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BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike Sunday struck Beirut for the first time since June.Israel’s military said that it targeted Hezbollah’s chief of staff, without giving further details. Hezbollah has yet to comment.Smoke could be seen in the busy Haret Hreik neighborhood, with one video circulated on social media showing dozens of people crowded around the area of the strike, which appeared to be on an apartment building.There was no immediate word on casualties.The strike in the south of the capital comes days before Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit the country and as Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon have intensified in recent weeks.Israel and the United States have been piling the pressure on Lebanon to disarm the powerful militant group. The Lebanese military issued a plan approved by the government that would disarm Hezbollah.Israel says Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon, whereas the Lebanese government has denied those claims.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Group of 20 summit in South Africa is set to end Sunday with another diplomatic spat involving the United States after the host country refused to hand over the rotating presidency of the bloc to what it described as a junior U.S. official.The U.S. boycotted the two-day meeting of leaders from rich and emerging economies in Johannesburg over the Trump administration's claims that South Africa is violently persecuting its Afrikaner white minority.The U.S. is due to take over as G20 president for 2026 — and says it will host its summit at President Donald Trump's golf club in Doral, Florida. But South Africa insisted that a traditional handover ceremony at the end of this summit likely won't happen because the U.S. only wanted to send a diplomatic official from its embassy, calling it an insult to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.“The United States is a member of the G20 and if they want to be represented, they can still send anyone at the right level,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said. “It is the leaders’ summit. The right level is the head of state, a special envoy appointed by the president of that country, or it could also be a minister.”South Africa said the handover would happen later, possibly at its foreign ministry building.A deepening riftIt was not clear if any U.S. officials would attend the closing day of the summit. The diplomatic rift between the U.S. and South Africa deepened this week when Ramaphosa said the U.S. had changed its mind and wanted to participate in the summit at the last minute. The White House denied that and said U.S. officials would only attend the formal handover.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Ramaphosa was “running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States.”South Africa broke with tradition at the first G20 summit in Africa by issuing a leaders' declaration on the opening day of the talks on Saturday. Declarations usually come at the end of the summit.That declaration came in the face of opposition from the U.S., which has been critical of a South African agenda for the group that largely focuses on climate change and global wealth inequality. Argentina said it also opposed the declaration after Argentinian President Javier Milei — a Trump ally — also skipped the summit.Other G20 nations, including China, Russia, France, Germany, the U.K., Japan and Canada, backed the declaration, which largely called for more global attention on issues that specifically affect poor countries, such as the need for financial help for their recovery efforts after climate-related disasters, finding ways to ease their debt levels and supporting their transition to green energy sources.The G20 is ‘struggling’South Africa championed the declaration as a victory for the summit and for international cooperation in the face of the Trump administration's “America First” foreign policy. However, G20 declarations are general agreements by member countries that aren't binding, and their long-term impact has been questioned.Also, while the declaration included many of South Africa's priorities, some concrete proposals didn't make the final document. There was no mention of a new international panel on wealth inequality, similar to the United Nations-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that South Africa and others had called for.Some questioned the G20's effectiveness in solving the most prominent global crises, like the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions in the Middle East.The 122-point G20 declaration made just one reference to Ukraine in a general call for an end to global conflicts and the summit appeared to have made no difference to the nearly four-year war, even as leaders or high-level delegations from all the major European nations, the European Union and Russia sat in the same room in Johannesburg.“Meeting for the first time on the African continent marks an important milestone,” French President Emmanuel Macron said, but added the bloc was “struggling to have a common standard on geopolitical crises.”A symbolic summit for poorer countriesStill, some activists said the Johannesburg summit was a significant symbolic moment for the G20, made up of 19 nations, the European Union and the African Union, because it dedicated more attention than ever to issues affecting poorer countries.“This is the first ever meeting of world leaders in history where the inequality emergency was put at the centre of the agenda," said Max Lawson of Oxfam, the international non-profit that works to alleviate global poverty.“The importance of addressing development priorities from the African perspective cannot be overemphasized,” said Namibia President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, whose southern African country of three million people was one of more than 20 smaller nations invited as guests to attend the summit alongside the G20 members.___Follow AP’s coverage of the G20 summit in South Africa: https://apnews.com/hub/g20-summit

NABUMALI, Uganda (AP) — Among the most sensitive family disputes Moses Kutoi mediates are those involving upset men questioning why some of their children don’t resemble them.For the Ugandan clan leader attuned to the wisdom of his ancestors, the matter is taboo, never to be discussed with others. Yet Kutoi feels compelled to intervene in the hope of saving marriages that sometimes turn violent and are on the verge of breaking.“Even me, I don’t resemble my father,” the clan leader recently told one disbelieving man he was helping.Paternity has become a key test of faith in this east African country as DNA testing becomes more widely available, fueled in part by published reports of well-known Ugandans who eventually discovered they were not the biological fathers of some of their children.The matter has become so heated that clerics and traditional leaders now urge tolerance and a return to the kind of African teachings that village elders like Kutoi say they stand for.At last year’s Christmas Day service, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba, cited the example of the virgin birth of Jesus — the bedrock of Christian belief — in a sermon that sought to discourage DNA testing among the faithful.“You take DNA and you find out that out of the four children, only two are yours," he warned. “So just take care of the children the way they are, like Joseph did.”Paternity disputes are proliferatingThe Ministry of Internal Affairs runs a government-accredited lab that conducts court-ordered investigations. It says the number of men seeking voluntary DNA testing has soared recently, with often “heartbreaking” outcomes.“About 95% of those coming for DNA tests are men, but more than 98% of the results show these men are not the biological fathers,” Simon Peter Mundeyi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told reporters in July.His advice for men was not to seek DNA proof of paternity “unless you have a strong heart," he said.DNA testing centers have sprouted all over Uganda, with aggressive advertising by clinical labs on radio and in public spaces. Some passenger taxis in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, have had their back windows plastered with ads for facilities offering DNA testing.In Nabumali, a small town where Kutoi is the mayor, most families can’t afford DNA testing fees, which exceed $200 at the only private laboratory equipped to do such work in nearby Mbale city.The couples who seek Kutoi’s assistance can barely tolerate each other by the time they approach him. He tries to ease the tension with self-deprecating jokes and by sharing his own experience with the taboo topic. Kutoi likes to point out that although he doesn't resemble his father, he was picked as the family heir anyway, allowing him to become a clan leader among the Bagisu people.In the past, if a man spoke publicly about paternity concerns, community elders would pay him a visit. He could be punished, including being forced to pay a fine, Kutoi said.“You are not supposed to pronounce that I am suspecting that this child is not mine,” said Kutoi, adding that being drunk was no excuse for such an utterance.Disputes are tied to property and divorce proceedingsThese days many paternity disputes in Uganda revolve around the distribution of property after the family patriarch has died, but also during divorce proceedings when spousal support is contested.In the most prominent recent case, court-ordered DNA testing showed a wealthy academic in Kampala was not the father of one of this three children. That case has been widely covered by the local press, underscoring paternity as an issue affecting a wide range of families.The Rev. Robert Wantsala, vicar of a small Anglican parish in the eastern district of Mbale, spoke about the array of paternity disagreements he has encountered. He recalled a woman who had her late husband’s son DNA tested before he could be considered an estate beneficiary, two men who tussled over a child each believed to be his and a man who told his grown son he wanted a DNA test for not behaving like a family member.“The man said to his son, ‘This character is not in my family,’” Wantsala said, recalling an incident from 2023.The son responded forcefully, winning the approval of his community by telling his father that he would agree to a test “on condition that you invite my (dead) mother.”Wantsala echoed the advice of Kaziimba, the Anglican primate, saying he always tells doubting men to leave the matter to God.“When they come, in whichever way they come, children are children,” he said. “A child that is born in the home, that is your child. Even in African tradition that is how it was.”The men who seek DNA testing without thinking of the consequences are wasting their time, Kutoi said.“For us, they knew the child belonged to you regardless,” he said, speaking of African traditional society.Disowning children was unheard of, although some men were known to discreetly take measures like offering the disputed son a land inheritance far removed from the ancestral compound in which the heir would be installed, Kutoi said.Faith leaders counsel familiesOther religious leaders have organized counseling sessions.Andrew Mutengu, pastor of Word of Faith Ministries in Mbale, said paternity is a recurring subject in many disputes he mediates among his 800 congregation members.Last month he helped the wife of a rich businessman whose young daughter was claimed by a former boyfriend, a local barber. After the woman confessed she had been unfaithful, Mutengu summoned the barber, who agreed to stop publicizing his claim in the child's interest.“He goes around bragging that ‘I am the father,’” he said of the barber. “It was actually causing issues because this woman is in a home with another man who is actually the known husband."Mutengu said he believes more men in his community would seek DNA testing if it were cheaper, no matter faith leaders' appeals.Even Kutoi sounded doubtful when his 29-year-old son crossed the compound one recent afternoon at their home in Nabumali. The son is of light skin and taller than his father, who used the opportunity to tell a joke.“You saw this tall boy. That is my son,” he said. “When you looked at him, did he look like me?"___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — After two weeks of negotiations, this year's United Nations climate talks ended Saturday with a compromise that some criticized as weak and others called progress.The deal finalized at the COP30 conference pledges more money to help countries adapt to climate change, but lacks explicit plans to transition away from the fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas that heat the planet.The conference didn't do as much as scientists thought the world needed. It wasn't as meaningful as activists and Indigenous people demanded. Few countries got everything they wanted. And the venue even caught fire.But that disappointment is mixed with a few wins and the hope for countries to make more progress next year.Here's what you need to know about the outcome.Leaders tried to nail down specifics on fighting climate changeLeaders have been working on how to fight the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather and sea level rise, for a decade. To do that, every country had the homework of writing up their own national climate plans and then reconvened this month to see if it was enough.Most didn't get a good grade and some haven't even turned it in.Brazil, host of the climate conference known as COP30, was trying to get them to cooperate on the toughest issues like climate-related trade restrictions, funding for climate solutions, national climate-fighting plans and more transparency on measuring those plans' progress.More than 80 countries tried to introduce a detailed guide to phase out fossil fuels over the next several decades. There were other to-do items on topics including deforestation, gender and farming.Countries reached what critics called a weak compromiseNations agreed to triple the amount of money promised to help the vulnerable countries adapt to climate change. But they will take five more years to do it. Some vulnerable island countries said they were happy about the financial support.But the final document didn't include a road map away from fossil fuels, angering many.After the agreement was reached, COP President André Corrêa do Lago said Brazil would take an extra step and write their own road map. Not all countries signed up to this, but those on board will meet next year to specifically talk about the fossil fuel phase out. It would not carry the same weight as something agreed to at the conference.Also included in the package were smaller agreements on energy grids and biofuels.Responses ranged from happy to angry“Given what we expected, what we came out with, we were happy,” said Ilana Seid, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States.But others felt discouraged. Heated exchanges took place during the conference’s final meeting as countries snipped at each other about the fossil fuel plan.“I will be brutally honest: The COP and the U.N. system are not working for you. They have never really worked for you. And today, they are failing you at a historic scale,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, a negotiator for Panama.Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone’s environment and climate change minister said: “COP30 has not delivered everything Africa asked for, but it has moved the needle.” He added: "This is a floor, not a ceiling.”The real outcome of this year’s climate talks will be judged on “how quickly these words turn into real projects that protect lives and livelihoods,” he said.Talks set against the Amazon rainforestParticipants experienced the Amazon’s extreme heat and humidity and heavy rains that flooded walkways. Organizers who chose Belem, on the edge of the rainforest, as the host city had intended for countries to experience firsthand what was at stake with climate change, and take bold action to stop it.But afterward, critics said the deal shows how hard it is to find global cooperation on issues that affect everyone, most of all people in poverty, Indigenous people, women and children around the world.“At the start of this COP, there was this high level of ambition. We started with a bang, but we ended with a whimper of disappointment," said former Philippine negotiator Jasper Inventor, now at Greenpeace International.Indigenous people, civil society and youthOne of the nicknames for the climate talks in Brazil was the “Indigenous peoples' COP.” Yet some in those groups said they had to fight to be heard.Protesters from Indigenous groups twice disrupted the conference to demand a bigger seat at the table. While Indigenous people's rights weren't officially on the agenda, Taily Terena, an Indigenous woman from the Terena nation in Brazil, said so far she is happy with the text because for the first time it includes a paragraph mentioning Indigenous rights.She supported countries speaking up on procedural issues because that’s how multilateralism works. “It’s kind of chaotic, but from our perspective, it’s kind of good that some countries have a reaction,” she said.___The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.___This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration has sued California for providing in-state college tuition, scholarships, and state-funded financial aid to students who do not have legal status to be in the United States.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges the practice harms U.S. citizens and encourages illegal immigration. Among the defendants are the state, top state officials, and the state's two public university systems, the University of California and California State.President Donald Trump's administration has filed similar lawsuits against policies in other states, including Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Kentucky and Texas. Half the country now has similar laws to California's.In June, after the administration sued, Texas ended its decades-old law. And Florida last year scrapped its law that allowed in-state tuition for high school graduates who weren't in the country legally.Supporters of the state tuition breaks argue that they don’t violate federal law if they provide the same rates to U.S. citizens in the same circumstances — meaning they are residents of the state and graduates of one of its high schools. The California Dream Act also allows such students to apply for state-funded financial aid.Many of the students were brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children, and supporters of the laws say they are as much a part of their communities as U.S. citizens.It is the latest action by Trump's administration since he issued executive orders in February directing federal agencies to stop public benefits from going to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and to challenge state and local policies seen as favoring those immigrants over some citizens. The lawsuit argues that the Republican president’s orders enforce federal immigration laws.“California is illegally discriminating against American students and families by offering exclusive tuition benefits for non-citizens,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This marks our third lawsuit against California in one week — we will continue bringing litigation against California until the state ceases its flagrant disregard for federal law.”The Justice Department also sued to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week, and over California’s new laws banning federal agents from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while conducting operations in the state.The University of California defended its decades-old in-state tuition policy.“While we will, of course, comply with the law as determined by the courts, we believe our policies and practices are consistent with current legal standards,” it said in a statement.The lawsuit comes weeks after the California Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that the University of California’s policy barring students without legal status in the U.S. from campus jobs is discriminatory and must be reconsidered.University system officials had warned that the decision would put them in a precarious position as they negotiate with the Trump administration after the withdrawal of federal research funds.The UC is dealing with federal grant suspensions and a White House demand that it pay a $1 billion fine over allegations including antisemitism and the illegal consideration of race in admitting students to its Los Angeles campus.The California State University system is the nation’s largest and among its most diverse, with more than 460,000 students. More than a quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students, according to the university system.The University of California serves about 300,000 students.

President Donald Trump is accusing half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders” in a video posted to X.The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.”Here’s the latest:Supreme Court meets to weigh Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions, blocked by lower courtsThe Supreme Court is to meet in private Friday with a high-profile issue on its agenda — President Trump ’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they’ll hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have uniformly struck down the citizenship restrictions. They haven’t taken effect anywhere in the United States.If the court steps in now, the case would be argued in the spring, with a definitive ruling expected by early summer.The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term in the White House, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown.▶ Read more about Trump’s order on birthright citizenshipTrump and Mamdani meet Friday in the Oval Office. They’ve cast each other as adversaries for monthsTrump has called New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump’s administration “authoritarian” and described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”So their first-ever meeting, scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. EST at the White House, could be a curious and combustible affair.Despite months of casting each other as prime adversaries, the Republican president and new Democratic star have also indicated an openness to finding areas of agreement that help the city they’ve both called home.Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out — although he has also falsely labeled Mamdani as a “communist” and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.But for both men, the meeting offers opportunities beyond any areas of potential bipartisan agreement.The two men are convenient political foils for each other, and taking the other one on can galvanize their supporters.▶ Read more about their upcoming meetingTrump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and FloridaThe Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.▶ Read more about the plans for new oil drillingTrump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg expected to leave his post as new peace plan emergesTrump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has informed the White House he’ll leave his post in January, according to two senior administration officials.The move comes as the White House is working on a new peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine that is being largely coordinated by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. That plan calls for major concessions by Kyiv, including ceding territory to Russia and abandoning certain weaponry.The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about Kellogg’s expected departure from the administration. They declined to comment on why Kellogg was departing. News of Kellogg’s expected exit was first reported by Reuters.Kellogg was initially named special envoy for Ukraine and Russia during Trump’s presidential transition. But his role shrank as Witkoff, a real estate developer turned diplomat, emerged as the president’s chief interlocutor with Putin and his advisers.▶ Read more about Kellogg’s departureTrump expands tariff relief on coffee, fruit and beef from BrazilTrump has further loosened tariffs on Brazil as part of his effort to lower consumer costs for Americans. The decision, released Thursday, affects coffee, fruit and beef, among other goods.The White House said last week that Trump was rolling back some worldwide tariffs that were originally announced in April.However, Brazil said that didn’t affect levies that Trump had enacted in July to punish the country for prosecuting his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.Thursday’s decision harmonizes Trump’s plans, ensuring that neither the April nor July tariffs apply to certain products.Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have been negotiating over trade, which could further reduce tariffs.Trump steps up attacks on ABC and Jimmy Kimmel, says network should ‘get the bum off the air’Trump stepped up his attacks against ABC and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, urging the network to “get the bum off the air” in a social media post sent shortly after the comic’s latest episode ended.The president this week had also expressed anger at the network’s chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, for questions she asked in an Oval Office meeting, which his press staff followed with a 17-point memo listing grievances against ABC News.Trump’s latest attack against Kimmel came two months after ABC temporarily suspended the comic for remarks made following the assassination of GOP activist Charlie Kirk. ABC lifted the suspension following a public outcry.Kimmel’s show Wednesday night began with a blistering monologue about Trump. Trump struck back in a Truth Social post sent at 12:49 a.m. Eastern. “Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it?” Trump said.▶ Read more about Trump and KimmelTrump says Democrats’ video message to military is ‘seditious behavior’ punishable by deathTrump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.”Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his MAGA base. Some Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.▶ Read more about the video and Trump’s response