July 29, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 297 of the conflict:

• Israeli officials say 12 people were killed Saturday in a rocket attack on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, blaming the attack on Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which has denied responsibility. Israel has vowed retaliation for the attack, raising concerns about the possibility an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. [more]
• Also Saturday, Palestinian health officials said at least 30 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza that was being used to shelter displaced people. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Authorities in Rochester, New York, say one person was killed, and at least six others were wounded, yesterday evening when gunfire broke out during a party at the city’s Maplewood Park. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | In an Op-Ed in the Washington Post today, President Joe Biden called for a constitutional amendment to “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office” and proposed Supreme Court reforms, including a term limit of 18 years for justices and an enforceable code of conduct. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Northern California’s Park Fire was the largest of some 100 wildfires reported to have been burning across the U.S. as of yesterday. State fire officials say the Park Fire has burned some 360,000 acres in California’s Butte, Plumas, Shasta, and Tehama counties, and was 12% contained as of Sunday evening. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL MEDIA | In a court filing yesterday, the Justice Department said that social media platform TikTok used technology allowing the platform to compile bulk information on U.S. users based on divisive social issues, such as gun control, abortion, and religion, and to provide that information to the platforms Chinese owner ByteDance. [more]

IOWA AND MINNESOTA | A state law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy goes into effect in Iowa today. In recent days, officials in neighboring Minnesota have said their state is preparing to welcome patients traveling from Iowa due to the new abortion restrictions in their home state. [more]

ARGENTINA | Incumbent Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of yesterday’s presidential election by Argentina’s National Electoral Council, which has yet to release voting tallies from the country’s 30,000 polling station. Opposition leaders have contested the announcement of Madura’s victory, and numerous countries, including the U.S., have expressed concerns over the veracity of the announced results. [more]

SOUTH CHINA SEA | Meeting today in Tokyo, foreign ministers of the so-called “Quad” nations – Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S. – expressed concern over what they characterized as intimidating and dangerous actions by China in the South China Sea and pledged to increase maritime security in the region. China condemned the group’s statement as “artificially creating tension, inciting confrontation, and containing the development of other countries.” [more]

SUDAN | In a new report, international human rights group Human Rights Watch said both sides in Sudan’s ongoing civil war have blocked citizens’ access to humanitarian supplies and emergency care, and specifically accused the country’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of widespread sexual violence against women. [more]

ITALY AND CHINA | On a five-day official visit to Beijing just months after Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a three-year action plan with Chinese officials yesterday that reports say calls on the countries to implement past agreements and experiment with new forms of cooperation. [more]

IRAN | Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian as Iran’s new president yesterday, clearing the way for Pezeshkian to be sworn in to office tomorrow. [more]

NORTH KOREA | More than 5,000 people isolated by flooding in North Korea’s northwest region along the country’s border with China were rescued in airlifts and other evacuation efforts over the weekend, according to state media company KCNA. [more]

RUSSIA | Russian state media outlet TASS reports that at least two people were killed, and as many as 100 were injured, today when a passenger train collided with a truck in the southern Volgograd region. Rescue and emergency treatment operations are ongoing at the site of the incident. [more]

ALZHEIMER’S | According to a study published yesterday in the American Medical Association journal JAMA, a new blood test outperforms traditional exams in determining if Alzheimer’s is responsible for memory problems. Study authors say the simple blood test correctly diagnosed the disease 90% of the time, compared to 73% of the time for traditional tests conducted by dementia specialists and 63% for test performed by primary care doctors. [more]

PARIS OLYMPICS | The U.S. leads the overall medal count at the Paris Olympics with 12, followed by China, France, Japan, and South Korea. In other Olympic news:

• Training sessions for the swimming portion of the Olympic triathlon were cancelled for a second-straight day today due to concerns about water quality in the Seine River following a weekend of heavy rains. [more]
• Long-time rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic face each other today in the second round of Men’s Tennis at the Paris Olympics. Today’s match will be the 60th meeting between the two players. [more]
• The U.S. women’s national soccer team beat Germany, 4-1, yesterday to advance to the Olympic quarterfinals. [more]

GOLF | Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas shot a final-round 1-under-par 70 yesterday to win the 3M Open – his fourth PGA Tour victory and his first in seven years. In LPGA play, American Lauren Coughlin won her first Tour title with a victory at the Canadian Women’s Open. [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Deadpool & Wolverine" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $205 million in receipts, followed by "Twisters" and "Despicable Me 4." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1836, the Arc de Triomphe, one of the largest triumphal arches in the world, was officially inaugurated in Paris to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. [more history]