Nation and world news in brief for July 26

Man arrested in Calif. wildfire that forced thousands to evacuate

(Reuters) — A man was arrested on Thursday, on suspicion of starting a fire that forced thousands to flee their homes overnight in a fast-moving fire in Northern California, a prosecutor said.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in a statement that the man, whose name was not released, was jailed without bond on a Butte County judge’s warrant after he was identified as the person seen pushing a flaming car into a gully on Wednesday afternoon.

The vehicle fire spread flames that caused the Park Fire, which exploded overnight from about 1,400 acres (567 hectares) on Wednesday near Chico, California, to about 45,500 acres on Thursday in California’s Central Valley about 80 miles (130 km) north of the state capital Sacramento.

Okla. official vows to force schools to teach Bible

(NYT) — Oklahoma’s state superintendent, Ryan Walters, vowed Wednesday to force public schools to comply with his mandate that they teach the Bible and issued striking guidance for teachers, amid pushback from critics who say the move infringes on students’ religious freedom. The guidance breaks down how instructors should teach the Bible by subject — including its historical context, literary significance and influences on arts and music — and by grade levels from five to 12. Walters’ directive that all state K-12 schools teach the Bible, issued about a month ago, was met with swift criticism from school district officials and others who said it infringed on students’ and teachers’ rights to religious freedom.

Gaemi reaches China as cargo ship sinks off Taiwan

(NYT) — Typhoon Gaemi reached southeastern China on Thursday night as rescue personnel searched for six sailors still missing after a cargo ship sank in bad weather near Taiwan.

According to China’s Fujian Meteorological Bureau, the typhoon made landfall in Putian, Fujian province, at 7:50 p.m. local time with reported wind speeds of around 73 mph, the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier, the tropical cyclone had slammed into Taiwan on Wednesday night with wind speeds equivalent to those of a Category 3 Atlantic hurricane. It submerged roads, led to flight cancellations, and forced the closing of schools and businesses.

As of Thursday the storm had killed at least 15 people in the Philippines, officials said. In Taiwan, at least five people were dead and 531 were injured.

Senate tees up kids online safety bill for vote next week

WASHINGTON (TNS) — The Senate on Thursday overcame objections to invoke cloture, setting up a vote for passage on two measures relating to children’s privacy and safety online that could result in the first laws in nearly three decades restricting how social media and tech platforms function.

The Senate agreed 86-1 to end debate on a legislative vehicle that combines the two measures.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who had previously objected to the measures, voted to end debate. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone objector. The vote on final passage is scheduled for Tuesday.

Israel ready to hit Houthis again

(TNS) — Israel is prepared to attack Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen again following its air strike last week, the country’s top diplomat said, though would prefer the U.S.-headed maritime security coalition to take the lead role.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the Iran-backed militant group is planning fresh attacks after a long-distance Houthi drone killed a man in Tel Aviv on July 19. The Houthis are, he said, undeterred despite Israel’s counter-strike on the Red Sea port of Hodeida the following day.

“They will continue,” Katz said in an interview in his Jerusalem office. The Houthis are working with Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iran’s allied militant groups, and Shiite militias in Iraq, he said.

The foreign minister reiterated Israel’s threat to escalate fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon unless the group retreats from the border area, where the two sides have traded rocket fire since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October.

Both Hezbollah and the Houthis have launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with their fellow Islamist group and Palestinian civilians.

Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are all designated terrorist organizations by the U.S.

SCOTUS immunity ruling has no effect on hush money conviction, DA says

NEW YORK (TNS) — Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to uphold Donald Trump’s conviction for falsifying records in a hush money scheme to hide claims that he cheated on his wife with Stormy Daniels from voters — arguing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling has “nothing to say” to say about the case despite what Trump claims.

Trump’s lawyers earlier this month asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to vacate his conviction and dismiss the underlying indictment in light of the July 1 ruling by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority finding that most actions undertaken by presidents in the course of “official acts” are immune from criminal prosecution.

Opposing the request in new filings, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo argued that Trump’s conviction for reimbursing his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for hush money under the table and the underlying scheme were utterly unrelated to his official duties.

“(All) of the evidence that he complains of either concerned wholly unofficial conduct or, at most, official conduct for which any presumption of immunity has been rebutted. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling thus has nothing to say about defendant’s conviction,” Colangelo wrote.

Harris says she pressured Israel’s PM to get cease-fire deal done

WASHINGTON (TNS) — Vice President Kamala Harris said she pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire and warned him about the civilian death toll in Gaza during a meeting — their first since she entered the 2024 race for the White House.

“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” Harris told reporters after meeting with the Israeli leader on Thursday.

Harris said she had “made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

“With over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity, and over half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” she said. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”

The comments from Harris struck a far more strident tone than the language President Joe Biden has customarily used while discussing the conflict, suggesting an alternate approach the vice president — now likely the Democratic presidential nominee — may adopt.

Trump risks losing voters with loaded attacks on Harris

(TNS) — Donald Trump’s campaign is frantically revamping its strategy, scrapping moot plans to characterize ex-opponent Joe Biden as feeble and testing new attack lines on Kamala Harris, who is two decades younger than the Republican nominee.

With roughly 100 days until Election Day — and less than two months before voting begins in some states — Trump, 78, has little time to define a Democratic opponent who emerged just days ago. He auditioned new messages, with mixed results, this week on a call with reporters about the U.S.-Mexico border, in TV appearances and his social media platform.

Trump has berated Harris, 59, for being the “worst border person in history,” “dumb as a rock,” and a “weak prosecutor” who “destroyed the city of San Francisco.” He’s mocked her laugh and floated two nicknames: “Laffin’ Kamala” and “Lyin’ Kamala.” His allies have called Harris a “DEI” hire, short for diversity, equity and inclusion, and implied she became vice president because she is a woman of color.

Trump’s litany of complaints about Harris run the risk of alienating the voters he needs to attract — suburban women, young adults, Black and Hispanic people. Attacks that veer into racism and sexism could also undermine the unity message Republicans sought to project at their nominating convention.

Chinese and Russian jets fly near Alaska, perturbing senators

WASHINGTON (TNS) — Alaska lawmakers voiced concerns after the U.S. military announced it had intercepted Russian and Chinese fighter jets roughly 200 miles off the coast of Alaska on Wednesday.

The activity was “not seen as a threat,” North American Aerospace Defense Command (better known as NORAD) said in a statement, promising to “monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence.”

However, the news prompted Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to call for more military resources in the area.

“As I have been warning our Pentagon leaders for years, these kinds of joint Russia and China incursions on the sea and in the air near Alaska will continue,” Sullivan said in a statement. t

And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., wrote in a post on X that Wednesday’s “unprecedented provocation” shows why the Air Force should not shut down the 611th Air Operations Center or reduce the Alaska Air National Guard.

Sullivan and Murkowski were similarly frustrated after a Chinese spy balloon traversed their state before crossing the continental U.S. in February 2023.