British PM’s 1st day at 10 Downing St. will stretch from nuclear weapons briefing to Larry the cat
LONDON (AP) — After a few hours of sleep to shake off a night of celebration and an audience with the king, Keir Starmer stepped through the front door of 10 Downing St. for the first time as prime minister on Friday. When he did, he entered the alternate reality of a man who meets regularly with King Charles III and has ultimate control of Britain’s nuclear missiles, all while adjusting to life in a creaking 17th century landmark and trying to balance his work with his personal life.
He’s derided as dull but Keir Starmer becomes UK prime minister with a sensational victory
LONDON (AP) — For someone often derided as dull, Keir Starmer has delivered a sensational election result. Starmer has led Britain’s Labour Party to a landslide election victory, and on Friday officially became prime minister. It’s the latest reinvention for a man who went from human rights attorney to hard-nosed prosecutor and from young radical to middle-aged pragmatist. He became the first Labour Party leader to win a U.K. national election since Tony Blair. The son of a toolmaker, Starmer studied law at university and took on civil liberties cases before becoming chief prosecutor in 2008. He was elected to Parliament and has become prime minister less than a decade later.
Biden heads into a make-or-break stretch for his imperiled presidential campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is opening a critical stretch in his effort to salvage his imperiled reelection campaign. There’s a growing sense that Biden may have just days to make a persuasive case that he’s fit for office before Democratic support for him completely evaporates in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. Already, some financial backers are holding off or canceling upcoming fundraisers. And Biden himself acknowledged to Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and limit late events so he can be fit and rested for the job.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro indicted for alleged money laundering for undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia
SAO PAULO (AP) — The indictment of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia marked the far-right leader’s second formal accusation with more potentially in store. Two sources with knowledge of the case confirmed Thursday’s indictment by Federal Police, which followed another formal accusation in May against Bolsonaro for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the latest indictment, which dramatically raises the legal threats facing the divisive ex-leader.
Iran holds runoff presidential vote pitting hard-line former negotiator against reformist lawmaker
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranians have begun voting in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. Voters face a choice between the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime parliament member who has allied himself with moderates and reformists within Iran’s Shiite theocracy. An initial round of voting June 28 saw no candidate get over 50% of the vote, forcing the runoff. It also saw the lowest turnout ever for an Iranian election, leaving turnout Friday a major question.
Hurricane Beryl slams into Mexico’s coast as a Category 2 storm; 11 dead across the Caribbean
TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl has slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula near the resort town of Tulum as a Category 2 storm after leaving a trail of destruction and at least 11 dead across the Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Friday that Beryl is expected to rapidly weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses over the peninsula before it re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico and likely regains hurricane strength. Earlier in the week it was a major hurricane, and on Tuesday became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Beryl spread destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados in recent days.
Israel conducts military operation in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin. 7 Palestinians killed
JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian authorities say seven people have been killed during an Israeli military operation in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin. That’s where the Israeli military said it had been carrying out “counterterrorism activity” that included an airstrike. The military said Israeli soldiers had “encircled a building where terrorists have barricaded themselves in” and the soldiers exchanged fire with those inside, while an airstrike had “struck several armed terrorists” in the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a total of seven people had been killed Friday. The Islamic Jihad militant group named four of the dead as its members.
US employers added a solid 206,000 jobs in June in a sign of continued economic strength
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers delivered another healthy month of hiring in June, adding 206,000 jobs and once again displaying the U.S. economy’s ability to withstand continually high interest rates. Last month’s job growth did mark a pullback from 218,000 in May. But it was still a strong gain, reflecting the resilience of America’s consumer-driven economy, which is slowing but still growing steadily. Still, Friday’s report contained some signs of a slowing job market. The unemployment rate ticked up from 4% to 4.1%, a still-low number but the highest rate since November 2021. The government also sharply revised down its estimate of job growth for April and May by a combined 111,000.
Court says social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but remain in EU as he awaits trial
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania’s capital has ruled that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain within the European Union as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal’s decision Friday to allow Tate to leave the country was hailed by his spokesperson as a “significant victory and a major step forward” in the case. Tate, who has amassed 9.5 million followers on the social media platform X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.
A bench and a grandmother’s ear: Zimbabwe’s novel mental health therapy spreads overseas
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — In Zimbabwe, talk therapy involving park benches and a network of grandmothers has become a saving grace for people with mental health issues. Now the concept is being adopted in parts of the United States and elsewhere. Zimbabwe has scarce clinical mental health resources. The Friendship Bench was started by a local psychiatrist. Grandmothers from the community are equipped with basic training in problem-solving therapy and have become trusted listeners. It’s inspired by traditional practice in which grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times.
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