2:49 a.m. EDT National News Summary

To a defiant Biden, the 2024 race is up to the voters, not to Democrats on Capitol Hill

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Democratic Party has not fallen in line behind President Joe Biden, even after the events that were set up to reset his imperiled campaign and show everyone he wasn’t too old to be president four more years. Ten days into the crisis moment of his debate with Donald Trump, there’s a standoff that doesn’t appear to be dying down. Biden is dug in. Yet the chorus of Democratic voices calling for him to step aside is growing, from donors, strategists and from lawmakers who say he should bow out.

France is voting in key elections that could see a historic far-right win or a hung parliament

PARIS (AP) — Mainland France is voting Sunday in pivotal runoff elections that could hand a historic victory to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its inward-looking, anti-immigrant vision. Or they could produce a hung parliament and years of political deadlock. Sunday’s snap elections in this nuclear-armed nation have potential impact on the war in Ukraine and Europe’s economic stability. And they’re almost certain to undercut President Emmanuel Macron for the remaining three years of his presidency. Racism and antisemitism have marred the electoral campaign, as have Russian cybercampaigns. The government is deploying 30,000 police on voting day.

Torrid heat bakes millions of people in large swaths of US, setting records and fanning wildfires

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Roughly 130 million people are under threat from a long-running heat wave that has shattered records with dangerously high temperatures. More records could fall through the coming week, from the Pacific Northwest to the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast. Record temperatures were notched in multiple places in across the West on Saturday. That included Ukiah, north of San Francisco, where the mercury hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit and tied the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city. The National Weather Service says it is extending the excessive heat warning for much of the Southwest through Friday. In California, firefighters dispatched helicopters to drop water on wildfires fanned by high temperatures and low humidity.

Beryl bears down on Texas, where it is expected to hit after regaining hurricane strength

HOUSTON (AP) — Beryl is hurtling across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a collision course with Texas. It is currently a tropical storm but is forecast to regain hurricane status before nearing the coast Sunday and making landfall the following day. A hurricane warning has been declared for a large stretch of the state’s coastline, from near Corpus Christi to an area south of Houston. State and local officials have urged coastal residents to prepare for possible storm surge flooding, heavy rain and high winds. Some cities have called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding.

Hamas clears the way for a possible cease-fire in Gaza after dropping key demand, officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — A Hamas official and an Egyptian official say Hamas has given initial approval for a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire deal in Gaza, dropping a key demand that Israel commit up front to a complete end to the war. The apparent compromise by the militant group could deliver the first pause in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks. But all sides warn that a deal is still not guaranteed. Inside Gaza, the Health Ministry says an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 16 people and wounded at least 50 others, including children.

Reformist Pezeshkian beats hard-liner to win Iran presidential election, promising outreach to West

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s runoff presidential election, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili. Pezeshkian has promised to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic. He also said there would be no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy, and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian’s modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, among other challenges. A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million in Friday’s election.

A NATO summit and mending EU relations are among first tasks for new UK leader Keir Starmer

LONDON (AP) — New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer doesn’t get to take a breather. After a draining six-week election campaign, the center-left politician must get straight to work assembling his government, tackling a mountain of domestic problems and putting his stamp on the U.K.’s relations with the rest of the world. Starmer says he wants Britain to take a larger role on the global stage after years of soured relations with Europe over Brexit. He’ll start next week by attending a NATO summit in Washington where Ukraine will be high on the agenda. Later this month he will host leaders from across Europe at a meeting of the 47-nation European Political Community.

Kenya’s dramatic flooding sweeps away a central part of the economy: Its farms

MACHAKOS, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan farmers’ financial security and optimism have been shaken by recent flooding. The government calls it “a clear manifestation of the erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.” The rains that started in mid-March have killed nearly 300 people, left dams at historically high levels and led the government to order residents to evacuate flood-prone areas. Now a food security crisis lies ahead, along with even higher prices. It’s a challenge for a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even greater engine of the economy.

Church bells speak again in Spain thanks to effort to recover the lost ‘language’ of ringing by hand

JOANETES, Spain (AP) — The sound of church bells is a quaint bit of automated background noise for most people. But before newspapers, radio, telephones, television and the internet, it was bellringing that transmitted important information and knit together communities across Europe. Now a small school of bellringers in northeastern Spain wants to recover what director Xavier Pallàs calls an entire language of tolling. The initiative comes two years after UNESCO added manual bellringing in Spain to its compendium of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Pallàs’ students have learned how to toll out calls for village celebrations, warnings of bad weather or fire, baptisms, and deaths. He says bells could still “help mark the rituals that we need.”

Jon Landau, Oscar-winning ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ producer, dies at 63

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning producer who worked closely with director James Cameron on “Titanic” and the “Avatar” series, has died. He was 63. Landau’s family announced his death Saturday. No cause of death was given. Landau’s partnership with Cameron led to three Oscar nominations and a best picture win for 1997’s “Titanic.” Together the pair account for some of the biggest blockbusters in movie history, including “Avatar” and its sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The trio of films are among the highest grossing movies of all time. In a statement, Cameron says Landau “will be remembered as much for his vast generosity of spirit as for the movies themselves.”