Israeli strikes on tent camps near Rafah kill at least 25 and wound 50, Gaza health officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza health officials say Israeli strikes on a tent camp outside the southern city of Rafah have killed at least 25 people and wounded another 50. Friday’s strikes were the latest deadly attack on displaced people in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands have fled fighting between Israel and Hamas. Witnesses whose relatives died in one of the bombardments near a Red Cross field hospital say that Israeli forces fired a second volley, which killed people who came out of their tents. The International Committee of the Red Cross said the hospital was flooded with casualties, including 22 dead and 45 wounded. It condemned the firing of “high-caliber projectiles” a few yards from the facility.
Millions baking across the US as heat prolongs misery with little relief expected
A relentless heat wave continues to bake most of the U.S., with numerous areas expected to see record-breaking temperatures. Forecasters were also warning there would likely be little relief through the weekend for most areas. The steamiest conditions on Friday were expected in parts of Ohio and Indiana, where heat indexes were expected to soar past 100 degrees Fahrenheit and remain there most of the day. But the Midwest was not the only area being baked, as heat warnings and advisories have been issued across the northeast, the mid-Atlantic and in some western states. Idaho officials said Friday that two people in their 60s had died of heat-related causes.
FEMA is ready for an extreme hurricane and wildfire season, but money is a concern, Mayorkas says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Homeland Security Department says the agency tasked with responding to disasters across the country is prepared as it goes into what is expected to be an intense hurricane and wildfire season. But Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told The Associated Press that he’s concerned about looming budget shortfalls. Mayorkas was visiting the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for a briefing about the hurricane season, which started on June 1. Experts think this year could be one of the busiest on record. As parts of the U.S. swelter, Mayorkas said extreme heat could qualify as a major disaster but that local communities historically have been able to deal with major heat waves without needing federal financial assistance.
Escape from killer New Mexico wildfire was ‘absolute sheer terror,’ says woman who fled the flames
With little warning, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes as a pair of wildfires ballooned in a single afternoon. Traffic was bumper to bumper as residents tried to leave the mountain village of Ruidoso on Monday evening. Smoke obscured their view as they inched just a few miles in what seemed like an eternity. Residents are now scattered from Roswell and Alamogordo to Texas and beyond, after a chaotic escape from the billowing smoke and flames. Rain and cooler temperatures are helping firefighters keep the flames in check. Top officials are expected to visit Saturday to survey some of the neighborhoods that were destroyed.
Trump will address influential evangelicals who back him but want to see a national abortion ban
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is set to speak to a group of politically influential evangelicals who fiercely support him but would like to see the Republican presidential candidate promise to do more to restrict abortion. Trump’s stated opposition to signing a nationwide ban on abortion and his reluctance to detail some of his views on the issue are at odds with many members of the evangelical movement. But Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition that Trump will address Saturday, says Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn nationwide abortion rights did more for their cause than any other president.
Biden and allied Republicans are trying to rally GOP women in swing-state suburbs away from Trump
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden and his allies are trying to replicate their success with suburban women, who helped the Democrat beat Donald Trump in swing states like Pennsylvania four years ago. This year, they are signaling they can win a small number of Republican women who may be opposed to a second Trump presidency. But in dozens of interviews this month in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, the most competitive of Philadelphia’s largest suburban counties four years ago, there was little evidence that traditional Republicans were ready to abandon Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, in significant numbers.
How Biden and Trump are taking very different approaches to preparing for next week’s debate
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is beginning an intense period of private debate preparations at Camp David. The Democrat’s trip comes as officials in both major political parties scramble to set expectations for what may be the most consequential presidential debate in decades. Biden’s team notes he cannot afford an underwhelming performance against Donald Trump on June 27 in Atlanta. Trump’s allies are pushing the Republican to stay focused on his governing plans but expect him to be tested by pointed questions about his unrelenting focus on election fraud and his legal baggage. Strategists on both sides agree on one thing: Nearly four months before Election Day, the political stakes could not be higher.
A year ago, Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin challenged the Kremlin with a mutiny
On a lazy summer weekend a year ago, Russia was jolted by the stunning news of an armed uprising. The swaggering chief of a Kremlin-sponsored mercenary army seized a military headquarters in the south and began marching toward Moscow to oust the Defense Ministry’s leaders, accusing them of starving his force of ammunition in Ukraine. And even though Yevgeny Prigozhin and his soldiers-for-hire called off their rebellion hours later, it still dealt a blow to President Vladimir Putin, the most serious challenge to his rule in nearly a quarter-century in power. Prigozhin’s motives are still hotly debated, and his death in a suspicious crash exactly two months after the rebellion remains mired in mystery.
Climate change makes India’s monsoons erratic. Can farmers still find a way to prosper?
BENGALURU, India (AP) — Most of India’s 120 million farmers depend on rain from monsoons for a good harvest. India typically has two monsoons: one from June to September, and another from October to December. But with more planet-warming gases in the air, the rain now only loosely follows this pattern. Farming has become precarious with climate change making the season increasingly erratic. A good monsoon can noticeably boost India’s economy, making it a vital weather phenomenon. Experts say adapting to changing rainfall patterns, growing climate-resilient crops, having more localized weather predictions and preparing for extreme rain and droughts can help Indians make the most of the monsoons.
South Africa’s new government brings Black and white together. It’s also reviving racial tensions
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s new coalition government has brought a Black president and a white opposition leader together in an image of unity. But the power-sharing agreement between the African National Congress party and one of South Africa’s few white-led parties has unwittingly renewed some racial tensions. Many Black South Africans have expressed discomfort with a white-led party being back in power, even in a coalition. It shows how the country is haunted by the racist apartheid system that ended 30 years ago but is still felt by millions of the Black majority who were brutally oppressed by a white government.
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