Israeli military

begins offensive

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has launched its offensive in Gaza City, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war.

Vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings clogged a coastal road as thousands of Palestinians fled Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands more remain. The operation into the largest Palestinian city further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach.

The military wouldn’t offer a timeline for the offensive, but Israeli media suggested it could take months. It says it aims to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure.”

Trump heads to

a UK state visit

LONDON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the United Kingdom, where he’ll become the first U.S. president to get a second state visit to the U.K.

As Trump left the White House on Tuesday, he noted that during his past state visit he was hosted at Buckingham Palace and this time he’ll be at Windsor Castle, which he says people call “the ultimate.”

Trump will meet King Charles III at Windsor Castle and hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers. Trump says U.K. officials want to continue trade negotiations during his visit.

The British government hopes a multibillion-dollar technology deal will show strong trans-Atlantic ties despite differences over Ukraine and the Middle East.

Democrats raise

shutdown threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders are lashing out at a stop-gap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the month.

They warned Republicans they will not support a measure that doesn’t address their concerns on the soaring cost of health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.

House Republicans unveiled the spending bill Tuesday. It would keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21, buying lawmakers more time to work out their differences. Republicans said that they were providing exactly what Democrats have insisted upon in past government shutdown battles — a clean funding bill free of partisan policy riders.

Mangione makes

court appearance

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in New York state’s case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he kept the state’s second-degree murder charges against him.

Judge Gregory Carro ruled Tuesday that although there is no doubt that the killing was not an ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology.

The ruling came as Mangione made his first court appearance in the state case since February. The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry after Thompson was fatally shot in Manhattan in December.