USA

(AP) --- In the runup to Tesla Inc.’s 2016 acquisition of a company called SolarCity, Elon Musk hailed the deal as a “no brainer” — a purchase that would combine the leading maker of electric vehicles with a manufacturer of solar panels that can recharge EVs.

It didn’t exactly work out that way.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As Brett Roman Williams stood at the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office staring at a photo of his older brother’s face, a familiar feeling welled in his chest.

Williams’ father was shot and killed in 1996, when Williams was 11, and the ebb and flow of grief had washed over him for 20 years. But in 2016, when his brother was killed by gunfire, Williams reached out to a grief counselor for help coping.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Across Florida, people living in the thousands of condominiums rising above the state’s 1,350 miles of coastline wonder if the building collapse in Surfside could happen to their home as state and local officials discuss what they can do to make sure it doesn’t.

Although building collapses are rare, local governments are looking at whether they need to adopt new inspection policies — the vast majority of counties don’t require reinspection of a building once it’s completed.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Thrill-seeking billionaire Richard Branson strapped in and set off Sunday on his boldest adventure yet — a bid to reach space aboard his own winged rocket ship.

A successful flight would vault the nearly 71-year-old Branson past fellow billionaire and rival Jeff Bezos, who is planning to fly to space in a craft of his own nine days from now.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Firefighters struggled to contain an exploding Northern California wildfire under blazing temperatures as another heat wave blanketed the West, prompting an excessive heat warning for inland and desert areas.

Death Valley in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53 Celsius) on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace Creek. The shockingly high temperature was actually lower than the previous day, when the location reached 130 F (54 C).

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 (APP): Pakistan and China will continue to work hand-in-hand at the United Nations to advance the noble cause of peace and development, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram has said.

NEW YORK, Jul 10 (APP): Pakistan’s Consul General in New York, Ayesha Ali, has praised Asad Ali Memon, a young Pakistani mountaineer, for his attempt to climb North America’s highest peak Denali in Alaska.

Memon, who hails from Larkana, Sindh, had to give up his expedition late last month after suffering injuries on both of his ankles in subzero temperatures.

The consul general said she was “proud” of Memon’s pursuit to scale the 20,310 feet high Denali in two days, when he called on her.

WASHINGTON, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US and French defense chiefs signed a new “roadmap” for cooperation between their special operations forces Friday as both seek to build international efforts to counter non-state threats like Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly signed the pact at the Pentagon with her counterpart Lloyd Austin, on a visit that came as the US pulls out of Afghanistan and France cuts its counter-terror operations in Africa’s Sahel region.

Washington, Jul 10 (AP-PTI) President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday targeting what he labelled anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy, declaring it would fortify an American ideal that true capitalism depends on fair and open competition."

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles mayor and climate advocate Eric Garcetti to be the U.S. ambassador to India, a country Washington sees as a key partner in its effort to push back against China's expanding power and influence.

Garcetti, a Biden loyalist who co-chaired the successful Biden-Harris 2020 election campaign, has served as mayor of Los Angeles since 2013.