RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally
PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters. Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers. Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate. Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.
Israeli evacuation orders cram Palestinians into shrinking ‘humanitarian zone’ where food is scarce
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Young girls screamed and elbowed each other in a crush of bodies in southern Gaza, trying desperately to reach the front of the food line. Men doled out rice and chicken as fast as they could, platefuls of the nourishment falling to the ground in the tumult. Nearby, boys waited to fill plastic containers with water, standing for hours among tents packed so tightly they nearly touched. Hunger and desperation were palpable Friday in the tent camp along the Deir al-Balah beachfront, after a month of successive evacuation orders that have pressed thousands of Palestinians into the area that the Israeli military calls a “humanitarian zone.” The zone has long been crowded by Palestinians seeking refuge from bombardment, but the situation grows more dire by the day, as waves of evacuees arrive and food and water grow scarce.
Fires break out on abandoned Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion that Yemen rebels attacked in Red Sea
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fires broke out Friday on a Greek-flagged oil tanker previously attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this week, with the vessel now appearing to be adrift in the Red Sea, authorities said. It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened to the oil tanker Sounion, which had been abandoned by its crew on Thursday and reportedly anchored in place. The Houthis didn’t immediately acknowledge the fire. The rebels are suspected to have gone back and attacked at least one other vessel that later sank as part of their monthslong campaign against shipping in the Red Sea over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Harris isn’t backing away from Biden’s democracy focus. But she’s putting her own spin on it
CHICAGO (AP) — Before dropping his bid for reelection, President Joe Biden framed voters’ choice in November in dark and ominous terms, painting Republican nominee Donald Trump as a menace to American democracy and questioning whether the country could survive if he won. The Democratic Party’s new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, isn’t exactly shrinking from that message, warning in her Thursday night acceptance speech of “extremely serious” consequences of Trump returning to the White House. But Harris is putting her own spin on what has been a central messaging strategy for Democrats. Rather than focusing on the existential threat a second Trump term could pose to the country’s foundational institutions and traditions, she is expanding Democrats’ definition of what’s at stake in this election: It’s about preserving personal freedoms.
Portrait of a protester: Outside the Democratic convention, a young man talks of passion and plans
CHICAGO (AP) — Bearded and bespectacled, YM Masood has a quiet nature that suggests he’s older than age 20. A political science major, he plans to graduate from college in December, well ahead of schedule. He’s studying for the LSAT, the entrance exam for law school. He has another frequent role as well: protester. Masood, a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, has taken to the city’s streets in recent months for pro-Palestinian rallies, often weekly and — once — twice in the same day. “Palestine is definitely No. 1 right now,” Masood says. Last spring, he also traveled by train to support pro-Palestinian encampments at the University of Chicago and Northwestern and DePaul universities.
Conflicting federal policies may cost residents more on flood insurance, and leave them at risk
Conflicting federal policies may force thousands of residents in flood-prone areas to pay more for flood insurance or be left unaware of danger posed by dams built upstream from their homes and worksites, according to an Associated Press review of federal records and data. The problem stems from a complex set of flood policies and some national security precautions taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. To get the best discount on flood insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s points-based rating system requires communities to chart all the homes, businesses and critical facilities endangered by a potential dam failure and warn people of their risk.
Police search for an attacker who killed 3 in a knife attack in the German city of Solingen
SOLINGEN, Germany (AP) — A large-scale search was underway Saturday in the western German city of Solingen after three people were killed and at least eight others wounded, five of them seriously, in a knife attack at a festival. “The police are currently conducting a large-scale search for the perpetrator,” police said in a statement. They have assembled a large number of forces around Solingen city center, including special units. “Both victims and witnesses are currently being questioned,” they said. Police have also established an online portal where witnesses can upload information relevant to the attack. People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Ohtani hits grand slam in 9th inning, becomes fastest player in MLB history to join 40-40 club
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is baseball’s fastest 40-40 man. The Japanese superstar blasted a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning for his 40th homer after earlier stealing his 40th base, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. Ohtani achieved the feat in his 126th game and the team’s 129th, the quickest in major league history and sixth ever to reach 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a season. He’s also the first Dodgers player to do so. “It’s really more about the winning,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Under sea and over land, the Paris Paralympics flame is beginning an exceptional journey
Two weeks after French star swimmer Léon Marchand extinguished the Olympic flame to close the Paris Olympics, the spotlight is now on its Paralympic counterpart. The flame will be lit on Saturday in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London widely considered the birthplace of the Paralympic Games. The flame will then travel to France under the English Channel for a four-day relay from Atlantic Ocean shores to Mediterranean beaches, from mountains in the Pyrenees to the Alps. Its journey will end in Paris on Wednesday during the Paralympics opening ceremony — with the lighting of a unique Olympic cauldron attached to a hot-air balloon that will fly over the French capital every evening during 11 days of competition.
Oklahoma teachers were told to use the Bible. There’s resistance from schools as students return
BIXBY, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma’s Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges. But, what the district does not have as students returned this week is a Bible in every classroom — despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma’s education chief to incorporate Bible lessons and promises of repercussions for those that don’t comply. Other large school districts have also publicly indicated they aren’t making changes either.
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