Strike on Israeli Golan Heights kills 11 and threatens to spark a wider war. Hezbollah denies a role
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket strike at a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights has killed at least 11 children and teens. It’s the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far.” Hezbollah has rushed to deny any role. Netanyahu is hurrying home from the United States. Israel says 20 other people were wounded.
An Israeli airstrike hits a school sheltering people in Gaza, killing at least 30 including children
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes have hit a school being used by displaced Palestinians in central Gaza and killed at least 30 people including seven children. Saturday’s attack occurred as negotiators prepare to meet international mediators on Sunday to discuss a proposed cease-fire. Thousands of people had been sheltering at the girls’ school in Deir al-Balah. Israel’s military said it targeted a Hamas command and control center used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas denied it. Meanwhile, Israel’s military has ordered another evacuation of part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza ahead of a planned strike on Khan Younis.
Trump is returning to Minnesota with Midwesterner Vance to try to swing Democrat-leaning state
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Donald Trump is taking his campaign back to Minnesota, a state that has favored Democrats but that the former president thinks could be within his reach this year. Trump is set to hold a rally Saturday night in St. Cloud with running mate JD Vance. In May, Trump headlined a GOP fundraiser in St. Paul, where he boasted he could win the state and made explicit appeals to the iron mining range in northeast Minnesota, where a heavy population of blue-collar and union workers has been shifting Republican after years of being solidly Democratic. Trump also gave remarks at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier Saturday.
Harris freshens up her message on the economy as Trump and Republicans go after her on inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Since President Joe Biden left the White House race, Vice President Kamala Harris has begun to craft her own narrative around the economy. She’s putting an emphasis on ending child poverty, promoting labor unions, reducing the costs of health and child care and protecting “dignity” in retirement. Not once in recent speeches did she mention the word “inflation.” That’s been the overwhelming economic challenge that has dogged Biden’s administration and forced the president to consistently acknowledge voters’ pain as they cope with higher grocery, gasoline, housing and auto expenses. Republicans have moved quickly to try to blame Harris for the inflation that until recently they pinned on Biden.
Drag queens shine at Olympics opening, but ‘Last Supper’ tableau draws criticism
PARIS (AP) — In an unprecedented display of inclusivity, drag queens took center stage at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, showcasing the vibrant and influential role of the French LGBTQ+ community. But it also attracted criticism over a tableau reminiscent of “The Last Supper.” Among their bold performances was a scene seemed to evoke Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” featuring the drag queens and other performers in a configuration reminiscent of Jesus Christ and his apostles. This segment drew significant attention and backlash from religious conservatives. But “Drag Race France” winner Le Filip said the segment surprised them and made them proud.
‘Gen Z feels the Kamalove’: Youth-led progressive groups hope Harris will energize young voters
CHICAGO (AP) — Youth-led progressive organizations have warned for months that Joe Biden had a problem with young voters, pleading with the president to work more closely with them to refocus on the issues most important to younger generations or risk losing their votes. But that changed when Biden exited the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. With Biden out of the race, many of these young leaders are now hoping Harris can overcome his faltering support among Gen Z and harness a new explosion of energy among young voters. On Friday, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed Harris.
Firefighters get some help from cooler temperatures after California’s largest wildfire explodes
FOREST RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California are getting some help from the weather just hours after the blaze exploded in size, scorching an area larger than Los Angeles. Officials said Saturday that cooler temperatures and an increase in humidity could help slow the Park Fire, the largest this year in California. Its intensity and dramatic spread led officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Paradise fire in 2018, which killed 85 people and torched 11,000 homes. Paradise again is near the danger zone. The entire town was under an evacuation warning, one of several communities in Butte County.
In a show of growing ties, Russian warships make a new visit to Cuban waters
HAVANA (AP) — Three Russian warships have arrived in Cuban waters, Moscow’s second such maritime voyage in as many months in a reflection of deepening ties between Russia and Cuba. The naval group, consisting of a training ship, patrol frigate and refueling tanker, are expected to remain docked in Cuba’s port of Havana until July 30. The Sunday arrival of the vessels comes mere weeks after another squadron of Russian warships, including a powerful nuclear-powered submarine, visited Havana as part of planned military exercises last month. American officials closely tracked the mid-June military exercises, saying that the four-vessel group posed no real threat.
Technology’s grip on modern life is pushing us down a dimly lit path of digital land mines
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Move fast and break things,” a high-tech mantra popularized 20 years ago by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was supposed to be a rallying cry for game-changing innovation. It now seems more like an elegy for a society perched on a digital foundation too fragile to withstand a defective software program that was supposed to help protect computers. The worldwide technology meltdown unleashed late last week by a flawed update installed by cybersecurity specialist CrowdStrike illustrated the digital pitfalls looming in a culture  that takes the magic of technology for granted until it implodes into a horror show exposing our ignorance.
Fires in the West are becoming ever bigger, consuming. Why and what can be done?
Experts say a massive wildfire in northern California and scores of smaller ones across the western U.S. and Canada are the legacy of the nation’s fire-suppression experts and climate change. Fighting such fires going forward will require a shift toward using smaller controlled fires to ward off bigger ones, as indigenous people did for centuries. Blockbuster fires, like what are burning now, are harder for the landscape to bounce back from than smaller ones. But change won’t be easy because communities have sprung up near where underbrush has built up for decades, experts say.
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