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Ian Makes Landfall in Southwest Florida as Category 4 Storm Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida near Cayo Costa on Wednesday as a massive Category 4 storm. About 2.5 million people had been ordered to evacuate southwest Florida before the storm hit the coast with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). The storm was heading inland, where it was expected to weaken, but residents in central Florida could still experience hurricane-force winds. https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-ian-live-updates-6302894797cae989ff855030cf332a97

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s Longest Serving Monarch, Has Died Queen Elizabeth II, whose 70-year reign spanned wars, a pandemic, 13 presidents and the winding down of Britain’s vast empire, has died. Her eldest son, Charles, is now king. The longest serving British monarch was 96. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/queen-elizabeth-ii-britains-longest-serving-monarch-dies-rcna24582

Stabbings in Canada Kill 10, Wound 15; Suspects at Large A series of stabbings at an Indigenous community and at another town nearby in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police said Sunday as they searched for two suspects. https://apnews.com/article/saskatchewan-stabbings-multiple-victims-suspects-sought-999fe33f8da5025e0e19a3010bae108f

Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet President Who Took Down the Iron Curtain, Dies Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union before its dissolution, has died in Moscow at the age of 92, according to official statements. Gorbachev, whose tumultuous rule was associated with the terms perestroika and glasnost (reform and openness) died after a long illness, Russian state news agencies reported. https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/europe/mikhail-gorbachev-dies-intl/index.html

F.B.I. Searches Trump’s Home in Florida Former President Donald J. Trump said on Monday that the F.B.I. had searched his Palm Beach, Fla., home and had broken open a safe — an account that, if accurate, would be a dramatic escalation in the various investigations into the former president. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/politics/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago.html

Justice Dept. Investigating Trump’s Actions in Jan. 6 Criminal Probe The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/26/trump-justice-investigation-january-6/

Sri Lanka Parliament Speaker: President to Resign Wednesday The speaker of Sri Lanka’s Parliament says President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to resign as of Wednesday. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a televised statement Saturday that he informed Rajapaksa of a decision taken at a meeting of Parliamentary party leaders requesting he leave office, and he agreed. The announcement came hours after protesters stormed the president’s official residence to vent their anger over the country’s severe economic crisis. Protesters also broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire. https://apnews.com/article/asia-economy-sri-lanka-074d8194c64572dc80118f88a01df1c2

Japan Ex-Leader Shinzo Abe Apparently Shot, in Heart Failure Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe collapsed bleeding and was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. NHK says Abe was rushed to a hospital. https://apnews.com/article/elections-japan-shinzo-abe-22ec2248d92304deb9cc46b2142402d2

Embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Agrees to Resign British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to resign Thursday after days of defections crippled the controversial leader and left him unable to govern. https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-london-michael-gove-60da3c4b29a4e9c93c7db9f53034ad0e

Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade; States Can Ban Abortion The Supreme Court has ended the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. The decision, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump. https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0

14 Students, One Teacher Killed in Texas Elementary School Shooting Fourteen students and one teacher were killed in a shooting Tuesday morning at a Texas elementary school, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The suspected shooter, who might have had a handgun and rifle, was fatally wounded by responding law enforcement, he said. The incident was no longer active Tuesday afternoon. The suspected shooter was 18, authorities said. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-respond-active-shooter-texas-elementary-school-rcna30339

Black Hole: First Picture of Milky Way Monster Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is a staggering four million times the mass of our Sun. What you see is a central dark region where the hole resides, circled by the light coming from super-heated gas accelerated by immense gravitational forces. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61412463

Supreme Court Has Voted to Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO. The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court in Historic Vote Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to be elevated to the Supreme Court when the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick. The final vote was 53 to 47, with all 50 Democratic caucus members supporting Jackson, joined by Republican Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Mitt Romney, of Utah. Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the vote. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/senate-poised-confirm-ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-rcna23283

Russia Attacks Ukraine as Defiant Putin Warns US, NATO Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions, warning other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen.” Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of a Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1

Betty White, TV’s Golden Girl, Dies at 99 Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” or the loopy housemate on “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 99. https://apnews.com/article/betty-white-dead-golden-girls-television-5818585387f6e5b4d5ea55ac380118aa

James Webb Space Telescope Lifts Off on Historic Mission The $10bn James Webb telescope has left Earth on its mission to image the first stars to light up the Universe. The observatory was lifted skyward by an Ariane rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59782057

More Than 70 Killed in Kentucky’s Worst Ever Tornadoes The governor of the US state of Kentucky has said that more than 70 people were killed by tornadoes on Friday night. Andy Beshear said the figure could rise to more than 100 in what he called the worst tornadoes in the state’s history. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59620091

Dozens Killed in Mexico Road Accident At least 49 people were killed when a trailer collided with a truck and overturned in southern Mexico on Thursday, with most of the victims believed to be migrants, according to local authorities. The Civil Protection service of Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala, said at least 58 people were injured in the accident, three of them seriously. https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/americas/mexico-road-accident-intl-hnk/index.html

Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar Court Sentences Ousted Leader to Four Years Jail Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years in prison. She was found guilty on charges of incitement and breaking a natural disasters law. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59544484