AP News Summary at 5:20 a.m. EDT (2024)

Netanyahu says he won't agree to a deal that ends the war in Gaza, testing the latest truce proposal

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The viability of a U.S.-backed proposal to wind down the 8-month-long war in Gaza was cast into doubt after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would only be willing to agree to a “partial” cease-fire deal that would not end the war. His comments, made in an interview with a pro-Netanyahu Israeli TV channel late Sunday, sparked an uproar from families of hostages held by Hamas. Netanyahu’s comments did not deviate dramatically from what he has said previously about his terms for a deal. But they they come at a sensitive time and they could represent another setback for mediators trying to end the war.

Millions swelter as temperatures soar across the US, while floodwaters inundate the Midwest

Millions of Americans sweated through yet another scorching day, while floodwaters forced evacuations in parts of the Midwest, including a town in Iowa whose own water-level gauge was submerged. One person was killed during flooding in South Dakota, the governor said. From the mid-Atlantic to Maine, across the Great Lakes region, and throughout the West to California, public officials cautioned residents about the dangers of excessive heat and humidity. In Oklahoma, the heat index — what the temperature feels like to the human body — was expected to reach 107 degrees on Sunday. The National Weather Service warned of the potential for rare tornadoes in the Northeast later Sunday.

Gunmen kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia's southern Dagestan region

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say more than 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, have been killed by armed militants in the southern republic of Dagestan. They say the gunmen opened fire on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in two cities Sunday. Gov. Sergei Melikov announced the numbers of dead in a video statement early Monday. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee describe the attacks in the predominantly Muslim region with a history of armed militancy as terrorist acts. The governor says six of what he called “bandits” were “liquidated.” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were declared days of mourning in the region.

'Hamster' crypto craze has taken Iran. It highlights economic malaise ahead of presidential election

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Cab drivers and bikers at red lights in June in Tehran tap away furiously on their mobile phones, ignoring police officers. Some pedestrians do the same. They all believe they could get rich. The rise of the “Hamster Kombat” app in Iran highlights a harsher truth facing the Islamic Republic ahead of its presidential election this week to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. Iran's economy remains hobbled by Western sanctions, stubbornly high inflation and a lack of jobs. And after years of hearing about bitcoin, Iranians are now piling into this app, hoping it might one day pay off.

In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Georgia is the election battleground that yielded the closest margin of any state in the 2020 election between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. It became the epicenter of Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s election. Now the two will meet there Thursday for their first general election debate in their rematch. Georgia will test which man can best assemble a winning coalition despite their respective weaknesses. Many voters say they’re dispirited by the Trump-Biden rematch. Some once-solid Republicans don't want to vote for Trump. For Biden, the challenge is replicating the coalition that delivered his razor-thin margin. Some Black and young voters could defect from the Democratic incumbent.

Prosecutors in classified files case to urge judge to bar Trump from inflammatory comments about FBI

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents prosecution of Donald Trump is hearing arguments on whether to bar the former president from public comments that prosecutors say could endanger the lives of FBI agents working on the case. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team says the restrictions are necessary in light of Trump’s false comments that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 for classified documents were out to kill him and his family. Trump’s lawyers say any gag order would improperly silence Trump in the heat of a presidential campaign in which he is the presumptive Republican nominee.

New mom who delighted in her daughter is among the dead in Arkansas grocery store shooting

A new mom reveling in her daughter's development was among four people shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at an Arkansas grocery store. Callie Weems' mother, Helen Browning, says her daughter died in the shooting Friday in the city of Fordyce. Browning says Weems had a 10-month-old daughter who was a constant source of entertainment and wonder. In all, 15 people were wounded in the attack, including the alleged gunman. It's at least the third mass shooting at a grocery store in recent years. A gunman in Buffalo, New York, killed 10 people at a store in 2022. That was about a year after a store shooting in Boulder, Colorado.

At least 16 dead in a fire at a lithium battery factory in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Officials in South Korea say a fire at a lithium battery manufacturing factory near South Korea’s capital has left at least 16 people dead, seven injured and six missing. Rescue workers at the factory in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul, retrieved the bodies on Monday after combing through the site. A local fire official said the mobile phone signals of the missing people were tracked to the second floor of the factory. Kim said a witness told authorities that the fire began after batteries exploded as workers were examining and packaging them, but the exact cause would be investigated.

Some visitors to Israel have a new stop on their tours: Hamas' destruction in the south

KIBBUTZ NIR OZ, Israel (AP) — A new kind of tourism has emerged in Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. For celebrities, politicians, influencers and others, no trip is complete without a somber visit to the devastated south that absorbed the brunt of the assault. One visitor from the United States says standing at one site helped her understand the enormity of loss of life. Some residents see the importance of having strangers come and witness. But as they look to a future beyond the visitors, some residents hope that memorials will be built outside their communities. One says, “Our cemetery is full. Isn’t that memorial enough?”

Japanese emperor to reconnect with the River Thames in state visit meant to bolster ties with UK

LONDON (AP) — Before Emperor Naruhito of Japan attends a banquet hosted by King Charles III, lays a wreath at Westminster Abbey or tours one of Britain’s premier biomedical research institutes, he will kick off his trip to the U.K. by visiting a site that has special meaning for him: The Thames Barrier. While the retractable flood control gates on the River Thames don’t top most lists of must-see tourist sights, the emperor has a special fondness for the waterway that is the throbbing heart of London. That link was forged 40 years ago when Naruhito studied 18th-century commerce on the Thames as a graduate student at the University of Oxford.

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