damage from the alleged crimes to be 3.5 million euros ($3.8m).
The alleged fake jobs system that triggered the trial was first flagged in 2015 and covers parliamentary assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors say the assistants worked solely for the party outside parliament. Many could not describe their day-to-day work, and some never met their supposed MEP boss.
A bodyguard, a secretary, Le Pen’s chief of staff and a graphic designer were all allegedly hired under false pretences.
If Le Pen and her co-defendants are found guilty, they could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to one million euros ($1.1m) each.
A guilty verdict could also result in penalties including a loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, which would affect Le Pen’s goal of becoming France’s president in the 2027 election.
The trial is scheduled to last until November 27.
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