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 celebrating the alliance’s 75th anniversary. Biden will attend a series of official events and 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 for its final four months — not to mention handle another term in the White House.
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 return to Washington at a pivotal moment as they decide whether to work to revive his campaign or edge out the party leader, a make-or-break time for his reelection and their own political futures. Anxiety is running high as top-ranking Democratic lawmakers are joining calls for Biden to step aside after his dismal public debate performance and defiant response to the uproar. At the same time, some of the president’s most staunch supporters are redoubling the fight for Biden’s presidency, insisting there is no one better to beat Republican Donald Trump in what many see as among the most important elections of a lifetime.
French vote gives leftists most seats over far right, but leaves hung parliament and deadlock
PARIS (AP) — A coalition of the French left won the most seats in high-stakes legislative elections Sunday, beating back a far-right surge but failing to win a majority. The outcome left France, a pillar of the European Union and Olympic host country, facing the stunning prospect of a hung parliament and political paralysis. The political turmoil could rattle markets and the French economy, the EU’s second-largest, and have far-ranging implications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability. In calling the election on June 9, after the far right surged in French voting for the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron said turning to voters again would provide “clarification.” On almost every level, that gamble appears to have backfired.
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. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in internationally brokered negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure — including Israel’s ongoing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.” Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, is highly secretive and little is known about its inner workings.
Beryl regains hurricane strength as it bears down on Texas coast
MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Beryl strengthened and again became a hurricane late Sunday as it heads toward southern Texas, where the storm’s outer bands lashed the coast with rain and intensifying winds as residents prepared for the powerful storm that already cut a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center issued an update at 1 a.m. Central Standard Time placing the storm about 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) southeast of Matagorda, Texas, and about 95 miles (152.8 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi. The hurricane’s top sustained winds were 80 mph (128.7 kph) as the storm moves northwest at 10 mph (16 kph).
June sizzles to 13th straight monthly heat record. String may end soon, but dangerous heat won’t
Earth’s more than year-long streak of record-shattering hot months kept on simmering through June, according to the European climate service Copernicus. There’s hope that the planet will soon see an end to the record-setting part of the heat streak, but not the climate chaos that has come with it, scientists said. The global temperature in June was record warm for the 13th straight month and it marked the 12th straight month that the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, Copernicus said in an early Monday announcement. “It’s a stark warning that we are getting closer to this very important limit set by the Paris Agreement,” Copernicus senior climate scientist Nicolas Julien said in an interview.
Scorched by history: Discriminatory past shapes heat waves in minority and low-income neighborhoods
NEW YORK (AP) — Ruben Berrios knows the scorching truth: When it comes to extreme heat, where you live can be a matter of life and death. The 66-year-old lives in Mott Haven, a low-income neighborhood in New York’s South Bronx, where more than 90 percent of residents are Latino or Black. Every summer, the South Bronx becomes one of the hottest parts of the city, with temperatures 8 degrees (4.5 degrees Celsius) higher than on the Upper West and East sides — lusher, majority-white neighborhoods less than a mile away. The heat isn’t just uncomfortable. It’s the top cause of weather-related fatalities nationwide, quietly killing an average of 350 New Yorkers each year, according to a city mortality report.
Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department says
Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night. Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice last week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors accused the American aerospace giant of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it.
Fight with Kash: Trump loyalist mythologizes former president while building his own brand
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel was recruiting foot soldiers. It was a Friday morning in February at one of America’s biggest conservative conventions, and Donald Trump’s trusted lieutenant was on center stage, pleading with the former president’s supporters to help the now presumptive Republican nominee reclaim the White House. Getting behind Trump was the only way to root out “government gangsters,” Patel said, at once referring to the title of his recently published memoir and the entrenched and shadowy cabal of “deep state” operatives he believes are threatening the country. “That’s what it’s going to take” to win in November, he told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington.
Pretrial hearing sets stage for Alec Baldwin’s arrival in court in fatal shooting of cinematographer
A New Mexico judge is setting the table for the involuntary manslaughter trial of actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer will consider an array of requests from prosecutors and defense attorneys that could restrict what evidence, testimony and court arguments are heard by a jury. The pretrial hearing Monday in Santa Fe is expected to last much of the day. Baldwin’s attorneys have waived his appearance at all hearings before the trial. Baldwin’s trial starts July 9 with jury selection and is scheduled to last 10 days.
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