DeSantis campaign continues to struggle to find its footing

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, looking to shift his run for president into a higher gear after an early series of missteps, spent the past two weeks rolling out an immigration policy and holding town halls with voters. But rather than correcting course, he stumbled again this week, raising questions about where his campaign is heading. First, DeSantis’ team was forced to battle allegations, including from fellow Republicans, that it had shared a homophobic video on social media. Then, a top spokesperson for the main super PAC supporting DeSantis acknowledged that former President Donald Trump was the race’s “runaway front-runner,” while DeSantis faced an “uphill battle.”

Deadly Louisiana shooting caps a holiday weekend of violence

As the Fourth of July weekend drew to a close, a final spasm of gun violence close to midnight left four people dead and seven others wounded at an outdoor party in Shreveport, Louisiana, following earlier shootings in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Texas, and other cities. All told, the shootings left at least 15 people dead, and injured more than 50 others. None of this was particularly unusual for the holiday that marks the birth and independence of the United States. The period from June 30 to July 7 has seen about a dozen mass shootings every year since at least 2014, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

El Paso gunman is confronted by victims’ families at sentencing

Testimony from survivors and victims’ families began Wednesday in the federal sentencing hearing for the gunman who killed 23 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, one of the deadliest attacks targeting Latinos in modern U.S. history. The gunman, Patrick Crusius, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in February after federal prosecutors notified the court that they would not be seeking the death penalty. State authorities have made it clear that they could pursue it in a separate, still pending, capital murder case. In the federal case, prosecutors agreed on a proposed sentence of 90 consecutive life terms to reflect the 90 charges.

Man gets life sentence in rape of child who traveled for abortion

Last year, the story of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio who had traveled to Indiana for an abortion became a flashpoint in the nationwide abortion debate. On Wednesday, Gerson Fuentes, the Ohio man who had been charged with raping the girl, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Fuentes, 28, appeared in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus, Ohio, where he entered the plea agreement to two counts of rape, which gives him the possibility of parole after 25 years, according to livestream broadcasts from local media inside the courtroom.

Pentagon review faults oversight of classified information

The Pentagon’s security and oversight measures have failed to keep pace with the proliferation of military facilities that handle classified information and the personnel who work there, but the Defense Department does not have a systemic problem, a review made public Wednesday concludes. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a review of Pentagon policies and procedures in April after an Air National Guardsman was accused of posting secret documents online. The review concluded there was neither a “single point of failure” to explain the Guardsman’s disclosures nor any widespread breakdown in procedures. Austin said an “overwhelming majority” of Defense Department employees authorized to handle classified material complied with procedures.

Holiday fireworks worsen air quality nationwide

The air quality index Wednesday morning reached the “unhealthy” benchmark in cities across the United States including Seattle, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Millions of Americans have felt the effects of thick smoke from Canadian wildfires in recent weeks, but experts said the smog this time was likely to be a combination of Fourth of July fireworks, stagnant air and, in some areas, West Coast wildfires. In lieu of fireworks, some cities, like Salt Lake City, opted to provide celebratory drone displays to avoid worsening air quality.

Ukraine strikes a Russian-occupied city, igniting a huge blast

Ukraine’s military launched an overnight strike on the Russian-occupied city of Makiivka, showing that it could still attack targets deep behind Russian lines as its troops fight in a grueling trench warfare counteroffensive to reclaim land. A video shared by Ukraine’s military showed a huge fireball lighting up the night sky over Makiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. The military said that a “Russian base” had “ceased to exist” in the city, thanks to Ukraine’s forces, while the Russian state news agency reported one man was killed and 68 civilians were wounded. Neither claim could be independently verified.

Biden says He is ‘anxiously’ waiting for Sweden to join NATO

President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden on Wednesday that he was “anxiously looking forward” to the country’s acceptance into NATO, reiterating their shared goal of strengthening the Western alliance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In their meeting at the White House, both emphasized the potential benefits from adding Sweden to the group. But with less than a week until Biden and other NATO leaders are scheduled to travel to a summit in Lithuania, the inclusion of Sweden is still unlikely any time soon, given the continued opposition of Turkey. Every other member of NATO has approved Sweden, except Hungary, which has said it will follow Turkey’s lead.

Israel says deadly raid on West Bank city is over

Israel’s military said Wednesday that it had withdrawn from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin after a large-scale incursion that killed at least 12 Palestinians, left one Israeli soldier dead and sent thousands fleeing from their homes over the past two days. But Israel’s chief military spokesperson said he expected forces would have to return to the area in the future. Palestinians in Jenin joined a mass funeral Wednesday for those killed in the operation. Even as Palestinian groups celebrated Israeli troops’ retreat, sirens blared in Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military said its air-defense system had intercepted five missiles fired from the Palestinian enclave.

Drone and crane save the day in China amid extreme weather in Asia Pacific

China and several other Asia Pacific countries were reeling from monsoonal floods and stultifying temperatures Wednesday. Authorities said 15 people had died and four others were missing amid flooding in southwestern China, according to the state-run news media. News footage showed rescuers in the central province of Henan freeing two people from the roof of a car that had been caught in a rushing river. A fire brigade sent life jackets with a drone and lifted them to safety with a crane. In southwestern Japan, rain over the weekend inundated homes and left at least one person dead. Cambodia saw heavy rain Monday, and Taiwan was bracing for extreme heat Thursday and Friday.

Who knew the Colosseum was so old? Tourist apologizes for defacement.

A man seen on video last month using his keys to etch his love for his girlfriend on a wall in the Colosseum in Rome has written a letter of apology, saying he had no idea the nearly 2,000-year-old monument was so ancient. The carving came to light last month after a fellow tourist recorded a man scratching “Ivan + Hayley 23/6/23” into a wall of the Colosseum. The video went viral, and Ivan Danailov Dimitrov was eventually identified by Italian military police officers. Dimitrov’s lawyer said his client may get between two and five years in prison and a fine up to 15,000 euros, about $16,300.

By wire sources