WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, facing heavy criticism for defending “anti-woke” teaching in Florida, this week teed up an unusual proposal to the nation’s first Black vice president: Come debate the merits of the state’s new curriculum on African-American history.

Less than 24 hours later, Kamala Harris was in an African Methodist Episcopal church in Orlando, firing back.

ASHGABAT, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan's flagship airline has suspended flights to Moscow, it said on Wednesday, citing safety concerns after Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital.

"Due to the situation in the Moscow air zone, and based on a risk assessment in order to ensure flight safety, all Turkmenistan Airlines flights on the Ashgabat-Moscow-Ashgabat route will be suspended," the airline said in a statement.

Turkmenistan Airlines said it would now fly instead to Kazan, which is more than 700 km (440 miles) east of Moscow.

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by rain fought to contain a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and could threaten the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees.

The York Fire that erupted last Friday was California’s largest wildfire this year. As of Tuesday night it had burned through more than 125 square miles (323.7 square kilometers) of land but showed little growth during the day and was 23% contained, fire officials said.

PRAGUE/WARSAW, Aug 2 (Reuters) - From building apartments for new employees to offering retired workers free canteen meals to share their expertise, Central Europe's arms manufacturers are scrambling for new ways to cope with the biggest boom since the end of the Cold War.

Facing some of the tightest labour markets in Europe, weapons makers in Poland and the Czech Republic are launching or expanding programs to recruit and train new workers after the Ukraine war drove a spike in demand for their productions.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied last night sacked Prime Minister Najla Bouden and appointed a former official in the Central Bank, Ahmed Hachani, as her successor.

No reason was given for Saied's decision, but local media highlighted Saied's dissatisfaction with shortages in commodities in local markets, particularly the lack of bread in state-subsidised bakeries.

01 August 2023; MEMO: Indonesia has bought 12 new drones from Turkish Aerospace worth $300 million, its Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of purchases aimed at modernising the country's ageing military equipment, Reuters reports.

The deal comes after Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, in July warned his cabinet to maintain a "healthy" budget as he highlighted outsized spending by the country's security agencies, including the Defence Ministry.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s president has sacked the country’s prime minister, who was the first woman to hold that job in an Arab League nation.

A brief statement from the presidential office late Tuesday did not give reasons for the dismissal of Najla Bouden Ramadhane. President Kais Saied had appointed the engineering school professor as Tunisia’s first female prime minister in September 2021.

Her replacement is retired central bank director Ahmed Hachani, who was sworn in Tuesday night.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Israel yesterday submitted an official complaint against Lebanon at the United Nations Security Council, demanding the Lebanese government and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) take immediate action to prevent Hezbollah's ongoing construction of military infrastructure on Israel's northern border, Anadolu news agency reported.

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A Texas police department is apologizing after officers pulled over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car and then held an innocent Black family at gunpoint.

The driver of the car, her husband and one of the two children being driven by the Arkansas couple to a youth basketball tournament can all be heard sobbing on body camera video posted online by police in Frisco, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court Wednesday began hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019 that stripped disputed Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, scrapped its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Turkiye and Egypt have agreed to boost bilateral trade from $10 billion to $15 billion over the next five years, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said yesterday.

This came after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Samir Saleh, and the accompanying delegation in Ankara.

Speaking to reporters after the closed meeting, Bolat said there is great potential for cooperation between the two countries, noting that Egypt is Turkiye's leading trading partner in Africa.

NAIROBI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Kenya's interior ministry said on Wednesday that it had suspended the local activities of cryptocurrency project Worldcoin while government agencies assess potential risks to public safety.

The project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman launched last week. It requires users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID, and in some countries users also get free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a new "identity and financial network".