North America

(AP) --- A 6-year-old girl was among three Iowa family members fatally shot while camping in a state park, apparently killed by a man from Nebraska who later turned the gun on himself, police said.

The victims from Cedar Falls, Iowa — identified by the Iowa Department of Public Safety as Tyler Schmidt, 42; Sarah Schmidt, 42; and Lulu Schmidt, 6 — were found in their tent early Friday at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Des Moines.

Investigators provided no motive for the attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden likely contracted a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly through the United States, and now has body aches and a sore throat since his positive test, according to an update from his doctor on Saturday.

The variant, known as BA.5, is an offshoot of the omicron strain that emerged late last year, and it’s believed to be responsible for the vast majority of coronavirus cases in the country.

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — After the massacre at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School in May, Jesse Rizo was worried about his old friend, police chief Pete Arredondo.

Blame for the botched police response was being directed heavily at Arredondo when Rizo texted him just days after the shooting: “Been thinking of and praying for you.”

Two months later, with investigations and body-camera video spotlighting the hesitant and haphazard response by police to the killing of two teachers and 19 students, Rizo remains worried about Arredondo. He also wants him fired.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than 24 hours after the unprecedented leak of the draft opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation into the “egregious breach. ”

Since then? Silence.

The Supreme Court won’t say whether it’s still investigating.

The court also won’t say whether the leaker has been identified or whether anyone has been disciplined.

Or whether an outside law firm or the FBI has been called in.

Or whether the court will ever offer an accounting of what transpired.

LOS ANGELES, Jul 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 90 million yesterday, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. COVID-19 case count rose to 90,066,295, with a total of 1,025,796 deaths, as of 1:40 p.m. Eastern Time, yesterday, the data showed.

The United States remains the worst country hit by the pandemic, with the world’s most cases and deaths.

ASPEN, Colorado, July 21 (Reuters) - Russia's military is likely to start an operational pause of some kind in Ukraine in the coming weeks, giving Kyiv a key opportunity to strike back, Britain's spy chief said on Thursday.

Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) known as MI6, also estimated that about 15,000 Russian troops had been killed so far in its war in Ukraine, adding that was "probably a conservative estimate."

NEW YORK (AP) — The spread of monkeypox in the U.S. could represent the dawn of a new sexually transmitted disease, though some health officials say the virus that causes pimple-like bumps might yet be contained before it gets firmly established.

Experts don’t agree on the likely path of the disease, with some fearing that it is becoming so widespread that it is on the verge of becoming an entrenched STD — like gonorrhea, herpes and HIV.

But no one’s really sure, and some say testing and vaccines can still stop the outbreak from taking root.

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of attacking U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for New York governor, at an upstate event by apparently trying to stab the congressman was arrested and charged with attempted assault.

“I’m OK,” Zeldin said in a statement after the assault Thursday. “Fortunately, I was able to grab his wrist and stop him for a few moments until others tackled him.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than a year, President Joe Biden’s ability to avoid the coronavirus seemed to defy the odds. When he finally did test positive, the White House was ready. It set out to turn the diagnosis into a “teachable moment” and dispel any notion of a crisis.

“The president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he takes reasonable precautions against COVID but does his job,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told MSNBC late in the afternoon on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, a Republican congressional leader and even his family, Donald Trump refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol, instead “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and celebrating his crowd of supporters as “very special,” the House investigating committee showed Thursday night.