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USA: North Dakota officer killed in Fargo ambush is to be laid to rest Saturday in Minnesota

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The Fargo police officer who was responding to a routine traffic crash when he was ambushed and fatally shot by a heavily armed man will be laid to rest Saturday.

Jake Wallin, 23, was killed July 14 when a man armed with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, multiple guns and explosives began firing. Two other officers and a civilian were wounded before a fourth officer returned fire, killing gunman Mohamad Barakat. Police said the actions of that fourth officer likely spared the city from a bigger, bloodier attack.

USA: Body of girl found in river believed to be that of 2-year-old lost in Pennsylvania flash flood

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — The body of a young girl was recovered Friday in the Delaware River and was believed to be a 2-year-old who was one of two children swept away from their family’s vehicle by a flash flood last weekend, authorities said.

The body was found in the early evening near a Philadelphia wastewater treatment plant about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where Matilda Sheils was carried away, authorities said in a nighttime news conference.

USA: Alabama lawmakers refuse to create 2nd majority-Black congressional district

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama on Friday refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district, a move that could defy a recent order from the U.S. Supreme Court to give minority voters a greater voice and trigger a renewed battle over the state’s political map.

USA: DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn’t an insurrection but a ‘protest’ that ‘ended up devolving’

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday downplayed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, saying it was not an insurrection but rather a “protest” that “ended up devolving, you know, in a way that was unfortunate, of course.”

DeSantis, speaking in an interview on the podcast of comedian Russell Brand, said the idea that Jan. 6 “was a plan to somehow overthrow the government of the United States is not true, and it’s something that the media had spun up.”

USA: The Trump Organization and former fixer Michael Cohen settle his lawsuit over unpaid legal bills

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company and his former longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen have settled a lawsuit over Cohen’s claims that he was unfairly stuck with big legal bills after getting entangled in investigations into the former president.

Lawyers for the two sides disclosed the settlement during a video conference with the judge Friday, three days before Cohen’s 2019 lawsuit was slated to go to trial in a Manhattan state court. Details of the agreement were not made public.

USA: FBI wrongly searched for US senator and state senator in Section 702 spy data, court says

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI employees wrongly searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator, according to a court opinion released Friday. The disclosure could further complicate Biden administration efforts to renew a major spy program that already faces bipartisan opposition in Congress.

Another FBI employee improperly queried the Social Security number of a state judge who alleged civil rights violations by a municipal chief of police, according to the opinion by the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

USA: Biden picks female admiral to lead Navy. She’d be first woman on Joint Chiefs of Staff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has chosen Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, an unprecedented choice that, if she is confirmed, will make her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Biden’s decision goes against the recommendation of his Pentagon chief. But Franchetti, the current vice chief of operations for the Navy, has broad command and executive experience and was considered by insiders to be the top choice for the job.

USA: Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump

HUDSON, N.H. (AP) — They acknowledge Donald Trump’s dominance, but weary Republicans across New Hampshire — even inside the governor’s office — are fighting to stop the former president from winning the first-in-the-nation primary.

For now, however, they’re relying on little more than hope and prayers.

Look no further than Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, who repeatedly appealed to voters’ faith this week as he tried to resurrect his anemic presidential campaign while courting a few dozen voters in a former state lawmaker’s backyard.

USA: Scientists say Florida Keys coral reefs are already bleaching as water temperatures hit record highs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Some Florida Keys coral reefs are losing their color weeks earlier than normal this summer because of record-high water temperatures, meaning they are under stress and their health is potentially endangered, federal scientists said.

The corals should be vibrant and colorful this time of year, but are swiftly going white, said Katey Lesneski, research and monitoring coordinator for Mission: Iconic Reefs, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched to protect Florida coral reefs.

USA: Pakistan lauds UN chief’s new agenda aimed at boosting multilateral efforts for peace

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 21 (APP): Pakistan has welcomed as “bold and perhaps timely” UN Secretary-General’s new policy brief outlining his vision of a more robust multilateral framework to boost peace and security, for a world in flux.

Commenting on UN chief Antonio Guterres’ New Agenda for Peace, Ambassador Munir Akram said that his initiative comes at a time “when we may be at the dawn of a darker era of history.”

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