In northern israel. The us Defense Secretary Lloyd austin has given his support to israels objectives after speaking with with his counterpart, yoav gallant. Mr austin also warned iran it faced Grave Consequences if it carried out a direct attack against israel in support of hezbollah. This is the scene in beirut where explosions have continued overnight in the capitals southern suburbs. Israel had ordered the evacuation of 3 areas. These pictures show explosions and smoke rising near beirut international airport. There have also been reports of an Air Strike hitting a crowded palestinian Refugee Camp near the southern lebanese city of sidon. Syrian State Media says that 3 people have been killed by israeli strikes on the capital damascus. Israel is yet to comment on the reports. Meanwhile, the Uk Government has charted a flight to help british nationals leave lebanon scheduled to leave beirut on wednesday. In a moment, we will hear from my colleague anna foster, who is in beirut but f
And what would you do with a spare 25 Billion Euros . Thats the question facing the irish Government Today as it delivers its budget following a huge Tax Windfall from Tech Firms. Live from london, this is business today. Im lukwesa burak. We start in the us where in the last 30 minutes tens of thousands of East And Gulf Coast Port workers have started striking for the first time in nearly 50 years. This comes after the international longshoremen s association and the us Maritime Alliance were unable to reach an agreement on the terms of their contract. The strikes will halt trade in a wide range of goods and disrupt the Countrys Economy just as we enter the final weeks before the president ial election. Our North America Business correspondent Ritika Gupt the two major sticking points between international longshoreman s association and the us Maritime Alliance are wages and automation for the workers are unhappy with the current contract which spanned the pandemic and dockworkers st
The two major sticking points between the international longshoremen S Association and us Maritime Alliance are wages and automation. Workers are unhappy with the current contract, which spanned the pandemic, when Dock Workers stayed on the job and endured months of soaring inflation on automation, the Union Boss has been warning Dock Workers that their jobs could be replaced by machines. In response, the us Maritime Alliance has said its offering to keep the current ban on fully automated equipment. A strike could cost the us economy 5 Billion a day, according to Jp Morgan analysts. A range of Goods Flow through the East And Gulf coast ports, everything from raw materials and pharmaceuticals to clothes and toys, with the ports accounting for more than half of containerised imports. While consumers may not feel the impact of the strikes right away, if it extends for weeks, it could lead to shortages and higher prices ahead of the president ial election. Thats something new York Governo
The Israeli Military has been describing it as a targeted, localised limited incursion so far. We had some details from a senior israeli Security Official, saying that these are local raids, very limited in scope, in the area, so no crashes happening so no clashes happening at the moment between israeli forces and hezbollah fighters in the south according to this senior israeli official. Obviously hezbollah has remained defiant. Yesterday, we heard from the Groups Number two who said that hezbollah fighters were ready to confront any israeli invasion. This is a part of the country that is a hezbollah stronghold. Obviously after two weeks of widespread israeli Air Strikes, high profile assassinations, hezbollah has been weakened, its leadership has been almost completely decimated, but the group remains a very powerful force. It is believed to have thousands of rockets, including missiles that can strike deep inside israel, also thousands of experienced fighters. So there is here the qu
United states where ports all across the East And Gulf coasts including here in baltimore have virtually ground to a halt. It means goods ranging from cars to machinery and fresh fruit and vegtables are going to find a lot tougher to get into or out of the worlds biggest economy. An estimated 16,000 workers have stopped working over demands for more pay and less automation. The stoppages could cost the us economy as much as 5bn a day according to the Investment Bankjp Morgan but other experts say it will be less than that. One knock on could be as many as 100,000 people finding themselves temporarily out of work as the impact of the stoppage spreads. 0ur Correspondent Michelle fleury is at the Port Of Newark in newjersey. What other people telling you about how angry they are but also how long this might last . This is one of three dozen ports that are on strike as of midnight last night, and work is basically raring to go, blasting music this morning, i saw some children walking aroun