Biden’s focus shifts to this week’s NATO summit. But questions about his campaign may only intensify
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will shift this week from focusing on campaigning for reelection to hosting a NATO summit. But that won’t quiet the increasingly urgent questions about his precarious political situation now threatening to consume his own party. European leaders gather in Washington starting Tuesday to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary. Biden will hold a news conference. Congress is also heading back into session, meaning there will be face-to-face meetings where Democratic lawmakers can discuss concerns about Biden’s ability to stay in the presidential race. Biden say’s he’s staying in, which may only serve to make the internal Democratic Party divisions more bitter.
Biden’s uncertain political future divides Democrats as they return to Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deeply torn over President Joe Biden’s candidacy, Democratic lawmakers are returning to Washington at a pivotal moment. They are deciding whether to work to revive Biden’s campaign or edge out the party leader after his dismal performance in the debate. As Biden digs in, it’s a make-or-break time for his reelection and the lawmakers’ own political futures. Three top-ranking Democratic lawmakers are joining calls for Biden to step aside. At the same time, some of the president’s most staunch supporters are redoubling the fight for his presidency, insisting there is no one better to beat Republican Donald Trump.
A major Russian missile attack on Ukraine kills at least 20 people and hits a children’s hospital
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials in Ukraine say a major Russian missile attack has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 50 across the country. One missile struck a large children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv where emergency crews searched rubble for casualties. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post the Russian barrage Monday targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, hitting apartment buildings and public infrastructure. At the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, rescuers were searching for people under the rubble of a partially collapsed wing of the facility, Zelenskyy said, adding that the number of casualties was not yet known.
Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften cease-fire demands, several officials say
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several officials in the Middle East and the U.S. believe the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a cease-fire agreement. Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.” In recent internal communications seen by The Associated Press, messages signed by several senior Hamas figures in Gaza urged the group’s exiled political leadership to accept the cease-fire proposal pitched by U.S. President Joe Biden.
France’s Macron keeps prime minister in place for “stability of the country” after chaotic election
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron refused the resignation of the country’s prime minister, asking him to remain temporarily as the head of the government after chaotic election results left the government in limbo. French voters split the legislature on the left, center and far-right, leaving no faction even close to the majority needed to form a government. The results from Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy. Macron gambled that his decision to call snap elections would give France a “moment of clarification,” but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics thrusts the country on the international stage.
Beryl makes landfall on Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane, National Weather Service says
MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — The National Weather Service says Beryl has made landfall on the middle Texas coast near Matagorda with a dangerous storm surge and strong winds. The storm’s center hit land as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. about 85 miles southwest of Houston with top sustained winds of 80 mph while moving north at 12 mph. Beryl strengthened and become a hurricane again late Sunday. The storm had weakened after leaving a path of deadly destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. Officials say the storm could cause power outages and flooding and are worried not enough residents and beach vacationers are heeding warnings to leave.
Scorched by history: Discriminatory past shapes heat waves in minority and low-income neighborhoods
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans are facing major heat waves with temperatures consistently exceeding 90 degrees. In big cities, the heat hits hardest for people of color and low-income residents. In New York, Black residents die from heat stress at double the rate of white residents. Advocates and experts trace the phenomenon back to decades of discriminatory housing policy, especially redlining. That was the 1930s government practice of rating neighborhoods’ investment worthiness using race as a determining factor and denying mortgages to minority buyers. The labeling of minority neighborhoods as risky restricted resources for generations. It also starved those areas of parks and trees and affected how residents experience heat today.
Fight with Kash: Trump loyalist mythologizes former president while building his own brand
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel is a trusted aide to Donald Trump and a swaggering campaign surrogate who mythologizes the former president while promoting conspiracy theories and his own brand. Patel is poised to take on an influential role in the federal government if Trump wins a second term. He frequently cites his experience as a public defender and federal prosecutor to lend credibility to his plan to go after the very intelligence community he could one day help oversee. Many who previously worked with Patel said he was an ambitious if not exceptional lawyer whose quick rise and far-right tilt have left them stunned.
Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department says
The Justice Department says Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners. Now it’s up to a federal judge whether to accept the plea and a sentence that is part of the aerospace giant’s deal with U.S. prosecutors. Boeing’s decision on Sunday came a week after the Justice Department gave the company the choice of entering a guilty plea or facing a trial. Prosecutors say Boeing violated a 2021 deal that had shielded the company from prosecution earlier. Lawyers for some of the relatives of those who died in the two crashes have said they will ask the judge to reject the agreement. One lawyer called it a “sweetheart deal.”
Pretrial hearing sets stage for Alec Baldwin’s arrival in court in fatal shooting of cinematographer
A New Mexico judge is considering an array of restrictions on evidence, testimony and arguments ahead of a trial for Alec Baldwin. The Monday pretrial hearing sets the stage for Baldwin to appear in court over a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a cinematographer. Halyna Hutchins was killed in October 2021 when a gun Baldwin was holding went off on the set of Western film “Rust.” Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys want to exclude consideration of Baldwin’s additional role as co-producer amid accusations that the film cut corners on safety precautions. Prosecutors want to prohibit presentations designed to garner sympathy for Baldwin as remorseful.
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