Hundreds of firefighters gather for funeral of former chief killed in Trump rally shooting
By: Michael R. Sisak, Maryclaire Dale, Gary Fields And Michael Kunzelman
CABOT, Pa. (AP) — A fire truck carried Corey Comperatore’s flag-draped casket to a Pennsylvania church on Friday for the funeral of the former fire chief, who was shot and killed when a gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump last weekend.
Hundreds of firefighters arrived at the church in a procession of over 100 trucks in a show of support for Comperatore’s grieving relatives and friends. Outside the church, a massive American flag hung from the ladder of a fire truck.
A sharpshooter team mounted on a nearby rooftop served as a reminder of last weekend’s bloodshed. Officials have said that Comperatore spent his final moments shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire at Trump’s rally last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump, who suffered an ear injury in the shooting but was not seriously hurt, is not going to the funeral because of Secret Service concerns, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Drone strike by Yemen’s Houthi rebels kills 1 person and wounds at least 10 in Tel Aviv
By: Melanie Lidman And Sam Metz
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Iranian-made drone sent by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck Tel Aviv on Friday, leaving one person dead and at least 10 wounded in the group’s first lethal strike into Israel.
The aerial strike rumbled through the centre of the city near the U.S. Embassy, causing shrapnel to rain down and spreading shards of glass over a large radius.
The hit in Israel’s biggest city was startling because the drone appeared to have crossed much of the country through the multilayered air defences that have intercepted almost all of the drones and rockets that Yemen’s Houthis have been launching toward Israel since the Gaza war began. Most have failed even to reach Israel’s southernmost city, Eilat, on the Red Sea some 270 kilometres (160 miles) south of Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military said it was investigating what went wrong. Chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the drone was detected by air defences, but an “error” occurred and “there was no interception.“
The spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Sare’e, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published on the social media platform X. He said it was in retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war and had hit one of the group’s many targets.
Trump accepts his GOP nomination on the convention’s final night
(AP) – The Republican National Convention has culminated Thursday with former President Donald Trump’s acceptance of the party’s presidential nomination, achieving a comeback four years in the making and anticipated even more in the past week in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt.
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about President Joe Biden’s candidacy, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn’t step away from the race.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign insists it’s “not working through any scenarios” where he “is not the top of the ticket,” despite intensifying calls from congressional Democrats for him to abandon the race ahead of November’s election.
Biden’s campaign chair acknowledges support ‘slippage’ but says he’s staying in the race
By: Zeke Miller, Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo And Aamer Madhani
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s campaign is insisting anew that he is not stepping aside as he faces the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to bow out of the 2024 election to make way for a new nominee and try to prevent widespread party losses in November.
Meanwhile, six more Democratic members of Congress called for him to drop out, making the total now 28.
Isolated as he battles a COVID-19 infection at his beach house in Delaware, Biden’s already small circle of confidants before his debate fumbling has shrunk further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republican Donald Trump, is with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he weighs whether to bow to the mounting pressure.
Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillion acknowledged “slippage” in support for the president, but insisted he is “absolutely” remaining in the race and that the campaign sees “multiple paths” to beating Trump.
At the same time, the Democratic National Committee ’s rule-making arm opened its meeting Friday, pressing ahead with plans for a virtual roll call before Aug. 7 to nominate the presidential pick, ahead of the party’s convention later in the month in Chicago.
5 people, including 4 children, killed in Alabama shooting
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Five people, including four children, were killed in a Thursday night shooting in central Alabama, authorities said.
Brandon Kendrick, 32, was arrested on multiple counts of capital murder for the death of a woman and four children in Bibb County, court records show. The children were all under the age of 14. The victims were shot in the head with a handgun, according to a document filed with the arrest warrant.
WBMA-TV reported that Kendrick was married to the woman who was killed and is the father of two of the children. He remained at the scene and law enforcement took him into custody without a struggle.
The shooting occurred in the West Blocton community which is about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southwest of Birmingham
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is expected to release more information on Friday.
Bangladesh security forces fire bullets and sound grenades as protests over government jobs escalate
By: Al Emrun Garjon, Julhas Alam And Krutika Pathi
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Police and security officials in Bangladesh fired bullets and tear gas at protesters and banned all gatherings in the capital on Friday, as internet and mobile services were cut off after days of deadly clashes over the allocation of government jobs.
The protests, which began weeks ago but escalated sharply on Monday, represent the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since she won a fourth consecutive term in office after elections in January. Main opposition groups boycotted those polls.
Somoy TR, a local television channel, reported that four more people died in the latest clashes.
This comes a day after the bloodiest day of demonstrations to date when 22 people were killed, according to local media, as protesting students attempted to impose a “complete shutdown” on the country.
Authorities could not be reached immediately to confirm figures for the deaths
At least three dead in Haiti after boat catches fire during escape attempt
By: Evens Sanon
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP) — At least three people were dead and up to 40 others remain missing after a boat in the waters off northern Haiti caught fire with up to 80 Haitians on board trying to escape to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a government official said Friday.
Civil Protection official Jean Henry-Petit said at least 31 people had been rescued by the Haitian coast guard.
The dead included the captain of the boat, according to Arnold Jean, a spokesperson for the police in Cap-Haïtien.
The fire likely started when two drums of gasoline ignited, Henry-Petit said. Passengers were drinking rum and whiskey, according to a witness, which may have come into contact with the flammable substance, causing the fire.
The police said the migrants were heading toward Providenciales, an island in the Caribbean archipelago the Turks and Caicos Islands.
South Korea restarts blaring propaganda broadcasts to retaliate against North’s trash balloon flying
By: Hyung-jin Kim
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Friday it has restarted blasting propaganda broadcasts into North Korea to retaliate against the North’s latest round of trash-carrying balloon launches, a resumption of Cold War-style tactics that are raising animosities between the rivals.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it used front-line loudspeakers to blare anti-Pyongyang broadcasts over the border between Thursday evening and Friday morning. It said the South Korean military turned on loudspeakers again later Friday as it found out the North was preparing to fly more balloons.
The broadcasts were the first of their kind in about 40 days. The contents of the broadcasts were not immediately known, but previous ones last month reportedly included K-pop songs, weather forecasts and news on Samsung, the biggest South Korean company, as well as outside criticism of the North’s missile program and its crackdown on foreign video.
The South Korean broadcasts could trigger an angry response from North Korea because it is extremely sensitive to any outside attempt to undermine its political system.
Vietnam Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s most powerful leader, dies at age 80
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party and the country’s most powerful politician, has died following months of ill health, official media said Friday. He was 80.
“General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party Nguyen Phu Trong passed away at 13:38 on July 19, 2024, at the 108 Central Military Hospital due to old age and serious illness,” the Nhan Dan newspaper said.
Official media said a state funeral would be held.
Trong had dominated Vietnamese politics since 2011, when he was elected party chief. During his tenure, he worked to consolidate the Communist Party’s power in Vietnam’s single-party political system. In the decade before he took the top role in Vietnamese politics, the balance of power had shifted more toward the governmental wing led by then-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
