Paris — Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.  France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match Thursday.  “There's a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities “won't tolerate” any violence.  Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.  “There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be “reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.  Nuñez said that French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces to prepare for the match.  Israeli fans were assaulted last week after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of   young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people,   according to Dutch authorities. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.  On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.  French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed Friday that the France-Israel match would go ahead as planned.  “I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports. 

An intercepted missile fired from Yemen sparked blazes near Jerusalem Monday, and later the Houthi rebels said they carried out a successful attack on central Israel. The Iran-backed militant group said it executed a "military operation targeting the Nahal Sorek military base" southeast of Jaffa, and that the "hit was accurate and led to a fire." Meanwhile, the main television news outlet operated by the Houthis said U.S. and British forces carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Amran and Saada governorates in Yemen. The Israeli military told Agence France-Presse a projectile from Yemen was intercepted in the Bet Shemesh area west of Jerusalem, and debris from that interception caused fires. In a statement to the AFP, it said: "Following the sirens that sounded in the Shfelat Yehuda, Yehuda, and Lakhish areas of central Israel, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen. "The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol." An Iran-backed coalition, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed to have carried out four drone attacks on “vital targets” in Israel Monday, but did not disclose details about the targets in a series of Telegram posts. Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon At least three people were killed Sunday when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials reported. Palestinians reported heavy bombing late Sunday in the western areas of Nuseirat camp, and least 24 people were wounded and taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat, the head of the hospital’s ambulance service told the Associated Press. Earlier Sunday in northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah militants have a major presence. Lebanon's health ministry said another six people were wounded. There was no Israeli evacuation warning and no immediate Israeli comment on the attack. The United Nations children’s agency says the war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 200 children in Lebanon.   Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 3,189 people have been killed and over 14,000 wounded in Lebanon in more than a year of conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead. Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union and others. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington as the mid-month deadline approaches for Israel to meet a Biden administration ultimatum that it allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to assist Palestinians or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding. Information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters was included in this report.

BEIJING — Police in central China imposed traffic curbs at the weekend to halt a viral craze in which thousands of university students borrowed shared bikes to ride overnight to the city of Kaifeng in search of breakfast. The "Night Riding Army," as some participants described it, clogged a highway on Friday, pictures posted on social media showed, a surge in turnout for a rolling flash mob that had been gathering riders for months. "Last night's 'Night Riding Army' was spectacular!" one rider posted. "Two lanes were opened, but that simply was not enough: The cycling army accounted for four!" The event was part of a trend of young Chinese traveling on the cheap - "like special forces" - and spending as little as possible at a time of scarce job prospects, when wages are under pressure. The riders traveled on a straight road more than 60 km (37 miles) long beside the Yellow River that links Zhengzhou, the largest city in Henan province, with Kaifeng, an ancient capital famed for its soup dumplings. The trend was set off in June, Chinese media said, after four women college students chronicled their ride on social media to eat dumplings in the morning. "The Night Ride to Kaifeng: Youth is priceless, enjoy it in time," was the hashtag on social media for the ride, which state broadcaster CMG said tens of thousands of students had completed by the weekend. Key to its success was a glut of shared bikes, which can be rented for as little as $1.95 a month. Pictures posted by riders showed thousands of the bikes had overrun downtown Kaifeng by Saturday. In addition to the traffic controls, the largest bike-sharing platforms, Hellobike, DiDi Bike, and Mobile, said their vehicles would lock down if ridden out of a designated zone, while media told the students to grow up. "Youthful freedom does not mean following the trend and indulging oneself," one news outlet admonished in a comment. "Kaifeng is worth arriving slowly and savoring carefully," read the headline of another. Chinese authorities have cracked down on other spontaneous gatherings. Last month, police turned out in force in the commercial hub of Shanghai to deter a repeat of 2023 Halloween celebrations in which some revelers wore costumes poking fun at issues such as the stock market, youth unemployment and tough COVID-19 curbs.