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 a key election that could force Macron to share power with the far right
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has voted in high-stakes legislative elections that could force him to share power with the rising far right. Macron called the surprise vote after the anti-immigration, nationalist National Rally made huge gains in the June 9 European elections, taking a huge gamble that French voters would block the far-right party as they always have in the past. But the National Rally instead won a larger share than ever in the first round on June 30, and its leader Marine Le Pen called on voters to give the party an absolute majority in Round 2.
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.
Rafah is a dusty, rubble-strewn ghost town 2 months after Israel invaded to root out Hamas
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Two months ago, before Israeli troops invaded Rafah, the city sheltered most of Gaza’s more than 2 million people. Today it is a dust-covered ghost town. Abandoned, bullet-ridden apartment buildings have blasted out walls and shattered windows. Bedrooms and kitchens are visible from roads dotted with rubble piles that tower over the Israeli military vehicles passing by. Very few civilians remain. Israel says Hamas forces in the group’s last military stronghold are nearly destroyed. The Israeli military invited reporters into Rafah on Wednesday, the first time international media visited Gaza’s southernmost city since it was invaded May 6. Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza since the war erupted on Oct 7.
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 PallĂ s 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. PallĂ s’ 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.”
Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year. Worse, most crooks are getting away with it
Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology makes it easier to successfully perpetrate fraud. Kathy Stokes of AARP’s Fraud Watch Network says internet and telephone scams have grown exponentially and relatively few perpetrators are caught. Police in Ohio are still looking for the scammer whose calls to an 81-year-old homeowner set in motion a chain of events that led to the shooting death of an Uber driver. Some say law enforcement and industry need to join forces to fight fraud more quickly and efficiently.
