CBS News
Israel keeps bombing Lebanon, with Hezbollah and civilian deaths rising, as Netanyahu shifts tone on cease-fire
Lebanese first responders raced through the devastated streets of southern Beirut, doing all they could for the wounded, including injured children. One small boy hurt in Israel’s latest airstrikes raised three fingers as he was carried away on a stretcher, after being asked his age.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and that it has destroyed dozens of the Iran-backed group’s rocket launchers and other weapons. Many of the airstrikes have hit residential areas where Israel says Hezbollah has hidden its weapons. And though Israel says it has warned people to evacuate those areas, the strikes have killed civilians — including children.
Hezbollah says Israel has killed about 30 of its militants in strikes over the last week, but Lebanon’s ministry of health says more than 700 people have been killed, including at least 50 children. The Reuters news agency reported Friday that another strike, overnight in southern Lebanon, killed nine members of the same family, including four children.
Louisa Gouliamaki/REUTERS
More than 100,000 people have also been internally displaced in Lebanon since Israel started launching successive waves of airstrikes more than a week ago, according to a registry maintained by the Lebanese government. Lebanese officials say the real number is likely over half a million.
The United Nations said Friday that around 30,000 people, mainly Syrian nationals, had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the past 72 hours.
The Israeli military said Friday that it had carried out dozens more strikes in southern Lebanon, hitting a Hezbollah launcher. Hezbollah said it fired rockets at the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, which the Israel Defense Forces said were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
Houthi rebels in Yemen, meanwhile, said they had also fired a missile at Israel overnight, which Israel said was intercepted. The Houthis, like Hezbollah, are backed by Iran and say they’re launching attacks on Israel and its interests in support of Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip with Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office seeks to “clarify” stance on cease-fire
The latest crossfire over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon came against the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak later Friday. His remarks are highly anticipated given contradictory messaging from his office about a Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire proposal being pushed by the U.S. and France.
Ahead of his address, Netanahu’s office sought to “clarify a few points” in a social media post about Israel’s position on the proposal, which the U.S. and France say has wide international backing.
“Israel shares the aims of the U.S.-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.
It said teams had met “to discuss the U.S. initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days.”
The prime minister’s remarks to “clarify” his stance came hours after his office issued a statement on Thursday saying: “This is an American-French proposal that the Prime Minister has not even responded to.”
That statement added a dismissal of a separate report suggesting Netanyahu had told his military to “moderate” its assault on Hezbollah to give space for discussion about a cease-fire — a report his office called “the opposite of the truth.”
“The Prime Minister has directed the IDF to continue fighting with full force,” it said.
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contributed to this report.
Frito-Lay is recalling a limited number of 13 oz. bags of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips after being alerted by a consumer contact that the product may contain undeclared milk.
The bags of chips affected by recall were distributed to certain retail stores and e-commerce distributors in Oregon and Washington and were available for sale beginning Nov. 3, 2024.
“Those with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the recalled product,” the Food and Drug Administration said in the recall notice posted Thursday.
No allergic reactions related to the recall have been reported, according to the recall. Additionally, no other Lay’s products, flavors, sizes or variety packs are affected.
FDA
The recalled chips include Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, in flexible 13 oz. (368.5 grams) bags with UPC code 28400 31041, a “Guaranteed Fresh” date of 11 Feb 2025, and one of either two manufacturing codes: 6462307xx or 6463307xx.
General guidelines from the FDA advise consumers who have purchased any recalled food to dispose of the product or return it to the retailer for a full refund.
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What is the debt ceiling? Here’s why Trump wants Congress to abolish it before he takes office
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk blew up a GOP-backed deal to fund federal agencies into March, raising the pressure on Republican congressional leaders to craft a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the holidays.
In a statement Wednesday, Trump and Vance lambasted the agreement for including provisions favored by Democrats. But the incoming president and vice president also added a new, significant wrinkle to negotiations when they urged Congress to raise or abolish the debt ceiling now, instead of next year.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vance said in their statement. “If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now.”
What is the debt ceiling?
Set by Congress, the debt ceiling, or limit, is the maximum amount of money the U.S. Treasury is authorized to borrow to pay debts incurred by the federal government. Lifting the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending, but instead lets the government spend money on obligations that Congress has already been approved.
Failing to address the debt ceiling could lead the U.S. to default on its debt, which would have devastating effects on the economy. The government has never defaulted, and the Treasury typically uses accounting moves, known as “extraordinary measures,” to delay breaching the debt ceiling.
While raising the debt ceiling used to be routine, legislation addressing it has in recent years been used as leverage to force policy concessions and fuel debates over government spending.
Congress last addressed the debt ceiling in June 2023 as part of a legislative package negotiated by President Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That deal suspended the debt ceiling through Jan., 1, 2025, ensuring any fight over it would take place after the 2024 elections.
The Treasury Department will likely implement extraordinary measures to stave off a default in the new year. It will also announce an “X date,” the estimated point at which the government will no longer be able to pay its obligations. The Economic Policy Innovation Center, a conservative think tank, projected in an analysis released Monday that it’s possible the debt limit will be reached by June 16.
While the Treasury Department’s use of extraordinary measures would give Congress more time to address the debt ceiling, Trump is now urging lawmakers to take action now, before he takes office.
Why does Trump want to raise the debt ceiling?
The president-elect will come into office with a legislative to-do list that includes securing the border and extending provisions of his signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted in 2017 and overhauled the tax code. But a fight over the debt ceiling could complicate efforts by the Republican-led House and Senate to focus on those legislative initiatives and pass them quickly.
Trump is urging lawmakers to eliminate the debt ceiling altogether, a position that some prominent Democrats have endorsed in the past.
“Number one, the debt ceiling should be thrown out entirely,” Trump said in a phone interview Thursday with CBS News’ Robert Costa. “Number two, a lot of the different things they thought they’d receive [in a recently proposed spending deal] are now going to be thrown out, 100 percent. And we’ll see what happens. We’ll see whether or not we have a closure during the Biden administration. But if it’s going to take place, it’s going to take place during Biden, not during Trump.”
Trump separately told ABC News that “there won’t be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with,” indicating any spending deal to prevent a shutdown must address the debt limit.
“If we don’t get it, then we’re going to have a shutdown, but it’ll be a Biden shutdown, because shutdowns only [injure] the person who’s president,” he told ABC News.
Whether Republicans and Democrats would go along with such a plan, though, is far from clear. GOP lawmakers in both chambers have opposed raising the debt ceiling without spending reforms, and debates over the debt limit often give way to broader fights over the federal budget, which conservatives in Congress have said is bloated and should be reduced. Plus, Democrats still control the Senate and the White House.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday that shutting down the government would harm families and endanger services Americans rely on.
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” she said. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that — while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested Democrats would not go along with a plan pushed by Republicans to raise the debt limit.
“GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so that House Republicans can lower the amount of your Social Security check. Hard pass,” the New York Democrat wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
Jeffries also told reporters “the debt limit issue and discussion is premature at best.”
