National News: AP News Summary at 6:15 a.m. EDT

UK Labour Party sweeps to power in historic election win. Sunak bids farewell in magnanimous speech

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Labour Party has swept to power after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory. But Labour also faces a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation. Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later Friday, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. In the merciless choreography of British politics, he will take charge in 10 Downing St. hours after the votes are counted. Conservative leader Rishi Sunak will be hustled out.

The Latest | Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street after final speech as prime minister

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has left the prime minister’s residence and headed to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to King Charles III, hours after elections results showed his Conservative Party had lost to the left-of-center Labour Party, which will form a government for the first time in 14 years. With almost all results counted, Labour has secured enough seats to form a majority government. Exit poll results suggested that after 14 years in power under five different prime ministers, Sunak’s Conservatives are set to have their seats in the 650-seat House of Commons cut down to 131. That would be the Tories’ worst result in the party’s two-century history.

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.

FACT FOCUS: Trump’s misleading claims about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol

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Israel conducts military operation in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin; 5 Palestinians killed

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it is conducting a counterterrorism activity that includes an airstrike in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian authorities say five people were killed. The military said Friday that Israeli soldiers had “encircled a building where terrorists have barricaded themselves in” and the soldiers were exchanging fire, while an airstrike had “struck several armed terrorists” in the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry said five people died but did not provide any information on their identities. No further details were immediately available from either side.

Fireworks light up the skies across the US as Americans endure searing heat to celebrate July Fourth

Millions of Americans are celebrating the Fourth of July despite heat warnings, a projected record number of travelers and so many beachgoers that officials had to close some parks to latecomers. In the nation’s capital, neon bursts of light illuminated the night sky above the Washington Monument. The Boston Pops performed a musical fireworks spectacular at that city’s Hatch Memorial Shell. And at parades all across the country, revelers dressed up in red, white and blue and waved the Stars and Stripes in commemoration of the country’s Independence Day. The July Fourth holiday generally unites Americans in their shared love of country, but the 2024 version comes against a backdrop of deep political polarization and a divisive presidential race.

Hurricane Beryl takes aim at the Mexican resort of Tulum as a Category 3 storm

TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl has strengthened back into a Category 3 storm and is headed for what could be a direct hit on Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Tulum, where authorities are urging tourists to leave white sand beaches. Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic before weakening into a Category 2 storm. But it regained strength late Thursday with windspeeds of 115 mph (185 kph ) as it neared landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a statement late Thursday saying Beryl may make a direct hit on Tulum, which, while smaller than Cancun, still holds thousands of tourists and residents.

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.