southern

SEOUL, May 12 (UPI) — Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, or KHNP, said Tuesday it partnered with Southern Nuclear Operating Co. of the United States to enhance nuclear engineering.

The state-backed enterprise signed a memorandum of understanding at its head office in Gyeongju, around 180 miles southeast of Seoul, with the U.S. nuclear company.

Under the agreement, KHNP said, the two would expand technical exchange programs and share best practices in operating nuclear facilities.

The South Korean company noted the partnership aligns with the efforts over the past few years to shift its operations toward an engineering-based system.

“This agreement is expected to help our engineers broaden their global perspective and provide an opportunity for our engineering system to advance further,” KHNP senior executive Kim Young-seung said in a statement.

“Down the road, we will do our utmost to perfect the Korean-style engineering system through close cooperation with overseas operators and international organizations,” he added.

Last June, KHNP signed a deal worth at least $18 billion to build two nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic. To support the project, the company plans to collaborate with various partners both at home and abroad.

As of the end of last year, KHNP ran a total of 26 nuclear reactors in South Korea. It is also constructing four new reactors in the country. KHNP is not publicly traded.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS

THURSDAY

DIVISION 9

Vasquez at Tarbut V’Torah, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY

At Cerritos College

DIVISION 1

Loyola vs. Mira Costa, 7:30 p.m.

DIVISION 2

Orange Lutheran vs. Edison, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 3

Windward d. St. John Bosco, 3 p.m.

DIVISION 4

Royal vs. Sunny Hills, 5 p.m.

DIVISION 6

Culver City vs. Garden Grove, 12 p.m.

At Home Sites

DIVISION 5

St. Anthony at Bishop Diego, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 8

Temescal Canyon at West Valley, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

DIVISION 7

Foothill Tech at Oakwood, 6 p.m.

Strikes come after forced displacement warnings by Israel for nine towns in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have killed at least four people and wounded eight others, according to Lebanese media.

The state National News Agency (NNA) reported injuries to two medics as they rushed to offer aid to victims of the latest attacks by the Israeli military in violation of the official ceasefire.

The medics were wounded when an air strike hit a civil defence team affiliated with the Islamic Health Society in Toul in Nabatieh, as they responded to an earlier attack, NNA said.

Two men were killed and five others injured in an air raid on the town of Ebba in Nabatieh.

NNA added that a drone strike on a car in the town of Haris in Bint Jbeil district killed one man and injured his brother.

Israeli warplanes targeted the home of a former municipal chief in Sajd, while other strikes were reported in Kfar Rumman and Safad al-Battikh. No casualty information was immediately available.

Forced displacement threat

Ahead of the attacks, the Israeli army issued a forced displacement threat for nine towns in southern and eastern Lebanon.

They are: Rihan, Jarjou, Kfar Rumman, Nmairiyeh, Arabsalim and Harouf in Nabatieh, and Jmayjmeh, Mashghara and Qlayaa in eastern Lebanon.

Posting on X, army spokesman Avichay Adraee urged residents there to evacuate due to what he called Hezbollah infrastructure in the towns.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed by a drone launched by Hezbollah near the border. Also in southern Lebanon, three Israeli soldiers were injured by a booby-trap drone explosion.

Israeli forces continue to exchange fire with Hezbollah and carry out attacks, despite the ceasefire which began on April 17 and later extended to mid-May.

Since March 2, Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,840 people in Lebanon, injured almost 8,700 and displaced more than a million, according to Lebanese figures.

The United States is preparing to host more peace talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington on Thursday and Friday. Hezbollah has criticised the Lebanese government for taking part.

Grant Leary of Crespi is ready to defend his 2025 championship as Southern Section individual golf champion.

Qualifying begins Wednesday for the Northern Regional at Los Robles Golf Course. The top 20 players from the three regionals advance to the individual finals May 21 at River Ridge Country Club.

Leary shot 66 last year to win. He’s been playing well. He won a playoff at a U.S. Open qualifying tournament in Brentwood to advance to the final stage, a tournament June 8 in Sacramento. The U.S. Open will be in New York this season.

He’s committed to San José State.

One top player who won’t be participating this year is sophomore Jaden Soong, the defending CIF state champion from St. Francis. His father, Chris, said Jaden has too many conflict dates this month on his schedule while trying to earn a spot to play in the Junior Presidents Cup in September at Medinah Country Club.

Soong is No. 10 in the standings. Tiger Woods’ son, Charlie, is No. 7.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

It’s a showdown that — regardless of the outcome in the June 2 primary election — probably won’t have Republicans in a celebratory mood.

The battle for the 40th Congressional District representing a swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties is happening in one of Southern California’s only remaining solidly red districts. But that doesn’t provide much solace, experts say.

The shuffling of districts following the passage of Proposition 50, which gave Democrats in Sacramento the authority to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democratic candidates, is pitting two current members of Congress — Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) and Ken Calvert (R-Corona) — against each other in a bid to keep their seat.

The two are also fending off challenges from a host of Democrats and an independent candidate who says she hopes to win votes from those disenchanted by deeply partisan politics felt across the country.

But even if a Republican keeps the seat, California’s Republican congressional delegation is still down by another member.

“It was all part of the Prop. 50 effort,” said Jon Fleischman, a conservative strategist. “Not only did they reduce the number of seats that Republicans have, they got to shove a couple of incumbents into one seat and eat popcorn and watch the food fight.”

And the gloves are already off.

Kim launched a $3.7-million ad blitz last month with a video boasting her support of President Trump, saying that she’s a “trusted Trump conservative.”

Calvert’s campaign responded in an attack ad that referred to Kim as a RINO, or Republican in name only, a pejorative term frequently used by Trump and others in the GOP to describe conservatives perceived as being disloyal to the party and a “Trump traitor.”

The television advertisement, which began airing last month, called attention to Kim co-sponsoring legislation with other Republicans to censure Trump in 2022 after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Democrats widely criticized the move as a slap on the wrist.

“I believe censuring the president after his actions helps hold him accountable and could garner wide bipartisan support, allowing the House to remain united during some of our nation’s darkest days,” Kim said at the time.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists the 40th District, which extends from Villa Park south to Mission Viejo in Orange County and into Corona, Murrieta and Menifee in the Inland Empire, as being solidly Republican.

It’s the only House seat that was competitive under the old congressional district map that is now fairly safe for the GOP. Trump would have won the district by 12 points in 2024.

As the two incumbents trade jabs, Democrats Esther Kim Varet, an art gallery owner; Lisa Ramirez, an immigration attorney; Joe Kerr, a retired fire captain; and Claude Keissieh, an electrical engineer; are hoping to garner enough support among the progressives in the district to advance to the November election.

Nina Linh, who entered the race early on as a Democrat but has since identified as an independent, is hoping to make inroads with voters disenchanted by both parties.

“When I look at our political climate, I have never in my adult life witnessed or experienced anything so polarized,” she said in a recent interview. “And people, including myself, are just exhausted from this back-and-forth rhetoric for over a decade that has gotten us into a culture of just hyper-divisiveness and extreme partisanship that is prioritized over what everyday people are concerned about.”

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, called the race in the 40th District a “classic matchup between the two Republican parties — the pro-Trump party and the pre-Trump party.”

Kim, who in 2020 was one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, does vote to advance Trump policies, but her biography is more consistent with an earlier era of conservatism. Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California’s congressional delegation, has much more aggressively positioned himself in line with Trump, Schnur said.

The district is representative in a lot of ways of the two types of Republicans that make up much of the party’s base — MAGA supporters and traditional Republicans who have either come to accept Trump or quietly resent him.

“Not only is this district reflective of the challenge that the party is facing around the country this year, it could be an early precursor of what Republicans will face in the 2028 presidential primary,” Schnur said.

SOUTHERN SECTION LACROSSE PLAYOFFS

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SEMIFINALS

BOYS

DIVISION 1

Loyola 19, Mater Dei 5

Santa Margarita 14, St, Margaret’s 8

DIVISION 2

Mira Costa 10, Los Alamitos 4

St. Francis 17, Village Christian 4

DIVISION 3

Oaks Christian 11, El Dorado 6

Dana Hills 16, Riverside King 15

GIRLS

DIVISION 1

Santa Margarita 11, Marlborough 10

Mira Costa 17, Mater Dei 11

DIVISION 2

Huntington Beach 8, Corona del Mar 7

El Segundo 14, Eastvale Roosevelt 3

DIVISION 3

Westridge at Glendale, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Great Oak at Northwood, Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Note: Boys finals in all divisions Friday, May 15 at Fred Kelly Stadium (times TBA); Girls finals in all divisions Saturday, May 16 (times TBA) at Fred Kelly Stadium.

Ranked No. 1 in preseason, St. John Bosco’s baseball team suffered some surprising losses during the National High School Invitational and Boras Classic, losing three straight at one point.

“The little bump in the road was our last opportunities to get guys in there for non-Trinity League games to see what they could do,” coach Andy Rojo said.

The computer rankings didn’t appreciate St. John Bosco’s experimentation. The Braves closed the regular season with 11 straight wins and a Trinity League title, but were punished when the Southern Section Division 1 playoff pairings came out Friday. Orange Lutheran, second place to the Braves, was given a No. 4 seed ahead of No. 6 St. John Bosco.

The disrespect will only add to the motivation for the defending Division 1 champions. St. John Bosco finished the regular season 22-5 and 14-1 in the Trinity League.

It’s another lesson in this new era of relying on computer algorithms for playoff pairings. The people running the computers won’t release their secrets about how teams are really ranked. It’s locked up like the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Two things are certain for all computer rankings: Head-to-head matchups are really not important and league finish doesn’t matter. Those are two criteria that used to be among the most important in the days when humans put together pairings, so you can understand why old-timers are having a hard time adjusting.

“We feel good,” Rojo said.

And he should. For Southern Section Division 1 baseball, it really doesn’t matter where you are ranked. The 16 teams are so good that everyone is set to go through a gauntlet and may the best team rise to the top.

Orange Lutheran is seeded No. 4 in the Division 1 baseball playoffs.

(Nick Koza)

St. John Bosco opens the playoffs on Tuesday in pool C facing probably the best opening opponent in Crestview League champion Cypress. St. John Bosco has ace Julian Garcia ready to go, but Cypress has multiple pitchers ready to compete. Sierra Canyon is the highest seed in pool C and opens at home against Oaks Christian.

Big VIII League champion Norco received the No. 1 seed for the first 16-team pool play tournament in Division 1. There are four four-team pools with the chance to lose one game and not go home. The first- and second-place finishers in each pool will advance to the single elimination eight-team quarterfinals.

“I love the double elimination,” Rojo said. “If you have a bad day, you get to redeem yourself.”

The other eight divisions remain 32 teams and single elimination.

The Braves effectively managed pitches for Garcia all season in his return from arm surgery that forced him to miss all of 2025. He was even taken out with a no-hitter in the sixth inning against Mater Dei while sticking with 85 pitches to preserve him for the playoffs. He’s had a pitcher-of-the-year season with a 7-1 record, 0.72 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 48⅓ innings.

The big change for the 2026 playoffs for St. John Bosco from 2025 is that closer Jack Champlin will be the No. 2 starter. Sophomore Brayden Krakowski has shown he can be an effective closer. A major decision by Rojo was to shake up his batting order after the three-game losing streak. He switched Jaden Jackson and James Clark, with Jackson becoming the leadoff man and Clark batting second.

“They’re both thriving,” Rojo said.

And so is St. John Bosco, whether computer believes it or not.

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

SOUTHERN SECTION

DIVISION 1

SEMIFINALS

Mira Costa at Huntington Beach, 1 p.m.

Loyola at Redondo Union, 5 p.m.

DIVISION 2

St. Margaret’s at Orange Lutheran, 5 p.m.

Edison at Camarillo, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 3

Palos Verdes at St. John Bosco, 6 p.m.

Foothill vs. Windward at Lewis Jackson Memorial Center, 3:30 p.m.

DIVISION 4

Royal at Village Christian, 6 p.m.

Crossroads at Sunny Hills, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 5

El Dorado at Bishop Diego, 3 p.m.

St. Anthony at Bellflower, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 6

Temecula Valley at Culver City, 6 p.m.

Garden Grove at Pasadena Poly, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 7

Rialto vs. Foothill Tech at Ventura College, 5 p.m.

Tustin at Oakwood, 2 p.m.

DIVISION 8

CAMS at Temescal Canyon, 5 p.m.

Palmdale Aerospace Academy at West Valley, 6 p.m.

DIVISION 9

Tarbut V’Torah d. YULA, 3-1 (Friday)

Downey Calvary Chapel at Vasquez, 6 p.m.

Note: Finals in all divisions May 15-16 (sites and times TBA).

SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

(Game at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 1

Pool A

Maranatha at Norco

Ayala at Sherman Oak Notre Dame

Pool D

Etiwanda at Corona

Corona Santiago at Orange Lutheran

Pool C

Oaks Christian at Sierra Canyon

Cypress at St. John Bosco

Pool B

Huntington Beach at Temecula Valley

La Mirada at Harvard-Westlake

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 2

Elsinore at Villa Park

Santa Margarita at Rancho Christian

Ganesha at Linfield Christian

San Clemente at South Hills

Trabuco Hills at Newport Harbor

Valley View at Great Oak

Dana Hills at Aquinas

El Segundo at Gahr

Costa Mesa at Servite

Vista Murrieta at Santa Ana Foothill

El Modena at Royal

Yucaipa at Paraclete

Newbury Park at Chaminade

Yorba Linda at Loyola

Mission View at Alemany

Alta Loma at Westlake

DIVISION 4

San Marino, bye

Walnut at Saugus

Hesperia at Rio Mesa

Claremont at La Salle

St. Anthony at Glendora

Sonora at Katella

Riverside Poly at Upland

Valencia at Anaheim Canyon

Santa Monica at Marina

Northview at La Quinta

Oxnard Pacifica at Palm Desert

Grand Terrace at San Marcos

Highland at Laguna Beach

Chino at Woodbridge

Monrovia at Castaic

La Serna at Moorpark

DIVISION 6

Ontario at California

Brentwood at Windward

Bloomington at Foothill Tech

Ramona at Canyon Springs

Granite Hills at Troy

Trinity Classical Academy at Orange

Northwood at Shadow Hills

Estancia at El Rancho

Western at Cantwell-Sacred Heart

Don Lugo at Savanna

Tustin at Covina

Alhambra at Mary Star of the Sea

Hueneme at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel

Hillcrest at Muir

Lakewood at Leuzinger

Lancaster at Crossroads

DIVISION 8

Rancho Alamitos at Los Amigos

Colton at Edgewood

Pasadena Marshall at Santa Rosa Academy

Vasquez at Chadwick

Beacon Hill at Rio Hondo Prep

Wildomar Cornerstone Christian at Compton

Indio at Rosemead

Lancaster Desert Christian at Oxford Academy

Buckley at Duarte

Santa Clarita Christian at Academy of Academic Excellence

Nuview Bridge at Burbank Providence

Bishop Diego at Nordhoff

Magnolia at Indian Springs

Banning at Artesia

Salesian at Anaheim

Hesperia Christian at Schurr

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

SECOND ROUND

DIVISION 1

Pool A Round 1 Winner vs. Pool A Round 1 Winner

Pool A Round 1 Loser vs. Pool A Round 1 Loser

Pool D Round 1 Winner vs. Pool D Round 1 Winner

Pool D Round 1 Loser vs. Pool D Round 1 Loser

Pool C Round 1 Winner vs. Pool C Round 1 Winner

Pool C Round 1 Loser vs. Pool C Round 1 Loser

Pool D Round 1 Winner vs. Pool D Round 1 Winner

Pool D Round 1 Loser vs. Pool D Round 1 Loser

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 3

Arlington at Mira Costa

Redondo Union at Ridgecrest Burroughs

Dos Pueblos at Burbank Burroughs

Edison at Damien

Orange County Pacifica Christian at Palos Verdes

Warren at West Ranch

San Dimas at Cajon

Crescenta Valley at St. Francis

Oakwood at Agoura

Garden Grove Pacifica at Chino Hills

Bishop Amat at Corona del Mar

Fullerton at San Juan Hills

Charter Oak at Beckman

South Torrance at Millikan

Summit at La Canada

Simi Valley at Arcadia

DIVISION 5

Paloma Valley at Citrus Valley

Moreno Valley at Irvine

Cathedral at Calvary Baptist

Sunny Hills at Long Beach Poly

Tahquitz at Quartz Hill

Kaiser at Oak Hills

Heritage Christian at Paramount

Loara at Santra Barbara

Montebello at Long Beach Wilson

Jurupa Hills at Santa Fe

Temescal Canyon at Arrowhead Christian

Capistrano Valley Christian at Riverside Prep

Culver City at Cerritos Valley Christian

Mayfair at St. Bonaventure

Bishop Montgomery at Cerritos

Rancho Verde at St. Bernard

DIVISION 7

Palmdale at New Roads

Carpinteria at Flintridge Prep

North Torrance at Baldwin Park

Beverly Hills at Grace

Pasadena Poly at Santa Paula

Milken at Fontana

Patriot at Viewpoint

Placentia Valencia at Victor Valley

Riverside Notre Dame at Hemet

South El Monte at Buena Park

University Prep at Golden Valley

Jurupa Valley at Campbell Hall

Arroyo at Miller

Carter at Adelanto

Nogales at Garden Grove

San Jacinto Valley at Norwalk

DIVISION 9

Redlands Adventist Academy at Dunn

Santa Monica Pacifica Christian at Lennox Academy

Downey Calvary Chapel at Crossroads Christian

Coastal Christian at St. Monica Academy

Mesa Grande at San Bernardino

San Luis Obispo Classical at Ojai Valley

Loma Linda Academy at Webb

Santa Maria Valley Christian at Yucca Valley

Lucerne Valley at Rolling Hills Prep

United Christian Academy at Ambassador Christian

Riverside Bethel Christian at Desert Hot Springs

Anza Hamilton at Westminster

Pomona at Temecula Prep

Cobalt at Environmental Charter

Garden Grove Santiago at Gorman Charter

Animo Leadership at St. Pius X-St, Matthias Academy

Note: Second Round in Divisions 2-9 May 19; Third Round in Division 1 May 19; Quarterfinals in all divisions May 22; Semifinals in all divisions May 26; Finals in all divisions May 29-30.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An election-year redistricting movement has spread to South Carolina as Republicans attempt to redraw majority-Black congressional districts that have suddenly become susceptible because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upending protections for minority voters.

Urged on by President Trump, South Carolina Republicans are attempting to redraw a district long held by a Black Democratic lawmaker in their quest for a clean sweep of the state’s seven congressional seats.

Lawmakers already are meeting in special sessions in Alabama and Tennessee in a bid to change their U.S. House districts. And Louisiana lawmakers are making plans for new congressional districts after the Supreme Court last week struck down the state’s current map.

The stakes are high for minority voters who stand to lose their preferred representatives and for any Republican lawmakers reluctant to follow Trump’s wishes. In Republican primary elections Tuesday, Trump-endorsed challengers defeated at least five of the seven Indiana state lawmakers targeted by Trump’s allies for refusing to support a congressional redistricting effort last year.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling said Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.

The ruling revved up an already intense national redistricting battle ahead of a November midterm election that will determine control of the closely divided House.

Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, a total of eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10 seats. But some of the new districts could be competitive in November, meaning the parties may not get all they sought.

South Carolina to test its will for redistricting

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn has represented South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District since it was redrawn to favor minority voters in 1992. He’s running for an 18th term. But it could get harder for him to win reelection if Republicans redraw his district.

Leaders in the state House and Senate said a redistricting effort needs to start with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The issue could come up as soon as Wednesday. But if only a few Republicans aren’t on board, it can’t succeed.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has warned that redistricting could backfire because of thin political margins, resulting in a second Democrat in the U.S. House. Massey told reporters Tuesday that he had a cordial conversation with Trump about redistricting, each laying out their concerns.

The state’s primaries are June 9 and early voting starts in three weeks.

Alabama looks at setting a new primary

The state House on Wednesday could debate legislation that would allow Alabama to hold a special congressional primary, if the Supreme Court clears the way for the state to change its U.S. House districts.

In light of the court’s ruling on Louisiana’s districts, Alabama officials have asked courts to set aside a judicial order to use a U.S. House map that includes two districts with a substantial number of Black voters. Republicans instead want to use a map passed in 2023 by the Legislature that could help the GOP win at least one of those two seats currently held by Democrats.

Alabama’s primaries are scheduled for May 19. If the Supreme Court grants the state’s request after or too close to the primary, the legislation under consideration would ignore the results of that primary and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.

Democrats denounced the legislation as a Republican power grab that harkens back to the state’s shameful history of denying Black residents equal rights and representation.

Republicans are “working to secure an electoral victory by taking Alabama back to the Jim Crow era, and we won’t go back,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell told a crowd gathered outside the Alabama Statehouse.

Tennessee plan targets Memphis district

Republican Gov. Bill Lee called Tennessee lawmakers into a special session to consider a plan urged by Trump that could break up the state’s lone Democratic-held U.S. House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis. Republicans didn’t say much about the plan Tuesday.

But as the state Senate began work Tuesday, shouts of “shame, shame, shame” could be heard inside the chamber from protesters gathered in the hallways. On the chamber floor, state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Black Democrat from Memphis, called the redistricting “an act of hate.”

Martin Luther King III sent a letter to Tennessee legislative leaders expressing “grave concern” about the plan to divide Memphis, saying the move could undermine the work for voting rights carried out by his father, Martin Luther King Jr.

The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March, and the primary election is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Thousands had already voted in Louisiana

After last week’s Supreme Court decision, Republican Gov. Mike Landry postponed the state’s May 16 congressional primary to allow time for lawmakers to approve new U.S. House districts. State Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, a Republican, said a redistricting committee he leads plans to hold a public hearing Friday.

Louisiana voters had already sent in more than 41,000 absentee ballots by last Thursday, when Landry suspended the House primaries, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. That’s about a third of all the absentee ballots sent out to voters. Around 19,000 were from registered Democrats, 17,000 from registered Republicans and the remainder belonged to neither party.

Democrats and civil rights groups have filed several lawsuits challenging the suspension of Louisiana’s congressional primary.

Collins, Loller, Chandler and Lieb write for the Associated Press. Chandler reported from Montgomery, Ala., Loller from Nashville and Lieb from Jefferson City, Mo. AP writer Jack Brook contributed to this report from New Orleans.

It’s time for Mira Costa to try to wipe away the disappointing memory from last season’s Southern Section Division 1 girls’ beach volleyball final, where the Mustangs lost to Redondo Union 3-2.

Mira Costa faces JSerra at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Long Beach City College in this season’s championship game.

Key returnees for Mira Costa are Lily Vandeweghe, Lily Enfield, Harper Terry and Izzy Elston.

JSerra has succeeded in breaking up the Mira Costa-Redondo Union beach volleyball domination. Those teams had met in the final for the previous three years.

The Mustangs swept San Marcos 5-0 in the semifinals on Thursday. JSerra eliminated No. 2-seeded Redondo Union 3-2.

Venice won the City Section title over Taft on Friday.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

April 30 (UPI) — The Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern corporations announced Thursday a new merger proposal after a federal regulator rejected their initial plan in January.

The two companies applied for a merger in July, seeking to create the United States’ first transcontinental freight railroad.

The Surface Transportation Board rejected the proposal saying the application was incomplete.

A statement from the two companies said they resubmitted the application with “additional analysis” indicating cost savings for customers and improvement to the U.S. supply chain. It said the deal would take 2 million truckloads off the nation’s roadways and save $3.5 billion each year.

“After completing the additional work requested by the STB, the facts remain clear: This merger enhances competition and delivers real public benefits that make America’s supply chain stronger, Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said in a statement.

The new submission includes traffic data from each of the six North American Class I railroads instead of sample data provided by the STB, the companies said.

The STB will have 30 days to review the new application.

Hezbollah rejects allegations from Benjamin Netanyahu that it is undermining the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

Israel has issued new forced evacuation notices for areas in southern Lebanon, ordering residents of seven towns that lie beyond its so-called “buffer zone” to leave, ramping up the conflict with Hezbollah despite a US-brokered ceasefire.

An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement on X on Sunday that the Lebanese armed group was violating the ceasefire ⁠and that Israel would act against it, telling residents to head north and west.

The towns are north of the Litani River, in an area where Israeli troops have continued military operations despite the ceasefire. They lie outside of what Israel has declared a “buffer zone”, an area stretching roughly 10km (6 miles) north of the border inside southern Lebanon where Israeli forces remain.

Hezbollah rejected allegations that it is undermining the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, saying its continued attacks are a “legitimate response to the enemy’s persistent violations of the ceasefire”, which it claims have exceeded 500 incidents.

The Iran-aligned group said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday that it shouldn’t be linked to a ceasefire that it didn’t approve, as it had “no say or position”, adding that the group will not “place out bets on a failed diplomacy that has proven its ineffectiveness.”

“It must be understood that Hezbollah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a weekly cabinet meeting.

The US-mediated ceasefire, which started on April 16 and has been extended to mid-May, has brought a significant reduction in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, though both sides have continued to fire at each other, trading blame over breaches.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tyre, Heidi Pett, said “there have been multiple airstrikes across south Lebanon” on Sunday, with many people fleeing to the towns of Sidon and Tyre.

“We once again have thousands of people leaving their homes, joining the hundreds of thousands who were already previously displaced,” she said.

Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli troops inside Lebanon as well as the rescue force that came to evacuate them, targeting a newly established Israeli artillery position in the town of Biyyada with a swarm of drones.

It also claimed two drone attacks on a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the town of Taybeh, saying casualties were reported among Israeli forces, without giving further details.

‘The security of Israel’

The Israeli army said a 19-year-old soldier, Sergeant Idan Fooks, was killed “during combat” in southern Lebanon, while five others were injured.

“From our perspective, what obliges us is the security of Israel, the security of our soldiers, the security of our communities,” Netanyahu was cited as saying at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, by Reuters news agency.

Under the terms of the truce, Israel reserves the right to respond to “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks” and has been striking what it says are Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon almost every day.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s “military infrastructure sites used to advance attacks,” in a post on X.

Since the war was renewed between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, at least 2,509 people have been killed and 7,755 wounded by Israeli attacks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Raids on a truck and a motorcycle in the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif kill four people, state media report.

⁠Israeli attacks have killed at least four people in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, the state news agency reports, as Israel continues to pummel the country in defiance of a three-week extension of a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

In a statement on Saturday, Lebanon Ministry of Public Health’s emergency operations centre said two Israeli raids on a truck and a motorcycle in the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif killed four people, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from the city of Tyre, said the attacks were carried out north of the Litani River, below which Israel has unilaterally declared to be operating.

Meanwhile, in the city of Bint Jbeil, also in southern Lebanon, Israeli soldiers reportedly blew up buildings on Saturday morning.

Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground separately reported bombings in the city of Khiam, including on residential blocks.

Israel’s ongoing spree is “part of a continued pattern of Israeli military activity, despite what is ostensibly a ceasefire”, Pett said, adding that the “rumble and thud of explosions” could be heard across southern swaths of the country.

“That is Israel demolishing houses and buildings,” she said.

The attacks are the latest to rock southern Lebanon since United States President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire extension on Thursday. Within hours, the Israeli military claimed it had “eliminated” six Hezbollah fighters in an exchange of fire near Bint Jbeil.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said the ceasefire was “meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire”.

He added that Israeli attacks meant Hezbollah retains the “right to retaliate”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “maintaining full freedom of action against any threat” and claimed Hezbollah was “trying to sabotage” the pause.

Before Trump’s announcement, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute suggested that Jewish Israeli respondents overwhelmingly supported continuing the conflict, even if it led to friction with the US.

The Lebanese leadership has rejected the possibility of Lebanon being used as a “bargaining chip” amid potential US-Israel negotiations with Iran, Pett said.

Lebanese civilians, meanwhile, are facing the fallout.

Huda Kamal Mansour, from Aitaroun village in southern Lebanon, has been living with her nine-year-old son in an empty stadium in Beirut along with other displaced families for the past 45 days.

She told Al Jazeera she ran for her life when the Israeli army started bombarding her neighbourhood.

“There was zero distance between us and the Israeli army when they attacked southern Lebanon. All I could hear was the sound of explosions hitting villages. We were told to evacuate from the village, then the tanks surrounded us,” she recalled.

“Israel didn’t leave one house standing there.”

WASHINGTON — The criminal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center this week was met with much outrage but little surprise from civil rights leaders, who have for more than a year prepared for heightened legal scrutiny from the Trump administration, and how to mount a coordinated response.

In rounds of calls immediately following the indictment, civil rights leaders discussed how to support the SPLC, a Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights group founded in 1971 that has tracked white supremacist groups and been outspoken on voting rights, immigration and policing. Organizers on one call agreed that winning in the court of public opinion would be crucial as judicial proceedings began, leading to dozens of public statements of support and planned rallies.

And legal advisors to civil rights groups urged organizers to prepare themselves for similar criminal indictments, protracted legal action that may exhaust their resources and audits of their staff and internal documents.

The flurry of behind-the-scenes coordination represented a marked escalation and mobilization of plans for activist groups that have been at odds with the Justice Department since President Trump’s return to the White House last year. Organizers say they are prepared to back the SPLC in its legal fight.

“It’s a blatantly obvious attack on civil rights and civil liberties to whitewash the foot soldiers of the great replacement theory and other extremists. This coalition isn’t going silent,” said Maya Wiley, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of hundreds of civil rights groups.

Without addressing the indictment, a coalition of more than 100 activist groups on Tuesday published a letter vowing solidarity with groups that are “unjustly targeted” by the federal government. SPLC was a signatory to the pact.

“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the coalition declared. “We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power.”

DOJ alleges criminal conduct in SPLC’s longtime informant network

The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, which rose to prominence for its work prosecuting and tracking hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, violated federal law through its network of paid informants in extremist groups. The DOJ claims the payments funded hate groups and misled the SPLC’s donors.

The SPLC now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought in the federal court in Alabama, where the organization is based.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche at a news conference announcing the charges. Blanche promised the department “will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable.”

Longtime civil rights activists found the claims to be a disingenuous and partisan move that may empower extremist groups.

“The indictment is nakedly political and represents the Justice Department turning on itself,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. “It places the Justice Department in the posture of, in effect, defending white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others.”

Advocates also view the indictment as part of the administration’s broader upending of civil rights law and the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump’s political opponents.

The SPLC in recent years became a bogeyman among conservatives who resented that the watchdog designated several rightwing organizations that engage in Republican politics as hateful or extremist.

In October, FBI Director Kash Patel canceled the agency’s longtime anti-extremism partnerships with the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism. Patel at the time called the SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”

The Justice Department and SPLC did not respond to requests for comment.

Indictment represents marked shift for civil rights work

Advocates dispute the DOJ’s characterization of the SPLC’s work, which civil rights activists credit to combating extremist groups across the country.

“The problem is that the indictment essentially claims that it was a fraud on SPLC’s donors to use their funds to fight the Klan, the neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups, when that is exactly why people gave to the organization,” said Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a legal group that works with organizations in legal disputes with the Trump administration.

Eisen added: “The notion that there’s something wrong with using informants and protecting their identities to prevent white supremacist violence is belied by the fact that that is not only what the SPLC did, but it is also the stock and trade of the FBI itself.”

Civil rights organizations are now preparing for further legal action against other organizations that disagree with or actively oppose the Trump administration. Organizations have reviewed their document retention, tax compliance and auditing policies over the last year to safeguard against any probes or lawsuits.

Some civil rights organizations have also floated creating new organizational structures that may better withstand legal scrutiny. On another recent call, activists floated restructuring some groups into for-profit entities, or potentially crafting new financial conduits for donors to give through to ensure that staff could receive pay if an organization’s assets were seized or frozen.

The preparations represent a marked shift for many civil rights leaders, who in recent years counted the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations as a reliable ally in key civil rights battles.

“What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that do not agree with its political thought,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who said the Justice Department has been “weaponized by dangerous forces.”

But for other leaders, the SPLC indictment raised the specter of a return to a previous era, when the Justice Department monitored — and at times prosecuted — civil rights leaders to disrupt their activities.

“We’re not backing down, but we are clear-eyed. Everyone could be in some form of jeopardy if you’re in the crosshairs of this administration,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group suing the Trump administration over executive orders addressing birthright citizenship and mail-in voting.

“That’s what they’re looking for; they want this to have a chilling effect,” Proaño said.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

April 22 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors Tuesday evening announced an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, accusing the non-profit of defrauding donors by using their money to pay informants within hate groups they were monitoring.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment from a Montgomery, Ala., grand jury during a press conference, alleging that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid more than $3 million to informants in hate groups the organization had vowed to dismantle.

“As the indictment described, the SPLC was not dismantling these groups, but it was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” he said, alongside FBI Director Kash Patel.

The indictment, which was returned by an Alabama grand jury just minutes before the press conference, details payments to informants in groups such as the neo-Nazi National Alliance and the Ku Klux Klan, but does not detail extensive evidence that the money was “used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups.”

Federal prosecutors allege that the SPLC obtained money via donations by making “‘materially false representations and omissions about” what the money would be used for and utilized bank accounts linked to “fictitious entities” to covertly pay their field sources.

One SPLC informant is described in the court document as a member of the online leadership chat group behind the 2017 Unite The Right protest in Charlottesville, Va., where one person was killed when a car rammed counterprotesters.

This informant was paid more than $270,000 between 2015 and 2023, according to the indictment, which alleges that they attended the Unite the Right event “at the direction of the SPLC,” made “racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees.

Another SPLC informant described by federal prosecutors as being affiliated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance organization stole 25 boxes of documents from the headquarters of a violent extremist group, copied the materials for the SPLC and returned the originals. The court document alleges that the SPLC paid the informant more than $1 million between 2014 and 2023.

Blanche told reporters during the press conference that the informants were paid via pre-paid cards with funds from donors that were moved from bank accounts that the SPLC created for five fictitious organizations in order to shield the source of the funds.

“They attempted to hide their criminal activity from our financial banking network,” Patel said.

“They set up shell companies and entities around America so that the financial system that we rely on as everyday Americans were deceived into believing that money is not coming from the Southern Poverty Law Center in the perpetration of this scheme and fraud but rather fictitious entities they stood up to perpetuate this ongoing fraud.”

The indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Ahead of the press conference, SPLC CEO Bryan Fair announced in a video statement that the organization and its employees were the target of a federal investigation focused on its use of informants, though they had yet to know all the details.

He defended the SPLC’s use of informants as necessary to protect themselves and the public after decades of being “engaged in unprecedented litigation to dismantle the Klan and other hate groups.”

Information the SPLC gained from the informants was frequently shared with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, he said, adding that they did not broadly share their use of informants to protect their identities.

“While we no longer work with paid informants, we continue to take their safety seriously. These individuals risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups,” he said, vowing to fight the allegations.

“We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve.”

The SPLC has long faced criticism from some Republicans and conservatives, who say the prominent anti-hate nonprofit has drifted from its mission of fighting extremism and White supremacy by labeling several right-wing organizations as hate groups.

In October, Patel announced that the FBI severed ties with the SPLC, accusing it of having “long abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine.”

Democrats, SPLC supporters and critics of the Trump administration lambasted the indictment as politically motivated, with the American Civil Liberties Union calling it “another example of the Trump administration’s extreme attempts to silence its critics.”

“Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. This administration is using the full weight of federal prosecution to target an organization whose mission is rooting out violent extremism,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said online.

“This is part and parcel of Trump’s assault on free speech, on nonprofits and on anyone who dares to disagree with him.”

House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the indictment “baseless and illegitimate.”

“These partisan hacks who continue to weaponize the criminal justice system against perceived opponents will never intimidate us,” he said.

WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center says it’s the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and faces possible charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.

The civil rights group made the announcement on Tuesday, saying President Trump’s administration appears to be preparing legal action against it or some of its employees.

“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” CEO Bryan Fair said in a statement.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment.

The SPLC previously paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather information on their activities, often sharing it with local and federal law enforcement, Fair said. It was used to monitor threats of violence, he said, adding that the program was kept quiet to protect the safety of informants.

“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”

He said the organization “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.”

The SPLC, which is based in Montgomery, Alabama, was founded in 1971 and used civil litigation to fight white supremacist groups. The nonprofit has become a popular target among Republicans who see it as overly leftist and partisan.

The investigation could add to concerns that Trump’s Republican administration is using the Justice Department to go after conservative opponents and his critics. It follows a number of other investigations into Trump foes that have raised questions about whether the law enforcement agency has been turned into a political weapon.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has faced intense criticism from conservatives, who have accused it of unfairly maligning right-wing organizations as extremist groups because of their viewpoints. The SPLC regularly condemns Trump’s rhetoric and policies around voting rights, immigration and other issues.

The SPLC came under fresh scrutiny after the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought renewed attention to its characterization of the group that Kirk founded and led. The SPLC included a section on that group, Turning Point USA, in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024” that described the group as “A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the agency was severing its relationship with the SPLC, which had long provided law enforcement with research on hate crime and domestic extremism. Patel said the SPLC had been turned into a “partisan smear machine,” and he accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States.

House Republicans hosted a hearing centered on the SPLC in December, saying it coordinated efforts with President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration “to target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”

Binkley and Richer write for the Associated Press.

Moorpark athletic director Rob Dearborn officially has a new title: president elect of the Southern Section.

The Southern Section Council elected him on Thursday. He will serve as president elect under the new president, Alexis Barile, the former principal at Corona Centennial, for 2026-27 and 2027-28 before taking over a two-year term.

Dearborn, 62, a former track and football coach, is in his 40th year participating in high school sports. He started out at Newbury Park before moving to Moorpark. He directs the Southern Section track and field championships at Moorpark. His wife, Denise, ran track at UCLA.

Asked if his wife will now salute him, Dearborn said, “No, I still salute her.”

It’s a two-year term to preside over Southern Section Council meetings.

“I grew up with Southern Section sports that have been a big part of my life,” he said. “It’s exciting.”

His son is football coach at Moorpark.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

A Lebanese man who returned to his village in southern Lebanon after the temporary ceasefire was announced removes the Israeli flag from Beaufort Castle (Qalaat al-Shaqif). The castle which dates back to the 12th century is in the Nabatiyeh Governorate.

China has taken a firm stance against the Israeli escalation in Lebanon, strongly warning against the region becoming a second Gaza and considering the events a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international law. The most prominent features of the Chinese response up to April 2026 to this Israeli military escalation in southern Lebanon included condemning the targeting of civilians and emphasizing the protection of Lebanese sovereignty while rejecting Israeli violations aimed at destroying the infrastructure of southern Lebanon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the extensive Israeli raids targeting towns in southern Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a red line that must not be crossed. China also emphasized the protection of Lebanese civilians, with Beijing unequivocally affirming that the protection of civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts is a legal obligation and expressing its shock at the scale of casualties and destruction inflicted on southern villages and towns.

China’s position is based on a comprehensive vision linking the stability of southern Lebanon to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Beijing believes that addressing the root causes of the conflict is the only way to prevent its spread throughout the Middle East. While condemning the destruction of Lebanese infrastructure and civilian areas, China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli airstrikes that killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure and property. Beijing categorically rejects any actions that lead to the destruction of infrastructure, considering them a violation of international law. China has consistently emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity are a red line that must not be crossed. Beijing has also declared its opposition to the Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, warning that such actions exacerbate regional tensions. China has called for diplomatic solutions, urging all parties, especially Israel, to exercise maximum restraint and return to the path of political and diplomatic settlement, asserting that continued violence will not bring security to any party. China condemned the attacks targeting UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, stressing the need to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers.

In this context, China deliberately directed veiled criticism at Washington regarding Israeli violations in southern Lebanon. China believes that the failure to contain the escalation in southern Lebanon is partly due to the military and political support provided to Israel by external powers, a clear reference to the United States, which hinders efforts to de-escalate the situation. Simultaneously, China warned of a second Gaza in southern Lebanon. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi explicitly cautioned against a repeat of the Gaza tragedy in Lebanon, emphasizing that violence cannot replace right and justice. China is pressing in international forums, particularly the Security Council, for an immediate and permanent cessation of Israeli hostilities, warning against the region sliding into a full-scale war. This stance reflects China’s desire to bolster its role as a peacemaker in the Middle East and to rival American influence by adhering to political solutions and international law.

Here, China sharply criticized the American role in the Israeli war against southern Lebanon and its recent escalation in April 2026, arguing that Washington contributes to undermining regional stability through its military and political support for Israel. Beijing considered the military operations supported or participated in by the United States to be a flagrant violation of international law and the principles of national sovereignty. While warning against the militarization of the region, China criticized the expansion of the American military presence, describing it as irresponsible and warning that such steps exacerbate tensions rather than de-escalate them. Beijing believes that Washington’s approach to the international order reflects the values ​​of the law of the jungle and fuels chaos and instability in the Middle East. While criticizing the US for its double standards, China, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, condemned the continued Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon despite ongoing efforts to de-escalate the situation. She emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated.

China called on Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon, warning against a repeat of the Gaza scenario. Chinese President Xi Jinping issued direct warnings demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, cautioning that continued military operations could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe similar to what occurred in the Gaza Strip. He also called for an end to the Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon. China maintains that violence does not solve problems but rather exacerbates crises, urging maximum restraint to de-escalate the volatile regional situation. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, asserting that their current military presence violates Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Xi explicitly warned against allowing southern Lebanon to become another Gaza, pointing to the risk of a widespread humanitarian catastrophe and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

To halt the cycle of violence and armed conflict in southern Lebanon, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a four-point peace initiative to bolster stability in the Middle East. This initiative includes a call for a multilateral peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations, the re-establishment of the border along the Blue Line between southern Lebanon and Israel, and a reaffirmation of China’s rejection of any violation of Lebanese sovereignty. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized, most notably on April 9, 2026, that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a (red line) that must not be crossed. These Chinese moves position Beijing as an active diplomatic alternative in the region at a time of escalating international tensions between major powers and ongoing regional conflicts. China has begun diplomatic efforts by proposing several peace initiatives to halt the cycle of armed conflict in southern Lebanon. The most prominent of these is the call for a multilateral peace conference. Beijing proposed hosting an international peace conference aimed at stabilizing the region and reinforcing the border along the Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon, under the auspices of the United Nations. China holds Israel fully responsible, considering the ongoing fighting in Gaza to be the root cause of the instability in the Middle East. Therefore, China called on the international community, particularly the major powers, to play a constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. China has also supported the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, strongly condemning any attacks on UNIFIL forces as violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Here, China used its influence in the UN Security Council and international forums to emphasize that any military operations outside the framework of the United Nations violate its Charter. It described the Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon as unauthorized actions.

Based on the preceding analysis, we understand the accuracy of China’s linking of the tensions in southern Lebanon to the war in Gaza. China called for restraint to prevent the conflict from spreading regionally, based on its principles of supporting sovereign states like Lebanon and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China also called for a return to the diplomatic track to halt the cycle of violent armed conflict in southern Lebanon perpetrated by Israel. China condemned the extensive Israeli strikes, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated. It emphasized the need to protect Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure during Israeli military operations and called for de-escalation and immediate steps to calm the situation and prevent further escalation of the conflict in southern Lebanon.