plagues

Defence minister’s threat follows report of new missile launch from Yemen.

Israel’s defence minister has promised to inflict the 10 biblical plagues of Egypt on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The threat was issued by Israel Katz on social media on Thursday amid reports that the Iran-backed Houthis have stepped up their missile attacks against Israel. The Yemeni rebel force has resumed attacks in retaliation for last week’s assassination of Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi and several senior officials.

“The Houthis are firing missiles at Israel again. A plague of darkness, a plague of the firstborn – we will complete all 10 plagues,” Katz wrote in Hebrew on X, as tensions continue to escalate between his country and the Yemeni group.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army said a missile fired from Yemen had struck outside Israeli territory. The previous day, the military had reported it intercepted two Houthi missiles.

The Yemeni group on Monday claimed responsibility for a missile attack in the Red Sea that hit the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray.

Katz’s threat refers to the 10 disasters that the Bible’s Book of Exodus says were inflicted on Egypt by the Hebrew God to convince the pharaoh to free the enslaved Israelites.

The Houthis have launched numerous drone and missile attacks against Israel, saying the launches are in support of the Palestinians, since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

The group, which controls vast areas of Yemen, also ran a campaign targeting international shipping in the Red Sea, a route vital for global trade. That saw the United States launch a concerted series of attacks on the Houthi-occupied parts of Yemen earlier this year.

In May, Oman brokered a ceasefire between the US and Houthis, leading Washington to halt its daily bombing campaign.

However, the group said the agreement does not cover operations against Israel, and has continued to launch attacks.

In turn, Israel has carried out several rounds of strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi-held ports as well as the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

A week ago, an Israeli air strike killed al-Rahawi, nine of his ministers, and two other Houthi representatives.

PITTSBURGH — Now is the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes, for his team’s intensity to rise.

And if the external pressures of a tight National League West race, postseason seeding implications and a looming World Series title defense in October don’t do it, then maybe, he hopes, increased internal battles for playing time will.

For a while on Tuesday night, in a series opener against the perpetually rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers showed fight. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in an ugly first inning, but the lineup clawed its way back to even the score — thanks, in part, to a 120-mph rocket of a home run from Shohei Ohtani in the third, his 46th of the season and 100th as a Dodger and a tying solo blast from Andy Pages in the fourth.

Kershaw, meanwhile, settled down to get through five innings without any more damage, retiring 13 of his final 15 batters to put the Dodgers in position for a come-from-behind win.

Instead…

The bullpen faltered, with Edgardo Henriquez (who hadn’t given up a run in his first 12 outings this year) and Blake Treinen (who had finally started looking like himself again after an early-season elbow injury) combining for three runs conceded to break the tie in the sixth.

The lineup couldn’t overcome another big deficit, scoring twice in the seventh only for the Pirates to get the runs back in the next two innings.

And once more, the Dodgers fell to a team miles behind them in the standings, losing 9-7 at PNC Park to drop their 10th game out of the last 14 against opponents with losing records this season.

“There were different points in the game that we showed some life,” Roberts said. “And then, unfortunately, we just couldn’t kind of put up that zero to build off of it.”

Still, the Dodgers’ inability to beat bad teams has underscored a persistent issue with the club.

They’ve been inconsistent, struggling to stack clean performances or any semblance of an extended winning streak. They’ve at times lacked urgency, failing to pull away from the slumping Padres in the division or get back in position for a top-two NL playoff seed (which would give them an all-important first-round bye in the postseason).

For all their efforts to rally on Tuesday, they also saw each of their three outfielders fail to snag tough but catchable balls, an eighth-inning wild pitch by Anthony Banda led to one key insurance run and a general lack of execution cost them in other key spots (like when they managed only one run from a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second).

“Obviously we didn’t play well. We all know that,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Don’t have to necessarily have a team come-to-Jesus [moment] about it. We’ve just got to find ways to win games. There’s no secret formula about it. It doesn’t matter if a team’s below .500 or above .500. Especially right now, we’ve got to find ways to win games. We’re not doing it.”

Still, neither a soft spot in the schedule nor the realities of the calendar has remedied that issue.

Thus, Roberts highlighted another potential solution in his pregame address — acknowledging that players who don’t step up their performance soon could see their playing time get cut as the roster returns to full health.

“We got some guys coming back, and guys are gonna get opportunities,” Roberts said. “As we get into September, where all these games certainly matter, you got to have guys that you trust.”

On Monday, when MLB rosters expanded to 28 players at the start of September, the Dodgers (78-60) activated two key pieces from the injured list: Infielder Hyeseong Kim, who had been out since late July with a shoulder injury; and reliever Michael Kopech, who had been limited to eight appearances this year because of arm troubles and a meniscus surgery in his knee.

Next homestand, more reinforcements could be on the way, with Max Muncy and Tommy Edman beginning rehab assignments with triple-A Oklahoma City this week.

Before long, the Dodgers’ long-shorthanded depth chart could suddenly be crowded. And as a result, tough decisions could loom in left field, at second base and in the bullpen — forcing the issues for a number of players at various spots on the roster.

“I do think just kind of naturally it raises the level of performance and intensity,” Roberts said, pointing to veteran infielder Miguel Rojas as one example of someone who is “fighting for playing time” with recently improved play.

“I tip my cap to him,” Roberts said. “I’m expecting that from a lot of other guys as well.”

Roberts said Edman will play mostly center fielder during his rehab stint, something he had been unable to do earlier this season while battling an ankle injury. Once he’s back, that means someone such as Michael Conforto (who went 0-for-three with a walk Tuesday to dip to .189 on the season in batting average) could drop to the bench, leaving the corner outfield spots for Pages and Teoscar Hernández.

In the infield, Kim will likely figure in at second base (though could also kick out to left field, where he saw time during his own recent rehab assignment). That will create one more slice in an infield pie that is already being divvied between Rojas, Kiké Hernandez and Alex Freeland. Once Muncy is back at third, at-bats will be at even more of a premium.

The same situation could unfold in the bullpen, which will also get Alex Vesia and Brock Stewart back this month from their own injuries. That will raise the pressure on struggling offseason signings Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to continue earning leverage opportunities.

How it all shakes out remains unclear.

But where there are more options, the Dodgers believe, better production — and intensity — will follow. To this point, nothing else seems to be consistently raising the team’s level of play.

Swimming has been banned at certain beaches in theBasque region of the North of Spain after Portugese man o’ war stung swimmers, landing at least two people in hospital

Sunseekers have been banned from swimming on some beaches after a spate of Portuguese man o’ war stings.

On Thursday alone, seven people received nasty stings from the jellyfish-like animal, bringing the total number of people hurt by the creatures’ 10-metre-long tentacles in Bizkaia this past week to 14. Overall, 36 swimmers have been stung in the Basque Country in the past week.

The warm summer waters of the north of Spain and southwest of France are particularly welcoming to man-o’-war, which aren’t actually jellyfish but siphonophores, a group of animals that are closely related to the blobby critters. The man o’ war invasion comes after multiple giant “alien” jellyfish were found washed up on a British beach, causing concern among the country’s barefoot beachgoers.

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This week, several people required medical attention from Osakidetza’s Emergency Service at the scene of the incident, with two being sent to the hospital for treatment.

The Basque Government’s Department of Health explained that swimming is generally best avoided if jellyfish or Portuguese man o’ war are present, and touching them, even if they are on the sand, is not recommended. In the event of a sting, it is advisable to go quickly to the first-aid station, not scratch or rub the area, and clean the area with seawater, never fresh water.

Debris should be removed with tweezers, not with your hand unless wearing gloves. It is also advisable to apply cold or ice in a plastic bag to the area for five minutes.

A series of measures are currently in place at beaches in the area, ranging from the display of a yellow ‘jellyfish’ flag warning of their presence to a total ban on swimming, which is communicated via a red flag.

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Over in the UK, Joel Gabirel, an engineer and amateur photographer, shared pictures of the creatures after he stumbled across them while on holiday in Llandudno, Wales. The 31-year-old was out for an early morning walk along the coast when the tide was out, when he spotted what he calls “danger pancakes” blending into the sand.

“Jellyfish are already dead by the time you find one. They’re 95% water and dehydrate within minutes of washing ashore. They’re basically a digestive system with some tentacles. They don’t have a brain. But they can still sting. Seeing the jellyfish and their sizes really surprised me,” he said.

Joel said he didn’t even spot the larger ones at first because he thought they were rocks. The beachgoer seems to have stumbled across several different types of jellyfish. The species with straight lines running from its peak down to its edge appears to be a compass jellyfish.

“With brown markings reminiscent of a compass, this jellyfish is really quite distinctive. A summer visitor to our shores, the compass jellyfish feeds on small fish, crabs and even other jellyfish. They give a nasty sting, so if you spot them during a visit to the beach – look, but don’t touch! Once they have stung something, jellyfish often leave the tentacle behind and can continue to sting using it even when not connected to their body,” the Wildlife Trust explains.