U.S. and world news for Oct. 18

Biden in Israel: President Biden visited Israel today, as the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against 10 members of Hamas and a Hamas financial network that stretches across several Middle East countries for allegedly financing the attack on Israel. Biden visited with first responders who were on the front lines following the surprise attacks by Hamas. He told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “I want to say to the people of Israel: Their courage, their commitment, their bravery is — is stunning.  It’s really stunning.  I’m proud to be here.” Biden pledged that the U.S. would be sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.

Hospital tragedy: Israel denies having attacked a hospital in Gaza that was being used as a shelter. An estimated 500 Palestinians were killed in the explosion and fire that Israel believes was touched off by a terrorist missile that was misfired. Israel has released intercepted radio messages that recorded Hamas leaders saying that a missile fired by the Palestine Islamic Jihad hit the hospital. Israel also released radar data and a video that it says show the flight track of the missile.

James answers Trump: New York Attorney General Letitia James has answered new comments made by Donald Trump alleging that she brought the civil fraud case against him for political purposes. James charges that Trump, Trump family members and the Trump Organization prepared false financial documents to defraud banks, insurance companies and tax authorities. After yesterday’s court session in Manhattan, James told reporters, “Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie. He can call me names, he can engage in distractions. His entire empire was built on nothing but lies and on sinking sand.”

Funeral home: Officials in Colorado say that 189 improperly stored bodies have been found and removed from a funeral home. The Return to Nature Funeral Home is in the small town of Penrose, Colorado. The FBI has sent investigators to help identify the bodies. The owners of the funeral home had been in financial difficulty and apparently took money from families of deceased and never performed the services for which they’d ben paid.

Putin in China: Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi. Officials from about 130 countries attended a banquet at which Putin was guest of honor. Putin praised China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has been underway for a decade. China is using the initiative to spread its economic and political influence around the world and has invested about a trillion dollars in numerous projects.

Mixed housing starts: The housing development situation in the U.S. is mixed according to data released this morning by the Department of Commerce. Privately‐owned housing starts in September jumped 7% from August starts to 1,358,000, according the Commerce Department. Even with the spike from August, housing starts this September were below last year’s September starts of 1,463,000. There were 1,473,000 building permits issued for privately-owned housing units in September, 4.4% below the number issued in August and 7.2% below the number issued in September of last year.