Israel Preps for Possible Ground Operation in Lebanon; Congress Passes Bill to Avert Gov’t Shutdown

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, fears of a wider war in the Middle East. Hezbollah rocket fire hits multiple homes in northern Israel, escalating tensions in the conflict. Israel says they are now preparing for a possible ground offensive into Lebanon. Jason Perry reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the United Nations in New York what he says about foreign countries potentially posing a threat to the United States. The Chinese regime launched a missile carrying a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean this morning. It was the first of its kind since 1980. It comes after President Biden highlighted China's aggressive behavior in the region. Jack Bradley has more from the White House. From a broken chain of command to communication failures. A Senate interim report unveils multiple security lapses in the first assassination attempt on former President Trump. A stern warning against Iran. How Trump responds to intelligence that Iran might be plotting to assassinate him. And what's surprising about the site of an upcoming Trump rally. That's as Vice President Harris delivers a major speech on the economy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hurricane Helene intensifies as it approaches Florida, showing no signs of slowing. A state of emergency has been declared, forcing many residents to evacuate. Christina Corona has the weather update. This is NTD Evening News. Live from our global headquarters in New York City, here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. Israeli forces say they are now preparing for a possible ground offensive into Lebanon. This comes as Hezbollah rocket fire hit multiple homes in northern Israel. NTD's Jason Perry has the latest. On Wednesday, rescuers raced to a burning house in northern Israel that was hit by Hezbollah rocket fire. Israeli police gave an update shortly after. Unfortunately, we had a direct hit to one of the homes in one of the neighborhoods of the city of Seyfert. Luckily, the family is currently staying out of the country, so this event caused no casualties. However, three people were wounded in a separate incident in northern Israel on Wednesday when Hezbollah rockets hit the area. And after that, Israeli forces reported striking rocket launchers that were used to fire towards Israel. Israel also said they targeted Hezbollah's intelligence directorate at 70 different sites. And in the last three days, Israel said they struck over 2,000 terrorist targets in Lebanon. Apparently, the security situation is getting so bad in Lebanon that Syrians living there have decided to return to war-torn Syria. There were strikes and bombardment, so we left. We were in Goberi. We were hit there by an Israeli strike. We went to Beirut, and there was bombardment also, so we returned to Syria. This comes as Israel's military chief said they are preparing for a possible ground offensive into Lebanon. An Israeli military spokesperson gave some details on the situation with Hezbollah. We can see the mountain range behind me. Just beyond that, there are Hezbollah terrorists with their rockets firing volleys. 50 rockets were fired at once in this area. Hezbollah has been pushed back from the border by seven kilometers, which is part of the process. We're one-third of the way there. What we are insisting is that Hezbollah abide by international agreements which say that they withdraw beyond the Litani River, which is about three times this distance, which will enable the residents of Israel to move back into their homes. Also on Wednesday, a Hezbollah missile reached Tel Aviv for the first time since the war began. But Israel's air defense systems intercepted it, and no injuries were reported. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has been working tirelessly with partners to prevent a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah. He also said they want to move toward a diplomatic process that will allow Israeli and Lebanese residents to return to their homes. Jason Perry, NTV News. At least two people are dead in Ukraine today after alleged Russian attacks. This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the United Nations. Here's the latest. The Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region says at least two people are dead and 19 more injured. That's after an alleged Russian strike on Ukraine's eastern town of Kramatorsk. The town lies about 12 miles from the active combat line and often comes under Russian attacks. NTV was not able to independently verify the date or the location of the video. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the United Nations in New York aiming at nations with close ties to Russia. And when the Chinese-Brazilian duo tries to grow into a choir of voices with someone in Europe, with someone in Africa saying something alternative to a full and just peace, the question arises, what is the true interest? Zelensky hinted at the colonial past of those countries, suggesting history shouldn't repeat itself. He also warned of an alleged nuclear plot by Russia. Now Putin does seem to be planning attacks on our nuclear power plants and the infrastructure, aiming to disconnect the plants from the power grid. Zelensky added that more aid from Western nations is needed. Russia previously said it doesn't strike civilian targets. The Chinese military fired a long-range missile into the Pacific Ocean today. It was the first time the Chinese communist regime launched such a missile in 40 years. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has more from the White House. The Chinese regime launched a missile into open waters of the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday morning. It was carrying a dummy warhead, though it was not targeting any particular nation. This is the first time China's fired an intercontinental ballistic missile since the early 1980s. This follows President Biden's final address to the United Nations in New York City, where he called out the Chinese regime's military aggression in the South China Sea. The United States is unabashed pushing back against unfair economic competition, against military coercion of other nations in the South China Sea, and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and protecting our most advanced technologies so they cannot be used against us or any of our partners. On Wednesday afternoon, President Biden met with the General Secretary of Vietnam, where they discussed their advancements in semiconductor technology, among other things, and this is a sign that the U.S. is working to keep the Chinese Communist Party's influence out of Asia, and U.S. businesses are also seeking an alternative to investing in Chinese factories. One year ago in Hanoi, we began a new era of relations with Vietnam and the United States, and we elevated our partnership to the highest level possible. Since then, I've been very proud of the progress we've made. China has been raising security concerns for the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Pacific in recent months, whether it's ramming Philippine Coast Guard vessels, sending a spy plane into Japanese airspace, or holding naval military drills increasingly near Taiwan. Earlier this week, President Biden met with the so-called Quad leaders in Delaware. Now, these are leaders of the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia. Biden was caught on a hot mic telling them that China is testing them with its aggressive behavior. China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it's true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South Asia. Russia, which relies heavily on China's economic and military support, launched its own ballistic missile test over the weekend, but it reportedly failed after showing signs of an early explosion at the launch site. Now, this all comes almost a year after a Chinese spy balloon plane was caught collecting information over sensitive military sites in the U.S. before being shot down. Reporting from the White House, Jack Bradley, NTD News. A Senate committee is detailing multiple security lapses during the first assassination attempt on former President Trump, including issues with technology and communication. NTD's Sam Wong has more. After two near back-to-back assassination attempts on former President Trump, a U.S. Senate report reveals details of what lawmakers called a series of preventable security lapses in Butler, Pennsylvania. The failures include planning, communications, and allocation of resources. There needs to be accountability for what happened because there were a series of failures, and all of the failures could have been prevented, and there needs to be accountability. Investigators found there was no clear chain of command among security agencies and no plan to protect the building where the gunman was stationed. According to the report, the Secret Service learned of a suspicious person 27 minutes before the shooting. They noticed the suspect was on the rooftop two minutes before the shots rang out. Within that crunch time, a counter-sniper saw law enforcement running toward the gunman, but did not send out an alert to get the former president off the podium. The accumulation of gross incompetence that put the president in danger and could result in continuing insecurity. You don't fix human failures by giving the humans more money. You fix human failures by getting new humans to do the job. So the people who've been making these mistakes have to be replaced. Aside from communications, the investigation also found agencies were dealing with technical issues, including faulty radios and non-functioning drone equipment. The Secret Service said the Senate findings match its own internal reveal, and Trump plans to visit Butler, Pennsylvania again on October 5th. I further ask that the bill be considered. The latest report came one day after the Senate voted to approve the Enhanced Presidential Security Act, a bill that received bipartisan support in the House last week and swiftly cleared both chambers unanimously. I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure nominees for president and vice president are never in jeopardy and are provided the enhanced protection they clearly require and deserve. Under the legislation, major presidential candidates will be guaranteed with the same level of Secret Service protection as a sitting president. The bill also extends that policy to vice presidential nominees like J.D. Vance and Tim Walz. It is up to President Biden to sign the bill into law. Coming up on Thursday, the bipartisan House Task Force investigating the Trump assassination attempt will hold its first hearing. Sam Wang, NTD News. Former President Trump warning Iran of severe consequences if it harms a presidential candidate. It comes as the U.S. government is intensely tracking threats targeting U.S. officials. NTD's Iris Tao has more from Trump's remarks today in Mint Hill, North Carolina. An economic speech here in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. Former President Trump responded to threats posed by Iran by saying that if he were the president, he would tell Iran and other countries that if they harm a leading U.S. presidential candidate. We are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We're going to blow it to smithereens. You can't do that. And there would be no more threats. It comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. government is intensely tracking an ongoing threat by Iran against current and former U.S. officials. It's something we take very, very seriously. The Trump campaign said on Tuesday that Trump has been briefed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about Iran's continued assassination threats against him. The campaign says all agencies are working to ensure Trump is protected and the election is free from interference. And Trump on Wednesday responded on True Social saying big threats on my life by Iran. The entire U.S. military is watching and waiting. During a speech, he said he's not backing down. It's around the world. Our enemies are desperate to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the White House because they know I will make America great again. They don't want that. No threat will shake me. No enemy will intimidate. And Trump also used that to emphasize the need for what he calls strong leadership in the U.S. to deter such threats. He also praised Democrats for working with Republicans to approve a bill in Congress that would ensure that he and Vice President Kamala Harris receive the same level of Secret Service protection as a sitting president. And later this week, Trump will also campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin. Reporting from Mint Hill, North Carolina, Iris Tao, NTD News. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a Pittsburgh rally where she provided more details about her economic plan. She'll also be doing her first solo network interview. NTD's national correspondent Jason Blair reports. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke more about what she intends to do for the economy if elected president. We need to restore basic economic security for middle class families. Harris gave her first talk highlighting the economy about six weeks ago in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she unveiled what she named her opportunity economy plan. On Wednesday, she made her most lengthy and detailed speech on the subject since becoming the Democratic nominee. I'm a capitalist. I believe in free and fair markets. Harris said her first pillar of her opportunity economy plan is lowering costs. She said she'd give tax breaks to the middle class, including her previously mentioned six thousand dollar tax cut to new parents during the first year of their child's life. We'll also cut the cost of child care and elder care. Harris said the second pillar of her plan is investing in American innovation and entrepreneurship. I believe the source of our success is the ingenuity, the dynamism and enterprising spirit of the American people. And she said her third pillar is leading the world in the industries of the future and making sure America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century. And while Harris is in Pittsburgh, she will also be sitting down with Stephanie Rule of MSNBC. It will be Harris's first one on one network interview since being at the top of Democratic ticket. It's scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Eastern the same day. And Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance responded to MSNBC's announcement about Harris's interview on X, saying Rule has explicitly endorsed Harris. She won't ask hard cues. And Vance also has a debate scheduled with Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, coming up October 1st. So far, it is the only one scheduled for the vice presidential nominees. It will be moderated by Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. Vice President Kamala Harris is raising and spending considerably more than former President Trump in the battle for the White House. Their advertising strategies also differ quite notably. Here's the story. The election a little over a month away, and Vice President Kamala Harris has raised significantly more money than former President Trump, over a billion dollars, almost double Trump's 640 million, according to Open Secrets. And Harris has spent far more, over 700 million dollars. Trump has spent 460 million. Public records show the majority of the money is going to ads. I intend to be a president for all Americans. Both spending heavily on TV and online ads, such as this. And we can chart a new way forward. And this. Are they better off now than they were four years ago? I grew up a middle class kid. Records show Trump is spending heavily on mail ads, while Harris isn't. In the last month, the Harris campaign has booked over 330 million dollars in TV ads, while Trump has booked 200 million. The Trump campaign says it doesn't spend as much, because voters voluntarily consume content about him. Killeen has strengthened into a hurricane, with forecasts predicting landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast this week. Evacuation orders are expanding in several counties as the storm intensifies. NTD's Christina Corona tells us more. The hurricane is expected to bring life-threatening storm surges, damaging winds and torrential rainfall across Florida and the southeast. Killeen is on track to become the most powerful storm to strike the U.S. in over a year. Killeen continues to strengthen as it moves past Mexico, heading toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. It reached category one hurricane status Wednesday morning and is expected to strike Florida's Big Bend late Thursday. According to the National Hurricane Center, as of 2 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, Killeen was about 110 miles northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, moving northwest at 10 miles per hour. Governor Ron DeSantis and officials provided an update on the approaching storm in Florida. Storm surge watches are in effect for the entire Gulf Coast to the eastern Florida panhandle, meaning that there is a possibility of life-threatening rising water moving inland from the coastline in the next 48 hours. DeSantis urged residents to have their hurricane preparedness plan ready for at least seven days. You have gas tanks filled, water, non-perishable food that will last you particularly when you have power outages. Clear up any loose objects in your yard that could become a flying object in strong winds. If you are in the path of this storm within probably 200 miles of it, there's going to be some strong winds. You're going to see power go out in various sections of the state, so just prepare for that. Florida has deployed 3,000 National Guard soldiers to assist with search and rescue, route clearance, and protection of critical infrastructure. The storm has prompted evacuations and school closures, with the state issuing both voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders across 13 counties. Residents along Florida's Gulf Coast are preparing by filling sandbags ahead of the storm. I'm worried about the storm surge, the water that could be four to eight feet in my house, and I lose everything. We're packing up these sandbags today. I'm so grateful for the city for providing the sand. We came out here and we're actually having a really good time getting prepped with everybody and getting input on how everybody is prepping. You know, I love helping out people, especially older people. I can't, you know, can't do the hard work, so just here for the people and to try to bring the community together just a little. Emergency declarations have also been issued in Georgia and North Carolina. Former Hurricane John reformed as a tropical storm on Wednesday, threatening Mexico's western coast after causing two fatalities on the southern Pacific coast late Monday. Helene is expected to become a massive and potential destructive Category 3 hurricane. Forecasters warn it could reach major hurricane status before making landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast late Thursday. Christina Corona, NTD News. Residents in Ohio near Cincinnati remain under an evacuation order today after a toxic chemical started leaking from a rail car yesterday. Officials today said the car has stopped venting and there are no issues with air quality. Styrene is a toxic, inflammable chemical used to make plastic and rubber. It can cause headaches, nausea and respiratory issues. Long term exposure can lead to more serious problems like organ damage. The county's emergency agency told anyone within a half mile of the area to leave immediately. The leaking train car was near US Route 50 and Great Miami River. The White House said President Biden and Vice President Harris were briefed on the leak and are working to provide any resources needed. Marcellus Williams, convicted of murder more than 20 years ago, has died by lethal injection in Missouri. He is one of five death row inmates scheduled for execution in one week. Here's that story. Hours after the US Supreme Court denied his request to intervene Tuesday, Marcellus Williams, 55, was executed. Williams had been on death row since 2001. He was found guilty of murdering journalist Felicia Gayle in 1998. A jury convicted him of breaking into Gayle's house and stabbing her multiple times. But for decades, his lawyers, prosecutors and even the victim's family argued Williams should not have received the death penalty. St. Louis County's top prosecutor echoed Williams' lawyer's call to overturn the conviction based on new testimony and DNA testing. She said the test showed evidence from the scene of the crime was tampered with. But Missouri Governor Mike Parson said in a statement no juror or judge has ever found Williams' claim of innocence to be credible. He said he hoped the execution would bring finality to the case that has re-victimized Gayle's family over and over. After the decision was announced, one of Williams' lawyers said the system values It should be a shame to all of us that we have a system that will let a man be executed in spite of all of this. Williams' execution is part of a series this week that bucks a national trend. For years, the use of and support for the death penalty has been in decline. A Texas man, Travis Mullis, was put to death on the same day as Williams. He was sentenced to death for killing Last Friday, Freddie Owens was executed in South Carolina for the 1997 killing of a store clerk. It was South Carolina's first execution in 13 years. For a long time, prison officials were unable to obtain the drugs used in lethal injections. On Thursday, two more inmates are set to be put to death. Alan Miller is scheduled to be executed by Nitrogen Gas in Alabama. He was convicted of killing three men at a workplace in 1999. In Oklahoma, Emmanuel Littlejohn will be given a lethal injection for a 1992 shooting. Experts say the five executions scheduled so close to each other is an anomaly. They say inmates exhausting their appeals, unavailability of drugs, and temporary stays on the death penalty can all combine to create a backlog. What's happening this week, they say, is just a coincidence. Coming up, both chambers of Congress pass a stopgap bill that would avert a government shutdown until December. It now heads to President Biden's desk. Louise Martinez standing by on Capitol Hill. And an engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board says there's evidence that Oceangate's Titan submersible had flaws. His testimony comes as the Coast Guard continues its second week of public hearings on the imploded vessel. David Lamb has the highlights from today after the break. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Lawmakers in the House and Senate passed a bill that would push the government funding battle to December. Our Washington correspondent, Louise Martinez, joins us live from the Capitol. Good evening, Louise. To begin, why are we having this vote instead of a regular full-year budget? Well, the short answer is the Republicans and Democrats did not reach an agreement and did not pass the 12 appropriation bills to fund the 12 departments of government through fiscal year 2025. Instead, we're seeing this continuing resolution, which what would it do? It would extend current levels of funding until December 20th. So on the Republican side, they did not manage what they promised, what Speaker Johnson promised at the beginning of his speakership, which was to have a full appropriations process and also to reduce government spending. Let's listen to what Speaker Mike Johnson said right after the vote in the House floor. Today, the House did the necessary thing. We took the initiative and passed a clean, narrow three-month CR to prevent the Senate from jamming us with another bloated bill. While continuing resolution is never ideal, none of us like them. It's not a way to run a railroad. It allows Congress to continue serving the American people through the election. Tiffany, it's important to note that during today's vote in the House of Representatives, all Democrats voted in favor of the continuing resolution, while 82 Republicans voted against it. It's important to note also that that means that Speaker Johnson did manage to get the majority of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives for this CR. And Louise, both chambers passed the stopgap bill today. The Senate didn't debate it. Is this unusual? This is very uncommon. The Senate is famously known for its deliberation. Yesterday night, so Tuesday night, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer received unanimous consent from the Senate to adopt the House's version of the bill once it passed and move to vote a two-hour debate and then move to vote immediately without any amendments. And now on Wednesday, that two-hour debate was skipped altogether, which means that all senators, Democrats and Republicans ceded their time for the debate to go straight to voting. At least 18 Republicans voted against it, but it was under suspension of the rules. So more than three-thirds of the Senate voted in favor, and now it's heading towards the president's desk. And Louise, what are some of the implications that today's vote might have on U.S. politics ahead of the general election? Well, the first one is that we will see a government funding battle when Congress comes back into session on November 18th after the elections. And that government funding battle will have a deadline four days before Christmas. Congress during that session will also have to look, the lame duck session of Congress, will also have to look at the Farm Bill, the National Defense Authorization Act and government funding for fiscal year 2025. So what we will most likely see at the end of the year is an omnibus bill, not a regular appropriations process. Also worth highlighting once again, that is a good sign for Speaker Mike Johnson that he did manage to get the majority of the majority of the Republican votes in the House. That means that his ambitions to become Speaker of the House once again next year are still alive as he manages to get the majority of the majority of House Republicans. Back to you, Tiffany. All right, Luis, thank you for those updates. As the investigation of the Titan submersible tragedy continues, a witness today claimed that the sub had flaws. TNT's David Lam reports. On Wednesday, engineer Don Kramer told the Coast Guard panel there were wrinkles, porosity and voids in the carbon fiber used for the pressure hole of Oceangate's Titan submersible. Single-layer hull piece also revealed features that were consistent with rubbing damage on the adhesive surface. Voids were observed on the surface of the piece, like those observed on the trimmed end. As shown in the images above, some of these voids contained cream-colored debris that was readily removed with the tip of a fine blade and a synthetic bristle brush. He said the recovered pieces from the Titan showed substantial delamination of the layers of material, which were bonded to create the hull of the experimental submersible. This is the second week of public hearings in which the Coast Guard is investigating what caused a private vessel to implode underwater last year. Oceangate's CEO Stockton Rush and four others were confirmed dead after voyaging to see the wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor. On Tuesday, a close friend of Rush told the board he heard cracking noises on the submersible during a 2019 dive. He said that Rush was scared during that dive. Prior testimony claimed that Oceangate was financially stressed, that the Titan sub did not get proper certification, and that the tragedy could have been prevented. People on board the Titan each paid $250,000 to join the voyage as a mission specialist. There was also testimony that said the CEO and crew were passionate about exploration and were transparent about the risks. David Lam, NTD News. Workers for Boeing said they felt pressure to focus on production speed over quality. That summary comes from a special investigation published today by the FAA, made public by a Senate subcommittee. In the report, employees said they didn't feel trained enough to do their jobs. Boeing has been facing multiple investigations since a door plug blew off a 737 Max flight in midair back in January. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker testified in June that the agency had taken a, quote, two-hands-off approach to regulating Boeing. In testimony to a House committee yesterday, Whitaker said the company has made strides in its production line. But he also said much work remains in repairing Boeing's safety culture. In response to the new report, Boeing says the company has taken key steps to create a safety culture that encourages employees to share their voice. Boeing says it also continues to put into action a comprehensive plan to improve in several areas under the FAA's oversight. Coming up, Israel's army's chief says the military is preparing for a possible ground incursion into Lebanon. Does this mean a wider regional war? A Middle East affairs analyst joins us to discuss the latest in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. And how strong are U.S. policies in countering the Chinese Communist Party? Panelists gather at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to weigh in. Melina Weisskopf has the highlights from today's conference in Washington, D.C. after the break. Welcome back. If you're just joining us now, here are some today's top headlines. Hurricane Helene is doubling down with forecasts predicting landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast this week. The Sunshine State has sent 3,000 National Guard members to help with search and rescue, route clearance, and protection of critical infrastructure. A Senate interim report unveils multiple security lapses in the first assassination attempt on former President Trump. Those failures involve planning, communications, and allocation of resources. And Trump today speaking out after intelligence officials warned him of an Iran-backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the United Nations in New York. He took jabs at nations with close ties to Russia, like China and Brazil. And in Ukraine, officials say two people are dead and 19 were injured after the Kremlin struck an eastern town just miles from the active combat line. Israeli troops are gearing up for a potential ground offensive into Lebanon. This comes as Hezbollah rocket fire hit multiple homes in northern Israel. The terrorist group launched a missile to Tel Aviv for the first time since the war began, but was intercepted by Israel's defense system. And here to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East with us is David Wormser, Middle East Affairs Analyst at the Center for Security Policy. David, thank you so much for joining us. Great to see you again. Now to begin, as Israel and Hezbollah trade strikes, Israel's military chief says there could be a possible ground incursion into Lebanon. What would that look like? Is this another war? Well, it's good to be with you, Tiffany. I think another ground invasion, this would be the third that Israel would have to do over a period of 40 years. If it happens, I would imagine it would happen fairly soon. The Israelis need to move Hezbollah about 30 kilometers north, 20 to 25 miles north of the border because Hezbollah sits on the border ready to commit against Israel what Hamas did to Israel in the south, namely to cross the border, seize hundreds of hostages and kill thousands. So the Israelis are unwilling to live with that. So they have to push this north. But at the moment, that's a very dangerous war for both the Lebanese and the Israelis. So what you're seeing is the Israelis do all the preparatory work. The first thing is they took out the command and control, and that was the famous Beeper attack and then the walkie talkie attack, and then essentially killing off the leadership in targeted strikes. Lately, what you've seen is a lot of preemptive strikes against missiles so that when the war begins, Israel expected between five and 10,000 missiles to be hitting Israel per day. This essentially preempts that. So it tries to remove as much of that from the battle as possible so that the Israelis can focus on the ground without being hit from the air from missiles. Now, Israel has repeatedly said that their goal isn't to seek a ground war. Rather, it is to push Hezbollah north of the Latani River, which is what Hezbollah agreed to do back in 2006. Now, talk to us about the history here and how that plays into what we're seeing unfolding now. Absolutely. Great question, Tiffany. The United Nations, in the last Israeli invasion in 2006, what happens is in 1978, Israel was attacked by the PLO on a particularly horrible, after years of missiles from the PLO, the Israelis and a bus attack that killed 40-some Israelis, invaded and took a small strip of land. They withdrew eventually. Again, another major attack and violence. The Israelis re-invaded in 82, this time held on to a piece of land until roughly 2000 to prevent this from happening again. The Israelis withdrew and Hezbollah moved in immediately. And by 2006, they had attacked Israel, seized some hostages, three soldiers, killed people, and constantly rocketing northern Israel. So Israel in 2006 moved in again, this time about 50 miles in. And the UN passed a resolution in 1701 that demanded all Israeli troops leave Lebanon, which they did, and they complied. The border beset, which is what happened with the UN mission a few years later, and Hezbollah was, say, withdrawn. Namely, the Israelis pushed them back. They can't move forward below a certain point, which Hezbollah instantly violated. And then second, Hezbollah was supposed to disarm because it's a militia. It's not part of the Lebanese government. And they didn't. So Hezbollah never lived up to its side of Resolution 1701. And that's now the Israeli demand that Resolution 1701 be actually implemented. And if the UN and the world doesn't force on Hezbollah to live up to its terms, the Israelis will go in on the ground and force Hezbollah to live up to its terms. And with these latest developments, President Biden has signaled while an all-out war is possible in the Middle East, the window for negotiations is still there. Now, reports also cite an Israeli official saying that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is open to U.S. efforts to mediate the tensions with Lebanon. What would that look like? What would be in a deal that Israel would accept? Yeah, the Israelis basically need Hezbollah to be deployed north, not on the border, so that they can't strike Israel any day of the week to commit an October 7th-like massacre, and that a good number of the short-range missiles are distanced from the Israeli border. The vast majority of the missiles that Hezbollah has are short-range. So if you move them back 40 miles or 20 miles even, you've removed a lot of those missiles from being able to hit Israel, and you removed almost all of them from hitting big Israeli cities. So that's what the Israelis are really after. And they're using Resolution 1701, UN Resolution 1701, basically as their negotiating position, that if Hezbollah lives up to 1701, then that's the end of the crisis with Hezbollah. And now, as the conflicts in the Middle East hang over the U.S. elections, a spokesman for former President Trump said he was briefed about the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate him, adding that, quote, these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months. What do you make of this, especially when it comes to the topic of elections free of foreign interference? Yeah, well, I mean, an assassination attempt by a foreign government is obviously the highest form of election interference. Iran is really the story here. We can talk about Hamas. We can talk about Hezbollah. But these are all battlegrounds, pieces on the chessboard that Iran is moving around. And it's very afraid of American policy going in a certain direction that could be tougher against the Iranians have killed people abroad who stand in their way consistently since literally the day they took office, they killed their opposition and Iranians abroad who opposed them. Anybody who violated Islam and their word and their mind, they passed the fatwa that said you need to kill them. And we saw with Salman Rushdie, who was one of the victims of those fatwa, 40 years later, they did it. So there's no expiration date on their murderous directives. And after Soleimani was killed, they basically outright, openly, brazenly said they'll kill him. They'll kill President Trump for having done that. And they've been trying and they annually put out new videos fantasizing about how they would kill him, quite graphic videos. So there's no surprise here that President Trump is in their crosshairs and they're trying hard to assassinate him, as well as other former officials, John Bolton, Brian Hook and others who they see as having been anti-Iranian. David Hormzer, Middle East Affairs Analyst at the Center for Security Policy. Thank you so much for joining us. Experts gather in Washington, D.C. to assess how strong U.S. policies are in countering the Chinese Communist Party. NTD's Melina Weisskopf has more on the China panel hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The Chinese Communist Party is an unprecedented threat. Lawmakers say in standing up to that threat could mean relinquishing practical interests. When you think of the challenge we face with the Soviet Union, our economies were not intertwined nearly to the degree that we are with China. One area I'm very concerned about in my district is there's a Chinese battery company that partners with Volkswagen, and they're trying to make batteries in the United States, and our state government is subsidizing it. They're going to try and get federal tax credits, dollars from taxpayers in America, and there are direct links to forced labor in Xinjiang. President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act three years ago, but the Chinese regime has found ways to skirt the law. Panelists call for strengthening laws on forced labor. Increased fines for importers, particularly those who are repeat violators of UFLPA, so that they're facing actual financial consequences. And panelists say if the U.S. strengthens and further enforces its laws, it could play a significant role. It's actually a really important strategy and can have some very interesting and even unexpected outcomes, in my opinion, if we're hearing some of the insights about the internal weaknesses and paranoia and the discontent for Xi Jinping's regime. Another challenge is to crack down on the CCP's intimidation of the Chinese diaspora in the U.S. Including that this happened right here in the United States, and it's happened in other Western governments, where someone is literally kidnapped from the street and then taken to China. The real victims of the CCP are the Chinese people. If they have relatives back in China, oftentimes they're being coerced into trying to do things illegal. And the coercion or source of leverage are their relatives back home. This transnational repression is carried out not only through the so-called Chinese police stations, but also in a more underground fashion, which appears non-threatening. That is, in our universities. What they've tried to do is subtly and not so subtly change the way people think about China and have people think about China in positive ways. Has the issue been resolved? No, no. They've quit calling themselves Confucius Institutes in most places. They now call themselves cultural centers and other kinds of things. To further pressure the CCP and expose its malign acts, Congress this evening passed a bill to sanction CCP officials directly. Now it's headed over to the Senate, joining several other CCP-related measures recently passed in the House, including the Falun Gong Protection Act, a measurement to stand against the regime's systematic persecution of spiritual adherents, who are still among the most persecuted groups inside of China today. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Weiskup, NTD News. Coming up in baseball, Shohei Ohtani's milestone 50th home run ball is already going to auction with a six-figure starting bid. Dave Martin joins us to discuss after the break. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Myern. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, plenty going on today, but let's start in college football, where the starting quarterback for a nationally ranked UNLV team has left the program after just three games, citing representations that weren't upheld. What seems to be going on here? This seems to be about a name image likeness deal, or NIL as it's called, that never really materialized for this player. This is Matthew Sluka. He transferred to UNLV this past offseason from Holy Cross. And according to Sluka's agent, Sluka says he was verbally promised $100,000 by an assistant coach to come. Now, presumably the money would be from a third party booster backed NIL organization like all these schools have, perfectly legal. Now, this alleged promise was last winter, but Sluka couldn't actually sign the NIL contract because he was still with Holy Cross where he was completing his degree this spring. So it was a verbal agreement. Anyway, he showed up this summer. He said there was no $100,000 waiting for him. He said he got $3,000 and an offer for $3,000 a month. So he's leaving the team. And since he's only played three games this year, he can register and enter the transfer portal again this offseason. Now, we haven't seen any comment from UNLV's side. For right now, this is a very bad look for them. I mean, every team goes into the transfer portal. Lots of money is involved. You don't want future players to think that, you know, they're not going to get paid if this is what they're offered. Moving to baseball news. The 50th home run ball hit by Shohei Ohtani last week that put him in the 50-50 club is already scheduled to go to auction. Now, how much money could this fetch? I mean, I'm thinking into the millions. The fan who caught this reportedly already turned down $300,000 from the L.A. Dodgers. Now, it seems like it's a good idea because the bidding, this is going to be at Golden Auction House, starts at half a million with a buy-it-now price of $4.5 million. Now, the record played for a baseball is just over $3 million for Mark McGwire's record-breaking 70th home run ball back in 1999. Now, unfortunately, if we ever bought that ball, Barry Bronze broke his record just two years later, so I don't think that ball is still worth it. Two years ago, Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball, which set the AL record, went for $1.5 million. So, I think with Ohtani's appeal overseas, this could fetch a little more. Now, bidding starts already in two days. It's going to go somewhere into October, so we won't know until then, you know, what the final price actually is. Shifting gears to the baseball playoffs, with five days left in the regular season, where do we stand in the playoff race? Has every spot been taken? No, not yet. The Padres clinched a playoff spot last night when they beat the first-place Dodgers. Now, those two are still competing over who wins the division versus who has to take the wild card they play again tonight. So, now, overall in the National League, you have three teams fighting for the final two wild card spots. That's the Mets, Braves, and Diamondbacks. The Mets are on top, but only a game separates these three teams, and two of them, that's the Mets and Braves, play again tonight. So, every game here is crucial. In the AL, one of the three wild cards has already been claimed. That was by Baltimore. Now, right now, we have six teams still in contention for these final two spots. Kansas City and Detroit are tied at the top right now with identical records. They're two games ahead of Minnesota, two-and-a-half ahead of Seattle, three-and-a-half ahead of Boston, and Tampa Bay technically is still alive, down five games with five games left. Pretty much everyone in front of them would have to lose pretty much every single game on the way out, but it's still mathematically possible. So, a lot going on in baseball. Sounds like it. Well, Dave, as always, thanks for joining us. Thank you, Tiff. And that's all for today's news. For around-the-clock coverage, visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.