text: Unbiased headline news –
  Israel’s military reported that eight soldiers were killed during “intense fighting” with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
  This announcement follows three days after the military began ground operations in the country. The update on the ground raids comes nearly a year after Israel launched its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a response to the Iran-backed group’s October 7th terrorist attack, which also led Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, to fire rockets into northern Israel.
  Political sanctions have been imposed on members of the Russia-based Evil Corp cybercriminal group and its affiliated businesses in collaboration with Britain and Australia, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
  Evil Corp is known for creating and distributing the Dridex malware, officials said. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment against an Evil Corp member for allegedly using BitPaymer ransomware, which targets U.S. victims.
  The U.S. military is deploying additional resources to assist those affected by Hurricane Helene.
  Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has authorized up to 1,000 soldiers to aid recovery efforts in the wake of the storm, which has resulted in over 170 deaths and left hundreds missing across the Southeast. The troops, stationed at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, will help distribute food, water, and aid.
  Domestic violent extremists pose “the most significant physical threat to government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop box locations, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote counting sites,” according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
  DHS noted that extremists, driven by policy grievances, have increasingly targeted election officials. The overall threat level in the U.S. “will remain high,” according to the agency’s annual threat assessment.
  The Department of Homeland Security has announced a ban on importing goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese artificial sweetener producer.
  The DHS accuses both companies of using forced labor from the Xinjiang region in China. This move expands the U.S. government’s effort to prevent products linked to human rights abuses from entering the country.
  Firefighters have successfully put out a massive fire at a recycling facility in western Wisconsin after battling it for over 20 hours.
  The blaze erupted at Omaha Track in the town of Campbell on French Island, near La Crosse. The facility processes scrap railway ties and other materials into biofuel. Flames and smoke were visible for miles. Campbell Fire Chief Nate Melby said the fire burned through an area equivalent to four football fields of railway ties, along with a 30-foot-high mound of chips.