Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in July that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighboring Jordan.

Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut for 45 days, saying that staff needed to leave immediately.

The network has reported on the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants’ initial cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff.

Biden says Beijing is testing region

President Joe Biden told Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that he believes China’s increasing military assertiveness is an effort to test the region at a turbulent moment for Beijing.

Biden’s comments were caught by a hot mic after he and fellow leaders of the so-called Quad delivered opening remarks before the press at a summit he’s hosting near his hometown of Wilmington, Del. He said his administration sees Beijing’s actions as a “change in tactic, not a change in strategy.”

China is struggling to pull up its economy that was pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic and has seen an extended slowdown.

“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits,” Biden told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He added, “At least from our perspective, we believe (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimize the turbulence in China’s diplomatic relationships, and he’s also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest.”

At the summit, the leaders agreed to expand the partnership among the Quad nations’ coast guards to improve interoperability and capabilities.

Police chase in NYC kills driver, injures 8

A police pursuit that began in New York City ended on Long Island with the shooting death of the driver, and seven police officers and a civilian were taken to hospitals for treatment, police said.

Patrick Ryder, commissioner of the Nassau County police department, told reporters Saturday that the chase began after New York City officers tried to stop a driver in the Jamaica neighborhood in the borough of Queens shortly after 11 p.m. Friday. The driver tried to ram the two police officers, Ryder said.

Officers in Nassau County boxed in the driver at one point, but he hit two police cars and forced two officers to dive out of the way, he said. The vehicle went further, hitting another police car, turned around and went the wrong way before turning around again and hitting a civilian car.

The driver’s vehicle went out of control and stopped on a berm in Massapequa, Ryder said. Officers tried to get the driver to get out of the car, but he refused and was killed by gunfire, Ryder said.

Heavy rain pounds north central Japan

Heavy rain pounded Japan’s north central region of Noto on Saturday which triggered landslides and floods and left one person dead and several missing, officials said.

The deluges caused swollen rivers to overflow, flooding homes and stranding some residents in the region still recovering from the deadly Jan. 1 earthquake.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest level of heavy rain across several cities in the Ishikawa prefecture, including hard-hit cities Suzu and Wajima on the northern coast of the Noto peninsula. In Suzu, one person died and another was missing after being swept in floodwaters.

French center-right government announced

The French presidential palace unveiled a long-awaited new government Saturday dominated by conservatives and centrists. It came more than two months after elections that produced a hung parliament and deepened political divisions as France grapples with growing financial and diplomatic challenges.

A left-wing coalition secured the most seats in June-July parliamentary elections but failed to win a majority. Student groups and activists from the hard-left France Unbowed party held protests around the country Saturday against a government they say rejects the voters’ will.

President Emmanuel Macron named conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister earlier this month even though Barnier’s Republicans party had a poor showing in the elections, and Barnier put together the government after difficult negotiations. Macron approved, and it was announced at the presidential palace.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right anti-immigration party National Rally has no seats in Barnier’s government, but has enough votes in parliament to bring it down. The party won an indirect victory with the appointment of staunch conservative Bruno Retailleau as new interior minister, whose remit includes critical domestic issues like national security, immigration, and law enforcement.

Musk’s X site capitulates to Brazil

After defying court orders in Brazil for three weeks, Elon Musk’s social network, X, has capitulated. In a court filing Friday night, the company’s lawyers said that X had complied with orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court in the hopes that the court would lift a block on its site.

The decision was a surprise move by Musk, who owns and controls X, after he said he had refused to obey what he called illegal orders to censor voices on his social network. Musk had dismissed local employees and refused to pay fines. The court responded by blocking X across Brazil last month.

Now, X’s lawyers said the company had done exactly what Musk vowed not to: take down accounts that a Brazilian justice ordered removed because the judge said they threatened Brazil’s democracy. X also complied with the justice’s other demands, including paying fines and naming a new formal representative in the country, the lawyers said.

Pilot freed after 19 months in rebel captivity

A New Zealand pilot held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region of Indonesia was freed Saturday by separatist rebels.

Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old pilot from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air when he was abducted by rebels from a remote airport on Feb. 7, 2023.

Television news earlier showed an emaciated, long-haired Mehrtens, wearing a dark-green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by police officers and local officials. He sobbed while talking to his family via video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his back.

Rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Kathryn Crosby, actor and Bing’s widow, dies

Kathryn Crosby, who appeared in such movies as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”, “Anatomy of a Murder,” and “Operation Mad Ball” before marrying famed singer and Oscar-winning actor Bing Crosby, has died. A family spokesperson says she died of natural causes at her home in Northern California on Friday.

She appeared opposite Tony Curtis in “Mister Cory” and Victor Mature in “The Big Circus.”

She married Bing Crosby in 1957. She was 23 and he was 54. She curtailed her acting career after the wedding, but appeared with Crosby and their three children on his Christmas TV specials and in Minute Maid orange juice commercials. Kathryn Crosby was 90.

— From news services