Sept 10 (Reuters) - The Israeli military destroyed Hezbollah underground infrastructure at the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister ‌Israel Katz said on Thursday, adding that the operation completed the consolidation ‌of a security zone in the area.
Israeli forces would remain in the area to prevent the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militant group from re-establishing its presence and rebuilding its capabilities, the two officials said in a joint statement.
The Ali al-Taher ridge, about 15 km (10 miles) from the Israeli border, has become one of the most contested areas of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah ‌is believed to have built ⁠an underground command centre and weapons stores there, according to Lebanese security sources who spoke to Reuters in July.
Lebanon's state news agency ⁠NNA said the Israeli military carried out a powerful blast at the ridge, with tremors and the sound of the explosion felt across Nabatieh and surrounding areas.
The Israeli military said its forces had established "operational control" over the ridge, both above and below ground, before dismantling the ‌infrastructure. The network extended for more than 2 km (1.24 miles) and contained dozens of rockets, missiles and drones, as well as anti-tank missiles, mines and explosive devices, it said.

#israeli #hezbollah #minister #infrastructure

Henry Winkler is opening up about his decades-long feud with Tom Hanks, admitting he is still processing what went wrong while leaving the door open for a potential reconciliation.
Speaking on "In Depth With Graham Bensinger," the Emmy-winning actor revisited the turning point in their relationship: his high-profile firing as director of the 1989 comedy "Turner & Hooch," which starred Hanks, now 70.
Winkler recalled that he felt unsuited to direct the movie from the start but accepted the job after a Paramount executive handpicked him. His overzealousness and early insecurity quickly backfired once he got on set.
"I went completely against my tummy, and it hit me in the face with a 2-by-4," Winkler said. "I now meet the puppies, and I meet with Tom [Hanks] ... and I, at that time being insecure, I talked too much and I gave them direction. I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again and apparently that p**ed them off."
The job lasted less than two weeks. Studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg called Winkler into his office to tell him his work was not showing up in the daily footage.

#hanks #speaking

TURMUS AYYA, West Bank, Sept 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday ‌said there was no plan to force ‌Palestinians to leave Gaza after two Israeli ministers this week floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal territory.
• "I can tell you categorically there is no plan of the Israelis to displace people ‌out of Gaza against ⁠their will," Huckabee told reporters in Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian town in the ⁠Israeli-occupied West Bank.
• "There is an open-mindedness (that) if people wish to leave that they should have the right to leave. To incarcerate them in a place they don't ‌want to be should be an absolute, I think, just disgrace," Huckabee said.
• "Nobody is suggesting that there will be forced displacement. The Israelis are not. The Americans are certainly not. I know of ‌no one who supports that."
• Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said there was "no real solution for Gaza in the ‌end without this migration."

#Israel

By Maya Gebeily and Rami Ayyub
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Israel's military has cleared Hezbollah fighters holed up in tunnels under the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday, though the Iran-backed group did not immediately comment.
Israel had said Hezbollah fighters were ‌embedded in tunnels under the ridge, which overlooks a wide area and had become one of the most hotly contested areas in the Israel-Hezbollah war, despite ‌a ceasefire announced in June.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Iran had warned the United States last month that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli ****** ault on its Hezbollah allies' positions within the ridge.
"The mission was completed and the tunnels were cleared of terrorists," Katz said on social media, after a statement by the military late on Thursday saying it had operational control of the ridge.

#tunnels #Iran #military

Pablo Torre, the journalist whose reporting led the NBA to crack down on the Los Angeles Clippers for circumventing the league salary cap rules, said he is not done with the story.
"There is more to come than is in the NBA report,'' Torre said Wednesday, Sept. 2 during his podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out. "This is not everything.''
Torre, 40, and his two co-hosts did not provide specifics. But Torre did offer a couple of hints while pointing to the findings of an investigation conducted by referring to a law firm hired by the NBA, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
The investigation has centered one player, Kawhi Leonard, and how the Clippers funneled him money in violation of the league's salary cap rules after signing him in 2019, according to a summary of the law firm's investigation. Torre cited mention in the summary of an unidentified second player.
Torre also pointed out the investigation findings did not include Dennis Wong, the Clippers' co-owner. Steve Ballmer, the team's controlling owner, has been suspended from all league and team activities for a year.

#pablo #league #findings #player

The Los Angeles Clippers finally got an answer on the NBA's cap circumvention investigation, but it's not the one they were hoping for. Despite claiming innocence and complying with the league throughout the process, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came down with strict penalties, including a $30 million fine, the loss of five draft picks, and suspensions for several Clippers executives.
Instead of accepting their losses, however, the Clippers plan to fight with everything they have. After making their initial statement today, they shared their official email to the Commissioner, in which they called him out on the way this investigation was conducted. According to the Clippers, they worked tirelessly to comply with the league office, committing millions of dollars and many hours to prove their innocence.
"Almost one year ago today, you announced that the league would be investigating podcast allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers engaged in salary cap circumvention by funneling money to Kawhi Leonard through a 'no-show' contract with a Clippers sponsor, Aspiration. In announcing that investigation, you represented that 'due process' and 'a fundamental sense of fairness' would govern the process. You made clear that the 'burden [would be] on the league' to prove any violation through actual evidence, not 'mere appearances.' And you concluded by promising that everyone involved in the investigation would be treated 'the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.'"
"Unfortunately, none of those promises have been kept. In the last year, Steve Ballmer has spent nearly $50 million funding an investigation by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz that has stretched far beyond the bounds of what the league set out to investigate, let alone the bounds of 'fundamental fairness.' The Clippers have produced more than 30,000 documents and provided more than 20 witnesses who have sat for 30 interviews."
"Third parties, including Clippers business partners and sponsors, have likewise provided documents, interviews, and statements to investigators. Mr. Ballmer has reimbursed the costs of at least six law firms, many of which were hired at the demand of the league's lawyers. To say the investigation has been a distraction would be an understatement—Clippers employees have spent thousands of hours scouring document repositories, phones, messaging systems, central files, and accounting records, working with counsel, and sitting for interviews. This investigation has permanently strained relationships with key Clippers stakeholders."

#angeles #commissioner #circumvention #innocence

The long-awaited results of the NBA's investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers' alleged salary cap circumvention practices were finally released on Wednesday, Sept. 2, and the fallout is just beginning.
Among the punishments handed out, the Clippers must forfeit five first-round draft picks and pay a $30 million fine. Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers' superstar at the heart of the scandal, has been fined $700,000. Additionally, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker have been suspended by the league for one year. Lawrence Frank, the team's president of basketball operations, has been suspended for six months.
The official investigation report from the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz explicitly lays out why the organization is facing the brunt of the penalties. Throughout the 36-page document, investigators state the three individuals most responsible for the Clippers' rule-breaking are Ballmer, Zucker and Frank, and call out the organization for obfuscating the investigation's efforts.
The report also notes investigators "continue to receive information relevant to the subjects discussed in this report" and will supplement their findings as appropriate. Wachtell Lipton said it conducted 73 interviews of 60 people and reviewed 200,000 pages of documents.
Here are 13 must-read segments from the investigation. Each is quoted directly from the report.

#clippers #report #lipton #president

The verdict is in regarding the Kawhi Leonard saga, and the results are not good for the All-Star forward or his soon-to-be former team.
A months-long independent investigation found the Los Angeles Clippers illegally circumvented the NBA salary cap when they facilitated outside endorsement deals with a collection of team-friendly sponsors, the league announced Wednesday.
Those sponsors were Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.
The resulting penalties are staggeringly stiff.
Due to what the league called a pattern of misconduct uncovered in the investigation, headed by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the NBA has suspended team owner Steve Ballmer from all league and team activities for a year. He has also been fined $30 million.

#sponsors

Actor Tim Curry's cause of death has been released a week after his death.
The actor's primary cause of death was coronary artery disease, People reported Sept. 2, citing the documents from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Other contributing conditions were a history of stroke and kidney cancer.
Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease in the U.S. Heart disease is the leading cause of death nationwide.
Curry, who is best known for his roles in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "It," died Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the age of 80, his representative Sean Katz confirmed to USA TODAY.
"Tim Curry, the iconic actor and entertainer globally beloved for his dynamic contributions to the stage and screen, passed away peacefully at his home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles," the statement read.

#cause #actor

NEW YORK - Bringing Brent Strom back into a baseball role did not require a hard sell.
"I know one thing," a smiling Strom said at Citi Field on Saturday. "This retirement job is the worst job I've ever had."
About 48 hours earlier, Strom said, his phone had rung. It was Jeff Bagwell, the Houston Astros' senior advisor and one of several executives handling baseball operations after the team parted with general manager Dana Brown this week. Bagwell asked if Strom, the 77-year-old longtime pitching coach, would be interested in rejoining the Astros as a pitching consultant for the rest of this season.
"I looked at my wife, she said, 'Do it,' and that was the answer right there," Strom said.
So after joining the Astros in New York on Friday, watching their series opener on TV in the clubhouse at Citi Field, Strom was on the field Saturday afternoon in Houston gear again, observing pitchers he will work with for the next month-plus. Manager Joe Espada described Strom as a "fresh set of eyes," who will complement pitching coach Josh Miller and ***** istant Ethan Katz down the stretch.

#bagwell

With the SEC taking a strict stance on eligibility for professional athletes, Arkansas head coach John Calipari sent a clear message to those who disagree with the conference's recent moves. Calipari made it clear that anyone with an issue can head to another league instead.
The SEC passed a rule that prevents athletes who signed professional contracts from returning to college. On The Sideline with Andy Katz, Calipari said he likes what the SEC is doing and highlighted his frustration with some coaches pushing back.
"I like what the SEC is doing. If a player doesn't like what the SEC is doing, what? Go to another league. And if a coach doesn't like what the SEC is doing?" Calipari said.
"Go to another league, which they're free to do," Andy Katz said.
"Just do it. Make it hard. Do it right," Calipari added.

#andy #katz

ISTANBUL (AP) — Israel did not warn the United States before it struck an air base in northern Syria this week, despite fears of an escalation with the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey, the U.S. special envoy to Syria said.
Israel usually closely coordinates its military actions with the U.S., its key backer. Washington has tried to use this influence to moderate attacks as Israel carries out operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
Tom Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkey, said the attack on Tuesday on the Abu Duhur base could have been Israel "baiting the Turks … that was the serious and worrying part."
However, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz contradicted the U.S. envoy's remarks about there being no warning, saying in a statement that Israel decided to alert senior members of the Syrian government. "Simultaneously, we transferred the intelligence reports to the relevant authorities in the U.S.," Katz added.
In the wake of the strikes, which caused damage but no casualties, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the base was attacked because Syria was "on the verge of breaching" an agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

#syria

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a stark warning to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan early Thursday, accusing him of dragging Turkey into "dangerous adventures in Syria" and warning the Turkish leader not to test Israel's resolve.
"Israel will not allow any actor to threaten its security," Katz wrote on X. "It would be better for Erdoğan to continue his detached-from-reality, fanciful rhetoric against Israel in the Turkish Grand National ****** embly than to attempt to test Israel's determination to defend itself."
The warning comes two days after Israel struck Syria's Abu al-Duhur Airbase. The increasingly heated rhetoric has put Washington in the position of trying to contain tensions between Turkey, a NATO member, and Israel, Washington's closest security partners in the Middle East. Israel said Syria was on the verge of breaching a security understanding by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there, while Ankara rejected Israel's account.
Syria said there were no plans for a permanent Turkish base or troop deployment, although Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani acknowledged that Turkish military officers had visited the facility for training and exchanges of expertise. Turkey's Defense Ministry said no Turkish military delegation was present at the base before or during the strike, Reuters reported.
Critics Say Turkey's Verbal Attacks On Israel Have Crossed Into Antisemitism

#Israel #katz #erdo

This story will be updated.
WEST LAFAYETTE — Brad Baker is not one to trail entering the final round of a tournament, but that is precisely the scenario facing the rest of the field at the Zanesville District Golf ******* ociation Senior Amateur.
Baker followed an even-par 71 in the first round at Jaycees with a 3-under-par 69 on Aug. 8 at River Greens to ******* ume a seven-shot lead at 140.
Baker, seven-time Amateur champion and six-time Seniors winner, leads 2024 champion Nate Seekatz and 2024 runner-up Joe Allen by seven shots in the Senior Division. The top 12 and ties advanced to the final round on Aug. 9 at Zanesville Country Club.
Dave Sheppard (73-74 —147) leads the six-man Super Seniors who made the cut. Rich Bubenchik (75-76 — 151) is lurking in second.

#senior

In XRP news today, David Schwartz, Ripple's CTO Emeritus and co-creator of the XRP Ledger, publicly admitted on July 20, 2026 that he regrets selling XRP at $0.10 and 40,000 ETH at roughly $1.05 each – but he was clear that neither sale reflected a loss of conviction in crypto. Both were products of a rules-based risk-management pact he had made with his wife years earlier.
The admission landed on X under his longtime handle JoelKatz, after another user raised his history of selling XRP at $0.10 and Ethereum near $1.
With XRP price trading around $1.13 and ETH price near $1,927 at the time of the article's publication, according to multiple price feeds, the scale of the missed upside is not hard to calculate.
The central tension this story unpacks: even one of crypto's most technically sophisticated insiders – a man who helped build XRP from the ground up – systematically sold ***** ets that later generated life-changing returns, and he did it on purpose.
Schwartz's explanation centers on an agreement he reached with his wife around 2012, when they discussed a cryptocurrency derisking plan.

#selling #wife #around #emeritus

Jennifer Garner hasn't forgotten how scary it was when paparazzi chased her young children to get photos of her and ex-husband, Ben Affleck.
The "Alias" actor opened up about photographers trailing her kids during a stop by Evan Ross Katz's Netflix series, "Shut Up Evan." Garner has long advocated for child protections from paparazzi, and opened up about her own kids' experience.
Buzz: Ben Affleck And Jennifer Garner's Daughter Slams World Leaders In Impassioned UN Speech
"It was totally ludicrous. And it felt like, 'Poor little me, my poor little kids who have everything in the world,' but it was a danger to everyone around us," she shared in the episode.
Garner shared that if she "went through a yellow light, 15 cars would go through the red behind me."

#affleck #evan #poor

Jennifer Garner has developed a "Stockholm syndrome thing" with the paparazzo who has followed her for the past two decades.
During the latest episode of the Shut Up Evan podcast, host Evan Ross Katz asked the 13 Going on 30 actress whether tabloid photographers have left her alone since she started campaigning for tougher anti-paparazzi laws designed to protect the children of celebrities.
Garner and Halle Berry testified before the California **** embly Judiciary Committee in August 2013, with the bill passed later that year.
In response, the Alias star shared that she has two photographers that follow her most days, with one "main guy" that she's grown to have an "odd respect" for.
"Like, there's kind of a Stockholm syndrome thing," she said. "And at the same time, I've called the cops on him a million times and been like, 'Can you please just give me a walk around the block with my kids and my dog?'"
Stockholm syndrome refers to when a kidnapped person forms a psychological connection with their captor and starts to sympathise with them.

#syndrome #garner #like

Jennifer Garner got refreshingly candid about her decades in the public eye, reflecting on her relationship with the paparazzi at the height of her marriage with ex Ben Affleck and the "Stockholm syndrome thing" she has with one longstanding photographer.
"It was totally ludicrous," Garner told Evan Ross Katz on Netflix's "Shut Up Evan!" podcast Tuesday. The actress and producer, who sat with the talk series in promotion of Peacock's "The Five Star Weekend," admitted that she knows complaining about fame is a privileged problem to have — "It felt like poor little me, you know, my poor little kids who have everything in the world." But she emphasized that some situations saw the paparazzi being "a danger to everyone around us."
"If I went through a yellow light, 15 cars would go through the red behind me. They would drive up onto people's lawns, even on a hillside," she recounted. Garner was even asked to remove their children from the local kids' soccer league because too many photographers would follow her and her family to the games.
"It wasn't just about us; it was just an industry that had gotten out of control," Garner said.
"So, as much as I recognize that, you know, we are privileged and lucky and grateful for all that that has afforded us and all that that's made available, at the same time, it just got silly, and kids were at the center of it," she continued. "I mean, I lived on the street with a lot of much more famous and successful people than I, but they followed me because I had the kids. They wouldn't follow Ben. They wouldn't follow Matt Damon. They wouldn't. They were like, 'There's the chick with the kids.' That's when you know it's just it's not right."

#kids #privileged #poor

Ukraine's intensifying campaign against Putin's oil industry is having a growing impact inside Russia, forcing one of the world's largest energy producers to restrict diesel exports, pursue fuel imports and confront shortages stretching from occupied Crimea to cities deep in the country.
Inside Russia, the consequences are becoming increasingly visible. Former Russian opposition politician and commentator Maxim Katz said the shortages represent one of the first direct ways many Russians have experienced the consequences of the war — and could become particularly sensitive ahead of State Duma elections scheduled for September.
"This is the first time that Russians actually sees that the war has an effect on their day-to-day life — not only in the cost of fuel, but in its availability," Katz told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview from Israel, where he lives in exile. "You cannot buy it. And that's a big deal for Russia."
Drone Offensive Hits Russian Oil Tankers And Refineries At 'Industrial Scale' As Moscow Bans Diesel Exports
Katz said elections in Russia are neither free nor competitive, but they still serve an important function for Putin by projecting public support to regional leaders, business figures and other members of the elite.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) is one of the best QQQ Stocks to invest in. On July 7, T-Mobile announced a major evolution of its executive leadership team to accelerate its expansion into new business areas, including AI and 6G development. Wireless industry veteran Chris Sambar will join the company as Chief Enterprise Officer by mid-October, where he will lead the expansion of T-Mobile's SMB, enterprise, and government portfolios while scaling emerging growth opportunities like T-Ads and Physical AI.
Concurrently, André Almeida has been promoted to the expanded role of Chief Marketing, Brand, and Broadband Officer, where he will partner with COO Jon Freier to focus on consumer wireless and broadband growth. Additionally, T-Mobile is consolidating its network, technology, product engineering, and cyber divisions under Chief Technology Officer Dr. John Saw to facilitate the seamless delivery of next-generation connected experiences.
Kappri/Shutterstock.com
These leadership changes coincide with the departure of Mike Katz, the company's Chief Business & Product Officer, who will transition into a strategic advisory role through the end of 2026. CEO Srini Gopalan emphasized that these appointments are intended to provide the focus and expertise necessary to maintain T-Mobile's momentum, disrupt traditional industry models, and achieve the ambitious growth goals outlined in the company's recent capital markets updates.
T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) is a telecom services company that offers wireless communications services, such as voice, messaging, and data, to postpaid, prepaid, and wholesale customers. The company also deals in wireless devices.

Dianna Russini has been out of a job since April, but Dave Portnoy would fix that today.
The Barstool Sports founder told Us Weekly he'd bring the former Athletic NFL insider on board without a second thought, a stance that puts him well out ahead of his own network. Back in April, days after Russini's resignation, Barstool's Dan "Big Cat" Katz told Front Office Sports he wasn't even sure she'd want to work at Barstool, given some of the jokes the site had made about her situation, though he figured she'd land somewhere doing independent media.
"No-brainer, if she wanted to work here, we'd do it," Portnoy said.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, a week after Page Six published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort. Both denied wrongdoing at the time, with Russini saying the photos didn't represent "the group of six people who were hanging out during the day" and Vrabel calling any suggestion of impropriety "laughable." The Athletic's Steven Ginsberg said leadership had initially accepted Russini's detailed explanation before new questions emerged, widening the internal investigation. Russini resigned before that review concluded, though Ginsberg told staff the standards review of her published work would continue regardless.
Portnoy didn't treat any of that as disqualifying.

Fred Katz: Funky contracts all around the league now. Adding to anthonyVslater’s report on Kristaps Porzingis contract details: Porzingis is guaranteed for only $3M in 2026-27 and the Warriors have until July 7 to waive him. Extra flexibility for them.
x.com
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Porzingis is guaranteed for only $3M in 2026-27 and …

Michigan basketball didn't look far to find a temporary leader for the program during a whirlwind week.
Mike Boynton Jr. was named interim head coach by athletic director Warde Manuel on Tuesday, a day after news broke of Dusty May's departure for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.
"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to continue to lead us," Boynton told BTN's Andy Katz on Tuesday night at the NBA Draft, where Morez Johnson Jr. (No. 9 overall pick), Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 11 pick) and Aday Mara (No. 12 pick) were selected in the first round.
In a statement on Tuesday, Manuel called Boynton, May's top ***** istant coach the past two seasons, "the right person" to promote "in an interim capacity," though it's unclear for how long. Manuel didn't mention a commitment to making Boynton, 44, the permanent head coach nor if a coaching search was being conducted to find May's replacement.
More: Dusty May on leaving Michigan for NBA: 'This wasn't an easy decision'

EXCLUSIVE: The Jamie Oliver Group is developing a microdrama series with creative company Baby Teeth, as a strategic partnership between the two companies is unveiled amid a rethink at the campaigning celebrity chef's media business.
Details of the vertical video production are broadly under wraps, but it is in pre-production and still begin shooting in the UK this month, we hear. Jamie Oliver Group and Baby Teeth are working with a global consumer tech brand on the show, and an official announcement is expected soon.
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Gabriela Tafur's Microdrama Platform Attracts Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo To $5.5M Seed Funding Round
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Breaking news: Israel launched a “preemptive strike” on Iran, said Israel's defense minister Israel Katz.

Katz declared a “special emergency situation” in Israel in anticipation of a potential retaliatory attack.