U.S. and world news for Oct. 24

Harris town hall: Vice President Kamala Harris called former President Donald Trump a “fascist” during a CNN Town Hall hosted by Anderson Cooper in a Philadelphia suburb on Wednesday night. The event was arranged after Donald Trump declined to participate in a second debate with her. Asked by Cooper if she thinks Trump is a fascist, Harris replied bluntly. “Yes, I do,” she said. “Yes, I do.” She also admitted that she “prays every day, sometimes twice a day.”

Turkey terror: Turkey’s Air Force has struck Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria in apparent retaliation for a Wednesday attack on a state-run defense company that killed five people and wounded 22. On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defence said 47 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive on Wednesday. The Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) headquarters in the outskirts of Ankara was attacked, said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Two attackers – a man and a woman – were killed, he added.

Human shields: Palestinians told multiple news outlets that were being used as “human shields” by Israeli troops in Gaza. Detainees say they were sent into unexplored houses and tunnels before soldiers, in violation of Geneva conventions. The forcible use of Palestinian detainees to enter houses and tunnels in Gaza first came into public view in footage broadcast by Al Jazeera television in June and July. An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in August gathered testimony from Israeli soldiers who said the Palestinians used as shields were known as “shawish,” a word of Turkish origin meaning “sergeant.”

New Israel strike: Palestinian medical officials said that an Israeli strike on a school where people were sheltering in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 17 people on Thursday. The strike came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had accomplished its objective of “effectively dismantling” Hamas. He had also reported that negotiations over a cease-fire and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages would resume in the coming days. Another 42 people were wounded at the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda Hospital,

Mcdonald’s E. coli: A Colorado resident has accused McDonald’s of negligence after he tested positive for E. coli shortly after eating a Quarter Pounder from the fast food chain, his attorney said, marking the first lawsuit against McDonald’s since the company’s hamburgers were linked to an outbreak of the bacterial infection. Eric Stelly said he tested positive for E. coli after he consumed food from a McDonald’s location in Greeley, Colorado, on Oct. 4 and began experiencing nausea, stomach cramps, dehydration and bloody stools, according to a press release announcing the lawsuit filed in Cook County, Illinois, on Wednesday.