A boy in Gaza was killed by an Israeli airstrike. His father held him and wouldn’t let go
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — He wouldn’t let go. Nael Al-Baghdadi held his 12-year-old son tight. But it was already too late. Omar, who was playing outside near his home, had been killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli airstrike. In the photo made by Associated Press photographer Abdel Kareem Hana after the strike, al-Baghdadi’s eyes are shut. He holds his son, whose small body rests limply in his arms. His right hand and right shirt sleeve are streaked with blood. Grief is etched upon the father’s face, but more than that there is an expression of deep love for the child he has just lost. So much love that he insisted on holding Omar until the child could be taken to his grave.
Serena Williams hosts an ESPY awards show celebrating landmark year for women’s sports
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Led by host Serena Williams, The ESPYS celebrated a landmark year for women’s sports, with Simone Biles, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley and JuJu Watkins among the honorees on Thursday nigh at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The three-hour show on ABC was delayed when President Joe Biden’s nationally televised news conference started late. Host Serena Williams told jokes during her monologue and later sang.
A second critically endangered Chinese pangolin is born in the Prague zoo in less than 2 years
PRAGUE (AP) — A second Chinese pangolin was born in the Prague zoo in less than two years and is doing well, defying the odds and surprising park officials. The female of the critically endangered mammal was born July 1, the second Chinese pangolin born in captivity in Europe following her sister, Cone, in February last year. The pangolins are difficult to breed in captivity and Prague became only the second European zoo to keep them. The pangolins arrived came after Prague decided to revoke a sister-city agreement with Beijing and signed a similar deal in 2020 with the Taiwanese capital. The deal caused tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
Shelley Duvall, star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ dies at 75
The intrepid, Texas-born movie star Shelley Duvall has died at 75. Her wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and she co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” Her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, says Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas. Her friend, the publicist Gary Springer, says the cause was complications from diabetes. Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s staff members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her as at a party in Houston in 1970. She would go on to become Altman’s protege.
A stegosaurus nicknamed Apex will be auctioned in New York. Its remains show signs of arthritis
NEW YORK (AP) — The nearly complete fossilized remains of a 161-million-year-old stegosaurus discovered in Colorado in 2022 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York next week. Sotheby’s officials have named the dinosaur Apex. They say it stands 11 feet tall and measures 27 feet nose to tail. Apex was discovered in May 2022 on private land near the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The excavation was completed in October 2023, Sotheby’s said. Experts believe stegosauruses used their fearsome tail spikes to fight, but this specimen shows no signs of combat. The fossil does show evidence of arthritis, suggesting that Apex lived to an advanced age.
At least 200 crocodiles crawl into cities as heavy rains hit northern Mexico, near Texas
MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas, heavy rains associated with Hurricane Beryl and the earlier Tropical Storm Alberto have led at least 200 crocodiles to enter urban areas. State and federal authorities said this week they have captured and relocated around 200 of the big reptiles since Alberto pelted the region with rain in June. Beryl brushed the same area before making landfall in south Texas last week. The state environmental department said the heavy rains have raised water levels in coastal lagoons, leading the animals to crawl into coastal cities like Tampico and the nearby cities of Ciudad Madero and Altamira.
IRS collects milestone $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth taxpayers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS has collected $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats — a milestone meant to showcase how the agency is making use of the money it received as part of the Biden administration’s signature climate, health care and tax package signed into law in 2022. The announcement Thursday comes as the much-maligned agency shows the public how much work it is getting done. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praises the Inflation Reduction Act for “increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do.”
Jasmine Paolini wins Wimbledon’s longest women’s semifinal and faces Barbora Krejcikova next
LONDON (AP) — Jasmine Paolini has reached her second consecutive Grand Slam final with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Donna Vekic at Wimbledon. She will face 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in Saturday’s final. Krejcikova eliminated 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Thursday’s second semifinal. Paolini is the No. 7 seed at the All England Club and her win at Centre Court follows her runner-up showing at Roland Garros last month. The 28-year-old Italian is the first woman to get to the title matches at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season since Serena Williams did in 2016.
The Beastie Boys sue Chili’s parent company over alleged misuse of ‘Sabotage’ song in ad
NEW YORK (AP) — The Beastie Boys are suing the parent company of Chili’s in a case that accuses the chain restaurant of running an advertisement that used the hip-hop trio’s smash hit “Sabotage” without permission. The rap group made the allegation in a federal case filed Wednesday in New York. The lawsuit accused Chili’s parent company Brinker International of creating a social media ad in 2022 that used significant portions of “Sabotage” and ripped off the the song’s music video. Brinker International did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The court filings did not list an attorney for Brinker.
Lawsuit filed in case of teen who died after eating spicy chip as part of online challenge
BOSTON (AP) — A lawsuit has been filed in the case of a Massachusetts teen who died after participating in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media. Harris Wolobah died on Sept. 1, 2023, after eating the Paqui chip as part of the manufacturer’s “One Chip Challenge.” An autopsy found Wolobah died after eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract and also had a congenital heart defect. Paqui has cited the chip’s “clear and prominent labeling highlighting that the product was not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or with underlying health conditions.”
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