Russia aims new air strikes at Black Sea coastal targets
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country's southern coast. the Ukrainian military said.
The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post.
In the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in villages on the coast were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region, port infrastructure was targeted.
Hours after the renewed strikes on the south, a Moscow-installed official in the southern Kherson region said the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions will soon be “liberated” by the Russian forces, just like the Kherson region further east.
“The Kherson region and the city of Kherson have been liberated forever,” Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
___
Griner's drawn-out drug trial in Russia resumes
KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to a Russian courtroom on Tuesday for her drawn-out trial on drug charges that could bring her 10 years in prison if convicted.
The trial of the two-time Olympic gold medalist and Phoenix Mercury standout began July 1 but only four sessions have been held, some them lasting only a few hours. In one of them she acknowledged that she was carrying vape canisters containing cannabis oil when she was arrested at a Moscow airport in mid-February, but said she had no criminal intent.
The slow-moving trial and her five months of detention have raised strong criticism among teammates and supporters in the United States, which has formally declared her to be “wrongfully detained,” a designation sharply rejected by Russian officials.
Griner was arrested amid high U.S.-Moscow tensions ahead of Russia sending troops into Ukraine later that month. Some supporters contend she is being held in Russia as a pawn, possibly for a prisoner swap. American soccer notable Megan Rapinoe last week said “she’s being held as a political prisoner, obviously.”
However, even after the conflict broke out, Washington and Moscow brokered a prisoner trade in April when American Trevor Reed, imprisoned on a conviction of assaulting a police officer, was released in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian convicted in the U.S. of drug smuggling.
___
Pope apologizes for 'catastrophic' school policy in Canada
MASKWACIS, Alberta (AP) — Pope Francis issued a historic apology Monday for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” policy of Indigenous residential schools, saying the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed families and marginalized generations.
“I am deeply sorry,” Francis said to applause from school survivors and Indigenous community members gathered at a former residential school south of Edmonton, Alberta. He called the school policy a “disastrous error” that was incompatible with the Gospel and said further investigation and healing is needed.
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said.
In the first event of his weeklong “penitential pilgrimage,” Francis traveled to the lands of four Cree nations to pray at a cemetery and then deliver the long-sought apology at nearby powwow ceremonial grounds. Four chiefs escorted the pontiff in a wheelchair to the site near the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, and presented him with a feathered headdress after he spoke, making him an honorary leader of the community.
Francis' words went beyond his earlier apology for the “deplorable” abuses committed by missionaries and instead took institutional responsibility for the church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said amounted to a “cultural genocide.”
___
Indiana abortion debate draws protest crowds, vice president
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people arguing the abortion issue surrounded the Indiana Statehouse and filled its corridors Monday as state lawmakers began consideration of a Republican proposal to ban nearly all abortions in the state and Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the effort during a meeting with Democratic legislators.
Harris said during a trip to Indianapolis that the abortion ban proposal reflects a health care crisis in the country. Despite the bill’s abortion ban language, anti-abortion activists lined up before a legislative committee to argue that the bill wasn’t strict enough and lacked enforcement teeth.
Indiana is one of the first Republican-run state legislatures to debate tighter abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month overturning Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
“Maybe some people need to actually learn how a woman’s body works,” Harris said Monday, eliciting murmurs and laughs from the Democratic legislators. “The parameters that are being proposed mean that for the vast majority of women, by the time she realizes she is pregnant, she will effectively be prohibited from having access to reproductive health care that will allow her to choose what happens to her body."
Confrontations erupted periodically between anti-abortion and abortion-rights demonstrators around the Indiana Statehouse. One person carrying a message on cardboard — “Forced Birth Is Violence” — followed a man, who carried a fake red fetus in a plastic bag over his shoulder, and tried to obscure his sign that read “Save Our Babies.”
___
EXPLAINER: Why is a Pelosi visit to Taiwan causing tension?
BEIJING (AP) — China is warning it will respond forcefully if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proceeds with a visit to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy it claims as its own territory.
Pelosi is second in line to the presidency and would be the highest ranking U.S. politician to visit Taiwan since 1997. China has threatened unspecified “resolute and strong measures" if she goes ahead, which analysts say could cause tensions to spike in the Taiwan Strait, considered a major potential Asian powder keg.
Here's a look at what's happening.
___
WHY DOES PELOSI WANT TO VISIT TAIWAN?
___
Trump returning to Washington to deliver policy speech
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will return to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office, delivering a policy speech before an allied think tank that has been crafting an agenda for a possible second term.
Trump will address the America First Policy Institute's two-day America First Agenda Summit as some advisers urge him to spend more time talking about his vision for the future and less time relitigating the 2020 election as he prepares to announce an expected 2024 White House campaign.
“I believe it will be a very policy-focused, forward-leaning speech, very much like a State of the Union 5.0," said Brooke Rollins, AFPI's president. Composed of former Trump administration officials and allies, the nonprofit is widely seen as an “administration in waiting” that could quickly move to the West Wing if Trump were to run again and win.
Trump's appearance in Washington — his first trip back since Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden was sworn into office — comes as his potential 2024 rivals have been taking increasingly overt steps to challenge his status as the party's standard-bearer. They include former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been touting his own “Freedom Agenda” in speeches that serve as an implicit contrast with Trump.
“Some people may choose to focus on the past, but I believe conservatives must focus on the future. If we do, we won’t just win the next election, we will change the course of American history for generations,” Pence had planned to say in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on the eve of Trump’s visit. Pence's appearance was postponed because of bad weather, but he will be delivering his own speech Tuesday morning before the Young America’s Foundation not far from the AFPI meeting.
___
Northwestern US heat wave could have hottest day on Tuesday
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The temperatures in Portland, Oregon, could top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) on Tuesday, making it likely the hottest day of a week-long heat wave for the Pacific Northwest region that rarely sees such scorching weather.
Forecasters issued an excessive heat warning for parts of Oregon and Washington state. Temperatures could hit the 90s (32 C) in Seattle and 110 F (43.3 Celsius) in eastern parts of Oregon and Washington.
While interior parts of the states often experience high temperatures, those kind of hot blasts do not happen nearly as often in Portland and Seattle.
“To have five-day stretches or a weeklong stretch above 90 degrees is very, very rare for the Pacific Northwest,” said Vivek Shandas, professor of climate adaptation at Portland State University.
As the northwestern U.S. heats up, scorching temperatures in the Northeast are expected to cool in coming days.
___
102-year-old WWII veteran from segregated mail unit honored
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Millions of letters and packages sent to U.S. troops had accumulated in warehouses in Europe by the time Allied troops were pushing toward the heart of Hitler’s Germany near the end of World War II. This wasn’t junk mail — it was the main link between home and the front in a time long before video chats, texting or even routine long-distance phone calls.
The job of clearing out the massive backlog in a military that was still segregated by race fell upon the largest all-Black, all-female group to serve in the war, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. On Tuesday, the oldest living member of the unit is being honored.
Romay Davis, 102, will be recognized for her service at an event at Montgomery City Hall. It follows President Joe Biden's decision in March to sign a bill authorizing the Congressional Gold Medal for the unit, nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight.”
Davis, in an interview at her home Monday, said the unit was due the recognition, and she's glad to participate on behalf of other members who've already passed away.
“I think it's an exciting event, and it's something for families to remember,” Davis said. “It isn't mine, just mine. No. It's everybody's.”
___
Some rugby league players in Australia refuse pride jersey
SYDNEY (AP) — Seven Manly Sea Eagles players have withdrawn from a National Rugby League match in Australia because they’re unwilling to wear their club's inclusion jersey.
The jersey has rainbow stripes and a rainbow collar — in place of the regular white sections — to support LGBTQ inclusion in sports, and the club plans to use it for one game against Sydney Roosters.
Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler on Tuesday said seven players advised club officials that wearing the pride jersey conflicts with their cultural and religious beliefs.
“The players will not play on Thursday and we accept their decision,” Hasler said. "These young men are strong in their beliefs and convictions and we will give them the space and support they require.
“The playing group are solid and understanding of each other’s views. As a club we will wear the jersey on Thursday night.”
___
Is $810 million worth a $2 Mega Millions ticket? It depends
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Is $810 million worth $2?
That’s a good question, given it costs $2 to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket that could pay off with an estimated $810 million prize — the nation's fourth-largest jackpot — after the game’s next drawing Tuesday night.
ISN'T IT AN OBVIOUS QUESTION?
Not really.
To start with, your chance of winning the grand prize is minuscule, at one in 302.5 million. You have better odds of a smaller payoff, such as winning $1 million for matching five regular numbers but missing the Mega Ball. But even that is one in 12.6 million. To put that in perspective, your chance of dying in a car crash — something to consider as you drive to the mini-mart for a lottery ticket — is around one in 101 over a lifetime, according to the nonprofit National Safety Council.
The Associated Press
