In Philadelphia, a mass shooting leaves five dead
Maybe this Fourth of July would be different. The gun violence that has plagued Philadelphia has been inching down. But sometime after 8 p.m. on the eve of the Fourth, someone dressed in a ski mask and body armor opened fire on a neighborhood street in southwest Philadelphia. The shooter, using an assault-style rifle, killed five people and wounded two others. Police have not yet identified the suspect, who has not been charged. In initial reports, police described the suspect as a 40-year-old male, but authorities later said they were unsure of the suspect’s gender identity and in a news conference Tuesday used the pronouns “they/them.”
Your room is ready. Don’t mind the picket line.
Inside the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, Jason Hernandez said Monday that things seemed normal. It wasn’t until he stepped outside that it was clear his vacation plans had collided with a major strike by thousands of hotel workers. Roughly 15,000 housekeepers, cooks and front desk clerks across the region walked off the job over the weekend, demanding higher pay and better benefits. “Inside, you kind of forget,” said Hernandez, 26, who was in town for Anime Expo, and dressed as a League of Legends character in a long brown loincloth with a teal jewel on his forehead. “Then it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, all this crazy stuff’s happening.”
Bison return to Native American lands, revitalizing sacred rituals
For years, meals at the summer sun dance ceremonies on the Eastern Shoshone tribe’s lands in Wyoming were missing something that was once a staple of the sacred rituals. There was no presence of homegrown bison, an animal central to the spiritual customs and beliefs of the Shoshone and other Native Americans. Now, meals at the annual ceremonies, which just took place for this summer, feature bison meat that, for the first time in 138 years, was harvested from the tribe’s own lands. The bison also brings conservation benefits to the complex grassland ecosystems where the animals once played a crucial ecological role.
Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest finds familiar winners amid unexpected drama
Minutes before the men’s division of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest was to begin, torrential rain and lightning hit the area, sending fans scattering for cover. But once the rain subsided, the contest resumed. “We will never surrender,” the event’s host and promoter, George Shea, proclaimed to the fans who remained. The men’s event began by 2:20 p.m., and order was quickly restored, with defending champion and overwhelming favorite Joey Chestnut easily defending his title by eating 62 hot dogs. Defending women’s champion Miki Sudo also prevailed, eating 39.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
About those July 4 fireworks and climate change
The American practice of setting off fireworks to celebrate July Fourth stretches back to the first celebration in Philadelphia in 1777. Today, it’s a beloved tradition that almost seems impossible to replace. But with concerns over air quality, wildfires and supply chains, some cities are doing just that. This year Salt Lake City is replacing its fireworks with synchronized dancing drone displays. Boulder, Colorado, is switching to drones, too, and Minneapolis is opting for lasers. Across the border, Montreal canceled July 1 Canada Day fireworks, citing poor air quality from the more than 100 wildfires burning across Quebec.
Rockets launched from Gaza amid Israeli raid in West Bank and Tel Aviv attack
Hours after Israel’s leader said a large-scale military incursion aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank city of Jenin was wrapping up, five rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel early Wednesday, raising fears of an escalation of violence. The Israeli military said the country’s air-defense system had intercepted the rockets. Earlier Tuesday, eight people were wounded by a Palestinian man in a car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli authorities said. The Palestinian death toll in the Jenin operation, the biggest Israel has launched in the area in many years, rose to 12, Palestinian health officials said Tuesday.
Atomic agency clears Japan to release Fukushima water
In one of the remaining steps before Japan decides to release more than 1 million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, the International Atomic Energy Agency declared Tuesday that the government’s plan had met the agency’s safety standards. The nuclear authority’s final report concluded that the treated water would “have a negligible radiological impact to people and the environment” once it is released. Japan’s plan has provoked controversy both at home and abroad, as government officials in China and many residents in South Korea have protested the release as unsafe.
Meta loses appeal on how it harvests data in Germany
Meta’s ability to harvest data about users to sell personalized ads was thrown into question Tuesday after the European Union’s highest court upheld a decision by German antitrust regulators that the company had abused its dominance in social media. The ruling in the case by the European Court of Justice cleared the way for Germany’s top antitrust enforcer to block Meta from combining data collected about users across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, without explicit permission from users. The decision undercuts Meta’s business model, which relies on selling targeted advertising based on the data it gathers about its users.
Kremlin addresses possible swap after ambassador meets with journalist
The Kremlin said Tuesday that Russia and the United States were in contact over the possibility of a prisoner swap, an apparent reference to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich that came the day after he met with the U.S. ambassador. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said any such discussions would not be made public. U.S. officials have repeatedly called for the release of Gershkovich, who has been held for more than 13 weeks on what the U.S. government and the Journal have said are bogus allegations of espionage. The United States considers Gershkovich to be “wrongfully detained.”
Drones shot down near Moscow,
mayor says
Several drones were intercepted in the Moscow region early Tuesday, including near an airport, Russian officials said, blaming Ukraine for the latest aerial incursion targeting the political and economic heart of Russia. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attacks were aimed at suburban Moscow and had all been shot down by air defenses. There were no injuries or deaths, he added. It appeared to be the first such attack since May, when two waves of drones got close to the Kremlin and hit civilian areas. The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned what it said was “the Kyiv regime’s attempt to attack an area where civilian infrastructure is located.”
Prominent Russian journalist injured in attack in Chechnya
A Russian investigative journalist and a lawyer were severely beaten in the southern Russian region of Chechnya on Tuesday, a brutal attack in a country accustomed to the steady restriction of freedom of speech. Elena Milashina, a journalist with Novaya Gazeta who uncovered the torture and killings of gay men in Chechnya, was in the Chechen capital of Grozny to cover a trial, according to the newspaper. Milashina and attorney Alexander Nemov were blocked by cars as they drove through the city, according to Novaya Gazeta. Masked assailants beat them with clubs, then took their phones. Authorities have not identified any suspects.
By wire sources
