AP News Summary

Drone hits Crimean ammunition depot as strikes kill, wound civilians and journalists in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone strike has caused a massive explosion at an ammunition depot in Russia-annexed Crimea, forcing the evacuation of nearby homes in the latest attack since Moscow canceled a landmark grain deal amid Kyiv’s grinding efforts to retake its occupied territories. The Kremlin-appointed head of the illegally annexed territory said there were no immediate reports of casualties from Saturday’s strike, but authorities were evacuating civilians from the area near the blast site. The Ukrainian military took credit for the strike. Elsewhere Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported at least 10 civilians had been killed over the previous 24 hours, and the Russian defense ministry said one Russian journalist was killed and three others were wounded by artillery fire.

Protesters try to storm Baghdad’s Green Zone over the burning of Quran and Iraqi flag in Denmark

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of protesters have attempted to storm Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq’s government, following reports of the burning of a Quran by a ultranationalist group in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen. The protesters were pushed back by security forces who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy early on Saturday. The attempted storming comes two days after protesters angered by the planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Later in the evening, protesters gathered in Baghdad again but didn’t try to storm the Green Zone and dispersed peacefully after a while.

He came face to face with an alleged serial killer. 12 years later, his tip helped crack the case

NEW YORK (AP) — As police comb through the home of a man charged in a string of serial killings in New York, one witness is frustrated it took so long to solve the crime. Dave Schaller lived with victim Amber Costello when she disappeared on Long Island in 2010. He tells the AP he provided detectives with a description of the person he believed to be the killer and the vehicle he drove years ago. Prosecutors say that information may have been lost within a sea of evidence. But it was rediscovered when a new task force formed to examine the case. The tip about the vehicle helped investigators whittle their list of suspects in a neighborhood they had already zeroed in on through cellphone location data.

Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump

HUDSON, N.H. (AP) — Weary Republicans across New Hampshire, even inside the governor’s office, are desperate to stop former President Donald Trump from winning the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. But for now they’re relying on little more than hopes and prayers. More than a dozen high-profile Republican officials are running against Trump. But one after another, they have stumbled in their campaigns to crack the veneer of inevitability that has followed the former president across the states hosting the opening Republican primary contests. Months after entering the race, most are still grasping for an effective strategy. Former Vice President Mike Pence, perhaps more than anyone, has been dragged down by the powerful undertow of Trumpism.

Sick of hearing about record heat? Scientists say those numbers paint the story of a warming world

If it seems like you keep hearing about new heat records this summer, it’s because you do. Nearly every major climate-tracking organization proclaimed June the hottest June ever. Then July 4 became the globe’s hottest day, though the University of Maine says that record was unofficial. July 5 and July 6 were even hotter. Scientists say climate change is combining with El Nino in the Pacific to ramp up the number of records set. Scientists aren’t big on telling people stories, but they say these ever increasing records show the big picture is about climate change.

Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teen lynched in Mississippi

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House official says President Joe Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Emmett Till is the Black teenager from Chicago who was tortured and killed in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. His lynching and his mother’s insistence on an open casket helped galvanize the civil rights movement. The official says Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday to create the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument across three sites in Illinois and Mississippi. Tuesday is the anniversary of Till’s birth in 1941.

Israel’s Netanyahu goes to hospital for pacemaker. He says he will push ahead with judicial overhaul

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rushed to the hospital for an emergency procedure to implant a pacemaker. The move plunges the country into deeper turmoil after widespread protests against the Israeli leader’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. Netanyahu’s office says that he will be placed under sedation and that Justice Minister Yariv Levin will stand in for him. In a brief video statement, Netanyahu says he “feels excellent” and plans to push forward with his plan as soon as he is released. Netanyahu’s hospitalization comes a week after he was treated for what was described as dehydration. It also comes after some of the largest protests to date against the judicial overhaul plan.

Family expresses gratitude after body believed to be missing girl found; search for boy continues

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — The family of a 2-year-old girl swept away along with another child by a flash flood that engulfed their vehicle on a Pennsylvania road is expressing gratitude at the discovery of a body believed to be hers. The body was found early Friday evening in the Delaware River about 30 miles from where Matilda Sheils was carried away. The Philadelphia medical examiner’s office plans an autopsy. Meanwhile, the search continues for Matilda’s 9-month-old brother, Conrad. The Charleston, South Carolina family was visiting relatives and friends on July 15 when their vehicle was hit by what authorities called a “wall of water.”

Judge orders Montana health clinic to pay nearly $6 million over false asbestos claims

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination must pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages after submitting hundreds of false asbestos claims. The 337 false claims made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they shouldn’t have received. The judgement against the Center for Asbestos Related Disease clinic came in a lawsuit filed by BNSF Railway under the False Claims Act. The federally funded clinic in Libby, Mont. has been at the forefront of the medical response to deadly mining pollution. BNSF shipped material from the mine and is a defendant in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits.

Jamie Foxx tells fans in an Instagram message that he is recovering from an illness

Academy Award winning actor, Grammy winning singer and comedian Jamie Foxx says he “went to hell and back” but is recovering from an undisclosed medical condition. Foxx made his first public comments in an Instagram message posted on Friday after being hospitalized in April. Foxx appeared thin in the three minute, 15 second video and said he didn’t want fans to see him with tubes inserted in him and wondering if he would survive. Foxx’s credits include “The Jamie Foxx Show” and he won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film “Ray.”